Napoleon, which _was worth_ twenty francs,
_is now worth_ forty." Now, do you know how this is expressed? Just as
if it was the other objects of comparison which had fallen in price, it
is said,--"Corn, which _was worth_ twenty francs, _is now only worth_
ten."

B. It all comes to the same thing in the end.

F. No doubt; but only think what disturbances, what cheatings are
produced in exchanges, when the value of the medium varies, without our
becoming aware of it by a change in the name. Old pieces are issued, or
notes bearing the name of twenty _francs_, and which will bear that name
through every subsequent depreciation. The value will be reduced a
quarter, a half, but they will still be called _pieces_ or _notes of
twenty francs_. Clever persons will take care not to part with their
goods unless for a larger number of notes--in other words, they will ask
forty francs for what they would formerly have sold for twenty; but
simple persons will be taken in. Many years must pass before all the
values will find their proper level. Under the influence of ignorance
and _custom_, the day's pay of a country labourer will remain for a
long time at a franc, while the saleable price of all the articles of
consumption around him will be rising. He will sink into destitution
without being able to discover the cause. In short, since you wish me to
finish, I must beg you, before we separate, to fix your whole attention
upon this essential point:--When once false money (under whatever form
it may take) is put into circulation, depreciation will ensue, and
manifest itself by the universal rise of every thing which is capable of
being sold. But this rise in prices is not instantaneous and equal for
all things. Sharp men, brokers, and men of business, will not suffer by
it; for it is their trade to watch the fluctuations of prices, to
observe the cause, and even to speculate upon it. But little tradesmen,
countrymen, and workmen, will bear the whole weight of it. The rich man
is not any the richer for it, but the poor man becomes poorer by it.
Therefore, expedients of this kind have the effect of increasing the
distance which separates wealth from poverty, of paralysing the social
tendencies which are incessantly bringing men to the same level, and it
will require centuries for the suffering classes to regain the ground
which they have lost in their advance towards _equality of condition_.

B. Good morning; I shall go and meditate up