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Often appears with: trade, markets, and merchants · value, price, and exchange · public finance and debt · taxation, tribute, and revenue · labor, wages, and the division of work · contracts, oaths, and obligation · poverty and wealth · crime and punishment · justice as a virtue · fate, destiny, and necessity · marriage and betrothal · crafts, industry, and manufacture
Usually: argument (406) · detachment (283) · skepticism (196) · narrative (148) · curiosity (112) · censure (94) · indignation (91) · injustice endured (65) · commentary or gloss (55) · exhortation (43)
“Today it makes little difference to Atlanta, to the South, what the Negro thinks or dreams or wills. In the soul-life of the land he is to-day, and naturally will long remain, unthought of, half forgotten; and yet when he does come to think and will and do for himself,—and let no man dream that day will never come,—then the part he plays will not be one of sudden learning, but words and thoughts he has been taught to lisp in his race-childhood.” W. E. B. Du Bois (William Edward Burghardt Du Bois), The Souls of Black Folk · insight
“These opposite effects result from the same cause; the people fixes the salaries of the public officers in both cases; and the scale of remuneration is determined by the consideration of its own wants.” Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America — Volume 1 · insight
“Verily and truly all those who find pleasure in histories like this ought show their gratitude to Cide Hamete, its original author, for the scrupulous care he has taken to set before us all its minute particulars, not leaving anything, however trifling it may be, that he does not make clear and plain.” Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote · observation
“Interest drew out a great purse, made of the skin of a large brindled cat and to all appearance full of money, and flung it at the castle, and with the force of the blow the boards fell asunder and tumbled down, leaving the damsel exposed and unprotected.” Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote · vivid
“Ought!” said Sancho; “he owes no man anything; he pays for everything, particularly when the coin is madness.” Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote · insight
“Like a savage boar there fighteth one within, hight Folker, who is a gleeman. I thank my stars that I escaped this fiend.” Unknown (Middle High German epic tradition), The Nibelungenlied · observation
“Again one spake: "I see the day. Sith we cannot hope for better things, so arm you, heroes, think on your life.” Unknown (Middle High German epic tradition), The Nibelungenlied · precept
“She thought within her mind: "And shall I give my body to a paynim (6) (I am a Christian wife), forever in the world must I bear shame.” Unknown (Middle High German epic tradition), The Nibelungenlied · insight
“The loss which America has sustained since the peace, from the pestilent effects of paper money on the necessary confidence between man and man, on the necessary confidence in the public councils, on the industry and morals of the people, and on the character of republican government, constitutes an enormous debt against the States chargeable with this unadvised measure.” Alexander Hamilton; John Jay; James Madison, The Federalist Papers · vivid
“Pound St. Paul's Church into atoms, and consider any single atom; it is, to be sure, good for nothing: but, put all these atoms together, and you have St. Paul's Church.” James Boswell, Boswell's Life of Johnson · insight
“Go into the street, and give one man a lecture on morality, and another a shilling, and see which will respect you most.” James Boswell, Boswell's Life of Johnson · observation
“He praised Signor Baretti. 'His account of Italy is a very entertaining book; and, Sir, I know no man who carries his head higher in conversation than Baretti.” James Boswell, Boswell's Life of Johnson · observation
A string of Qur'anic passages argues God’s power in miracles, urges almsgiving with forgiveness, condemns usury, and gives detailed rules and warnings about wealth, debts, and final judgment.
die!" Abraham said, "Since God bringeth the sun from the East, do thou, then, bring it from the West." The infidel was confounded; for God guideth not the evil doers: Or how he105 demeaned him who passed by a city which had been laid in ruins.106 "How," said he, "shall God give life to this city, after she hath been dead?" And God caused him to die for an hundred years, and then raised him to life. And God said, "Ho…
Pepys visits the Tower and the Mint to learn how new money is made, hears speculation about hidden hoards of coin, discusses Navy funding, and records news about the French King’s illness.
will revolt from them there, and they forced to give up their trade. Sir Thomas showed me his picture and Sir Anthony Vandyke's in crayon in little, done exceedingly well. 18th. I walked to White Hall, and into the Parke, seeing the Queene and Maids of Honour passing through the house going to the Parke. But above all, Mrs. Stuart is a fine woman, and they say now a common mistress to the King, as my Lady Castlema…
Pepys reflects on leaving London streets, stores money in an iron chest, and records the plague’s dramatic spread in his district, describing daily death-focused talk and a forsaken city.
body looks, and discourse in the street is of death, and nothing else, and few people going up and down, that the town is like a place distressed and forsaken. 31st. Up; and after putting several things in order to my removal to Woolwich; the plague having a great encrease this week beyond all expectation of almost 2000, making the general Bill 7000, odd 100; and the plague above 6000. Thus this month ends with gr…
Pepys records Temple’s calculations about the worth and management of “new money” and coinage, then reports renewed plague fears, goldsmith trials, watches, Christmas observations, and his growing wealth through prize goods.
herself very much. I was in hopes others had not minded it, but my Lord Brouncker, after we were come away, took notice of the words to me; with displeasure. 11th. That I may remember it the more particularly, I thought fit to insert this memorandum of Temple's discourse this night with me, which I took in writing from his mouth. Before the Harp and Crosse money was cried down, he and his fellow goldsmiths did mak…
Pepys records work on a seal and excursions in London, including news of the Queen of Portugal’s death, financial transactions via Lombard Street, arrangements for his brother-in-law to go to sea, and continued plague increases through early April.
W. Coventry did take it very quietly, but yet for all did speak his mind soberly and with reason, and went away, saying that he had done his duty therein. 24th. After the Committee up. I had occasion to follow the Duke into his lodgings, into a chamber where the Duchesse was sitting to have her picture drawn by Lilly, who was then at work. But I was well pleased to see that there was nothing near so much resembla…
On the 14th Pepys attends to his father’s portrait, then watches a Tangier committee grant Yeabsly up to 7000l., and interprets money’s power on political discretion.
his name be the better by it; he having not had time to will any estate, but is dead poor rather than rich. So we left the church and crowd. 14th. With my wife and father to Hales's, and there looked only on my father's picture, (which is mighty like); and so away to White Hall to a committee for Tangier. Where the Duke of York was, and Sir W. Coventry, and a very full committee: and instead of having a very prej…
Pepys continues with fleet preparation and gossip—money shortages, disorder aboard ships, gardens and fashion at Whitehall, and the shifting expectations before and during the major naval engagement.
and gain more of his acquaintance. Walked to Woolwich, reading "the Rivall Ladys" [A Tragi-comedy by Dryden.] all the way, and find it a most pleasant and fine writ play. 19th. Full of wants of money, and much stores to buy, for to replenish the stores, and no money to do it with. The fleet is sailed this morning; God send us good news of them! 21st. At noon walked in the garden with Commissioner Pett, (newly co…
Pepys reads Shakespeare at Deptford and keeps his Tangier accounts; he hears of a Bordeaux wine bargain involving staged thunder and hail to lower prices, then writes about visiting the Duke of York and wartime fire-ships.
to seize upon the money in the Tower: which, though in a few days the merchants concerned did prevail to get it released, yet the thing will never be forgot. 20th. To Deptford by water, reading Othello, Moore of Venice, which I ever heretofore esteemed a mighty good play, but having so lately read The Adventures of Five Houres, it seems a mean thing. All the afternoon upon my Tangier accounts, getting Tom Wilson t…
Pepys describes a terrifying night view of the fire as an unbroken arch across the river and hill of the City, then prepares for evacuation and secret packing of money and papers amid constant rumours and further burning.
so as houses were burned by these drops and flakes of fire, three or four, nay, five or six houses, one from another. When we could endure no more upon the water, we to a little ale-house on the Bankside, over against the Three Cranes, and there staid till it was dark almost, and saw the fire grow, and as it grew darker, appeared more and more, and in corners and upon steeples, and between churches and houses, as far…
On 8th Pepys meets city officials about money, attends the Duke of Albemarle at Gresham College, observes widespread losses and stinginess toward laborers, and reports theft of neighbors’ wine while he fears further fire.
out for markets to be kept at Leadenhall and Mile-end-greene, and several other places about the town; and Tower-hill, and all churches to be set open to receive poor people. 8th. I stopped with Sir G. Carteret to desire him to go with us, and to enquire after money. But the first he cannot do, and the other as little, or say "When we can get any, or what shall we do for it?" He, it seems, is employed in the corr…
Pepys discusses converting gold to silver for financial obligations, rumors about the death of the Lord Treasurer, political tensions, and the appointment of Treasury commissioners with names still uncertain.
else: and so sent him going, and bid him do his worst. It is one of the most extraordinary cases that ever I saw or understood; but it is true. 17th. To Sir R. Viner's with 600 pieces of gold to turn into silver, for the enabling me to answer Sir G. Carteret's 3000l.; which he now draws all out of my hand towards the paying for a purchase he hath made for his son and my Lady Jemimah, in Northamptonshire, of Sir Sam…
Pepys attends a Council committee on the Medway, testifies against Peter Pett, describes Arlington and Coventry’s severity, then worries about his family’s buried gold and possible danger.
a Parliament or no Parliament; and says the Parliament itself cannot be thought able at present to raise money, and therefore it will be to no purpose to call one. 19th. Comes an order from Sir R. Browne, commanding me this afternoon to attend the Council-board with all my books and papers, touching the Medway. I was ready to fear some mischief to myself, though it appears most reasonable that it is to inform them…
At Hinchingbroke in the night Pepys and his father dig up buried gold, mishandle the location and damage the bags and notes, discover shortages, and then spend hours sifting and washing pieces to recover most of the cache.
two, if the pieces will be broke. But the house is most excellently furnished, and brave rooms and good pictures, so that it do please me infinitely beyond Audley End. 10th. Up, to walk up and down in the garden with my father, to talk of all our concernments: about a husband for my sister, whereof there is at present no appearance; but we must endeavour to find her one now, for she grows old and ugly. My father …
Pepys records further London life and court/political news: the playhouses, his picture being finished, purchasing an espinette, and intense debate over Navy “tickets” and oaths.
not admire, though my wife prefers him to Browne; nor do I think it like. He does it for W. Hewer, who hath my wife's also, which I like less. 15th. At noon is brought home the espinette I bought the other day of Haward; cost me 5l. My Lady Duchesse of Monmouth is still lame, and likely always to be so; which is a sad chance for a young lady to get only by trying of tricks in dancing. 17th. To White Hall, where …
Pepys hosts Hugh May and Sir Henry Capell, visits the Old Artillery Ground to watch a new gun tested, discusses patents and profit, and hears that the Duke of Buckingham has a spite against him and that Sir T. Allen is not his ally.
that he do still remain incognito, and so intends to do all the time he stays here, for avoiding trouble to the King and himself, and expence also to both. 20th. At noon comes my guest Mr. Hugh May, and with him Sir Henry Capell, my old Lord Capell's son, and Mr. Parker. And I had a pretty dinner for them; and both before and after dinner had excellent discourse; and showed them my closet and my office, and the me…
At Rhegium the envoys return from Egesta with only thirty talents, and the generals blame the Egestaeans’ staged display of silver plate; they debate plans, with Nicias seeking a limited action and Alcibiades advocating outreach to Sicel allies and a direct move toward Syracuse and Selinus.
and arms reviewed in the city to see that nothing was wanting, and all other steps taken to prepare for a war which might be upon them at any moment. Meanwhile the three ships that had been sent on came from Egesta to the Athenians at Rhegium, with the news that so far from there being the sums promised, all that could be produced was thirty talents. The generals were not a little disheartened at being thus disappoi…
He extends the gold temptation beyond Atlanta to the “Black World beyond the Veil,” warning that new leaders and growing property can shift aspirations from righteousness to cash.
end and aim of politics, and as the legal tender for law and order; and, finally, instead of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness, wealth as the ideal of the Public School. Not only is this true in the world which Atlanta typifies, but it is threatening to be true of a world beneath and beyond that world,—the Black World beyond the Veil. Today it makes little difference to Atlanta, to the South, what the Negro thinks or drea…
Du Bois describes Black Belt cotton share-tenancy and the merchant system, where tenants like Sam Scott receive supplies on credit secured by chattel and crop mortgages, leading merchants to control crops and deduct rent and bills.
or “cropping” was substituted for daily toil in gangs; and the slave gradually became a metayer, or tenant on shares, in name, but a laborer with indeterminate wages in fact. Still the price of cotton fell, and gradually the landlords deserted their plantations, and the reign of the merchant began. The merchant of the Black Belt is a curious institution,—part banker, part landlord, part banker, and part despot. His …
He argues the debt-mortgage system forces an all-cotton farming scheme, bankrupting tenants, and supports it with a 1898 example where many tenant families ended the year deeply in debt in Dougherty County.
the landowner his rent, subtracts his bill for supplies, and if, as sometimes happens, there is anything left, he hands it over to the black serf for his Christmas celebration. The direct result of this system is an all-cotton scheme of agriculture and the continued bankruptcy of the tenant. The currency of the Black Belt is cotton. It is a crop always salable for ready money, not usually subject to great yearly flu…
He lays out Dougherty County’s economic stratification among Black field workers—croppers, metayers, semi-metayers/wage laborers, renters, and a small “Upper Ten” of freeholders—and explains how tenant insecurity and rack-rent keep most people trapped.
All social struggle is evidenced by the rise, first of economic, then of social classes, among a homogeneous population. To-day the following economic classes are plainly differentiated among these Negroes. A “submerged tenth” of croppers, with a few paupers; forty per cent who are metayers and thirty-nine per cent of semi-metayers and wage-laborers. There are left five per cent of money-renters and six per cent of …
Du Bois turns to economic relations, saying Americans imagine exploiting Black labor, but Emancipation left Black workers unprepared and without guidance, capital, land, or legal protection, making them vulnerable to ruthless competition.
man’s best interests at heart has been intensified in later years by this continual daily contact of the better class of blacks with the worst representatives of the white race. Coming now to the economic relations of the races, we are on ground made familiar by study, much discussion, and no little philanthropic effort. And yet with all this there are many essential elements in the cooperation of Negroes and whites…
Du Bois describes Southern labor exploitation as patterned on early nineteenth-century industrial England before factory acts, blaming New South industrial captains and laws like the crop-lien system for trapping Black workers and farmers in debt.
with the best of modern workingmen under an economic system where every participant is fighting for himself, and too often utterly regardless of the rights or welfare of his neighbor. For we must never forget that the economic system of the South to-day which has succeeded the old regime is not the same system as that of the old industrial North, of England, or of France, with their trade-unions, their restrictive l…
Pharaoh makes Joseph ruler over all Egypt, renames him Zaphnath Paenea, gives him Asnath, and Joseph stores abundant grain through seven plentiful years for the coming seven-year famine.
And they cried before him Abrech, and that Pharao had made him ruler over all the land of Egypt. And Pharao said unto Ioseph: I am Pharao, without thy will, shall no man lift up either his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt. And he called Ioseph's name Zaphnath Paenea. And he gave him to wife Asnath the daughter of Potiphar priest of On. Then went Ioseph abroad in the land of Egypt. And he was thirty years old whe…
Paul warns the Corinthians to prepare the promised gift so their boast won’t be shame, teaches sowing-and-reaping generosity, frames the collection as praise to God, and begins defending his apostolic authority.
if they of Macedonia come with me and find you unprepared, the boast that I made in this matter should be a shame to us: I say not unto you. Wherefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, to come before hand unto you, for to prepare your good blessing promised afore, that it might be ready: so that it be a blessing, and not a defrauding. This yet remember, how that he which soweth little, shall reap little…
During the year’s prodigies, Virginia (wife of plebeian Volumnius) is excluded from a patrician chastity ritual, responds by founding an altar to plebeian chastity, and later aediles prosecute usurers and fund temple works.
owners of which did not appear, were given to the soldiers, who were obliged to sell them, in order that they might have nothing to think of but their duty. 21. The depredations, committed on the lands of Campania, had occasioned a violent alarm at Rome, and it happened, that about the same time intelligence was brought from Litruria, that, after the departure of Volumnius's army, all that country had risen up in ar…
Alorcus tells the Saguntine senate that accepting Hannibal’s conquest terms is safer than fighting without Roman aid, promising preserved persons and controlled evacuation in exchange for gold, silver, and surrender.
general rush of every description of people, the rest of the multitude being removed, an audience of the senate is given to Alorcus; whose speech was to the following effect: 13. "If your citizen Alcon, as he came to implore a peace from Hannibal, had in like manner brought back to you the terms of peace proposed by Hannibal, this journey of mine would have been unnecessary; by which circumstance I should not have h…
Once Scipio is shown to be alive and in good health, seven tribunes negotiate calmly and collectors restore hope of pay; the mutiny leadership collapses as men fear rightful authority.
and the neighbouring cities plundered; and that in this unsettled state of affairs, when there was nothing which any man would not dare, their own acts would be less conspicuous. 25. As they expected that other fresh accounts would follow those which they had received, not only of the death, but even of the burial, of Scipio, and yet none arrived; and as the rumour which had been so idly originated began to die away…
Hamilton claims commerce increases national wealth through circulating precious metals, helping agriculture, manufacturing, and tax payment capacity, and argues that Germany’s monarch struggles to fund long wars due to weak commerce.
the pecuniary succors of other nations for the preservation of his essential interests, and is unable, upon the strength of his own resources, to sustain a long or continued war. But it is not in this aspect of the subject alone that Union will be seen to conduce to the purpose of revenue. There are other points of view, in which its influence will appear more immediate and decisive. It is evident from the state of …
He contends that a single national government can extend import duties at lower cost than separate states, estimates typical duty rates, proposes taxing imported ardent spirits, and warns that without revenue the nation loses independence.
through the channel of a neighboring State, in small parcels, according to time and opportunity, with the additional facilities of inland communication, must be palpable to every man of discernment. It is therefore evident, that one national government would be able, at much less expense, to extend the duties on imports, beyond comparison, further than would be practicable to the States separately, or to any partial…
Madison turns to the third class of powers for “harmony and proper intercourse among the States,” including interstate commerce regulation, coinage, weights and measures, naturalization, bankruptcy, recognition of records, and post offices.
The powers included in the THIRD class are those which provide for the harmony and proper intercourse among the States. Under this head might be included the particular restraints imposed on the authority of the States, and certain powers of the judicial department; but the former are reserved for a distinct class, and the latter will be particularly examined when we arrive at the structure and organization of the g…
In Madison’s discussion of Federalist No. 44, he lists restrictions on states, including bans on treaties and coining money, and explains the need for federal control over foreign affairs and uniform monetary policy.
A FIFTH class of provisions in favor of the federal authority consists of the following restrictions on the authority of the several States: 1. "No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make any thing but gold and silver a legal tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing t…
He argues that states should not issue bills of credit, impair contract obligations, or enact ex post facto laws, because paper money and legislative interference undermine public prosperity and justice.
might prevent an inconvenient remittance of gold and silver to the central mint for recoinage, the end can be as well attained by local mints established under the general authority. The extension of the prohibition to bills of credit must give pleasure to every citizen, in proportion to his love of justice and his knowledge of the true springs of public prosperity. The loss which America has sustained since the pea…
A short Qur’anic section warns of resurrection-denial, labels a day as “mutual deceit,” commands obedience to God and the apostle, and warns that wives and children can be enemies and a trial for wealth.
be raised from the dead. SAY: Yea, by my Lord, ye shall surely be raised; then shall ye surely be told of your deeds! And easy is this for God. Believe then in God and his apostle and in the light which we have sent down; for God is fully aware of all ye do. The day when He shall gather you together for the day of mutual gathering, will be the day of MUTUAL DECEIT,2 and whoso shall have believed in God and done wha…
It narrates Israelite history in Quranic terms (calf worship, covenant breaking, Mary’s calumny, denial of Jesus’s death), then lists prohibitions against Jews like usury, while affirming the reward for true believers.
took they the calf as the object of their worship, after that our clear tokens had come to them; but we forgave them this, and conferred on Moses undoubted power. And we uplifted the mountain 29 over them when we made a covenant with them, and we said to them, "Enter the gate adoring:"and we said to them, "Transgress not on the Sabbath," and we received from them a strict covenant. So, for that they have broken the…
Equiano learns his mate lied to his master about Equiano planning to escape, receives silver and future credit in rum and sugar, and arrives in Philadelphia where he finds goods plentiful and cheap.
The captain then informed my master, who had been thus imposed on by our mate, though I did not know who was my enemy, the reason the mate had for imposing this lie upon him; which was, because I had acquainted the captain of the provisions the mate had given away or taken out of the vessel. This speech of the captain was like life to the dead to me, and instantly my soul glorified God; and still more so on hearing m…
A silversmith’s promised money for Captain’s benefit proves illusory when he dies; Equiano and the captain expect wealth, open the trunks, and find only one dollar and a half.
But while we stayed to load our vessel this man was taken ill in a house where he worked, and in a week's time became very bad. The worse he grew the more he used to speak of giving the Captain what he had promised him, so that he expected something considerable from the death of this man, who had no wife or child, and he attended him day and night. I used also to go with the Captain, at his own desire, to attend him…
He describes making a first cap from homespun jeans instead of buying a store hat, drawing lessons about avoiding debt and appearance, then recounts changing his name from “Booker” to “Booker Washington.”
to help me out of the difficulty. She accordingly got two pieces of “homespun” (jeans) and sewed them together, and I was soon the proud possessor of my first cap. The lesson that my mother taught me in this has always remained with me, and I have tried as best as I could to teach it to others. I have always felt proud, whenever I think of the incident, that my mother had strength of character enough not to be led i…
He portrays Mrs. Ruffner as a supportive mentor, describes winter schooling opportunities and his homemade first library, then recounts deciding to go to Hampton in the fall of 1872 with little money and help from his mother and brother John.
to paint or whitewash it, or a button off one’s clothes, or a grease-spot on them or on a floor, that I do not want to call attention to it. From fearing Mrs. Ruffner I soon learned to look upon her as one of my best friends. When she found that she could trust me she did so implicitly. During the one or two winters that I was with her she gave me an opportunity to go to school for an hour in the day during a portio…
Washington defends wealthy donors against critics, explains how money giving can remain unseen, tells of two New York women funding major buildings, and insists he avoids outright begging.
heard persons condemned for not giving away money, who, to my own knowledge, were giving away thousands of dollars every year so quietly that the world knew nothing about it. As an example of this, there are two ladies in New York, whose names rarely appear in print, but who, in a quiet way, have given us the means with which to erect three large and important buildings during the last eight years. Besides the gift …
Marius, stung by Metellus’s taunt about his candidacy with his son, uses flattery and relaxed discipline to boost his popularity among merchants at Utica, claiming Metellus deliberately prolongs the war.
be soon enough if he became a candidate with his own son."[187] Metellus's son was then on service in the camp with his father[188], and was about twenty years old. This taunt served only to rouse the feelings of Marius, as well for the honor at which he aimed, as against Metellus. He suffered himself to be actuated, therefore, by ambition and resentment, the worst of counselors. He omitted nothing henceforward, eit…
He says plague fears drove people toward fortune-tellers and magic-charlatans, with signs for astrologers and magic-head emblems, while ministers thundered against them but the poor still spent money.
that spirit of charity abated; and every church being again supplied with their own ministers, or others presented where the minister was dead, things returned to their old channel again. One mischief always introduces another. These terrors and apprehensions of the people led them into a thousand weak, foolish, and wicked things, which they wanted not a sort of people really wicked to encourage th…
As the infection shifted onto the city and eastern/south parishes, Defoe reports rising mortality totals and physician claims of extreme weekly deaths, then explains how people could spread contagion even when not visibly sick through clothes, sweat, and touch.
to look abroad again there; and the next week or two altered it still more; that is, more to the encouragement of the other part of the town. For example:— From the 19th of September to the 26th— - St Giles, Cripplegate 277 - St Giles-in-the-Fields 119 - Clarkenwell 76 - St Sepulchers …
Continuing the East St. Louis account, Du Bois links World War I to wage-price shifts, immigrant restrictions like Ellis Island’s closure, and the resulting struggle for jobs and power among workers and employers.
groan of giants. Streams of gold, lost from the world's workers, filtered and trickled into the hands of gamblers and put new power into the thunderbolts of East St. Louis. Wages had been growing before the World War. Slowly but remorselessly the skilled and intelligent, banding themselves, had threatened the coffers of the mighty, and slowly the mighty had disgorged. Even the common workers, the poor and unlettered…
He turns to industrial democracy, arguing monopoly in industry empowers tyrants, so public control should spread knowledge, select competent officials, and address wages and income as ethical judgments.
What to do How to do it Who could do it best or How to apportion the resulting goods. There can be no doubt but that monopoly of machines and materials is a chief source of the power of industrial tyrants over the common worker and that monopoly today is due as much to chance and cheating as to thrift and intelligence. So far as it is due to chance and cheating, the argument for public ownership of capital is incont…
In “The Comet,” the messenger enters subterranean vaults under Broadway, finds the missing record volumes and gold, triggers a trap with the vault clerk’s corpse, and later flees upward into a city turned dead and silent.
the dark basement beneath; down into the blackness and silence beneath that lowest cavern. Here with his dark lantern he groped in the bowels of the earth, under the world. He drew a long breath as he threw back the last great iron door and stepped into the fetid slime within. Here at last was peace, and he groped moodily forward. A great rat leaped past him and cobwebs crept across his face. He felt carefully aroun…
The comet’s deadly aftermath is revealed: Wall Street is packed with crushed bodies and dead streets, the messenger searches for life while trying to keep calm, then finds a living woman whose apartment holds a dead maid and butler.
men--what would his life be worth? He glanced about, tiptoed cautiously to a side door, and again looked behind. Quietly he turned the latch and stepped out into Wall Street. How silent the street was! Not a soul was stirring, and yet it was high-noon--Wall Street? Broadway? He glanced almost wildly up and down, then across the street, and as he looked, a sickening horror froze in his limbs. With a choking cry of ut…
Theseus coins money with an ox image, links economy to value in oxen, joins Megara to Attica with an isthmus boundary pillar, institutes Isthmian games for Neptune, and recounts competing origins for those games.
to popular government, parted with the regal power, Homer also seems to testify, in his catalogue of the ships, where he gives the name of People to the Athenians only. He also coined money, and stamped it with the image of an ox, either in memory of the Marathonian bull, or of Taurus, whom he vanquished, or else to put his people in mind to follow husbandry; and from this coin came the expression so frequent among …
Lycurgus bans needless crafts and luxury purchases by outlawing gold and silver circulation, claiming iron money blocks imports and levels rich and poor through shared skills.
to cut in pieces? For when it was just red hot, they quenched it in vinegar, and by that means spoilt it, and made it almost incapable of being worked. In the next place, he declared an outlawry of all needless and superfluous arts; but here he might almost have spared his proclamation; for they of themselves would have gone after the gold and silver, the money which remained being not so proper payment for curious …
Plutarch explains Spartan social life under prohibitions on gold and silver, emphasizing equality, leisure in festivals and public conversation, restricted market access for the young, and citizen unity under state interest.
man who was condemned for living like a freeman. So much beneath them did they esteem the frivolous devotion of time and attention to the mechanical arts and to money-making. It need not be said, that, upon the prohibition of gold and silver, all lawsuits immediately ceased, for there was now neither avarice nor poverty amongst them, but equality, where every one's wants were supplied, and independence, because thos…
Plutarch continues the portrait of Cimon’s character—especially his use of wealth for honor and his Spartan-linked policies—then describes his handling of allied reluctance to serve and the Persian defeats that followed.
age secure, By Greece's noblest son in life's decline, Cimon, the generous-hearted, the divine, Well-fed and feasted hoped till death to be, Death which, alas! has taken him ere me. Gorgias the Leontine gives him this character, that he got riches that he might use them, and used them that he might get honor by them. And Critias, one of the thirty tyrants, makes it, in his elegies, his wish to have The Scopads' we…
Lucullus settles displaced Greeks in Amisus, gives them money and aid, clashes with Murena over the grammarian Tyrannion, and reforms Asia’s abuses by cutting usury, capping extraction, and enabling debt repayment.
receiving back the inhabitants who had fled, and settling as many other Greeks as were willing to live there, adding a hundred and twenty furlongs of ground to the place. This city was a colony of Athens, built at that time when she flourished and was powerful at sea, upon which account many who fled from Aristion's tyranny settled here, and were admitted as citizens, but had the ill-luck to fly from evils at home, …
Plutarch describes Alexander’s temperance—his disciplined diet, limited wine, controlled boasting, hunting and study routines—plus his meal spending limit, and how he distributes rare foods among friends.
of generation chiefly made him sensible that he was mortal; as much as to say, that weariness and pleasure proceed both from the same frailty and imbecility of human nature. In his diet, also, he was most temperate, as appears, omitting many other circumstances, by what he said to Ada, whom he adopted, with the title of mother, and afterwards created queen of Caria. For when she out of kindness sent him every day ma…
Cato’s treatment changes as Pompey meets him at Ephesus with public courtesy, Cato refuses Deiotarus’s gifts, keeps his brother’s ashes while sailing to Brundusium, and returns to Rome to reform the treasury as quaestor.
and distressed, uttered the words, "Unfortunate city!" and said no more. Afterwards, however, it always made him laugh, when he either told the story or was otherwise reminded of it. Pompey himself shortly after made the people ashamed of their ignorance and folly in thus neglecting him, for Cato, coming in his journey to Ephesus, went to pay his respects to him, who was the elder man, had gained much honor, and was…
Cato transports his wealth with monitored sea chests and writes accounts in two books, but both records are lost; on reaching Rome he’s honored yet declines, instead seeking manumission for Nicias, Ptolemy’s steward.
more fully related this passage, for that I think the manners and tempers of men are more clearly discovered by things of this nature, than by great and conspicuous actions. Cato got together little less than seven thousand talents of silver; but apprehensive of what might happen in so long a voyage by sea, he provided a great many coffers, that held two talents and five hundred drachmas apiece; to each of these he …
Plutarch contrasts money and war, argues time and resources wore down Cleomenes against Antigonus’s resources, and explains Cleomenes’s defeat as partly caused by need to fight without money and possible treachery by those around him.
Laconia from being spoiled, but to waste the enemy's country, and to take so many and such considerable cities, was an argument of no common skill and genius for command. But he that first said that money was the sinews of affairs, seems especially in that saying to refer to war. Demades, when the Athenians had voted that their galleys should be launched and equipped for action, but could produce no money, told the…
Locke explains property’s growth from early common use to territorial boundaries, and claims money lets people accumulate durable wealth without spoiling, while limiting wasteful hoarding.
things as he pleased; the exceeding of the bounds of his just property not lying in the largeness of his possession, but the perishing of any thing uselesly in it. Sect. 47. And thus came in the use of money, some lasting thing that men might keep without spoiling, and that by mutual consent men would take in exchange for the truly useful, but perishable supports of life. Sect. 48. And as different degrees of indus…
He rejects relying on changing theatrical funding as impossible, insists on choosing the profitable over the pleasant, and calls for upright citizens to prioritize the commonwealth over audience popularity and ornamented politics.
but to decide, when measures are the subject of consideration, is not quite so easy; for we must choose the profitable rather than the pleasant, where both are not compatible. But if any one can let alone our theatrical fund, and suggest other supplies for the military, is he not cleverer? it may be asked. I grant it, if this were possible: but I wonder if any man ever was or will be able, after wasting his means in…
Paine explains currency inflation as too much money chasing goods, illustrating how raising prices reduces stored wealth, and argues only reducing the money supply can restore value and prosperity.
observations on the state of our currency, so as to make the support of it go hand in hand with the suppression of disaffection and the encouragement of public spirit. The thing which first presents itself in inspecting the state of the currency, is, that we have too much of it, and that there is a necessity of reducing the quantity, in order to increase the value. Men are daily growing poor by the very means that t…
Paine continues addressing Sir William, claiming his character has “revolutions” since arriving in America and denouncing his meanness as forgery, especially counterfeit continental bills.
you may expire at any time. The sooner the better. For he who survives his reputation, lives out of despite of himself, like a man listening to his own reproach. Thus entombed and ornamented, I leave you to the inspection of the curious, and return to the history of your yet surviving actions. The character of Sir William has undergone some extraordinary revolutions. since his arrival in America. It is now fixed and…
He explains why taxes feel hard: not just their nominal value but the scarcity of the payment medium, then analyzes Pennsylvania’s 1780 tax quota as proof money is the bottleneck.
I now pass on to show the value of the present taxes, and compare them with the annual expense; but this I shall preface with a few explanatory remarks. There are two distinct things which make the payment of taxes difficult; the one is the large and real value of the sum to be paid, and the other is the scarcity of the thing in which the payment is to be made; and although these appear to be one and the same, they …