what sense is the word pound to be used? . . . To what will the sum one pound be equivalent? . . . Before I venture a reply I must enquire what constitutes a standard of value? . . . Is £3 17s. 10½d. an ounce of gold, or is it only of the value of an ounce of gold? If £3 17s. 10½d. be an ounce of gold, why not call things by their proper names, and, dropping the terms pounds, shillings and pence, say ounces, pennyweights and grains? . . . If we adopt the terms ounces, pennyweights and grains of gold, as our monetary system, we should pursue a direct system of barter. . . . But if gold be estimated as of the value of £3 17s. 10½d. per ounce . . . how is this . . . that much difficulty has been experienced at different periods to check gold from rising to £5 4s. per ounce, and we now notice that gold is quoted at £3 17s. 9d. per ounce? . . . The expression pound has reference to value, but not a fixed standard value. . . . The term pound is the ideal unit. . . . Labour is the parent of cost and gives the relative value to gold or iron. Whatever denomination of words are used to express the daily or weekly labour of a man, such words express the cost of the commodity produced."[1]
In the last words the hazy conception of the ideal money measure melts away and its real meaning breaks through. The reckoning names of gold, pound sterling, shilling, etc., should be names for definite quantities
- ↑ The Currency Question, The Gemini Letters, London, 1844, p. 260–272, passim.
