The independent., 1903-05-14
Economic Thoughts


AS suggestion to start with
would call attention of all readers Of
this issue to the necessity of retaining
possession of it until they receive the
issue of early June, which will be de-
voted to criticisms of the single tax,
If they would be in position to prop
erly judge of the merits of the George
ideas and weigh the objections to
them for what they are worth. Those
who criticise the single tax are prone
to misrepresent it, ignorantly or 9TH
erwise, and absurd notions are adj
vanced in order to combat it, which
only confuse and mislead those who
are not in position to detect the er-
rors that are put forth as logic and
fact. BY retaining their copies of this
issue they can compare the argu-
ments pro and con and arrive at some
thing akin to reasonable and logical
conclusions as to the truth or falsity
of our contentious.
WHAT is VALUE?
A definition and an argument.
Henry George wrote at greater
length on the word value than any
other term in all of his great works,
thus giving the impression that this
term is of more Importance in politi--
cal economy than any other. l be-
lieve this to be true, and have given a
great deal of study to the finding or
an accurate definition for it. After
eight attempts, consisting of some
what long drawn out dissertation on
the meaning of the word and subse-
quent revisions and eliminations, /
completed the definition to my own
satisfaction more than a year ago
and now submit it for the first time.
Il have never seen anything even bor-
dering on this treatment OF the term,
and if / have not erred, l think L
have helped to unravel knotty point
in our philosophy. The following is
the definition:
Value is an intangible something
that bears an absolute relationship to
man and applies to the things which
serve to satisfy his wants. 1t exists
because he exists and is a natural
factor that can neither be seen, felt
or heard. It is made manifest only
by the action of the mind in fixing
fixing results from the natural law
which impels man to seek satisfaction
of his desires by the least expenditure
of mental or physical exertion.
This law, if am not mistaken, was
first given to the world of letters by
Henry George in Progress and Pow
erty." ..... ... -............ .........-,
price" is an auxiliary word to
value" and denotes action of the in
dividual mind in the manifestations OF
value, but price is not controlled by
value, and the two words do not stand
for the same thing. Value is cock
istent with population, while price
signifies the worth of things ACCORD
ING TO THE NOTIONS OF THE IN
DIVIDUAL. Value is not fixed by
mind-action. Mans desire to live
without exertion accounts for it, and
it exists where he exists, and varies
only as conditions of his environment
varies. If he lives in frozen re-
gion like the Klondike, those things
which sustain life will naturally have
for him value commensurately high
er than if he were in country of
prolific fertility, but the. higher value
Is in reality only comparison as be-
tween the life-sustaining products and
the money or gold dust he may have
to exchange for them and is arrived
at intuitively, or without conscious
mental effort. The value of those
things which are not capable of sus.
tanning life really falls and reaches
a level commensurately with the
probable deficiency in the supply of
food products. If the latter should
fall so low as to threaten the life of
some, those who must find seller or
perish, will give their all for morsel,
or commit murder for it, but this does
not signify that the morsel would be
possessed of any great amount of real
value, but it would signify an ex-
traordinary price.
Value having a vital relationship to
man s. bodily wants, it appears plaus-
ible that those things having peculiar
life-sustaining qualities, and, the sup
ply of which is normal as compared
to the number drawing therefrom,
have the greatest amount of true val
ue for man, and that the value of ev-
erything else either falls or rises as
compared to this standard, the value
of money being no exception, and, as