ferent. He was prophetically distinguishing between the science of economics and the black art of political-economy.
Now let us brush away all political cobwebs for a moment and look at national currency from some point of view which is not that of so-called conventional political-economy, keeping in mind the qualifications upon which the thoughtful economists have happily agreed, namely, that a valid currency should have the immediate function of serving as a measure of value and a medium of exchange, and a continuing function of serving as a safe basis for delayed exchange, or deferred payment. This elaborate definition of a unit of value would be regarded as pathetic in any but an economic treatise. Our ritualists demand a scientific unit of value—and stipulate solemnly that it shall not only be a unit of value now: it shall also be a unit of value over-page; and it shall remain a unit of value if they chance to take a nap. And having thus ponderously admonished their irresponsible unit and fallen asleep, we later observe them in frenzied pursuit of this unit like terriers on the trail of a departed rabbit which some hours previously had insouciantly selected a breakfast from Dr. Royal Meeker’s[1] list of nourishing commodities. Up hill and down dale, they follow vainly; and if we chart their zealous activities we get a typical Index-number “curve”—probably the most solemn farce ever perpetrated in the name of science in connection with a unit of value.
With fixed political boundaries defining the hourly effort of population within a region of self-imposed order, we are in a precise area of potential value, normally increasing because of our unquenchable desire for ampler freedom. To devise for use within this area a token of value, capable of maintaining its relative integrity at all times, and at all points, this token must necessarily be expressed in the same terms as the total basic value of the area in which it is to function, which is calculably modified from year to year, not only by population-density but also by the cost of what, from year to year, we conceive to be order.
- ↑ “Wholesale Prices.” U. S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Washington, D. C.
