 market, so to say - no regulation for the exchange of wares? for you must
exchange, even if you have no property.«
    Said he: »We have no obvious individual exchange, as you saw this morning
when you went a-shopping; but of course there are regulations of the markets,
varying according to the circumstances and guided by general custom. But as
these are matters of general assent, which nobody dreams of objecting to, so
also we have made no provision for enforcing them: therefore I don't call them
laws. In law, whether it be criminal or civil, execution always follows
judgment, and someone must suffer. When you see the judge on his bench, you see
through him, as clearly as if he were made of glass, the policeman to emprison,
and the soldier to slay some actual living person. Such follies would make an
agreeable market, wouldn't they?«
    »Certainly,« said I, »that means turning the market into a mere
battle-field, in which many people must suffer as much as in the battle-field of
bullet and bayonet. And from what I have seen I should suppose that your
marketing, great and little, is carried on in a way that makes it a pleasant
occupation.«
    »You are right, neighbour,« said he. »Although there are so many, indeed by
far the greater number amongst us, who would be unhappy if they were not engaged
in actually making things, and things which turn out beautiful under their
hands, - there are many, like the housekeepers I was speaking of, whose delight
is in administration and organisation, to use long-tailed words; I mean people
who like keeping things together, avoiding waste, seeing that nothing sticks
fast uselessly. Such people are thoroughly happy in their business, all the more
as they are dealing with actual facts, and not merely passing counters round to
see what share they shall have in the privileged taxation of useful people,
which was the business of the commercial folk in past days. Well, what are you
going to ask me next?«
 

                                  Chapter XIII

                                        

                              Concerning Politics

Said I: »How do you manage with politics?«
    Said Hammond, smiling: »I am glad that it is of me that you ask that
question; I do believe that anybody else would make you explain yourself, or try
to do so, till you were sickened of asking questions. Indeed, I believe I am the
only man in England who would know what you mean; and since I know, I will
