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4 tlbe Conservative *
MONKY : ITS OUIGIN AND FUNCTION.
[ Written for TIIK CONSKHVATIVK. ]
As n definition of money , some one
has said that "money is what money
does. " Gen. Francis A. Walker some
what similarly stated it , as "that which
does the money work is the money
thing. " Aristotle , the pagan philoso
pher , who lived about -100 yeurs before
the Christian era , defined money as an
"intermediary commodity designed to
facilitate the exchange of two other
commodities. " These definitions maybe
bo said to give the idea of money in a
word , but to understand it in detail it
will aid materially to know how it
started and grew up , and thus it will be
easier to understand it as it is.
The word money is a derivative from
Juno Moneta , the name of a temple at
Rome that was for
The Definition. ,
many years used
as a mint , which in Latin is called
moncla. The idea of money originated
with society in its most primitive state ,
when trade was carried on by barter ,
from which the idea of using some par
ticular thing to mediate the exchange of
all other things grew by insensible
degrees.
The difficulty that was experienced in
exchanging commodities by barter , was
in finding two persons who had the
things mutually desired by each other ,
which as can readily bo imagined would
not easily happen. If , for instance , a
person wished to exchange corn for
beef , those who had the beef to exchange
would perhaps just then have all the
corn they needed. To overcome this
difficulty , some commodity had to be
selected which all were willing to re
ceive for a time , and which could
readily be exchanged in purchase of
other commodities. This common com
modity served as a medium , by which
the exchange of other commodities was
made , and generally consisted of articles
that had at first been exchanged by
barter. The articles that were of the
least perishable nature were the ones
that naturally developed into money ,
owing to the fact that they could be the
longer preserved to serve for a future
exchange. Thus in the most primitive
state of society , the hunting state , the
hunter having supplied his wants for
food from the flesh of the animal after
a successful chase , would preserve the
hide or fur to serve as clothing , and this
having a value as such , besides being
the least perishable , naturally came to
be the best article to use for the purchase
of other commodities.
When society had grown to the
pastoral state , sheep and cattle were
, . , , , . used as money be-
„ „ . . .
Eurly Capitalists. , ,
cause they could
bo so readily transferred , and being the
most common form of wealth their
value was most generally understood.
Ill Homer's poems that depict society in
the pastoral condition , frequent mention
is made of oxen as an instrument of ex
change and to estimate the value of
other commodities the arms of war
riors being so estimated , those of Diomed
being valued at nine oxen and those of
Glaucus one hundred.
"Then did the FOII of Saturn take away
The judging mind of Glaucus , when ho gave
His arms of gold away for arms of brass
Worn by Tydides Dioined , the worth
Of live scorn oxen for the worth of nine. "
In the agricultural state of society
many articles produced from the soil
served as money , such as barley , wheat
and oats in different parts of Europe ,
rice in India and tea in China. At the
time of the conquest in 1520 , chocolate
seeds were found to be in use as money
among the Mexicans , about twenty of
which were the value of an English
penny. They were put up in bags , a
specified number in each ; and they still
formed part of the currency of the
natives of Yucatan the early part of
the present century , as related by a
traveller in a work published at that
period. The American aborigines had a
peculiar kind of money , which con
sisted of black and white beads made of
small cylindrical shells , brightly polished
and strung together into belts , making
a sort of money known as wampuin.
The difference in the color represented
two qualities , one of the black beads
being rated as worth two of the white.
This wampuni obtained such general
circulation among the early settlers that
it became legal tender money among
the planters of Massachusetts , and the
court ordered that it be received in pay
ment of debts to the amount of forty
shillings. Indian corn and tobacro also
served as money among the early set
tlers , the former being made legal tender
in 1041. Legal tender is money one is
obliged to accept in settlement of a
debt , unless otherwise stipulated in the
contract , so as to avoid uncertainty in
their interpretation. "The govern
ment , " explains Prof. S. Nowcomb ,
"declares what money shall be legal
tender among its citizens , that is , what
kind of money when tendered by a
debtor shall legally discharge a debt. "
When the metals were discovered and
the art of mining was developed , a less
perishable mater-
Metallic Money. . , , .
ial was obtained
with which to exchange commodities , to
which the articles that had served the
purposes theretofore gradually gave
way. Wo read that copper was the
chief money among the early Hebrew
nations , as it was also of ancient Rome
until B. O. 209 , when silver was first
coined by them. But a very little over
a century ago the chief money of
Sweden consisted of plates of copper ,
the two daler piece weighing about
three and a half pounds. According to
Plutarch iron was the chief money
among the Spartans , so ordered by
Lycurgus to restrict trading ; and it
was of "great size and weight and of
small value , so that the equivalent for
ten minao ( about $150.00) ) required a
great room for its storage and a yoke of
oxen to draw it. " The same historian
tells us that the object of such a cum
brous money , was to prevent its being
used for the purchase of foreign luxury.
Gold and silver we read of having
been used for exchange purposes from
the earliest times of which there is
authentic history , and the many refer
ences to them in the scriptures show
them to have been in use several cen
turies before Homer's poems were writ
ten , supposed to have been about the
9th century B. O. The reason these
metals came to be so highly esteemed
among the most primitive people , is
evident when we remember how the
tendency of mankind has ever been to
seek the possession of things that are
rare , things that nobody else has , aside
from , any useful use they may be put
to. Add to this the lustrous color of
gold and silver that glistens so brilliant
ly in the sunlight , together with their
malleability , which enabled them , to be
easily hammered into different shapes ,
and it is easy to understand how a
desire for their possession early became
general to ornament and decorate the
person. In the ruder state of society
when wealth did not have the protection
of laws as in the more developed state ,
accumulations were of necessity largely
represented by whatever was most
highly prized and of small bulk in pro
portion to its worth. Such articles
were naturally the ones that were found
to have a ready exchange. Gold and
silver being something everybody de
sired to possess were always exchange
able ; and being capable of being divided
into large or small quantities without
loss by reason of their divisible and
fusible natures , besides containing much
value in comparatively small quantity ,
together with the fact that they would
not waste away by corrosion or rust ,
they were seen to possess the qualities
most needed in money. As this became
apparent by usage , it was but a step to
recognize it by law.
It is therefore resonable to suppose ,
and indeed there is abundant evidence
to show , that the
, , , , .
„ . .
Value by Weight. , , , „
early method of
exchanging gold and silver for other
articles was by weight. Evidence of
this is found in the 28d chapter of
Genesis and IGth verse , where we read
that "Abraham weighed to Ephron the
silver , which he had named in the
audience of the sous of Heth , four
hundred shekels of silver , current money
with the merchant. " The Romans
weighed these metals according to a
method known as the "copper and the
balance , " which was known to be in
use as late as during the empire in set
tling large payments because of the
debased condition of the coins that were
in circulation. To weigh gold , and also
r.