this will not explain the phenomenon of provisions being cheap, while half the community are starving; and how, when all the comforts of life are more abundant than ever, a large portion of that community is unable to command that moderate share of them, which by the fair allotment of nature would seem to be their due.
Every man's portion of the annual supply furnished by nature for all, is, however, meted out to him through the medium of money, or currency, and he endeavours by his skill and labour to gain the portion of it necessary to enable him to supply his wants.
But if a ship were sent to sea with provisions barely sufficient to supply the crew for the voyage, and if each man obtained his allowance by a written order upon the steward payable to bearer, and these orders were subject to derangement, so that one portion of the crew got always more than their share, whilst another got less, the crew of that ship would continually appear to be in distress; for the voices of those who were starving would always be heard, while those who had more than their share, and were enjoying abundance, would be silent.
Now as the money in circulation is the medium through which each of the crew receives his supply in the great vessel of the nation, in the absence of any better means of explaining the cause of these fluctuations in the comfort and