Money
Money names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below. 1 of them is described by more than one encyclopedia.
Money a term used to describe the medium of exchange of standard value of any country
Described by 2 of the 6 encyclopedias.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a term used to describe the medium of exchange of standard value of any country. Gold, silver, nickel, copper are the coinage of modern nations, but baser metal coinage, and shells, grains, sheep, wampum, furs, and other commodities have been the medium of exchange among primitive people. Money is the measure of value, and buying and selling not only apply relative values to things bought and sold, but to all things that could be sold for money, all credit being dependent on this fact. By standard of value we mean a measure of comparing values at different periods. The measure of values considers the estimation of commodities and at the same time the standard of values at different periods; often called the standard of deferred payments. Credit organization calls for future money payments, goods being transferred for a promise to pay, and as this may cover a considerable period stability in money value is of first importance. Precious metals as a medium were chosen by advanced nations for physical characteristics and also for economic conditions, and because they are durable, portable, and easily divided into parts and are relatively of stable value which rarely fluctuates. Inferior metals have much the same advantages as a medium. With paper, used in greater quantity than metals, the stability of its values is the most important question. All money value is established by the law of supply and demand, or by the costs of production, that is, the law of market value, and of normal value. The values of money are expressed in money as prices, and conversely. To say that prices are high, or low, is to say that money is cheap, or dear. Prices rule high when money is cheap, and low prices prevail when money is dear. We say wheat has gone up in price when it is sold for a dollar a bushel, and was previously 50 cents; but on the other hand the wheat price of money has dropped, because it took two bushels of wheat to obtain a dollar, and then only one bushel. The doll value of money depends on the quantity in existence, but under normal influences an increase in the quantity lowers its value, while a decrease in the supply raises it. All increase in the world's money supply raises prices caused by loss of value. The purpose of monetary laws is to adjust supply to demand, providing automatic regulation of the amount of money. Free coinage-generally provided for in a metallic currency system - by attracting supplies of metal for that purpose, will to some degree correct and adjust conditions. Between nations using the same standard, metal passes back and forth so that there is never either a lack or a redundancy. Abundant money means high prices and then imports exceed exports. Payment of unfavorable balances will cut down the money supply and lower prices. Scarce money brings low prices, and exports surpass imports and the favorable balance brings gold into the country-thus international trade adjusts and corrects local money prices. The value of money depends on supply and demand as with all other commodities. Increased demand for money is caused by whatever increases the volume of exchanges, the demand diminishing as the volume diminishes. The demand for money is also determined by rapid monetary circulation, and use of credit, each economizing the use of money. Savings banks quicken the circulation of money by collecting the hoards of poor people and putting the money into circulation. Credit is of first importance in influencing money demand, as only balances are paid in money. The country storekeeper who takes farm supplies on an account and pays in goods illustrates how credit lessens the demand for money. Where there is an abundance of anything the demand increases. A reduced su supply lessens the demand and prevents prices from falling. Paper money is of two classes, convertible and inconvertible. Convertible is secondary money, deriving its value from, and representing, metallic money, its value deriving from the relations of supply and demand. Convertible money is a receipt for gold and silver, and circulates like metallic money in another form. There is also a paper money called bank money. Depositors of metal lic money discovered that coin would not be demanded at any given time for the full amount of outstanding notes, and thus a much larger sum than the metallic reserve could be kept in circulation. Notes were therefore issued in excess of the reserve, but convertible into coin. Bank money increases the volume of monetary circulation, and as it saves metal saves value to the community. When a government or bank fails to redeem their paper, it falls in value and coin rises. Monetary circulation for trade needs have created composite money systems. Under a single gold standard, paper is used for large and sil ver for small sums. Under a single silver standard, gold might well be used for large payments except for its expense, and payments could also be made in paper, as was the case in Germany in 1875.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
that which passes freely from hand to hand in settlement of debts or purchase of commodities. Money, to be money, must be acceptable to everyone in exchange for any article he may desire to sell. The money of a civilized people may not be understood or it may not be usable by savage people. It may have no purchasing value, and hence it may cease to be money. The more primitive a people the more primitive its money is. Furs, grain, and shells have all served their turn as money. Opium passes in some parts of China. Bricks of tea are acceptable in Mongolia. Cowrie shells are still current in Siam. Beads still pass in parts of Oceanica and Africa. The early colonists of Virginia paid their preachers in tobacco. The traders of the North reckoned values in beaver skins. Among coinage nations, the less advanced the civilization the smaller the value of the coins demanded by the necessities of the people. An American quarter changed into the copper cash of the Chinese would fill one's pocket with an uncomfortable weight. We may also say that the lower the standard of wages, the smaller the coin required in commercial transactions. The current coin of western Europe, the mark, franc, or shilling, worth from eighteen to twenty-four cents, replaces the American dollar. The coin in which car fares are paid and small change is made is correspondingly small. In the western part of the United States , where money flows more freely and expenses are on a larger scale, trade disdains the cent piece of the Eastern States. Prices of the smallest articles are made in even nickels. The amount of money in the world at the birth of Christ is estimated at $1,800,000,000. By 500 A. D. the amount had fallen one-third of that sum. In the day of Charlemagne commerce and industry had become so paralyzed that the amount of money is put at $200,000,000, or one-ninth of the sum first named. The discovery of America stimulated activity in all lines of industry. The New World supplied a vast quantity of the precious metals, most of which was coined. The world's supply of money rose rapidly from century to century. It is now about $11,781,200,000, or not far from $8.90 per capita. The principal coins in use with their value, as announced by the secretary of the United States Treasury, are given in the following: Countries. Monetary unit. Value in U. S. gold, 1909 Argentina $0.965 Austria-Hungary 203 Belgium 193 Brazil 546 British Honduras 1.00 British N. A. (except Newfoundland). Dollar 1.00 Chile 365 Colombia 1.00 Costa Rica 465 Cuba 91 Denmark 268 Ecuador 487 Egypt 4.943 Finland 193 France 193 Germany 238 Great Britain 4.86 1/2 Greece 193 Haiti 965 India 4.86 1/2 Italy 193 Japan 498 Liberia 1.00 Mexico 498 Netherlands 402 Newfoundland 1.014 Norway 268 Panama 1.00 Peru 4.86 1/2 Philippine Islands 50 Portugal 1.08 Russia 515 Spain 193 Sweden 268 Switzerland 193 Turkey 044 Uruguay 1.034 Venezuela 193 See Mint ; Greenback; Banking; Gold ; Silver ; Copper ; Coin ; Counterfeiting ; Bank Of England
Money SIR LEO GEORGE CHI- OZZA, English expert on finance and economics
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
SIR LEO GEORGE CHI- OZZA, English expert on finance and economics, of Italian origin; born in Genoa, Italy, 1870; was educated in England and became managing editor of "The Commercial Intelligence" (1898- 1903); became especially expert on income tax data, on which subject he was chief witness before a commission appointed to inquire into the subject. He was a member of the Commission on Home Work (1907-1908); during the war he was a member of the War Trades Advisory Board, and Parliamentary private secretary to Lloyd George, while the latter was Minister of Munitions. In 1918 he abandoned the Liberal party to affiliate with the Laborites. Sir Leo has acquired much prominence as a writer on subjects connected with national finance and economics in general. MONGHYR (mon-ger') a picturesque city of Bengal, India, on the right bank of the Ganges, 80 miles E. by S. of Patna; it consists of the fort, a rocky crag projecting into the river, and the native quarters. From the 12th century onward it was a place of considerable strength; in the 18th century Mir Kasim made it his headquarters. He established an arsenal, and its armorers are still famed. Cotton, cloth, shoes, and furniture are manufactured. Pop. about 36,000. MÖNG NAI, a state of British Burma. It has an area of 2,717 square miles. It is for the most part mountainous, but in the valleys rice, tobacco, and tropical fruits are produced. Pop. about 36,000. The capital is the city of the same name.
Money Money which comes from the devil is of poor quality
An Encyclopaedia of Occultism (1920)
Money which comes from the devil is of poor quality, and such wealth, like the fairy-money, generally turns to earth, or to lead, toads, or anything else worthless or repulsive. "A youth," says Gregory of Tours, "received a piece of folded paper from a stranger, who told him that he could get from it as much money as he wished, so long as he did not unfold it. The youth drew many gold pieces from the papers, but at length curiosity overcame him, he unfolded it and discovered within the claws of a cat and a bear, the feet of a toad and other repulsive fragments, while at the same moment his wealth disappeared." In popular superstition it is supposed that if a person hear the cuckoo for the first time with money in his pocket, he shall have some all the year, while if he greet the new moon for the first time in the same fortunate condition, he shall not lack money throughout the month.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Both accounts assume money is at bottom metal: Collier's in 1921 describes gold, silver, nickel and copper as "the coinage of modern nations" and treats paper as either a receipt for coin or a bank promise convertible into it. That link is gone. Britain left the gold standard in 1931, the Bretton Woods system fixed currencies to a dollar still redeemable in gold for foreign governments, and when Nixon ended that convertibility in August 1971 every major currency became fiat money, backed only by law and central-bank policy. Free coinage has vanished with it, circulating silver coins were withdrawn in the United States in 1965, most money now exists as entries in bank computers rather than notes or coin, and since Bitcoin's launch in 2009 privately issued digital currencies have raised the old question of what counts as money all over again. Collier's core economics — that money's value moves with its quantity, and that prices rise as money grows cheap — is still the framework taught, though modern central banks aim at an inflation target rather than an automatic metallic adjustment.
Written for this edition, 2026.