SUMMARY 
105 
error as those who held a similar view while thinking that banks 
can exercise a considerable influence over the volume of currency 
and the level of prices. 
With respect to the lending activities of banks, then, we notice 
first that there were very few who recognized that anything more 
was involved than the passing on of what had been received from 
depositors. The question next arose whether banks committed 
these funds to the custody of those who would use them to the 
best interests of the community. In general, the assumption that 
bank loans are wisely directed underlay the statement that banks 
bring idle surpluses into active employment. Some expressly 
stated that banks overcome the difficulty that those with spare 
cash frequently do not know who is worthy of a loan, and all who 
advanced this intermediary function of banking as one of its 
beneficial services implied that the country’s capital was more 
advantageously used than it would have been in the absence of 
banks. But there were some, like Gouge and Raguet, who be- 
lieved that bank loans were detrimental to society. Sometimes it 
was asserted that the short duration of the loans made them 
available chiefly for undesirable speculation; in other cases the 
judgment, if not the impartiality, of bank directors in passing 
upon prospective borrowers was questioned.