merchant class in England had then acquired but little of the tremendous power it afterward attained; it needed the foresight of Thomas More or Ralph Morton to see the danger to an ideal society—a human brotherhood—in this traffic. So Morton's constitution provided that all traffic in merchandise in the commonwealth should be carried on by the public agency. A bureau of trade appointed by the governor should import and export all goods. Public stores should be established, with storekeepers and clerks appointed by the governor, in which goods should be sold to the inhabitants of the commonwealth, and their produce bought for resale or export. The people might exchange their commodities with each other, or sell them to private persons, but no person should buy to sell again. The profits on the purchase and sale of goods should not be excessive, and should be public revenue for public expenses.
In Ralph Morton's mind were vaguely outlined plans for making all sorts of machinery run by water-power do the work of millions of human hands. If a few men could obtain possession of the waterfalls, and by wealth, somehow acquired, could own the machines, they would become the masters of both the
