denotes the estimate which the valuing process puts spon iron. Four pounds and a ton of pig-iron measure the strength of the feeling of value in the minds of the buyer and of the seller; and for the purposes of common life it is easier to speak of four pounds as the value of the iron than to use language which refers to the valuing process. Value thus becomes in appearance a property of the article itself; but that is the very reason why it is found so unmanageable and so unsatisfactory for Political Economy. Mr Mill's definition, and others, like ratio of exchange, only tell what the purchase has resulted in for both commodities, the iron and the money; but they say absolutely nothing about the causes which determined the quantities of iron and money to be exchanged.

Further, they oppose strong obstacles in the way of penetrating to the meaning of the word value as employed not only in the cases of value in use, when no sale for money is dreamt of, but also in the universal use of the verb, I value. The idea of valuing is missing in them. Not that the employment of the noun-substantive value, as denoting price, can ever be avoided. Every attempt to do away with it must end in failure; it is too deeply rooted in popular language. What we have to do is to keep clearly before our minds that value in this common sense means market value, or price; and that it is the effect and consequence of the valuing process, which has for its force in determining this market-value or price that feeling in the mind, that esteem or caring for a thing, which is true value, and is ever present in every form of the verb, I value.

Thus there need be no ambiguity of thought or writ

ing; and we get by the interpretation here given the immense advantage of understanding the process of exchange and the determination of price. Each of the two parties to an exchange makes his own decision in valuing for himself. He determines the strength of his own feeling, his own valuing first of all of the article he desires to obtain, and then secondly of the other article which he is parting with. He determines for himself whether the gratification of the acquisition will equal the pain or effort for what he is sacrificing.

Of this regulating power of the sentiment, value, in determining price or market value, the method of sale by auction furnishes an excellent illustration. An attractive house, a rare picture, or a fascinating piece of porcelain is put up to auction. The desire to acquire it springs up with great force in many minds. Eager purchasers throng the auction-room; most of them, except dealers who buy to sell again, have not absolutely decided on the figure beyond which they will not advance. They have not settled with themselves how strong is their feeling, I value, or what sacrifice they will be prepared to encounter in order to gratify their desire for possession. The auctioneer's figure is rising, in harmony with the strength of value in some bidder. He dilates with persuasive rhetoric on the charming qualities of the object. Anxiety begins to burn in many a heart. Price is fast approaching the limit of some bidder, yet he cannot give up all hope of winning the coveted prize. The feeling, value, is too strong for its antagonist, prudence; and ultimately he wins by a sacrifice greater than he intended at the outset. Thus market value price in the current sense of trade, is estab

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lished; but it has been determined by the feeling, value, the affection felt for the object. The ratio of exchange, the quantity of money, or money's worth, has been defined by the action of mind, of will, under the impulse of the feeling, value.

The force which is so visible at an auction pervades all exchanges. The sentiment that a commodity or service is desirable, compared with the counter feeling of the sacrifice to be endured for its acquisition, governs the very large class of transfers of property effected by bargaining. It rules at fairs, in the purchases of shorthorns and southdowns, in the speculative dealings of merchants and traders, in all the bazaars of the East. It matters not whether the motive at work be the desire of profit or that of acquiring an esteemed object; the governor of the exchange is the feeling called value. It is master of the situation, according as the internal, the mental circumstances of the case may be. It rules and decides amidst the distresses of scarcity, or the agonising surrender of some beloved object to necessity, or the needs of the hour, or the chances of a future market. If purchase is accomplished, the feeling is established that the object obtained, however trifling under other circumstances, is at the time a more desirable possession than the thing sacrificed with so much pain. A horse excited a stronger sense of value in Richard on the day of battle than his kingdom.

On the same principle, the fees of the great barrister or the eminent surgeon are regulated by the conflicting ideas of themselves and of their clients. The claim seems excessive; it is shrunk from as overwhelming; but on no other terms can the great speech or the skilful opera

tion be obtained, and the esteem felt for such service prevails. Still wider yet is the range which the judgment of the mind exercises in selling. Its decrees underlie those prices which are paid so readily and so naturally over all the shops. The signs of the struggle between the two values, the two opinions on the worth of the thing sold, are not plainly visible; and hence it is easy to be misled here as to their existence. Yet if consumers are struck in a particular part of their fortunes, if war or a bad harvest has raised expenditure, some articles formerly bought have had the regard for them smothered by other feelings; they are purchased in diminished quantities, or perhaps not at all. If we look at trade-unions we shall see the same spectacle. What are strikes but outbreaks of feeling, of ideas? The Unionist thinks that he can enforce a higher compensation for the sacrifice of his toil. If he conquers in the strike, he must be satisfied by higher wages; the feeling of value has prevailed, and raised prices proclaim a victory dictated by temper, sentiment, and ideas.

In the domain of labour, the feeling, value, is as paramount as in every other. In purchases which are guided by fancy, such as rare porcelain or jewels, the supremacy of sentiment is acknowledged; but for the vast buying and selling of ordinary commodities, the principle of cost of production is held to govern the market-price, and the thought of sentiment and feeling as ruling price occurs to but few minds. Nevertheless in the regulation of ordinary wages, the feeling of the reward which a man will require for placing his labour at the disposal of another plays an extremely important

part. A man will work rather than starve, but there are multitudes who deliberately prefer indifferent wages and a low condition of living to the efforts involved in hard continuous work. We have seen that such a temper is found to prevail in many races. They do not become rich because their regard for wealth, their feeling of value towards it, is inferior to their regard for ease.

The same mood of mind was formerly seen in the idleness of Irish labourers. A higher feeling is now producing greater exertions accompanied by corresponding satisfactions. The energetic Scotchman prefers hard work to lounging about. He values more the fruits of toil than the pleasures of idleness. Populations who found that the reward for toil was unequal to its severity have failed to keep up their numbers. Character, as everyone knows, exercises enormous power on the production of wealth, both in nations and in individuals, and the dominant element of character in this region is the quality, strength, and direction which its feelings of value possess. What is the miser, who slaves all his life through, and has accumulated a colossal fortune, of which he has had no other enjoyment than the gratification imparted by its increasing size, but an exhibition of the strength in a particular direction of the feeling, value?

The relation of value to utility now becomes evident. Many writers have identified the two as being two words for the same thing. To be useful and to be valuable appeared to them to be two equivalent expressions. The preceding definition of value points out the difference. Value resides in the mind, utility is a quality of an object. It is fitted by its nature to render