The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1880-09-26

The word dollar n Uf Ger mao origin
About the year Isl fae 6rst thalsS. o.
cois of one ounce of slvsE. Gas struck
| II Was aftervard introduced into Nor
way and Sweden. and called dsier
and in SPAN, whers the delera. OIL
; spssish pillar delisr. omned in . rad.
manner mostly in the Spanish Ameri-
ean colonies, became widely known and
easily recognized by two pillars on tns
diverse side. sIblemaiic OF the pillars
Of Hercules. the ancient name Of the
opposite promootofies at Gibraltar.
This Spsnish dollar, which was often
rudsly caAed. the dies being struck by
hand. with s.edge hammers on IN anvil
varied some hat in weight. bat was
900 thousandths fne silver, and weigh.
ed Ala grains. frsm 1905 70 1922. whsn
the 8parish -Amerieas dollars csased u
be coined. Then the Spsnssh colonies
became Independent, and since that
event their place in o.,umerce has been
sapplisd by dollars coiHed in Mexico.
Bolivia aud Peru.
Mt1icsa 5olIars we're AlsO very irreg-
ulsr in weight. owing to imperfect COIN
age They svsfaged about 4l5 ITO
grams. but individual dollars rssged
. bstwses 100 and 40 grains q times
Chiuess shroffs we're employed to pick.
out the heavy dollars and were very
The dollar monetary unit OF value
va, established in the United States of
Amer,ca by Act of Congress, April I'd.
1892. sud provided for the coinage Of
sn American silver dollar Of the value
Of Spanish milled dollar; which was
frat eoine1 IN l594. weighing 4l6
gsain9 q which 37l =. araiss were pure
sfivef and the fns0sss was S92 A-iOOO
This was. therefore, the dollar Of the
Gorla Of commerce. and the exact
standard Of monetary measure fixed BY
car fosslsthsrs. - the nstional unit, to
be hereafter employed In the measure
ment Of sll values within the United
States OF America.
Our idsogrspbic sign s came from
writing the Roman letters q 8. just as
came from writing the old English
letters Z L. the initisls Of Eng Land.
When hastily written before monetary
amounts. they gradually merged into
their present form end sgni6csocs.s
When our country broke away en-
tirely frow the British system Of
Weights and measures, whsfsin twelve.
or the dozeu.' il distinguishing feat
urs. she WAS the first nation to adopt .
purely decimal system. The British
tan Of 3240 ponds was replaced by
the Armenian ten of 1000. The old
hundred weight of liz pounds became
what it should be. 100 pounds 1t
therefore became sdvisabie TO increase
the fneness of our national coinage to
. uniform aud simple decimal quantity.
which wss done by Act OF Congress Of
January 18th. 1887. which purpOsely
made no.chsnge in the actual value Of
shs original doil.f, aof lmonstary. unit
Of the nation. but reduced the gross
standard weight TO 4l2hS grains, and
increased the tinsness, in an exact ratio
te 500 1000 fine, retAining 31lH grains
Of pure silver, % The national sdellsr
- originally founded. to which one
tenth of neossssry copper alloy Was
added. All the ether coins of the
United States of America are. or should
be. either Multiples or subdivisions Of
this dollar in value. Our fractionaf
.6lves casrsney waB also chah6ejatthis
tims-sll gold. - we'll - silver ooins,
beipR made 900 thoussndths fne. by
esoonameodakioo Of DR. r n Patterson,
thsn Directos Of The Mint.
Previous 10 February 21st, 1853. ex-
istiag laws made both our gold and
silver coinage legsl tsndsn for any
amount. We valued them at the ratio
of l6 % l.. ssAftae . oasked rise in the
pfi0s Of silver in Europe. consequent
upon very heavy drsins Of ailver coih
from England for necessary export to
India and China. We found this arbitra-
~ ratio Of valuation had changed. and
silver coin Was ~adegvsiued in the Uni-
ted States, q COMPARED with Europe;
hence, our couatFy vas % depleted Of
silver coin ~ 10 render it scomparstise-
ly searcs. foe Rarops yss drawing on
America Tor coin to supply Asia. Al .
waeer u protection. the hslf-dollar
was reduced from 206H grsins to l02
grains. and all smaller silver coins in
aliks proportions. Silver Vas made .
: lxeol tender to the extentof Ave doll
lofs only, and our Mints o6ased eoinlnR
dollars. except in very limited eGounts
Hholly i0sufieient 10 offer any induce
nant 10 collsct cd sxDert them. The
z 3 s1aa1ard gold eoins sfs 5000 pure
loo pws silver. and s-lOO
y - ~. FxAE6agboil thess ehsag-
. and sdjustmsots. the value Of the
original unit OF money. vslus OF the
1AtSh Aspr Nhaolsd. .ssuA the Iuuch.
vOasedf &1lsf Of Oar a sddsss - that
value. That, asd thai alone. repre-
sents the dollar salue, the original. un
cbangssbls money unit Of the Upited
States Of Americs-and 10 our national
inbSrjtsuSe, which u6it shoaid be most
carefully guarded and retained for al
TINA. The coinage of half-dollars al
19e grains, shosld now be stopped. -
the apparent. but short necessity
which called them into uss has passed.
They should b 90 honest coin, and
weigh exactly ons-half Of the true unit
AZ value, The originAl silver dOtlar Of
37iK grains pure silver. weighing
gross With nsesssasy copper slloy 800
1000 fine e simple decimal rstio). ex
sctly what they do AK grains
The trade dollar Of 420 grains gross
weight vas . privste speculation. got
up to supply China With dollars Of .
RTsstes asd more aktsAcsive Siss and
veikht than Tho tsas AoerieSa OF
Mexicas dollar, and - such clear de-
psrturs from ous asGional traditions.