THE DEMAND FOR CURRENCY 75 
banking system is the most important agency in 
this respect. How and in what degree it economizes 
currency and tends to raise prices must be postponed 
to the next section. 
A change in the distribution of wealth may cause 
a change in the demand for currency. If the rich 
and banking portion of the people becomes richer, 
it does not keep appreciably more currency in its 
pockets, but increases its balance at the bank. But 
if the poorer non-banking portion becomes richer, it 
does accumulate currency, not only in its pockets, 
but also in money-boxes and mugs on the chimney- 
piece and other strange places. 
Innumerable are the changes of social circumstances 
which may lead to greater or less economy of cur- 
rency and consequently less or greater demand for 
currency. The calling up of men for military service, 
and subsequently the large removal of women from 
their homes for munition-making and other purposes 
during the recent war, greatly increased for the time 
the demand for currency, because the members of 
families, when separated, found it convenient to 
keep much more currency by them in the aggregate 
than when they were living at home and together. 
Like the demand for other things, the demand for 
currency is liable to be varied by the miscalculations 
of mankind about the future. If we were all level- 
headed prophets, fluctuations of prices would be 
smoothed out. There would still be slowly rising 
and falling tides, but waves would disappear. But in 
fact we all foresee wrong, and our individual mistakes 
do not balance each other—we foresee wrong to 
some extent in unison. One year we agree in over- 
estimating .m- ~*ite crop, and the next year in 
under-estii Joh we ove. estimate it, our 
willingnzss «© ~sly is .'ss than '{ we {foresaw 
corre~*'v *t- time demand is "nt below