R.F.O. WEALTH ADVICE

18 The « papier » offer many advantages as compared to cash: Nobody can doubt that such advantages can be estimated since everything comes at a price. Any «p a p ier» , whether a promissory note, bill of exchange or applying to trade shares, is simply a hope which is more or less certain, more or less useful depending on the quality of the debtor, according to the benefit which lies within the «pap ier » itself or that which such «pap ier» can produce. No matter how good it looks, in absolute terms there is always greater certainty in an object as compared to a share. Consequently, from the safety point of view, cash is to be preferred to any « papier ». On the other hand « papier» do have some advantages as compared to cash: 1. They are much easier to keep and store. 2. For the same reason they are much easier to carry. So it is that a traveller offers cash to obtain a bill of exchange. 3. Payments using ne- gotiable instruments are easier to carry out and require less time as compared to cash which must always be counted, weighed and sometimes tested. 4. A « pa p ier» such as a bill of exchange issued by one kingdom on another does not fear currency fluctuations. If the value of a bill of exchange has been paid in a strong currency in the Netherlands, the bearer shall obtain the same amount in France even if the currency is weaker since the rights of the people managing the payment from one country to another is not influ- enced by the changes which a country can carry out in its money. 5. If « papier» consists of an action which can bear fruits or benefits, it is not as sterile as the cash one keeps. It works in the portfolio, as per the expression of the traders and at the same time the convenience of the most lightweight of all movables and the usefulness of a naturally fruitful fund. Nobody can doubt that these advantages can be assessed since everything which is useful has a price. 1 1 H.F.D’Aguesseau, Œuvres complètes , èd., 16 voll., Paris, 1818-1820.