CHAPTER XXII. 



BUSINESS EFFORTS OF THE ALLIANCE. 



THE term " business," as now understood, contains numberless factors 

 within its meaning that did not obtain in ancient times. These increased 

 and kept pace with the advancement of civilization, and will so continue 

 as long as intellectual advancement is made. Primitive business was 

 nearly, if not quite, a sort of limited barter, in which nothing but labor 

 values were considered. It was a simple exchange of the product of 

 one individual for the product of another, in which the amounts of 

 patience and manual labor were the only factors, aside from desirability 

 for use. 



Under these conditions the products of individuals and tribes were 

 exchanged. The fur of one tribe, for instance, was exchanged for the 

 fish of another tribe in a different section. It soon became apparent 

 that, in making these exchanges, one party or the other gained an advan- 

 tage, as there was no method of dividing the different products so as to 

 represent the exact divisions of labor values. In this dilemma resort 

 was had to an expedient which proved so successful as to be accepted 

 as an additional factor in all exchanges. By common consent certain 

 shells, or beads made from shells or other materials, were endowed with 

 the function of representing certain divisions of labor values. By this 

 means, when a piece of fur was worth more in labor value than two fish, 

 and not quite as much as three, the difference was evened up through 

 the medium of these shells or beads. As exchanges multiplied, the 

 demand for these shells and beads increased, until, most unfortunately 

 for the human race, some one accumulated a sufficient number to make 

 an e'xchange without the aid of barter. Then began the difficulty 

 between currency and labor, which has come down to us under the 

 modern term of a " war between capital and labor." The shells and 

 beads of primitive business are the prototypes of the dollars and cents 

 of the present generation. And the same desire which actuated the fur- 

 clad possessor of these shells and beads, in demanding as much fur and 

 fish for them as possible, is seen to-day in his modern imitator, the 

 money-owner, who is seeking by all means, fair or otherwise, to obtain 

 as much of the fruits of labor in production as he can, in exchange for 

 his dollars and cents. Through the introduction of this medium of 



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