Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-09-01
THEREOF OF ALL EVIL
mONtY AND THE VARIOUS TeRMs
USED TO DESIGNATE 1T.

mediums o. Exchange Among NAM ~
uons-Ruie Articles That Were of stah,.
Value-The Names of the y.r;
of the Great World.
In Great Britain at the time of tho
norman conquest were two kinds Of
living money!" i. e.. slaves and
cattle, and dead money, that of m.ta1
IN the 18th century Nicolo and Matteo
oio Iouno a money in use in China
winch was made of the inner bark of the
mulberry tree, and which it was death
by torture to counterfeit or to refpse to
take In any part of the country. Among
the South Sea islanders iron was 60
valued THAI it became money, and axes
standard payment, the value of other
artlcles beng stated at so MANY axes
Cowrle shells are used as small coins in
INDIA, the Last Indian islands and Africa
more than 1000 tons being brought to
Liverpool in 1851 from India to he ex-
ported to the African coast in exchange
Tor palm oil. In America wampum was
used by the Indians and was even coun-
terfelted IL 1885 by the colonists of Mas
sachusetts.
In India cakes of tea and in China
pieces of silk pass as money, while at the
great annual fair at Nizhnee-Novporod in
Russia the price of tea has to be known
before the prices of other commodities
are hxed, 1t being the standard by which
al exchange of merchandise regulated.
In 1874 quantities of pasteboard were
coined in Holland, and in ITO in Scot
land workmen carried nails as money to
bake shops and alehouses. Notched
WOOD was used at one time in England,
and In central parts of South America
soap, chocolate, cocoanuts, eggs, ETC.,
pass as money. In British West Indies
until of laCe years pins, a slice of bread,
pinch of snuff or dram of whisky
served the same purpose. In America
at various times raccoon, deer and bear
skins, corn, beef, tobacco and Goldfish
have been legal tender.
The Jews, in addition to their ordinary
money of shekels, talents and drains
of silver, had Jewel money" To this
people we are also indebted to the use of
paper money in lieu of that of metal.
And among the curious facts in connec-
ton with this subject may be noted that
the sum paid Judas for the betrayal of
his master would be, according to the
relative value Of money in our day,
little more than 40 cents, a small price
with which to purchase eternal infamy.
The first mention of money in any of the
ancient records speaks of it as being
weighed and not counted, and no mutt
lated piece was ever rejected. Under
4 I,s, -
deep crosses, so that smaller bits could
be obtained by simply breaking off what
was required, something as we tear off
postage stamps today.
An interesting study is found in trac-
ing out the origin of the names of coins
familiar TO us now. The American dol
lar has quite little history of its own.
In northern Bohemia is a little valley
called Joachimstal, or Joachim's valley,
and in the 10th century the reigning duke
of this region authorized this little min
ing city or district to coin a silver piece,
which WIS called JOachimstaller. But
the Joachim part of the name proving
too much for everyday use, it was dropped
and that Of thaler deemed sufficient. The
piece being of convenient size and well
nodded passed into general use in Ger
many and Denmark, and again under
went change in photography, finally
turning up as the "daler," whence it
came into English as the dollar, and was
adopted as such by the Americans
In France the Mexican dollar is gener-
ally called the 'piastre," and the name
is also applied to the American coin, but
in either case the appellation is incorrect,
for the name piastre, or plaster, has for
the past 80 years been applied correctly
only to small silver coin used in Turkey
and Egypt, and which is worth from
about 8 20 cents in American coinage.
The word cent comes of course from
centum, being a hundredth part of the
American dollar, the dime also meaning
tenth.
The word shilling is of Saxon origin
and was introduced into England by
that people. Penny, formerly ''pfen-
mig" was also brought into England by
the Saxons and was first coined in sill
yer and originally derived from the
word "pand," to pawn, with the diminu-
tive sufix ''ing" The cognomen,
Crown of the English piece, worth
about $l.20 in American coinage, was
first issued by Edward III and named
in consequence of the image placed upOn
it. The groat was first coined by the
same monarch and is a corruption of
the word crosses" in contradistinction
to the small coins or pennies. Its value
was equal to about four of the latter
coins
The Russian ''ruble" comes from the
verb ''to cut and was so called from
the ornamental edge the piece formerly
had. Tie kopeck is equal in value to two
pence, as is also the kreutzer in Austria,
cent in Holland, Italy, France and Spain.
In the last country the 5-pseta piece,
called the escude, corresponds to the
American dollar, the pseta being the
small coin representing the monetary
standard and meaning simply little