e, where no doubt he would reside, and implore him to
reintroduce capitalism and food into Great Britain.

Some Socialists of the saner kind fear that it will not be possible to
abolish money. Kautsky, for instance, writes: "To abolish money I
consider impossible. Money is the simplest means as yet known which
renders it possible in a mechanism so complicated as the modern system
of production, with its enormously minute subdivision of labour, to
arrange for the smooth circulation of products and their distribution
among the individual members of society; it is the means which enables
everyone to satisfy his needs according to his individual taste
(naturally within the limits of his economic power). As a medium of
circulation, money will remain indispensable so long as nothing better
is found."[756]

Socialists declaim against the immorality of charging
interest--"usury" as they call it (see Chapters IV., IX., and XVII.),
and they are indignant that the banks are unwilling to advance gratis
unlimited funds to Socialist town councils to be wasted as fancy may
direct (see page 258). Therefore they wish to abolish "that most
costly of all modern parasites, the banker."[757] Some very
irreligious, if not atheistic, Anarchist-Socialists, such as Mr.
Morrison Davidson, pretend to object to interest on religious grounds
because, "the Way, the Truth, and the Life said, 'Lend hoping for
nothing again.'"[758] Other Socialists wish to abolish the banks and
the charging of interest for the benefit of the people and of the
Socialist municipal and other councils. "Usury--in that offensive
pregnant little word is contained the secret of Society's worries and
Man's woes. Abolish usury: that is the true Fiscal Reform
Policy."[759]

"Usury can be arrested at present by nationalisation of exchange. The
nationalisation of exchange must be undertaken. Metal must be
demonetised and reduced to the ranks. Banking must be undertaken by
the municipalities and county councils, and by these elective bodies
only, while a durable paper currency issued on the basis of the
ascertained wealth of the nation, and maintained in true relation to
it, shall supersede gold. Then we arrive at a scientific solution of
the question of exchange and put in operation the currency and credit
system of Socialism."[760]

When the banks and the gold currency have been abolished and when
"exchange has been nationalised" the Socialist local authorities will
no long