The Coolidge examiner., 1931-08-14

| scarce, began TO appear in sufficient
as money. Two centuries before
Caesar it had won its place as the
fittest of metals for such use.
Silver ruled the money world for
1000 years Maps were made and
remade under its influence.
Civilization moved westward and
Charlemagne established an en-
pire of the French in the Eight
eenth century on a silver stand
ard. He formally decreed that
the pound of silver should be
the basic measure of value, and a
continent accepted his edict. SO
it happens that in France today
the word argent means money
although its literal significance is
| silver"
Money of England.
Money history began to- be writ
ten in another geographical area.
| The English began to talk of the
pound" in designating a money
unit. This is the silver pound Of
| Charlemagne.
Originally 240 pennies were made
from the pound of silver, and al
though the pound (sterling) has be-
come a measure of value and not
of weight, the relation to the old
value standard continues - 240
pence to the pound (sterling).
The English word shilling has
a geographical origin that is quite
different. 1t was first used by the
blonde barbarians of the North.
These warriors and their opponents
were given to wearing rings of sill
yer or gold. After battles the
rings of the slain were highly
priced by the victors, and were
gathered and properly distributed
by an official who had charge of
this division of spoils. He was
known as the ring-breaker and was
actually the first treasury official of
these northern tribes.
The rings were so made that they
broke up into bits of a somewhat
uniform size One fragment was
called a "schillingas." In the North
it was an early form of money, and
from it came the shilling. so dear
to the English heart today.
The world was short of actual
money from Caesar to Columbus.
There was little progress during
that long stretch, and there appears
to be some soundneSS in the theory
that the absence of a circulating
medium in sufficient quantity TO
make development possible was, in
part, the reason for the stagnation.
Yet, despite its scarcity, money
events were taking place about the
map of Europe and seem, in retro
spect, to have been in preparation
for the coming of better days.
Origin of the Dollar.
Toward the end of the time of
shortage there appeared in the In
terror of medieval Europe an indi-
vidual who was to write a chapter
of money history that has come
down strangely into modern times
and to give a new nation of the
|
have profound effect. This man
made the first dollar in all the
world, and gave it a name-which
though the etymology is not appar-
ent at glance, becomes upon ex,
animation the lineal ancestor of the
word dollar"
The count of Schlick, for such
was his title, dwelt in st. Joachims.
tahl (Joachim's Dale), mining
region of Bohemia. The patron
saint of the community was st
Joachim.
Here the count of Schlick, in
1916 appropriated a silver mine
AS his retainers took out the pre-
ciOus metal, the master laid his
finger to his temple and considered
the purpose to which he should put
it. He must hive been a man OF
perception, for he seemed to realize
that he dwelt in a money-hungry
world, and that his silver would
serve best if made into coin.
At any rate he devised a new one
all his own. On its face appeared
a reproduction of st. Joachim, anC
it was named after that person
age and the community which gave
it birth-JOachims 1t wa!
the first dollar.
Now note the evolution of the
word dollar" from this, it!
polysyllabic ancestor. When the
JOachimsthaler found its way int
medieval Germany it was warml!
, welcomed. A practical people, how
ever, soon tired of the length of it
name, and by a judiciOus dropping
} of syllables it became the "thaler.
, The word in that form still sur
/ wives in Germany.
When the thaler pasesd into thu
! Netherlands its pronunciation wa
somewhat changed. There it wa
! called the "daler." Then it crossed
, to England, where, by use of tn,
broad "a," daler became dollar.
) Under this modified name ant
, geographically transplanted, tn
: Joachimsthaler of the count o
} Schlick has grown and prOspered