Page:David Atkins - The Economics of Freedom (1924).pdf/140



If gold remains “free” then it is unmeasurable, and a measure of value that is unmeasurable has no use as a means of measurement. It would be just as rational to employ goats for milestones, first stipulating solemnly that they must be “free.”

Gold is simply one of many useful commodities, subject to private production; and it should not be necessary to point out that a dimension which may be increased at will has no relation to measurable value.

If economic value is not the assurance of freedom it is not worth bothering about. If freedom is in any way linked to a privately produced, or privately reduced, commodity, it is not worth striving for.

If economics is a science, and is concerned with the measurement of economic value, then it must put forward some indisputable unit of value. If this unit is to be comprehensive it must deal with the measurable limits of freedom—and we should be devoutly thankful that these are remote. If our token of value (or freedom) can be based on a commodity capable of being carried in a vest pocket we shall find that our freedom can be handled in the same way.

If, during any given time, and in any given area, Effort, the cause of value, Order, the pre-requisite of value, and Freedom, the essence of value, are in any way ultimately limited by population, area and time, and our conception of national order, then these factors must be represented in our unit of measurement—unless the most elementary principles of every other science are ignored.