BOOK SECOND. 



CHAPTER I. 



MONOPOLY OF EXCHANGE MONEY CONTRACTION. 



MONEY is a medium of exchange. Its function is to 

 circulate as such and to pay debts. It should be clothed 

 with every attribute to facilitate the accomplishment of 

 these ends. It is a ticket a receipt from the great ware- 

 house of American productions, entitling the holder to so 

 many units in value of any of the products of labor. If 

 every man produced everything he needed there would be 

 no use for money, for he could then possess everything he 

 needed by the application or exchange of his labor. But, 

 then, every man would have to possess some knowledge of 

 every trade, and his productions would, to say the least, 

 be but rude models compared with the perfect products of 

 the skilled artisans of the present day. "Every man to 

 his trade," is one of the results of civilization. It is 

 founded both upon laws of convenience and economy. 

 A man's efforts directed to the prosecution of one object, 

 and the production of one class of articles, is capable 

 of attaining to greater perfection, as well as greater 

 production. But this necessitates an exchange for some- 

 thing 'else that he needs but does not produce. Hence, 

 barter or trade was instituted in the early history of man- 



