Uncle Sam: Boys, from the attention that you have given this subject it is evident that you are mightily interested, for you have had to work a good deal harder to understand what you were talking about than usual. But we have arrived, we have really gotten somewhere, difficult as Exchange is generally thought to be.
Now, in order to fix in your minds just what progress we have made during these five talks, I want to review what we have accomplished, or agreed to.
The first night we found out that our standard of value was gold. The second night we decided that our money was gold coin and that nothing else would do. The third night we found out that our currency was gold coin, token money, United States Notes and bond-secured notes; we also found out that the United States Notes and bond-secured bank notes were not fit for currency. The fourth night we determined that the only currency in addition to our gold coins and token coins worth considering for our purpose was a credit bank note, or bank credit currency. Tonight we have found out what Exchange is and that nine-tenths of our business is done in some form of it; but that we must keep it as good as gold by holding adequate reserves to protect this form of credit as well as any other.
Now, I call that going some.
Mr. Manufacturer: Uncle Sam, last Wednesday evening, during our discussion, Mr. Banker frequently used the word "reserve" in connection with our currency, and insisted that the reserves should be such as to protect the currency, and tonight he has again used the word "reserve" in the same way in connection with exchange. While I know in a general way what he means, I am not at all sure that I comprehend fully what a reserve is in its true and broader sense.
Mr. Farmer: Nor do I, and to confess the truth I am a little dazed on that very point, and I want to suggest that we spend the next night finding out what a bank reserve is. If all that Mr. Banker has been saying is true the reserve is certainly the hub of this wheel, and I want to tell you now that unless the hubs of your wheels are all right, you won't have much of a wagon when you get through.
Mr. Banker: That's right. Your reserves are the very heart of the whole question, the hub of the wheel.
Uncle Sam: Well, then, we'll have reserves up next Wednesday, and let us hope that our reserves will never get down, at least to a dangerous point.
Good Night.