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Ch. XIV
The practical result Of such preparation, the practical
result will be — to take such measures as 4
Meaning suchby extra
rise, such rise only as
would be the result
of the proposed measure
shall be effectual, for the prevention - not of the
rise of prices which is impossible - but of such
any addition to that natural degree of rise, or rate
of increase, which would have taken place, in the natural
course of things, independently of the proposed measure.
If
—
To know in what proportion a given quantity
of the proposed paper money would produce a rise
of prices it would be necessary to know in what
proportion a rise of prices is produced by the same
quantity of money derived from other sources. But
in the present state of things, and without further documents in addition to whatever have been made public or so much as collectedsuch knowledge is not perhaps not attainable
and certainly has not been attained. A tolerable
notion WIthout any error greater than 50 per Cent
or so we have a notion a conception of the quantity
of vendable commodities sold in the year, and of the
quantity of money of all sorts existing in the country
and exchangedpassing from hand to hand in the course of the year in exchange for
these commodities is not beyond our reach. But to know
by what addition in the price or quantity of vendable
commodities taken together would be made in the compass of a year by an sudden
addition to the quantitymass of money if a within the year to a given
amount is seems scarcely within our reach. In
addition to a knowledge of the state of things in this
respect in the present period, it would require a
similar degree of knowledge in respect relation to of a number
of antecedent periods. But imperfect as our knowledge
is in these respects in relation to the present period
in relation to all former ones it is beyond comparison
more imperfect.