Show MONEY PROBLEMS OF LONG AGO romans hail had their troubles as did other nations in in the adjustment of currencies to the demands of trade and public welfare T the he romans were slow to pet get n coinage system a three hundred bundled years after the founding of the city far advanced in many respects rn no mans were trading like n tribe of aborigines reuben neuben colin writes in the chicago tribune they were quoting prices tn in sheep and oxen exert the two were related in a decimal system 10 sheep equaled I 1 or in etruria which lay northwest of the tiber river were copper mines and nt at nn an early date copper was wnm brought to rome nome it ramp to ile he used in shields harness wagons gons ships and for many other purposes thus Is had a market value and it became the custom to use lisp lumps of it in making payments the government no attention to tills this innovation however for some years at n time when pieces of copper were being aimed in trade a soil souse driving his chariot recklessly along the boulevard might have to settle with the judge by driving up a flock of cheep since copper was sold by weight it became convenient to have pound lumps called an as there were also two and three pound pieces thus copper served ns as money before the state started issuing pieces or of metal with picture of the pods gods mythical heroes and contemporary politicians when after 11 II C the romans romani became commercially ambitious all and founded a maritime colony they took up tip coining the money was bronze lead and tin being combined with raw copper the unit of value weighed an as and was called by that flint came silver which the roman generals pene rals found desirable lo 10 have on hand to buy army equipment as they went on oil conquests and which was already widely used elsewhere thanks to greek and Alexan alexandrian influence hc be came official money tn in rome after 13 C thereupon the ha doubli double standard was adopted sliver and cop per both being coined and a mint ratio of to 1 wits established although silver wili used exclusively in the foreign trade copper continued to constitute the principal money nt at home now sliver silver greatly in quantity for one tiling thing alexander discovered enormous treasures of both gold and silver in the orient and set them in circulation and there was the alio great silver mine in fit spain which nt at one time employed miners this find the effect of cheapening silver boosting prices in terms of silver at the time when wars had cut oft off the supplies or of romes homes copper ti alie IL value va I 1 ue of that metal in relation to silver rose more than did the general commodity inde dex number anti and furthermore copper was a commodity useful to have around while warring ronlan statesmen well understood Gre groshams CreElin shams ms law IS centuries before gresh gresham am with a double standard an increase in the ho supply of silver being coincident with a reduction in fit the supply of aud and an in Inc increase rense in the demand for copper would have led to the hoarding of copper as money if the double standard was to work it was necessary to reduce the mint ratio from to 1 and so bo the size of the coin ns as was changed front from 12 ounces of bronze to 10 8 ci 6 and eventually to 2 ounces thus the re lotion of silver to copper fell as low ns as 20 to I 1 while the normal sources of metal were unavailable when the peacetime flow of new copper was reestablished find the wartime demand was cut off the old ratio of 0 to 1 was restored copper and silver performed similarly in the world war the market ratio wim 30 to I 1 in 1117 1017 now lg fil 70 76 to 1 devaluation of copper cop ana not un tin by the roman noman republic nt at any time for or profit nor to relieve 1 the lle burden of debtors the ends sought ought by gold today it II wa was 3 lone done to maintain the double doii lile standard it was ana the earliest example of a successfully rita ringed currency on the ides of march 41 4 H B C fit alip grent caesar wits slain after him came emperors who used the re precedent to debase the hi currency ns its n q racket until its ita value was but one of what it wils before lie forc th the history lit story of money in the ro ilo twin republic was a succession of readjustments to make a double stand or ard work wark that the republic supplied its citizens with and nn honest medium of 0 exchange Is testimony both to their ability and their character |