34 MUTUAL BANKING. 



Bank of Exchange for the discount of his business paper; and 

 he shall be served to the same extent as he would have been under 

 the conditions of discount in specie; that is, in the known measure 

 of his faculties, the business he does, the positive guarantees he 

 offers, the real credit he might reasonably have enjoyed under the 

 old system. 



"3rd. The discount of ordinary commercial paper, whether of 

 drafts, orders, bills of exchange, notes on demand, will be made in 

 bills of the Bank of Exchange, of denominations of 3.5, .50, 100 and 

 1.000 francs. 



"Specie will be used in making change only. 



"4th. The rate of discount will be fixed at per cent, com- 

 mission included, no matter how long the paper has to run. With 

 the Bank of Exchange all business will be finished on the spot. 



'•.5th. Every subscriber binds himself to receive in all payments, 

 from whomsoever it inay be and at par, the paper of the Bank of 

 Exchange. 



"6th. Provisionally and by way of transition, gold and silver 

 coin will be received in exchange for the paper of the bank, and at 

 their nominal value. 



"Is this a paper currency? 



"I answer unhesitatingly, Nol It is neither paper-money, nor 

 money of paper; it is neither government checks, nor even bank- 

 bills; it is not of the nature of anything that has been hitherto in- 

 vented to make up for the scarcity of the specie. It is the bill of 

 exchange generalized. 



"The essence of the bill of exchange is constituted — first, by its 

 being drawn from one place on another; second, by its representing 

 a real value equal to the sum it expresses; third, by the promise or 

 obligation on the part of the drawee to pay it when it falls due. 



"In three words, that which constitutes the bill of exchange is 

 exchange, provision, acceptance. 



"As to the date of issue, or of falling due; as to the designation 

 of the places, persons, object — these are particular circumstances 

 which do not relate to the essence of the title, but which serve 

 merely to give it a determinate personal and local actuality. 



"Now, what is the bank-paper I jjropose to create? 



"It is the bi'l of exchange stripped of the circumstantial quali- 

 ties of date, place, person, object, term of maturity, and reduced to 

 its essential qualities— exchange, acceptance, provision. 



"It is, to explain myself still more clearly, tlic bill of exchange, 

 payable at sight and forever, drawn from every place in France 

 upon every other place in France, made, by 1(K),(XK) drawers, guaran- 

 le(;(l l»y KMMKK) indorsc-rs, accepti'd by the ](M),0(K) siibscribers drawn 

 upon; having provision made for its payment in the 100.(K)0 work- 

 shops, manufactories, stores, etc., of the same 100,000 subscribers. 



"I say, therefore, that such a tith^ unites evc^ry condition of 

 solidity and .security and that it is susceptible of no depreciation. 



