The Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1893-1901, 1893-03-08
THE EVIL
MONEY AND THE VARIOUS TERMS
USED TO DESIGNATE IT.

as the Great World.
In Great Britain ut the time of the
Norman conquest were two kinds of
moncy-..living money" l.. e.. slaves and
:attle. and dead mooney" that of metal.
In the 18th century Niculo and Matteo
Polo found a monev in use in China
which was made of the inner bark III fLe
mulberry tree. aud which it was death
by torture to counterfeit or to refuse to
take i'll any part Of the country. Among
the South sex. islanders iron was SO
valued that it became money, and axes
a standard Ut payment. the value of other
articles being stated at so many axes.
Cowrie shells are used as small coins in
India. the last Indian islands and Africa.
more than 1900 tons being brought to
Liverpool IN 1851 from India to he eX-
ported to the African coast in exchange
for palm oil. In America wampum was
terfeited in 1868 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 ut Nizhnee-N ovgorod IN
Russia the price of tea has to he known
before the prices of other commodities
are fixed. it being the standard by which
all exchange of merchandise is regulated.
In ljsi quantities of pasteboard We're
coined in Holland. and in 1870 in Scot
land workmen carried nails as money to
bake shops and alehouses. Notched
wool was used ut one time in England,
and in central parts of South America
soap. chocolate. c%ocoanuts, eggs. ETC..
pass us money. In British West Indies
until of late years pins, Il slice OF bread,
IA pinch of snuff or Il dram of whisky
served the same purpose. In America
ut 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 lien Of that of metal.
And among the curious facts in come
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, u
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
the Norman Kings silver was coined with
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 qnita Il little history of its own.
In northern Bohemia is IA 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 was called Joachimstaller. But
the Joachim part of the name proving
too much for everyday use. it was dropped
and that of thaier deemed sufficient. The
piece being of convenient size and well
nodded passed into general use in Ger
many and Denmark, and again under
N "a change in orthography. finally
turning mp 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 II small silver coin used in Turkey
and Egypt, and which is worth from
about 5 to = cents in American coinage.
The word e II comes Of course from
centum. being a hnndredth part Of the
American dollar. the dime also meaning
a tenth.
The word shilling is Of Saxon origin
and wal introduced into England by
that people. Pc y. formerly 'pfen-
mig" was also bron,lt 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 ling" The. cOgnomen,
CROWN" of the English piece. worth
about $l.2O in American coinage. was
first issued by Edward III and named
in consequence of the image placed upon
it. The groat vas first coined by the
same monarch and is 4 corruption of
the word ''grosses," in contradistinction
to the small coins Oh pennies. Its value
was equal to about four OF the latter
coins.
The Russian ''ruble" comes from the
verb Ito cut" and was SO called FROM
the ornamental edge the piece formerly
had. The kopeck is equal in value to two
| pence. as il also the kreutzer in Austria,
cent in Holland. Italy. Franc. 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
piece" For several hundred years and
until a recent date money wa coined in
from 20 to 10 places in France. but all is
now issued from the mint at Paris.