ABSTRACT
As we have already said, any legislation based on the true principles of political economy must tend to make the country’s wealth circulate in the social body as easily as blood in a man’s veins. The more easily receivable securities can be realised and exchanged, the more progress common well-being will make. As property changes hands easily, its capital value will considerably increase; in this way, the current owners will see an interest in mobilising them. But after a while, title deeds will have become so sound and their easy realisation will offer so many advantages and their price will subsequently be so high that they will bring in almost no income to those who possess them without making them productive. Those who have title deeds in their portfolios will be in almost the same position as those who possess a large number of banknotes, which are perfectly sound, but because they are easy to realise, generate no interest. These schemes, seconded by others which we will explain in later letters, will tend to gradually bring down the interest on capital entrusted to workers. At present those who lend capital to a worker in the name of interest obtain a larger share of the product of the exploitation of this capital than the worker himself, which is supremely unfair; those who extract a new product from the matter should have a larger share of this production than the idle who merely lend the raw material. Those who own property and draw almost no income from it will not want to live on their capital; they will look for some scheme which will ensure them a larger income and they will find it in the foundation of free banks. They will realise the price of their property and entrust it to the banks which will offer them more advantages, but as these banks gradually acquire funds, they will only accept capital against very low interest. Before the July Revolution there were banks in Holland and even in France which only accepted capital against an interest of no more than 1 or 2 per cent.
