This is one of the very worst things that has happened on account of the war, for as the money now being used all over Europe is not real money, no one feels certain whether he can get his debts really paid, or whether his savings are safe, or whether a contract made for a certain payment a few months hence will be really fulfilled or not. A man may lend a thousand francs or marks or pounds for a year, and then at the end of the year, when he is to be paid back, he may be paid in coin which has got so much worse that he is really receiving only half or a tenth or a thousandth of the real value he lent. A man in Germany sells a hundred sheep for so many marks, to be paid for in a month; and at the end of the month the marks will only buy ten sheep! This piece of swindling, which has been the note of the last five years, is the first point we have touched on so far where a problem in Economics and the study of economic law brings one up against questions of right and wrong. It is morally wrong for the Government to swindle people out of their property by making false money. What is the way out, allowing for Economic Law? It is morally wrong that some men should starve while other men have too much: allowing for Economic Law, what is the way out of such evils? As you go on in the study of Economics you find quantities of questions where you have to decide whether economic laws render possible political actions which you would very much like to undertake, and which seem right and just. Many such actions, though one would like to undertake them, cannot be undertaken because our study of Economics has shown us that the consequences will be very different from what we hoped. On the other hand, a great many people try to get out of what it is their duty to do politically by pleading that Economic Law prevents it. Before ending these notes, then, we must go into the main questions of this kind, and see what there is to be said, in the light of economic knowledge, for our present system of society, which is called =Capitalism=; for other systems in the past such as =Slavery=; for =Private Property=; for the various theories of =Socialism=; for and against =Usury=, and so on. It is necessary to go into these points even in the most elementary book on Economics, because the moment one begins the practical application of one’s economic science these questions at once arise; to answer them rightly is the most important use we can make of economic knowledge. Part II POLITICAL APPLICATIONS INTRODUCTION So far I have been putting down the elements of Economics just as one might put down the elements of Arithmetic. But Economics have, just like Arithmetic, a _practical application_: if it were not for this, there would be no real use in studying Economics at all.