Edward Bellamy

Name: Equality — Chapter IV. A twentieth-century bank parlor
Author: Edward Bellamy

Equality — Chapter IV. A twentieth-century bank parlor (1897)

Summary

“Equality — Chapter IV. A twentieth-century bank parlor”, published in 1897, is a work by Edward Bellamy. It explores elements such as credit, calculations and citizen.

Quotes from Equality — Chapter IV. A twentieth-century bank parlor (Edward Bellamy)

Edward Bellamy, Equality — Chapter IV. A twentieth-century bank parlor (1897)

“ Debit and credit are no longer known; interest, rents, profits, and all the calculations based on them no more have any place in human affairs. In your day everybody, besides his account with the state, was involved in a network of accounts with all about him. Even the humblest wage-earner was on the books of half a dozen tradesmen, while a man of substance might be down in scores or hundreds, and this without speaking of men not engaged in commerce. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

Edward Bellamy, Equality — Chapter IV. A twentieth-century bank parlor (1897)

“ Certainly; but the whole system being under one head and all the parts working together with no friction and no motive for any indirection, such accounting is child's work compared with the adjustment of dealings between the mutually suspicious private capitalists, who divided among themselves the field of business in your day, and sat up nights devising tricks to deceive, defeat, and overreach one another. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

Edward Bellamy, Equality — Chapter IV. A twentieth-century bank parlor (1897)

“ The fact is, we are so squeamish that the knowledge that a single individual in the nation was in want would keep us all awake nights. If you insisted on being in need, you would have to hide away for the purpose. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

Edward Bellamy, Equality — Chapter IV. A twentieth-century bank parlor (1897)

“ The only way, really, in which our system differs from yours is that every one starts the year with the same balance to his credit and that this credit is not transferable. As to requiring deposits before accounts are opened, we are necessarily quite as strict as your bankers were, only in our case the people, collectively, make the deposit for all at once. This collective deposit is made up of such provisions of different commodities and such installations for the various public services as are expected to be necessary. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

Edward Bellamy, Equality — Chapter IV. A twentieth-century bank parlor (1897)

“ Our system has the advantage over yours that the most incorrigible spendthrift can not trench on his principal, which consists in his indivisible equal share in the capital of the nation. All he can at most do is to waste the annual dividend. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

Edward Bellamy, Equality — Chapter IV. A twentieth-century bank parlor (1897)

“ I was informed that the annual credit of the adult citizen for that year was $4,000, and that the portion due me for the remainder of the year, it being the latter part of September, was $1,075.41. Taking vouchers to the amount of $300, I left the rest on deposit precisely as I should have done at one of the nineteenth-century banks in drawing money for present use. The transaction concluded, Mr. Chapin, the superintendent, invited me into his office.
"How does our banking system strike you as compared with that of your day?" he asked. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

Edward Bellamy, Equality — Chapter IV. A twentieth-century bank parlor (1897)

“ It is the aim in the production of perishable things, and those in which fancy often changes, to keep as little ahead of the demand as possible, but in all the important staples such great surpluses are constantly carried that a two years' drought would not affect the price of non-perishable produce, while an unexpected addition of several millions to the population could be taken care of at any time without disturbance. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

Edward Bellamy, Equality — Chapter IV. A twentieth-century bank parlor (1897)

“ Should you do this, I have no doubt your friends will take care of you, and if they do not you may be sure the nation will, for we have not the strong stomachs that enabled our forefathers to enjoy plenty with hungry people about them. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

Edward Bellamy, Equality — Chapter IV. A twentieth-century bank parlor (1897)

“ All these forms of private and business accounts have now been done away with. Nobody owes anybody, or is owed by anybody, or has any contract with anybody, or any account of any sort with anybody, but is simply beholden to everybody for such kindly regard as his virtues may attract. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

Edward Bellamy, Equality — Chapter IV. A twentieth-century bank parlor (1897)

“ A fairly nimble dollar had to be set down so many times in so many places, as it went from hand to hand, that we calculate in about five years it must have cost itself in ink, paper, pens, and clerk hire, let alone fret and worry. ”

Edward Bellamy

Summary

Quotes from Equality — Chapter IV. A twentieth-century bank parlor (Edward Bellamy)

Common terms

Similar works

Get perspective with Kwize: daily news enlightened by great literature