vol 7 1999 [CIHS] - ISBN 3-85093-023-8
P9 - SALT and the EVOLUTION of MONEY
David Bloch [M.R.Bloch* Salt Archive]
Abstract
To define money, the most
helpful formulation is the one defined by Knapp, and accepted by
Keynes. Knapp made it clear that most transferable goods could be used
for barter and consequently used as a 'means of payment': however such
'means of payment' only became 'money' when chartered by a state
authority and accepted by its administration for, and in lieu of tax.
This differs from
Aristotle's concept. He thought that authoritative marks and stamps
confirming correct weight and composition, converts a 'means of
payment' into money, thus associating the intrinsic material
usefulness with its purchasing power as money.
The 'State Theory'
suggested by Knapp on the contrary, implies that the essential
monetary qualities are independent of its intrinsic values, as long as
it is suitable to physically carry the marks of the charter.
These two concepts have
in common the standardisation of form, weight, chemical composition
and colour. This fact has obscured the understanding of money, and
still hinders the appreciation of the genesis of money and its
historical development.
FAIR EXCHANGE
The worth of
Sodium Chloride, or "common salt", as it became known, as an exchanged
value for other essential commodities, such as food, fuel, luxuries or
slaves, has a yet to be determined, important role in state finances
and in the origin of money. Salt [NaCl] is not just an essential
commodity. It is essential for life. The primary necessity [absolute
requirement] is Physiological. Its importance as a meat preservative
in the great temples, manufacture of glass, processing leather, soap,
textiles and not least, gunpowder, was diminutive in comparison. It is
as basic for animal life as the air we breath, the water we drink, and
the proteins we eat. A salt deficiency is as critical as a water
deficiency. Water and salt are essential to maintaining extracellular
and intracellular concentrations of salt to activate cells in all
plant and animal life. The body may endure periods of lack of food,
but without salt and water , living cells would quickly perish from
dehydration. 'Slavery' is only an extreme illustration of the social
consequence of salt hunger.
Aristotle
believed that primitive barter trading of standardised commodities,
'hall-marked' by some authority for correct weight and quality,
represented the first use of money. "As the necessaries of nature were
not all easily portable' he says. 'people agreed for the purposes of
barter, mutually to give and receive some article which, while it was
itself a commodity, was practical and easy to handle in the business
of life; some such article as iron or silver, which at first was
defined simply by its size and weight". Metal was not the only
material used as a barter money. Salt was also frequently mentioned as
an important, such commodity, particularly as a topic of fundamental
personal consequence when related to individual income or 'salary'
Roman soldiers were at certain times, partly paid in salt [salarium]
and from which the word is derived.
Seal
impressions designating "value/contents" on Ceramic handles from
excavations in Jerusalem, are
- Middle Israel period
1020-842 bc
- Late Israel period
842-587 bc
- Persian period 587-332
bc
- [5.6.7] Hellinistic
period 332-37 bc [ Museum of Taxes - Jerusalem ]
The Greeks had no
coin money prior to Penopolesian war. Herodotus tells us that the
Lydians were reputed to be the first to coin gold and silver money,
and the Talent which the Greeks called the Euboic certainly came from
Asia. Once introduced and accepted the weight of a coin , was
confirmed by setting a stamp or a 'hallmark' [a salt mark ; 'hal'
ΆΛΑΣ = salt Greek] upon every coin to relieve one from the trouble of check
weighing it. The stamp impressed upon the coin, was an indication of
quality and finally a guarantee of the value it represented. It was a
similar concept, to the stamps impressed on salt cakes, and still used
in this century, in central Africa as a means of payment . It
initially related specifically to the coin's weight and probably to an
equivalent weight of salt, rather than to its intrinsic value. Roman
accounting began with copper coins, and gold was introduced only 100
years after the death of Alexander. Thus the choice of the material
used only became a matter of availability and longetivity.
There is good
evidence to support Aristotle's view. For instance bread-like moles
[amoles] of salt each weighing approximately 5 kgs are still
circulating in Ethiopia as a means of payment. ' In the Treasury of
the Lling of Limmu, salt pieces originally given to him as yearly
tribute are stored, though, like many another investment, it was not
an ideal treasure as some travelers found out when they tried to sell
a hundred salt pieces given to them by the King , but worth only forty
new ones at the time.' Or again, 'the villagers in the Cameroons
consider their salt store common property, kept in a special house,
its contents being the main indicator of the wealth of the tribe.' The
trading of standardised pieces of salt had all the aspects of dealing
in money.
Close association
of salt with money was noted by Marco Polo journeying through China in
the 11th century AD. He wrote about it as if it were a treasure as
precious as gold. 'Kai-nu is a (Chinese) province .,. the money or
currency they make use of there. is thus preferred: their gold is
turned into small rods and being cut into certain lengths passes
according to its weight without any stamp. This is their greater
money. The smaller is of the following description: in this country
there are still springs from which they manufacture salt by boiling it
in small pans. After the water has boiled for an hour it becomes a
kind of paste which is formed into cakes of the value of twopence
each. These, flat on the lower and convex on the upper side are placed
upon hot tiles near a fire in order to dry and harden. On this latter
species of money the stamp of the Grand Kihan is impressed, and it
cannot be impressed by any other than his own officers. When these are
carried by the traders .. to little frequented parts, they obtain a
saggio [sack] of gold for sixty, fifty or even forty salt cakes ...
the further they are removed from the towns ', 'The same merchants
travel through other parts of Tibet where the salt money has equal
currency. Their profits are considerable, because these country people
regard it as an 'indispensable necessary' whereas the inhabitants of
the cities use only the broken fragments of the cakes, putting the
whole cakes into circulation as money..'
MIINTING and
MICROECONOMIES
In addition to
the quasi-currency role of standardised metal and salt pieces, there
developed a definite association between making salt and the actual
operation of minting money. In very early times many ancient towns in
Greece and Medieval Europe did both. So, in Charlemagne's reign ' ..it
was convenient to authorize the collector of a particular tax - the
farmer of a salt pan, as the steward of royal domain .... to receive
payment, at need ... presentations in kind, foreign or ancient coins
of metal by weight, and to render the amount or the revenues of his
[salt] farming, in coins minted on the spot, and bearing a signature
which served as a guarantee of their standard and value, and a
place-name which recorded their place of origin.'
Schwabisch Hall
in Germany is a good example of such inter related currency and trade
arrangements. The Hall Senate owned salt springs and factories here,
and in the Middle Ages they also minted coins which were issued for
services done or goods delivered to the town for the purchase and sale
of their salt. The coins were also chartered as legal currency for
duty payments and tolls on the local roads, bridges and gates. They
became known as the 'coins' of Halle or 'Heller' money , derived from
an old German word for salt - 'Halle' . Because of its local
purchasing power, this currency was highly rated in most German
markets, although its value frequently changed according to supply and
demand. Since the production of salt was monopolised by the Hall
Senate it also monopolised the minting and its charter.
Although the
historical links with the metal trade are clearly evident, salt has
not been used as money in the sense that is generally accepted or
understood today. Perhaps anlaysing the historical connection and its
evolution would help us to appreciate the role of money in modern
economies. Clearly the ability to monopolise the supply of salt
compared with the other critical physiological necessaties of life eg;
water to drink, air to breathe and proteins to eat, gave any party the
authority to control this means of exchange
In the view of
J.M.Keynes, the state determines what should be considered as money as
well as the right to vary it's function at will. The claim that money
is created or chartered by the state forms the basis of the 'state
theory' of money, which in modern times, has come to be associated
with the name of G.F.Knapp. He accepts as money ...'anything which the
state undertakes to accept at the state offices in lieu of payment or
in exchange for monopoly goods'. ......"There are means of payment
which are not yet money; then there those which are money; later
still, those which have ceased to be money". G.F. Knapp. 1924.
This definition
implies that the substance of which the money is made, has no part in
its currency value. Of course, it is important that money should
conform to recognised standards such as portability and weight. It
should also be durable. However if it was valuable in its own right,
as gold soon came to be valuable, or, even on rarer occasions, salt:
or, if the pieces were beautiful in design and of artistic merit, so
as to become collectors' objects: but such qualities became to be
considered irrelevant as regards their monetary significance.
In the words of ·Helffrich,
the man who revived the German currency after World War 1, ...'the
weight of noble metal in the coins, became only the substrate of the
money about which the state authority, finally, could use at its
discretion, as to what it should contain and any change required ...'
This differs from
Aristotle's concept. He thought that markings for correct weight and
measure as well as associating the intrinsic value of the article
would convert a 'means of payment' into money.
TALLIES
The introduction
of the so~called: - 'tally',- 'tessera' in Latin, 'kerbholz' 'notched
wood' in German, 'twins' [teomim] in Hebrew, 'chi-chi', in Chinese and
'symbolon' in Greek, - all meaning 'corresponding' pairs, to make a
complete identifiable unit when assembled together, may have helped to
bring the evolution of modern currency a step nearer
The use of the
tally is a very old and ingenious way of determining the authenticity
of an identity, a document, a mesa'go. a receipt, an I.O.U, or an
account. Originally, the tally technique depended on the randomness of
the edges formed when an object such as a piece of wood, metal,
ceramic or paper is split or torn. Each separation being unique, only
the correct half would fit, when the pieces were brought together.
There are many other ways of checking a tally , the most modern being
electronic devices, the "smart card". But essentially, they all
resemble a 'tally'. Although a primitive and rather laborious
procedure, one can envisage this technology as an integral part of the
development of money. Even wooden tallies were treated as if they were
'money' during the Middle Ages in England. They changed hands without
losing value, and could be presented to the treasury and honored
irrespective of the claimant's identity. According to M.Siegrist in
her book 'Ricardus of Ely', ...every often the royal Treasury
transferred some of their claims with the help of tallies, to credit
people to whom it was in debt. In this way the tally became a means of
payment.
One of the most
practical applications of the tally system seems to have been for the
proprietary marking of stored goods. A storekeeper needs to be able to
identify the rightful claimant for deposits made. So he attaches one
part of the tally, the 'stock'. to the stored article, giving the
other, the 'foil', to the depositor who must later be able to produce
this part and have it checked by testing the fit, when claiming the
goods. Both parties could delegate the 'foil' pieces to other people,
for example, their heirs. Not only could tangible goods be registered,
but so also could a record of valued services rendered, or the number
of 'acreti' ploughed, sacks of salt transported, and so on. Work of
this kind would be "notched" up and the record stored and some
work-equivalent object retrieved when the foil was presented.
In a curious
aside: In ".. 1834 reforming zeal celebrated its triumph by destroying
(In the furnaces which heated the House of Lords) the whole
accumulation of ancient tallies, with disastrous results; the old
Houses of Parliament were burned , together with practically all
'stocks' of the tallies -"[Encyclop.Brit. 1921].
Before going into
the problem of how to inter-relate the value of goods, services and
corresponding tallies, the technique of dealing with trivial deposits
should be considered, since it led to the introduction of coinage and
other printed money.
Willow 'tallies'
- sticks up to eight feet long and one inch broad and notched to
indicate sums loaned to the government The stick was split down the
middle and one half was handed to the lender and the other half
retained by the Exchequer of the Bank of England
When goods of
small value were deposited, individually hand-made tallies of
different kinds were too expensive to make in the demanded quantity.
An efficient method of mass production had to be found although this
obviously involved a greater danger of forgery. A random pattern could
be produced by impressing a 'broken' edge into softer material such as
clay, wax or malleable metal, or by striking it (with) the end of a
broken-off nail, a mark which could not easily be imitated, so that
many negative imprints could be turned out and checked against the
matrix or master stamp - the original broken edge: later; it would be
a picture or written word. In this way, one matrix for coins, or one
copper plate for notes, reproduced valid token pieces. Forgery was
minimised by employing the best artists to uniquely design them.
Making seals
designed to indicate ownership, authenticity or to legitimise
authority was a very ancient, skilful craft in Eastern countries. The
'cylinder' seal, with its rolling action and pattern repetition of the
characters carried on it, may have helped in developing a mechanical
reproduction of receipts for goods on deposit.
In China, metal
coins made their appearance between 1000 - 700 BC and were
standardised for weight and measure by about 630 BC. Herodotus
reckoned the value of gold to silver in the proportion of 13 to 1, :
Plato who wrote about 50 years after him says it was 12 times the
value of silver. The learned Budaeus and others after him, called the
sum of 100 Denarii, " Libra centenaria" and "Libra nummaria" while
confessing that he had never found either the word libra or pondo used
to signify a sum of money: but always to the weight of the plate or
bullion. There were three categories: gold with the highest value;
silver of medium and copper/bronze - copper cash' the lowest. The cash
coins came in various shapes and sizes, round, oblong, square, some
with a hole in the centre; shaped like a spade, a knife or two pronged
known as 'trouser money'. Other 'currencies' circulating at this time
as well as salt, were tin, ore, feathers, tortoise and cowrie shells
and even silk fabric of standard width and length.
The invention of
the first coins may have been made possible by the relatively new
steel industry. Instead of a 'vouchery' imprinted on clay or wax, a
much more resistant metallic material, capable of withstanding the
rigors of cbetween the trading public and the control administration
pay offices could now be used. Mass produced durable vouchers were
fashioned on a hard iron matrix which printed a seal on malleable
metals like electrum, gold, silver and later, copper. Coins of
non-ferrous metals had arrived to supersede the fragile clay pieces.
Shortage of metal
for coinage seems to have been endemic in China -a predicament
aggravated and compounded by wars, instability of regimes and social
unrest. During the Han period for example, the old coins were called
in and exchanged for new bronze (copper). This was believed to have
enriched the treasury by about #5,000,000 calculated to have been more
than the total supply in Medieval Europe At the same time it drained
the country's resources. Similarly, in a later period inflation caused
terrible problems in transporting so much coin and was one of the
reasons for introducing the first deposit or 'exchange certificates'
for tea, salt and other commodities and later, registering paper money
itself.
One early
initiative to counteract the coin shortage was made in 120 BC. Squares
cut from the skin of white deer only found in the Emperor's hunting
reserves were issued to a limited circle of nobles at the Court, as a
medium of exchange.
Paper making was
invented in China before the Christian era. The earliest known piece
dates from the Wu Ti period between 140-81 BC. At first it was made of
matted fibers from rags on a backing or frame soaked in water -
perhaps discovered accidentally since washing fabrics is a common
household chore. Mass production was made possible when it could be
done by using the Mulberry tree bark [morus alba]. Marco Polo writes;
'the bark is stripped from these (Mulberry) trees, the leaves of which
are used for feeding the silk worms, and taken from it that inner rind
which lies between the coarser bark and the wood of the tree...'
The new material
seems to have had very practical every day uses for clothing, bed
sheets, curtains and other household furnishings such as screens,
tiles and~ in enormous quantities, as burnt offerings to the dead, but
curiously, not for writing. Not until the first century AD were the
traditional writing materials, bamboo, wood and silk, slowly replaced
by paper .
The ancient
custom of making seals provided the link between the invention of
paper manufacture and the ability to print on it. Chinese seals were
usually square or rectangular with the characters carved in reverse
order. They were used to stamp inscriptions on clay pottery, bricks or
even, as Marco Polo witnessed, on salt. This stamping action was akin
to print on wooden blocks, an achievement realized around 700 AD in
China and followed 300 years later by moveable type printing and multi
colour work in, or before the 12th Century
The Chinese then,
were well aware, that the intrinsic service rendered by money, was not
bound up with the value of the money material, though it was desirable
that the substrate be rare, like mulberry paper or the white deerskin
to reduce the possibility of forgery. It was the charter, the
authoritative declaration [or hall-marked] by the Emperor which made
it valuable because it guaranteed the token piece acceptable by his
administrators as a means of payment and for monopoly goods such as
salt. This monopoly was, so far as we can see, the most important
source of income for the state. In 1329 AD, of all the tax paid with
paper money, 82 percent came from the salt monopoly...'
An important
factor was the 'durability in use' of these token pieces. Copper coins
were reasonably durable but not sufficiently so as to represent high
values: gold and silver were too rare, although resistant. Fragile
materials like paper could only replace metal if the charter covered
the replacement of damaged or dirty notes, to be governed by strict
procedure and legislation and punishments ·to be enforced when old
notes were being burnt in the presence of judges and other important
officials.
The Chinese could
afford this substitution routine which gave the money an inbuilt
longevity because paper was cheap, though not cheap enough, to replace
copper coins of low denominations. For these, base metal was more
economical. Paradoxically, gold, used for high value coinage could be
replaced by paper, whereas single base metal coins could not. The cost
of minting money in Southern China, where the technical skills had
been developed, and then transferring it to the capital in the north
in AD 1050 was reckoned to be 75% of its metal material value.
The time lag
between the invention of iron tools and non~ferrous coins, is somewhat
similar to the delay between the invention of paper - about 200 AD -
and the technological achievement about 500 years later, which made
printing paper money cheap enough to allow a virtually free
replacement process.
One of the
cheapest objects to be chartered for use as money, were sea shells
which were made available by controlled import, to the monopolised
state zone. In China and some other regions, they actually survived
the introduction of paper money and both circulated together. Because
the state 'minted' and circulated them on a monopolistic basis, shells
which were imported as currency could therefore serve as a means for
tax payments. In Lopburi, for instance, 24 liang money was worth as
much as 10.000 cowrie shells' In Birma, 10 liang (paper money) equaled
11,520 cowrie shells and again, 'in Yunnan, shells were introduced as
money in 1276 AD. A few years later, in 1282 AD, tax was established
by payment in gold, but it could also be paid with shells and in 1305
the Governer of Yunnan ordered them to be used as an alternative to
paper money. The Prohibition of shell imports was Codified in the
Codex of the Dynasty, Yuan-schi (YS) quote104, 5a.~, . . and private
imports [of shells] were made punishable as though they were a~case of
counterfeiting money Even as late as 1637 special cylindrical shells
were recognised as currency and a means for tax payment by the Dutch
authorities in New England.'
In time and with
prevailing conditions, both food and salt production improved, and
early in the l0th century, the problem of how to increase the
purchasing power of the money in circulation became acute.
It could have
been solved by the state, ensuring a constant number of money units in
circulation in return for income from increasing private sector goods
and services. This would have meant that goods and services would
become cheaper in terms of the money units available, and prices would
drop. Alternatively more money could be issued eg. paper notes, for
proportionately more goods, increasing the number of money units in
circulation, Thus, prices would remain stable, but still allow the
exchange of more goods and services: in short 'expansion'
The modern
concept of 'too much money..chasing too few goods' was not relevant,
if money units available were increased in proportion to the increase
in goods and services. It is often thought that when the gold and
silver coinage was increased by the addition of a base metal industry,
agricultural production and trade suffered.
RECEDING
SHORELINES AND PROSPERITY
In fact, the
opposite is probably the case. During one of these periods, in the
10th century AD the ocean receded, exposing the vast flat evaporation
areas enabling the production of more salt, and making it available in
significantly increased quantities. In Europe and particularly in
"Merry England" , as the Domsday records show, sea coast saltmaking
was thriving.
The resulting
economic expansion, caused such a severe shortage of metal coins that
state business and private traders' needs could not be met. In China
these conditions coerced the Chinese to prepare paper money and put it
into circulation. Balazs describes the financial difficulties as:
"enormous because of the demands made on the government by the army
and administration on one hand, and great economic and trade
development on the other...". Later the new Sung Emperor reorganised
theadministration but the same massive expenditure for the army forced
the government to coin new money. In 1050 AD there was 13 times more
silver, eight times more copper and 14 times more iron than in 800 AD.
Between 1000 AD and 1021 AD the State budget increased from 22,200,000
to 150,800,000. There is no doubt that the invention of paper money
was the product of a growing private economy. The pre-conditions for
this, papermaking and printing had been created earlier.
In 12th century
China the economic picture was relatively simple and the function or
paper money could be readily understood by the population. Apart from
land taxes in south China, salt contributed 50%. alcohol 36% tea 7%
and customs tax 7% Grain was the largest part of the commodities
produced by the private sector for the State income Both salt and
grain production were affected by weather changes and flooding. If the
seashore salterns failed to make enough salt, there would be a salt
shortage and then its price and the tax on it would rise: in the same
way, the grain price would float in the case of a crop failure.
The authorities
everywhere, whether Chinese Emperors supported by bureaucrats, or
corporations like senates and parliaments, in Hellenistic areas,
introduced legislation governing the creation and use of money. Under
these laws, money tokens were chartered as an alternative to tax and
tythe payment in kind; the amount of tax to be paid was decided and
adjusted from time to time and finally, the resulting income budgeted
to cover the authorities' obligation and expenses.
Chartered money
printed and paid out by these public bodies was used to buy the goods
and services offered by private individuals or groups. Since society
in general, was sufficiently well organised and protected from illegal
acquisitions, bargaining was the only means by which ordinary people
or groups were able to find out what and how much, they could ask in
exchange for their efforts. For example, chartered money could be used
to buy one of the essential monopoly goods, specifically salt, as well
as another essential commodity, privately produced bread. So the Roman
soldier who got his salary in the form of salt 'anona'- or chartered
money, could use either or both to buy the bread from the farmer. For
his part, the farmer could store or use both as he wished.
Alternatively, he could spend the money to pay for oil or meat from
the neighboring farmer who, in turn could buy salt and pay his taxes
with it. The storage/spending chain suggested here, would normally be
longer, a more complicated procedure, and include 'usury and banking'.
Each time such business was transacted, the partners had to consider
how urgent their requirements were: and if hazards like theft, the
vagaries of climate or the perishable qualities of some goods
out-weighed the risks of storing money. However, money storage
presented its own problems from simple destruction of notes or
corrosion of coins to the wider implications of unstable regimes which
had chartered the money in the first place and might, in part or
wholly, fail to honor the promise to accept it for tax.
RECESSION AND
FLOODING
The later
reversal of this situation, in China - that is when the sea rose,
flooding the evaporation pans, and salt became scarce again, occurred
at the beginning of the 14th century AD when there was a twenty five
fold increase in general prices without a corresponding growth in the
money units circulating. It seems that the amount printed between 1260
and 1325 was about 60 million units, of which 47 were burnt by order
of the administration after being exchanged for new paper notes. So
the money put into circulation could not have exceeded 23 million -
not an inflationary amount for a population of 50 to 60 million ...
the purchasing power however, had decreased ... to one twenty-fifth
between 1276 and 1308 AD . .' The cause of this disaster was
delicately referred to as a 'shrinkage' in production. The sudden
shortfall of raw materials was in part due to natural catastrophies
such as floods - the Yellow River burst its dykes in 1351 the high sea
levels at this time with the likely loss of some coastal salt works,
climatic changes and the Plague epidemic, rather than a fraudulent
increase of the amount of money units in circulation.
During the same
period, northern Europe was finding it more difficult to match up to
the increasing demand for salt. The old salt making locations were not
producing enough when coastal sources became flooded. The Baltic was
no longer self-supporting,' Prussia was becoming susceptible to salt
famine, and peat digging in the Low countries had been prohibited
because it endangered the sea defenses. And then, in 1349, the Black
Death struck.
- Estimated ocean level
changes in
- pre-historic and
historic times
- Fluctuation of
Sealevels at all the points
- designated : =levels
[A] - to- [K]
Conditions were
no better in England. With a shrunken work force, fields remained
untilled, production slowed down and coastal salt works along with
other manufacturing industries suffered a reduction of output or
closure: The cost of living rose dramatically. Faced with
revolutionary demands for better pay from the peasantry, the nobility
and gentry insisted upon parliamentary legislation to regulate
employment and freeze wages. The country became an importer of 'Bay'
salt at this time even though, in the seventeenth century it was
considered inferior to the English salt and "improper for salting
herrings". By the nineteenth century England had again become a major
world exporter of salt
ECONOMICS
Salt was never
money in the true sense of the word. It was one of the very few
essentials to life and a commodity whose quantity and quality could be
standardised and therefore used as a convenient means of exchange or
barter. However, it also may have been used as one of the most
important methods of making state chartered money more attractive, and
desirable. For in many important economies, salt was a monopoly
commodity, controlled by government and which could be purchased with
the state chartered money. The value of the money would have been
effectively related to the prices at which the government monopoly was
prepared, or able, to sell its own services and goods. In ancient
times these exclusive services consisted initially of protecting and
guaranteeing the supply of salt for the growing communities. It is
perhaps no coincidence that the words, 'peace' and 'war' in ancient
Hebrew are rooted in the word for 'salt'. As a direct result of the
hardships, and necessary organisation involved in 'winning' salt from
very limited inland sources, these services also sometimes included
the monopolising of its uses. These were mainly the salting and
preservation of meat and fish, and leather tanning. The ritual
procedures and customs inherited by most of todays religions may be
grounded in the original use of the 'altar' in ancient temples for
sacrifice, slaughter and dehydration of protein meat. The Panthenons
and the temple in Jerusalem were veritable abattoirs
Up to the time of
the industrial revolution, salt was universally recognised as one of
the chief state monopoly commodities - if not the chief one - since it
provided some fifty percent of many state incomes. Its availability
was dependent on weather, sea level changes, efficient transport and
distribution, and not least, a highly sophisticated, protection
organisation. Changes in sea level causing flooding of salt
evaporation pans occured over periods of years and were only felt
slowly, perhaps in a period of a generation or more. Such a creeping
occurrence was hardly observed and recorded, though today we can see
many examples, such as the successive building of the Portus harbours
of Claudius, Trajan and Augustus, or, the alternating salt processing
centers of Classis, Ravenna and Aquilea, or, any of the hundreds of
sub sealevel sites around the Mediterranean.
A failure in any
one of these supply systems , in turn caused catastrophic market
changes, population migra, money fluctuations, and decline. As coal
and oil began to replace peat and solar energy for much of the
evaporation process of manufacturing, salt supplies around the world,
quickly stabalised, and the critical aspect of 'common salt' passed
into history, and was soon forgotten
SUMMARY
Money evolved
from a system of 'Tallies' which represented receipts for work done or
services rendered. The tallies such as coins and paper money, could
also be mass produced , but were also easier to counterfeit, and so
they tended to represent lower value denominations. All types of
tallies, could be 'hall' [ΆΛΑΣ] marked in order to convert them in to money
and then put into circulation. State authorities were bound to accept
'hall' marked money as dues and taxes. Tallies were not dependent on
the innate qualities of the substrate for their market value.
The successful
introduction of paper money in China in the 11th century demonstrates
that the function of money as defined by Knapp, was well understood.
When metals became too rare for their expanding economy, paper became
the substrate for 'minting'. Their paper competed easily with gold and
silver because it was relatively so cheap that the state could
guarantee to replace it free of charge, when wear and tear, made this
necessary. Paper money became completely corrosion resistant
Only until very
recently, with the coming of the industrial age and the use of oil,
and coal to produce in unlimited quantity , salt was the most
important state monopoly commodity. It allowed the state to monopolise
the charter guaranteeing the minting. It played a decisive role in the
fluctuations of money purchasing power all over the world. Its
production was, like grain, subject to the vagaries of nature, and
directly effected the commodity and money markets unpredictably.
Modern economies
have tended to treat money as a commodity, although its original use
was only to represent and measure value. For all intents and purposes,
this would mean that initially money has no value until it is
exchanged for something of value. The value of goods and services must
therefore be determined by the discrimination of the consumer. The
convenience of salt was its uniformity and even the most primitive
consumer could discern its value. In turn this must lead us to
understand that money availability does not decide price fluctuations,
but only the availability and quality of the services and essential
commodities it represents. Thus at the community level money spent
well, and which increases the community well-being may also be termed
as deflationary . On the other hand money spent badly on poor
services or limited availability of essential goods must therefore be
inflationary.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Mathew Raper FRS - An enquiry into the value of the
ancient Greek and Roman money - 1771
Aristotle Polit . i .6 . 14 18; trans Weldon, qute `by
Head Historian Numorum : p. XXXIII ` Clarendon Press Oxford 191-
Bury, J.B. History of the Later Roman Empire; pp Dower
Publications New York: 1958.
Mandizabel; Relaciones de Meztitlan quoted by
Hans.Helfritz in his article Vorkolumbische Salzgewinnung in
Guatamalas Kosmos LIXs 7 20 p 305-
Baudin Revue des Etudes Historique J. 93- p 107-114
Springer, A Die Salzversorgung den Isingborenen
Africas von den neuzeitlichen europaischen Kolonisation 1918, pp
57-f8.
Marco Polo: Travels of Marco Polo trans. Marsden:
Newnes London, 1904
Pirenne, H Mohamed and Charlemagneg Meridian Books,
New York l957.pp.109-110
Kruger E. Schwabisch Hall: Eppinger, Schwabisch
Hall,1967.
Keynes J.M. A Treatise on Money: Macmillan & Co. 1965
, p. 6-7-
Knapp G.F. The State Theory of Money- Trans. ed. Luces
& Bonar-: London, 1925.
Einzig, P. Primitive Money Oxford Clarendon Press,
1953 'Means of payment' or 'primitive money is not yet money in the
sense of Knapp's state theory'.
Helfferich K. Das Geld; Leipzig 1910. (M.RBloch
trans.)
Friedmann A. Uber Papiergeld und Kerbholze den
Chinesen: vol 6
Numismatische Zeitschrifts Wien 1928. pp 69-76
Galbraith, V. Studies in the Public Records reprint
London, 1949, p 52-
Korosy, de F. Private communication: value pound
sterling notes used to be bound into booklets before issuing
afterwards each note was torn out seperately.
Siegrist, M. Richardus de Ely Diologues de Scaccario;
Artemis Verlags Zurich, 1953.
Zeno: Zen: 1.3. 3rd cent BC. 'using it as a receipt
for a pledged article...'
Lidell, H.C. Greek English Lexicon - Oxford, 1953.&
Scott R.
Seltmang Greek Coins Nethuen -London, 1960, p 17.
Needham, J. Science and ivilization in China,
Cambridge Univ. Press, vol 1, .1961 p_p. 53, 198, 231.
Swam, N.L. Food and Money in Ancient China: Han Shu 24
up to AD. 25 ed. Bloch, M.R. Private communication. 1977.
Eberhard, W History of China: Routledge Kegan Paul:
London, 195o-
Franke, H. Geld ubd Wirtschaft in China unter den
Mongolen- Herrschaft: Herrscowitz` Leipzig 1940.
Eberhardl q.v. 'Paper money redeemed at 3%. p. 210.
Battute Ibn. quoted by Franker q.v. ed. V. Kail p.41>.
Hall H. History of the Customs and Revenue in England
. 1885, p.1O.
Balzs, S Beitrage zur Wirtschaftsgeschicht den T'ang-
zeit` mitt.d. Zentl'Orient.Sprachen, 1931.
Bloch, M.R. Zur Entwicklung der vom Salz abhangigen 8
Technologien, Mitt: List Ges. Basel
p.289.
Lamb, H.H Climate , etc . Phil . trans . Royal Society
London, A 276, 195-230, 1970 *
Bridbury A.R. - England and the Salt Trade in the
Later Middle Ages Oxford Clarendon Press, 1955, pp 38,39*
Dendermonde, M. The Dutch and their Dykes, De Bezige
Amsterdam. 1956 - p 47*
Perroy,
The Doomsday ref. 1,200 salines on the East coast of
Book England
Collins, J. Salt and Fishery 1682, London;
Bloch M.R. notes in the MRBLOCH Salt Archive
Related Links | Activities | Email List |
PHYSIOLOGY | GEOLOGY | ARCHAEOLOGY | PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY | EUSTATIC SEALEVELS | DEAD SEA LEVELS | PALAEOGEOGRAPHY | PRODUCTION SALTPETER | RELIGION | ECONOMICS | INDIA Monopolies | CHINA Monopolies |
FRANCE the Gabelle | THE MANY USES of Salt | ETYMOLOGY | MONOMANIA
