is abilities as
can be given by nothing else. In the study of production we have seen that
time-saving is an important result of capital in its various forms. A
carpenter's kit of tools represents a value in use equal at least to the
time he might consume in making them. He can afford to keep them for
another's use only while they bring to him the advantage of that
time-saving. His neighbor is willing to secure him in that advantage by
paying him for the use of the tools all, or nearly all, that he gains by
using tools over what he would have without them. The borrower will still
be the gainer by opportunity to do work not possible without the tools.
The bargain between borrower and lender, like any bargain, is a fair one
only when both are benefited. The limits of fairness in the deal are
naturally reached when a clear understanding of all conditions is had in
open market. Neither borrower nor lender can take advantage of the other
without fraud. Neither is under obligation to give to the other without an
equivalent. The whole question rests upon service rendered, as truly as in
any other bargain.

A large proportion of the opposition to interest arises from a
misconception of the phrase, "borrowed money." The fact is that borrowing
and lending have to do chiefly with other forms of wealth. Most notes are
given for the transfer of all sorts of property under a promise to return
equal value in the future. Money may not enter into the transaction at
all, except as the standard of value is in terms of money. Even when money
is exchanged for a note, the borrower hastens to part with the money for
the tools or provisions which make him a profitable producer. In payment
of his note he offers money again, simply because it commands every
desirable form of value for the owner of the wealth. If a farmer wants a
wagon without the present means to buy, he offers the dealer his promise
to pay after six months, when the corn crop just planted shall have
matured. If the dealer cannot afford to hold the note because he needs the
capital in his business, that others may be supplied with wagons, either
the farmer or the dealer carries the note to some one who _can_ afford to
wait for returns, which may be either a banker, whose business provides
just such accommodation, or a neighboring farmer who has just sold his
wool. In either case, the first farmer borrows what he wants in carrying
on his business, and at the end of six months, thr