Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 2.djvu/524

 advantage. For one hundred pounds of it, for instance, he was required to pay only four shillings and sixpence; he could not only dispose of it at a handsome profit, but, obtained at so low a price, he was enabled to buy all of his supplies practically at half rates. The example set by the Governor in discouraging the use of money sterling was followed by the Auditor-General in receiving from the collectors the amount which they were called upon to turn over to him, and by the collectors in receiving the duties which were paid by the merchants on tobacco exported by them and on certain articles which they imported. The authors of the Present State of Virginia, 1697, declare that the influence of the example of these officials extended to the people in their mutual transactions in business, but this statement is open to serious doubt, since to follow their example did not coincide with the popular interests. The expressed sentiment of the colonists is, moreover, in conflict with it.

In a series of proposals drawn in the autumn of 1697 for submission to the House of Burgesses by leading citizens of Accomac, it was asserted emphatically that money sterling was the most convenient agency in carrying on trade and commerce, and that its absence discouraged men in every walls of life because it compelled them to wait or sell upon credit, which frequently terminated in a total loss. For this reason, it was stated to be of the highest importance that all coins should bear a fixed value. The petitioners, therefore, urged upon the attention of the Burgesses the necessity of laying down the rates at which all money sterling except that of English mintage should pass as current in Virginia. Unless steps were taken to put this suggestion into practical operation, the small amount in circulation in the Colony, the petitioners