400 INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTIONS. 



used for purposes of payment. As with the Hebrews the 

 shekel was at once a unit of weight and a unit of worth, so 

 in France the Iwre was a name for a weight and for a piece 

 of money. A like relation arose among ourselves. How 

 ever much it eventually deviated, the &quot; silver-pound &quot; was 

 no doubt at one time an actual pound. 



As units of value were determined by weighings between 

 individuals, at a time when weights were themselves rela 

 tively indefinite, there resulted iiidefiniteness in the units of 

 value. Moreover, these independent origins led- to the issue 

 of stamped units of value by different individuals or groups 

 of individuals, causing a variety of coins nominally of the 

 same worths, but actually of more or less different Worths. 

 How these relatively indefinite weights were rendered more 

 definite, is implied by that distinction made by the Hebrews, 

 between the ordinary shekel and the shekel &quot; after the king s 

 weight.&quot; Evidently the substitution of a coinage issued 

 from one source, furthered the process of exchange by mak 

 ing the values of the units uniform; and though, in sub 

 sequent times, the debasing of coinage by kings produced a 

 great evil, yet there remained the benefit of uniformity. 



But that which it chiefly concerns us to note, is, that by 

 making exchange more facile, a trustworthy currency enor 

 mously extended and eased the process of distribution. The 

 means of making most purchases could now be carried about 

 on the person. Definite estimations of values of the things 

 bought and sold, could be made prices arose. The amounts 

 payable for labour of various kinds could be currently known. 

 And, above all, the obstacles to distribution which had re 

 sulted from inability to find those who personally needed the 

 goods to be disposed of, entirely disappeared. Moreover, 

 with the establishment of prices and current knowledge of 

 them, transactions between buyer and seller lost, in large 4 

 measure, the arbitrary character they previously had. Lastly, 

 as a concomitant effect, arose the possibility of competition. 

 Prices could be compared, and the most advantageous pur- 



