Page:David Atkins - The Economics of Freedom (1924).pdf/288

 or effort may be measured scientifically without checking that effort. We do not stop the earth at noon with a bump to measure time, nor do we check the flow of a stream to measure its quantity. Only human effort is approximated by checking it. As long as boundaries were ill-defined, and isolated strongholds of arbitrary economic power were permitted to stand, no system of measurement was possible but an arbitrary one, such as that based upon the gold-standard. We have now defined our political boundaries and also defined our individual rights, thus opening the way for the elimination of arbitrary power: but, still obsessed by the deep-rooted delusion that there is some power we can neither trust nor control, we have failed to abandon arbitrary measurement.

Because of the mental fatigue induced by the very word “economics” it seems advisable to break down, rather rudely, certain misconceptions and drive home a rational conception by analogy, but even in employing the analogical method we have again to outrage the political-economist by ignoring Robinson Crusoe. Crusoe did not know the size of his island, and did not treat Friday as an equal. Because of this he did not occupy an area of comprehensive economic value. He is little use to us.

The question “How do you propose to remedy matters?” is a perfectly fair one, but a very dangerous one for a diagnostician to attempt to answer as briefly. The farm-adviser may tell the poultryman that it would have been wiser to put his eggs in an incubator, instead of in boiling water. The poultryman, in turn, can apparently prove that the farm-adviser is quite wrong by taking the eggs out of the boiling water and putting them in an incubator as suggested, or stump him by handing the hard-boiled eggs over for treatment. If he is to prove his case, there must be a more imaginative poultryman to deal with, or some new-laid eggs. Until one of these conditions is complied with, it is almost impossible for the expert to prove briefly that the incubator is any better than the boiling water.

It has been urged in the foregoing essays that our economic