Page:David Atkins - The Economics of Freedom (1924).pdf/318



Reducing this still further, we have the following: 1 acre = 120 “1918” dollars.

Now 1 acre is 43,560 square feet, therefore:

43,560 sq. ft. = 120 “1918” dollars. or one “1918” dollar = 363 sq. ft. of an average population-density of 1 man per 18 acres.

This means that, at one definite moment, the end of 1918, we had, as a dynamic reality, underlying our estimate of 224.215 billion basic dollars, 224,215,000,000 units of 363 square feet of an average population-density of 1 human being per 18 acres.

The validity of this result in terms of “1918” dollars rested not only upon the measurable facts of population and acreage but also upon such freedom as we have. It may be worth while digressing to point out again that this freedom rests in turn upon such order as we have. The maintenance of such order as we have rests upon government, and the maintenance of government rests upon taxation. It must not be forgotten, therefore, that the insurance of order, which we call taxation, the value resulting and the unit of value are integrally related.

After all, what we have been trying to arrive at is a measure of value—a valid datum, not a thing—which maintains its integrity with relation to the basic conditions of value. In other words we want a tangible measure which is relatively constant and in terms of which we can express value per hour. The gold-standardist says “impossible” without realizing that he is contesting a present actuality which is simply our vague appraisement of the same phenomenon, namely, the current flow of value measured by the disintegrating unit which we now employ. He measures this current value in terms of fractions of a cent per hour. It is the effective effort per hour bid for certified freedom, both being measured by the same bastard