Money

and takes, instead of it, something which he does not intend or desire personally to consume or enjoy, or use in any other way than as the means or medium of securing later or elsewhere that which shall satisfy his individual wants. This is involved in the very term Medium of Ex, change. A sale of goods for money is on'.y half a transaction ; the other half takes place when the money itself is, in the phrase of certain economists, sold for goods. This second half of the transaction may not occur till after an appreciable interval. It may be days, weeks, or even months, before the holder exchanges the money for commodities for his individual consumption. He meanwhile reserves his right to enjoy the products of others. All this time the first purchaser has been in possession of the products of another man's labor. Perhaps those products are wholly consumed long before the original producerhas derived the slightest enjoyment to himself personally from his exertions or sacrifices. It is this view of the operation of a Medium of Exchange that M. Bastiat sets forth in the following familiar passage : "You have a crown-piece; what does it mean in your hands ? It is, as it were, the witness and the proof that you have at some time done some work, which, instead of profiting by, you have allowed society, in the person of your client, to enjoy. This crown-piece witnesses that you have rendered a service to society, and, moreover, it states the value of it. It wi...