Currency fallacies refuted, and paper money ... - University Library

—6 CURRENCY FALLACIES REFUTED.cannot be believed on the authority of the assertionbefore us, that all to whom a loan wouldbe useful are utterly without any more propertyto offer as security for it. Has the landed proprietorno acres left but those which are undermortgage ? Is the farmer's capital all gone ?Has the tradesman, manufacturer, or merchantno stock in his warehouses, no bills in his possession,on the credit of which he could commanda further loan from the capitalist ? If ithas come to this, we are brought into the conditionof ancient Greece and Rome, of whichit was said, at a certain time, that one-half ofthe nation was indebted to the other ; and atthat juncture a fresh division of property tookplace. This would have an ominous aspect formany, were the assertion true of England : butlet us hope it is false ; and for our comfort recollect,that the wealth of Great Britain at theend of the last century was estimated by Dr.Beeke, and apparently not over-estimated, atthe large sum of 2,500 millions of pounds sterling.This cannot be all in the hands of thecapitalists. If we take what the T'ljnes allowsto be the amount of money at present in GreatBritain, viz. 50 millions, and compare it withthe resources of the country—it amounts butto ihQ Jiftieth part . Now it is impossible thatthe capitalist should have plenty of money readyto lend, out of 50 millions in all, and that thepeople should not have any thing to offer as