DAVIS. 



MASSACHUSETTS CURRENCY. 



203 



cash. The Town House, A. 1712, was built at this rate; whereas at 

 present, A. 1739, from the bad influence of paper money, silver being 

 29s. per oz., he has only 12s. a clay, equal only to 3s. 4c?. of former 

 times ; and even this is farther reduced, by obliging him to take one 

 half in shop goods at 25 per cent or more advance above the money 

 price." He then proceeds to show how the purchasing power of the day's 

 wages has diminished, selecting butter for his illustration on the ground 

 that it rose the most uniformly of all provisions. When wages were 5s. 

 per day, butter was 4c?. per pound, and the laborer could buy 15 pounds 

 with one day's wages. His 12s. would only purchase 7 pounds, butter 

 being then 20d. a pound. The salaries of clergymen had more than 

 doubled, but the purchasing power of the salaries had diminished thirty- 

 three per cent. 



Tliare is much to be learned from a study of the attempts at remedial 

 legislation during this period. The subject of the adjustment of the 

 relations between debtors and creditors, and the application of the legal 

 tender function to the bills, raised complications which occupied much of 

 the time of the General Court, and the various attempts to reconcile 

 the divergent interests of the debtor and creditor classes are entitled to 

 careful consideration. The material bearing upon these questions is, how- 

 ever, too prolific for any attempt at analysis here. 



The form of the public bill has already been indicated. It was in 

 effect a certificate of indebtedness, and on that theory, when it found its 



