ABSTRACT
The contraction of a debt and its repayment are separated by a period of time. This means that the money which is turned over in payment can no longer be regarded as a mere link in the chain of commodity exchanges or as a transitory economic form for which something else may be substituted. The function of money as a means of payment, therefore, presupposes a mutual agreement between buyer and seller to defer payment. If notes and state paper money are not subject to the same type of depreciation, it is because notes rest upon private obligation while paper money rests upon a social obligation. The quantity of credit money depends only on the aggregate price of those commodities for which money functions as a means of payment. Convertible credit money can never be depreciated merely because a large volume of it has been put into circulation, but only when it cannot be redeemed in money.
