again taken up, and referred to a committee, of which I was a member.
The general views of the Financier were sound, and the principle was
ingenious, on which he proposed to found his unit; but it was too minute
for ordinary use, too laborious for computation, either by the head or
in figures. The price of a loaf of bread, 1/20 of a dollar, would be
72 units. A pound of butter, 1/5 of a dollar, 288 units. A horse, or
bullock, of eighty dollars' value, would require a notation of six
figures, to wit, 115,200, and the public debt, suppose of eighty
millions, would require twelve figures, to wit, 115,200,000,000 units.
Such a system of money-arithmetic would be entirely unmanageable for the
common purposes of society. I proposed, therefore, instead of this,
to adopt the Dollar as our unit of account and payment, and that its
divisions and subdivisions should be in the decimal ratio. I wrote some
Notes on the subject, which I submitted to the consideration of the
Financier. I received his answer and adherence to his general system,
only agreeing to take for his unit one hundred of those he first
proposed, so that a Dollar should be 14 40/100 and a crown 16 units. I
replied to this, and printed my Notes and Reply on a flying sheet, which
I put into the hands of the members of Congress for consideration, and
the Committee agreed to report on my principle. This was adopted the
ensuing year, and is the system which now prevails. I insert, here, the
Notes and Reply, as showing the different views on which the adoption of
our money system hung. [See Appendix, note F.]The divisions into dismes,
cents, and mills is now so well understood, that it would be easy of
introduction into the kindred branches of weights and measures. I use,
when I travel, an Odometer of Clarke's invention, which divides the mile
into cents, and I find every one comprehends a distance readily, when
stated to him in miles and cents; so he would in feet and cents, pounds
and cents, &c.