MR. MANUFACTURER: Well, Mr. Banker, it strikes me that you are getting a trifle on to a side line. Let us get right down to business, and see if we can make any progress in determining just what Currency is, what kind we have and what kind we ought to have, if any change is to be made.
To my mind, and I have put all the spare time I had upon the question, that definition when fully understood described currency perfectly, and will help us amazingly in arriving at a clear idea of just what currency is as well as what it is not. Let me restate a part of it, which I think covers all of it. "Currency is that which is in circulation, or is given and taken as having value, or as representing value." That is, currency may have value in itself, as illustrated by our gold coin, or may only represent value, as illustrated by our gold certificate.
Again, the definition described another quality, when it said that "currency passes from person to person, or from hand to hand; general acceptance; circulation." To be a piece of currency then, a thing may or may not have actual value, as a gold coin, or as a gold certificate, which can be exchanged for the coin. But the thing must have general acceptance, that is, it must be received by the people generally, as a matter of course, and without hesitation, and without taking anything from it, or adding anything to it, such as a stamp, or a signature.
That is, a piece of currency having passed through a thousand hands, remains identically the same thing, except the ordinary wear to which it has been subjected.
MR. MERCHANT: Mr. Banker, taking that explanation as correct, what would you say that our currency consists of?
MR. BANKER: Our currency consists of the following things:
_First_: Gold coin, which is generally accepted, and has actual full value.
_Second_: Gold certificates, which are generally accepted, but have no actual value.
_Third_: All token, or subsidiary coin, including the silver dollar.
_Sixth_: Bond-secured National Bank Notes.
MR. MERCHANT: I read an article recently in which checks and drafts were spoken of as currency. Can it be possible that they can properly be called "currency"?
MR. BANKER: Certainly not. They come under an entirely different head, and I hope we shall spend an evening considering them very soon. Checks and drafts never pass from person to person and from hand to hand and are not of general acceptance. Herein lies the mark of distinction. Checks and drafts do not pass from person to person and from hand to hand and are always of special acceptance, that is, they are considered before they pass. They are taken according to the strength of the makers, acceptors and endorsers and usually pass only by endorsement. We must make no such mistake because it will lead to a confusion of ideas.