The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1890-05-01
THE MONETIZATION OF LAND.
BY F. R. COOPER.

THE MONETIZATION OF LAND.
BY F. R. COOPER.
No. 3.
Every man has a natural
right to thy products of his own
labor and skill, but if one could
enjoy only the work of his own
hands he would be cut off from
many Of the comforts and
luxuries of existence, and any
high degree Of skill in any
pursuit would he unattainable
by reason of the great diversity
of occupations into which each
would be driven to supply his
wants. Each would be a jack
of all trades and therefore good
at none. Ir pure savage state
this is largely the case but the
first beams of civilization bring
the interchange Ct products and
the division of labor. The man
who has learned to make shoes
we'll would be in sorry plight if
he could not exchange his
surplus shoes for such other
things as he needs. When the
shoemaker wants a hat he takes
a pair OF his shoes and makes a
trade with the barefooted hat
maker much to the advantage
of both. This is barter and in
the n ost ancient times was the
only commerce. Many Difficult
ties attended this system. The
shoemaker and the halter Gould
not readily meet each other
and hence the necessity for each
to deposit his product with a
third party,to await the conyen-
ience of the other. Thus merch-
andising began. But the pro-
ducts Of one man differed
largely in value from those of
another and some mea sure of
value became necessary as a
medium of exchange, and this
was the origin of money. To
understand any question it is of
the utmost importance to fix
clearly in the mind a correct
definition of the subject. For
instance a plow is an instrument
with which farmer cultivates
his crops, and money is nothing
more or less than an instrument
with which people effect theil
exchanges. And as it is a great
advantage to farmers for plows
to be cheap, so it is a great gair
to all people for money to be
cheap,
Tracing the history of trade
we shall find that man lmmedia
tely after emerging from {
savage state began to adop
various measures Of value tt
circulate as currency and do ths
work in a rude way that is nov
performed b7 money. There il
reason to believe that cattle
constituted the earliest medium
of exchange. We read il
Homer that the armor of Dio
med cost twelve oxen. whil'
the earliest Roman coins bor'
J the device Of sheep and wer
dou1 1tless intended to represen
a sheep in value. Many o
these coins taken togethe
would represent a flock Of sheep
and as a flock or herd was il
the Roman tongue calle'
.'pecus" so naturally an accu
mutation Of these coins wa
called "pecunia" Or wealth
/ Here then we may note tn
| germ of two ideas which hav
! ev-r since been gradually de
veloping, that money is tn
, representative Of value, and tha
/ the measure OF the value whicl
, it represents, depends upon tn
: fat of law. AS civilization ad
! vanced the cattle currency wa
found too cumbersome an
various metals began to be use
, as money, principally gold an
| silver, though the Spartans use
iron. This metallic currenc
4 was for a long time purely
!. matter of weight. Trader
: carried their balances wit
Y them and paid for such thing
f as they bought by weighing OF
the agreed weight Of metal Th
3 trouble required to do tn
9 would naturally suggest the O.
t pediencY of marking the weigl
of each peice in moments
8 leisure and then gradually
: civilization advanced none
: was coined, that is, its vall
|. determined and stamped up.
s it by authority of law. I'll
:. earliest reference to money tn
t- we have in history is found
( the Bible where Abraha
o bought the cave OF Machphe,
d for a burial place from tt
q Sons of Heth for four hundrs
Z. shekels of silver, curre'
money with the merchant.
ia
/ Secretary Tracy has declin,