18 
MONEY 
provided the coin may be melted and it or bullion may 
be exported. Money is still reckoned in a coin which 
is convertible into bullion, and therefore cannot go 
below its bullion value. The conditions of the supply 
of the convertible notes prevent the value of any of 
them from going below the value of the coin, and the 
coin cannot go below the value of its contents because 
the supply of it would then be reduced by melting. 
That the supply of the convertible notes of any 
denomination cannot be so large as to cause a gap to 
appear between their value and that of the coin they 
promise to pay is so obvious as to scarcely need 
explanation. If there was such a gap any one who 
had one of the notes would run to the issuers to get 
it redeemed : the note by hypothesis is circulating 
at par : a pound note pays a pound debt and buys an 
article priced at a pound, and ““ the change” for it 
is twenty shillings, which all the arithmetic books 
agree in making a pound. Any gap between it and 
sovereigns would therefore appear in the form of a 
sovereign being worth more than a pound, and if a 
sovereign could be openly sold for more than a pound, 
notes would be rushed in for redemption by holders 
anxious to make a profit, until parity was reached 
again, or all the notes paid off, or the issuers bankrupt 
and the notes out of circulation. Convertible notes 
thus cannot be kept outstanding in numbers which 
would lead to their being less in value than the coin 
they promise to pay, and a fortiori they cannot be 
issued in such numbers : it follows that no more can 
be put into circulation than will be compatible with 
their keeping their par value. The bankers may try 
to get more into circulation by paying all their own 
household bills with them, but if there are enough out 
already, this will only end in the tradesmen presenting 
the notes for redemption. It may occur to some 
banker before breakfast, when the intellect is weak,