The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-07-20
VOICE OF HISTORY
~a1amitous Effects Of a
Deprecated Currency
in England.
ALL TRADE PARALYZED
Extracts From Macaulay's History
Which Should Cause Free
S~ilyerites to Pause.
ALL A ~PARALYZED

1t was of the highest importance that
the House Of Commons should, at that
moment, be disposed to cooperate cor
daily with the King. for it was absolutely
necessary 70 apply a remedy TO an inter-
nal evil which had by slow degrees grown
to a fearful magnitude. The silver coin.
which was then the standard coin Of the
realm. was In a state at which the bold
est and most enlightened statesmen stood
aghast. Till the reign of Charles II. our
coin had been struck by a process as old
as the Thirteenth Century. During many
generations the instruments which were
then introduced into our mint (by Edward
- continued to be employed with but
little alteration. The metal was divided
with shears. and afterward shaped and
stamped with a hammer. II these opera
tons much was left to the hand and eye
Of the workman. II necessarily happened
that some pieces contained a little more
some a little less than the Just guam
tity Of silver; few pieces were exactly
round, and the rims were not marked. 1t
was. therefore, in the course Of years dis
covered that 10 clip the coin was one Of
the easiest and moss profitable kinds of
fraud.
AT about the time Of the restoration
people began to observe that 2 large por-
ton of the crowns, half crowns and shil-
lings which were passing from hand to
hand had undergone some slight mutt
lation. A great Improvement in the mode
Of shaping and striking the coin was ug-
gested. a mill which to a great extent
superseded the human hand was set up
in the Tower of London The pieces which
ii produced were among the best in Eu-
rope. It was not easy to- counterfeit them,
and, as their shape was exactly circular
and their edges were Inscribed with a
legend, clipping was rot to be apprehend-
ed. The hammered coins and the miiled
coins were current together. They were
received without distinction in public,
and, consequently. private, payments. The
fnanciers of that age seem to have ex-
pected tina the new money, which was
excellent, would soon displaee the old
money, which was much impaired. Yet
any man Of plain understanding might
have known that when the Stale treats
perfect coin and light coin as OF equal
value the perfect coin will not drive the
light coin out of circulation, but VIII 1t
self be driven out. A clipped crown. ON
English ground, went as far IN payment
of q tax or debt as a milled croWns but
the miiled crown as soon as II had peen
flung into the crucible or carried across
the. channel became much more valuable
than the clipped crown. 1t might, ipefe-
fore, nave been predicted. as ~coniaehIly
as anything can be predicted when de-
npuds on the human will, that the inferior
pieces would remain in the only market
in which they could fetcn tne same price
as the superior pieces, and that the sups-
r;cr pieces would take some form or ny
az n adNQnI2RR
could be derived from their superiority.
,The politicians Of that age, however,
generally overlooked these very OBVIOUS
CONSIDERATIONS they maryeliea sSceso-
verse as to use light money IN preference
to good money. In other words, they
marvelled that nobody chose 10 pay
twelve ounces of silver when ten would
serve the turn. Fresh wagon loads OF
choice money stkll came forth from Inc
mint. and still they vanished as last as
ed down great masses exported great
masses boarded; but scarcely one new
piece was to be found in the till OF the
shop or in the leathern bag WHICH the
farmer carried home from the cattle fair.
Meanwhile the shears OF the clippers
Were constantly at work. During many
f6jrst It was d~isregaraed; but at length
became an insupportabie curse 10 the
The evil proceeded with constantly ae-
generating 4EltC4it. al CTS III a. thS 49,
tlrnn Of 1895, II could hardly be sad that
the country possessed, for practical pur-
poses, any measure of the value Of com
modities. 1t was a mere chance whether
what was called a shilling was really ten
pence. sixpenee or a gwoat. The evils pro-
dueed by this state of the currency We're
worthy to occupy a prominent place in
history. Yet it may well be. DOUBTED
whether all the misery which had been
inflicted on the English nation IN z
Ministers. bad Parltaments and by bad
Judges was equal TO the misery caused IN
a single year by bad crowns and Dad
shiilings. The misgovernment of Charles
and James. gross as it had been, had not
prevented the common business OF life
from going steadily and prosperously on.
the State were sold to a foreign power,
While chartered rights We're invaded,
while fundamental laws We're violated,
hundreds Of thousands OF quiet. honest
and Industrious families labored and trad,
ed. ate their meals and lay down to rest
IN comfort and security Whether Wings
uppermost, the grazer drove his beasts
to market: the grocer weighed out his
currants; the draper measured out his
broadcloth: the hum of buyers and sellers
was as loud as ever in the towns; the
harvest home was. celebrated as joyously
as ever In the hamiets; the cream over
flowed the pals of Cheshire; the apple
jndee foamed in the presses Of Hereford
shire: the plies. of crockerys glowed In
the furnaces of Trent. and the barrows
of coal rolled fast along the timber rail-
ways of the Tyne.
But when the great Instrument of ex-
| change became thoroughly deraTged all
trade, all Industry, were smitten as with
| palsy. The evil was felt daily and hour
~ in almost every place. and almost ev-
cry class m the dairy ard on the thrash
ing floor. by the anvil and by the loom.
on the pillows of the ocean and in the
depths Of the mine. Nothing could be
| purchased without a dispute. Oyer every
counter there was a w~fangling from
| morning until night. The workmen and
his employer had a quarrel as regularly
as The Saturday came round. On a fair
day or 4 market day the: amos the
reprEaciles, f5e taunts AMI the curses
| were ncessant. and it was well If no
booth was overturned and no head bro
ken. No merchant could contract to de-
liver goods without making some stipu-
laticn about the quality of the coin in
which he was to be paid. Even men of
business were often bewilieaed by the
! confusion into which all ~pecuniary trans
ACTORS were thrown. The simple and tna
| careless were piflaged without mercy ~
| cxt0rtione4s. whose demands grew even
! mere rapidly than the money shrank.
THE price of the necessaries Of life of
M< AAA -. 49, = AALAA RA-.=1H