Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1894-05-18
THE FLucruATloN OF SILVER.

Keseph, or the white metal, as it was
called by the Hebrews, has known end
less Quotations, yet has never ceased its
vain rivalry with gold. Solomon was
the first apparently to discredit 1t, and
when silver grew SO abundant in the
Holy City that 1t was almost as plentiful
as the stones of its streets, he very
naturally refused to receive it as cur
rency. lie would take nothing but gold,
we are told by Josephus, for his mer-
chandise, but paid away his deprecated
silver to Egypuan traders for chariot
and pair of horses. On this he rode
out in state in the morning to his
country-seat at Ethan, a paradise of
rivulets and gardens. Nothing could be
bought or sold at Jerusalem for silver,
says the historian, and only gold was
valued.
The Greeks, when they first visited
Spain, made their anchors and common
utensils of silver. The white metal lost
its value. But this could not continue
long, for the richest silver mines at last
grew unproductive, and in the seventh
century B. C. the metal had once more
risen to higher price. 1t could once
again compete with gold, at least at a
distance. The first form of money was
in stamped bars or ingots, with the
weight certified by an official seal. The
earliest known ingots were of gold. But
about 700 B. G. Mr.. Head tells us money
was first coined, and in the British
Museum may be seen Babylonian slater
of electrum, a minglng of gold and
silver, apparently the oldest coin in eX-
isteDce. Silver was for time the com
mon currency of the Greeks, but at last
they adopted gold standard. The fine
gold pieces of Philip and Alexander have
become the models of all later coinage.
At Rome the earliest money was of
standard; and when it grew too abund-
ant, the Roman emperors borrowed the
gold coinage of the East. The Roman
soldus was worth, in gold, a sovereign
or aIf-eagle. But nowhere did silver
money fuctuate more widely Than at
Rome in the IIannibaic wars the cur
rency was constantly debased; in mo
ments of danger money was boarded.
But the victories of Caesar and his
general robbery made it so plentiful at
Rome that land doubled or trebled in
price and money sank in value. Under
Augustus, in the quiet of peace, it is
probable that silver was worth about
one-tenth its weight in gold. With the
decay of the empire a debased currency
filled the world with disaster, and aided
in the general destruction of commerce
and the arts.
Silver in the Middle Ages rose in value
with rarity, and was at times almost on
Firsts time in England four shilings
would buy COW, Il bull, or horse for
ploughing, and tenpence a sheep with
fine wool. Yet again, with the conquest
of Mexico and Peru, money fell, prices
of labor and land increased; but the
rapid growth of trade and commerce at
the same period revived the demand for
an honest currency. Silver and gold
moved on together, and kept up a certain
ratio to each other that was never great
ly disturbed. 1t is only recently that the
immense yield of our Western mines has
nearly equalled that of ancient Spain
when silver sank into discredit. But it
will no doubt soon revive again. 1t can
not take the place of gold in the opinion
of maukind-the source of value. But it
will always hold a subsidiary position
that no other metal can fill.-Harper's
Weekly.