The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1868-07-11

exchanging one article for smother, they
knew, what every sensible Ian ensht 70
know, that the ofRns Of monsy wss merely
that Of . chssk, tally or counter thai In
stead Of the seller charging the pafaAaser
on book be took the account q the purshassr
I'm On authorised pahlis esFliAOssA that ne
had furnished 90 much value 10 products.
merchandise or labor, and hence that the
bank should perform The service Of balane-
ing one credit against another, and haaaily
after round or series Of these balanoings,
the tally Of the account comes back 10 The o.
iglnsl proprietor, who furnishes Il. 40 "
A sells B hundred dollars worth Of wheat
and, instead Of charging B on book, no takes
hundred dollars in bank bills or tally. B
buys hundred dollars worth Of cloth Of O
and gives the same tally, and 80 on through
the whole alphabet to 2, and z purchases .
hundred dollars worth Of butter OF A and
returns to him his hundred tallies. Now,
tbcre is no gold in this transaction, and none
needed. Gold is not what makes this tally
useful, but 1t was the use the tally perform
ed in exchanging one commodity Cor another,
over space Of hundreds OF miles, and no
transportation Of commodities any consider
able distance except the tally, which could
be carried in the pocket, and thus the In
convenience and cost Of transportation waa
saved. Hence the object Of the trainers 81
the charter for the Bank Of Scotland was to
end substitute for cartiDg around either
gold or silver, or any other commodity, for
the purpose of making their exchanges, o.
they saw that was useless expenditure Of
time and money. This, then, being the OBJ
ject OF these men, they did not care about
getting up any ssool-pigeOn arrangement to
cheat the public with, by pretending to base
their currency on gold, when gold had moth
ing to do with 1t unless IL was in the shape
of an exchange of gold for some other com
modify, when gold bad just ss much to do
with their currency as any other commodity,
and no more. They were, therefore, dis
posed to Gus loose from all gold subter-
fuges, and they did so.
In its origin the Bank Of England <ss
identified with the government, and the gov
eminent borrowed large share Of the mo
ney. The Bank Of Scotland, being for ex-
changes solely, identified itself with the
reopls-the commercial men, the farmer no
bleman, aud the laborer. All who could save
five pounds, we're az much identified with the
bank as the richest merchant aud manufac-
ture-. In fact, the whole body of the peo-
pie was represented in the Scottish bank
the aristocracy in the Bank Of England and
the action of the two institutions, and their
effects upon the interests and views Of the
people, have been as marked and 90 differ
ent as the principles which lie at their base.
TheScotch are uncompromisiagIy attached 70
their bank, having no doubt that it 10 a,
good as gold. The English people have Q
strong suspicion Of their bank, fearful Of
its power land believe in its soundness only tc
the extent that they think they can get gold
The parallel between these two systems,
however, can better be delinestnd after
having more fully considered the Bank Of
Scotland on the anglo-gold base system.