sive stage of an advancing civilization the proportion which this bears to the forces of nature becomes less; therefore the value of each of the articles that constitute wealth decreases.

For the same reason, as well as for the one given, rent and interest will decrease also. And the only exception in the case of rent is that in which the exchangeable value itself, as in the case of land, is rising by labor bestowed upon or around the rented property.

Hence in this world labor is king. He that will do the work must and will enjoy the proceeds of his labor. Such is the law, and all nations are tending -slowly, perhaps, but surely and irresistibly— towards its realization. The abolition of hereditary distinctions and privileged classes, with inherited political powers, has cleared the field of all obstacles to its fair play and full operation in our own country, and the most advanced nations of the old world are drifting into the same current, and must finally come to the same result.

CHAPTER VII.

OF EXCHANGE.

No exchange without division of labor-Exchange between those who use tools-Tools the result of past labor-How determine their value-Tools reappear in other articles-The basis of exchange-Elements of labor represented in any article-Basis of estimate between the buyer and seller—The gain by the exchange-The money-price of but little account-In what respects important—The benefits of exchange—The cost of exchange-Who bears the cost?-Cost varies with bulk and weight-Commercial centres determining prices-How determined at the centres-Effect of the rising of new centres -Of centres of production-Cost distributed between the producer and the consumer-The only way of escaping this result -What is sold determines the price of all that is produced-It determines also the price of all other articles-A common mistake with regard to the benefits of trade-Thrift determines the amount of exchanges-Benefits of proximate exchangesArticles should be manufactured at a place of productionDifference in facility for manufacture and production-The great wealth of commercial centres-Inferences in favor of free labor and free trade-Governments not satisfied with thisI. Monopolies, copy and patent rights-II. Usury laws-Arguments in their favor-III. Tariff, for revenue-Objections to it -Effect of tariff on importations-What makes a tariff protect

ive-Effect of a tariff that is below protection-Limits within which protection is possible-List's doctrine-Protection and national independence-Diversification of industry-Free trade reduces the wages of the laborers-The evil effects of low wages on the laborers-Beneficial effects of the higher manufactures-Free trade only with free laborers-Difference between British doctrine and British practice-John Stuart Mill advocates protection-Classes of persons that are not likely to favor protection-Political motives that may oppose it—Probability of the continuance of protection in America.

Division of labor in the utilization of the forces of nature in the production of wealth, depends upon the possibility and the prospect of exchange.

145. No exchange without division of labor.

Exchange is the giving of one article having exchangeable value, for another having the same kind of value. Sometimes these articles are changed immediately by the producers of the respective articles themselves, and in that case it is called "barter." But as this is inconvenient, all civilized nations, and most savage nations, in fact, have found some means of exchange called money, for which the producers sell, and with which consumers buy whatever they choose to make the subject of exchange at all.

But unless persons could make exchanges, each one would be obliged to give his attention to the production of that which he would need for his own

consumption, and no accumulation worth speaking of would be possible.

Exchange must, therefore, begin to take place in some form, at the very inception of civilization. It takes place between the members of the same family. When, for example, it is arranged that the wife shall have charge of, and do the work in the house, and the husband, in like manner, see to, and do the out-door work, there is an exchange of labor; or; what is the same thing, the products of labor, between them. And thus exchange is the basis of division of labor, and begins even in the domestic circle.

146. Exchange between those who make, and those who use tools.

But as soon as fixed habitations are commenced among men, diversity of employment comes in, of necessity. Some will make tools, others will use them. Soon we have the makers of tools divided into trades, as shoemakers, tailors, blacksmiths, carpenters, masons, etc,; and those who use the tools, will also accustom themselves to different employments; and a large share use tools that have been made by others, while making tools for others to

use.

Take a single example for an illustration: the

carpenter uses, we will say, a hammer.

He makes with it a house, which is a tool to live in, a barn, which is a tool to house crops in, and the stock of the farm, etc. But then, the farmer produces wheat, etc., which is but a tool to produce human bone and muscle, and the bone and muscle are but tools to produce other commodities, the products of labor. And thus, in a most general view, everything, except the soul of man—the intelligent moral agent in the body-is but a tool by which that soul controls and uses all else below, for its own purposes.

147.

Tools the result of past labor.

But let us consider the hammer a little farther. And first, in a backward glance, we see that the tool is the product of labor; a laborer of one kind made the handle, and a laborer of another made the head. But those who made the handle used tools partly of wood and partly of iron and steel. Hence then we are on the track that leads back to the lumberman and miner. But the lumberman and miner used tools-tools consisting of parts of wood and iron,-which lead our thought farther back to other lumbermen and miners before them, and so on to the first man that ever performed a single stroke of labor on this earth. A small fraction of that labor -infinitesimally small, indeed-appears in every