of stock certificates imply the possibility of
final adjustment in a court of equity. For this reason, governments
establish some form of currency as the representative of value, which must
be accepted by the creditor in complete satisfaction of a debt. This is
naturally what custom has established as the standard of value, but
anything else may be substituted if the government so decides. Thus,
Massachusetts once made bullets legal tender at a certain price, up to a
certain number. Our government now makes copper cents and nickels legal
tender to the value of twenty-five cents.

The current notes of the government are usually legal tender, unless
otherwise stipulated, whatever their current value. This means simply that
the government through its courts secures the collection of _bona fide_
debts, in terms of value defined by law or by contract. The assurance of
final settlement, given in this way by the government, is one principal
element in extending credit on time. Without such machinery credit would
be confined to intimate acquaintances and very limited time.

_Expanding credit._--All the machinery of credit tends to bring the
floating capital of a country within the reach of great enterprises. If a
body of men have faith in some great undertaking, like a continental
railroad or a Panama canal, their faith in the enterprise is easily made a
basis for the faith of others. Even the small accumulations, the savings
of day laborers, may be turned to account in such great enterprises if the
popular expectation of success is thoroughly aroused. The greater the
undertaking, the greater is the general faith under skilful leadership.

The same principle applies to undertakings of less national character,
like immense factories or combinations in a trust. The stock of such
enterprises is often widely distributed, and when profits are fairly
begun, even upon a small scale, the chances of gain on the value of the
stock are made more prominent than the actual profits of the enterprise.
It is not uncommon to find enterprises starting with the expectation that
a large portion of this stock will be paid for out of the profits of the
business and the profits on a portion of the stock to be sold. This is
especially true when business is reviving after a period of depression. It
is one of the first symptoms of the return of a speculative spirit. With
the rise of such enterprises there is almost sure to be an advance in
prices of r