A large manufacturer in Connecticut whose payroll
amounts to $40,000 per month, not long since thought that he would
give his employees a taste of silver, and see how they would like
it. He came to New York and bought enough silver dollars, at 95
cents each, to pay off all his workmen for one month. The payment
to some of his best workmen was as high as $400 in one sum. When
he counted out this sum to one of these men, the latter exclaimed:
ÔGood Lord! Major, I shall have to hire a jackass to cart
this money home. Don't give us any more of it.'
"That is just it,' responded the Major. "It
takes jackasses to cart it home.' The men who had to receive considerable
sums found the weight of the money rather a serious inconvenience.
"There is a financial moral in this incident
worth considering. Eighteen dollars and fourteen cents in the
subsidiary silver coin of the United States weigh a pound; a hundred
dollars weigh five pounds and a half; a thousand dollars weigh
over fifty-five pounds; ten thousand dollars weigh more than a
quarter of a ton; fifty thousand dollars weigh more than twenty-seven
hundred pounds; a hundred thousand dollars weigh more than fifty-five
hundred pounds; and three hundred thousand dollars weigh over
sixteen thousand pounds. A million dollars in coined silver would
weigh more than twenty-five tons. The weight of the metal and
the consequent difficulty and increased labor of handling it and
storing it explain the reason why, during our entire history since
1792, the Government has coined but a trifle over eight millions
of 412-1/2 grain silver dollars. The low value of silver, in comparison
with its weight, precludes its use in payments. It involves a
large loss of time in counting and demands more room for storage
and imposes greater cost of transportation than gold, by the proportion
of fifteen or sixteen to one.
Modern Opinion
Editor's (1996, QDB) comment on the above: I was
not aware that silver dollars could be purchased for 95 cents
each in January 1878. In any event, the Morgan silver dollar had
not yet been minted in that long-ago month, nor would it be for
another six weeks. Thus, any silver dollars would have to have
been Liberty Seated or earlier types.
More probably, they may have been trade dollars,
which were demonetized on July 18, 1876, and which were available
in quantities from bullion brokers who sold them at a discount,
usually quite a bit less than 95 cents. There were some abuses
practiced whereby employers paid their workers in trade dollars,
and the workers may thus have received the correct amount of dollars
in their paychecks, but the particular pieces could not be cashed
in at face value.
This was in the era of the great Silver Question
debate that echoed through the halls of Congress. Quite probably,
the article just quoted was intended to carry a strong political
message. It seems that most editors were on one side of the Silver
Question or another.
Perhaps the article was an early 'infomercial.'
Q. David Bowers has been in the rare coin business since 1953 when he was a teenager. The author has served as president of the American Numismatic Association (1983-1985) and president of the Professional Numismatists Guild (1977-1979), is a recipient of the highest honor bestowed by the ANA (the Farran Zerbe Award), was the first ANA member to be named Numismatist of the Year (1995), has been inducted into the Numismatic Hall of Fame (at the ANA Headquarter in Colorado Springs), is a recipient of the highest honor bestowed by the Professional Numismatists Guild (The Founders' Award), and has received more "Book of the Year Award" and "Best Columnist" honors given by the Numismatic Literary Guild than any other writer. He has has written over 40 books, hundreds of auction and other catalogues, and several thousand articles.
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