MR. LABORINGMAN: Do you really think that that can be done? What a blessing that would be to labor.
MR. BANKER: I certainly do believe it can be done; indeed, I know it. But every banker must be compelled to do his part; that is, be ready at all times to carry his proper share of reserves against his deposits. One half of the bankers of this country cannot ride the other half, that is certain.
MR. MERCHANT: Mr. Banker, what amount, or percentage of reserves do you think a banker should carry?
MR. FARMER: Now, hold on, just a minute. You can't get into that subject, because I want to hear it, and I've got to go home right now.
MR. BANKER: Very well, gentlemen, we will put it off, if you say so, until next Wednesday night.
UNCLE SAM: This is the second time you men have said that you would take up reserves. Indeed, it has been so long since you talked about taking it up before, that I was afraid that it would be overlooked entirely, and yet nothing but the standard of value itself is more important. Now, mark this, we want the right kind of reserves, and plenty of them.
UNCLE SAM: Here we all are, every man in his accustomed place for the tenth night. Not a man has been late on a single occasion, although Mr. Farmer just got in under the wire one night by the skin of his teeth. It is most agreeable and satisfying to note that there has been no lagging in interest since we began. Indeed, there seems to me to have been a most pronounced gain in your enthusiasm, at times amounting almost to religious fervor.
MR. LABORINGMAN: That's the way it always is; the more you know about anything, the more interesting it becomes.
MR. MERCHANT: Certainly the man who has a fad or who is even a crank upon any subject, enjoys life a good deal more than a dead level commonplace fellow, who never takes any particular interest in anything--just passes the time. Every man for his own pleasure, if for no other reason, ought to have something in which he is interested outside of his regular employment. It may be a good horse, a good cow, a good dog, or some fine chickens--a good garden, a fine front yard, or just some flowers, or some subject affecting the welfare of his fellows. Every man ought to have something; it doesn't matter so much what it is, so long as he is devoted to it intensely. Of course, if he can profit by it, or help his fellows at the same time, so much the better. However, we have our hands full just now with a subject which has become mighty interesting, I think, to all of us, and I hope that our work will prove not only interesting to us, but profitable to our fellows. At all events, it can do no one any harm, and will better fit everyone of us for our duties as citizens. There is too little work of this kind done all over the country; men can accomplish so much more, if they only get together in small groups like this, instead of plugging along alone. It's a good deal like the football game, where team work counts for so much. It may be that what we are now doing will inspire thousands of other little groups to get together and discuss this, the greatest, the most important business question that can possibly come before the American people, and then when this is finished, they will, as a matter of habit, take up others, in precisely the same way.