5367. MONEY, Circulating Medium.—[further continued] .
This State [Virginia] is
in a condition of unparalleled distress. The
sudden reduction of the circulating medium
from a plethory to all but annihilation is
producing an entire revolution of fortune.
In other places I have known lands sold by
the sheriff for one year's rent; beyond the
mountains we hear of good slaves selling for
one hundred dollars, good horses for five
dollars, and the sheriffs generally the purchasers.
Our produce is now selling at
market for one-third of its price before this
commercial catastrophe, say flour at three and
a quarter and three and a half dollars the
barrel. We should have less right to expect
relief from our legislators if they had
been the establishers of the unwise system of
banks. A remedy to a certain degree was
practicable, that of reducing the quantum of
circulation gradually to a level with that of
the countries with which we have commerce,
and an eternal abjuration of paper. * * * I
fear local insurrections against these horrible
sacrifices of property.—
To H. Nelson. Washington ed. vii, 151.
Ford ed., x, 156.
(M.
1820)
See National Currency and Paper Money.
