6 BANKING THEORIES IN UNITED STATES 
The full significance of their views was often hidden from the 
writers themselves. Not merely did they frequently change their 
opinions — the notions they held at any one time often embodied 
clashing principles. Raguet furnishes a classic example; he was 
at once one of the most suggestive and one of the most incon- 
sistent of the men with whom we are concerned. A leading con- 
tradiction, which was the rule rather than the exception (and it 
was shared by English writers), was that involved in asserting 
that banks can but distribute the purchasing power that they 
receive from stockholders and depositors, while recognizing at the 
same time that by expanding their loans banks can raise prices. 
Again, after many writers observe the similarity between notes 
and deposits as components of the currency, must we regard 
their persistent reasoning in terms of notes alone, when discussing 
prices and like problems, simply as a shorthand manner of ex- 
pression, or as an illustration of the way in which man’s brain 
works in water-tight compartments? 
The work of several of the writers was marred by what seems 
like studied combativeness. Raymond and H. C. Carey showed 
this disposition in highest degree. One cannot escape the feeling 
that they often opposed generally received views merely because 
of the pressure of their pugnacious non-conformist instincts. The 
general effect is much like that of the bitter personalities that 
characterize the colonial tracts. 
The relativity of economic theory to its institutional setting is 
too familiar a matter to call for more than casual notice here. 
Needless to say, illustrations of it abound in our study. The chief 
differences between the characteristics of the American and the 
English discussions were due to the different questions which 
banking, as practised in each country, raised. American theory 
in general did not dig so far below the surface because it was still 
largely concerned with the relative utility and disutility of bank- 
ing. In England the advantages of fairly orderly banking had 
been too long enjoyed to make this a matter of much more than 
academic interest. To turn to other examples, the thesis that 
1 See Chapter VIII.