Cattle would be accepted in payment of taxes and in discharge of debt also; but, being more plentiful, and therefore of less value, the Government decreed that so many cattle would be equivalent to so many pounds of iron. Those who had no iron, therefore, had to pay in cattle, just as in these times those who have no gold must pay in silver or bronze. Although a diamond may be worth many sovereigns, it will not be accepted by the tax collector, nor by our creditors, because it has no legal value. That is to say, it is not a legal instrument. We are beginning to have some glimmering now of what money is. Money performs two important functions. It is a medium of exchange and it is a standard of value. Money was the instrument man invented, after mental travail, to lessen or remove the inconveniences of direct barter. Money represents the possession of a claim on the products of the community. It is a present and a future claim upon a portion of the wealth of the general community. When the claim is exercised it performs its function of a medium of exchange. The idea is this. We are all potential consumers and producers. We have read of the early Christian community, when all the members of that community brought their goods and possessions to the common store and divided equally. This is precisely how society lives to-day. We all bring our goods and possessions to the common store, or market, as it is called, and there they are divided. But they are not divided equally. This is the chief difference. They are divided unequally in accord with our notions of equitable distribution. Our claims on the common wealth are supposed to be based justly upon our individual produce. The more we produce the more we claim, the less we produce the less we claim. This is the fundamental idea, or hypothesis; but, like many ideas or hypotheses, the practical working of it is far from just and perfect. But the fundamental idea will make clear the function money performs. We are familiar with those schemes of relief in times of distress when tickets are given to the poor, representing a certain quantity of food. On presentation to the butcher the ticket is exchanged for a pound of meat, and on presentation to the baker it is exchanged for a quartern loaf. These tickets are money. They are a media of exchange and possess exchange value. They are claims on the butcher or baker. If the possessor chooses, he can exchange the ticket with another for a pint of ale, and the other can claim the meat or the bread. They can pass from hand to hand, become currency, as money is called, and the exchange can be effected immediately or deferred. The meat and the bread are subsequently paid for out of another fund, and the butcher and baker hand over the tickets and are paid their respective portions out of this common fund.