54
THE WEST SHORE.
February, 1879,
tiik BvoumoH ok worm,
Tli follow inn very interesting ami instruc
tive article M the " Kvulutiiin of Wonla ami
I 'henry of Value, " u read by the Hon. Alei.
IM Mr, at a lute nit eling (il the S. K. Academy
nf Sciences
All words ue subject to mutation. They arc
created, grow, gitn huth to cilhrr words, ate
lt. 11 4 111 significance, absorbed, or lna their
loron, or ilwimllti away ami Immune obsolete.
I lua course of change la ilim to their en vimm
iiitml, which u tlir liiiinaii iniinl: ami it ia, con
aUlitly, into till' evolution o( the intellect
Uiat H muat look for the evolution of words,
Huilo 111111 are nnli' of siccch, ami tliia con'
aiata of a frw names, which chiefly represent
lh thing, of which they stand in present need,
a food ami drink I In .publics of thcau things
licit 1 1. elU-tllmii, ami good, hail, lug, little,
hanl, anlt, rU' , come into nan aa wonla. Aa
the olawrvation of the.e MM I ttends ami their
tniuila develop, an ilo their TtmlrttUrUl Mem-
iy canma them into the pant, imagim'tliou
into the future The singlo verh, am, limla
two new ciiiiijialliulis, tiiu, in lit. Treat'lit
ly Uia relations between thing., ami afterwards
Ihtass between states .,( ensU'iicc, a, turns ami
movement, are penciled, ami wonla an coined
to vlpreaa them
I'hn coinage li usually of (Id metal, which ia
. haaH t, or easier to ,,htain, than now. I'mir
people me their Kaimenta lor many ilinVrciit
purposes, ml then often remake tin in Ix-fnrc
they cut them oil, aid huy new onea. The
una hm closk n also lui coverlid; his horae
Mink. I lua umlmlla, ami aomrtiniea even hi
weUr nuher Ai it lioooiiioa woni, it la cut
up for a tavlr ..I tmusrrs; ami when young IVp,.
umwa old enough to require a aunilar garb of
dignity, it ia razed an. I i ,.n.l, i, . serviceable
4am; ami a., it ...uiiuues in ue until at laat,
it W degraded Ui the menial level of a home
. I0U1
It ia Uiiii alao with wonla Aiming IwllTll
paal ami alao anion,; detsti-l nati , the aame
tnml M .....I u Mftf a variety i meanings,
aa wiIiimi. many af the Wonli in the Choctaw
ami the I roues. V hen aia ial development
taking pU., the etr uhiI wonl ia either
specialised, .ml uuv u, ,u ,,ngnia) mean
n with ..lh. 1 iiuU wonla, or rl.e it ia.ii,r
aUI altogether by new terim; in which caee
tha tint wonl lu.mei degraded, ami .loomed
ia extinction Thus ...nf. which waa once the
name only "' Oexi, lining tupem-drd altogether
by tha latter trim or ita t.intalenl, sulaetpu m
ly Itaa-ame that ..I any nallr.l m (a.werful rr
ri then ....l ireoe rally to all landed profri
Uara, al now attached to tvery Mtt
lnlin. houa. kee,.t. in tha lorm of hml M
ttm, which ha.1 a miliar ealtl ongia, Il
isaxtont a M irlue with Uieamalleatof a,h..
'"'J ' curUiM km ul ,. ha.
laitoa Irum the dignity ul I. dl iaraiuounUhiii
Ui tha leel ul heairra. ami duatinen. and
lite .f.i. tawAher wonl ol a.ddr origin will
(rntaaUy, in Ume, l,, uhaolele. In tin
Owe (m that ii when the ..Id wonl u r.
twnaxl lot a apav tal lrt. iu meaning
ouaawa rltnl with tha ganiral refinement of
nlaava. alwayi au.,ng, ,4 ewwrae, that a. ia!
lUvaOuMttcal nmUirn Thiia lUrtv, ,. the
Uuu for he.nl. and unj,,,!, UrUnan. meant
annul) a Iwlel man W.i. m Ulin f..,
a oowmanily. and unginally , , ni4ul
Mwt naaply a avtUer or .. who dwelt in a
onawwwauty Tfca JiIImwbo. Utwmt rwr.irwia
i ... wa. tbirvl i. u.. i. It tha dilten i. .
b-twea aa ia.digK.u. Italian and a It.wuau
oaaMIMl. Tha Ktrwarana. wbo tan a highlv re
fiMd taxwOa. wwra owlUd nwrhtrMu y 0,
UaavJ ol ouOaara and ntrwtoa w ho f.xnded K.,lu
Little by little thcac words camo to have mean
Im men, other wonla were creauxl U aiiare
thcie ineaninga, M trilil, untamrd, mvayf, on
the one aide, and rnlujMrnril, euUurtd, rejiiml,
on the other; hut the original wonts were special
ized and retained. I'aiiniiig over the Dark Aucs,
and nliaervinir the word tmlliattOlt, M it came
into me aiaiti in modern days, we find that it,
It lint, eiurtaWd merely a phase or condition
of a... icty; then, according to 1 1 uiot, a move
ment of society, and now it embraces both
plume and movement, with the probability that
in time, it will be partly displaced Of pngnu,
tttkU tvoiuthn, MM other inure stievial terms.
The word iHunry is due to the temple of Juno
U ' i. where the coins of the empire were
fabricated. Ihe use of this word, was, how
ever, not common; for long after the Unman
nunierary system was hrokeu down, mimnim
continue,! to lie used as the generic term for the
circulating medium.
The word "money" came into more general
use during the Dark Ages, until with the
scarcity, ileliaseiiient and eventual almost en
tire disuse of coins, it waa atiierseded hy
I . meaning, literally, paymeut in kind,
hut afterward in the form of specie, applied to
coins and bullion. This word "siieoies" was
the lowest and grossest term employed to ox
pn i". the ein ulatiiiK medium of trie times, the
word iiummim or "nuiiiliers," of the Roman
Common weal til, having been the highest anil
moat rolincil. With tho ineiliieval period,
which fostered the Dark Ages and tho reuae of
coins, which the NopMio of the Itoinan silver
miiies in lieruiauy and clsi w here rendered piiB
nilile, the word "money" again came into use,
and being always aaaociatod with the precious
meiaia, convcyeil no meaning apart from thorn,
ami previous bi the present century signified
only so much gold and silver; this being the
iiciiniuon given ui it ny all ol tho earlier, and
many of the later, ccouoiuista.
ith the general restoration of pence, the ro
turn of security, and the conscoueiit use of cor
irative and governmental credit! for tho pur
pnsea uf a circulating medium, the meauing of
money haa Ihhii amplilied, and it ia now gener
ally umlcriUvod Ui include any deacription of
circulating media, whether coin, promissory
bills, or irredeemable notes, otherwise minima
noa or uumerariea.
Hut p. i h.,)., the ni., it extraordinary am) in
Unating term in our vocabulary ia "value."
Kvcrybndy uses it, yet iioIhhIv antiuara to ha
certain of ita meaning. Kur 100 yean tho ablest
w ' me wuriil, Adam .Smith, Chevalier
Morch, Daniel ldcardo, .lean Uaptiate Say
I roderic lluitiat. .lohn Stuart Mill ....I . k'i
ii.t m lit. nv
ol leaser lights, have tried to agree umm a defi
mtmn of v.lue, but in vain, the entire
n-ience ,.f K,liUoal e. ,my is built niton it; the
practical alUira f government bingo upon it'
H InpOrtMl agency of man, welfare (a Mod
monetary sy.teml waita u.H.n it: and y.t no
man ha. satufactonly anafysed jt. Although
J5 f the Latin wonl inere, the word
'tabic waa not used by the Unmans in it.
present .en.e It came into use with the ipecie
money ,, the Dark Age., and previous to' the
time of Haatiat. scan-,, v :i nawtl
.rally 0OMIMd to nieau that attnbuto of .
-..-.. .,.. rnve.i tn.iii iu materialitv
.mld..r.h,lv rfn,mth,,.t of , pn! , '
tnni llab.rl. urfn.mit. .....1..1 ,.-.r."lul
In 1- a." ".7.77- - ' wtuni, r
: in
nsli
itvL
Ml are the opiniona,
ri (. tin K, ... Ad.,,, f,milhi Ki. ard ,
IWt.ti.te Say, ami Chevalier Stunh
Hut an annlioalion ,,t l,. . . .
ahowe.1 all 'J th.m ... L "u ' "? "
nur durability, rvertheleaa w, JSmS
alua ol, nd are nta.lv Li atan (. iu :n
. and ventdauun. itiVr "b er " r
Mler .n.0lu the pnluct,;yr
HJ I would neter I, Ismght, nor diamonds s hi
mimu u ,1,1,1, 2 fi07 J g
rl Uwo, 5 l0 Uow w,)rkt tt.
"tl.IM.11l I 1 .J 1.. ,..
I luxury, which possess the highest value: and jf
we luo. tor vuue 111 ueairuuuity, land, and
water, and a myriad of other things, which
nccessarilly form the first objects of man's de
sire, bat which nature has supplied to him so
liberally that they possess little or no value,
arise to confutu the definition.
Unable to digest the word as a whole, the
economists attempted to manage it in parts.
They split it into pieces, calling one value intue,
another value in exchange, and so on, until each
piece was .small enough for their purpose ; but,
still in vain, there always remained a doubtful
mass which they could not dispose of, and which
constituted the enigma of the science they had
attempted to construct
Said Hast i,it : "The primary element of ex
change, is the notion of value ; so that every
truth, and every error which this word intro
duces into men's minds, is a social truth or
error ; " and " value is to political economy,
what numeration is to arithemetic," and
"economical science is condensed, and summed
up in the word value, of whioh it is only a
lengthened explanation."
In one masterly survey of the whole subject,
this gifted philosopher swept away all the
vague and many of the erroneous notions of
value that had preceded him. He held that
value was not an attribute, but a relation of
things ; that it implied " comparison, apprecia
tion, estimation, measure :" or. as he otherwise
explained it, "value is the relation of two
services exchanged."
This view was a great step in the right direc
tion. It was somethiuE to know that value waa
a relation, arid not a thing, nor a mysterious
issue of the attributes of thing ; it would have
Wen more satisfactory had Bastiat informed us
precisely what that relation was, bat he died
liefore his treatise on value was comnleted: and.
judging from its appearance, probably, without
revising the portion he had written. If an
effort lie now made to complete this work, it is
nnpeit it will lie viewed with the indulgent
duo to the earnest enuuirer into anv difficult
subject
In the first place it must be said that Bastiat's
leflnition is hardlv brood enoutrh. Whv should
value be hold to exist only between two services
xcnangM ; why not between all services, and
ommodities exchangeable ! The edifice which
now shelters us, is not exchanged, nor beiiul
exchanged, yet it has a value ; and that value
is dotermincd not by comparing it merely with
tho thing that may lie offered in exchange for it,
but, through tho medium of monev. bv comnari-
son with all other things which are exchange-
aiue.
Value therefore exists not merely between
two coiiimiHlities. or service, but between all
of such; and it exist not merely between
things which are exchanged, but between all
things which are exchangeable. The notion,
common to othor economist beside Bastiat,
that money measures the value only of those
things which are in market, np for sale, or
being exchanged, is doubtless derived from th
Jispanty between tho magnitude of all commo
lities and available itrvinM .nil the littleness
of the measure the ma of money which
tonus their nominal equivalent. It would b
equally abaurd to hold, that gallon measure
only wines which are being exchanged. Th
'""ney is 01 it present magnituat
simply because it wa o chosen to be, or so
left to become: it can be made lanrer or smaller
at man's pleasure, whenever he chooses to tx
erase the same dominion over it, that be has
chosen to exercise over weight and measures;
..... i, wnencver he choose to define, ana
limit by law, the unit of measure, whioh, in th
caee of money, is the whole maaa. ShooJd this
limitation increaae nr Mii.u tu. .mitmla
of the existing mass of money, this will not
alter value, but only the expreaaion 0 it in
vo wii, price. So, too, the gaiwa
mcasun' is of it. i,r.......t la m
chosen to be; it would answer the same purpose,
and prove equally efficient no matter what it
- . tioou taweaay
' P low.
u waa; unK. m f .e.-. th. avrm.