On Sun, Feb 13, 2011 at 2:05 PM, Carrol Cox <cbcox at ilstu.edu> wrote:
>
> The hand-mill was antagonistic to f eudalism, and French feudalism
> flourished by destroying hand-mills. The mill driven by a water-wheel was a
> major source of feudal control over peasants. Grain is useless until you
> grind it; the hand-mill allowed the peasant to grind his own grain and say
> fuck-you to the lord. But if the only way to get your grain ground was to
> take it to the mill powered by a water-wheel (and owned by the feudal lord),
> then you had to allow the miller to keep a sizeable portion of your grain.
-- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929
530 898 5321 fax 530 898 5901 http://michaelperelman.wordpress.com