Pflug to tbe
DECIMAL COINAGE.
Sin—If it is predetermined that the proposed Decimal Coinage must of necessity start from a large unit, to be decimally subdivided, and the sub- divisions used as monies of account, then, indeed, "the entire question" respecting it may be resolved into the three points as stated by your corre- spondent "H." ; but I apprehend that there is a preliminary point still to be settled, which he appears to have entirely overlooked, and which is involved in Mr. William Brown's dictum that "the question is now between the pound and the penny." It is perfectly true that merchants, bankers, actuaries, and others, having large calculations to make of interest, discount, dividends, &c., frequently make use of the decimals of a pound sterling, as they do also of the decimars of a year, a month, a hundredweight, or a ton ; but they do this not from any peculiar convenience inherent in those units, but simply from their being the sums and quantities in actual present use, to which their calcula- tions are necessarily adapted. I cannot admit that because it has been the custom of large traders and others under the present system to make use of a certain existing unit, it therefore follows that in the introduction of a new coinage, as part of a complete decimal system for the use of the entire people, we are bound to follow the same plan, especially if it is proved that it is at- tended in practice with many disadvantages and complexities, which are not to be found in a system commencing with a smaller unit. In making so extensive a change in the habits of the entire people, it ap- pears to me that we ought to be most careful to select the most perfect sys- tem, the most convenient for practical use, and at the same time that which is likely to be attended with the smallest amount of disturbance, inconveni- ence, and distrust, to the mass of the community. Among the many disad- vantages of the scheme for taking the pound sterling as the unit, and divid- ing it decimally into tenths, hundredths, and thousandths, as proposed by Mr. William Brown's Committee, the following are some of the most pro- minent.
1. It requires three places of decimals for its expression, and consequently demands a larger number of figures than in the present method, or in a system starting from a smaller unit. As Mr. Bevan's clerks justly observed, the second figure of the decimals not descending below a coin representing the value of nearly twopence-halfpenny, it would always be necessary, even in bankers' books, to have recourse to the third figure, instead of rejecting it, as is now done with reference to the column of farthings. 2. Although three places of decimals may be a sufficient approximation under this system for entries in the ledger, they would be found insufficient even for many of the more common calculations, in which to insure accuracy more places of decimals would be required. There is scarcely an example, among those selected for publication by the Parliamentary Committee, of conversion from the existing system into that proposed in which the result is other than approximate. But as every one of these is capable of a determi- nate solution by our present mixed system, it surely. would be a step back- ward if we were to adopt in its place a scheme requiring a far greater num- ber of figures to arrive at an exact result, or one which is incapable of at- taining it. Actuaries and bankers are so well aware of this imperfection in the scheme, that in calculation of interest, &c., they are not satisfied with the use of fewer than six places of decimals; and in order to remedy it, one of the witnesses, (Mr. J. Franklin, a warm advocate of the Committee's scheme,) in a table part of which is given in evidence before the Committee, actually adds a vulgar fraction after the three figures of decimals, in order accurately to represent the required equivalent,—a singular mode of decimal calculation, and one which can scarcely be recommended as a perfect deci- mal system.
3. As we have no coins in present use representing the 10th, 100th, or 1000th part of a pound sterling, it would be necessary to introduce an entirely new series of coins and of names of coins into all our accounts, and in the prices of all articles bought or sold, having no reference to any of the coins or values at present in use ; and for the same reason the smaller coins (including all the copper and some of the silver) now in use could not possibly be allowed to circulate together with the new coins, on account of the loss and confusion which must ensue, and which would inevitably create great dissatisfaction and distrust among the less-informed portions of the community, which years would not suffice to remove. 4. By the decimalization from the pound downwards, the penny, which is at present the almost universal standard of value, as regards rates and taxes, duties, stamps, tolls, wages, and the price of nearly every article of daily and universal consumption, is entirely set aside. Such a sweeping change would manifestly introduce great confusion into all retail trade, and require a mul- titude of legislative enactments for the alteration of the present rates of duty, tolls, &c., to adapt them to the new coinage; all of which would be looked upon by the mass of the community with suspicion and alarm. On the other hand, were the penny adopted as the basis of the system, to- gether with its decimal multiples and subdivisions, our system of accounts would be as perfectly and completely decimal as could be obtained by any other mode, and every one of the above important objections would be wholly obviated.
1. If amounts were kept in tenpences, in large accounts only one and in smaller dealings at the most two, places of decimals would be required ; and it must be evident to all that fewer figures would be required to keep ac- in pence than in farthings or mils. 2. Under the penny decimal system all sums may be calculated with equal accuracy and with greater facility than under the present mixed system ; while the advantages in these respects over the pound and mil scheme are un- questionably greater still. 3. As the values and names of existing coins would remain unaltered, it could by no possibility introduce the slightest difficulty or confusion into the ordinary transactions of trade, or the calculation of wages ; while taxes, toile, &c., would require no questionable alteration, remaining exactly as they were before.
4. Such a system may be introduced at any time without the risk of crea- ting dissatisfaction or distrust, inasmuch as the decimals and the mixed sys- tem may be used simultaneously side by side with perfect agreement ; and it would thus be left, as it ought to be left, to the practical good sense of the people to determine which of the two they would adopt. It is most probable that although accounts would be kept in decimals, the great bulk of the com- munity would prefer for daily barter the existing duodecimal silver coins ; which would be as readily reckoned into the decimal system of accounts as the similar coins which form the currency of Portugal in connexion with the complete decimal system of that kingdom. This preference can, however, only be determined by experience ; but under such a system there would, at all events,be no necessity for the withdrawal of any part of our present coins, until the necessities of the coinage rendered it desirable on other grounds. The shilling, the half-crown, and the crown, would still continue to represent 12, 30, and 60 pence, and the ,practice of purchasing articles by the dozen and the half-dozen, and of subdividing by halves and by quarters, is too strongly rooted in the habits of the people, and too practically useful, to allow of the abandonment of threepenny, fourpenny, and sixpenny pieces. It is too much to expect that the present generation should all at once con- sent to relinquish the advantages which they naturally enough believe them- selves to possess in the system of mental calculation now so universally taught in schools, and which is more or less ingrained into the daily and hourly practice of even the poorest and least educated among us.
As the chief advantage of the pound and mil scheme is the retention of the pound sterling as the unit of account, so the chief objection to the penny and tenpenny system is that the pound would cease to be a money of ac- count, being no regular decimal multiple of tenpence. Its conversion, how- ever' would be effected in the simplest possible manner, inasmuch as it is a regular multiple of that proposed coin by 24, as the guinea (altered as .pro- posed by your correspondent "H.") would be by 25. As four such guineas would exactly represent 100'tenpences, and gold pieces of the higher value of 5 sovereigns have already been coined, although not put into circulation, I know of no reason why a coin of that value might not have existence and a name.
It appears to me that if we are to have a decimal system of coinage and ac- counts, some sacrifice must be made to secure its advantages ; and the ques- tion may be shortly stated thus. 1. Shall we retain the pound as the unit, divided into 10th, 100th, and 1 000th parts, and thus introduce an entirely: new set of coins, with new names and of new values, together with a complicated, and in many cases an inaccurate, system of computation, producing much confusion, and en- gendering great distrust among the people at large ? Or 2. Shall we relinquish the pound as a money of account, 'retaining all our present coins with the same names and with the same values, together with a perfect decimal system of accounts and a simple and perfectly ac- curate system of computation, which may be brought into use without any confusion or alteration in the habits of the people at large, who may indif- ferently use either the present system or the new one, until they become satisfied of the advantages presented by the latter ? To these observations I would only add the following considerations de- duced from experience. The chief arguments in favour of the practical ad- vantages of the decimal system are drawn from its use on the Continent and in the United States of America. But all the countries referred to have uni- formly avoided the great evil which I have pointed out in the Committee's scheme, by choosing a small unit, which for the lowest values would require only two places of decimals. Thus the unit of France, Belgium and Switz- erland, is nearly equivalent to our proposed tenpence ; that of Holland to twentypenee; and those of Italy, Savoy, the United States of America, Ca- nada, Singapore, &c., to fifty English pence. These all bear approximately a decimal relation to our penny, and the highest among them very little ex- ceeds in value one-fifth of that of the proposed unit of the scheme recom- mended by the Committee, which consequently derives no support, but on the contrary receives a direct reprobation, from the argument of the ex- perience of other nations. As regards home experience, I may observe that the pound and mil scheme is almost solely recommended by mathematicians, bankers, actuaries, and engineers,—men of high education, familiarized by their position and by their pursuits with the use of decimals extending to any given number of places, and constantly requiring such an extension in their calculations. To these, of course, a scheme requiring only three places of decimals appears mere child's play; but men conversant with the more ordinary calculations of trade (such as the late Mr. Laurie, the compiler of a large number of the most useful practical tables in existence) have, after long-continued trials of the scheme, fairly given it up as too complicated for ordinary purposes, and become warm advocates of the tenpenny sys- tem, which they have honestly declared afforded, by means of its small unit, great advantages both in point of accuracy and facility of use. In regard to the unit of a guinea, (of a value equal to a pound and tenpence,) divided into a thousand farthings, as recommended by your cor- respondent "H.," and by Mr. Headlam before the Committee, its great advantage (in common with the tenpenny system) consists in its creating no alteration in the value of existing coins, or in that of existing contracts' but it has the insuperable difficulty (in common with the Com- mittee's scheme) of requiring an entirely new set of coins of account, with new names and new values. Its advantages are therefore greatly inferior to those offered by the tenpenny system, with which it coincides in the single disadvantage of abolishing the pound sterling as a coin of account. I may conclude with an observation attributed to Mr. Rogers, which I believe represents the feeling of a vast majority of the commercial classes, as proved by the little interest they have taken in the question—" I am satisfied with the present money and accounts, and desire no change ; but while the agitators confine themselves to the pound and mil plan I have no fear, as that is simply impracticable : if they adopt the tenpenny, then we must look about us.'
Previous page
