It is said of the gambler that he is not a man of equivalents. But, if wealth is to be a question of exact equality in values and labor, then must business generally be condemned. The great legists, Pomponius and Paulus, unblushingly said, that “In buying and selling, a man has a natural right to purchase for a small price what is really more valuable, and to sell at a high price what is less valuable, and for each to overreach the other.” Harsh as this may seem, it but voiced the principles of trade in every age of the world. “Trade is war,” said the ancient proverb; “and as a nail between the stone joints, so does sin stick fast between buying and selling.” Business is advantage-taking erected into a system. Get as much more than you give as is possible. A thing is worth what it will bring. You may rightfully take from another what he is compelled to yield. Exchange is not a rendering of equivalent for equivalent; but an effort to get the largest possible amount of another’s property, or services, for the least possible return. In business, justice and mercy are daily displaced by extortion and mastership: “the producing classes are vassal to the speculating classes; the creators of wealth to its stealthy possessors.” The Christian Fathers deprecated trade. “To seek to enrich one’s self is in itself unjust,” said Clement; “since it aims at appropriating an unfair share of what was intended for the common use of men.” “If covetousness is removed,” argued Tertullian, “there is no reason for gain, and, if there is no reason for gain, there is no need of trade.” Jerome taught that “as the trader did not himself add to the value of his wares, therefore, if he gained more for them than he paid, his gain must be another’s loss.” To Augustine, “business in itself is an evil, for it turns men from seeking true rest, which is God.” Aquinas decided “that to buy a thing for less, or sell a thing for more than its value is, in itself, unallowable and unjust.”