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4

Free issue of MICHAEL

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ant of the origin of money and

although they needed it, they

didn’t know how to produce it.

Certainly, many men of educa-

tion would have been in the same

boat; all our governments were

in the same predicament during

the ten years prior to the war. The

only thing the country lacked at

that time was money and the gov-

ernments apparently didn’t know

what to do to get it.

5. Arrival of a refugee

One evening, when our boys

were sitting on the beach going

over their problem for the hun-

dredth time, they suddenly saw

a small boat approaching with a

solitary man at the oars.

They learned that he was the

only survivor of a wreck. His name

was Oliver.

Delighted to have a new com-

panion, they provided him with

the best that they had and took

him on an inspection tour of the

colony.

“Even though we’re lost and

cut off from the rest of the world,”

they told him, “we haven’t too

much to complain about. The

earth and the forest are good

to us. We lack only one thing –

money. — to make it easier for us

to exchange our products.”

“Well, you can thank Provi-

dence,” replied Oliver, “because I

am a banker and in no time at all,

I’ll

set up a system of money guar-

anteed to satisfy you. Then you’ll

have everything that people in civil-

ization have.”

3. True wealth

H

ere are the men at work.

Each man worked at his own

trade. Whatever surpluses he

might have of his own produce,

he exchanged for the surplus

products of the others.

As season follows season

Salvation Island, the heritage of

the five men, became richer and

richer.

Its wealth was not that of gold

or of paper bank notes but one of

true value; a wealth of food and

clothing and shelter, of all the

things to meet human needs.

Life wasn’t always as smooth

and complete as they would have

wished it to be. They lacked many

of the things to which they had

been accustomed in civilization,

but their lot could have been a

great deal worse.

Besides, all had experienced

the depression in Canada. They

still remembered the empty bel-

lies of people standing outside

stores crammed with food.

At least, on Salvation Island,

they weren’t forced to watch the

things they needed rot before

their eyes. Taxes were unknown

here. Nor were they in constant

fear of property seizure by the

bailiff. They worked hard but at

least they could enjoy the fruits of

their toil.

So, still in possession of life

and health, those two greatest

of blessings. they continued de-

veloping the island, thanking God

and hoping for some day reunion

with their families

4. A serious inconvenience

The men often got together to

talk over their affairs.

Under the simple economic

system which had developed,

one thing was beginning to both-

er them more and more; they had

no form of money. Barter, the dir-

ect exchange of goods for goods,

had its drawbacks. The products

to be exchanged were not always

at hand when a trade was dis-

cussed. For example, wood deliv-

ered to the farmer in winter could

not be paid for in potatoes until

six months later.

Sometimes one man had an

article of considerable size which

he wished to exchange for a num-

ber of smaller articles produced

by different men at different times.

All this complicated business

and laid a heavy burden on the

memory. With a monetary sys-

tem, however, each one could

sell his products to the others for

money. With this money he could

buy from the others the things he

wanted when he wished and also

when they were available.

It was agreed that a system

of money would indeed be very

convenient. But none of them

knew how to set up such a sys-

tem. They knew how to produce

true wealth – goods. But how to

produce money, the symbol of

this wealth, was something quite

beyond them. They were ignor-

u