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.