Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1892-07-08

silver-the INT commercial Transaction
with silver Rs medium OF exchange
on record. AhimeleCh gave Abraham
1000 pieces % silver, and Abraham
came out Of l. ,ypt rich Ia cattle, silver
aud gold. We also read that the L.
raelitos on their coming out Of Egypt
"borrOwed" silver trinkUts, earrings,
plate and jew,lfy and gold Of the
Egyptians ami thereby received pay
for their years OF slavery.
"Fiom the fret great deal oi silver
aud gold was usod IN the shape n
jewels, earrings aud bracelets, which
were made Of standard weight, which
could either be worn or sold a. the
necessity Of the owner demanded.
From the Egyptian monuments we
learn that they weighed gold, had hal
nncea TO weigh IL In, aud that their
silversmlths were wonderful workers IN
the precious metals.
"The Egyptians were great traders
with other nations, their own country
not producing metals; they would sell
corn and receive their pay In silver
and gold. The Egyptian records show
that they were not among the enrly
probably introduced coinage into
Egypt.
I'VE read In the Bible where J acob
sent his sons down into Egypt to buy
corn, aud after they had bought the
corn that Joseph put their pieces Of
silver back into their sacks, thereby To-.
turning to them the price Of the corn.
We also read that In the Temple ser.
vices money was ulod to purchase
doves aud animals for sacrifices and 10
redeem the fifst-bofn son. Al this
money was used rs merchandise. being
cut up iutO pieces Of certain weight,
and for long time called pieces Of
money, afterwards shekels and half
shokels. The word shokol meant
weight. Silver n gold were used In
all the known nations Mt this time ~ IA
medium VI exchange and hs mcrchAn-
disc, ami 1t went into the manufacture
OF plate, decorations Of houses, Tenn
Piles, Jeyelry, etc.
at wins not long before the image u
the ruling king was stamped upon the
colin, aud this was what led 10 it, ox.
tcnsive use as circulating medium. II
came 10 be taken as representing the
government u the period, aud II be.
gan 10 circulate ON account Of the i'm.
age Of the king aud the name of the
Kingdom which was stamped on 1t.
When the kings saw this, they being
a little vain, concluded that any kind
Of metal would circulate with their
image and the name Of their great
empire upon II, 10 they put their
image anu their government stamp on
copper, tin aud other base metals, AMI
tried 10 circulate II ~ money, and 10 a
limited extent II did circulate; but the
people were not disposed to tahJ II In
any great quantities, and II was used
AS a subsidiary coin.
at appears from Investigation that
coin money came Into existence In
some country near Palestine and
Lydia, ~ the earlier records are from
this immediate section Of the globe,
with the exception Of China. Tho
Chinese claim 10 have used coin money
500 II. G.. | think they got thyiT
knowledge o. the use OF money from
the traders who made tue great roads
through Palestine. We read Ia thc
Bible Of there being roads for foreign
traders passing from tho section Of
country which II now China 10
Egypt aud the ancient citles OF South
Europe. Silver and gold were surely
coined In n small way 900 years Be,
hut were mostly given correct values
by actual weight. LydiAn coins were
called statere, and a golt stator Of
Milctus 500 Il. q. IL Of record. By 40
Is. q. the LydiEn kings were trying to
circulate base coin In the shape OF
electfum skaters Of different stand
ards. CImsus assembled the throne
OF Lydia u. g. sos, and recognized
the coinage OF Lydia. Crmsus
saw n good thing In Issuing money,
AMI he Put 1t on a solid basis and is
sued coin money at profit 10 his
country aud to himself. History
proves that he became tho woalthiest
man In the then known world, and
that he must have made something by
the coinage and issuing OF money. lie
also circulated copper aud other subai-
diary coins. CfWsus was great
| banker nnd became the leader OF the
world Of finance. About this time tho
| Greclnu empire came Into power, ana
having copied the coinage system o.
Cfn,us, circulated It's money over the
| known world, aud other nations were
not slow TO recognize good thing,
anu from this date, 800 10 800 II. g.,
coinage spread rapidly.
"rhe earliest coins mentioned in the
Bible were called dr1chms, u. G.. OBS.
! Shekels and half.shekcls are flrst mem
| n ned in the BlblO under Ezra, Is. g..
i5S, and were Of Palestine.
Cooper coins were struck by the
Horodlnn family 1850 -. O., and were
considerably citcu lat ed, and were
called by the Jews base money, which
shows they did not like 10 use II. At
the time Of CrWsus, copper coins Of
small Determinations were used by
most OF the nations 10 n limited extent
~ subsidiary coin. From the bret,
| silver coin was the principal money
used, as IL II al the present date. Gold
was the most precious and was not
found In sufficient quantities for the
| circulating medium, The dThchm OF
| Sybarla was issupd 800 II. O.. On each
side Of this coin was m OK. The
| to.radrachm OF Alexander L., OF
| Macedon, was Issued 800 u. C., and on
| one side Of this was u horse aud man,
Heron, OF Syracuse, avs Is, c., issuei
| n piece vi money called dfaohm, with
| his picture on ono side nui n chariot
driven by "A man with four horses
! attached to II on this other. About
| this date came Into existence the first
| bank OF which We have record.
| This Institution was established ut
Babylon, Is. q. 5l6, and existed
over one hundred years, rs shown
by It's records. Its name was Egibps
Bank. This bank probably used coiu-
age Of this period, and We think that
II had considerable Macedonian,
Hebrew, aud coinage OF its own coun-
try, Babylon, In is vaults. Some Of
the bills receivable or notes due this
bank are now In the British Museum.
| Ihn nnies Mern WTllLnn ON lliIln