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

;PAPEH MONEY VINDICATED. 77public have entrusted him with property inreturn for his notes, which property he hasspent, or speculated away, so that there are notfundsreturned forleft to take up the notes, M^hen they arepayment by those who hold them.A mere suspicion of the solvency of such a manwill throw discredit on his notes, and would constitutethem a depreciated currency, if they wereallowed to pass for whatever the public choseto give for them, as is the case in Americabut with us, if they are not of their full valuethey are considered worth nothing, till thedividend is declared. The second kind of depreciatedcurrency is the notes of a government,when they are issued to a greater amount than iswithdrawn from circulationby the demands oftaxation ; as was the case with the Frenchassignats. A perfectly inidtpreciahle papercurrency, as I have said before, is that of abona-Jide banking company, with a large surpluscapital,whose affairs are periodically laidopen to all who take an interest in them, andthe paper money of a government issued annuallyto an amount not greater than that of theannual taxation,and withdrawn in the space ofa year from the time of each issue by thecollectionof the taxes.Y ox public use we requirethe latter, for private accommodation the former;but whether we have both or either, suchpaper money can never become a deterioratedcurrency, at whatever rate our national taxation