Alexander del Mar (1836-1926) was an American political economist, historian, numismatist and author. He was an organizer and director of the U.S. Bureau of Statistics in 1866-69.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Quotes 3 References 4 Sources 5 Bibliography 6 See also

[edit] Biography

Alexander del Mar, of Jewish-Spanish decent, was born in New York City, August 9, 1836. He lived for a short period of time in the United Kingdom and there received an education in humanities by a private tutor, Sir Arthur Helps. He was instructed in history, literature, law, and political economy.

After graduating at New York University as a civil engineer, he was educated as a mining engineer in Spain at the Madrid School of Mines.^[1]

He returned to the U.S. in 1854. During his professional career he lived in San Francisco, California. After retiering, he moved to London, England, to dedicate his life to further study.^[1]

In 1866 del Mar was appointed director of the U.S. Bureau of Statistics, at that time a board of trade, with executive functions, among others the supervision of the commissioners of mines, commerce, immigration, etc. Del Mar pioneered the use of a modern and scientific approach to statistics. He remained director until 1869.^[1] He was forced to resign by his superior, David Ames Wells, and was replaced by Francis Amasa Walker. Both were ardent supporters of specie money and opposed to del Mar's convictions of fiat money.^[2]

In 1866 he was appointed the American delegate to the international monetary congress which met at Turin, Italy.^[1]

In 1872 he was nominated by Horace Greeley's friends for Secretary of the Treasury. In the same year he represented the United States at the international monetary congress in St. Petersburg, Russia.

In 1877 del Mar was appointed mining commissioner to the U.S. Monetary Commission.^[1] This commission was created by Congress in 1876 to investigate: First. Into the change which has taken place in the relative value of gold and silver; the causes thereof, whether permanent or otherwise; the effects thereof upon trade, commerce, finance, and the productive interests of the country, and upon the standard of value in this and foreign countries; Second. Into the policy of the restoration of the double standard in this country; and, if restored, wha the legal relation between the two coins, silver and gold, should be; Third. Into the policy of continuing legal-tender notes concurrently with the metallic standards, and the effects thereof upon the labor, industries, and wealth of the country; and Fourth. Into the best means for providing for facilitating the resumption of specie payments.

In 1878 he was appointed as clerk to the United States House Committee on Expenditures in the Navy Department.

In 1879 del Mar published his History of the Precious Metals the labor of twenty-two years. From 1880 onwards he mainly devoted his professional career to writing.

In 1881, he published A History of Money in Ancient States, in 1885 Money and Civilization, in 1889 The Science of Money, in 1895, A History of Monetary Systems in Modern States, in 1899 A History of Monetary Crimes, in 1900 A History of Money in America, in 1903 A History of Monetary Systems of France. Del Mar also published several archaeological treatises of great interest.

Del Mar was a rigorous historian who made important contributions to the history of money. He was distinctly hostile to a central monetary role for gold as a commodity money. He believed strongly in the legal function of money. Del Mar has dedicated practically his whole lifetime to original research in the great libraries and coin collections of Europe on the subject of the history on money and finance. Alexander Del Mar died in 1926 at the age of ninety.

Upon his death, he donated his private library of 15,000 volumes to the American Bankers Association.

Del Mar received no scientific or academic recognition from contemporaries, and as a result from this his prescient views were totally excluded from the history of economics.^[2]

[edit] Quotes

In 1874, John Stuart Mill, spoke highly about del Mar at Avignon, France: Del Mar is a remarkable writer. There is stuff in him. He is the sort of man you need in America. He knows what he is about. He is the sort of man to put things right in your country, or in any country ^[3]

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} The Letters of William Lloyd Garrison, Volume 6, p. 107
2. ^ ^{a b} Tavlas, George S., Academic exclusion: the case of Alexander Del Mar, European Journal of Political Economy, 20, 1, Amsterdam (The Netherlands), 2004
3. ^ John Stuart Mill, Interview, Philadelphia Press, August 16, 1874

[edit] Sources

• Alexander del Mar on www.zoominfo.com
• Tavlas, George S., Academic exclusion: the case of Alexander Del Mar, European Journal of Political Economy, 20, 1, Amsterdam (The Netherlands), 2004
• Tavlas, George S. & Ascheim, Joseph, Alexander Del Mar, Irving Fisher, and Monetary Economics, Canadian Journal of Economics, 18, 2, Montréal (Québec), 1985
• Story of the Gold Conspiracy As Told at The Memphis Convention by the Hon. Alexander del Mar, Delegate from California, June 13, 1895
• The Crime of 1873
• Robertson, J.R., The life of Hon. Alex. Del Mar, M.E., formerly director of the Bureau of Statistics of the United States, E.F. Gooch & Son, London (England), 1881
• The Board of Statistics of the United States, New York Times, 1885, March 16

[edit] Bibliography

• del Mar, Alexander, Gold Money and Paper Money, Anson D.F. Randolph, New York City (NY), 1862 (Cornell University Library reprint 200... ISBN 9781429728416)
• del Mar, Alexander, The Great Paper Bubble or the Coming Financial Explosion, Office of the Metropolitan Record, New York City (NY), 1864 (Cornell University Library reprint 200... ISBN 9781429714358)
• del Mar, Alexander, Statistics of the World, Government Press, Washington (DC), 1866
• del Mar, Alexander, What is Free Trade, G.P. Putnam and Son, New York City (NY), 1867
• del Mar, Alexander, Decadence of American Shipbuilding, Government Press, Washington (DC), 1867
• del Mar, Alexander, The Whiskey Tax for 100 Years, Congressional Subcommitee on Retrenchment, Washington (DC), 1868
• del Mar, Alexander, History of Money and Civilization, 1867 (Repr. NY: Burt Franklin, 1969)
• del Mar, Alexander, Usury and the Jews, I.N. Choynski, San Francisco (CA), 1879
• del Mar, Alexander, Theory of Value, Mining and Scientific Press, San Francisco (CA), 1879
• del Mar, Alexander, History of Money in Ancient Countries, Bell, London, 1885
• del Mar, Alexander, History of Monetary Systems, 1895 (Repr. NY: A.M. Kelley, 1978)
• del Mar, Alexander, History of Money in America, 1900 (Repr. NY: Burt Franklin, 1968)
• del Mar, Alexander, History of the Precious Metals from the Earliest Times to the Present, George Bell and Sons, London, 1885 (Kessinger Publishing reprint 200... ISBN 0766190544)
• del Mar, Alexander, The History of Money in Ancient Countries from the Earliest Times to the Present, George Bell and Sons, London, 1880 (Kessinger Publishing reprint 2003 ISBN 0766190242)
• del Mar, Alexander, The History of Money in Modern Countries, George Bell and Sons, London, 1885 (Kessinger Publishing reprint 200... ISBN ...)
• del Mar, Alexander, The Science of Money, George Bell and Sons, London, 1885 (Kessinger Publishing reprint 2008 ISBN 1437282814)
• del Mar, Alexander, The Politics of Money, ..., ..., ...
• del Mar, Alexander, Barbara Villiers or a History of Monetary Crimes, ..., ..., 1899 (Omni Publications reprint 1983)

[edit] See also

• Coinage Act of 1873
• Free silver
• Monetary reform
• Veil of money
• Money illusion
• Criticism of fractional-reserve banking
• Stephen Zarlenga
• American Monetary Institute