Reproduction of the original: Robinson Crusoe ́s Money by David A. Wells

An excellent example of his work in this field is his "ROBINSON CRUSOE'S MONEY", issued first in 1876 when resumption was in doubt, and again in 1896 when the 'free silver' advocacy was in full swing. Wells was among the earliest to appreciate the importance of what has since been known as 'technological unemployment,' the displacing of men by machines ..His writing and speaking was marked by simplicity, candor, and extraordinary facility in the popular adaptation of statistics. His aptness in illustration was as charming as it was effective ..."Importance of Money in De Foe's Robinson CrusoeBecasuse of Money plays an important role in De Foe's Robinson Crusoe even though the islander repeatedly celebrates his triumph over the whole attribution of value to money, a medium of no value to him, who is deprived of all human commerce. Crusoe keeps a continuous account of his wealth and he is finally overwhelmed when he has to realise how rich he became in the time of his isolation. His computations mention:§ English pounds sterling,§ Portuguese Moidors and Cruisadoes, i.e. gold moedas and silver cruzados,§ Spanish Doubloons and Pieces of Eight, i.e. gold doblóns and pesos, silver coins of eight reales,§ unspecified (gold) ducats§ unminted goldAll coins mentioned matched specific amounts of gold and silver and one knew how to calculate between these coins. Our marginal notes offer the equivalents in English money at the rates valid in 1719.The computations for 1719 are not a weak compromise. A gold Moidore minted in 1670 would not contain one gram less gold in 1719 its value as a gold coin would hence remain stable. The value of gold in silver money was, however, unstable.None of the European currencies could fix a price at which gold could be converted; and all currencies gave sums on national silver standards. The problem increased where a country failed to stabilise its silver money (by failing to issue new silver coins of the expected quality). The 1680s and 1690s thus saw the English public unwilling to continue changing their gold guineas into silver shillings at the established rate of 20 shillings the guinea. The guinea rose from 20 to 30 shillings in 1694, it was successfully fixed at 21s, 6d in 1698; the rate was modified to 21 shillings in a new attempt to stabilise the monetary system in 1717, and it was to remain at this ratio till 1816.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1876.

Excerpt from Robinson Crusoe's Money: Or the Remarkable Financial Fortunes and Misfortunes of a Remote Island Community The origin of this little book is as follows: Some months ago, the expediency was suggested to the author, by certain prominent friends of hard money in this country, of preparing for popular reading - and possibly for political campaign purposes - a little tract, or essay, in which the elementary principles underlying the important subjects of money and currency should be presented and illustrated from the simplest A B C stand-point. That such a work was desirable, and that none of the very great number of speeches and essays already published on these topics in all respects answered the existing requirement, was admitted; but how to invest subjects, so often discussed, and so commonly regarded as dry and abstract, with sufficient new interest to render them at once attractive and intelligible to those whose tastes disincline them to close reasoning and investigation, was a matter not easy to determine. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1982.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

All who have read “Robinson Crusoe” (and who has not?) will remember the circumstance of his opening, some time after he had become domiciled on his desolate island, one of the chests that had come to him from the ship. In it he found pins, needles and thread, a pair of large scissors, “ten or a dozen good knives,” some cloth, about a dozen and a half of white linen handkerchiefs concerning which he remarks, “They were exceedingly refreshing to wipe my face on a warm day;” and, finally, hidden away in the till of the chest, “three great bags of money—gold as well as silver.” The finding of all these articles—the money excepted—it will be further remembered, greatly delighted the heart of Crusoe; inasmuch as they increased his store of useful things, and therefore increased his comfort and happiness. But in respect to the money the case was entirely different. It was a thing to him, under the circumstances, absolutely worthless, and over its presence and finding he soliloquized as follows: “I smiled at myself at the sight of all this money. ‘Oh, drug!’ said I, aloud, ‘what art thou good for? Thou art not worth to me, no, not the taking off the ground. One of these knives is worth all this heap. Nay, I would give it all for a gross of tobacco-pipes; for sixpenny-worth of turnip and carrot seed from England; or for a handful of pease and beans, and a bottle of ink.’” In introducing this episode in the life of his hero, nothing was probably further from the thought of the author, De Foe, than the intent to give his readers a lesson in political economy. And yet it would be difficult to find an illustration which conveys in so simple a manner to him who reflects upon it so much of information in respect to the nature of that which is popularly termed “wealth;” or so good a basis for reasoning correctly in respect to the origin and function of that which we call “money.” And in such reasoning, the truth of the following propositions is too evident to require demonstration: 1st. The pins and needles, the scissors, knives, and cloth were of great utility to Robinson Crusoe, because their possession satisfied a great desire on his part to have them, and greatly increased his comfort and happiness. 2d. Possessing utility, they nevertheless possessed no exchangeable value, because they could not be bought or sold, or, what is the same thing, exchanged with any body for any thing. 3d. They had, moreover, no price, for they had no purchasing power which could be expressed as money. 4th. The money, which is popularly regarded as the symbol and the concentration of all wealth, had, under the circumstances, neither utility, value, nor price. It could not be eaten, drunk, worn, used as a tool, or exchanged with any body for any thing, and fully merited the appellation which Crusoe in another place gives it, of “sorry, worthless stuff.” Finally, the pins, needles, knives, cloth, and scissors were all capital to Robinson Crusoe, because they were all instrumentalities capable of being used to produce something additional, to him useful or desirable. The money wasnot capital, under the circumstances, because it could not be used to produce any thing. Starting, then, with a condition of things on the island in which money had clearly neither utility nor value, let us next consider under what change of domestic circumstances it could become useful, acquire value, become an object of exchange, and constitute a standard for establishing prices.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.