If he also bartered away plums that would have rotted in a week, for nuts that would last good for his eating a whole year, he did no injury; he wasted not the common stock; destroyed no part of the portion of goods that belonged to others, so long as nothing perished uselessly in his hands (Locke, 1689).
This quotation indicates that the author believes that a technique such as bartering (which has obvious pecuniary implications) allows one to do "no injury," and that unless one utilizes such pecuniary means to extend the life of perishable goods (referred to as "plums" in this quotation) those who take more of such goods than they can use have "destroyed" such necessities that could have been used by others. Therefore, because the government is the primary entity that creates and utilizes currency that can be exchanged for non-durable items, and which then effectively extends the life of durable goods, one of its foremost purposes is to regulate the waste of resources through the issuance of money.
However, what did not escape the author' notice was the fact that money can also be hoarded just as much as perishable items, which could result in disproportionate wealth of a capital nature (versus that of a consumptive nature such as clothes, food and shelter). Ideally, Locke saw the government as being one of the primary entities responsible for the mitigation of this tendency among men to hoard monetary resources, as the following quotation explains.
…in some parts of the world, where the increase of people and stock, with the use of money, had made land scarce, and so of some value, the several communities settled the bounds of their distinct territories, and, by laws, within themselves, regulated the properties of the private men of their society, and so, by compact and agreement,...
The pioneering spirit of colonialism and of man's ability to make advances in stages of life primarily assigned to nature -- such as the aforementioned innovations in electricity and magnetism -- were all championed by the Enlightenment and carried over to the field of industry. Additionally, the Enlightenment helped provide some of the political context which helped to create environments in which the scientific and cultural achievements of the Industrial
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