Equality

h-Century

nnual credit of the adult citizen for that year was $4,000, and that the portion due me for the remainder of the year, it being the latter part of September, was $1,075.41. Taking vouchers to the amount of $300, I l

strike you as compared with

nt like myself," I said--"namely, that one receives a credit without having

starts the year with the same balance to his credit and that this credit is not transferable. As to requiring deposits before accounts are opened, we are necessarily quite as strict as your bankers were, only in our case the people, collectively, make the deposit for all at once. This collective deposit is made up of such provisions of different commodities and such installations for the

timate of the year," I said. "I hope that my

rs without large margins. It is the aim in the production of perishable things, and those in which fancy often changes, to keep as little ahead of the demand as possible, but in all the important staples such great surpluses

the year is canceled, not being good for the next year. I suppose that is to prevent the po

vent confusion. The annual credit is an order on a specific provision available during a certain year. For the next year a new calculation with somewhat different

l happen if I run through my

are in the capital of the nation. All he can at most do is to waste the annual dividend. Should you do this, I have no doubt your friends will take care of you, and if they do not you may be sure the nation will, for we have not the strong stomachs that enabled our for

h this credit of $4,000 would have bee

variety of services and commodities are now supplied gratuitously on public account, which formerly individuals had to pay for, as, for example, water,

n account, why not furnish everything in that

uld not suit the people as well. You see, while we insist on equality we detest uniformity,

th the extreme simplicity of these accounts compared with any I had been familiar with. Speaking of this, I added that it impressed me the more, as I had received an impression that, great as were the superiorities of the national co-

odd that you should have that idea? We estimate that under our sy

separate account with or for every

raisements, machinery of collection and penalties was vastly more complex than the accounts in these books before you, which consist, as you see, in giving to every person the same credit at the beginning of the year, and afterward simply recor

as a record kept also of his services

having none of the complications of one of your money or wages accounts for work done, but is rather like th

ions with the public stores fro

your people would have said, all purchases a

ods and services between the stores and the producti

on, such accounting is child's work compared with the adjustment of dealings between the mutually suspicious private capitalists, who div

you base the calculations that guide production?

inquisition into the affairs of private persons instead of a mere collection of reports from the books of different departments of one great business. Forecasts of probable consumption every manufacturer, merchant, and storekeeper had

her demonstration of the

ch we do not keep at all. Debit and credit are no longer known; interest, rents, profits, and all the calculations based on them no more have any place in human affairs. In your day everybody, besides his account with the state, was involved in a network of accounts with all about him. Even the humblest wage-earner was on the books of half a dozen tradesmen, while a man of substance might be down in scores or hundreds, and this without speaking of men not engaged in commerce. A fairly nimble d