The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1892-04-29
MONEY OF AccouNr.


i 49, AANOONJ.
There - m Essential Dinerence Betweeu
It and Currency.
Money OF account in any nation
IS the money in which accounts are
kept and is different thing from cur.
rency corresponding to it.
| what Is called The Money Of Ac-
count" in our country. dollars dimes
etc. was established here in 1892
In some countries it is only an idea.
Inc British pound is ideal.
From about 1860 until 1915 tho
pound sterling had no corresponding
| piece OF coin. The English guinea
had been intended to represent a
pound says the Chicago Express But
II mad not been properly adjusted;
ana. owing. also. to the fluctuations
In the price of gold. it varied in value
until l117; when its value was fixed at
- shllllngs. In 1916, after much de-
liberation, it was decided to fix the
weight OF the sovereign at five penny
weights. three grains and l71-623
thousandths OF a grain. It is mani
lest That the whole difficulty was in
establishing coin whose value should
correspond to the unit of value of the
money OF account carried in the
minds OF the people. The English
sovereign has since been changed sew
eral times
The people OF the United States
nave undergone similar experience
with pounds shillings and pence-the
pounds varying in value in different
states from As Sd, to IS to the dollar
There were no coins in existence
corresponding to these amounts
1hese different units of value had
their origin in various causes, which
we will not stop to discuss; but when
industry and trade had become suf-
fclently advanced they became fixed.
The trade of the colonies with the
west Indies had introduced into the
country considerable amount of
Sp anish coins. The names and yalne
OF these coins did not correspond to
the money of account of the people:
and their value was estimated in the
money OF account of the several colo.
nies-precisely as that of wheat or
any other commodity is estimated.
In 1|92 an act was passed by con-
gress with view to establishing a
uni form money of account throughout
the country. People reckoned in
pounds. shillings and pence; and paid !
In Spanish dollars. 1t will be remem-
oered that continental money was paw
able in Spanish milled dollars, or
the value thereof in gold or silver"
The act of congress of April, 1872.
declared That the money of account
d the United States shall be expressed
N dollars or units. dimes or tenths
and that all accounts in public
'ffices and all proceedings in the
courts Of the United States, shall be
Kept and had in accordance with this
regulation. This is believed to have
'een the first time that a money of
account was established by law
money OF account having in all other
latlons grown up in the minds of the
,eople
Sir James Stewart in his work on
'olitical Economy, says: Money
which | call money of account is no
more than a scale of equal parts in
ented for measuring the respective
alue of things vendlble. <
Money Of account performs the same
ffice with regard to the value of !
Kings that degrees, minutes seconds,
to-. do with regard to angles. or as
Gales do to geographical maps, or to
lans OF any kind In all these inven-
ions there are some denominations :
AIKEN for the unit. In angles it is the /,
egree; in plans it is the foot or yard;
1 money it is the pound ivre, florin.
tc. The degree has no determina:e
ength; so neither has that part of the
Gale upon plans Or maps which marks T
ne unit; the usefulness of these be-
lg strictly confined to the marking of {
roportions. just SO the unit in money
an have no invariable Discriminate
roportlon to any part of value That
to say it cannot be fixed, In per-
etulty to any particular quantity OF v
Old Or silver. or any other commod-
y. The value Of commodities de- =
ends upon the circumstances-and !.
lelr value ought to be considered as y
hanging with respect to one another !,
My. Consequently, anything which ~
'oubles or perpleEes the ascertaining II
these changes Of proportion-by u
Re means of a general Discriminate = =
I'd invariable scale must be hurtful y
} trade. And this is the infallible Il
'nsequence OF every vice in the pol !.
y OF money or coin. < 1t !.
PES not follow from this adjusting Is
the metals to the scale of value, that 8
ey themselves should therefore be- Il
me the scale.o Is
W