The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1889-12-11
The Scribe's Report.

AuSWerS 10 Tue QueSllOuS VI NONCu-
Der 10 have been received from Edna
b. Dana and May Seaver. The latter
speaks of not understanding what was
meant in the first question:" What is
money!" We meant simply to ask for
a definition of the word " money" OF
course we all know money when we see
it. 1t is one of those things which we
think we know so much about that
there is no need of defining it. These
are sometimes the very things in re-
gard to which we find it most difficult
TO put our ideas into words. Yet
well-known writer says that " we never
know thing till we have said it," and
he would also say that we do not know
what thing is until we can tell what it
is. However this may be, it is an ex-
cellent practice for any one to be in the
habit of putting into words his ideas
concerning anything, as it is great
help to clear and accurate thinking.
The other list of answers gives this
definition of money: Money is me-
dunn used in buying and selling. 1t is
coin, and bank-notes, which are equal in
value to coin and more convenient to
handle" A medium is something
betiCeen, and money is what goes be-
tween the thing sold and that which is
bought, If the person to whom you
sold your labor or your produce always
had whatever you wanted to purchase
you would have no need of money in
that case, but because the one to whom
anything is sold seldom has what the
seller desires in exchange, money is a
convenient medium"
The remaining answers agree so
nearly that it will not be needful to
specify which answer is given. Both
say that there has not always been
money in circulation, and one adds that
III ancient times trade was carried on
by barter. This is true, not more
specially of ancient times than of all
times where there has been primitive
or unsettled state of society, as, for in
stance, during the early days of the
American colonies. Money was often
so scarce then that trade had to be
carried on so far as possible by barter
while in civilized countries money was
in circulation hundreds of years before
the Christian era. We read of money
as far back as Abraham's time, but that
was not money in our sense of the
word, because it was not coined. The
silver was weighed then, when used al
medium of exchange. But in civilized
countries coins of very early dates have
been found
The five substances used in making
the money we have now are gold, silver
nickel, bronze and paper. One gives
copper instead of bronze. 1t is true
that copper is used" because it con
stitutes so large part of bronze, blu
our one-cent and two-cent pieces, when
finished, are bronze.
The reasons given why gold is worth
more than silver are that gold il
ecarcer, harder to obtain, more beauti
full and less liable to tarnish. 1t /!
quite possible that, if silver were tn,
scarcer and harder to obtain of thes,
two metals, we might think it thu
more beautiful. Other things bein.
equal, their relative beauty might be
question of taste. But since gold il
much scarcer and harder to obtain, ant
is so unchanging in its luster, it il
worth more than silver, and we hav,
therefore come to regard it as NOR
beautiful.
AS to the relative worth of a five
dollar bank-note and a fve-dollar gol,
piece, it is true that one can at tn
present time buy as much with one a
with the other. But it was intende,
by this question to draw your attention
TO the fact that the bank-note has n
value in itself; that it is only a piece o
paper with promise printed on it
and the only reason we can buy any
thing with it is that the people who &C