The Concordia sentinel. (Vidalia, Concordia Parish, La.) 1882-current, 1919-12-20

eubieet of collecting checks at par.
II would of course be much easier
to cover it if l had two or three
hours at my disposal instead OF a
few minutes, but l will endeavor to
give YOU what seem to me to be the
essentials of the question in as con-
densed shape as possible.
| find, in the study of most OF
these banking and currency prob
lens, that if we get away from the
usa of the technical terms and ex-
pressions which mean more to the
professors or to the experts than
these propositions, we do not ma
them complicated or difficult to I'M
derstand. l ask you, therefore, TO
permit ne to endeayor to make the
real problem before US simple ere
biz going back to first principles and
refreshing our memories with refer
ence to the primitive transactions
ont of which we have developed our
nrasent methods of business. mclud-
inc those OF commercial banking.
We must remember that our COM
merce of to-day is simply retne-
ment or development of the barter
Of yesterday that cur modern de-
vices Of money and credit and
banks, ere what the textbooks de-
fine as, sinstrumentalities to faclli-
tato exchange" which in more sim
ple language means that they are
tools TO make it easy to trade.
Therefore, whatever bank does
in the performance of this function
It must do to benefit and facilitate
the bringing about of exchanges be-
tween individuals or communities
Its usefulness is in proportion as Il
dces so, and correspondingly, it II
verse than useless in proportion a.
it places handicaps or unnecessar!
burdens upon the operations o.
! commerce.
Let us see, therefore, wherein tn
bank may render real service ant
justify itself, and wherein it ma
do otherwise.
5 In primitive times, in barter be
e tween two communities, the article
which we're traded for each othe
had to be carried to one place wher
. the swap was made. "Fair days,
that is, assemblies Of people VIII
wished to make exchanges, were a
range to eliminate some of the dl'
= fculties. Later on money was II
II vented and taken in exchange K
3. anything, and then that money WI
exchanged for something else
!. equal value.
70 Within the memories OF maj
u men still active in business, Il
goods from one section of the cou
IN try were paid for with gold and $
i, yer money carried to some oth
!, section for that purpose; then,
~ that community, wanted goods ire
Is the community from which the mo
r. ey came-hack it went, and 9th
It. goods were returned in exchange.
b. OF course, under the system
aU barter between two communities t
: total value Of the goods Civ
equalled the total value Of those
=, ceiyed in exchange. That is wi
IA value means. The vaue Of anythi
OF is what you can get for it. That
its what it is worth, and the introd
ton of money as a measure Of t
value does not change a thin
value.
So the amount Of money VIII
measures the, value Of what goes
Of a community is equal to the va
d;a Of that which comes back in
u change,
Our present use of the term,
'ns change on New York." of COZ
ere harks back to the time when
Nj. settlements were made that
1hn The cost Of exchange was really
lig, cost Of transferring the me
,ec- from one place to another; not
Toll the cost of transportation, but
n Of insurance, which was large
~ proportion as the hazards on
e4s' Journey were great.
u. Let us take simple case.
,un- comparatively recent times
.tely farmer out in Missouri who qu
GERS to the grain dealer in st. Louis
hundred bushels of wheat at a
.;n,v lar bushel f. o. u. bis home
W shipped his grain and receive
y 2. return one hundred silver dollal
ana It cost the St. Louis grain d
end. say, one per cent to get the n
there in safety, the wheat cos
D dealer one dollar and one &c
bushel at the point Of ship
. 81 And when that farmer wants
acteo huv ANYTHING of like value