ON VALUE WITH A SHORT ACCOUNT OF AMERICAN CURRENCY BY JOHN BORDEN. CHICAGO: 166-168 Adams Street. -179545 Econ 634.2.5 GPP 16 1897 The Quarterly Journal Copyright 1897, By JOHN BORDEN. (All Rights Reserved.) VALUE. In economics a correct idea of value is said to be of the utmost importance; for from no source do so many errors and so much difference of opinion in that science proceed as from the vague ideas which are attached to the word value. (Ricardo, Chap. 1.) The meaning of the word utility seems to lack precision also, and because of its relation to the word value will be first noticed. I. UTILITY. Utility has been defined as a capacity to satisfy a desire, or serve a purpose; and wealth has been defined as utilities embodied in material objects. As thus defined, the utility of a thing is supposed to be inherent in it, and is a constant quantity; for the potential capacity of a thing to satisfy a want or serve a purpose would exist and continue to be the same whether the want or purpose existed or not. A pound of iron, a bushel of grain, or a yard of cloth would contain as much utility at one time and place as at another; as much in the (5) |