[A] Annals of the Institute. No 1. June, 1894.
[B] If it is not admitted that the term dh/o exactly represents the account of the conditions of the supply and the demand, it could be represented in a more general way by a function F (dho) of the elements d, h, o, which are the only ones which ever can, according to our view, intervene in the fixing, for even admitting that things could be regulated to the last point, socialized if you will, these two elements of supply and demand would at least remain always existing and dominant.
[C] It is by design that we employ the expression transactional value in order to differentiate it from a value such as would result from a theory of the measure of value based on work stored up in transactional merchandise, a theory with which we have not here to occupy ourselves.
[D] Annales de l'Institut, 1896. Nos 1 and 4.
[E] Annales de l'Institut, 1896. No 5.
[F] We think we ought here to recall (see: Comptabilism et Proportionnalisme social) that every-one who makes transactions carries about with him not only his account book, but also a marker or stamp bearing representative figures or signs, identifying his personality and by aid of which he inscribes or obliterates the figures significant of the transactions in the account book of his correspondent.
It is needless to add, that instead of marking,—an operation we have always put forward the better to show that all account-keeping can be done by simple inscription or the registration of figures and without any «exchange» whatsoever, not even of bits of paper—a system could be adopted, for example, consisting of having on the credit and debit sides of the account-books, leaves of stamps more or less analogous to postage stamps, credit-stamps which the buyer would detach from his account-book, and which would be fastened into that of the seller, then the seller would detach from his account-book corresponding debit stamps to be fastened to the debit side of that of the buyer. These stamps would carry naturally besides their signification the same figures or representative signs of the personality of the maker of the transaction as the marker they would be destined to replace.
The comptabilistic system making use of such stamps rather than of marks would be applied to defered payments as well as to current payments, it could be thus used in every case.
The principle of the account-book consists naturally in the book forming a real account with debit and credit—like all accounts in ordinary book keeping,—in which is inscribed in a way which would be regarded as valid, having legal force the sums corresponding to the transactions effected either by being written out at full length, with the signature, or by marking in figures, and indicating at the same time the personality of the party making the transaction, or by means of stamps as we have just seen, or finally by some other way.
Directly we leave the principle above mentioned to look at some intermediary form of its application, a host of combinations offer themselves. The use of stamps for example would permit doing away with the debit side in the account books. The buyer in this case detaches, from his account-book, which becomes now only a credit account book, the stamps corresponding to the extent of the transaction, and he sticks them in the account book of the seller, which is also only a credit one: the credit of the seller increases, that of the buyer diminishes, that is all. If the buyer does not stick his stamps in the account-book of the seller, these stamps can circulate, they would be analogous to bank notes which have been endorsed by writing upon them the name of the first party holding them.