B. Say was its principal interpreter. But, in spite of the
imaginative efforts and fearful subtlety of this economist,
Smith's definition controls him without his knowledge, and is
manifest throughout his arguments.
"To put a value on an article," says Say, "is to DECLARE that it
should be ESTIMATED equally with some other designated article.
. . . . . The value of everything is vague and arbitrary UNTIL
IT IS RECOGNIZED. . . . . ." There is, therefore, a method of
recognizing the value of things,--that is, of determining it;
and, as this recognition or determination results from the
comparison of things with each other, there is, further, a common
feature, a principle, by means of which we are able to DECLARE
that one thing is worth more or less than, or as much as,
another.
Say first said: "The measure of value is the value of another
product." Afterwards, having seen that this phrase was but a
tautology, he modified it thus: "The measure of value is the
QUANTITY of another product," which is quite as unintelligible.
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