[1] That the inconveniences experienced by a community attempting to conduct its exchanges exclusively by pure and direct barter as here depicted, are not only not imaginary, but have their exact counterpart in the present every-day experiences of countries of great geographical area and population, is proved by the testimony of Barth, Burton, and other recent travelers in Eastern Africa. Thus Barth, for example, says (see “Travels,” vol. i., p. 568; vol. iii., p. 203) that he was repeatedly prevented from buying what he absolutely needed—corn, rice, etc.—because he did not have, and could not get, what the people wanted in exchange; and, again (vol. ii., p. 51), he states that so great was the difficulty of getting things in some of the African towns which he visited, in consequence of the people having no general medium of exchange, that his servants would often return from their purchasing expeditions in a state of the utmost exhaustion.
[2] “The precious metals have many qualities which fit them for use as coin money. Their defects are their weight, their intrinsic value as commodities.”—Social Science and National Economy, by R. E. Thompson, Philadelphia, 1875.
“The moment it is perceived that money is nothing but a token, it becomes evident that any token currently accepted in exchange of useful services and products of labor will perform the proper functions of money without regard to the material of which it is made; and that the less costly the material out of which money is made, the better for the community that uses it.”—Money, Currency, and Banking, by Charles Moran, New York, 1875, p. 42.
Chapter V.
How the People on the Island and Elsewhere Learned Wisdom.
But while any commodity possessed of acknowledged purchasing power or value may be used as money, the experience of the islanders and every other people must have soon taught them that some commodities are much better adapted to this purpose than others; or, rather, that the use of certain commodities as money, while they may answer the purpose, nevertheless entail very serious disadvantages. And the details of the manner in which this information has been acquired by experience constitute one of the most interesting chapters in the world’s history. The experience of the islanders was somewhat as follows:
At the outset they agreed to use cowries—a pretty shell picked up on the beach, and which the women all desired to have and use as an ornament. These shells were not, however, plentiful; and, in fact, it was found that it required about as much time and labor for a man to collect a hundred of them as it did to grow a bushel of wheat. Consequently, wheat regularly exchanged for cowries (as money) at the rate of one hundred cowries for one bushel, while the farmer with two thousand cowries could readily buy a plow, which was considered equivalent in value to twenty bushels. By-and-by, some idle fellows that were in the habit of sailing made a long excursion, and, for the first time, visited a little island on the remote horizon. When they landed, they found, to their surprise, that instead of cowries being very scarce on the beach, they were very abundant. They winked at one another, and said little; but each man proceeded to gather all the cowries he could, and, returning to the main island, kept their discovery a profound secret.
The first thing of note that next happened among the Robinson Crusoe people was a great and unexpected revival in business. Money began to grow abundant. Societary circulation was never so active. Every thing that was offered for sale speedily found a purchaser, and, demand increasing, prices rapidly increased also. It was also noticed that a few persons who never did any regular work, but speculated and gambled all the morning, and took pleasant sailing excursions every afternoon, had, especially, plenty of money, which, as patriotic citizens, desirous of making trade lively, they were always most ready to part with for other commodities. The shop-keepers, the farmers, and the mechanics, all also finding that they had more money than usual, all also felt impelled to buy something, and prices took a fresh start upward, so that a bushel of wheat that could previously have been sold for one hundred cowries easily brought one hundred and fifty, and even two hundred. But, on the other hand, the farmer, instead of being able to buy, as before, a plow for two thousand cowries, now found that he had to pay double, or four thousand; or, in other words, the cowries had only about one-half the purchasing power they possessed before.
