Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 January 1918 — Life in Year “Umpty-Um” B.C. [ARTICLE]

Life in Year “Umpty-Um” B.C.

How Too Com Roll Cratnrie* Back and Sojourn Temporarily la Ancient Timeaj Money Invented Before Alphabet'

By S. W. STRAUS

(PmlMot New Yok tad CUcaf* Bamker)

(Copyright, 1917, Weetern Newspaper Union.)

Haven’t you often wished that you could have lived for a short while in some ancient period of history, observing personally the customs of the people and the state of civilization existing, and the numerous other interesting phases of contemporary life? And didn’t you dismiss the thought as fantastic, reconciling yourself to the fact that your knowledge of ancient people would have to be gained solely from books ? If that was the conclusion reached you really deprived yourself of some interesting experiences. Although it must sound like a fairy tale to contemplate rolling the centuries back and sojourning for a time in the year “umptyum” B. C. such is nevertheless quite possible. It is an interesting fact that many periods of history can be found reproduced in some 1 part of the world today. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s book, “The Lost World,” describing the adventures of a party of scientists who discovered a section of South America so isolated from the rest of the world that It never progressed beyond the caveman stage, contains not a little truth. There are hundreds of localities scattered about in the far corners of the .globe today that correspond to the most remote period of history. And these anachronisms, which might be termed laggard pupils In the class of civilization, are every bit as interesting as what we can only read about. A singer from the Theatre Lyrique once gave a concert in the Society Islands. At the conclusion of the entertainment she was presented as her share of the receipts.with three pigs, twenty-three turkeys, forty-four chickens, five hundred coconuts and considerable other fruit. I-wonder whether she realized she lived fdr a time in a locality that was, as far as the life and progress of its people are concerned, so primitive that similar periods in the history of the world in general are unrecorded ? For, the presentation to her of a fair-sized barnyard proves the Society Islands still carried on their

transactions by the method known as barter. And bartef existed before man began to write! Let us imagine for the moment we “are in a community that exchanges products by the barter system. If jk>u are a farmer and want a horse to pull your plow, you will go from neighbor to neighbor endeavoring to make an exchange. Perhaps you own several extra cows. You, will endeavor to find someone who needs two cows and who wishes to dispose of a horse. Of course, you will not expect to find such a person immediately and a gfeat deal of time will probably be consumed in locating him. Then when the point of negotiations is reached you will experience difficulty in coming to an agreement with your neighbor as to whether the two cows are eqyal in value to tl\e horse. Perhaps It will be necessary for one of you to throw In, to balance the scales, a bushel of o&ts and a pig. After much wrangling the transaction will be completed and you can ride the horse home. After you have bartered several times you will probably begin te think it Is rather a clumsy method. You will wonder vaguely whether there isn’t something that could be established as a unit of value —something that can be recognized by all as standard and used in transferring property from one to another. In view of your previous life in modern times you will no doubt take gold or silver as something universally considered as precious and standard, and make it a unit of value. At first you will probably value the metal purely by its weight and use it in some such form as bars. Perhaps for two bars a man will be able to buy a farm. Now, of course, all of this would be before the people in the community in which you live, learned the art of writing. It is a historical fact that the coin, a step beyond the gold and silver bar, was Invented before the alphabet. In the e/irliest records we are always finding allusions to money, but the earliest moneys discovered are invariably destitute of letters. So you can see how far back you would go in your temporary sojourn in ancient times and you would come back to the modern world with the desire to learn more regarding the money and banking system as- it has developed since th' time of barter and exchange. Although banking formerly Appeared to you as dry and without interest you will now see that its history has been liriked up with the most vital affairs of man. Just as necessity is the mother of invention you can now appreciate how the need for money was felt and met by primitive man almost before any other step forward was made.