30 MUTUAL BANKING. 



passes from him in the shape of payment or expenditure, again to 

 return at its proper time and on a proper occasion to serve the same 

 purposes as before. 



"Now, I contend that as the progress of money lies in a circular 

 route, a certain system of account may be made to supply its place, 

 where its track and extent can, in that circle, be included and dis- 

 tinguished. 



'"By a CIRCLE, I mean that range of society which includes the 

 whole circulating movement of money, with the accompanying 

 causes and effects of its progress; viz, claims, debts and payments; 

 so that, if we wish to trace its path, every point of that path will be 

 contained within it. Such is the great circle of society. This con- 

 tains the whole body of debtors and the whole body of creditors. It 

 contains all the debtors to the creditors and all the creditors to 

 the debtors. All would be included in the jurisdiction of a power 

 that by any possibility could preside over the whole. Creditors are 

 sellers; debtors are buyers. But no man continually sells without 

 sometimes buying, nor does any man continually buy without some- 

 times selling. The creditor who receives money from his debtor, 

 again expends this money upon others, who thereby, in their turns, 

 become creditors and receive their money back again. All these 

 movements are within the range of the one circle of society. Now, 

 it is evident that If an account were kept by a presiding power, the 

 goods which any person receives, being of equal value, would pay 

 for those which he had previously delivered; would replace him in 

 his original assests ana cancel the obligation to him without the 

 aid of money. Hence, after the whole process, it would seem that 

 the intermediate passage and return of money were superfluous. 

 If the dealings are not directly backward and forward— that is, 

 between one creditor and his debtor and back again from the same 

 debtor to the same creditor— the effect will be the same; for as this 

 whole circle includes every creditor, every debtor and in fact every 

 individual in that society, so it contains every account to which the 

 claims of any creditor would apply, and every account to which the 

 same creditor would be indebted. The agency of the presiding 

 power would render it pro forma, the representative to every cred- 

 itor of his individual debtor; and to every debtor, the representa- 

 tive of his individual creditor. It would form a common center for 

 all claims by every creditor on his debtor. It would form the chan- 

 nel for the discharge of his debts and tli<! recei|)t of his claims. It 

 would show the state of his account with society, and the balance, 

 if in favor, would Ije available as so much cash. 



"This is what is meant by a cikci.k. Such is the great circle of 

 society, the only one which is complete and perfect, and such are 

 the- advantages contained in it. 



"Hence the plan I propose is adapted to this circle, to exhibit 

 the revolving track of money within it; to contain the several 

 points of its progress; and. at each of these points, to pi-rform its 



