The morning call., 1891-09-20
The CALLS
QUERY COLUMN.
Fall8i Origin Of the Pound Mark and
Dollar Sign.
Aid by Congress of the Nicaragua Canal
Alabama Claims - Proceedings on
Impeachment.

Dy =. S. d. Tue Signs 1OA tHo ANOhh"H SOAAiS
IfbrR, solidi and denarii. The character 6,
fol- pounds sterling, is merely capital l.
with mark drawn across it to represent
the corresponding Latin word lbrae, as 10,
OF pound weight, is formed of the first and
third letters of the same word and connected
by a similar mark, libra having been the
Roman pound of twelve ounces. ~ the
origin of the sign S has been variously &C
counted for, but it is thought to be modi,,
fed figure IS" denoting "piece OF eight,
OF eight reals-an old Spanish coin OIL the
value Of one dollar. The sign was IN use
long before the adoption OF the Federal cur
repcy 1t has also been claimed that the
mark Is derived from the initials and
IS" written one over the other as
monogram, aud with time modified to the
present form by dropping the joining curve
in the letter III" But on the subject OF the
6 and S mark an article by w. l.. Fawcette
in the Atlantic Monthly for January: 1919,
on the "HistOry of the Two Pillars" pre-
Sents an ingenious and interesting argument
that the mark represents the oldest sym
Dol known to the human race, one which
seems to have been elaborated out OF the
myth0l0sies Of all the anclents, passing
through numbeTless changes by the out
growth of fsnciful legends from original
IDEAS, but clearly traceable to the earliest
races, of whom we get only shadowy out
line in the dusk of Rntiqulty-a symbol
known to those who built Tyre ana Car
tbage as the pillars OF Hercules" but as
ancient TO them as to US. In comparatively
modern times poetic fancy, he says, has
conferred this uame on the two mountains
that stand at the entrance to the Mediter-
ranean, Calpe on the north and Aoyla on
the south side OF the straits. The writer re-
feTs to tradition, which has MelcaTthuS
Tyrlan navigator, sailing in search
of the tabled Atlantis or dimly rumored
Britain, pRusing in a bay at the
western extremity of the land be-
yond the straits and setting up
these two pillars as memorial, building
over them the temple of Hercules. A col
Ony from Tyre was established and the
place grew into the ancient Gades, the
modern Cadiz. Flavius Phiostratus de-
scrbed the rillars when they were replaced
be gold and silver ones, and Sa of them:
These pillars are the chains which bind to-
Eether the earth and sea. Following up the
history of their descent to US, the writer
shows that when Charles became En-
peror of Germany he adopted new coat-of-
arms, quartering those of Spain with those
of his empire, the pillars oil the arms OF
CadiZ being made supporters. At Seyllle's
Imperial Mint was rOiued a standard dollar
called In the Mediterranean coast col
OnnatO," the most prominent figures in the
device on this coin being the two pillars
aud the scroll entwiuing them and the
representation OF which with a pen came to
be the accepted symbol of the coin. Mel
carthus was Tyrisn and the pillars must
have been a sacred symbol in Tyre, for on the
coins of Tyre were prominently depicted with
other emblems two short pillars arranged
as supporters. Though not the first to coin
money, the Tyrlans were the first to circu-
late it, and theirs became the currency of
the world, so that the pillars with which
they were stamped would naturally become
the symbol for money, and the adoption OF
the dollar mark to designate the " pillar
pieces" of Charles V was probably only the
revival OF an ancient custom which at first
referred to the pillar pieces" of Tyre The
pound mark, continues the writer, owes IN
all probability its distinguishing feature,
the two horizontal bars, to the same sym
Dol, though IN TINS connection trey came
into England by another route than Spain.
The IL " was the initial letter of the Latin
Libra. q balance and was used TO signify a
standard by which to weigh the p! eciOuS
metals the name of the weight Icing de-
rived from the Roman pondG-a pound
But in the time of Henry VIII the pound
sterling, which had been used as a standard
for money, was superseded Ey another
pound, brought from Cairo, In Egypt, TO
TrOyes, in France, during tile crusade'. 1t
was probably owing to the ancient hatred OF
BrIt0n and Gaul that this Troyes weight
was not definitely adopted in England
until It was carried there by Venetian gold
smiths, about the year 1886. When it was
so adopted it was probably distinguished
from the Oiu SleIllNs VI cdSl6lIDS AOuuu ny
adding to tie pound mark - Il" two strokes
OF the pen, to represent the pillars Of
Hercules" tile common money symbol in
the Mediterranean. But as ths lower arm
of the Il" was the shortest, a symmetrical
written character would be made more
easily by changing the pillars from the per-
pendcular TO The horizontal
NICARAGUA CANAL-C. j. s., HOLSTER
Cal. a. At the first session of the Forty
seventh Congress report was handed in by
the Committee on Foreign Affairs with an
amended bill iu the folm of a substitute,
which latter had two leading objects. The
first was to regulate the organization Of the
canal company and secure to it legal
status, giving alike security TO the public
interests on the one hand and on the other
proper protection for the private wealth
which must be contributed for the success
full accomplishment OF the work. The other
object was such reasonable financial guar
antee on the paIt of the United States Gov
eminent as would give confidence to the sub
seribers of the capital required. guar
antee was recommended OF minimum Of
net earnings of Der cent upon an assumed
cost of construction of S75, 1000, 600, which
sum was adopted as the basis IN lieu OF the
S100,000,000 proposed by the original bill.
This guarantee was to take effect only upon
the completion of the canal, the Government
assuming no pecuniary responsibility of any
kind during the construction, and
The bill also excluded all liability
for the principal. (2) This bill was not
passed, and all that Congress has done to
aid the scheme was in February, 1889, to
grant to the Maritime Canal Company of
Nicaragua, which had already received q
charter from Vermont, a charter from the
Federal Cover ment giving it power to act
as corporation. This bill, while requiring
that the President and the VIce-President
and majority of the Directors must be
citizens of the United States, especially pro-
vides that the Government shall never be
liable in aiy manner for any obligations OF
the company, so that the enterprise is q
purely private affair 81 The O. c. does
not know that anything can be urged
against the canal as detrimental to the
Pacific Coast or to the United States"
ALABAMA CLAIMs-L. F. S., City. With
out going deeply into their history, which
every intelligent American citizen and
school-bOy is supposed to know, the So
called "Alt bama claims" were demands
made upon Great Britain by the United
States for damages caused by the destruc-
ton OF American merchant vessels by the
rebel privateers, built OF armed and
equipped in or sailed from British ports in
violation of her avowedly neutral position,
of her own statutes and OF international
law aud despite repeated protests. Chief
among these cruisers were the Florida, the
Georgia. the Shenandoah. the Sumter. Nash
vile, RetrlbutioD, Tallahassee. Chieks-
manga and VIGOROUSLY the Alabama. whose
career was ended by tie Kearsarge sinking
her in the roadstead off Cherbaurg, France.
The dispute stood unsettled until long after
the war, when the claims were referred to
arbitrators, who met at Geneva, SwitZer.
land. and on September IA, 1872, awarded tt
the United States S15,5OO,00O in satisfaction
of these claims.
IMPEACHMENT OF JoHNsoN-W. j. e..
City. The articles of impeachment, eleven
in number, presented to the Senate of the
United States, charged in brief that Presi-
dent Andrew johnson hal in violation Of
the Tenure of Office Act removed Secretary
of War Edwin ~. Stanton and appointed
General Lorenzo Thomas; that he had been
guilty Of intimidatins the former; attempt
ed to seize unlawfully the property anC
money of the War Department: had declared
the ThiTty-nnth Congress was not legally
constituted body and had failed to properly
execute its acts.