COPPER CASH AND THE MONETARY SYSTEM 859
The agency rejected the idea currently popular in some quarters that the intro-
duction of currency was creating a differential in prices between the capital and
the countryside by arguing that the free exchange of goods in an open market
would balance prices throughout the country. Residents of the capital would take
their cash to the countryside to buy up grain, while peasants and other holders
of rice in the provinces would come to the capital to sell it for cash. "Thus rice
could accumulate in the capital and cash could be sent back to the villages."
Cash would circulate without hindrance by the use of cash in the tax system
because peasants would be able to pay grain to the magistrates, and the magis-
trates would use cash to pay the people. In other words, if King Injo wanted
cash to circulate, he had to allow its use in the tax system, otherwise it would
be "like expecting a river to flow downstream even though its source had been
blocked off."
When lnjo called for further discussion about the possibility that the minting
of cash had created different values for the coin between capital and country-
side, the agency officials replied that the king ought to declare that the value of
the coin would remain constant throughout the country. Furthermore, the atti-
tude of the public at large could be assessed by the residents of Andong, who
had requested the establishment of a mint, and by the people of Kaesong, who
had been using copper cash for some time and deserved a mint in their city as
well. Injo finally ratified the proposal, choosing to select those towns that either
had flourishing commercial activities or were close to Japan or sources of cop-
per ore.^6
In [635 the Ever-Normal Bureau argued that Korea had been unable to achieve
the circulation of cash in over two hundred years since the dynasty was founded
even though metallic currency had been in use throughout the world since remote
antiquity. The problem was that the people had no trust in the country's laws
because too many policies, like the taedong system and the hop (Ie household
tally system had been dropped not long after they were first adopted. Even though
the people understood the advantages of cash, they had doubts that it would
become a permanently acceptable means of exchange. Something had to be done
to instill public confidence in cash, like the Koryo practice of announcing a new
edict to the royal family's ancestral shrine. The government had to demonstrate
its resolution to carry out the law and put an end to idle gossip and confusion
about the laws.
The agency's program permitted shopkeepers and merchants to establish cash
markets or set up shops at will in the capital and provincial districts and along
the major thoroughfares in the countryside to accept cash payments. It ordered
capital bureaus and district magistrates' yamen to collect fines and pay for
expenses in cash. required markets in the capital to accept cash for ordinary pur-
chases of fuel and vegetables and require cash for the purchase of large items
like oxen and horses with fines for failure to adhere to the law.^7 Injo also estab-
lished a special cash tax in Kyonggi Province and granted permission for pri-