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)
History
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
The first night we found out that our standard of value was gold. The
second night we decided that our money was gold coin and that nothing
else would do. The third night we found out that our currency was
gold coin, token money, United States Notes and bond-secured notes;
we also found out that the United States Notes and bond-secured bank
notes were not fit for currency. The fourth night we determined that
the only currency in addition to our gold coins and token coins
worth considering for our purpose was a credit bank note, or bank
credit currency. Tonight we have found out what Exchange is and that
nine-tenths of our business is done in some form of it; but that we
must keep it as good as gold by holding adequate reserves to protect
this form of credit as well as any other.
Now, I call that going some.
MR. MANUFACTURER: Uncle Sam, last Wednesday evening, during our
discussion, Mr. Banker frequently used the word "reserve" in connection
with our currency, and insisted that the reserves should be such as to
protect the currency, and tonight he has again used the word "reserve"
in the same way in connection with exchange. While I know in a general
way what he means, I am not at all sure that I comprehend fully what a
reserve is in its true and broader sense.
MR. FARMER: Nor do I, and to confess the truth I am a little dazed on
that very point, and I want to suggest that we spend the next night
finding out what a bank reserve is. If all that Mr. Banker has been
saying is true the reserve is certainly the hub of this wheel, and
I want to tell you now that unless the hubs of your wheels are all
right, you won't have much of a wagon when you get through.
MR. BANKER: That's right. Your reserves are the very heart of the whole
question, the hub of the wheel.
UNCLE SAM: Well, then, we'll have reserves up next Wednesday, and let
us hope that our reserves will never get down, at least to a dangerous
point.
Good Night.
SIXTH NIGHT
VALUE, PRICE, WEALTH, PROPERTY, CREDIT
UNCLE SAM: Well, boys, what about reserves?
MR. LAWYER: Uncle Sam, soon after we departed the other night, I
began to think over the subject of reserves; but soon found myself
considering several other points, which, it seemed to me, we should
take up before reserves. Therefore, without consulting you, I
telephoned Mr. Merchant, Mr. Banker, Mr. Manufacturer, and I saw Mr.
Laboringman and talked the matter over with him. We all agreed that
there were several other points that we should discuss tonight instead
of reserves. I knew that Mr. Farmer lived on a Rural Free Delivery
route, and that I could reach him by noon the next day or Thursday
morning; so here we are ready to talk about something else. And we came
to this conclusion without even consulting you, for which possibly we
ought all of us now to beg your pardon.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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