The Coolidge examiner., 1931-08-14
Cprepared by the National Geographic
snoi.t.- Va 81 in ct On d C-l

prepared by the National Geographic
Society. Washington. ID. c.
- THIOPIA (Abyssinia), which
II has hitherto got along with
- out a money of its own, is tax
ing steps toward establishing a cur
rency and coinage system on gold
basis. Most of the citizens are now
using for their purchases bars of
salt, rifle cartridges, and even
empty bottles and tin cans. The
money necessary in international
dealings has been furnished in linn
tied supply by Maria Theresa Tha-
lerS. introduced a number OF years
ago from Austria, and by small
amount of paper money issued by
a branch of the National Bank of
Egypt. established in Adds Ababa,
capital of Ethiopia. This bank is
To be purchased by the Ethiopian
government as a first step in its pro-
gram to set up a currency and coin
age system.
When Ethiopia issues her first
bank notes and certiticateS.these bits
of linked paper will represent the
latest link in the very long chain
of the evolution of money. In
earliest times man traded or bar
tered one product or article for an
other. But the need for a common
denOminatOr of value became ap-
parent even with the first glimmer-
ings of civilization. The skins of
animals served in this way when
man was still a hunter, while shells
became the first money of tribes
living near the sea. When man
settled down and became an agri-
culturist or a herdsman, grain and
cattle came into use as his meas
ures of values. The OK was big
money" the sheep small change"
There were certain disadvan-
tages in using live stock as money.
For one thing, it might walk away
In the night; for another, it con-
sumed much provender.
The human geography of the
Near East, which had been pas
toral. about this time got an indus
trial urge A way had been found
of extracting a metal from the
earth of the island of Cyprus, ham
didly set in the eastern Mediterra-
mean. The Romans later twisted the
name of this island in such way
that the modern word "cOpper" was
derived from it.
How Copper Became Money.
Copper pots began to appear,
and, like cattle, were universally
priced. Merchants would exchange
whatever they had in their stalls
for copper pots. and the demand
for them was more nearly univer-
sal than for any other object. The
copper pot was, therefore, money.
Then into this region came one
imbued with an idea of Importance.
Instead of presenting pots for use
I'm facilitating barter. he would ten
der the copper of which they were
made. He would offer it in a con-
venient form, made up into a strip
which he called obOlus. No definite
idea of its size survives, but it was
said that six made a handful. The
obolus marked a great advance to-
ward the use of coin.
The scene shifted to the west
Italy, as it awOke from barbarism
adopted a unit of copper as a meas
ure of value. 1t called the unit as,
a Roman pound of - unciae, or
ounces, and it came into general
use.
Coins of precious metals were
however. TO come out of the Near
East. The first were made in
Lydia, a country in Asia Minor. in
the neighborhood of Smyrna, half
oriental. half Greek. In Lydia there
were gOld-bearing sands.
These early coins were made OF
electrum. which was unrefned gold
having an alloy of about 20 per
cent silver. They appeared about
200 years before Christ. A good
many survive and may be seen in
numismatic collections. They look
as if the manner of making them
had been quite simple. The metal
seems to have been poured out and
allowed TO form in roundish pud
dies. Thus did the disk develop
naturally.
At the right moment in its cool
ing IL appears 10 have been i'm
pressed with a design, much as one
may put his seal in wax on the
back of letter.
As the centuries passed in the
Mediterranean area, copper became
plentiful and its purchasing power
decreased.
Rome was getting much of thC
earth of Cyprus. Thus it developed
that an average householder of an
cient Rome, going to market t
buy for a feast day, would need Il
pack a donkey to bear the weigh
of the copper for his shopping.
The metal came to be too bulk.
in proportion to its name. Yet i
held its place until another meta
appeared that better served none.
purposes. That metal was silver
The map of the civilized world wa
expanding. Spain had begun t
produce. As copper grew too plen
tiful, silver, which had been to-