Page:Tales in Political Economy by Millicent Garrett Fawcett.djvu/77

 The amount of money used to carry on this great increase of trade was exactly the same, 7,450l. Hence it is evident that the amount of money used in each transaction must have declined, or, in other words, prices and wages must have gone down. At the same time population increased; so there were not merely a larger number of trading transactions to be performed with the same amount of money; there were also a larger number of people among whom this fixed amount of money was distributed. Not only therefore did less money change hands every time any particular purchase was made, but the aggregate of money possessed by each individual was, on the average, reduced; at the same time it must be remembered that this decline in prices, wages, and in property in money, was not merely accompanied by, but was caused by the growth of Isle Pleasant in real riches and prosperity.

It was pointed out that when the islanders attempted to make use of cocoa-nuts as money, great inconvenience was caused by their frequent and sudden variations in value. A man