MONEY 
135 
irregular way. A degree of periodicity seems 
to rule in the midst of much irregularity. It 
usually happens that an interval of some 
seven, or ten and - a half years, or there 
abouts, intervenes between the culminating 
points of two periods of bad trade. The 
explanation of this curious circumstance has 
been attempted by many economists, but it 
cannot be said that as yet it has been quite 
satisfactorily accounted for. Some incline to 
attribute it to a cyclical variation in the seasons 
which affect harvests ; but the nature of this 
variation, if it exists, is still obscure. Others 
are disposed to assume implicitly or explicitly 
that there is a cyclical movement in what 
may be called the social mind or the public 
attitude to affairs ; and yet others imagine 
that under competition the rivalry of indi 
vidual producers with one another auto 
matically induces over-production for which 
collapse is the unavoidable penalty. Which 
of these causes are real and which really 
count has not been conclusively determined 
hitherto ; and our purpose now that we 
are dealing with the matter of money is not 
to discuss them but to consider how trade 
oscillations are and can be influenced by the 
operations of banks in the way of restricting 
or enlarging the credit media of exchange.