New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-08-31
MONEY IN HISTORY
Many BIunders Made by Writers
in the Past on the Subject.

IN Inc fdSl VII tlIt oupJCOt'
There is no statement more frequently
met with in histories dealing with the
doings Of peoples Of the remote past
| than that which represents that the pur-
chasing power of money in antiquity was
| always much greater than ii is at pres
ent That this assumption is not based
| on a scientific study of money in the
periods dealt with is easily proved, as Is
| also the assertion that few historians
! have approached the subject OF prices IN
a critical mood, says the San Francisco
| Chronicle"
About the beginning Of the nineteenth
! century a very learned German named
! Niebuhr wrote with great authority on
| the subject OF Roman coinage Several
of his lectures were devoted to describing
| the various changes made In the bronze
coin OF Rome known as the as, which
| by successive reduction had its weight
reduced from a pound TO half an ounce.
| lie demonstrated to his own satisfaction
that this action was forced on the Ro-
mans by the diminishing output OF the
copper mines. We know from nearly
parallel experience, during which our
copper cent was reduced from big, I'M
wieldy coin to thin bit of bronze. that
his deduction must have been erroneous.
/ for our cartwheel cents were coined
when the metal of which they were COM
| posed was ranked as precious and the
thinner coins are turned out while cop
per is enormously more abundant and
/ cheaper than when the unwieldy coin
was in vogue.
Grote. the author Of twelve ponderous
volumes of Gre ian history, asks his
readers to seriously accept his conclusion
! that coined silver was not known 10 the
Greeks until the advent OF Pheidon Of
Argos about the eighth century b. c.
To do this he has to disregard the state
ment in Plutarchs Lysander that the re-
sort 10 an iron currency by the Spartans
was 10 get rid OF the evils which the use
Of gold entailed and 1t also imposes on
us the necessity of believing that In the
brief reign OF the ruler mentioned the
/ Greeks became involved in such none
, tary difficulties that he found IL necessary
( to regulate the ratio OF the two metals
| gold and silver. il IS iuconCeivabie that
! confinement 10 the use Of the single
metal. gold. could have been followed so
/ swiftly by complications grave enough 70
| force an adjustment OF the ratio. Prob
! ably the brief allusiOn 10 PheidOn Is an
echo of a battle over the standards some
! thing like that witnessed in this coun-
| try during recent years
! Gibbon also had his troubles IN dealing
with the money questions Of antiquity.
! " Ill -
workers IN the mint which occurred dur
/ ing the reign of Aurelan. which caused
| the death OF several thousand Of the En-
| perors best troops. The historian admit
| ted himself puzzled 20 determine the
nature Of the uprising. Had he lived and
wrote toward the close Of the nineteenth
| instead Of the eighteenth century he
would have rejected as preposterous the
assumption that the rebellion was that
| Of comparatively few co!ners for il
would have been plain 10 him In our dag
| that it was revolt OF the people against
monetary regulations which bore upon
them too heavily.
But the queerest error Of all f. one
made by the most recent writers as well
as the authors of standard histories In
! attempting 10 state IN terms OF modern
money the value OF coins OF ancient
Greece and Rome Not only do historians
and their editors make this blunder but
the so-called classical dictionaries are
also guilty OF the offence OF trying 10
perform the impossible All through an
excellent translation Of Mommsen's HIS
tory Of Rome We find sums of denarii
translated into pounds shillngs and
pence. and Harpcr's Classical Dicton-
airy" gives a long definition Of the Roman
denarius I'm which we are grayely in
formed that Its original weight was SO
grains equal TO between IS and % cents.
from y. G.. III 10 Nero $3.50 about "a
cents. after Nero's time 81 grains. tho
amount Of pure silver being so reduced
that 1t was worth only l. cents Its
value subsequently, sank more and more
until At the beginning OF the third cen
tury 4. -. u Was worth only cents
The classical dictionary was published
In 1885,, when the price Of silver was
steadily declining consequently tho estl-
mated value would only have been correct
for the day on which tho calculation was
made But q dictionarys definitions are
intended for permanent reference, and the
calculations made In 1890. when silver
was at one price, would not be correct
at a later date. when II may have been
higher or lower. Obviously. then. the only
proper mode % describing the denarius
IS TO give us weight at different periods.
or, rather. that OF the amount OF pure
silver contained. II should be added that
tho English publication upon which that
published I'm the United States Is mod
clled takes the same liberty with facts
and conveys an impression OF the dena-
RUS and other ancient coins as mislead-
ing as tho reiterated assertion OF histo-
rians and other writer's that the purchas-
ing power OF money I'm antiquity was
always greater than 1t is at present.
In all OF Bohn's TRANSACTIONS OF the
classics this misleading information is
furnished 10 readers FOotnotes are sup
piled In all cases where sums OF money
are mentioned. and their alleged equiva-
lent In English money is given. Even
writer's ike Brooks Adams. who was
careful 20 note that under Augustus the
precious metals were plenty and cheap.
and the prices OF commodities were cor
respondllgly high. but that a fun gen
GRAFTON had hardly passed away before
dearth began 10 be felt" has frequent
lapses and tries 10 tell us how much
100 $4,000 scsterccs. the amount ot coin
estimated by Pliny as enrually cH ported
TO India and Arabia from Rome. was
worth I'm English money. tle amount