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Doc. 174.] 501
ON THE RISE OF EXCHANGE.
?
has also made things dearer in the country, because the
greater part of the mortgagers , on having money in their
hands, have encouraged the lust of living in state and of
giving dinners, whereby in addition to the enhanced price of
all merchandize in the country, subject to wear and tear, they
deprive themselves of the power of redeeming their property ;
which is kept in view by very few . They also do not consider
that they have become less able thereby to pay their rates
and taxes, and the interest upon the borrowed capital, which
will have to be paid in time, because instead of being the
owners of their estates, they have become tenants of their
own lands and of their own houses. Hence it is that for a
time our country has been outwardly rich, and inwardly poor ;
but in the future it will become outwardly poor also, because
many are thinking as well of evil as of good expedients,
to enable them to continue the style of living which they have
begun, and which they intend to follow .
III. How is this difficulty to be remedied ? As the cause
has been discovered by which exchange has been forced to
its present height, the remedies for lowering it may also be
discovered; wherefore, on the strength of what has been alleged
before, I take the liberty of submitting in all humility to the
Honourable Houses of the Diet the following propositions: 1. That
the general loan upon all fixed and movable property do
cease, and that henceforth no other loan be negotiated at
any banking office (cassa ), except for the purposes of the
state, and upon gold and silver as was formerly the cus
tom: for by such means alone did the bank again acquire
strength and wealth after the death of Charles XII, dur
ing whose reign it was thoroughly emptied. If the gene
ral grant of loans by the bank upon property be stopped,
there will soon be experienced a change in the dearth by
which our country is distressed. 2. That those who have raised
money upon their property be obliged to pay back annually
à certain percentage, besides the interest: whereby, after the
lapse of a certain period, the greater part of the certificates
of indebtedness, which are now in the market, will be called
in, and will be replaced by banknotes, which not only
represent money, but to all intents and purposes are money.
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