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
MR. LAWYER: Well, I think there is a very great difference; and I
think I can demonstrate to you by an illustration right in your own
neighborhood just what the distinction is between these two words.
You will remember, Mr. Farmer, when that mill located over on Carroll
River, and that big dam was put in, Mr. Adams, a man whom you and I
both know very well, owned all the land in that neighborhood. You will
remember that he proceeded to borrow money and build houses for the
employees who wanted to come and work in the mill. I think he built as
many as 150 houses for that purpose. You will remember the dam washed
out and that they did not rebuild it; and as a consequence the mill
closed down. The result was the employees all left, and Mr. Adams was
involved to a very large extent, I think something over $200,000 all
told. Now he still has the property, but the insurance company has
the mortgages--in fact, Mr. Adams has a great deal more property now
than he had before the mill located there, because he has the land and
the 150 houses, but he has a good deal less wealth. For when the mill
located there, Mr. Adams' wealth exceeded $100,000, but after the mill
closed he could not rent or sell the houses to anyone. Now the evident
result was that he had increased the amount of his property, for he had
150 houses, but he actually had no wealth left. His property was what
we lawyers call corporeal property, that is, material property, land,
and buildings. The insurance companies which held the mortgages had
a very different kind of property, called by the lawyers incorporeal
property, that is, not material property but an interest in the real or
material property.
I think you will all agree that while Mr. Adams still has all his
property, all the wealth there is left belongs to the insurance company
which holds the mortgages.
MR. MERCHANT: Mr. Lawyer, is it not true that you could and would say
that a man had a lot of property if he owns say 100,000 acres of land
worth only 25 cents an acre, even if it was not salable at all?
MR. LAWYER: Yes, I think that is true, and illustrates in another way
that there is or may be a real difference between property and wealth;
however, it may be said that in conversation we often use the words
wealth and property without much, if any, distinction. It seems to me
that we should note this particular difference. _Wealth consists of
property convertible into money, and therefore implies exchangeability,
while property may not mean wealth at all, because the property has no
exchangeable value._
MR. BANKER: Mr. Lawyer, I think that that last statement of yours will
assist Mr. Farmer very greatly in understanding the real difference
between wealth and property. The difference is certainly very evident.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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