POLITICAL ECONOMY 
62 
means are not measurable absolutely but 
only in relation to one another. Here, it 
may be pointed out, is to be found an explana 
tion of the indeterminate value of initial 
increments of indispensable goods. When 
ever a means to the end which gives the 
impulses measured in demand—the end con 
sisting, as has been said, in harmonious 
living according to some standard—whenever 
such a means is absolutely indispensable, it 
ceases to have the property of relative con 
duciveness and its measurement becomes 
impossible. These points are worth a fugitive 
notice for the sake of the student with a 
philosophical bent, but it must be understood 
that, inasmuch as the economist qua economist 
need not go behind preferences, no dogmatic 
pronouncements on philosophical issues are 
here intended.