THE WEALTH OK NATIONS.

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tolerable judgment concerning the thriving or declining cir-cumstances of their debtors, without being obliged to lookout for any other evidence besides what their own books af-forded them; men being for the most part either regular orirregular in their repayments, according as their circum-stances are either thriving or declining. A private man wholends out his money to perhaps half a dozen or a dozen ofdebtors, may, either by himself or his agents, observe andinquire both constantly and carefully into the conduct andsituation of each of them. But a banking company, whichlends money to perhaps five hundred different people, and ofwhich the attention is continually occupied by objects of avery different kind, can have no regular information con-cerning the conduct and circumstances of the greater part ofits debtors beyond what its own books afford it. In requir-ing frequent and regular repayments from all their customers,the banking companies of Scotland had probably this ad-vantage in view.

Secondly, by this attention they secured themselves fromthe possibility of issuing more paper money than what thecirculation of the country could easily absorb and employ.When they observed, that within moderate periods of timethe repayments of a particular customer were upon most oc-casions fully equal to the advances which they had madeto him, they might be assured that the paper money whichthey had advanced to him, had not at anytime exceeded thequantity of gold and silver, which he would otherwise havebeen obliged to keep by him for answering occasional de-mands ; and that, consequently, the paper money, whichthey had circulated by his means, had not at any time ex-ceeded the quantity of gold and silver, which would havecirculated in the country, had there been no paper money.The frequency, regularity, and amount of his repaymentswould sufficiently demonstrate that the amount of their ad-vances had at no time exceeded that part of his capitalwhich he would otherwise have been obliged to keep by himunemployed and in ready money for answering occasionaldemands; that is, for the purpose of keeping the rest ofhis capital in constant employment. It is this part of hiscapital only which, within moderate periods of time, is con-tinually returning to every dealer in the shape of money,whether paper or coin, and continually going from him in thesame shape. If the advances of the bank had commonly ex-