one another. All are priced in
dollars and cents, just as in your day. The value of what I procure on
this card is checked off by the clerk, who pricks out of these tiers of
squares the price of what I order."

"If you wanted to buy something of your neighbour, could you transfer
part of your credit to him?"

"Our neighbours have nothing to sell us; but, in any event, one's credit
would not be transferable, being strictly personal. Before the nation
could even think of honouring any such transfer, it would be bound to
inquire into its equity. It would have been reason enough, had there
been no other, for abolishing money, that its possession was no
indication of rightful title to it. In the hands of the man who had
stolen it, it was as good as if earned by industry.

"People nowadays interchange gifts, but buying and selling is considered
absolutely inconsistent with the mutual benevolence and
disinterestedness which should prevail between citizens. According to
our ideas, the practice of buying and selling is essentially anti-social
in all its tendencies. It is an education in self-seeking at the expense
of others, and no society whose citizens are trained in such a school
can possibly rise above a very low grade of civilisation."

"What if you have to spend more than your card allows in any one year?"

"If extraordinary expenses should exhaust it we can obtain a limited
advance on next year's credit at a heavy discount. If a man showed
himself a reckless spendthrift he would receive his allowance monthly or
weekly instead of yearly, or, if necessary, not be permitted to handle
it at all."

"If you don't spend your allowance, I suppose it accumulates?"

"That is also permitted to a certain extent when a special outlay is
anticipated. But unless notice is given, it is presumed that the citizen
who does not fully expend his credit did not have occasion to do so, and
the balance is turned into the general surplus."

"Such a system does not encourage saving habits."

"It is not intended to. No man has care for the morrow, either for
himself or his children, for the nation guarantees the nurture,
education, and maintenance of every citizen from the cradle to the
grave."

"But what inducement can a man have to put forth his best endeavours
when, however much or little he accomplishes, his income remains the
same?"

"Does it then really seem to you that human nature is insensible to any
motives save fear of wan