The Somerset reporter., 1889-10-31
Our Decimal Currency
WHY, How AND WHgs IT Wa IS1Bo-
DICED

The first colonists Of our country be
Ing from England, they naturally or51sht
the English money Of account 10 pound
shilllngs, and pence with them A.
colonists from almost every country Of
Europe came IN Afterwards, they al
orough, more Or less II their own money
and a. there was no regular coinage In
America, all kinds Of .he foreign coins
were gladly accepted a. there was lack
Of sufficient circulation u carry on trade
Prior ~ the Revolution some Of the
states issued small amount Of copper
coins which was called coppers and
Massachusetts coined silver piece cali
the The Pine Tree Shilling a. 1t had
the stamp Of pine tree on one side
The coins In circulation were; Of gold,
English Guuieas and half Guinea, Span
ish Doub.oons worth 81. Portuguese
johannes. called Joes for short worth
SIC, and half Joes Of silver were English
crowns, sail!ings, six pence &c. French
Crowns, Spanish dollars orpiastres with
their integral parts. and some Others
OF copper were English pennies and hall
pennies, French sous, and various other
from different European countries. some
Of them 30 debased with some kind o.
alloy that they looked almost Ike brass,
Still there was such q deficiency Of
ANAL change that some merchant. OF
New York bargained with psrtie. in
Birmingham, England. 10 send them over
some tons Of copper which were badly
alloyed and persons who had worn out
copper kettles, would run them into cop
pers in mould and make again Of ~ per
cent.
When boy l became a collector nf
copper coins. and | think | had eleven
different kinds. They were none Of them
Of any value as money; after the regular
cent was coined, these pieces went out
Of circulation. Ny father had a large
building used for making Potash, and on
one side of il was heap Of leached ashes
as big a. a hay stack; We used 10 find 8
good many copper. there; and person,
who happened to have them would give
them 10 me. l finally gave them 20 s
gentlemen who wa. making a collection
VI coins Of various values.
As If TO make "coufusion worse con-
founded several Of the states, each be-
ing an Independent sovereignty, issued
bills Of credit which soon deprecated in
different degrees, 50 that pound had one
vaiue 10 one state, and quite q fereut
value in another. In New England and
Virginia the pound Sterling, The Span
i,h dollar by general consent was the
standard measure of values. In these
States six shillings was equal to dollar
20 shil!ngs making pound In a.!
cases !; in y. Y. eight shillings equalled
dollar, in y. J. seven shilling. and six
pence in Pennsylvania aud North Caro-
Ina i've shilling and six pence, and in
Georgia five shilling Even the little in
.ignihcent copper. had their share in pro-
daeseg this want Of uniformity. The
copper of the Massachusetts coinage was
les. than cent, loo being Of the value of
dollar. In New York the copper was
really a penny, eight shilling or ninty six
pence bein. dollar and IN New Jersey
ninety pence or coppers made dollar.
1t this chaos OF the currency, it i. NOT
surprising that there should be genera
demand FOR money system that would
be Uniform in ali the states. The diver
>ity was real obstruction to business.
So much for the Why, and now for the
How.
In 1852 when the war was virtually
ended, though the treaty Of peace was
not Yet signed, Congress took up the
subject. There was no Secretary of the
Treasury, but Robert Morri, was Govern
ment Financler, or Superintendent of
Finance, Though English by birth he
Was entirely American in principle. and
not only managed the finances with adj
mirable ability, but spent the most of his
large private fortune in support of the
war. Congress naturally looked to him.
and made formal request that he should
report system Of currency and coinage.
He favored radical and thorough meas
ures of reform. and was the tirst, as far
as | know. TO advocate Decimal System
for its facility of computation. The
trade with England has been chiefly
barter, American products exchanged for
British goods 50 that the English coins
were little known; snd the same with
France. But there was an extensive and
profitable trade with the Spanish West
Indies and the balance in favor of the
Colonies had brought in very considera-
ble amount of Spanish dollars. Congress
had no power 10 levy taxes, and when
money was needed for war purposes an
equitable amount wss apportoned to
each State. TIL, could not be e1pressd
in pounds, for pound in y. Y was SIS so,
in Georgia 81 %. and other sums in other
States. The superintendent was there
fore made in dollars, and when the cor
tinrntal money was issued, that also
wa. the same; so that the dollar became
the best known and the most familiar to
people generally of any of the variou.
coins in use. 1t was with good reason
therefore that Morris in his report adj
opted the dollar as the Standard. His
great fear WAS that common people
would not be able to reduce the new cur
rency. with new names, the equivalent in /
in money that they were acquainted with ;
that when and where they were buying
goods, and the price was given in the
denominations. not being able TO compare
hem with well known money, they would .
fear all the time that they were being
cheated To facilitate the reduction of
the new to the old he thought it impsra- 7
tive that the smallest unit of account
should be a common measure of the yari-
Gus shilhugs which he found to be the
fourteen hundred and the fottieth part of
q dollar. To carry out this plsn two cop
per coiu> would be needed, one OF the
value of i've of the parts, and one of
eight parts, to be called respectively .
five and an eight. Three rves would .
make New York penny. four tives
penny New England and Virginia, two .
Fights penny in Pennsylvania, and three .
eights Georgia penny. Then for coin
age he would have q unit of measure
called quarter, and his scale would be 10
quarters make penny; 10 pence make
oil; 10 bills make dollsr; 10 dollars
make crown.
This plan does not appear to have been
approved as in 1883 committee was APP
pointed in Congress to consider and re-
port on the subject. Mr. Jefferson was
member of this committee, and he is said
to be the author of the plan which was
reported in 1854, approved by Resolution
in l7ej, and by formal ordinance in
1856.
Morris was not satisfied with this, and
brought forward another project; he
would have a pound equal to II shillings
i pence Sterling, the parts of which
would compare with the various shillings
in the States. This pound he would di-
vide into 1000 parts-one tenth of this or
100 parts he calls a shilling; one tenth of
that penny and one tenth of penny
doit.
For coinage 20 dots make one groat 100
dots make shilling; 800 dots make
dollar; 600 dots make a half crown, 1900
dots make crown.
In the plan as adopted, the lowest de-
nomination was the mill from latin mile,
one thousand mills equal to one dollar;
10 mills one cent, latin, centum one hun
dred 10 cents one dime, Frence, dime.
one tenth 10 dimes one dollars ten dollars
one eagle. The coins were to be cent and
half cent Of copper: dime, half dime,
and double dime, half dollar and dollar of
silver; half eagle and eagle Of gold. Why