"But this inducement," I said, "would only reach the farmers. It would be necessary to offer some other kind of inducement to secure the trade of the city workmen."
"That is easily provided for," said Norrena. "Your farmer's trade, notwithstanding the fact that you pay as much for the product as you can sell it for, will net one profit on the goods for which you exchange it. With all this farm trade secure, you can begin to furnish employment to city workmen in various ways, converting the raw material into finished products to supply your increasing trade. This will enable you to make valuable customers out of all the workmen for whom you can find employment. Another inducement will be, to return one-half of the net profits on their trade in the shape of a check which will be good at the exchange for products. This will still leave one-half as a contribution to the educational and land purchase fund. I believe, however, that with a vigorous and comprehensive educational work, but few would ever draw anything in the shape of a dividend out of the business, but leave it as a permanent investment to enable them to secure homes, or as an insurance fund to support them in sickness and for the benefit of their families in case of death."
"You seem to have unlimited faith in this plan of organizing business," I said.
"And why should I not have?" asked Norrena. "These principles have been tried in this country and we know by experience that they cannot fail, wherever they are intelligently and honestly applied, on a scale large enough to constitute one good object lesson as to what can be accomplished. The system, in practice, will demonstrate that money is not a necessity. Money however, will still come into your hands, even more freely, and as long as you have debts that must be paid in money, you will have use for it. But when the debts are all paid, money might cease to circulate, as you would then have learned by actual experience, that you would get along better without it than with it."
"That puts me in mind," I said, "that in your lecture you stated that the people in this country, in their movement to establish equity in business, established banks to manage their money account. If the movement here was started by the very poor, how did they get money for the necessary cash capital?"