I came across this quote in an old-timey book (1948) the original from 1898: Home Life in Colonial Days, by Alice Morse Earle. Couple of observations to be made here. 1) From another commodity study I've made, historical observers to often mix coin and paper values. The "Shillings" in question might be Coin Silver in 1672 and Paper in 1747, no? And in different States, different values. 2) Corn obviously didn't have a 'steady value' if famine or bumper-crops changed Supply/Demand. What's needed is a PM coin price, to see that more clearly. 3) Corn as Money. Hmm. I need to think about that. So - to the first observation - is there an online concordance (table) of Colonial Silver Gold and Currency values, 1631-1775 for the different 'states'? Thanks!
This is a great observation and would be very valuable for folks who consider themselves "preppers." My wife has learned so much in the last year+ about quality food and what to do with it. Raw milk to yogurt to cheese plus whey, then use whey to ferment cabbage and make kim chee. Raw nuts, soak, then dehydrate. Oatmeal soak overnight before cooking next morning. And that's just on the purchase end...let alone farming, etc. It's a shame to see folks who are so concerned about fiat, who don't think of FOOD. Think also of the corn to ethanol subsidies, the harsh treatment of small farmers, what are we coming to? If you think 90% silver dimes have a real future as currency, don't forget WHAT you'll want to buy with them!
Farmers today are more of a corporation that a family thing. I don't think an honest person could start a farm unless he had over $500,000. Land is now $10,000 an acre here. I give these "preppers" merit, but what exactly are they preparing for? I really don't think the S will ever hit the fan. It's all a bunch of conspiracy in my book. Why spend so much time worrying about it? I take life one day at a time.
In my neck of the woods, land goes for 700+/acre pasture and 1200+/acre dry cropland, 1800+/acre irrigated. You can't be a real farmer without tying up a million and a half in land and half a mil on equipment and farmhouse. I have cousins that farm over 3200 acres, as well as ~2000 acres pastureland that they graze cattle on. That being said, a different branch of my family has 160 acres a piece that 1 person farms for them, and they work their "city" jobs.
Well these replies are certainly digressive, but I like them anyway! So true - but I think city-folks are even dimmer than that! Here in Boston, ppl don't seem to know you can COOK pumpkin in the oven +20min and then eat it (w/ butter & spices, to your druthers.) It's not just a front-stoop adornment! So many good (uncarved) ones get thrown away now - just test those left out on garbage day. The $4 loaves of organic bread - still fresh - get binned because of silly state laws. I could go on and on, but I'm not a raving freegan. There's so much food-waste, it's just appalling. On Urban Agro-Production: Lots of younger people in the Boston/NYC metro areas are thinking how to compost & urban-garden, way beyond limousine-liberal "recycling." They're a new generation of Blue State prepper, emerging a non-religious and non-Doomer demographic. I always recommend they look for those old issues of Foxfire: http://www.foxfire.org/thefoxfiremagazine.aspx And Detroit seems to be 'Ground Zero' for the renewalist movement: http://www.urbanfarming.org/ I'm not saying this trend is economical, but it's a first step towards reawakening popular agronomy here in the USA. The social benefits of getting people to THINK seriously about food (production, storage, conservation, etc.) through garden-work can't be a bad thing. We shouldn't be importing 'landscapers' nor farm-workers from Central America, either. I think that paradigm - take the infamous example of Mitt Romney's undocumented Brazilian landscapers - must change. To my mind, Silver & food-commodity discussions always recall that famous speech of Wm Jennings Bryan: http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5354/ "You come to us and tell us that the great cities are in favor of the gold standard. I tell you that the great cities rest upon these broad and fertile prairies. Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic. But destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country."
I almost apologized for the digression, however you opened such a can of worms...worm currency, anyone? Shame we've traded worms for fertilizers and pesticides and terminator seed. Amazing inflation swings in your OP. It's hard to imagine that could happen again...oh yeah, gas has doubled in how many years? Guns and ammo are the same as 4 years ago, but good food has shot up PMs. Other than PMs, food and bullets, what do you save as future physical value? Whiskey? Sterno?
Clint- I love a good digression. See #1. Not certain, but I suspect the 1672 price (2/-) might be Silver wholesale for a bumper-crop and the 1747 price (20/-) could be Conneticut scrip retail at famine price. Apples-to-oranges, maybe. That's what a PM/currency table would settle. I'll make another post to show an even wilder discrepancy on Platinum.
Jaun - if you would like me to I can send you some university study papers that discuss the values of goods and services, wages, and the often widely varying and changing values of silver and gold back in the 1500's and 1600's. If you'd like me to do that, then send me a PM with your email address and I'll forward the information to you. I have a great deal of it, perhaps more than you want.
Wow, I'd really appreciate that, too. I've been re-reading and meditating on this essay for the last several months: http://mises.org/books/inflationinfrance.pdf
Sure, I will send info to anyone that asks for it. Send me a PM with your email address and I will send it. But I warn you, when I say there's a lot of info, I mean a LOT of info. So it would be a good idea if you also include in your PM what your email provider's capacity or file size limits are so that the emails are not rejected by your provider for being too big. In other words, I need to know if your size limits are 10mb, 20 mb, or whatever. And I will probably have to send more than 1 email to each of you.
The value of various paper and specie fluctuated wildly and was incredibly chaotic during the Revolutionary War period. This would make for a fabulous PhD thesis.
Its been done. I have two or three books that ARE Ph.D theses on related subjects. I am not trying to diss your idea Tom, but rather say that if you looked hard enough you could find such a paper, (and probably quite a few). Btw Doug if you are making a mailing you can include me too. I control the IT department so can let any email through if you get an error message. I will PM you my email. Chris
