Page 56 of 62
[69] "L'argent n'est que le moyen et l'acheminement, au lieu que les denres utiles la vie sont la fin et le but." ("Money is but the ways and means, while the things useful in life are the end and object.") Boisguillebert: "Le Dtail de la France," 1697, in Eugene Daires '"Economistes financiers du XVIIIieme sicle, vol. I., Paris, 1843, p. 210.
[70] In November, 1807, William Spence published a pamphlet in England under the title: "Britain Independent of Commerce." The principle set forth in this pamphlet was further elaborated by William Cobbet in his "Political Register" under the virulent title, "Perish Commerce." To this James Mill replied in 1808 in his "Defence of Commerce" which contains the passage quoted above from his "Elements of Political Economy" (p. 190-193, Transl.). In his controversy with Sismondi and Malthus on commercial crises, J. B. Say appropriated this clever device, and as it would be difficult to point out with what new idea this comical "prince de la science" had enriched political economy, his continental admirers have trumpeted him as the man who had unearthed the treasure of the metaphysical balance of purchases and sales; as a matter of fact, his merits consisted rather of the impartiality with which he equally misunderstood his contemporaries, Malthus, Sismondi and Ricardo.
[71] The manner in which economists explain the different aspects of the commodity may be seen from the following examples:
"With money in possession, we have but one exchange to make in order to secure the object of desire, while with other surplus products we have two, the first of which (procuring the money) is infinitely more difficult than the second." (G. Opdyke, "A Treatise on Political Economy," New York, 1851, p. 277-278.)
"The superior saleableness of money is the exact effect or natural consequence of the less saleableness of commodities." (Th. Corbet, "An Inquiry into the Causes and Modes of the Wealth of Individuals." etc., London, 1841, p. 117.)
"Money has the quality of being always exchangeable for what it measures." (Bosanquet, "Metallic, Paper and Credit Currency," etc., London, 1842, p. 100.)
"Money can always buy other commodities, whereas other commodities can not always buy money." (Th. Tooke, "An Inquiry into the Currency Principle," 2d ed., London, 1844, p. 10.)
[72] The same commodity can be bought and resold many times. It circulates, then, not merely as a commodity, but in a capacity which does not exist from the point of view of simple circulation, of the simple contrast of commodity and money.
[73] The quantity of money is immaterial "pourvu qu'il y en ait assez pour maintenir les prix contracts par les denres" (as long as it is sufficient to maintain the existing prices of commodities). Boisguillebert, l. c. p. 210.
"If the circulation of commodities of four hundred millions required a currency of forty millions, and ... this proportion of one-tenth was the due level, estimating both currency and commodities in gold; then, if the value of commodities to be circulated increased to four hundred and fifty millions, from natural causes ... I should say the currency, in order to continue at its level, must be increased to forty-five millions." (William Blake, "Observations on the Effects Produced by the Expenditure of Government, etc.," London, 1823, p. 80.)
[74] "E la velocit del giro del danaro, non la quantit dei metalli che fa apparir molto a poco il danaro." (Galiani, l. c. p. 99.) ("It is the rapidity of the circulation of money and not the quantity of metals that causes a greater or smaller amount of money to appear.")
[75] An example of an extraordinary decline of metallic circulation from its average level was furnished by England in 1858, as may be seen from the following extract from the London Economist: "From the nature of the case (namely, the isolated nature of simple circulation) very exact data cannot be procured as to the amount of cash that is fluctuating in the market, and in the hands of the not banking classes. But, perhaps, the activity or the inactivity of the mints of the great commercial nations is one of the most likely indications in the variations of that amount. Much will be manufactured when it is wanted; and little when little is wanted.... At the English mint the coinage was in 1855 9,245,000; 1856, 6,476,000; 1857, 5,293,855. During 1858 the mint had scarcely anything to do." (Economist, July 10, 1858.) But at the same time about eighteen million pounds sterling were lying in the bank vaults.
[76] Dodd, "Curiosities of Industry," etc., London, 1854.
[77] "The Currency Question Reviewed, etc., by a Banker." (Edinburgh, 1845, p. 69.)
"Si un cu un peu us etait reput valoir quelque chose de moins qu'un cu tout neuf, la circulation se trouverait continuellement arrte, et il n'y aurait pas un seul payement qui ne fut matire contestation." (G. Garnier, l. c. t. I., p. 24.) ("If an ecu slightly used would pass for a little less than an entirely new ecu, circulation would be continually interfered with, and not a payment would take place that would not give rise to controversy.")
[78] W. Jacob, "An Inquiry Into the Production and Consumption of the Precious Metals." (London, 1831, vol. II., ch. XXVI.)
[79] David Buchanan, "Observations on the Subjects Treated of in Dr. Smith's Inquiry on the Wealth of Nations," etc. (Edinburgh, 1841, p. 3.)
[80] Henry Storch, "Cours d'Economic Politique." etc., avec des notes par J. B Say. Paris, 1823, tom. IV., p. 179. Storch published his work in French at St. Petersburg. J. B. Say immediately issued a Parisian reprint, supplemented with alleged "notes," which as a matter of fact contain nothing but commonplaces. Storch (see his "Considerations sur la Nature du Revenue National," Paris, 1824) took by no means kindly to this annexation of his work by the "prince de la science."
[81] Plato de Rep. L. II " ." ("Money symbol of exchange.") Opera omnia, etc., ed. G. Stallbumius, London, 1850, p. 304. Plato develops money only in two capacities—as a measure of value and a token of value, but demands, in addition to the token of value serving for home circulation, another one for trade between Greece and foreign countries. (See also Book V of his Laws.)
[82] Aristotle, Ethic. Nicom, l. 5., ch. 8, l. c.: ' . , ' ." ("In the satisfaction of wants money became the medium of exchange by agreement. And for that reason it bears the name , because it owes its existence, not to nature, but to law (), and it is in our power to change it and make it void.") Aristotle had a far more comprehensive and deep view of money than Plato. In the following passage he beautifully shows how barter between different communities creates the necessity of assigning the character of money to a specific commodity, i. e., one which has itself an intrinsic value. " h , , ' ... ". (Arist. De Republica, l. i. p. 9, [secs. 7, 8] l. c.)
("When the inhabitants of one country became more dependent on those of another, and they imported what they needed and exported the surplus, money necessarily came into use ... and hence men agreed to employ in their dealings with each other something which was intrinsically useful and easily applicable to the purposes of life, for example, iron, silver and the like." Trans, by B. Jowett, "The Politics of Aristotle, Oxford, 1885, p. 16). This passage is quoted by Michel Chevalier, who either has not read Aristotle or did not understand him, to prove that in Aristotle's opinion currency must consist of a substance having intrinsic value. On the contrary, Aristotle says expressly that money as a mere medium of circulation seems to owe its existence to agreement or law, as is shown by its name , and that in reality it owes its utility as coin to its function and not to any intrinsic use-value of its own. , ' . ("Others maintain that coined money is a mere sham, a thing not natural, but conventional only, which would have no value or use for any of the purposes of daily life if another commodity were substituted by the users." (l. c. sec. 11.)
