Seventeen Talks on the Banking Question: Between Uncle Sam and Mr. Farmer, Mr. Banker, Mr. Lawyer, Mr. Laboringman, Mr. Merchant, Mr. ManufacturerFowler, Charles N. (Charles Newell)
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Seventeen Talks on the Banking Question: Between Uncle Sam and Mr. Farmer, Mr. Banker, Mr. Lawyer, Mr. Laboringman, Mr. Merchant, Mr. Manufacturer
Fowler, Charles N. (Charles Newell)
Banks and banking -- United States; Currency question -- United States
Now, it is perfectly clear that neither a bank note, nor a check
creates any new right; it merely records on paper a right to have money
which already exists, and it is used for the purpose of transferring
that right to have money to someone else.
It will be noted now, and I want you to keep this observation clearly
in mind, that all banks are banks of issue, that is issues of credit.
MacLeod says that the very meaning of the words "To Bank" is to issue a
right of action or a credit, in exchange for money or other debts; and
when once the banker has issued this right of action, or right to have
money, to his customer by writing it down to his credit, it makes not
the slightest difference as to his liability whether he delivers his
own promissory note, that is a bank note, to his customer, or whether
he merely creates the credit, and gives him the right to transfer it to
someone else by means of a check.
When a person deposits money at the bank, it is not his intention to
deprive himself of the use of it; on the contrary, he means to have
as free use of it as if it were in his own purse. The depositor,
therefore, lends his money to his banker, but yet at the same time has
the free use of it, as the bank employs that same money in promoting
trade; upon the strength of the money being deposited with the bank,
it buys debts with its promises to pay, either in the form of "Bank
Notes," or of credit on its books, several times exceeding the amount
of the cash placed with it; and the depositors who sell the bank their
debts, have the free use of the very same coin which the depositor has
the right to demand; thus the lender that is, the depositor, and the
borrower that is, the banker, have the same right at the same time to
the free use of the same money. All banking depends on the calculation
that only a certain small portion of each set of depositors will demand
the actual cash, but that the majority will be satisfied with the mere
promise, the "Bank Notes" or the credit on the books of the bank.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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