ATKINSON, — BASIS OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. 219 



agreements made in the term of pound sterling can be liquidated and dis- 

 charged only by the delivery of the exact weight of metal ; thus coming 

 back to the original conditions under which the precious metals served as 

 money by the definition of weight, — the shekel, the mina, the drachma, 

 and others. No conception of an act of legal tender could have entered 

 the mind of any legislator or ruler, so long as the weight standard and the 

 weight of coins were consistent. The only possible purpose of an act of 

 legal tender in early times, down through the Middle Ages, and until the 

 present century, was in fraud of the masses of the people upon whom 

 light weight or base coins were forced. In these facts, do we not find 

 the basis of monetary science ? 



Again. I have referred to the three elements or fundamental princi- 

 ciples, rules of action governing human beings, upon which modern 

 commerce has been progressively developed. 



Tiie first, the material necessity for the means of existence. 



The second, the metaphysical perception of the benefits of exchange. 



The third, the moral habit engendered out of these conditions. 



I use the term " moral habit " as something distinct from conscious 

 moral effort. Sir Henry Maine calls attention to the fact that the trust 

 which is necessary to the conduct of commerce in all its branches is 

 a very modern conception. In the Homeric records, the cunning of 

 Ulysses and habits of fraud and deception are as meritorious and worthy 

 of praise as the wisdom of Nestor or the courage of Achilles. Maine 

 uses a phrase in respect to modern conditions substantially in the follow- 

 ing form : " The trust imposed in and deserved by the many creates the 

 opportunity for the fraud of the few." This becomes very manifest 

 whenever the present conditions of trade are passed in review. 



I have computed the value of our annual product at approximately 

 two hundred to two hundred and twenty-five dollars' worth per head 

 of food, fuel, materials for shelter, and clothing, at the present time. 

 These are first produced in their crude form from the field, the forest, 

 and the mine. They are passed in the process of trade or exchange to 

 the converters or manufacturers, so called ; thence to the wholesale deal- 

 ers ; thence to the retail dealers. In respect to many articles there are 

 as many as ten diflferent trades or transactions between the original pro- 

 ducer and the consumer. The average cannot be less than three. Under 

 these conditions, tlie volume of trade which is necessary to the supply of 

 human wants in this country only without which modern society could 

 not exist, comes to not less than one hundred million dollars every day 

 in the year, including Sundays. It is in fact more. 



