Of Money as a Medium of Exchange

On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures by Charles Babbage is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here. Of Money as a Medium of Exchange

Chapter 14. Of Money as a Medium of Exchange

166. In the earlier stages of societies the interchange of the few commodities required was conducted by barter, but as soon as their wants became more varied and extensive, the necessity of having some common measure of the value of all commodities— itself capable of subdivision—became apparent: thus money was introduced. In some countries shells have been employed for this purpose; but civilized nations have, by common consent, adopted the precious metals.(1*) The sovereign power has, in most countries, assumed the right of coining; or, in other words, the right of stamping with distinguishing marks, pieces of metal having certain forms and weights and a certain degree of fineness: the marks becoming a guarantee, to the people amongst whom the money circulates, that each piece is of the required weight and quality.

The expense of manufacturing gold into coin, and that of the loss arising from wear, as well as of interest on the capital invested in it, must either be defrayed by the State, or be compensated by a small reduction in its weight, and is a far less cost to the nation than the loss of time and inconvenience which would arise from a system of exchange or barter.

167. These coins are liable to two inconveniences: they may be manufactured privately by individuals, of the same quality, and similarly stamped; or imitations may be made of inferior metal, or of diminished weight. The first of these inconveniences would be easily remedied by making the current value of the coin nearly equal to that of the same weight of the metal; and the second would be obviated by the caution of individuals in examining the external characters of each coin, and partly by the punishment inflicted by the State on the perpetrators of such frauds.

     
     

168. The subdivisions of money vary in different countries, and much time may be lost by an inconvenient system of division. The effect is felt in keeping extensive accounts, and particularly in calculating the interest on loans, or the discount upon bills of exchange. The decimal system is the best adapted to facilitate all such calculations; and it becomes an interesting question to consider whether our own currency might not be converted into one decimally divided. The great step, that of abolishing the guinea, has already been taken without any inconvenience, and but little is now required to render the change complete.

     
     

169. If, whenever it becomes necessary to call in the half-crowns, a new coin of the value of two shillings were issued, which should be called by some name implying a unit (a prince, for instance), we should have the tenth part of a sovereign. A few years after, when the public were familiar with this coin, it might be divided into one hundred instead of ninety-six farthings; and it would then consist of twenty-five pence, each of which would be four per cent. less in value than the former penny. The shillings and six-pences being then withdrawn from circulation, their place might be supplied with silver coins each worth five of the new pence, and by others of ten-pence, and of twopence halfpenny; the latter coin, having a distinct name, would be the tenth part of a prince.

     
     

170. The various manufactured commodities, and the various property possessed by the inhabitants of a country, all become measured by the standard thus introduced. But it must be observed that the value of gold is itself variable; and that, like all other commodities, its price depends on the extent of the demand compared with that of the supply.

     
     

171. As transactions multiply, and the sums to be paid become large, the actual transfer of the precious metals from one individual to another is attended with inconvenience and difficulty, and it is found more convenient to substitute written promises to pay on demand specified quantities of gold. These promises are called bank-notes; and when the person or body issuing them is known to be able to fulfil the pledge, the note will circulate for a long time before it gets into the hands of any person who may wish to make use of the gold it represents. These paper representatives supply the place of a certain quantity of gold; and, being much cheaper, a large portion of the expense of a metallic circulation is saved by their employment.

     
     

172. As commercial transactions increase, the transfer of bank-notes is, to a considerable extent, superseded by shorter processes. Banks are established, into which all monies are paid, and out of which all payments are made, through written orders called checks, drawn by those who keep accounts with them. In a large capital, each bank receives, through its numerous customers, checks payable by every other; and if clerks were sent round to receive the amount in banknotes due from each, it would occupy much time, and be attended with some risk and inconvenience.

     
     

173. Clearing house. In London this is avoided, by making all checks paid in to bankers pass through what is technically called The Clearing House. In a large room in Lombard Street, about thirty clerks from the several London bankers take their stations, in alphabetical order, at desks placed round the room; each having a small open box by his side, and the name of the firm to which he belongs in large characters on the wall above his head. From time to time other clerks from every house enter the room, and, passing along, drop into the box the checks due by that firm to the house from which this distributor is sent. The clerk at the table enters the amount of the several checks in a book previously prepared, under the name of the bank to which they are respectively due.

     
     

Four o'clock in the afternoon is the latest hour to which the boxes are open to receive checks; and at a few minutes before that time, some signs of increased activity begin to appear in this previously quiet and business-like scene. Numerous clerks then arrive, anxious to distribute, up to the latest possible moment, the checks which have been paid into the houses of their employers.

At four o'clock all the boxes are removed, and each clerk adds up the amount of the checks put into his box and payable by his own to other houses. He also receives another book from his own house, containing the amounts of the checks which their distributing clerk has put into the box of every other banker. Having compared these, he writes out the balances due to or from his own house, opposite the name of each of the other banks; and having verified this statement by a comparison with the similar list made by the clerks of those houses, he sends to his own bank the general balance resulting from this sheet, the amount of which, if it is due from that to other houses, is sent back in bank-notes.

At five o'clock the Inspector takes his seat; when each clerk, who has upon the result of all the transactions a balance to pay to various other houses, pays it to the inspector, who gives a ticket for the amount. The clerks of those houses to whom money is due, then receive the several sums from the inspector, who takes from them a ticket for the amount. Thus the whole of these payments are made by a double system of balance, a very small amount of bank-notes passing from hand to hand, and scarcely any coin.

174. It is difficult to form a satisfactory estimate of the sums which daily pass through this operation: they fluctuate from two millions to perhaps fifteen. About two millions and a half may possibly be considered as something like an average, requiring for its adjustment, perhaps, L200,000 in bank notes and L20 in specie. By an agreement between the different bankers, all checks which have the name of any firm written across them must pass through the clearing house: consequently, if any such check should be lost, the firm on which it is drawn would refuse to pay it at the counter; a circumstance which adds greatly to the convenience of commerce.

     
     

The advantage of this system is such, that two meetings a day have been recently established—one at twelve, the other at three o'clock; but the payment of balances takes place once only, at five o'clock.

If all the private banks kept accounts with the Bank of England, it would be possible to carry on the whole of these transactions with a still smaller quantity of circulating medium.

175. In reflecting on the facility with which these vast transactions are accomplished—supposing, for the sake of argument, that they form only the fourth part of the daily transactions of the whole community—it is impossible not to be struck with the importance of interfering as little as possible with their natural adjustment. Each payment indicates a transfer of property made for the benefit of both parties; and if it were possible, which it is not, to place, by legal or other means, some impediment in the way which only amounted to one-eighth per cent, such a species of friction would produce a useless expenditure of nearly four millions annually: a circumstance which is deserving the attention of those who doubt the good policy of the expense incurred by using the precious metals for one portion of the currency of the country.

     
     

176. One of the most obvious differences between a metallic and a paper circulation is, that the coin can never, by any panic or national danger, be reduced below the value of bullion in other civilized countries; whilst a paper currency may, from the action of such causes, totally lose its value. Both metallic and paper money, it is true, may be depreciated, but with very different effects.

     
     

177. Depreciation of coin. The state may issue coin of the same nominal value, but containing only half the original quantity of gold, mixed with some cheap alloy; but every piece so issued bears about with it internal evidence of the amount of the depreciation: it is not necessary that every successive proprietor should analyse the new coin; but a few having done so, its intrinsic worth becomes publicly known. Of course the coin previously in circulation is now more valuable as bullion, and quickly disappears. All future purchases adjust themselves to the new standard, and prices are quickly doubled; but all past contracts also are vitiated, and all persons to whom money is owing, if compelled to receive payment in the new coin, are robbed of one-half of their debt, which is confiscated for the benefit of the debtor.

     
     

178. Depreciation of paper. The depreciation of paper money follows a different course. If, by any act of the Government paper is ordained to be a legal tender for debts, and, at the same time, ceases to be exchangeable for coin, those who have occasion to purchase of foreigners, who are not compelled to take the notes, will make some of their payments in gold; and if the issue of paper, unchecked by the power of demanding the gold it represents, be continued, the whole of the coin will soon disappear. But the public, who are obliged to take the notes, are unable, by any internal evidence, to detect the extent of their depreciation; it varies with the amount in circulation, and may go on till the notes shall be worth little more than the paper on which they are printed. During the whole of this time every creditor is suffering to an extent which he cannot measure; and every bargain is rendered uncertain in its advantage, by the continually changing value of the medium through which it is conducted. This calamitous course has actually been run in several countries: in France, it reached nearly its extreme limit during the existence of assignats. We have ourselves experienced some portion of the misery it creates; but by a return to sounder principles, have happily escaped the destruction and ruin which always attends the completion of that career.

     
     

179. Every person in a civilized country requires, according to his station in life, the use of a certain quantity of money, to make the ordinary purchases of the articles which he consumes. The same individual pieces of coin, it is true, circulate again and again, in the same district: the identical piece of silver, received by the workman on Saturday night, passing through the hands of the butcher, the baker, and the small tradesman, is, perhaps, given by the latter to the manufacturer in exchange for his check, and is again paid into the hands of the workman at the end of the succeeding week. Any deficiency in this supply of money is attended with considerable inconvenience to all parties. If it be only in the smaller coins, the first effect is a difficulty in procuring small change; then a disposition in the shopkeepers to refuse change unless a purchase to a certain amount be made; and, finally, a premium in money will be given for changing the larger denominations of coin.

     
     

Thus money itself varies in price, when measured by other money in larger masses: and this effect takes place whether the circulating medium is metallic or of paper. These effects have constantly occurred, and particularly during the late war; and, in order to relieve it, silver tokens for various sums were issued by the Bank of England.

The inconvenience and loss arising from a deficiency of small money fall with greatest weight on the classes whose means are least; for the wealthier buyers can readily procure credit for their small purchases, until their bill amounts to one of the larger coins.

178. As money, when kept in a drawer, produces nothing, few people, in any situation of life, will keep, either in coin or in notes, more than is immediately necessary for their use; when, therefore, there are no profitable modes of employing money, a superabundance of paper will return to the source from whence it issued, and an excess of coin will be converted into bullion and exported.

     
     

179. Since the worth of all property is measured by money, it is obviously conducive to the general welfare of the community, that fluctuations in its value should be rendered as small and as gradual as possible.

     
     

The evils which result from sudden changes in the value of money will perhaps become more sensible, if we trace their effects in particular instances. Assuming, as we are quite at liberty to do, an extreme case, let us suppose three persons, each possessing a hundred pounds: one of these, a widow advanced in years, and who, by the advice of her friends, purchases with that sum an annuity of twenty pounds a year during her life: and let the two others be workmen, who, by industry and economy, have each saved a hundred pounds out of their wages; both these latter persons proposing to procure machines for calendering, and to commence that business. One of these invests his money in a savings' bank; intending to make his own calendering machine, and calculating that he shall expend twenty pounds in materials, and the remaining eighty in supporting himself and in paying the workmen who assist him in constructing it. The other workman, meeting with a machine which he can buy for two hundred pounds, agrees to pay for it a hundred pounds immediately, and the remainder at the end of a twelvemonth. Let us now imagine some alteration to take place in the currency, by which it is depreciated one-half: prices soon adjust themselves to the new circumstances, and the annuity of the widow, though nominally of the same amount, will, in reality, purchase only half the quantity of the necessaries of life which it did before. The workman who had placed his money in the savings' bank, having perhaps purchased ten pounds' worth of materials, and expended ten pounds in labour applied to them, now finds himself, by this alteration in the currency, possessed nominally of eighty pounds, but in reality of a sum which will purchase only half the labour and materials required to finish his machine; and he can neither complete it, from want of capital, nor dispose of what he has already done in its unfinished state for the price it has cost him. In the meantime, the other workman, who had incurred a debt of a hundred pounds in order to complete the purchase of his calendering machine, finds that the payments he receives for calendering, have, like all other prices, doubled, in consequence of the depreciation of the currency; and he has therefore, in fact, obtained his machine for one hundred and fifty pounds. Thus, without any fault or imprudence, and owing to circumstances over which they have no control, the widow is reduced almost to starve; one workman is obliged to renounce, for several years, his hope of becoming a master; and another, without any superior industry or skill, but in fact, from having made, with reference to his circumstances, rather an imprudent bargain, finds himself unexpectedly relieved from half his debt, and the possessor of a valuable source of profit; whilst the former owner of the machine, if he also has invested the money arising from its sale in the savings' bank, finds his property suddenly reduced one-half.

180. These evils, to a greater or less extent, attend every change in the value of the currency; and the importance of preserving it as far as possible unaltered in value, cannot be too strongly impressed upon all classes of the community.

     
     

NOTES:

1. In Russia platinum has been employed for coin; and it possesses a peculiarity which deserves notice. Platinum cannot be melted in our furnaces, and is chiefly valuable in commerce when in the shape of ingots, from which it may be forged into useful forms. But when a piece of platinum is cut into two parts, it cannot easily be reunited except by means of a chemical process, in which both parts are dissolved in an acid. Hence, when platinum coin is too abundant, it cannot, like gold, be reduced into masses by melting, but must pass through an expensive process to render it useful.

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