BETWEEN VALUE AND RICHES. 167 
this kind, there would necessarily be a supe- 
riority of value, if such an idea came at all 
into question, as well as of wealth. If the 
sole commodity in possession of the two indi- 
viduals were corn, of which one possessed 500 
quarters and the other 1000, the latter would 
not only be richer, but the proprietor of pro- 
duce, the aggregate value of which was 
oreater. 
In all but this very simplest case, it would 
be impossible to decide with accuracy on the 
superiority of two individuals in point of riches, 
except by estimating their value in some 
common medium. Suppose the individual 
who possessed the 500 quarters of corn, was 
worth also 500 yards of cloth, while the other, 
who had 1000 quarters of corn, possessed only 
100 yards of cloth ; in what imaginable method 
could their riches be compared, and the supe- 
riority of one over the other be ascertained, 
except by means of their value, computed in 
some common medium of estimation, or re- 
duced into one denomination ?