So also Dutot says: "Since there has been regular commerce among men, those who have need of money have made bills, or promises to pay in money. The first use of credit, therefore, is to represent money by paper. This usage is very old; the first want of it gave rise to it. It multiplies specie considerably. It supplies it when it is wanted, and which would never be sufficient without this credit; because there is not sufficient gold and silver to circulate all the products of nature and art. So there is in commerce a much larger amount in bills than there is specie in the possession of the merchants." MR. BANKER: While it is true, as a general principle, that by the sale and transfer of the same property, as we have seen in the case of the woolen goods, many credits are granted and a corresponding amount of debts are created, it is also true that a single debt in the form of a promissory note, check, draft or bill of exchange, may be the medium of exchanging or transferring many different pieces of property. This is just the reverse of the transaction that Mr. Manufacturer has explained to us. MR. FARMER: That is right. I want to tell you fellows something. One day about six months ago I was thinking of taking an automobile trip, but hesitated on account of the weather signs. I hung around town here for an hour or two and happened to drop into the office of a certain lawyer (I never go there any more now). We talked politics. While there, I asked him what he thought of the weather, and the political situation, and then went out. At the end of the month I got a bill from that lawyer for $50. I called upon the gentleman (I suppose I have got to call him a gentleman on account of his neighbor here) to find out what his bill meant, and he claimed that while we talked about politics, the Presidential election prospects and the weather, that I had pumped him about some very important legal matters upon which he had given me valuable advice. Upon my soul I never knew it, but what could I do. My only possible escape was to pay some other lawyer, possibly Mr. Lawyer over there, $100 to defend the case. As is the practice nowadays, I took the short cut and paid it by sending him my check. That lawyer indorsed and gave that check to a neighbor of mine for a Jersey cow. My neighbor indorsed and gave the check to a country grocery store out there and paid his bill with it. The country storekeeper indorsed and gave the check to Mr. Merchant over there for $50 worth of boots and shoes. Mr. Merchant indorsed and gave the check to Mr. Manufacturer for $50 worth of clothing. Mr. Manufacturer indorsed and deposited that check with Mr. Banker, right here, who charged it up to my account. Now, by Jove, you wouldn't think that was possible, but here is the check with those five indorsements.