The times., 1899-04-23
THE DOLLAR SIGN
hiseuSsion of the Mootea Question
of its OrIrrin
Marcus B,ler :, th, III.

OF Its origin.
(Narcis Baker in the independently
1t is remarkable that symbol in such
common use as the familiar dollar sieg
sHouiu De shrouded in so much mystery as
10 ITS origin. Various theories. 10 the
number of eight or nine. have been offered
IN explanation, but no one OF them has vet
Deen proved with sufficient completeness
70 win general acceptance. | will run over
N outline some of the most common Of
these explanations. and then set forth my
own theory. which. unless contradicted by
some newly discovered facts. ought to set
Tie forever this interesting aud much dis
puted question.
Among the explanations of the origin
these:
/. That it is a combination of the letters
and s, the initials OF the United States
:. That 1t is modification OF the figure
8 the dollar being formerly called a piece
on eight, and designated by n symbol form
ed by placing one figure above another.
.. That it is derived from a representa-
tlon OF the Pillars OF Hercules, connected
by scroll. The dollars containing these
were called pillar" dollars.
A. That it is combination of S, the
mark OF the Roman money unit
.. That it is combination OF p and s
from the Spanish peso sura, signifying hard
dollar.
To this list of theories l now add one
more-viz., that the symbol, in almost its
present form, was invented and published
in 1877 by the Rev. Chauncey Lee, of Rut-
land, VT. and that il was part of gen.
eral system invented by him for designing
mills, cents, dimes. dollars. and eagles
In his system one stroke designated n mill,
two strokes a cent, three strokes a dime
four strokes a dollar. while an eagle was
designated by the letter E.
The publication of these symbols was
made just 100 years ago in quaint little
arithmetic published in Lansingburg, y.
Y. The book was described on the fly
leaf as The American Accomptant; Be
ing Plain. Practical. and Systematic
Compendium Of Federal Arithmetic in
three parts: designed for the use of
schools. and especially calculated for the
meridian of the United States OF America
by Chauncey Lee, A. NJ" No use Of this
symbol in print before 1897 is known to
me, and have made careful searches; but
this dollar sign began TO appear in print
shortly after 1877 and gradually became
common. OF the four symbols invented
by Lee only this one has survived It met
a real need. which the others did not.
Lees arithmetic is very instructive
book, from which we may learn something
about the author. more about the money
teaching arithmetic and keeping accounts
in that day. The patriotic zeal. then all
aoiaze. to be free from European infiu-
ence. is very conspicuous on every page
Although the metric system is not men,
toned by name. he makes in his long in
production an able argument against the
prevailing systems of weights and meas
ures. and urges the substitution of dec
imai system. He proposed system which
Eadn asxt,,
Fer the usual table,
"a grains make l pcnnyweigiit.
20 penDyweghts make ! nunce
12 ounces make pound.
he proposed to substitute:
10 cents make 1 grain
10 grains make pennvvrigIit
10 peinyweghts make / ounce
10 ounces make l pound
Similarly, in apothecaries' weight he
proposed:
10 grains make | scIple
10 scuuplcs make | dram
10 drains make ! ounce.
10 ounces make one pound,
and so on.
1t will thus be apparent that he was a
reformer and quite capable of inyenting
symbols. The decimal system of Federal
money had been adopted in 1856 Never
theless, the English system of pounds
shiilings and pence was still in vogue, was
taught in the schools and was generally
used in accounts. A great variety of
money was evidently in circulation. Much
space is devoted by. Lee to expounding
methods for reducing these various kinds
to equivalents in Federal money. This is
shown by such textual notes as these. Af-
ter the usual table four fathings make one
penny. twelve pence make one shilling.
etc. he adds:
Question: Are there not several cur
rencies in this table, which differ in their
value?"
Answer: Yes: there are:
i. Sterling money, which is the money
of account in England.
2. Irish money. used in Ireland
80. Halifax money. the currency of No
va Scotia and the two provinces of Canada.
q. South Carolina and Georgia currency.
20. The currency of New Hampshire,
Massachusetts, Connecticut. Rhode island
Virginia, Vermont and Kentucky, common
ly called the lawful money of New Eng
land.
80 New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware
and Maryland currency
~. New York and North Carolina cur
Thus ii appears that at least seven kinds
OF money were in more or less current use
That their use was possible implies that
their relations must be known. According
iy, he gives table of equivalents, followed
by this significant statement:
"But all the above different curreneiss
that are used in the United States are Civ
ing way to the uniform currency of the
Federal money"
The peculiar spacing used in writing a
sum OF money expressed in English units
is well known. Our author writes pounds
and pence thus q take examples
AZ random from his book: "eg2. Ia.
0 12:" "el66, 13 L." etc.
Similarly for Federal money expressed
in dollars, cents. and mills, he writes.
32o.92.3. Sometimes one of the points is
omitted. and he writes thus, "S751.66 -
which We would now write without the
space s751.664.
In Dr. Lees very book the use of these
symbols. or characteristics, as he calls
them, for dimes and cents, seems TO be
falling into disuse, and most of the exam
pies in the back of the book use the dollar
TO the exclusion of the Others |
My conclusion, then. is that the do lar !
sign now in common use is the sole SUI /
viyor of these four symbols invented by !
he Rev. Chauncey Lee in the last decide
Of the eighteenth century; and so neces-
;ary place did II fill that it was at once
aiken up and with no questions asked as
o its origin until that question became a
problem of historical research. / believe
[ is now solved.
German Paryenu.
(from the Chicago Record.)
Germany has its Parvenus-that goes without /
aying well As its p7aslHts One who falls {