pping which held the cotton or
the wool.

Col. Irish, who was chief of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing at
Washington, when he died, and under whose administration the present
building was erected, at one time sent to the wife of the writer a ten
dollar bill, wrapped up so that it looked like a picture, cabinet
size; this was accompanied by a note, to be opened first. In this note
he said he took pleasure in sending her an excellent likeness of our
late lamented president, which he would be pleased to have her accept.
If she should prefer it in some other form, it was a peculiarity of
this likeness that it would change instantly at the will of the holder
into any form desired; that this was the peculiarity that troubled
him, as he had been unable to decide what would please her best, and
had finally decided to send it in this form, and let her change it
into any other she might like better.

Money is a peculiar medium which will hold and carry the value of
anything. You pour in your wheat and take it to the merchant, who
empties your wheat and fills it with clothes, he carries it to the
dealer in any article needed and the vessel is instantly emptied and
refilled.

The values of the products of laborers in the various occupations of
life or the products of the various climates are thus readily
exchanged by money, but the gain is not in the money. The art in trade
is to study and know the products and needs of the laborers of one
class or country, and the varied products and needs of the producers
of another class or local community. The skill in trade is in
supplying the needs of one from the products of the other.

The profit in trade is the gain from securing for an article a greater
portion of the product of those whose needs are supplied, than was
given to those who produced it. The harvester cost the manufacturer
twenty days' work. The farmer, who needs and purchases it, pays forty
days' work for it. The farmer may produce one hundred bushels of wheat
with twenty-five days' work, but the mechanics in the city, who need
it for bread, may give twice that amount of labor for that quantity of
wheat. There is a wide field for skill and profit in trade, when the
products and needs of all classes and all lands are considered. But
money does not add to wealth in trade. There is nothing produced by it
in trade. It is but the tool by which values are conveyed, and no more
productive than baskets or crates or sacks.