In brief, egoism in its modern interpretation, is the antithesis, not of altruism, but of idealism.
It was the king's army, the king's people, the king's taxes; and he who questioned the propriety of the royal prerogative of taking from his people without return or accounting, was reckoned, and felt himself to be, a criminal, guilty of the highest crime of disloyalty.
When not only gold but all commodities are available for the redemption of the paper currency, its volume is limited only by the value of all the wealth of the country, and it can never become insecure up to this limit.
Capital, however capital may be defined, would practically cease to exist as an income producing fund, for the simple reason that if money, wherewith to buy capital, could be obtained for one-half of one per cent, capital itself could command no higher price.
Paper currency has hitherto been regarded with suspicion, as insecure.
Large sums were paid for the use of money, because the available amount of gold and silver was far less than was needed to carry on the commercial transactions of the times.
There is never enough gold to redeem all the currency in circulation.
At present, financial crises occur, chiefly because the paper currency is redeemable in gold only.
But egoism is more than this. It is the realization by the individual that he is above all institutions and all formulas; that they exist only so far as he chooses to make them his own by accepting them.
However near and dear to you may be your wife, children, friends, they are not you; they are outside of you.
Not an old woman that buys a paper of pins, without yielding a part of the price to the banks as interest!
The Massachusetts Land Bank, during Colonial times, prospered, and brought prosperity to the community, until it was forcibly suppressed by special act of Parliament.
Sometimes, instead of purchasing a commodity out and out, people want to buy only the use of it, for a longer or shorter period. The price paid for such temporary use is commonly called hire.
For each one of us stands alone in the midst of a universe.
Accordingly, when the supply of gold runs short, the security behind the notes is diminished, the loaning of notes is restricted or suspended, and the panic follows.
The business of a bank is to lend money; which amounts, nowadays, to lending credit.
According to your sympathy, you will take pleasure in your own happiness or in the happiness of other people; but it is always your own happiness you seek.
There is no other who experiences your thoughts or your feelings.
The egoist is fooled by no ideals: he discards them or uses them, as may suit his own interest.
But the egoist has no ideals, for the knowledge that his ideals are only his ideals, frees him from their domination. He acts for his own interest, not for the interest of ideals.
