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Free issue of MICHAEL
er and
his keg of gold or without
underwriting a debt.
“I open an account in the name
of each one of you. In the right-
hand column are the credits which
increase your account; to the left
are the debits which subtract from
your account.
“Each wants $200 to begin
with. Very well. We write $200 to
the credit of each. Each immedi-
ately then has $200.
“Frank buys some goods from
Paul for $10. I deduct $10 from
Frank, leaving him $190. I add $10
to Paul and he now has $210.
“Jim buys from Paul to the
amount of $8. I deduct from Jim
$8, leaving him $192. Paul now has
$218.
“Paul buys wood from Frank for
$15. I deduct $15 from Paul, leaving
$203. I add $15 to Frank’s account,
and it goes back to $205.
“And so we continue from one
account to another, in the same
fashion that paper banknotes go
from one man’s pocket to another’s.
“If someone needs money to
expand production, we issue him
the necessary amount of new cred-
it. Once he has sold his products,
he repays the sum to the credit
fund. The same with public works
that are paid for with new credits.
“Likewise, each one’s account
is periodically increased but with-
out taking credits from anyone, in
order that all may benefit from the
progress society makes. That’s the
national dividend. In this fashion,
money becomes an instrument of
service.”
18. The banker’s despair
Everyone understood. The
members of this little commu-
nity became Social Crediters. The
following day, Oliver, the banker,
received a letter signed by the five:
“Dear sir! Without the slight-
est necessity you have plunged
us into debt and exploited us. We
don’t need you anymore to run our
money system. From now on, we’ll
have all the money we need with-
out gold, debts, nor thieves. We are
establishing, at once, the system of
Social Credit on the island. The na-
tional dividend is going to replace
the national debt.
“If you insist on being repaid,
we can repay you all the money
you gave us. But not a cent more.
You cannot lay claim to that which
you have not made.”
Oliver was in despair. His em-
pire was crumbling. His dreams
shattered. What could he do?
Arguments would be futile. The five
were now Social Crediters: money
and credit were now not more mys-
terious to them than they were to
Oliver.
“Oh ! ” said Oliver. “These men
have been won to Social Credit !
Their doctrine will spread far more
quickly than mine. Should I beg for-
giveness? Become one of them? I,
a financier and a banker ? Never !
Rather, I shall try and put as much
distance between them and me as
I can ! ”
19. The fraud ummasked
To protect themselves against
any future claim by Oliver, our five
men decided to make him sign a
document attesting that he again
possessed all he had when he first
arrived on the island.
An inventory was taken; the
boat, the oars, the little press and
the famous barrel of gold.
Oliver had to reveal where
he had hidden the gold. Our boys
hoisted it from the hole with con-
siderably less respect than the day
they had unloaded it from the boat.
Social Credit had taught them to
despise gold.
The prospector, who was help-
ing to lift the barrel, found it surpris-
ingly light for gold. If the barrel was
full, he told the others, there was
something in it besides gold.
The impetuous Frank didn’t
waste a moment; a blow of the
axe and the contents of the barrel
were exposed. Gold? Not so much
as a grain of it ! Just rocks – plain,
worthless rocks ! Our men couldn’t
get over the shock.
“Don’t tell us that he could bam-
boozle us to this extent ! ”
“Were we such muttonheads as
to go into raptures over the mere
mention of gold? ”
“Did we mortgage all of our
possessions for a few pieces of
paper based on a few pounds of
rocks? It’s robbery, compounded
with lies ! ”
“To think that we sulked and al-
most hated one another because of
such a fraud! That devil! ”
Furious, Frank raised his axe. In
great haste, the banker had already
taken flight towards the forest.
After the opening of the barrel
and the revelation of his duplicity,
nothing further was heard of Oliver.
Shortly after, a ship, crusing off
the normal navigation route, no-
ticed signs of life on this uncharted
island and cast anchor a short dis-
tance offshore.
The men decided to take with
them what they could carry, first of
all, the book on social credit, which
had proven to be their salvation
from the hands of the financier
Louis Even