the capitalists whom panics never brought to the verge of starvation.

"All the rest, however, agreed that there was something wrong. They sat down to discuss it, with the clock before them, and one of them said, 'It needs a little oil,' and thereupon he proceeded to oil it. He was the man who believed in charities. But the hands stopped just the same. Another said oil did no good since there was something radically wrong. He was the man who put justice ahead of charity. Suddenly one in the circle jumped up, took the clock, and gave it a vigorous shake. At this all was chaos, everybody was afraid the machine would be spoiled, although all admitted it did n't work anyway; and after they had taken it from this man, they asked indignantly what he meant by such a thing-to which he replied that he thought a shaking would do it good. He was the destructionist, who threw bombs.

"When quiet had been restored, some one on examining the clock said that he saw the trouble. One wheel was bent out of shape, and if the next wheel was bent to correspond everything would be settled. He was the man who, seeing the abnormal concentration of capital, suggested the abnormal concentra

tion of labor on a gigantic scale as a remedy; he believed that to form trade unions would settle things. The wheel was bent, and still panics came at regular periods. Another said that to bend the second wheel to conform to the first was to prevent the second wheel from moving freely. He was the man who said that socialism, or lack of competition, would prevent the free growth of the individual. A third said that if they did away with the frame, put the wheels together any way, and started the spring, the wheels would naturally take the best position suited to them, and everything would work smoothly. He was the anarchist, who did not believe in governments.

"No,' said a fourth, for without a frame the motion could not be regulated, and all the wheels would be scattered to the four winds.' . He was a believer in strong governments. 'There are too many wheels,' said the man who believed in restricted immigration. They move too fast,' said he who foolishly thought overproduction was the evil.

"Finally some one said that the wheels were not placed right: there were some large, strong wheels which should be placed so that they might bear more of the strain. He was

the man who believed that landowners should bear the greatest burdens in taxation, since by their monopoly they were best able to stand them. One man even suggested that the whole trouble with the clock lay in the metal of which it was composed. He was symbolic of those who claimed that the error was in human nature, and until that changed everything would have to remain as it was.

"At last one of their number, who had up to this time said nothing, got up and examined the clock very attentively; he took it up, looked carefully at the hands and all the wheels, and then said, 'Where is the escapement (money)?' He, was told it was hidden away below all the wheels, in a corner. It took him some time to find it, the affair being so complicated that it was necessary to use a microscope to see how it was made, for there were so many wheels in the way that it was very confusing to tell which one was the escapement. Finally he got his eye on it, and then he set the clock down, and it started to go. He watched it until a panic happened; then, with a smile of satisfaction, he said, turning to his friends, Gentlemen, the trouble with your clock is that the motion of the escapement wheel (money) is clogged and

hampered; give that free play, and your little hands, happiness, will continue to move on smoothly forever.' He was the man who believed that money should be issued on all commodities, and not on one.

"The others laughed at him, but he said, 'Very well, gentlemen, you will see, for I shall construct a clock of my own,' which he proceeded to do, when, what was every one's astonishment to find that he was right! The little hands of happiness moved along beautifully and never stopped, for he had given the escapement (money) free play, in order that it should follow the direction of the spring (labor). "What do you think of that?" said the professor.

"I

"That is intensely interesting," said I. suppose the moral of it all is, look deeply before you judge."

"Just so," said the professor; "don't study the top wheel, but look below for the escape

ment."

Upon reaching home the professor and I went into the library and lighted our cigars. I knew that the professor would soon have something to say on economics, so I led the conversation quietly round to the point of values, and he rose to the bait like a trout and opened on me at once.

"In your century it was generally believed that the cost of production was the determining factor in values. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The relation of these two factors was but little understood in your time."

"I am afraid, professor, that you have no use for our century. You do not give us credit for the great progress we made in the sciences and arts. It seems to me that the nineteenth century was preeminently one of progress and advancement."

"One of progress, when in the midst of wealth there was the greatest poverty? When whole families lived in a single room and, toiling all day, got but a bare living? When some by birth received a right to live on the labor of others? If this is progress, what is the goal toward which it leads? An age of advancement in science and art? Did disease exist the less? On the contrary, it multiplied. Did persecution exist the less? There is but a difference in name between the persecution of the priest, the king, and the capitalist. In the midst of Christianity, religious persecution flourished simply because the surrounding nations could not come to an agreement as to how the offending nation should be divided