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

PAPER MONEY VINDICATED. 35ation adds to natural price : he prefers goingto a cheaper market, and consequently receivesgoods in other countries than here.gold for his bill, with which he can buy moreHeavy sacrificesare made by the Englishman to preventthis ; and especially after his gold has beencarried away his price lowers ; for he has thento tempt the foreignpurchaser, in order to getit back again by the superior cheapness of ourcommodities compared with those of less taxedcountries :in doing this, he loses even more thanthe taxes which he has paid ; and that he losesthese, is the point which I have been proving.If this representation be true, it will follow,that prices in a metallic currency cannot bemaintained in England, for a continuance, higherthan they are in neighbouring countries, or thannatural price warrants. By a desperate strugglefor lifeor death, our productive classes have fora long time upheld them, in defiance of everydisadvantage under which an unwise governmenthas compelled them to labour—but pricesstill are gradually sinking, and must soon findtheir true level. For sixteen years the productiveclasses have been paying the greater partof forty millions a year in taxes, which oughtnot to have been required of them ;taxes whichshould have fallen altogether on the consumer;and they still remain crushed to the earth bythis terrible visitationupon them of a burthenwhich they were never intended to bear, norD 2