_Deferred settlement._--In certain stages of civilization exchanges involve, not simply present wealth, but prospective accumulation. A farmer may purchase his farm upon the assurance of crops and stock to be raised in a series of years. In this exchange final settlement is deferred by notes payable at definite future dates, the promise to pay being secured by a deed in trust, a mortgage deed or individual endorsement. If many individuals are united, a purchase may be made by means of issuing more formal notes called bonds, the property of the company being pledged for the payment of the bonds when due. Sometimes such purchases are made by the issue of stock, establishing the right of the seller to a certain undivided share in the wealth controlled by the company. In this case the time of final settlement is indefinitely postponed, to be fixed by limits of the charter or by a vote of the stock-holders. All these certificates of indebtedness serve to a limited extent in exchange of property. So far as they enter into commerce, after the first transaction, they are simply articles of purchase and sale, having a more or less established market value. Since they usually represent an accumulating interest or a provisional dividend, the market value is constantly fluctuating, and they can therefore serve almost no purpose of currency.
The ease with which such notes, bonds and stock can be made the basis of a single purchase in establishing some enterprise gives to them an indefinite influence in trade, sometimes immensely extending the apparent purchasing power of a community. The advantages and disadvantages of such deferred settlement are so varied and important as to make it worth while to treat the subject more extensively than is proper in this analysis, and such treatment will be found in Chapter XII.
_Origin of banks._--Attention has been called to the banks of the country as a most important part of the machinery of exchange. It is proper to describe more fully the nature of the machine and its operations. A clear understanding of the character and process of banking on the part of all the people both extends its influence and diminishes its dangers. Banking, like everything else in civilization, has had a natural growth. The different steps in its growth have been devised for the sake of meeting the needs of a growing commerce, and banking can exist only where commercial transactions are frequent and constant.