VALUE OF NOTES 
5 
separately or in association to make a perfectly new 
issue of inconvertible notes without the assistance of 
Government, but such an issue can be made by or 
with the active help of even a rather weak Government. 
This is possible partly because the public has been 
accustomed to regard the note currency as more or 
less arranged for by the Government, and therefore 
to look upon anything which is allowed to circulate 
as being ‘““ good "— it trusts the Government to do 
with notes what it does with coin, to see that 
nothing ““ bad ” is in circulation—and partly because 
the Government assumes the power of interpreting 
the name of the unit of account. This power is 
commonly called the power of changing the law of 
legal tender. At one time, for example, gold coin 
may be the only legal tender; then a contract to 
pay “one hundred pounds” can only be fulfilled 
(unless the other pa~v agrees) by the tender of 100 
sovereigns or 200 half-sovereigns. Government 
may then enact that notes issued by some bank or 
by its own Treasury shall be legal tender, and forth- 
with every one who has contracted to pay ‘“ pounds * 
can pay in these notes. It is true that if the issue is 
very unpopular, the mere making of it legal tender 
will not bring it into general circulation, because 
people will find means for refusing to deal with those 
who insist on paying in it, but the law certainly 
does help. The power of the holder of a note to make 
his creditor accept it in payment is not exactly the 
same thing as the note being generally acceptable, 
but it goes far to cre 2 7eneral acceptability, since 
a person’s reluc*anec~ °° «~~ -* ig largely overcome 
by the feeline that ~ass the thing on.” 
Gover~=.nt: have oft 1 "in getting their 
notes int circu'ation -... that they have 
fori’? -ivate person: lo icsic convertible notes 
for 'snominatirne vb we'd have been