282 WHAT IS LIFE? 



by stimulating the imagination, creates a belief in an 

 invisible world, and ultimately develops a priesthood ; 

 and Greed, which dissipates energy in war and 

 trade." . . . u As consolidation advances, fear yields 

 to greed, and the economic organism tends to super- 

 sede the emotional and martial." l 



As departmental consolidation progresses so does 

 the tyranny of greed become greater. Probably no 

 more dreadful form of this tyranny has ever exceeded 

 the present economical phase of things. 



Mr. Adams fully explains this in his chapter on 

 Modern Centralization. He states: u In discussing the 

 phenomena of the highly centralized society in which 

 he lived, Mill denned capital 'as the accumulated 

 stock of human labour.' In other words, capital may 

 be considered as stored energy ; but most of this 

 energy flows in fixed channels ; money alone is 

 capable of being transmuted immediately into any 

 form of activity." 



" It appears to be a natural law that when social 

 development has reached a certain stage, and capital 

 has accumulated sufficiently, the class which has had 

 the capacity to absorb it shall try to enhance the value 

 of their property by legislation. This is done most 

 easily by reducing the quantity of the currency, which 

 is a legal tender for the payment of debts. A currency 

 obviously gains in power as it shrinks in volume." 3 



Now, it is the aim of bankers, who live by lending, 

 to have money scarce, and thus the more the debtors 

 are enslaved. In 1873, or thereabouts, money was 



1 " The Law of Civilization and Decay," Brooks Adams, 1895, 

 Preface. 



Idem, p. 259. 3 Idem, p. 21. 



