Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1858-09-24

! life of John Law, author of the great sMissis-
sippi Bubble" which once SO captiyated France
as financial scheme, and which came so near
sinking her when the bubble bursted.
We are very glad to find that the n. Y. Post
is now engaged in publishing life of this dis
tinguished Individual from the manuscripts of
NJ Theirs, author of the history of the Consul
late and Empire Of France. Itcannotbut have
good effect on the financial "bulls'' and @bears',
of Wall Street We hare hardly space here to
more than mention the fact of John Laws hav-
ing lived aud died; yet his life is one of the
most interesting, as is one ofthe most instruc-
tive of biographical sketches. lie was born in
Scotland in 1871, and Inherited large fortune.
He was very dissipated when young, and fell
into the habitof gambling to such an extent as
to seriously embarrass himself He set about
| to study the science of chances in cards aud
dice, and being man of extraordinary mental
acuteness, he evolved data of calculation which
made him the terror of all gambling houses
he went over to France and scienced the Court
OF Louis the XIV out of about all the money
/ they had, and he was ordered to leave the
country within twenty-four hours, which he
did, with about two millions clear gain. All
the while, and even before this, he had set
his mind ardently to work on the study of
the whole theory and practice of finance
! He went from country to country gambling
and studying and talking over the subject to
the first men of his time. His idea was that
money was what would build up a nation-that
countries were rich or poor according as they
had money or not. rye quote what NJ Theirs
says on this subject
Law attributed the languishing condition of
Scotland to the deficiency of capital. He was
undoubtedly right, but confounding capital with
currency, which is simply a means of exchange,
he imagined that an abundance of money was.
the cause of the riches of states whose proSperi-
ty money had only developed.
He says to himself:
"What is wanting to the proprietor to enable
him to clear up his lands; to the manufacturer
to multiply his Looms; to the merchant to extend
his operations? Advances, that is to say money,
| to pay for the first materials aud the manual
labor
'With a few more millions, we could pay the
laborer who wishes to emigrate, we would re-
tain him upon his native soil, and we would
procure NIL the material necessary to occupy his
labor. Holland, with sterile soil, whose low
banks expose it constantly to the dangers of the
food, is the richest country in the world. Whyi
| Because she Oyertlows with money.
''By what means can money be supplied? 1t
is credit, it is the establishment of banks which
give to paper the value and efficiency of specie"
II. Thiers comments upon this theory of Laws
and says very appropriately, that
Money, is not wealth; it is the result of
wealth, and increases gradually with wealth.
| In proportion as business activity increases and
industry and commerce become more developed,
the products, more numerous, must be exchang-
ed more frequently and with greater rapidly;
production. Then money, the medium of ex-
change, must become more abundant, because
| 1t IS always attracted where it is needed. Soon,
to money, slow and expensive means oil ex-
change, must succeed bills, means easy,
prompt, and, above all economical. Banks will
certainly be established; they are the result of
an anterior prosperity, and serve effectively to
| increase it, but never precede it. because the
creation of products must precede the demand
| for their circulation.
So far as this theory is concerned, Law does
not appear in very favorable light But it
must be remembered that the subject was new,
that it was an experiment, the idea of gene
raj banking system. He was man Of great
genius and perspicacity and all the while had
correctprinciple coming to light His idea waste
get at how far paper money could be made valu-
able and how far it could supplant gold and sill
yer. We quote again:
One advantage of the establishment of banks
Law appreciated much as the increase of cur
rency-that was the introduction of paper mon.
ey. Law esteemed this of special importance.
PAPER, in fact, can be transported to any dis
lance without difficulty; it is easily counted; it
is not merchandise, like the precious metals,
whose value changes according to the quantity
lin the market For all these reasons Law
thought paper preferable to gold and silver for
the requirements of business.
He was right in many respects, and aotwith-
standing his high estimation of the virtues of
paper money, he did not fall imtn an errnr which
his commentators and enemies have atribeted
to him.
This error, less common now than formerly.
consisted in the belief that, as the fixed value OF
lspece is ideal, and is useful only to exchanged
for supplying our wants, paper money also,
which was equally current and could be ex.
Echanged for bread, meat and clothing, had an
intrinsic value as positive as that Of gold or
tsilver. But Law understood perfectly well that
specie had an intrinsic value which paper mon.
ley could not have; that coin melted down is
still valuable as an ingot, while paper is worth.
less when it ceases to be note, and that this
intrinsic value of the precious metals makes
them the most certain and secure medium of
Iexchange He has explained precisely his opin-
ion, on this subject, in pamphlet still in exist.
ence; but he thought that banks could imDart /,