ii. The general dissatisfaction with the state of the currency led to attempts to dispense with coin. About 1830 Labour Exchanges were opened in London for the exchange of goods against time notes, representing one or more hours of labour. The originator was Robert Owen, and the failure of the Exchanges was probably due to the fact that Owen was at heart a capitalist. The National Equitable Labour Exchange at one time was doing a business of over 20,000 hours per week, but very shortly after this, the President (Owen) had to report a serious deficiency of hours, many thousands having been mislaid or stolen. The Exchange in consequence had to close its doors. iii. In the 'forties the centre of interest is the Midlands, and the period may be termed the Staffordshire or beer period. The currency was very popular and highly liquid, but it was issued to excess and difficult to store. More solid surrogates were therefore tried. A Bilston pawnbroker[64] said that he had in pawn numerous batches of flour, which the men's wives had brought from the Truck Shops and turned into money, in order to pay their house-rents. Flour, however, was not so hard as a Prescot watch. iv. We come next to the Welsh or Tobacco period, when the currency was easily transferable, but liable to deterioration. v. Finally, in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the world of labour attained to a cash basis, and there was no Cobbett to denounce the resumption. We shall not be guilty of serious exaggeration if we preface our history with the motto: '_In the nineteenth century the Trade Unions and the Trade Unions alone made the nominal earnings of the working man a cash reality_.' 3. THE SPIRIT OF ASSOCIATION 1. The student of Dicey's Law and Opinion in England is invited to distinguish three periods: i. The period of old Toryism or legislative quiescence (1800-38). ii. The period of Benthamism or individualism (1825-70). iii. The period of collectivism (1865-1900). Bentham lived during the first period and his name is rightly given to the second period. The student, therefore, comes to wonder if there is anything which is not Benthamism. Benthamism, he says to himself, stands for individualism. How then can the period of Benthamism include the humanitarian legislation which begins with the first Factory Act of 1802 and broadens out during the middle of the century into the elaborate code regulating from then onwards the conditions of employment in workshops, factories, and mines? How can a monster beget an angel?