Never before in the history of the country was such license taken by the banks of the country as in 1907 in using bank credits in the form of cash checks indiscriminately; but they demonstrated this great economic truth that the nearer they approached to a pure credit currency, the nearer right they were. And they demonstrated this fact also to the satisfaction of every intelligent man on this question; that, if this country had been blessed with a credit currency redeemed through the Clearing Houses every day, precisely as these Clearing House certificates and pay checks were, the panic of 1907 would never have marred the commercial history of this country. With all of our own experience before us, from the establishment of the banks of Virginia in 1803, is our stupidity to continue. And are we now to do something possibly more than stupid when we are naturally, even in defiance of law, as we have seen, finding our way out? If left alone, we shall soon adopt these same principles, now in practice in Scotland, Ireland and Canada? Principles which, without statutory laws, gave New England, before the war, the most perfect banking system that has ever existed anywhere in this world, all things considered. MR. FARMER: Then why in thunder don't we adopt it now? I suppose we are through with the Clearing House now, aren't we? I hope so, for I am due at the farm. They are waiting for me. UNCLE SAM: Just hold on a minute. If I understand the facts, you are all wrong about one thing, and this includes both Mr. Cannon and Mr. Hallock. The first Clearing House on this continent was not at New York at all, but it was established at Boston, where I held my first Tea Party, and it was started in 1818, thirty-five years before New York got to going. It only took two clerks to do the business for the first six years. By 1855, just two years after New York started, it took seventy clerks to do the business, and the redemptions amounted to four hundred million dollars per year. Transactions in New England in those days were comparatively very small, and the business was carried on as it is in France today, very largely with bank notes instead of checks. You remember, we learned one night that the Bank of France owed $1,000,000,000 (one billion) in notes, and only one-tenth as much, or only $100,000,000 subject to check; and that if a bank could issue notes, as freely as take deposits, the habits of the people would always determine whether the amount of bank notes was greater than the deposits.