INFLATION AND DEFLATION 957Won Yuhan has charitably called this idea "unique" because no one else ever
thought of it, but it only involved a rather perverted mode of rationality by which
more advanced means of exchange could be used to destroy themselves instead
of relying on the king's command to abolish any form of currency other than
cloth and grain. Won Yuhan also astutely observed that although the positive
support for cash by Yu Hyongwon and the negative reaction to it by Yi Ik were
diametrically opposed, both of them lacked the foresight to predict what con-
sequences would be produced in society by the introduction of currency, or to
formulate policy responses to these changes.3^4
Yo NGJO RESUMES MINTING OF CASH, 1731
The Disastrous Harvest of 173 I
King Yongjo adhered to his decision neither to abolish cash nor mint more of
it until the harvest of 173 I proved disastrous and the funds of the Office of Ben-
efiting the People (relief agency) had been depleted. Minister of War Kim Chaero
asked Yongjo to mint more cash in the capital and use it for government expenses,
permitting taxes due to be remitted to the capital from the southern provinces
to be retained at home for relief. Minister of Taxation Kim Tongp'il confirmed
this account and reported that his ministry only received 70,000 sam of grain in
tax revenue that year, hardly more than half the previous year's revenue of 130,000
sam, and hence was not equipped to provide relief to the provinces. He was sup-
posed to purchase what had formerly been tribute items with cash revenues on
the market, but he was so short of funds that he had been forced to dip into the
so-called "sealed and immovable" (pongbudong) reserves set aside for emer-
gencies. The only resources left were land taxes from Hwanghae Province and
about 20,000 yang of cash, which would be used up shortly. Since the metallic
copper stored in the ministry had no value as currency, he also proposed that it
be used to mint cash to purchase items presented as tribute prior to the taedong
reform instead of rice.
Kim Chaero contributed the news that a grain transport ship had sunk en route
to the capital in the summer causing a loss of 48,000 sam owed to the Office for
Dispensing Benevolence and 10,000 sam for the Ministry of Taxation. Kim Tong-
p'il added that the Office for Dispensing Benevolence usually could count on
300,000 sam of annual revenue and the Ministry of Taxation about J 20,000 sam,
indicating that their losses had amounted to about 16 percent and 8.3 percent
of their annual income. Kim Tongp'il's account of the Ministry of Taxation's
revenue of 70,000 sam was only 58.3 percent ofthat estimate, and probably rep-
resented revenues available to the Office for Dispensing Benevolence as well,
that is, a 42.7 percent reduction in grain revenues for the capital for that year.
Minister of Personnel Song Inmyong pointed out that ricc had become so
expensive that I yang only purchased 2 mal of rice (vs. 5 mal according to the
rate cited in 1626), while grain loan funds had been depleted despite the rule