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DECIMAL COINAGE

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 913 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DECIMAL COINAGE .' Any currency in which the various denominations of See also:

coin are arranged in multiples or submultiples of ten (See also:Lat. decem) , with reference to a See also:standard unit, is a decimal See also:system. Thus if the standard unit be 1 the higher coins will be ro, Too, moo, &c., the See also:lower •1, •ot, •oo1, &c. In a perfect system there would be no breaks or interpolations, but the actual currencies described as " decimal " do not show this rigid symmetry. In See also:France the standard unit—the franc—has the io See also:franc and the too franc pieces above it; the to centime below it; there are also, however, 50 franc, 20 franc, 5 franc, 2 franc pieces as well as 5o and 20 centime ones. Similar irregularities occur in the See also:German and See also:United States coinages, and indeed in all countries in which a decimal system has been established. Popular convenience has compelled this departure from the strict decimal See also:form. Subject to these See also:practical modifications the leading countries of the See also:world (See also:Great See also:Britain and See also:India are the See also:chief exceptions) have adopted decimal coinage. The United States led the way (1786 and 1792) with the See also:dollar as the unit, and France soon followed (1799 and 1803), her system being extended to the countries of the Latin See also:Union (1865). The German See also:empire (1873), the Scandinavian States(1875),See also:Austria-See also:Hungary (187o,See also:developed in 1892) and See also:Russia (1839 and 1897) are further adherents to the decimal system. The Latin-See also:American countries and See also:Japan (1871) have also adopted it. In See also:England proposals for decimalizing the coinage have See also:long been under discussion at intervals. Besides the inconvenience of altering the established currency, the difficulty of choosing between the different schemes propounded has been a consider-able obstacle.

One See also:

plan took the See also:farthing as a See also:base: then 10 farthings=t doit (22d.), to doits=l florin (2s. 1d.), to florins= 1 See also:pound (2os. See also:tod.). The advantages claimed for this See also:scheme were (I) the preservation of the smaller coins (the See also:penny= 4 farthings); and (2) the avoidance of interference with the smaller See also:retail prices. Its great disadvantage was the destruction of the existing unit of value—the pound—and the consequent disturbance of all accounts. A second proposal would retain the pound as unit and the florin, but would subdivide the latter into For " decimal " in See also:general see See also:ARITHMETIC. roo " See also:units " (or farthings reduced 4 %) and introduce a new coin = ro units (2.4d.). By it the unit of See also:account would remain as at See also:present, and the See also:shilling (as 5o units) would continue in use. The alteration of the See also:bronze and several See also:silver coins, and the need of readjusting all values and prices expressed in pence, formed the See also:principal difficulties. A third scheme, which was connected with the assimilation of See also:English to See also:French and American See also:money, proposed the See also:establishment of an 8s. See also:gold coin as unit, with the tenpenny or franc and the penny (reduced by 4 %) as sub-divisions. The new coin would be See also:equivalent to ro francs or (by an anticipated reduction of the dollar) 2 dollars. None of these plans has gained any great amount of popular support.

End of Article: DECIMAL COINAGE

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