An Essay on Political Economy (Classic Reprint)

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Excerpt from An Essay on Political Economy In the beginning of Economic History each man supplied his wants. As intelligence developed easier ways of supplying these wants were found: the spear, bow, and arrow were invented. Other inventions followed, until men found themselves compelled to follow three pursuits to make a living. These were hunting, agriculture, and manufacturing. Some men showed a particular talent for one of these pursuits and a corresponding lack of talent for others. So, slowly the fact dawned on man, that three men, each of whom were engaged in a different pursuit, could produce more than three men, each of whom divided his time between the three pursuits. The perception of this fact inaugurated the age of barter and the division of labor. Man's wants more than kept pace with his producing power. One of the strongest of his wants was a desire to ornament his person. At first he used paint, then shells, and then metals. Silver and gold have ever been the favorites, because of their brightness, scarcity, and indestructibility. As men separated and settled in different communities, and ways of making a living multiplied, barter became more and more inconvenient. As a consequence of this there arose a demand for a form or forms of wealth that in a small space would be equivalent to other forms of wealth of greater bulk. Silver, gold, and copper fulfilled this demand, and when used in this connection are called money. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.