likewise to regnlar internal changes; that these changes make our
credit system much more delicate at some times than at others; and
that it is the recurrence of these periodical seasons of delicacy
which has given rise to the notion that panics come according to a
fixed rule, that every ten years or so we must have one of them.

Most persons who begin to think of the subject are puzzled on the
threshold. They hear much of 'good times' and 'bad times,' meaning
by 'good' times in which nearly everyone is very well off, and by
'bad' times in which nearly everyone is comparatively ill off. And
at first it is natural to ask why should everybody, or almost
everybody, be well off together? Why should there be any great tides
of industry, with large diffused profit by way of flow, and large
diffused want of profit, or loss, by way of ebb? The main answer is
hardly given distinctly in our common books of political economy.
These books do not tell you what is the fund out of which large
general profits are paid in good times, nor do they ex plain why
that fund is not available for the same purpose in bad times. Our
current political economy does not sufficiently take account of time
as an element in trade operations; but as soon as the division of
labour has once established itself in a community, two principles at
once begin to be important, of which time is the very essence. These
are

First. That as goods are produced to be exchanged, it is good that
they should be exchanged as quickly as possible.

Secondly. That as every producer is mainly occupied in producing
what others want, and not what he wants himself, it is desirable
that he should always be able to find, without effort, without