Page:Tales in Political Economy by Millicent Garrett Fawcett.djvu/88

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TALES IN POLITICAL ECONOMY.
[III.

commodities worth 10s., is compelled to spend an hour every day in seeking about for people who will sell him what he wants for his daily food. The collection of different kinds of commodities in shops is a very real and considerable service to industry.

It may be imagined, then, how great a change Captain Adam found when he returned to Isle Pleasant. He left the islanders trading with each other under all the difficulties of the system of barter; he came back and found them buying and selling with money, using various forms of credit which acted as substitutes for money, and carrying on retail businesses in well-arranged shops. The changes that took place in their industrial system after Captain Adam's return will be described in the next chapter.