THE DEBASEMENT OF COINAGES. 581 



the weight and fineness of a piece of gold or silver could be easily- 

 determined was early felt. 



The first forms which could be called by the name of money were 

 ingots in various shapes, stamped or sealed with the seal of the ruler 

 as a certificate of the quality and weight of the piece, no attempt 

 being made to so fashion the coin as to guard against alteration of 

 weight. Some of the early pieces were stamped on but one side, and 

 it was only by very gradual steps that the handsome circular pieces 

 which we know as coins were evolved. But these are still defined 

 by Jevons as " ingots, of which the weight and fineness are certified 

 by the integrity of the designs impressed upon the surface of the 

 metal." 



The stamping of the bits of metal has always been assumed as a 

 prerogative of the ruler, and to supply the people with coin has come 

 to be generally considered a function of government. It will be well 

 to bear the above definition of coin in mind ; for the fashioning, stamp- 

 ing, and certification, have often caused a very important fact to be 

 lost sight of, which is, that throughout these changes the metals con- 

 tinue to be commodities and nothing more. The stamp works no al- 

 teration in the metal, any more than does the label on a bolt of mus- 

 lin, showing the width and the number of yards, convert it into some- 

 thing other than cotton cloth. The conversion of the unfashioned 

 metal into coin in no way affects the principle of exchanges, and its 

 transfer is barter just as much as it was in the beginning. 



Coins command other commodities by the amount of pure metal 

 in them. 



The silver dollar buys just as much food or clothing as would so 

 many grains of silver in any other shape ; and the stamp whether it 

 show the classical features of Kaiser William or the graceful figure of 

 the Goddess of Liberty does not increase its purchasing power, except 

 to the very slight degree which is the measure of the convenience of 

 having it converted from bullion into coin at public cost, but this 

 percentage is so small that it may for present purposes be neglected. 



But it has come about that, instead of being looked upon as simply 

 certified bullion, coin is frequently regarded as something mysterious 

 in its nature and function. 



Gold and silver, from their physical properties, are the most fit of 

 all known substances for mediums of exchange. From their general 

 use as money they are commonly spoken of as measures of value, and 

 there is no objection to this expression if it be understood to mean 

 that they constitute a term or factor constantly used in arriving at 

 the ratio which exists between the various articles of commerce ; but 

 it should be remembered that this factor is not constant, though for 

 purposes of convenience it is generally assumed to be so. As a mat- 

 ter of fact, gold and silver measure the value of commodities in pre- 

 cisely the same way that the commodities measure the value of gold 



