third <Kn Snijitn© ttre Inti nn'Er tljt 3Winl series. 
Yol. T. . ALBANY, APRTL, 1853. '/ No. IY. 
Gold, and Farmers’ Prices. 
LATE English paper very aptly 
remarks, “ Our world of credit, 
like the world of the Hindoo phi¬ 
losophy, rests upon an elephant, 
which is supported by a tortoise. 
The elephant is our bank-note 
circulation; the tortoise, a few 
millions of gold in the coffers of the bank of Eng¬ 
land,” 
The wealth of the world consists not in the 
amount of gold and silver it possesses, nor in the 
amount of bank-note circulation on the basis of 
the^e metal#. Real wealth is a full supply of the 
comforts and necessaries of life, in the form of 
good homes, good farms, convenient public and 
private conveyances for people and produce, the 
supply of all articles for the gratification of per¬ 
sonal wants, and for the promotion of intellectual 
culture. . . 
• Small circular discs of certain metals called 
money, could supply none of these wants, if there 
were not a general' understanding and agreement 
among men, that they shali be the representatives 
of wealth. A precisely similar, but more limited 
agreement, maizes bank-notes the representative 
of these discs, and consequently of wealth it¬ 
self. A third representative is “ credit,” strictly 
called so, which is still more limited in the extent 
of its action. A man furnishes commodities to 
his neighbor, and charges him on hook account. 
This book account is the representative of wealth, 
for it . will bring the ‘money or other goods in due 
time. Or he furnishes goods for bank notes, Avhich 
are alike its representative, for they too, accor¬ 
ding to agreement, will bring it. Or, he sells for 
gold coin, because it represents wealth by a more 
universal agreement,.and will everywhere com¬ 
mand its possession. 
The amount of gold and silver is much greater 
at present than two centuries ago, and the prices 
of commodities, represented by these metalU, are 
much higher. But prices would not probably be 
any higher than formerly, if gold and silver were 
the only medium for trade. The commercial*' 
business of the world has increased enormously 
during this period, and by far the greatest portion 
is carried on through the medium of credit,' 
either by book account, checks, promissory notes, 
or bills of exchange. However excellent the 
“cash system” may be in.many instances, the 
great convenience of credit will ’doubtless keep up 
its use as long as men do business with each other. 
It would be impossible to estimate the amount of 
business thus transacted at‘the present time. It 
is said that during the greatest activity in the 
grain trade in England, som§ years since, there 
were persons employing a capital of only five 
thousand pounds, who carried on business by 
means of book transactions to an amount of five 
or six hundred thousand. The bills of exchange, 
alone, in circulation in Great Britain, have been 
supposed from calculation to amount to a hun¬ 
dred million pounds; at the same time that the 
bank-note circulation has been less than forty mil¬ 
lions. The transactions of the London Clearing 
House are said to be about three million pounds 
daily, liquidated by means of a little more than 
two hundred thousand in bank notes. We state 
these facts to show how small a share money has 
directly in the accumulation and transfer of the 
wealth of the globe. 
What effect, then,, it may be asked, will the 
present accumulation of gold have upon the prices 
of land and its products? This is a very impor¬ 
tant question to such as may be about to pur¬ 
chase farms with a long period for payment, or to 
those who may sell under like circumstances. If 
a man sells a farm at fifty dollars an acre, and be- • 
fore h^.gets his pay.it has risen to a hundred 
dollars an acre, and all the necessaries of life have 
risen in like proportion, he will feel rather dissat¬ 
isfied with his bargain. A glance at the past may ( 
throw some light upon the subject of a rise or i 
fall in prices. % i 
