A Lecture On The Currency PDF Download

Excerpt from Currency and Finance in Time of War: A Lecture I. The obligation attached to the Chair of Political Economy, to 'deliver from time to time a public lecture, ' seems onerous to the present occupant of the chair. To one who has principally been employed in cultivating the more abstract portions of the science it is not easy to gather from that field fruits ready for consumption by those who are generally more interested about results than methods. The difficulty is increased in time of war, partly because more is then expected of the economist. In quiet times the Art of Political Economy consists largely in abnegating art; playing the role of the wise physician who when consulted by one who has nothing much the matter with him has the courage to advise doing nothing. But in the fever of war time the easy course of laisser faire is evidently inadmissible. In one respect, indeed, theory shows to advantage in times of disturbance. It is prepared for occurrences which appear paradoxical to the practical man. For example, theorists had contemplated the possibility that, if gold were extruded by the abundance of paper-money in different countries, gold might fall below the level of notes in some countries; as is now the case in Sweden. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.