ABSTRACT
Much was said, in the discussion that Sir Edward Holden's proposal aroused, about the beauties of the bill of exchange as a "self-liquidating" instrument; and it is true that a bill drawn on a solvent acceptor against goods on the way to market has outstanding merits as a short investment. The more a currency becomes stabilized the less will the abuse pay, and the sooner will it be discontinued. Like all the critics of his type, Mr. Hartley Withers showers encomiums on the Bank of England for managing the currency. He does not seem aware of the fact that this managing always went in the direction which the currency was forced into by the stimulus of extraneous influences. Within the twenty years preceding the war the English currency, in terms of commodities, was depreciated by some 30 per cent., thanks to the managing of the Bank and the belief in the soundness of the gold standard theory.
