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in order not to move the gold unnecessarily and risk
attack from robbers. In other words, a buyer, rather
than getting a gold plate from the goldsmith to pay
off his creditor, gave to the latter the goldsmith’s
receipt, giving him a claim to the gold kept in the
vault.
Instead of the gold, it was the goldsmith’s re-
ceipts which were changing hands. For as long as
there was only a limited number of sellers and buy-
ers, it was not a bad system. It was easy to follow
the journey of the receipts.
The gold lender
The goldsmith soon made a
discovery, which was to affect
mankind far more than the memor-
able journey of Christopher Colum-
bus himself. He learned, through
experience, that nearly all of the
gold that was left with him for safe-
keeping remained untouched in
his vault. Barely more than one-in-
ten of the owners of this gold ever
took it out of the vault to conduct
their business transactions, instead
using their receipts for the purpose.
The thirst for gain, the longing to become rich
faster than by means of the jeweller’s tools, sharp-
ened the mind of our man, and he made a daring
gesture. “Why,” he said to himself, “would I not be-
come a gold lender ! ” A lender, mind you, of gold
which did not belong to him. And since he did not
possess a righteous soul like that of Saint Eligius (or
St. Eloi, the master of the mint of French kings Clo-
taire II and Dagobert I, in the seventh century), he
hatched and nurtured the idea. He refined the idea
even more: “To lend gold which does not belong
to me, at interest, needless to say ! Better still, my
dear master (was he talking to Satan? ), instead of
the gold, I will lend a receipt, and demand payment
of interest in gold; that gold will be mine, and my
clients’ gold will remain in my vaults to back up new
loans.”
If you have some imagination, go back a few cen-
turies to a Europe already old, but not yet progres-
sive. In those days, money was not used much in
everyday business transactions. Most of those trans-
actions were simple direct exchanges, barter. How-
ever, the kings, the lords, the wealthy, and the big
merchants owned gold, and used it to finance their
armies’ expenses, or to purchase foreign products.
However, the wars between lords
or nations, and armed robberies, were
causing the gold and the diamonds of
the wealthy to fall into the hands of
robbers. So the owners of gold, who
had become very nervous, made it
a habit to entrust their treasures for
safekeeping to the goldsmiths who,
because of the precious metal they
worked with, had very well protected
vaults. The goldsmith received the
gold, gave a receipt to the depositor,
and took care of the gold, charging
a fee for this service. Of course, the
owner could claim his gold, all or in
part, whenever he felt like it.
The merchant leaving for Paris or Marseille,
or travelling from Troyes, France, to Amsterdam,
could provide himself with gold to make his pur-
chases. But here again, there was danger of being
attacked along the road; he then convinced his sell-
er in Marseille or Amsterdam to accept, rather than
metal, a signed receipt attesting his claim to part of
the treasure on deposit at the goldsmith’s in Paris or
Troyes. The goldsmith’s receipt bore witness to the
reality of the funds.
It also happened that the supplier, in Amster-
dam or elsewhere, managed to get his own gold-
smith in London or Geneva to accept, in return for
transportation services, the signed receipt that he
had received from his French buyer. In short, little
by little, the merchants began to exchange among
themselves these receipts rather than the gold itself,
The goldsmith who became a banker – A true story
by
Louis Even
“The only thing that will correct it is the one
thing that is sacrosanct in the media, in education,
in politics, and, yes, even in our social circles. The
only thing that will correct it is to strip private com-
panies (banks) of their power to create money as
debt at interest, and to adopt a method of money
creation whereby the United States Treasury cre-
ates money as credit !
“This issue is the key issue to the financial fu-
ture of our nation and world! This chicanery is
practiced throughout the world! We must turn an
entrenched, centuries old financial establishment
on its ear ! Read about it. Study it. Understand it.
Talk about it. Then raise some hell ! ”
The best way
to do all that is to get people around you to sub-
scribe to the “Michael” Journal !
Alain Pilote