1 ,
Vol. XV.
LINCOLN NEB., NOVEMBER 19, 1903.
No. 26.
.History of Monetary Systems..
A Review of r. Del Mar's
Book by the Associate Editor
Even in a review of more than usual
length, one can give little more than
a glimpse of the valuable historical
data, and still more valuable conclu
sions, with which Hon. Alexander Del
Mar has filled his "History of Mone
. tary Systems." (Cambridge Encyclo
pedia Co., New York; 49G pp. and in
dex; cloth, $2.)
In order to give the reader a com
prehensive view of the scope of this
monumental work, it may be well to
give the titles to tire various chapters:
Bibliography. (This is an exceed
- ingly useful feature of all of Mr. Del
Mar's books.) '
1. Rome.
2. The Sacred Character of Gold.
3. Pounds, Shillings and Pence.
4. Gothic Moneys.
5. Moslem Moneys.
6. Early English Moneys.
7. Moneys of the Heptarchy.
8. Anglo-Norman Moneys.
. 9. Early Plantagenet Moneys.
10. Later Plantagenet Moneys.
11. Evolution of the Coinage Pre
rogative. 12. Saxony and Scandinavia.
13. The Netherlands.
14. Germany.
15. Private Coinage.
16. Statistics of the Ratio.
17. Bank Suspensions Since the Era
of Private Coinage.
18. Existing Monetary Systems.
19. France.
Before taking up these chapters, it
in advisable to give" the reader some
inkling of certain conclusions arrived
at by Mr. Del Mar early in his investi
gation of the whole subject of money
and the precious metals. Perhaps a
quotation will best serve this pur
pose: . "Money is not, the principal use to
which the precious metals are devoted,
(but) it is by far the most Important
one. It is a peculiarity of money that
it cannot-wlth propriety be treated in
its functional capacity apart from
other money, because, unlike physical
measures, its function is affected by
numbers. To increase or diminish the
number of yardsticks or pound
weights would have no effect upon the
measurement of length or weight;
whilst to increase or diminish the
number of coins or bank notes would
have a very decided influence upon
the measurement of value. This is a
principle which has not been left to
modern discovery, lor it will be dis
i cerned in the most ancient works
which have been spared to us by time
.. and proscription. In its relation to
value, money therefore means all the
money of a given epoch, or else all the
money within a given jurisdiction.
".To admit that it is the' quantity of
the precious metals coined aud in cir
culation which influences their value
and not what it may have cost to pro
duce them, is to admit that value is a
relation and not an attribute
of commodities; it is to admit that
money is a measure or measurer of
value; that like other measures it is a
creation of law; and that. to work
equitably it should, lUe other meas
uiea, be defined and limbed by law
with precision." (Preface to "History
of the Precious Metals," second edi
tion.) Mr. Del Mar, accordingly, insl.Hts
that "the unit of money properly
means all the money In a given slate,"
commenting that "unit of money, or
monetary unit, or unit coin, has ac
quiror the meaning of the principal
denomination of money, as the sover
eign in England, the iranc la France,
the imperial mark In Germany, etc.
This la mUioadtng. because It as
fctimrs that the taluo of money u de
termined by the quantity of metal
contained In the o-c tiled unit;
whereas H U In point of fact Utr
jrlned by the arithmetical denomina
tion and ftFtrcKut tolt.iue of all tho
u.lt,' Including paper imtc'it, no mat
ter how much or how littlo metal th
former may contain. Tbl principle I
admitted, but often forgotten, by all
the leading cnummlM it ml writers on
money." (Hist. Mont tary Hyatema,
IP. 3 JVC.)
Concretely, Mr. Del Mar portion
B ay b ftUtrtl thu: T coin ami all.
My, a hundred million dollar to our
j'tweut circulation would b in ftp
parent increase In the size of the true
"unit" of money, comparable, say, to
adding another inch to the yardstick,
not, however, by actually increasing
the linear extension of the yardstick
itself, but by re-subdividing it so that
37 inches occupy the same space that
was formerly occupied by 36. Appar
ently the yardstick is an inch longer;
but it has not changed; It is the inch
that will be found shorter than bo
fore. So while there has. been an
actual increase in the number of dol
lars, the total mass of dollars, assum
ing no change in velocity, does not
change In its purchasing power; but
each dollar has a smaller purchasing
power than before. Supposing the to
tal number of dlars to be 5, each is
one-fifth of the whole or "unit."- Add
another dollar; each is then one-sixth
of the whole or "unit," each dollar
being of manifestly smaller value
than it was before.
Mr. Del Mar begins his .".History of
Monetary Systems" by saying' that
since he wrote his "History of Money
in Ancient States" (1881), "many
hoards of Roman coins have been dis
covered, and many Important numis
matic works have been published and
discussed." These throw so much new
light on the Roman monetary sys
tems that he finds a revision neces
sary. "I must begin, says Mr. Del
Mar, "by assigning a lower value to
the monetary evidences contained in
Pliny's 'Natural History' than was
done in my former work. Pliny was
far from being well-informea on the
subject of Roman money. He wrote
hundreds of years after tne estab
lishment of those earlier monetary
systems of Rome, whose metallic re
mains have been preserved by the
earth to the modem world, but of
which no collections appear to have
existed In bis time. His observations
on the . subject are gathered rather
from- grammatical than historical
works, of .which, owing to the proscrip
tions of Augustus,' but few were ex
tant in Pliny's time."
"It has Hong been demonstrated,"
continues the author, "that the ec
clesiastical and political history of
if An -
- A X'" -
' - ' -:- " M
hvr - U' far . V
pmMfe V' . 'ft V
l. ''ii:''l! .iLv''"' 'r?t--r ': V .',. jriM.v.v;..
Sr" Z '4& It ' yc, V 4 t --;(; df
, ' t 1 ' - ' r . i - 1 f Cjf :i.le.f
-'4'..'A'fc44 v...'? -v it
" , ,w-T -i r- - 't jii,'
X .,.F:r..:.,. i-r.v
HON. ALEXANDER DEL MAR.
Alexander Del Mar was born in the
city of New York, August 9, 1830. Af
ter graduating at a Polytechnic, he
was educated as a civil and mining
engineer. In 1&37 he formed the de
sign Of writing a history of the prec
ious metals. This led to his study of
money. In lKOi he published -(Sold
Money and Paper Money," and In
l!sG5 "Essays on the Treasury," In
this year he wan appointed director of
tne bureau of suiUmIIi'D, at that time
a board of trade, with txocutlve func
tion, among others the tup rvlsio: of
I ho commbbioneiti of m I lieu, com
merce, railway, iiHiiUiatiwii. Ac, In
Im;i h wat appointed t ho American
tlelouato to the i;tcrnuioiml tonn-n
which met nt Turin, Italy and In lut.H
t!t legate to The Hague. In W1 (Gree
ley campaign) he wu lioiuluutcd by
Mr. (riK,y' frh-utU for semtary of
thrt treasury, If ' c natmo )car he
ItpreHeUtol tho United Mnlct at the
Itteruati fa lonsreti) In Ht, l'vtera
Ixtru, Husjia.
In ho wad appointed mlnln
COIiinihjloller tl tin I'liUed Mtttet
monetary tommUdo-t; clerk to
tne tomtnltte on natal ripeuditurr,
houtt of r I'rest ntatlvr; 1S70, he
piihllnhed hi "HUtory 'f th I'reclouii
Metal." the labor of twcntyto
years; 1881, he published "A History
of Money In Ancient States;" 1885,
"Money and Civilization, o- a His
tory of Money In Modern States;" 1889,
"Tho Science of Money;" 1895, his
crowning work, "A History, of Mone
tary Systems in Various States," 1898,
"The Science of Money," 2d ed.; 1899.
"A History of Monetary Crimes;"
1900, "The Si lence of Money," 3d ed.;
19U0, "A History of Money in Ameri
ca;" 1901, "A HUory of Monetary
Systems," 3d !.; beside several his
torical work and archaeological trea
tise of great Interest, all of which
have been reviewed with tho highest
(ommendaiiona by English, French
and American critic. Mr, Del Mu
h likowUo lli author of numerous
pamphlet and other minor p'it,lla.
lion thletly oil illtlco-tH.'oitoinlc
tophi.
For the p,tt tvunty yr. Mr. 1m
,!.tr h.u r.Iven pnu lh ally hi wl d
tliuo to tuigliuil itKttmh lu the tcrc.it
lltrarles and I it ctdlectlttti of En
top tut the Httje. t if tho history of
Money and lUiaiue, 1 1 1 i-iturf works,
loth of whl h ar well a ltat ,et to
ward mplction. will t a new edl
thu f the ' HUtory of the I'rclouii
Metal," In hut vo'ume , and ' The
l olilhi of Money t" n m volume,
archaic Rome Is fabulous. To this
must now be added its early monetary
history. That, too, is fabulous. It is
quite nossible that the errliest money
of Rome was tho ace grave, or heavy
copper brick, held as a 'reserve' but
'represented' In the .circulation by
leather notes. It is also possible tnat
this was followed by the ace slgnatum
and afterwards by silver coins. Ac
cording to Charisius, Varro wrote:
'It is said that silver money was first
made ("conflatum") by Servius Tul
lius. It was more valuable by four
scrupulums than it is now.' " The de
narius contained about 60 English
grains of silver during the Augastan
age, when Varro write, "but," adds
Mr. Del Mar, "as he was a bookworm, (
who . gathered his knowledge . chiefly
from ancient authors, these circum
stances go for nothing."
After some discussion of the con
tentions of numismatists, Mr. Del Mar
concludes that "the order of .systems
was ... as follows: 1. Ace grave, with
leather notes; 2. Ace slgnatum; 3. Sil
ver (and copper) system mentioned by
Varro, the silver coins (denarii)
weighing each about 118 grains, many
specimens of these coins being still
extant; 4. A. U. 3C9, nummulary sys
tem; 5. A. U. 437, gold, silver ana cop
per system, the'silver denarius weigh
ing 78 3-4 grains,"
"Both the examples of the Greek
H publics and the writings of Plato
and other philosophers had taught the
Romans the advantages of a 1' mi ted
and exclusive system of money issued
by the state, and having little or no
worth other than what it derived from
its usefulness and efficiency In meas
uring the value of commo'dities and
services. The proof that the Romans
weie familiar with such a system of
money appears i.i the writings of Paul
ue, the ; jurisconsult, who enunciated
its principles Jong after the sjstem
had ceased to exist. Hid no sue s
tem ever existed In Rome, Paulus
would have had no warrant In the
Roman law for the monetary prin
ciples he laid down. As felted paper
was unknown,Nthe symbols 'of this
system could most conveniently be
made of copper. Therefore, the means
accessary to secure and maintain such
a money were for the state to monop
olize the copper mines, restrict the
commerce in copper, strike copper
pieces of high artistic merit, in order
to defeat counterfeiting, stamp them
with the mark of the state, render
them the sole legal tenders for the
payment of domestic contracts, taxes,
flues, and debts, limit their emission
rntil their value (from 4 universal de
mand for them and their comparative
scarcity) rose to more than that of
the metal of which they were com
posed, and maintain such restriction
and over-valuation as the permanent
policy of the state. For foreign trade
or diplomacy a supply of gold and sil
ver, coined and uncoined, could be
kept In the treasury. There arc am
ple evidence that means of this char
acter were, In fact, employed by the
Ioman republic; and, theiefore, that
such was the system of money It
idopted."
This was the "nummulary" syttcm.
I.ronze nu.nwi were Issued by the
state, which had monopolized tho cop
per mines and regulated the commerce
in copper. It etrlctly monopolized the
fabrication of these numinl, the de
signs of which were of great beauty;
they were the nolo leal tenders for
payment of "contracts, taxes, tines,
and debts;" their emission was m
limited that the value of a minimus was
ft I out five t i;ncg a Rreat as the t.anio
tight of uncoined copper "and for
a lengthy period thiy retained this
It A ov?r-va!t.atinn." but etent aall.v
the nyntent broke down, probably and
n.o&t likely hecauae of the crafty work
of thw who havtt t;nglnecrcd mono
tHty crimes In all n:a-ttn usurer.
To avoid ttkln up too much paci
we tiuHt tome to tho )rtr A. lf. 7H
(&!h.u 13 II. c.i, when the K mum
cringe itent wat permanently or
f aulted under Augiifttu "The toln
in;4 preroKtthe was divided between
the Ni.mdgn-pontJS' and the senate,
the Cornier tetalnlng that of Ro!d an4
reulKnhiR to tht latter that of illver
nnl copper. In a kl.ort tlivo, thtougb
I