themselves. And the tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish ought thereof; for they be idle…Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words.”[1]
Here, in its virgin form, was the ancient gospel of deflation—of work and thrift—urged by its safely isolated beneficiaries.
All through the Mosaic code, with its many economic implications and its fierce jealousy for order and freedom, runs the biting taunt: “And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman.”[2]
And through this same code is set down the importance of just measurement.
“Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight or in measure. Just balances just weights—shall ye have: I am the Lord your God which brought you out of the land of Egypt.”[3]
“Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small, Thou shalt not have in thine house divers measures, a great and a small.
“But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have.”[4]
“And when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord our God hath commanded you? Then thou shalt say to thy son, we were Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt.”[5]
To the political-economist who still deals in the ritual of autocracy, and to the scientist who cleaves to reason, based on just measurement, it may possibly be offensive to close upon this ancient note of warning, now almost forgotten. Let us then, for the last time, flout the ritualistic economist by ignoring him and turn confidently to the scientist whose mind is open; for he, above all men, knows that economic value, the
