of money, the number of units,
available for use that determines and regulates its value; that is, if
the quantity is increased its value will fall, and if the quantity is
diminished its value will rise, and that it will fall or rise in value
in a ratio exactly equivalent to the increase or diminution of the
volume of money; and that if sufficiently reduced in volume, a dollar,
whether stamped on gold, silver, or paper, would buy a plantation or
pay a man for the labor of a lifetime. There can be no doubt as to the
correctness of the quantitative theory of money.

John Stuart Mill says:

That an increase in the quantity of money raises prices, and a
diminution lowers them, is the most elementary proposition in the
theory of currency, and without it we have no key to any of the
others.

Prices, however, are not fixed by the total amount of money in
existence; only that part of the money that is available for use can
act on prices.

Mr. Mill says:

Whatever may be the quantity of money in the country, only that
part of it will affect prices which goes into the market of
commodities and is there actually exchanged for goods of some
description. Whatever increases this portion of the money in the
country tends to raise prices. Money kept in reserve by
individuals to meet contingencies which do not occur, does not
act on prices. Money in the coffers of banks, or retained as a
reserve, does not act on prices until drawn out to be expended
for commodities.

It is also conceded that in fixing prices not only all the money
actually available for use must be taken into consideration, but the
rapidity of circulation must also be regarded; and due allowance must
be made for the number of times commodities change hands before
consumption.

The same dollar may, by passing from hand to hand, make a number of
purchases, and the same goods may be sold repeatedly before
consumption. It is, probably, correct to say, that the money available
for use multiplied by the rapidity of circulation, or, as Mr. Mill
expresses it, by its efficiency, equals the total money to be
considered; and the commodities sold multiplied by the average number
of sales equals the total commodities to be taken into consideration
in fixing the general level of prices.

Are there any other elements that act on the general level of prices?
Of course an abundant yield, or a short crop, or an