francs in money, instead of employing them in a profitable manner or lending them, consumes them piecemeal in foolish expenses; it is evident that, on one side, there will be more money employed in current purchases, in the satisfaction of the wants or humours of each individual, and that consequently its price will fall; on the other hand, there will certainly be much less money to lend; and, as many people will ruin themselves, there will probably also be more borrowers. The interest of money will, then, increase, while money will become more common on the market and will there fall in price, and precisely for the same reason.
We shall cease to be surprised at this apparent paradox,[1] if we remember that the money which is offered on the market to get corn is that which is daily spent to satisfy one's needs, and that the money which is offered on loan is precisely what is saved from one's daily expenditure to be laid by and formed into capitals.
S79
In the valuation of money with regard to commodities it is the money considered as metal that is the subject of the estimate. In the valuation of the "penny" of money, it is the use of the money during a definite time that is the subject of the estimate.
In the market a measure of wheat is equivalent to[2] a certain weight of silver; it is a quantity of silver that one purchases with the commodity; it is this quantity on which
