The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 1 (of 9): Being His Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and PrivateJefferson, Thomas
History
The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 1 (of 9): Being His Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and Private
Jefferson, Thomas
United States -- Politics and government -- 1775-1783; United States -- Politics and government -- 1783-1865
II. That its parts and multiples be in _an easy proportion_ to each
other, so as to facilitate the money arithmetic.
III. That the Unit and its parts, or divisions, be _so nearly of the
value of some of the known coins_, as that they may be of easy adoption
for the people.
The Spanish Dollar seems to fulfil all these conditions.
I. Taking into our view all money transactions, great and small,
I question if a common measure of more _convenient size_ than the
Dollar could be proposed. The value of 100, 1000, 10,000 dollars is
well estimated by the mind; so is that of the tenth or the hundredth
of a dollar. Few transactions are above or below these limits. The
expediency of attending to the size of the money Unit will be evident,
to any one who will consider how inconvenient it would be to a
manufacturer or merchant, if, instead of the yard for measuring cloth,
either the inch or the mile had been made the Unit of Measure.
II. The most _easy ratio_ of multiplication and division, is that by
ten. Every one knows the facility of Decimal Arithmetic. Every one
remembers, that, when learning Money-Arithmetic, he used to be puzzled
with adding the farthings, taking out the fours and carrying them on;
adding the pence, taking out the twelves and carrying them on; adding
the shillings, taking out the twenties and carrying them on; but when
he came to the pounds, where he had only tens to carry forward, it was
easy and free from error. The bulk of mankind are school-boys through
life. These little perplexities are always great to them. And even
mathematical heads feel the relief of an easier, substituted for a
more difficult process. Foreigners, too, who trade and travel among
us, will find a great facility in understanding our coins and accounts
from this ratio of subdivision. Those who have had occasion to convert
the livres, sols, and deniers of the French; the gilders, stivers, and
frenings of the Dutch; the pounds, shillings, pence, and farthings of
these several States, into each other, can judge how much they would
have been aided, had their several subdivisions been in a decimal
ratio. Certainly, in all cases, where we are free to choose between
easy and difficult modes of operation, it is most rational to choose
the easy. The Financier, therefore, in his report, well proposes that
our Coins should be in decimal proportions to one another. If we adopt
the Dollar for our Unit, we should strike four coins, one of gold, two
of silver, and one of copper, viz.:
1. A golden piece, equal in value to ten dollars:
2. The Unit or Dollar itself, of silver:
3. The tenth of a Dollar, of silver also:
4. The hundredth of a Dollar, of copper.
Compare the arithmetical operations, on the same sum of money expressed
in this form, and expressed in the pound sterling and its division.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account