the laws, and the processes, which relate to the mutual transfer of values.

The most difficult problems of political economy belong to the departments of distribution and exchange.

R.

EXERCISES.

1. Mention some articles of wealth.

2. Tell what you know of the manner in which they are produced.

3. Name what you can of the utilities of each.

4. Do savages, or civilized men, have the most wants? Why?

5. Why has air no value?

6. When and why may water have value?

7. How does iron exist in nature?

S. State what you can of the processes of labor which render iron useful.

9. If a farmer gives a bushel of wheat for a razor, why is it a fair bargain?

10. Whence comes the great value of the diamond?

11. Why does the value of an article decline as it goes out of fashion?

12. What events in Europe may enhance the value of the American farmer's wheat-crop? Why?

13. Why has cotton less value than wool ?

14. What different kinds of labor are represented in a yard of calico?

15. How are the ten cents paid for that yard of calico distributed to the several parties who have labored to produce it?

16. How does a merchant's labor add value to the goods he sells ?

17. Why are strawberries and peaches generally cheapest in the market Saturday afternoon?

18. How does foreign commerce benefit our agriculturists and manufacturers?

19. How do railroads help to develop the wealth of a country?

POLITICAL ECONOMY.

PART I.

PRODUCTION.

Production is the process of drawing out means to satisfy human wants by labor applied to natural objects. Labor is the first essential. Some products of former labor are also requisite to begin with. To these the name Capital is given. This branch of political economy will therefore be best presented under three subdivisions. The first will treat of Labor, the second of Capital, and the third of the co-operation of these two factors.

CHAPTER I.

SECTION I.-OF LABOR.

Labor is the voluntary exertion of human beings put forth to attain some desired object.

The processes of production give scope for the exercise of all the faculties of man. Hence two kinds of labor are to be recognized:

1. Physical labor, in which muscular exertion is the chief thing.

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2. Mental labor, which engages chiefly the faculties of the mind.

All productive industry combines some physical and some mental effort. Even the day-laborer must exercise his mind to handle his shovel with judg ment and skill. In general, labor is effective in proportion as it is directed by intelligent mind.

Physical labor only moves things. It depends on the capacity of living muscle to contract and expand, as governed by the will. But this power to produce motion under the control of intelligent mind gives man unlimited command over the forces of nature to achieve his purposes.

Mental labor is directly concerned in the production of wealth in three ways:

1. In investigation to discover the properties and laws of matter. So chemical research made known the substance phosphorus, and its property of starting into flame under friction.

2. In invention to devise methods and instruments by which the properties of matter may be made to meet human wants. So matches were invented, a very simple instrument, by which phosphorus is used to kindle our fires. So the spinningjenny and the power-loom were devised to facilitate and cheapen the process of making cloth.

3. In oversight and superintendence. In the simplest kinds of labor, mind must direct muscle. Where numbers are joined in labor for a given product, one ingenious mind, superintending, gives effect to the muscular exertions of a score of ignorant workers.

It is obvious, that, in the wide range of productive industry, mental labor is quite as essential as physical labor. Whatever, therefore, quickens the mental activity and promotes the intelligence of a people, tends to the increase of their wealth.

Mental labor is also indirectly instrumental in production, as it is applied to improve the physical health and the mental capacity of individuals, and to maintain order, justice, and security in human society. Here belong the mother's care in nursing and training children; the teacher's labor to develop the minds of youth; the lawyer's counsel and pleadings to define and maintain the rights and obligations of men under the rule of civil law; the minister's efforts, by the truths and precepts of God's word, to form good consciences, and improve the public moral sense; and the varied services of legislators and officers of government to insure stability and order in the very structure of society. Though these labors do not directly bring forth material products, they favor all the productive industry of a people, and are as essential to the best results of its processes as the manual labor of the farmer or the blacksmith.

The Changes effected by Labor applied to matter may all be reduced to three, which are indicated by the three words, Transmutation, Transformation, and Transportation.

1. Transmutation is a change in the elementary form of matter. So, by the labor of the farmer, carbon, gases, and water are changed into wheat;

by that of the chemist, acids and alkalies are changed into salts; by that of the tanner, skins and tannin are changed into leather.

2. Transformation is a change in the aggregate form of matter. The shoemaker transforms a hide of leather into shoes; the smith transforms a piece of iron into a horse-shoe; the spinner transforms a bale of cotton into thread, and the weaver transforms the thread into cloth.

3. Transportation is a change in the place of matter, as when a cargo of wheat is transported by ship from New York to Liverpool, or ten tons of dry goods are transported by rail-car from New York to Chicago.

In a general way these changes represent respecively the agricultural, the mechanical, and the commercial departments of human industry; and each contributes an important element of utility. He who makes the flour, and he who transports it to the people who need it, render as important services for the satisfaction of wants as the farmer who raises the wheat. These divers forms of labor stimulate and support each other.

These several forms of labor enter in different degrees into the value of different articles. Thus butchers' meat and green vegetables derive most of their value from transmutation; clothing, cutlery, &c., derive the greater part of their value from transformation; and the value of bulky articles like coal is determined very much by the cost of transportation. In most articles, however, we see more or less of all these forms of labor combined. By