Arkansas true Democrat., 1857-12-08
Truths for the TimeS

Truths for the Times
 Wealth is the aggregate of those things, adapt ed to the qualification of human wants and de- sires, that can be made the subject of purchase and sale.
 Value is the effective power of these things in exchanges.
 Price is the value of these things expressed in money.
 Increase the quantity of money, (either pa- per or metallic,) in a country, and, other things being equal, prices will rise. Diminish the quantity of money in country, and, other things being equal, prices will fall
 There may be a great rise in prices, without any increase of value. For example: Let the wages of labor, under one amount of currency, be one dollar day, flour five dollars barrel, and cotton six cents per pound. Then under another amount of currency, let the wages of labor be two dollars day, flour ten dollars a barrel, and cotton twelve cents pound. Here prices are doubled, and yet there is no change in the proportional value of labor and commodities.
 When prices range high, men think they are growing rich But herein they deceive them- selves. No man is a gainer by getting double prices for what he sells if he has to pay double prices for what he buys. High prices, (if arti- fciaHy produced) lead to poverty, not to riches; because they induce extravaganza in living, ex- travagance in business, and extravaganza in speculation.
 Variations in price, proceeding simply from natural causes; that is, from changes in the re- lations of supply and demand are wholesome. Variations of price, proceeding from artifcial causes; that is, from false monetary and false credit system, are the chief obstacles to the pro- gress of wealth in the United States. Where the money of country is exclusively gold and silver, variations in prices arising from changes in the amount of money in circulation, are small being seldom more than two or three per cent, in the course of year. The reason is, because, il such countries, it takes as much labor to produce dollar in gold or silver, as it takes to produce dollars worth of corn, cotton, or any other commodity. In such country, all cash transactions are exchanges of the pro- duct of one kind of labor for an equal value of the product of some other kind of labor.- Trade. in such a country, is simple barter of some one thing, possessing intrinsic value, for another thing, possessing equal intrinsic value, but gold or silver is always one of the articles bartered.
 Where the money of a countryis paper, trade is an exchange of articles, possessing intrinsic value, for other articles which have no intrinsic value, but are mere evidences of debt. As these evidences of debt fluctuate greatly, according to circumstances, they cause a corresponding and ruinous fuctuation in prices.
 It is delusion to suppose, that, in country having "mixed currency" the total amount, specie and paper together, is, so long as the banks pay specie, just the same it would be if only gold and silver money were used.-- There is every reason to believe, that while the banks continue specie payments, prices of sale able articles are sometimes thirty three per cent higher and sometimes thirty three per cent lower than they would be, if we had only gold and silver money.
 The ability of banks to sustain themselves, depends much less than is commonly imagined on the quantity of the precious metals they have ill their vaults Let their balances with one another be nicely adjusted, let foreign ex- changes be in favor of the country, and let pub- lie confidence be high, and then, though the banks may make d great imitation of the cur rency, they will still be able to sustain specie payments.
 On the other hand, let their balances with one another be unadjusted and let public confidence be shaken, and the banks will be unable to sus- tain specie payments although they may have a considerable amount of gold and silver in their vaults, and though foreign exchanges may be in our favor.
 In ordinary times, the extent to which the banks can expand, depends on the amount we sell abroad added to the amount we can run in debt abroad. Let our corn and cotton bring high price in Europe, and let there be a free vent for our stocks in that quarter of the world, and our banks can expand freely. The only effective check their issues, at any time, is the demand for specie for exportaton When our credit abroad is high, and our crops bring high prices, this check is little more than mo- mina
 On the other hand, let our corn and our cot. ton bring low price, and let there be little de- mand for our stocks in Europe, and the banks are compelled to contract, for then there is pressing demand for specie for export, to pay for the excess of imports, which excess of i'm ports, in nine cases out of ten, is caused by previous imitation of bank currency. Thus our paper money, that which regulates prices, is made to depend on the condition of things in Europe. Thus the thermometer of American prosperity is hung up in Threadneedle street, in the paror of the Bank of England.