POWELL] TECHNOLOGY XLVII 



must consider the value of the goods; in delivering, he must 

 consider the distribution of the goods to his customers; and in 

 considering gains he must consider the total cost to himself 

 and compare it with the amount received, which may show 

 profit or loss. 



Money. This leads us to the fourth element of connuerce, 

 money, which, as one of the commodities, has to be considered 

 as a value in relation to the other commodities, which are goods. 

 Money consists of gold, silver, subsidiar}^ coins, bank notes, 

 and credits. In different stages of culture different articles 

 have been used as money, such as shells, wampum, peltries, 

 tobacco, and cattle; but in modern civilization the five kinds 

 of money are almost universal. 



It has always been considered important that the value of 

 money should be permanent, so far as this can be secured by 

 human agencies. If we consider long' periods of time, this has 

 never been accomplished. The device which the more ad- 

 vanced nations have adopted is to make either gold or silver, 

 or both, at a fixed ratio, the measure of value, and then by 

 statute to provide that subsidiary coins shall be issued by 

 the government. It is pi'ovided further that bank notes should 

 be made exchangeable with coin at the option of the holder 

 who presents them for payment; but in modern times credits 

 are verj- largely used in transactions, so that much of the 

 money used in commerce is of this nature. 



The business of the banker is the handling of money for a 

 profit. He must thei'efore be a capitalist — must liave money 

 of his own — and the amount of money or credit of others 

 which he handles, other things being equal, will depend on 

 the amount of capital which he has invested either dii-ectly in 

 banking or as security which it affords to the public in his 

 transactions. In modern Inisiness much is transacted by cred- 

 its, which are a kind of money, and the capital of the banker 

 is held by his customers as either moral or legal security to 

 them. The business man deposits money with the banker 

 and draws it out on check from time to time as he uses it. 

 A banker, having the deposits of mauT men, finds that he 

 has in liis custod}' a surplus oi money which is more or less 



