VALUE OF NOTES
63
amount not ‘‘ unreasonably ” large, no one thinks
of questioning their utility as currency, and there
is plenty of demand at the lower price at which they
are put on the market. But if the increase goes on,
sooner or later there comes a time when the increase
is so rapid or the total outstanding becomes so large
that even ‘“ the public ”’ begins to wonder ‘ what all
this means,” and when that happens distrust soon
sets in, the general acceptability of the notes suddenly
ceases, and they become absolutely worthless : some
other currency is found to take their place.
The conclusion to which this section has led us is
that where the unit of account is a note, the value
of money and the general level of prices depend on
the will of the issuers, and that the issuers may, and
probably will, if not restrained, bring the value of
money down so low and drive prices up so high that
confidence in the notes disappears and some other
unit of account, such as coin or bullion, has to be used.
The conclusion of the whole inquiry is that the
value of money, which is the same thing as the
general level of prices regarded inversely, is not an
anomalous or even very peculiar thing, but depends
in the same way as the value of other commodities
upon the various influences which affect demand and
supply : and that if peoples dislike the rise of prices
which is another name for a fall in the value of money,
they should insist on adequate limitation of the supply
of money.
This is a conclusion which has long been familiar
to economists = is time ‘t was grasped by the men
whe ro? “om ae on Y~'ng practical.