Show MONEY PROBLEMS OF LONG AGO romans had their troubles as did other oilier nations in in the adjustment of currencies to the demands of trade anti and public welfare the romans were slow to pet get a co coinage linage system throe three hundred years after the iho founding of the city far advanced in many respects edg romans were trading like a tribe rt of aborigines cahn writes in the tribune they were quoting prices in sheep and adf oxen the two were related in a decimal system 10 sheep equaled I 1 ox oi in etruria which lily lay northwest t of the tiber river were copper mines and at an early late into copper was wag brought broucht to rome nome it rame to he used in shields harness wn on ships and for many other purposes thus Is had biad a market value and it became the custom to use lumps of 0 it ft in making payments the government covern ment raid paid no attention to this innovation bo however m for some years at a time when pieces of copper were being bein used in trade a souse driving his chariot recklessly alons along the houle boulevard might have to settle with the judge cudse by riving driving up a loci flok of sheep since copper was sold by weight it became convenient to have pound poun lumps called an as there were also two and three pound pieces thus copper served as money before the state started issuing pieces or of metal stamped with picture of the gods mythical heroes and contemporary politicians when after aci R B C the romans became commercially ambitious and founded a maritime colony they tool up coining coi the money was bronze lead and tin being combined with raw copper the unit of value weighed an as and was called by that name silver which the roman generals found desirable to 10 have on hand band to buy army equipment as they went on conquests and which was already widely used elsewhere thanks to greek and Alexan alexandrian influence became official money in rome after ago 13 0 thereupon the double standard was adopted silverano silv silver erand and copper both being coined and a mint ratio of to 1 wig was established although sil silver er was used exclusively in the forel foreign n trade copper continued to constitute the principal money at home now silver greatly increased in quantity for one thing alexander discovered enormous treasures of both gold and silver in the orient ind set them in circulation and nd there was the great silver mine in spain which nt at one time employed minors miners this had tho the effect of cheapening silver boosting prices in terms of silver at the time when wars had cut oft the supplies of romes homes copper the value of that metal in relation to silver rose more than did the general commodity index number and furthermore copper was a commodity useful to have around while warring roman statesmen well understood groshams Gre Gres shams bams law IS 18 centuries before gresham with n double standard an increase in the supply of silver being coincident with a reduction in the supply of and an increase in the demand for copper would have led to the hoarding of copper as money it if the double stan standard was to work it was nas necessary to reduce the mint ratio from to 1 and so the size of the coin as was changed from 12 ounces of bronze to 10 8 0 and eventually to 2 ounces thus the relation of silver to copper fell as low as 20 to I 1 while the he normal sources of metal were unavailable when the peacetime peace pence time now flow of new copper was reestablished established re and the lie wartime war time demand was cut off the old ratio of to 1 was restored copper and silver performed similarly in the world war the market ratio ralio was SO 30 to I 1 in iyih now Is 78 76 to 1 devaluation of copper was not undertaken der taken by the toman roman republic at any time for profit nor to relieve the burden of debtors the ends end sought by gold de valuators today it was done to maintain the dauble standard it was the earliest example of f a successfully managed currency on the ides of march 41 44 4 1 B U C the great caesar was slain after him came emperors who used the republican precedent to debase the currency ns its a racket until its ita value was but one of what it was wag before the history of money in the lie ileman republic was a succession of readjustments to make a double standard work that the republic supplied its citizens with a sound souni and an honest medium of exchange la Is testimony both to their ability and their character |