17 When Quesnay was sixty-one years old he wrote the article,
“Fermiers,” in the “Encyclopædia” (of Diderot and D’Alembert) in
1756; article “Grains,” in the same, 1757; “Tableau économique,”
1758; “Maximes générales du gouvernement économique d’un royaume”;
“Problème économique”; “Dialogues sur le commerce et sur les travaux
des artisans”; “Droit natural” (1768). “Collection des principaux
économistes,” edited by E. Daire (1846), is a collection containing
the works of Quesnay, Turgot, and Dupont de Nemours. See also
Lavergne, “Les économistes françaises du 18e siècle” (1870); and H.
Martin, “Histoire de France.” Quesnay’s “Tableau économique” was the
Koran of the school.
18 From χράτησις τῆς φύσεως, as indicating a reverence for natural
laws.
19 The words were not invented by Quesnay, but formed the phrase of a
merchant, Legendre, in addressing Colbert; although it was later
ascribed, as by Perry, “Political Economy” (p. 46), and Cossa (p.
150), to one of the Economists, Gournay. (See Wolowski, in his Essay
prefixed to “Roscher’s Political Economy,” p. 36, American
translation.)
20 The Margrave Karl Friedrich was the author of “Abrégé des principes
de l’économie politique” (1775), and applied the physiocratic system
of taxation to two of his villages with disastrous results.
21 He published a first work on “Population” (1756); the “Théorie de
l’impôt” (1760); and “Philosophie rurale” (1763). In this latter
work Mirabeau adopted the “Tableau économique” as the key to the
subject, and classed it with the discovery of printing and of money.
22 In 1742 Turgot, when scarcely twenty, appeared as a sound writer on
Paper Money in letters to Abbé Cicé. The physiocratic doctrines were
presented in a more intelligible form in his greater work,
“Réflexions sur la formation et la distribution des richesses”
(1766). Three works of Turgot, on mining property, interest of
money, and freedom in the corn-trade, bear a high reputation. For
works treating of Turgot, see Batbie, “Turgot, philosophe,
économiste et administrateur” (1861); Mastier, “Turgot, sa vie et sa
doctrine” (1861); Tissot, “Turgot, sa vie, son administration et ses
ouvrages” (1862).
23 He was the editor of the works of Quesnay and Turgot, and wrote a
“Mémoire de Turgot” (1817). He opposed the issue of assignats during
the French Revolution, and, falling into disfavor, he barely escaped
the scaffold. Having been a correspondent of Jefferson’s, when
Napoleon returned from Elba, he came to America, and settled in
Delaware, where he died in 1817. The connection between the
Economists and the framers of our Constitution is interesting,
because it explains some peculiarities introduced into our system of
taxation in that document. The only direct taxes recognized by the
Supreme Court under our Constitution are the poll and land taxes;
and it is in this connection that the constitutionality of the
income-tax (a direct tax) is doubted.
24 One of the earliest is that of Roger Coke (1675), in which he argues
for free trade, and attacks the navigation acts. Sir Dudley North’s
“Discourse on Trade” (1691) urges that the whole world, as regards
trade, is but one people, and explains that money is only
merchandise.
25 Joseph Harris, an official in the London Mint, published a very
clear exposition of this subject in his “Essay upon Money and Coins”
(1757); but, eighty years before, Rice Vaughan had given a
satisfactory statement in his “Treatise of Money.”
26 “Contemporary Review,” January, 1881, “Richard Cantillon.” Adam
Smith had quoted Cantillon on his discussion of the wages of labor,
b. i, ch. viii, and evidently knew his book.
27 Born in 1723, and died 1790; he was eleven years younger than Hume.
A Professor of Logic (1751) and Moral Philosophy (1752) at Glasgow,
he published a treatise on ethical philosophy, entitled the “Theory
of Moral Sentiments” (1739). Dugald Stewart is the authority as to
Smith’s life, having received information from a contemporary of
Smith’s, Professor Miller (see Playfair’s edition of Smith’s works);
for Adam Smith destroyed all his own papers in his last illness. His
lectures on political economy at Glasgow outlined the results as
they appeared in the “Wealth of Nations”; it was not until 1764 that
he resigned his professorship, and spent two years on the Continent
(twelve months of this in France). On his return home he immured
himself for ten years of quiet study, and published the “Wealth of
Nations” in 1776. (See also McCulloch’s introduction to his edition
of the “Wealth of Nations,” and Bagehot’s “Economic Studies,” iii.)
28 A glance at Sir James Steuart’s treatise (1767) with the “Wealth of
Nations” shows Adam Smith’s great qualities; the former was a series
of detached essays, although of wide range, but admittedly without
any consistent plan.
29 (_a_.) He went into a vague discussion upon labor as a measure of
value. (_b_.) A legal rate of interest received his support, and his
argument was answered effectually by Bentham (“Defense of Usury”).
(_c_.) While not agreeing with the French school that agriculture is
the only industry producing more than it consumes, and so land pays
rent, yet he thinks that it produces more in proportion to the labor
than other industries; that manufactures came next; and exportation
and commerce after them. This error, however, did not modify his
more important conclusions. Thorold Rogers and even Chevalier,
however, claim that Adam Smith drew his inspiration from the French
school. (_d_.) In the discussion of rent, he failed to follow out
his ideas to a legitimate end, and did not get at the true doctrine.
While hinting at the right connection between price and rent, he yet
believed that rent formed a part of price. Of the fundamental
principle in the doctrine of rent, the law of diminishing returns,
he had no full knowledge, but came very close to it. He points out
that in colonies, when the good soil has all been occupied, profits
fall. (_e_.) In saying that every animal naturally multiplies in
proportion to, and is limited by, the means of subsistence, Adam
Smith just missed Malthus’s law of population. In fact, Cantillon
came quite as near it.
Book III in his “Wealth of Nations” is concerned with the policy of
Europe in encouraging commerce at the expense of agriculture, and
has less interest for us. Book V considers the revenue of the
sovereign, and much of it is now obsolete; but his discussion of
taxation is still highly important.
30 Among the English Liberals carried away by the French Revolution,
and by such theories as those of Condorcet, was William Godwin, the
author of “Political Justice” (1793) and the “Inquirer” (1797), who
advocated the abolition of government and even marriage, since by
the universal practice of the golden rule there would come about a
lengthening of life. Malthus tells us that his study was brought
forward as an answer to the doctrines of the “Inquirer,” and he
applied his principles to Condorcet’s and Godwin’s ideas. It was a
period when pauperism demanded attention from all. Malthus favored
the repeal of the old poor-laws, as destroying independence of
character among the poor.
Malthus also wrote “Principles of Political Economy” (1821) and
“Definitions in Political Economy” (1827), but the former did not
increase his reputation. He believed in taxing imported corn, and he
gave in his adherence to the doctrine of over-production. But, on
the other hand, he was one of several writers who, almost at the
same time, discovered the true theory of rent. His father was a
friend of Godwin, and a correspondent of Rousseau. (See Bagehot,
“Economic Studies,” p. 135.)
31 See Cairnes, “Logical Method,” Lecture VII, for the best modern
statement of the question. Also, Roscher, “Principles of Political
Economy,” b. v, whose extended notes furnish information on facts
and as to books. H. Carey, “Social Science” (edition of 1877), iii,
pp. 263-312, opposes the doctrine, as also Bowen, “American
Political Economy” (1870), ch. viii, and Henry George, “Progress and
Poverty” (1880), pp. 81-134.
32 J. Anderson, “An Inquiry into the Nature of the Corn Laws” (1777),
“Agricultural Recreations,” vol. v, p. 401 (1801); Sir Edward West,
“Essay on the Application of Capital to Land” (1815); Rev. T. R.
Malthus, “An Inquiry into the Nature and Progress of Rent” (1815).
The last two appeared after Anderson’s discoveries had been
forgotten, but he has the honor of first discovery.
33 Born in 1772 of Jewish parentage, Ricardo died in 1824. A rich
banker, who made a fortune on the Stock Exchange, he early in life
retired from business. The discussions on the Restriction Act and
the corn laws led him to investigate the laws governing the subjects
of money and rent. He gained notice first by his “Letters on the
High Price of Bullion” (1810). The “Reply to Mr. Bosanquet” (1811),
and “Inquiry into Rent” (1815), were followed by his greater work,
“Principles of Political Economy and Taxation” (1817). He entered
the House of Commons from Portarlington, a pocket borough in
Ireland, and was influential in the discussions on resumption.
Although he was not on the committee, his views on depreciated paper
are practically embodied in the famous “Bullion Report” (1810).
Tooke, “History of Prices,” says the results of the restriction were
not known until the time of Ricardo’s contributions. Neither Mill
nor Say has had so great an influence as Ricardo has gained, through
the pages of his “Political Economy.”
34 Johann Heinrich von Thünen, a rich land-owner of Mecklenburg, in his
“Der isolirte Staat in Beziehung auf Landwirthschaft und
National-Oekonomie” (1826), worked entirely by himself, but reached
practically the same law of rent as Ricardo’s. In spreading the
doctrines of Adam Smith he has influenced later German writers.
35 The first distinct recognition of this important physical law,
according to McCulloch (Introduction to “Wealth of Nations,” lv),
was in a fanciful work of two volumes, entitled “Principes de tout
gouvernement,” published in 1766: “Quand les cultivateurs, devenus
nombreux, auront défriché toutes les bonnes terres; par leur
augmentation successive, et par la continuité du défrichement, il se
trouvera un point ou il sera plus avantageux à un nouveau colon de
prendre à ferme des terres fécondes, que d’en défricher de nouvelles
beaucoup moins bonnes” (I, p. 126). The author was, however, unaware
of the importance of his discovery.
36 Carey, “Social Science” (I, ch. iv, v), and Bowen, “American
Political Economy” (ch. ix), have denied Ricardo’s doctrine of rent.
Thesupposed connection between free trade and Ricardo’s teachings on
rent has prejudiced protectionists against him. Free trade follows
from the theory of international trade, and has nothing to do with
Ricardo’s main doctrines. It is true, Ricardo was a vigorous
free-trader. Of opposing views on rent, Carey’s argument is the most
important.
37 Say drew considerable attention by his theory of “gluts.” He based
his idea of value wholly on _utility_, which has lately been taken
up again by Professor Jevons. Say was answered on this point by
Ricardo in a later edition of his “Political Economy.” See Cairnes,
“Leading Principles,” p. 17. As a free-trader and opponent of
governmental interference, he went further than his master, Adam
Smith. Napoleon did not like this part of Say’s teaching, saying
that it would destroy an empire of adamant, and tried to induce him
to modify his position, but in vain. The second edition was not
allowed to be published until 1815.
38 Educated at Bologna, he went to Geneva in 1816, and was called
(1833) by the French Government to succeed Say in the Collége de
France. In 1845 he was sent as minister to Rome, led the
revolutionary movement there, and was assassinated in 1848. His
lectures were taken down in short-hand by one of his disciples,
Porée, and later published.
39 Malthus, who held that the unproductive consumption of the rich was
desirable for the poor, supported Sismondi. The latter was answered
by Say and McCulloch (“Edinburgh Review,” March, 1821), to which
Sismondi replied in his second edition, in 1827, and then withdrew
from economic discussion.
40 A native of Riga, educated in Germany, Storch was charged by the
Czar Alexander with the duty of instructing his sons, the Grand
Dukes Nicholas and Michael, and his treatise is the collection of
his lectures. Knowing little of Malthus or Ricardo, he made a near
approach to the doctrine of rent. His unsparing denunciation of
Russian administrative corruption caused the Government to forbid
the publication of the Russian translation.
41 Cossa, “Guide” (p. 173), points out Sartorius, Lüder, Kraus, and
Schlözer as teachers of Adam Smith, in Germany, followed later by G.
Hufeland, J. F. E. Lotz, and L. H. von Jakob; Count Hogendorp and
Gogel, in Holland; Count Szecheny, in Hungary, and (pp. 211-213)
Cagnazzi, Bosellini, Ressi, Sanfilippo, and Scuderi (the last two
protectionists), in Italy. Fuoco (1825-1827), in Italy, first saw
the value of Ricardo’s theory of rent, while Gioja opposed Adam
Smith and Say. But K. H. Rau (died 1870), in his “Lehrbuch der
politischen Oekonomie” (1826, fifth edition 1864), had the most
extensive influence in Germany in expounding Adam Smith’s system,
with proper improvements. Another important writer of this school
was F. B. W. von Hermann, “Staatswirthschaftliche Untersuchungen”
(1832).
42 From 1810 to 1840, political economy was a favorite study in
England, and many writers deserve mention. There were Huskisson, a
great financier; Thomas Tooke (1773-1858), who began his matchless
“History of Prices” (1823); Lord Overstone (Samuel Jones Loyd),
“Tracts and other Publications on Metallic and Paper Currency”
(1858); Robert Torrens (1784-1864), “Essay on the Production of
Wealth” (1821); Archbishop Whately, “Introductory Lectures” (1831),
and “Easy Lessons on Money Matters”; Cobden and Sir Robert Peel; N.
W. Senior (1790-1864), Professor of Political Economy at Oxford,
article on “Political Economy” (1836) in the “Encyclopædia
Metropolitana,” and “Lectures on the Cost of obtaining Money”
(1830). Senior showed great ability in analyzing cost of production,
and stands far above McCulloch in real ability. J. R. McCulloch
(1789-1864), who preceded Mill, wrote a good but dry textbook,
“Principles of Political Economy” (1825), “A Treatise on the
Principles, Practice, and History of Commerce” (1833), an excellent
“Dictionary of Commerce” (last enlarged edition, 1882), “Literature
of Political Economy” (1845). He edited Ricardo’s works, with a
biography, published a “Select Collection of Scarce and Valuable
Tracts on Money” (1856), “A Treatise on the Principles and Practical
Influence of Taxation and the Funding System” (1845). He contributed
nothing practically new to the study. Miss Harriet Martineau
(1802-1876) gave some admirable although somewhat extended stories
in illustration of the various principles of political economy,
entitled “Illustrations of Political Economy” (1859). This period in
England was signalized by the abolition of the Corn Laws (1846), and
the Navigation Laws (1849), the passage of the Bank Act (which
separated the issue from the banking department, 1844), and the
general abandonment of protective duties. Cf. Noble, “Fiscal
Legislation, 1842-1865” (1867).
43 Born in 1806, he died in 1873. For his extraordinary education see
his “Autobiography.” When thirteen years old, he began the study of
political economy through lectures from his father while walking; he
then (1819) read Ricardo and Adam Smith, and at fourteen he
journeyed to France, where he lived for a time with J. B. Say. He
entered the East India Office at seventeen, was occupied finally in
conducting the correspondence for the directors, where he remained
until 1858. When about twenty, Mill met twice a week in Threadneedle
Street, from 8.30 to 10 A.M., with a political economy club,
composed of Grote, Roebuck, Ellis, Graham, and Prescott, where they
discussed James Mill’s and Ricardo’s books, and also Bailey’s
“Dissertations on Value.” In these discussions, chiefly with Graham,
Mill elaborated his theory of international values. In 1865 he
entered Parliament for Westminster, and for three years had a
singular, characteristic, independent, but uninfluential career. His
adherence to two radical reforms, woman suffrage and changes in the
tenure of land, lost him any considerable influence.
44 He (1773-1836) wrote the “History of India” (1817-1819), and
“Elements of Political Economy” (1821). He was intimate with
Ricardo, Bentham, Austin, and Zachary Macaulay.
45 In his “infant industries” argument, and his statement on navigation
laws (B. v, ch. x, §1), he conceded a great deal of free-trade
ground; but in a private letter, 1866 (see New York “Nation,” May
29, 1873), he denied that he intended the “infant industries”
argument to apply to the United States. He did not consider New
England and Pennsylvania any longer as young countries within the
limits of his meaning. See also Taussig’s “Protection to Young
Industries” (1883).
46 W. T. Thornton (1813-1880), in a volume “On Labor: its Wrongful
Claims and Rightful Dues” (1869), attacked Mill’s position on demand
and supply, and on wages, so that Mill in consequence abandoned his
doctrine of wages, in the “Fortnightly Review,” May 1, 1869. Mr.
Cairnes, however, rescued the Wages-Fund theory from Mr. Mill in his
“Leading Principles” (1874). Thornton also wrote “Over-Population,
and its Remedy” (1846), and an excellent book, “Plea for Peasant
Proprietorship” (1848). See also “Nineteenth Century,” August, 1879,
for an answer by Thornton to Mr. Cairnes on the wages question.
47 James Eliot Cairnes was born at Drogheda, 1824; was educated at
Trinity College, Dublin, and made Whately Professor there in 1856.
Having been Professor of Political Economy in Queen’s College,
Galway, he left Ireland in 1866 to accept the chair of Political
Economy in University College, London. In that year, through an
attack of inflammatory rheumatism, he fell under the power of a
painful and growing malady which rendered him physically helpless,
and portended certain death in the near future. The three years
before his death, while working only in hopeless pain, was the
period of his greatest literary activity. He collected his “Essays
in Political Economy, Theoretical and Applied” (1873), in which he
traced with great ability the effect of the gold-discoveries;
brought out his “Leading Principles” (1874), and an enlarged edition
of his “Logical Method” (second edition, 1875). The first edition of
this last book was the result of lectures delivered in Dublin about
1858. In his earlier years the interest he felt in the United States
led him into a very vigorous and masterly study of “The Slave Power;
its Character, Career, and Probable Dangers” (1862); “The Revolution
in America” (1862). He then wrote “Colonization and Colonial
Government” (1864), and “Negro Suffrage” (1866). He finally
succumbed to his fatal disease, and passed away prematurely, July 8,
1875. A short sketch of his personal character was written by
Professor Fawcett, in the “Fortnightly Review,” August 1, 1875, p.
149.
48 Professor Jevons (1835-1882) was educated at University College,
London, and spent the years from 1854 to 1859 in the Australian
Royal Mint, where he became interested in the gold question. He
wrote a study on “A Serious Fall in the Value of Gold ascertained”
(1863), which attracted great attention. A fine metaphysician and
mathematician, he did not give his whole time to economic work. In
1866 he became Professor of Logic and Cobden Lecturer on Political
Economy in Owens College, Manchester, but later became Professor of
Political Economy in University College, London. In 1881 he gave up
academic teaching, to devote himself to literature. He investigated
the permanence of the English coal-supply in “The Coal Question”
(second edition, 1866). “The Theory of Political Economy” (1871)
contains his application of the mathematical method, and a
bibliography of similar attempts. “The Railways and the State” are
to be found in his “Essays and Addresses” (1874). He prepared an
elementary book, “Primer of Political Economy” (second edition,
1878). He was a contributor to the journals, and especially to the
“London Statistical Journal.” His last books were “The State in
Relation to Labor” (1882), which deals with the question of state
interference; and “Methods of Social Reform” (1883), containing a
paper on industrial partnerships. He also advanced the theory that
the presence of sun-spots affected agriculture unfavorably, and
that, coming somewhat regularly, they produced a constant succession
of commercial crises. (See “Nature,” xix, 33, 588.) At the early age
of forty-seven he was unfortunately drowned while bathing near
Bexhill, England (1882).
49 Like Cairnes, Thomas Edward Cliffe Leslie was a native of Ireland,
and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He was called to the bar,
but gave up the law when offered the professorship of Political
Economy in Queen’s College, Belfast. Besides his discussion of land
tenures, he published “Political and Moral Philosophy” (1874). He
long suffered from bad health, and died January 28, 1882. His volume
of “Land Systems” is now (1884) out of print, and scarce. He had
also devoted himself to financial reform.
50 See p. 33.
51 Born 1826, died 1877. He was early made familiar with banking in
connection with the Stuckey Banking Company, in Somersetshire; was
educated at University College, London. In 1858 he married the
daughter of James Wilson, the editor of the London “Economist,” whom
he succeeded. He was a political student of a rare kind, as is shown
by his “English Constitution” (second edition, 1872), “Physics and
Politics” (1872), “Literary Studies” (second edition, 1879). He also
wrote “Depreciation of Silver” (1877).
52 Established in 1848, and unquestionably the most useful economic
publication for English questions.
53 Born 1833. His eye-sight was lost by an accidental shot in 1858, but
he was chosen Professor of Political Economy at Cambridge in 1863.
His “Manual” and the “Economic Position of the British Laborer”
(1865) gave him reputation, in 1865 he entered Parliament, and since
1880 he has been Postmaster-General in Mr. Gladstone’s
administration. He has published “Pauperism, its Causes and
Remedies” (1871), “Speeches” (1878), “Free Trade and Protection”
(1878). His wife (born 1847), Millicent Garret Fawcett, reduced his
“Manual” into “Political Economy for Beginners” (1869), and also
wrote “Tales in Political Economy” (1874). Died November 13, 1884.
54 He has also published “Social Economy” (1872); a small “Manual of
Political Economy” (third edition, 1878); and a very considerable
work, “Six Centuries of Work and Wages: the History of English
Labor,” 1250-1883 (1884). He has edited Adam Smith’s “Wealth of
Nations,” and written “Cobden and Modern Political Opinion” (1873),
and “The Colonial Question,” in the Cobden Club Essays (1872).
55 Of other books, mention should be made of G. J. Goschen’s most
admirable “Theory of Foreign Exchanges” (eighth edition, 1875);
“Reports and Speeches on Local Taxation” (1872); T. Brassey’s “Work
and Wages” (third edition, 1883); E. Seyd, “Bullion and the Foreign
Exchanges” (1868); H. D. McLeod, an eccentric writer, “Dictionary of
Political Economy” (only one vol., A-C, 1863, published); and
“Theory and Practice of Banking” (second edition, 1875-1876); H.
Sidgwick, “Principles of Political Economy” (1883); J. Caird,
“Landed Interest” (fourth edition, 1880); L. Levi, “History of
British Commerce” (1872).
56 Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850) began life in a commercial house at
Bayonne, but gained notice first by an article, “De l’influence des
tarifs français et anglais sur l’avenir des deux peuples,” in the
“Journal des Économistes” of 1844, and consequently had a very short
period of literary activity. The corn-law agitation in England and
the revolutionary movement of 1848 led him to write chiefly against
protection and socialism. He translated Cobden’s speeches, “Cobden
et la Ligue” (1845). His arguments against protection, “Sophismes
économiques” (1846-1847), have been translated and published in this
country; but the more extended exposition of his doctrine of value
diminishing with the growth of civilization, and the harmony of all
interests is in the “Harmonies économiques” (1850). In this his
position is not much different from Carey’s. His other books were
“Capital et rente” (1849), directed against gratuitous loans;
“Protectionisme et communisme” (1849), showing protection to be
communism for the rich; “Propriété et loi” (1848), directed against
socialism; and “Essais sur l’économie politique” (1853); “Le
Libre-échange” (1855). “Œuvres complètes,” 7 tom. (1855-1864).
57 Carey, however, claimed, with probable truth, that Bastiat borrowed
the idea from him, and Bastiat did not appear well in the
controversy. Almost no one has followed the French writer in his
theory except Professor A. L. Perry, of Williams College,
Massachusetts, who has shaped his general argument according to this
view of value. Also see Cairnes, “Essays in Political Economy,” p.
312.
58 Chevalier (1806-1879) first drew attention in an experiment of
Saint-Simonism in 1830-1833. After traveling in the United States,
and writing excellent books on the country and its railways, he
became professor in the Collége de France, where his lectures were
collected in a “Cours d’économie politique” (1842-1850; second
edition, 1855-1866). His third volume, “La Monnaie,” is a standard
treatise on money, with an extensive bibliography. His treatise
“Examen du système commerciale connu sous le nom de système
protecteur” (1851) is now somewhat out of date. In his book “De la
Baisse, probable de l’or” (1859), translated by Richard Cobden, he
held that, unless prevented, gold would drive out the French
currency, as against Faucher, who thought the fall temporary, and
would progressively diminish. Other books are, “De l’industrie
manufacturière en France,” and “La liberté du travail” (1848).
59 Émile Levasseur (born 1828) was professor at Alençon, 1852-1854, and
elected a member of the Academy of Sciences in 1868. He has
published “Récherches historiques sur le système de Law” (1854); “La
question de l’or” (1858); “Histoire des classes ouvrières en France
depuis la conquête de Jules César jusqu’à la révolution” (1859); the
same history continued, “Depuis 1789 jusqu’à nos jours” (1867); “La
France industriale” (1865); “Cours d’économie rurale, la France et
ses colonies” (1868); “Précis d’économie politique” (fourth edition,
1883).
60 Born in Berlin in 1816, but since 1821 living in France. He was long
connected with the Bureau de Statistique Générale, and the Ministry
of Agriculture and Commerce, but in 1861 he left office and gave
himself wholly to private work. In this year he received the Montyon
prize for statistics, not given since 1857. His chief books are:
“Des charges de l’agriculture dans les divers pays de l’Europe”
(1850), a work crowned by the Institute; “Statistique de la France,
comparée avec les divers états de l’Europe” (1860); “Le dictionnaire
de l’administration française” (second edition, 1878); “Les finances
de la France depuis 1815” (1863); “Les théoriciens du socialisme en
Allemagne” (1872); and in connection with M. Guillaumin, “L’annuaire
de l’économie politique,” since 1856.
61 Jérôme-Adolphe Blanqui _ainé_ (1798-1854) in 1833 succeeded to the
chair of J. B. Say in the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers, and was
one of the founders of the “Journal des économistes.” Besides his
“Histoire de l’économie politique en l’Europe” (1837-1852), he
published a “Résumé de l’histoire du commerce et de l’industrie”
(1826); “Précis élémentaire d’économie politique” (1826); “Rapports,
histoire de l’exposition des produits de l’industrie française en
1827” (1827); “Cours d’economie politique” (2 vols., 1837-1838), and
notices of Huskisson and J. B. Say.
62 Louis Wolowski (1810-1876), of Polish origin, was Chevalier’s chief
antagonist, and Professor of Legislation at the Conservatoire des
Arts et Métiers (1839); founded the first Crédit Foncier of Paris,
and was elected to the Institute in the place of Blanqui. In 1875 he
was chosen senator. He was a fertile writer: “Mobilisation du Crédit
Foncier” (1839); “De l’organisation du travail” (1846); “Études de
l’économie politique et de statistique” (1848); “Henri IV,
économiste, introduction de l’industrie de la soie en France”
(1855); “Introduction de l’économie politique en Italie” (1859);
“Les finances de la Russie” (1864); “La question des banques”
(1864); his testimony in the “Enquête sur les principes et les faits
généraux qui régissent la circulation monétaire et fiduciaire”
(1866); “La banque d’Angleterre et les banques d’Écosse” (1867); “La
liberté commerciale et les résultats du traité de commerce de 1860”
(1868); “L’or et l’argent” (1870); “La change et la circulation”;
and a translation of Roscher.
63 Hippolyte-Philibert Passy (1793-1880) was educated for the army, and
served at Waterloo. He was more prominent as a statesman than as an
economist. In 1838 he entered the Academy in the place of
Talleyrand, but politics left him unoccupied, and he wrote “Des
systèmes de culture et de leur influence sur l’économie sociale”
(1846), and “Des causes de l’inégalité des richesses” (1849).
64 M. Léonce de Lavergne (1809-1880) came from Toulouse to Paris in
1840, elected deputy in 1846, a member of the Institute in 1855, and
became professor in the Institut agronomique of Versailles. He was
also the author of “L’économie rurale de l’Angleterre, de l’Écosse,
et de l’Irlande” (1854), translated into English (1855);
“L’agriculture et la population” (1857), a striking confirmation of
Malthusianism; “Les économistes françaises du dixhuitième siècle”
(1870). He also has contributed largely to the “Revue des Deux
Mondes” and the “Journal des Économistes.” For a personal sketch by
Cliffe Leslie, see “Fortnightly Review,” February, 1881.
65 Born at Geneva, 1797, and died at Zurich, 1869. After studying law,
he became an advocate, and in 1833 Professor of Law in the place of
Rossi. In 1837 he was made Professor of Political Economy and Public
Law at Geneva. He was also a member of the Swiss Grand Council.
Besides his treatise, he wrote: “Richesse ou pauvreté” (1840); “Le
socialisme, c’est la barbarie” (1848); “Études sur les causes de la
misère” (1853); and aided in the “Dictionnaire de l’économie
politique.”
66 J. G. Courcelle-Seneuil (born 1813) left a commercial career to
become a writer, first for the journals, and later for the
“Dictionnaire politique” (edited by Pagnerre). In 1848 he was
connected with the Ministry of Finance, and called to a
professorship of Political Economy in Santiago, Chili, 1853-1863.
His chief work is a “Traité théorique et pratique d’économie
politique” (1858), but he has also published “La crédit de banque”
(1840), reforms for the bank of France; “Traité des opérations de
banque” (1852; sixth edition, 1876); “Traité des entreprises
industrielles, commerciales, et agricoles” (1854); “Études sur la
science sociale” (1862); “Leçons élémentaires d’économie politique”
(1864); “La banque libre” (1867); “Liberté et socialisme” (1868);
and articles in the “Dictionnaire de l’économie politique.”
67 Died 1862; author of “De la liberté du travail” (1845).
68 Professor of Political Economy at the Collége de France, author of
an extended and able “Traité de la science des finances” (third
edition, 1883). He has also published “De l’état moral et
intellectual des populations ouvrières et de son influence sur le
taux des salaires” (1868); “Récherches economiques, historiques, et
statistiques sur les guerres contemporaines” (1869); “La question
ouvrière au XIX siècle” (second edition, 1882); “L’administration
locale en France et en Angleterre” (1872); “Le travail des femmes au
XIX siècle” (1873); “Essai sur la répartition des richesses” (1880;
second edition, 1883); and “De la colonisation chez les peuples
modernes” (1882).
69 He published two volumes on Socialism (see list of books p. 44). In
several volumes on the “Régime des manufactures” he described the
condition of the silk, woolen, cotton, and iron industries.
70 The most vigorous advocate of monometallism in France. He also wrote
well on taxation, “Traité des impôts” (4 vols., 1866-1867).
71 His “Rapport sur l’indemnité du guerre” to the Corps Législatif
gives the account of the most marvelous exchange operation of modern
times, arising from the payment of the indemnity by France to
Germany (1871-1873).
72 An advocate of the mathematical method.
73 Founded in 1863, published at Berlin, and edited by Dr. Eduard Wiss.
74 Long Secretary to the Chamber of Commerce at Hamburg, and now
honorary professor at Göttingen.
75 Professor of Political Economy at Zürich in 1866, since 1875
director of statistics at Dresden, and editor of “Der
Arbeiterfreund.” He made a valuable study of industrial
partnerships, “Die Gewinnbetheiligung” (second edition 1878). He
also wrote “Freiheit der Arbeit” (1858), and “Beiträge zur
geschichte des Zunftwesens” (1861).
76 His most important work is “Das Armenwesen und die Armengesetzebung
in Europäischen Staaten” (1870). Selected essays from this have been
translated into English by E. B. Eastwick, “Poor Relief in Different
Parts of Europe” (1873).
77 Max Wirth is at Vienna, and has devoted himself to a “Geschichte der
Handelskrisen” (1874), including the crisis of 1873. Baron von Hock
has written a history of the finances of France, and of the United
States—“Die Finanzen und die Finanzgeschichte der vereinigten
Staaten von Amerika” (1867).
78 This book has been translated into English by G. A. Matile, with
notes by Stephen Colwell (1856).
79 Mohl on administration, and Rau and A. Wagner on finance, also
deserve mention. Stein, besides other works, is the author of a
handbook, “Die Verwaltungslehre” (1870).
80 “Fortnightly Review” (1876).
81 In Ely’s “The Past and Present of Political Economy” (p. 9) it is
clear the new school do not differ so much in reality as in seeming
from the methods of the English writers, like Cairnes.
82 The first division of Roscher’s (born 1817) treatise, also known
under the title of “Grundlagen der Nationalökonomie,” has been
translated here by J. J. Lalor, in two volumes, “Principles of
Political Economy” (1878), with an essay by Wolowski on the
historical method inserted. In 1840 he was made _Privat-Docent_ at
Göttingen, and professor extraordinary in 1843. In 1844 he was
called to a chair at Erlangen, but since 1848 he has remained at
Leipsic. A list of Roscher’s works is as follows:
“Grundriss zu Vorlesungen über die Staatswirthschaft nach
geschichtlicher Methode” (1843); “Kornhandel und Theuerungspolitik”
(third edition, 1852); “Untersuchungen über das Colonialwesen”;
“Verhältniss der Nationalökonomie zum klassischen Alterthume”
(1849); “Geschichte der englischen Volkswirthschaftslehre im 16. und
17. Jahrhunderts”; “Ein nationalökonom. Princep der
Forstwirthschaft”; “Ansichten der Volkswirthschaft aus dem
geschichtlichen Standpunkte” (second edition, 1861); “Die deutsche
Nationalökonomie an der Grenzscheide des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts”
(1862); “Gründungsgeschichte des Zollvereins” (1870); “Betrachtungen
über die Währungsfrage der deutschen Müntzreform” (1872);
“Geschichte der Nationalökonomie in Deutschland” (1874);
“Nationalökonomie des Ackerbaues” (eighth edition, 1875). His
histories of political economy in England and Germany are
particularly valuable (see review by Cliffe Leslie, “Fortnightly
Review,” July, 1875). But he does not rightly estimate the English
writers when he takes McLeod as a type; and Carey is the only
American to whom he refers.
83 Professor at Marburg, then at the University of Friedburg, in
Breisgau, and now at Heidelberg. He has also studied railways
(1853), and telegraphs (1857), and money and credit, “Geld und
Credit” (1873-1879).
84 Died 1878. He devoted himself mainly to criticism of other systems,
and seems to be the least able of the three.
85 “Catheder-Socialisten,” or “Professional Socialists.”
86 By far the ablest is Adolph Wagner, of Berlin, editor of Rau’s
“Lehrbuch der politischen Oekonomie” (1872). He also published “Die
russische Papierwährung” (1868); “Staatspapiergeld, Reichs-Kassen
Scheine, und Banknoten” (1874); “Unsere Müntzreform” (1877);
“Finanzwissenschaft” (1877); and “Die Communalsteuerfrage” (1878).
Dr. Eduard Engel was formerly the head of the Prussian Bureau of
Statistics. Professor Gustav Schönberg, of Tübingen, with the
assistance of twenty-one other economists, produced a large
“Handbuch der politischen Oekonomie” (1882). The school have
expressed their peculiar doctrines in the “Zeitschrift für die
gesammte Staatswissenschaft” (quarterly, founded 1844, Tübingen),
and the “Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie” (established at Jena,
1863). Also, see A. Wagner’s “Rede über die sociale Frage” (1872),
H. v. Scheel’s “Die Theorie der socialen Frage” (1871), and G.
Schmoller’s “Ueber einige Grundfrage des Rects und der
Volkswirthschaft” (1875). A. E. F. Schäffle, once Minister of
Commerce at Vienna, gained considerable reputation by “Das
gesellschaftliche System der menschlichen Wirthschaft” (third
edition, 1873).
87 Émile de Laveleye (born 1822) studied law at Ghent, but since 1848
has given himself up to political economy and public questions.
Through the pages of the “Revue des Deux Mondes” he gained attention
in 1863, and the next year was made Professor of Political Economy
at the University of Liége. In 1869 he received an election as
corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences. While a fertile
writer on political subjects, he has produced “La question d’or”
(1860); “Essai sur l’économie rurale de la Belgique” (1863); a study
on “Suisse,” see “Revue des Deux Mondes,” April 15, 1863; “Études
d’économie rurale, la Neerlande” (1864); “La marché monetaire depuis
cinquante ans” (1865); “Land Systems of Belgium and Holland,” in the
Cobden Club volume on “Land Tenures” (1870); “Bi-metallic Money,”
translated by G. Walker (1877); “La socialisme contemporaine”
(1881); “Éléments d’économie politique” (1882), which satisfies a
certain modern demand for “ethical political economy.”
88 Leslie found support in a well-known paper read before the
Association for the Advancement of Science (see “London Statistical
Journal,” December, 1878; also see “Penn Monthly,” 1879), by J. K.
Ingram, who claimed that the old school isolated the study of
economic from other social phenomena, and that Ricardo’s system was
not only too abstract, but that its conclusions were of so absolute
a character that they were little adapted for real use. Robert Lowe
(Lord Sherbrooke) replied to Leslie and Ingram (“Nineteenth
Century,” November, 1878). For most of this literature it will be
necessary to consult the magazines. Cliffe Leslie, “Fortnightly
Review” (November, 1870), placed Adam Smith among the inductive
economists; D. Syme attacked the old methods, “Westminster Review,”
vol. xcvi (1871); Cairnes represented the old school, and discussed
the new theories, “Political Economy and Comte,” in the “Fortnightly
Review,” vol. xiii, p. 579 (1870), “Political Economy and Laissez
Faire,” vol. xvi, p. 80 (1871), and in 1872; see also his admirable
“Logical Method”; F. Harrison discussed the limits of political
economy, ibid. (1865), and answered Cairnes in an article on
“Cairnes on Political Economy and M. Comte,” “Fortnightly Review,”
vol. xiv, p. 39 (1870). W. Newmarch gave attention to Ingram’s
paper, “Statistical Journal” (1871). Leslie, “Fortnightly Review”
(1875), and G. Cohn, ibid. (1873), wrote on political economy in
Germany. Leslie also contributed an article on “Political Economy
and Sociology,” “Fortnightly Review,” vol. xxxi, p. 25 (1879), and
the “Bicentenary of Political Economy,” in the “Bankers’ Magazine,”
vol. xxxii, p. 29. Leslie examined the philosophical method, “Penn
Monthly” (1877); Jevons saw the only hope for the future in the
mathematical method, “Fortnightly Review” (1876); McLeod asks, “What
is political economy?” in the “Contemporary Review” (1875); Maurice
Block entered the discussion, “Penn Monthly” (1877), and “Bankers’
Magazine,” March and November, 1878. Henry Sidgwick answers Leslie
in a paper on “Economic Method,” in the “Fortnightly Review,” vol.
xxxi (1879), p. 301. See also essay by Wolowski prefixed to
Roscher’s “Political Economy” (English translation); Roscher’s own
statement in Chapters II and III of the Introduction to his
“Political Economy,” and Laveleye’s “New Tendencies of Political
Economy” (1879). See also “Penn Monthly,” vol. vii, p. 190, and
“Bankers’ Magazine,” vol. xxxiii, pp. 601, 698, 761; vol. xxxvi, pp.
349, 422; S. Newcomb for an admirable essay “On the Method and
Province of Political Economy,” “North American Review” (1875), vol.
cxxi, p. 241, in which the “Orthodox” method is strongly supported;
and an extreme position in favor of the historical method in a
pamphlet, “The Past and Present of Political Economy,” by R. T. Ely
(1884).
89 Daniel Raymond, “The Elements of Political Economy” (1820). Thomas
Cooper, “Lectures on the Elements of Political Economy” (1826); “A
Manual of Political Economy” (1834). Willard Phillips, “A Manual of
Political Economy” (1828); “Propositions concerning Protection and
Free Trade” (1860). President Francis Wayland (1796-1865), “The
Elements of Political Economy” (1837). Henry Vethake, “Principles of
Political Economy” (1838). From 1840 to the civil war there appeared
F. Bowen’s “Principles of Political Economy” (1856), since changed
to “American Political Economy” (1873), which opposed the Malthusian
doctrine and defended protection; John Bascom’s “Political Economy”
(1859); and Stephen Colwell’s “Ways and Means of Payment” (1859).
After the war, “Science of Wealth” (1866), by Amasa Walker, a
lecturer in Amherst College, and father of F. A. Walker.
90 Prof. C. F. Dunbar, “North American Review,” January, 1876, in an
admirable review of economic science in America during the last
century (1776-1876).
91 See _supra_, p. 16.
92 Carey (1793-1879) was the son of an Irish exile, and began a
business career at the age of twelve. At twenty-eight he was the
leading partner in the publishing firm of Carey & Lea, Philadelphia,
from which he retired in 1835, to devote himself wholly to political
economy. His leading works have been translated into French,
Italian, Portuguese, German, Swedish, Russian, Magyar, and Japanese.
He has written thirteen octavo volumes, three thousand pages in
pamphlet form, and twice that amount for the newspaper press. See
“Proceedings of the American Academy of Science” (1881-1882, p.
417), and W. Elder’s “Memoir of Henry C. Carey” (January 5, 1880).
The latter gives a list of his books.
93 Bastiat’s “Harmonies économiques” appeared in 1850, and the question
of his indebtedness to Carey was discussed, rather unfavorably to
Bastiat, in a series of letters in the “Journal des économistes” for
1851.
94 See an able study, by Adolphe Held, “Carey’s Socialwissenschaft und
das Merkantilsystem” (1866).
95 His system appears also in the books of disciples: E. Peshine Smith,
“A Manual of Political Economy” (1853), William Elder’s “Questions
of the Day” (1871), and of Robert E. Thompson’s “Social Science and
National Economy” (1875). A condensation of Carey’s “Social Science”
has been made by Kate McKean, in one volume, octavo.
96 The son of Amasa Walker, and formerly Professor of Political Economy
and History in the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale College, he
has become well known for his statistical work in connection with
the United States census. His “Statistical Atlas of the United
States” (1874) is unequaled. He has also published “Money” (1878);
“Money, Trade, and Industry” (1879); “Political Economy” (1883); and
“Land and Rent” (1884). The last book replies to various attacks on
Ricardo’s doctrine of rent, and particularly to Henry George’s
“Progress and Poverty.” General Walker in 1883 became President of
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston. He is also well
known as an advocate of bimetallism.
97 Professor of Political and Social Science in Yale College, and
author of a “History of American Currency” (1874); “Lectures on the
History of Protection in the United States” (1877); “What Social
Classes owe to Each Other” (1883). He is a monometallist, and has
devoted himself vigorously to the advocacy of free trade. His last
book is a study in sociology, not in political economy.
98 He has written “Political Economy” (eighteenth edition, 1883), and
also “Introduction to Political Economy,” an elementary work on the
same basis as the former.
99 Henry George was born in Philadelphia, 1839, ran away to sea, and in
1857 entered a printing-office in San Francisco. In 1871 he was one
of the founders of the “San Francisco Post,” which he gave up in
1875, and received a public office. He first began to agitate his
views in a pamphlet entitled “Our Land and Land Policy” (1871), but
not until the comparative leisure of his occupation (1875) gave him
opportunity did he seriously begin the study which resulted in his
“Progress and Poverty.” This volume was begun in the summer of 1877,
and finished in the spring of 1879. The sale of the book, it is
needless to say, has been phenomenal. He has also applied his
doctrine of land to Ireland, in a pamphlet entitled “The Irish Land
Question” (1882). His last book is a collection of essays entitled
“Social Problems” (1884). His home is now in New York.
100 Cf. p. 4, _supra_.
101 Bowen, “American Political Economy,” p. 25.
102 This is the beginning of Chapter II in the original treatise.
103 This is his “sacrifice,” which corresponds to the exertion of the
laborer.
104 See Roscher’s note 1, section 42, for various definitions of
capital.
105 General Walker (“Political Economy,” Part II, Chap. iv) adopts the
same position, although seemingly inconsistent with his doctrine on
the rate of wages. The “rate of wages” is, however, a different
thing from the source of a laborer’s subsistence. See Book II,
Chapter II, § 2.
106 The opinion mentioned above in the text is that of the believers in
over-production, of whom the most distinguished are Mr. Malthus, Dr.
Chalmers, and Sismondi.
107 Page 371, English translation, N. Y. (1871).
108 Edward Atkinson, “Labor and Capital, Allies not Enemies,” p. 60.
109 Cf. Bowen, “American Political Economy,” p. 399.
110 The functions of money are discussed later in the volume, and it is
not proposed to unfold them here.
111 See, for the argument that machinery necessarily injures labor,
“Land and Labor,” William Godwin Moody (1883); and for the answer,
“North American Review,” May, 1884, p. 510.
112 Edward Atkinson, “Labor and Capital, Allies not Enemies,” p. 33.
113 See book iv, chap. iv.
114 See Mr. Babbage’s “Economy of Machinery and Manufactures.”
115 Book i, chap. iv, § 6.
116 Constant use of the same muscles, as by gold-beaters or writers,
very often produces paralysis.
117 Hearn’s “Plutology,” p. 279.
118 Cairnes, “Leading Principles,” pp. 299, 300.
119 “American Political Economy,” p. 134. See also an article,
“Malthusianism, Darwinism, and Pessimism,” “North American Review,”
November, 1879.
120 See Cairnes, “Logical Method,” pp. 170-177.
121 See also Walker’s “Wages Question,” chap. vi, and Roscher,
“Political Economy,” book v, chaps. i, ii, iii.
122 See Galton’s “Hereditary Genius,” p. 131-135.
123 See also Edward Jarvis, “Atlantic Monthly,” 1872, and F. A. Walker,
“Social Science Journal,” vol. v, 1873, p. 71. For other literature,
see “Sketch of the History of Political Economy,” p. 16.
124 This is the “preventive check” of Mr. Malthus, while the limitation
through war, starvation, etc., is the “positive check.”
125 This is fully confirmed by the inaugural address of Mr. Giffen as
President of the London Statistical Society, November 20, 1883,
_infra_, book iv, chap. v, § 1. (See the London “Statistical
Journal,” 1883.)
126 See Lavergne’s “Agriculture et Population,” pp. 305-316.
127 For tables of relative births and deaths, see “Statesman’s
Year-Book,” p. 253.
128 This and the subsequent quotations are taken by Mr. Mill from Rae’s
“New Principles of Political Economy.”
129 “International Review,” article “Colonization,” 1881, p. 88. See H.
V. Redfield, “Homicide North and South,” 1880.
130 “Letters from America,” by John Robert Godley, vol. i. p. 42. See
also Lyell’s “Travels in America,” vol. ii, p. 83.—Mill.
131 Cf. “American Agriculture,” “Princeton Review,” May, 1882, by F. A.
Walker.
132 “Social Science,” vol. iii, p. 19.
133 “Notes on North America,” 1851, vol. ii, pp. 116, 117.
134 See also Cairnes, “Logical Method,” p. 35.
135 I am indebted to Mr. Atkinson for advanced proofs of the annexed
charts. See his paper in the “Journal of the American Agricultural
Association,” vol. i, Nos. 3 and 4, p. 154, and a later discussion
in the supplement of the Boston “Manufacturers’ Gazette,” August 9,
1884, entitled “The Railway, the Farmer, and the Public.” His
figures are drawn mainly from Poor’s “Railway Manual.”
136 Cf. Book IV, Chap. I.
137 “Economy of Manufactures,” pp. 163, 164.
138 Cf. Book IV, Chap. I, § 4.
139 “The Coal Question” (1866).
140 Henry George, as well as the Socialists, thinks poverty arises from
the injustice of society, and here takes issue with the present
teaching. But the question can be better discussed under
Distribution.
141 Henry Gannet, “International Review,” 1882, p. 503.
142 Volume on Population, p. 481.
143 Estimated.
144 See article “Colonization,” “International Review,” 1881, p. 88.
145 See F. A. Walker’s “Statistical Atlas.”
146 For a further discussion of the difference between the motive powers
under private property and under Communism, see Mr. Mill’s
posthumous “Chapters on Socialism,” “Fortnightly Review,” 1879 (vol.
xxxi).
147 For an exposition of the varying forms of modern state socialism,
and that form of it which advocates the nationalization of land (in
H. George’s “Progress and Poverty,” and Alfred Russel Wallace’s
“Land Nationalization, its Necessity and its Aims”) see a chapter in
Henry Fawcett’s last (sixth) edition of his “Manual” (1884). For a
general and valuable treatise on Socialism, but one which does not
describe schemes much later than Owen’s, see Louis Reybaud’s “Études
sur les reformateurs, ou socialistes modernes” (seventh edition,
1864). An excellent bibliography is given, vol. ii, pp. 453-470.
148 Pierre Joseph Proudhon (born 1809) made a well-known attack on
private property in his “Qu’est-ce que la Propriété,” “What is
Property?” (1840). His answer was, “It is robbery.” See also Ely,
“French and German Socialism” (1883), p. 140.
149 Louis Blanc (born 1813, died 1882). His chief book, the
“Organization of Labor,” appeared in 1840, in the columns of the
“Revue du Progrès.”
150 Karl Marx (born 1818, died 1883) published “The Criticism of
Political Economy” (1859); and an extension of the same book under
the new title of “Capital” (1867), of which only the first volume
has appeared, on “The Process of the Production of Capital.” This
was again enlarged in 1872 to 822 pages. A large part of the work is
filled with extracts from parliamentary reports on the condition of
English workmen. Before the Revolution of 1848 he edited a
communistic journal, and was obliged to leave the country afterward,
by which he was led to London. He was an able writer on history and
politics. Marx was assisted by Friedrich Engels, who wrote “The
Condition of the Working Classes in England” (1845). See Ely, ibid.,
chap. x.
151 Born 1825, the son of a rich Jewish merchant. In philosophy and
jurisprudence he won the praise of Humboldt and Boeckh. But vanity
and wild ambition checked the success due to great abilities and
energy of character. He was finally shot in a duel in 1864. He
appears as the antagonist of Schultze (of Delitzsch), advocating
state-help against the self-help of the originator of the People’s
Banks.
152 For an account of this society see Theodore D. Woolsey’s “Communism
and Socialism” (1880); “Nineteenth Century,” July, 1878; and Ely,
ibid., chap. xi.
153 See New York “Nation,” Nos. 684, 686.
154 From his posthumous “Chapters on Socialism,” “Fortnightly Review,”
1879, p. 513 (vol. xxxi), and written in 1869.
155 The Count de Saint-Simon served in our Revolutionary War in the
French army, while very young, and ended a life of misfortune and
poverty in 1825, a month after the publication of his “Nouveau
Christianisme” (Woolsey’s “Communism and Socialism,” p. 107). For a
fuller account, see R. T. Ely’s “French and German Socialism,” p.
53; A. J. Booth’s “Saint-Simon and Saint-Simonism” (London, 1871);
and Reybaud, ibid.
156 This experiment when put on trial in France first brought up the
question of the legal justice of giving an absolute right to
inherited property, and numbered among its disciples the economists,
Michel Chevalier and Adolphe Blanqui, and the philosopher, Auguste
Comte.
157 Fourier was born at Besançon in 1772. He wrote the “Theory of the
Four Movements” (1808); “A Treatise on Domestic and Agricultural
Association” (1822); “The Theory of Universal Unity” (1841). Died
1837. See Ely, ibid., p. 81; Victor Considérant’s “La Destinée
Sociale” (fourth edition, 1851); and Reybaud, ibid.
158 Robert Owen (father of Robert Dale Owen), born 1771, in 1799 was
engaged in the famous New Lanark Mills, of which Jeremy Bentham was
one of the partners. In 1825 he purchased Harmony, in Indiana, from
Mr. Rapp. He believed in a full community of property; that the
Government should employ the surplus of labor for which there was no
demand; and that, until the members became fully trained, affairs
should be managed by one head (as in Saint-Simonism).
159 For Brook Farm, see Noyes’s “History of American Socialism,” chapter
xi, and the life of “George Ripley,” by O. B. Frothingham (1882). In
general, also, for American experiments see Charles Nordhoff’s “The
Communistic Societies of the United States”; W. A. Hinds’s “American
Communists” (1878); Woolsey’s “Communism and Socialism” (1880); and
Noyes’s “American Socialism” (1870).
160 The extracts in large type in this section are taken from Mr. Mill’s
“Chapters on Socialism” (“Fortnightly Review,” 1879), being only the
beginning of a larger work begun in 1869, and given to the public
since his death. They are of interest because they give his
conclusions twenty years after his “Political Economy” was written.
161 “Logical Method,” pp. 34, 36.
162 Cf. Cairnes, “Leading Principles,” pp. 180-188.
163 In the “Fortnightly Review,” May 1, 1869.
164 “Leading Principles,” pp. 149-189.
165 Counting six days to a week and four weeks to a month.
166 “Leading Principles,” p. 185.
167 Mr. Thornton replied to Mr. Cairnes (“Nineteenth Century,” August,
1879). A succinct statement of the condition of the wages-fund
controversy has been made by Henry Sidgwick, “Fortnightly Review,”
September 1, 1879. See also W. G. Sumner, “Princeton Review,”
“Wages,” November, 1882.
168 He advanced the same view in the “North American Review,” vol. cxx,
January, 1875. In his “Political Economy” (1883) he advances a more
extensive theory of distribution. See “Atlantic Monthly,” July,
1883, p. 129.
169 See Cairnes, “Leading Principles,” p. 209.
170 This proposition needs to be kept in mind for the future discussion
of the cost of production of food and its relation to cost of labor.
Book II, Chap. V, § 5.
171 Mr. Carey takes this ground.
172 See the explanation of an economic law, Book II, Chap. II, § 1.
173 “Constitutional History of England,” vol. ii, p. 563. See also
Nicholls’s “History of the Poor Laws,” vol. ii, p. 303.
174 For further discussion of the advantages of small holdings, see Book
IV, Chap. V, § 2.
175 “Leading Principles,” pp. 64-69.
176 See Young, “Labor in Europe.”
177 Walter Bagehot, “Lombard Street,” p. 13.
178 “Work and Wages.”
179 The reader is advised to consider, in connection with this, the
former discussion on the relation between wages and the price of
food (pp. 185, 186).
180 “Logical Method,” p. 206.
181 “American Political Economy,” p. 164.
182 Rickards, “Population and Capital,” p. 135.
183 Rickards, ibid., p. 75.
184 “Political Economy,” p. 288.
185 “Progress and Poverty,” pp. 220, 221.
186 “American Political Economy,” p. 164.
187 For other writers opposed to the doctrine of Rent as maintained by
Ricardo and Mill, see Bonamy Price, “Practical Political Economy,”
chap. x; McLeod, “Principles of Economic Philosophy,” chap. x; and
J. E. T. Rogers, “Manual of Political Economy,” chap. xii.
188 Cairnes, “Logical Method,” p. 199.
189 “Theory and Practice of Banking,” vol. i, p. 13. Cf. Cairnes,
“Logical Method,” p. 106.
190 “Leading Principles,” p. 11.
191 “Political Economy,” p. 5.
192 “Social Science,” vol. i, p. 158.
193 “Harmonies,” p. 171.
194 “Political Economy,” p. 126.
195 “Political Economy,” Introduction, Chap. I, § 5.
196 “Précis d’Économie politique,” p. 175.
197 “Précis de la Science économique,” vol. i, p. 202.
198 “Political Economy Primer,” p. 98.
199 “Leading Principles,” p. 15.
200 “Theory of Political Economy,” pp. 82-91. See Cairnes, ibid., pp.
17-19.
201 “Political Economy,” p. 92.
202 “Social Science,” vol. ii, p. 335.
203 “Political Economy,” Introduction, Chap. I, § 5.
204 “Précis,” p. 206.
205 “Political Economy,” p. 165.
206 “Logic of Political Economy.”
207 Although here using demand in its proper sense, a little later Mr.
Mill defines it as the “quantity demanded.” As he again uses it in
the proper sense in discussing excess of money (Book III, Chap. V),
supply (Book III, Chap. XI), and foreign trade (Book III, Chap.
XIV), I have omitted from his present exposition his evidently
inconsistent use of the word.
208 “Leading Principles,” p. 25.
209 “Leading Principles,” p. 108.
210 See his chapter on “Natural and Market Price,” book i, chap. vii.
211 “Report of the Director of the Mint,” 1883, p. 69.
_ 212 Supra_, p. 222.
213 “Leading Principles,” p. 41.
214 Book I, Chap. I, § 2.
215 See _supra_, p. 210.
216 “Leading Principles,” part i, chap. iii, p. 87.
217 “Work and Wages.”
218 “Leading Principles,” p. 136.
219 F. A. Walker (“Political Economy,” pp. 248-259) expands this idea,
and makes it the pivotal part of his whole theory of distribution
among laborers, capitalists, and landlords.
220 “Money and the Mechanism of Exchange,” chap. iii.
221 “Political Economy,” p. 127.
222 “Money and the Mechanism of Exchange,” p. 1.
223 “Political Economy,” p. 144.
224 The substance of Mr. Mill’s former chapter, XV (Book III), is here
inserted in its direct connection with the functions of money.
225 F. A. Walker, “Political Economy,” p. 363. A German, Count Soden
(1805), Joseph Lowe (1822), and G. Poulett Scrope (1833), proposed
this scheme. See Jevons, “Money and the Mechanism of Exchange,”
chap. xxv.
226 “Money and the Mechanism of Exchange,” p. 31.
227 “A Serious Fall in the Value of Gold” (1863).
228 F. A. Walker defines the demand for money as “the occasion for the
use of money in effecting exchanges; in other words, it is the
amount of money-work to be done” (“Political Economy,” p. 133); and
the supply of money as “the money-force available to do the
money-work which the demand for money indicates as required to be
done, in the given community, at the given time. The supply of money
is measured by ... the amount of money and the rapidity of
circulation” (ibid., p. 136).
229 Jevons, “Money and the Mechanism of Exchange,” pp. 336, 339.
230 “Edelmetall-Production,” in Petermann’s “Mittheilungen,”
Ergänzungsheft, No. 57.
231 See Jevons’s “A Serious Fall in the Value of Gold.”
232 In his book “De la Baisse probable de l’Or” (1859). See also
Cairnes’s “Essays.” For authorities on the new gold, see Robinson’s
“California” (Larkin’s and Mason’s Reports, pp. 17, 33); Executive
Documents of United States, 1848, I, 1; Westgarth’s “Colony of
Victoria,” pp. 122, 315; Wood, “Sixteen Months in the Gold
Diggings,” p. 125; Lalor’s “Cyclopædia,” II, p. 851; Walker,
“Money,” part i, chaps. vii, viii. For the probable effects, see
“North American Review,” October, 1852; Tooke’s “History of Prices,”
vi, p. 224; “Statistical Journal,” 1878, p. 230; Levasseur,
“Question de l’Or.” As to how far the value of gold was lowered,
Jevons, “Serious Fall,” etc.; “Statistical Journal,” 1865; ibid.,
1869, p. 445; and Giffen’s “Essays in Finance,” p. 82.
233 “Report of the House of Commons on Depreciation of Silver,” 1876, p.
v.
234 See Macaulay, “History of England,” chap. xxi.
235 “Money and the Mechanism of Exchange,” p. 84.
236 Jevons, ibid., p. 138.
237 See S. Dana Horton, “Gold and Silver,” 1877, p. 84, _et seq._
238 See Linderman, “Money and Legal Tender,” p. 161.
239 Director of the Mint, Report, 1883, p. 49, and Linderman, ibid., p.
173.
240 See “Atlantic Monthly,” “The Silver Danger,” May, 1884.
241 See “International Review,” September, 1876; and for some further
explanation of banks, see “Atlantic Monthly,” 1882, pp. 196, 695,
696.
242 “Report of the Comptroller of the Currency,” 1883, p. 34.
243 See “Nature,” xix, 33, 588.
244 See Walker’s “Money,” p. 473.
245 Vol. i, p. 302. See Sumner’s “History of American Currency” and
Walker’s “Money” for much valuable material.
246 See Cherbuliez, vol. i, p. 299.
247 “Money and the Mechanism of Exchange,” p. 232.
248 For John Law’s famous scheme (1718-1720) in France, called the
“Mississippi Bubble,” the best authority is Levasseur’s “Système de
Law” (1854). Also consult M. Thiers’s “The Mississippi Bubble”
(translated by F. F. Fiske, 1859); Steuart’s “Political Economy”
(1767); and McLeod’s “Dictionary of Political Economy,” article on
“Banking in France.”
249 For the best brief account of the issues of assignats, see President
A. D. White’s “Paper Money Inflation in France.” See also F. A.
Walker, “Money,” pp. 336-347; Bazot’s “Assignats”; and Alison’s
“History of the French Revolution,” vol. ii, p. 606.
250 See “Some Account of the Bills of Credit or Paper Money of Rhode
Island, 1710-1786,” in “Rhode Island Historical Tracts,” No. 8
(1880), by E. S. Potter and S. S. Rider.
251 See Felt’s “History of Massachusetts Currency.” Consult also Minot,
Hutchinson, and Gouge. Walker, “Money,” and Sumner, “History of
American Currency,” have given considerable accounts of paper
experiments in the United States, and should be well studied.
252 See Walker, “Money,” p. 329.
253 See J. J. Knox’s “United States Notes” (1884); the Finance Reports
during and since the war to 1879; Spaulding’s “Financial History of
the War” (1869); Bowen’s “American Political Economy,” chap. xv;
“Chapters of Erie,” by H. Adams and F. A. Walker; and the voluminous
pages of the “Congressional Globe.” For the decisions in the
legal-tender cases, see “Banker’s Magazine,” 1869-1870, p. 712, and
1871-1872, pp. 752, 780. A collection of statutes affecting United
States finance, especially since 1860, has been made in a small
pamphlet, by Professor C. F. Dunbar (published by Sever, Cambridge,
Massachusetts).
254 Report of 1861.
255 Mr. Malthus, Dr. Chalmers, M. de Sismondi, and various minor
writers. It is especially likely that, in times of commercial
depression, the journals of the day will contain arguments to show a
general over-production.
256 Book IV, Chap. II.
257 This is practically the argument of a little book, “Excessive Saving
a Cause of Commercial Distress” (1884), by Uriel H. Crocker.
258 Book III, Chap. II, § 4.
259 “Leading Principles,” pp. 302-307.
260 “Essays on some Unsettled Questions of Political Economy,” Essay I.
261 I at one time believed Mr. Ricardo to have been the sole author of
the doctrine now universally received by political economists, on
the nature and measure of the benefit which a country derives from
foreign trade. But Colonel Torrens, by the republication of one of
his early writings, “The Economists refuted,” has established at
least a joint claim with Mr. Ricardo to the origination of the
doctrine, and an exclusive one to its earliest publication.—MILL.
262 I have in this illustration retained almost the exact words quoted
by Mr. Mill from his father’s book, James Mill’s “Elements of
Political Economy,” but altered it by changing the trade from Poland
to the United States, and by speaking of iron instead of cloth.
263 “American Political Economy,” p. 481.
264 For a fuller discussion of this question see Cairnes, “Leading
Principles,” p. 319, ff.
265 “Leading Principles,” p. 323.
266 Cairnes, “Leading Principles,” p. 301.
267 Book I, chap. VI, § 4.
268 I have changed the illustration from England to the United States in
this example.
269 Book III, Chap. II, § 4.
270 Book III, Chap. I, § 3.
271 See “Statistical Abstract,” 1883, pp. 32, 33.
272 This substitution has been made for Brazil.
273 See close of last chapter.
274 I have also changed the illustrations in this chapter so as to apply
to the United States.
275 The examples in this and the next section have been altered so as to
apply to the United States.
276 I have changed the names of the countries in the illustrations
contained in this chapter, but have not further altered the language
beyond the occasional change of a pronoun.
277 The subjoined extract from the separate essay [“Some Unsettled
Questions of Political Economy”] previously referred to will give
some assistance in following the course of the phenomena. It is
adapted to the imaginary case used for illustration throughout that
essay, the case of a trade between England and Germany in cloth and
linen.
“We may, at first, make whatever supposition we will with respect to
the value of money. Let us suppose, therefore, that, before the
opening of the trade, the price of cloth is the same in both
countries, namely, six shillings per yard. As ten yards of cloth
were supposed to exchange in England for fifteen yards of linen, in
Germany for twenty, we must suppose that linen is sold in England at
four shillings per yard, in Germany at three. Cost of carriage and
importer’s profit are left, as before, out of consideration.
“In this state of prices, cloth, it is evident, can not yet be
exported from England into Germany; but linen can be imported from
Germany into England. It will be so; and, in the first instance, the
linen will be paid for in money.
“The efflux of money from England and its influx into Germany will
raise money prices in the latter country, and lower them in the
former. Linen will rise in Germany above three shillings per yard,
and cloth above six shillings. Linen in England, being imported from
Germany, will (since cost of carriage is not reckoned) sink to the
same price as in that country, while cloth will fall below six
shillings. As soon as the price of cloth is lower in England than in
Germany, it will begin to be exported, and the price of cloth in
Germany will fall to what it is in England. As long as the cloth
exported does not suffice to pay for the linen imported, money will
continue to flow from England into Germany, and prices generally
will continue to fall in England and rise in Germany.
“By the fall, however, of cloth in England, cloth will fall in
Germany also, and the demand for it will increase. By the rise of
linen in Germany, linen must rise in England also, and the demand
for it will diminish. As cloth fell in price and linen rose, there
would be some particular price of both articles at which the cloth
exported and the linen imported would exactly pay for each other. At
this point prices would remain, because money would then cease to
move out of England into Germany. What this point might be would
entirely depend upon the circumstances and inclinations of the
purchasers on both sides. If the fall of cloth did not much increase
the demand for it in Germany, and the rise of linen did not diminish
very rapidly the demand for it in England, much money must pass
before the equilibrium is restored; cloth would fall very much, and
linen would rise, until England, perhaps, had to pay nearly as much
for it as when she produced it for herself. But, if, on the
contrary, the fall of cloth caused a very rapid increase of the
demand for it in Germany, and the rise of linen in Germany reduced
very rapidly the demand in England from what it was under the
influence of the first cheapness produced by the opening of the
trade, the cloth would very soon suffice to pay for the linen,
little money would pass between the two countries, and England would
derive a large portion of the benefit of the trade. We have thus
arrived at precisely the same conclusion, in supposing the
employment of money, which we found to hold under the supposition of
barter.
“In what shape the benefit accrues to the two nations from the trade
is clear enough. Germany, before the commencement of the trade, paid
six shillings per yard for broadcloth; she now obtains it at a lower
price. This, however, is not the whole of her advantage. As the
money-prices of all her other commodities have risen, the
money-incomes of all her producers have increased. This is no
advantage to them in buying from each other, because the price of
what they buy has risen in the same ratio with their means of paying
for it: but it is an advantage to them in buying anything which has
not risen, and, still more, anything which has fallen. They,
therefore, benefit as consumers of cloth, not merely to the extent
to which cloth has fallen, but also to the extent to which other
prices have risen. Suppose that this is one tenth. The same
proportion of their money-incomes as before will suffice to supply
their other wants; and the remainder, being increased one tenth in
amount, will enable them to purchase one tenth more cloth than
before, even though cloth had not fallen: but it has fallen; so that
they are doubly gainers. They purchase the same quantity with less
money, and have more to expend upon their other wants.
“In England, on the contrary, general money-prices have fallen.
Linen, however, has fallen more than the rest, having been lowered
in price by importation from a country where it was cheaper; whereas
the others have fallen only from the consequent efflux of money.
Notwithstanding, therefore, the general fall of money-prices, the
English producers will be exactly as they were in all other
respects, while they will gain as purchasers of linen.
“The greater the efflux of money required to restore the
equilibrium, the greater will be the gain of Germany, both by the
fall of cloth and by the rise of her general prices. The less the
efflux of money requisite, the greater will be the gain of England;
because the price of linen will continue lower, and her general
prices will not be reduced so much. It must not, however, be
imagined that high money-prices are a good, and low money-prices an
evil, in themselves. But, the higher the general money-prices in any
country, the greater will be that country’s means of purchasing
those commodities, which, being imported from abroad, are
independent of the causes which keep prices high at home.”
“In practice, the cloth and the linen would not, as here supposed,
be at the same price in England and in Germany: each would be dearer
in money-price in the country which imported than in that which
produced it, by the amount of the cost of carriage, together with
the ordinary profit on the importer’s capital for the average length
of time which elapsed before the commodity could be disposed of. But
it does not follow that each country pays the cost of carriage of
the commodity it imports; for the addition of this item to the price
may operate as a greater check to demand on one side than on the
other; and the equation of international demand, and consequent
equilibrium of payments, may not be maintained. Money would then
flow out of one country into the other, until, in the manner already
illustrated, the equilibrium was restored: and, when this was
effected, one country would be paying more than its own cost of
carriage, and the other less.”—MILL.
278 See Book III, Chap. XVIII, § 5, of Mill’s original work.
279 “Principles of Political Economy and Taxation,” third edition, p.
143.
280 For an exceedingly good study on the conditions of our foreign trade
down to 1873, and a prophecy of the panic of 1873, see Cairnes,
“Leading Principles,” pp. 364-374.
281 “Leading Principles,” p. 357.
282 The illustrations in this chapter have also been changed, but only
so far as to make them apply to the United States.
283 I am here supposing a state of things in which gold and silver
mining are a permanent branch of industry, carried on under known
conditions; and not the present state of uncertainty, in which
gold-gathering is a game of chance, prosecuted (for the present) in
the spirit of an adventure, not in that of a regular industrial
pursuit.—MILL. It is, however, worth recalling that gold and silver
mining have not been—for large effects on the value of the
metals—anything like a permanent branch of industry, but that, in
the main, great additions have been obtained suddenly and by chance
discoveries.—J. L. L.
284 See Walker, “Money,” Chap. XIX.
285 Book II, Chap. V, § 1.
286 I do not include in the general loan fund of the country the
capitals, large as they sometimes are, which are habitually employed
in speculatively buying and selling the public funds and other
securities.—MILL.
287 The rate of interest at such crises in New York has several times
risen to 400 or 500 per cent per annum.
288 In this illustration I have retained as nearly as possible the form
of that given by Mr. Mill for the trade between England and Germany
in cloth and linen.
289 Book II, Chap. V, § 5.
290 Book II, Chap. II, § 3.
291 Cf. Cairnes, “Leading Principles,” p. 209.
292 For a brief bibliography on our own Navigation Laws and the Shipping
Question, see Appendix I.
293 Book III, Chap. III, § 1.
_ 294 Supra_, Book III, Chap. II, § 2, and Chap. XX, § 4.
295 Henry George, however, asserts that, “irrespective of the increase
of population, the effect of improvements in methods of production
and exchange is to increase rent” (“Progress and Poverty,” p. 220).
296 “Leading Principles,” Part I, chap. v.
297 For the distinction between normal and market values, see _supra_,
Book III, Chap. II, § 4, and p. 269.
298 Before beginning this discussion the reader is advised to review the
relation of profits to cost of labor, and the dependence of the
latter on its three factors, Book II, Chap. V, § 5.
299 Book I, Chap. IX
300 Mr. Mill commended, as the most scientific treatment of the subject
with which he had met, an “Essay on the Effects of Machinery,” by
William Ellis, “Westminster Review,” January, 1826.
301 Although their needs now attract more attention through the
extension of newspapers and cheap books, the condition of the
laboring-class is certainly better than it was fifty years ago. See
Mr. Robert Giffen’s “Progress of the Working-Classes in the Last
Half-Century” (1884), referred to in Book IV, Chap. V, § 1.
302 A comparison of Chart No. XVII with Chart No. VI will furnish some
means of learning whether the building of railways has gone on
faster than is warranted by the increase of our crops (see _supra_,
pp. 138).
303 Book I, Chap. V, § 2.
304 Book II, Chap. I, § 6.
305 “Progress of the Working-Classes in the Last Half-Century” (1884),
page 8.
306 “Leading Principles,” pp. 278-280.
307 “Progress of the Working-Classes in the Last Half-Century” (1884),
being his inaugural address as President of the London Statistical
Society, November 20, 1883.
308 1825.
309 1825.
310 Wages per day.
311 Wages per day.
312 Year 1878.
313 These mills have not been able to pay ten per cent regularly, as
mentioned in Chart No. XIX, but it has merely been supposed that ten
per cent were demanded by capital, in order to show that, for such a
dividend, it required a diminishing proportion of the price to meet
that estimate.
314 Book II, Chap. V, § 5; see also “North American Review,” May, 1884,
p. 517.
315 For the influences of small properties in restraining an undue
increase of population, see _supra_, p. 119. For a more general
account of the benefits arising from such holdings, consult Mill’s
original work, Book II, Chaps. VI and VII, and T. E. Cliffe Leslie’s
“Land Systems.”
316 Cf. E. L. Godkin, “North American Review,” 1868, p. 150.
317 Fawcett, “Manual of Political Economy” (last edition), chapter on
Co-operation.
318 Giffen, “Progress of the Working-Classes in the Last Half-Century,”
p. 19.
319 “History of Co-operation in England” (2 vols., 1879), p. 105.
320 Mr. Holyoake (“History of Co-operation in England,” p. 99) quotes as
follows from another’s experience: “My own pass-book shows that I
paid on November 3d, of last year (1860), £1 to become a member of a
co-operative store. I have paid nothing since, and I am now credited
with £3 16_s._ 6_d._, nearly three hundred per cent on my capital in
a single year. Of course, that arises from my purchases having been
large in proportion to my investment. In a co-operative store you
get five per cent upon the money which you invest as a shareholder;
and, if the store be well conducted, you will get seven and a half
per cent addition.”
321 For a full account of the proper steps to be taken in establishing a
store, with many practical details, see Charles Barnard’s
“Co-operation as a Business,” p. 119.
322 Cf. Walker, “Wages Question,” p. 276.
323 Godkin, “North American Review,” 1868.
324 “History of Co-operation,” vol. ii, chap. ix.
325 Holyoake, “History of Co-operation,” p. 131.
326 Godkin, “North American Review,” 1868.
327 Pp. 27, 31, 32.
328 Barnard, “Co-operation as a Business,” pp. 150-152.
329 Holyoake, “History of Co-operation,” p. 235.
330 See Thornton, “On Labor,” p. 370. Also see “Parliamentary
Documents,” 1868, 1869, xxxi; “Trades-Unions of England,” by the
Count de Paris; Brassey’s “Work and Wages,” chap. xiii.
331 See Walker, “Wages Question,” p. 283. Also see Mill, Book IV, Chap.
VII, § 5, for an account of M. Leclaire’s experiments in France with
house-painters.
332 See also Von Böhmert, “Gewinnbetheiligung,” second edition, 1878,
and Jevons’s “Methods of Social Reform” (1883). Professor Jevons
(“The State in Relation to Labor,” pp. 146, 147) has given a brief
bibliography, which I reproduce here:
Charles Babbage, “Economy of Manufactures,” chap. xxvi; H. C.
Briggs, “Social Science Association,” 1869; H. C. and A. Briggs,
“Evidence before the Trades-Union Commission,” March 4, 1868,
Questions 12,485 to 12,753 [Parliamentary Documents]; “The
Industrial Partnerships Record”; Pare, “Co-operative Agriculture”
(Longmans) 1870; Jean Billon, “Participation des Ouvriers aux
Bénéfices des Patrons,” Genève, 1877; Fougerousse, “Patrons et
Ouvriers de Paris” (Chaix), 1880; Sedley Taylor, “Society of Arts
Journal,” February 18, 1881, vol. xxix, pp. 260-270; also in
“Nineteenth Century,” May, 1881, pp. 802-811, “On Profit-Sharing”;
J. C. Van Marken, “La Question Ouvrière: Essai de Solution Pratique”
(Chaix) 1881.
333 In his last edition of his “Manual,” Professor Fawcett thus
describes a co-operative experiment in agriculture: “The one that
has attracted the most attention was made nearly forty years since
by Mr. Gurdon, on his estate at Assington, near Sudbury, in Suffolk.
Mr. Gurdon was so much impressed with the miserable condition of the
agricultural laborers who were employed on his estate, that he was
prompted to do something on their behalf. When, therefore, one of
his farms became vacant, he offered to let it at the ordinary rent,
£150 a year, to the laborers who worked upon it. As they, of course,
had not sufficient capital to cultivate it, he in the first instance
loaned them the requisite stock and implements. The laborers were,
in fact, formed into a company in which there were eleven shares,
and no laborer was permitted to hold more than one share. The plan
was so eminently successful that in a few years sufficient had been
saved out of the profits to repay all that had been advanced, and
the stock and implements became the property of the laborers. Each
share greatly increased in value. Mr. Gurdon was so much encouraged,
not only by the pecuniary advantages secured to the laborers, but
also by the general improvement effected in their condition, that
some years afterward he let another and a larger farm on similar
terms. Although no statement of accounts has ever been published,
the remarkable pecuniary advantages secured to the laborers is
proved by the fact that, after enjoying at least as high wages as
were paid in the district, they were able in a few years to become
the owners of a valuable property, consisting of the stock and
implements on the farms. One of the most significant and hopeful
circumstances connected with the experiment is, that it was not
carried out by a picked body of men; and if so much could be done by
laborers who were probably among the worst educated in the country,
it maybe fairly concluded, that when the intelligence of our rural
population has been better developed, co-operation may be applied in
a more complete form to agriculture, and with even more striking
results than were obtained at Assington.... In the description which
has been frequently given of the system of peasant proprietorship,
it is shown how powerfully the industry of the laborer is stimulated
by the feeling of property. When he cultivates his own plot of
ground, he exerts himself to the utmost, because he knows that he
will enjoy all that is yielded by his labor. Each year, with the
extended use of machinery in agriculture, it is becoming more
advantageous to carry on farming on a large scale. When, therefore,
co-operative agriculture becomes practicable, land may be cultivated
by associations of laborers, and thus many of the advantages
associated with the system of peasant proprietorship may be secured,
while at the same time the disadvantages of small farming may be
avoided. The progress toward co-operative agriculture will no doubt
be slow and gradual.”
334 Godkin, “North American Review,” 1868. Also see Hermann
Schultze-Delitsch, “Die Entwickelung des Genossenschaftswesens in
Deutschland” (1870). This eminent philanthropist died April 29,
1883. For other forms of co-operation, building associations, etc.,
see Barnard, “Co-operation as a Business”; Pajot, “Du Progrès par
les Sociétés de Secours Mutuels” (1878).
335 See “Economics of Industry,” by Mr. and Mrs. Marshall, p. 223.
336 “Wealth of Nations,” Book V, chap. ii.
337 Book II, Chap. I, § 6.
338 Book III, Chap. XIX, § 5.
339 A higher rate is now imposed on landed than on professional incomes.
340 Cf. Walker, “Land and Rent,” page 134.
341 I have changed the sums mentioned in this illustration into our own
money.
342 Another common objection is that large and expensive accommodation
is often required, not as a residence, but for business. But it is
an admitted principle that buildings, or portions of buildings,
occupied exclusively for business, such as shops, warehouses, or
manufactories, ought to be exempted from house-tax.
It has been also objected that house-rent in the rural districts is
much lower than in towns, and lower in some towns and in some rural
districts than in others; so that a tax proportioned to it would
have a corresponding inequality of pressure. To this, however, it
may be answered that, in places where house-rent is low, persons of
the same amount of income usually live in larger and better houses,
and thus expend in house-rent more nearly the same proportion of
their incomes than might at first sight appear. Or, if not, the
probability will be that many of them live in those places precisely
because they are too poor to live elsewhere, and have, therefore,
the strongest claim to be taxed lightly. In some cases it is
precisely because the people are poor that house-rent remains
low.—MILL.
343 I have here also changed the amounts into our own money.
344 This illustration has also been changed, but only so far as to fit
the trade between England and the United States.
345 Probably the strongest known instance of a large revenue raised from
foreigners by a tax on exports is the opium-trade with China. The
high price of the article under the Government monopoly (which is
equivalent to a high export duty) has so little effect in
discouraging its consumption that it is said to have been
occasionally sold in China for as much as its weight in
silver.—MILL.
346 A land-tax is, to its extent, an evidence that the state claims a
certain right in the soil, and that it stands to the contributor, as
it were, in the place of a landlord. This tax, however, is generally
so small that it does not materially diminish the rent of land. So
far as it goes, it is a tax on rent.
347 Some argue that the materials and instruments of all production
should be exempt from taxation; but these, when they do not enter
into the production of necessaries, seem as proper subjects of
taxation as the finished article. It is chiefly with reference to
foreign trade that such taxes have been considered injurious.
Internationally speaking, they may be looked upon as export duties,
and, unless in cases in which an export duty is advisable, they
should be accompanied with an equivalent drawback on exportation.
But there is no sufficient reason against taxing the materials and
instruments used in the production of anything which is itself a fit
object of taxation.—MILL.
348 See Lalor’s “Cyclopædia,” article “Distilled Spirits,” by David A.
Wells.
349 “United States Statistical Abstract,” 1883, pp. 2, 3.
350 The old condition of things was well described by Sydney Smith: “We
must pay taxes upon every article which enters into the mouth or
covers the back, or is placed under the foot. Taxes upon everything
which is pleasant to see, hear, feel, smell, and taste. Taxes upon
warmth, light, and locomotion. Taxes upon everything upon earth and
the waters under the earth. On everything that comes from abroad or
is grown at home. Taxes on raw material. Taxes on every value that
is added to it by the industry of man. Taxes on the sauce which
pampers man’s appetite and the drug which restores him to health. On
the ermine which decorates the judge and the rope which hangs the
criminal. On the brass nails of the coffin and on the ribbons of the
bride. At bed or at board, couchant or levant, we must pay. The
beardless youth manages his taxed horse with a taxed bridle on a
taxed road, and the dying Englishman, pouring his medicine (which
has paid 7 per cent) into a spoon (which has paid 30 per cent),
throws himself back upon his chintz bed (which has paid 22 per
cent), makes his will, and expires in the arms of the apothecary
(who has paid £100 for the privilege of putting him to death). His
whole property is then taxed from 2 to 10 per cent; besides the
probate, large fees are demanded for burying him in the chancel: his
virtues are handed down to posterity on taxed marble, and he is then
gathered to his fathers to be taxed no more.”
351 “Financial Reform Almanac,” 1883, pp. 107-109.
352 “Handbuch der Verfassung und Verwaltung in Preussen und dem
Deutschen Reich,” by Graf Hue de Grais (second edition, 1882), p.
138.
353 “Le Budget. Revenus et Dépenses de la France,” by M. Block (1881),
pp. 57, 82.
354 Taken, with modifications, from Milnes’s “Problems in Political
Economy,” p. 377.
355 Book I, Chap. IV, § 5.
356 Although Mr. Mill had reference to the French wars in the beginning
of this century, his words apply also to the circumstances of our
own late war, 1861-1865.
357 Cairnes, “Leading Principles,” pp. 381, 382.
358 Book I, Chap. IV.
359 Mr. Mill here takes up political considerations, which are not
properly to be included in a purely economic treatment. (See the
beginning of § 6.)
360 See “Sketch of the History of Political Economy,” _supra_, p. 6,
note 1.
361 For bibliography of the United States shipping question, see
Appendix I.
362 D. A. Wells, “Cobden Club Essays,” second series, p. 533.
363 See F. W. Taussig’s “Protection to Young Industries as applied in
the United States” (1883).
364 In a letter written February 26, 1866, to Mr. Horace White,
published in the Chicago “Tribune,” and reprinted in the New York
“Nation,” May 29, 1873.
365 Business men constantly use the term “cost of production” when in
reality they mean that which to the economist is expressed by “cost
of labor.” If cost of labor becomes higher, it takes from
profits—the place where they feel the difficulties of
competition—but they say that the cost of production has risen: the
cost, to them, only has risen, that is, the “cost of labor,” not
“cost of production.”
366 Cf. Cairnes, “Leading Principles,” pp. 324-341; and _supra_, Book
III, Chap. II, § 4.
367 The fact (sufficiently established by Mr. Brassey) is not considered
also that England gives higher wages to operatives than the
Continent, and yet England is able to undersell France and Germany
in neutral markets. It is evident, however, that England can
undersell only in occupations in which she has advantages.
368 Cairnes, “Leading Principles,” pp. 382-388.
369 “Compendium,” 1880, pp. 1343-1377.
370 “Princeton Review,” 1883, p. 222.
371 The United States have at the present time but five persons engaged
in agriculture for each square mile of settled area.
372 Book IV, Chap. I, § 2.
373 “Fifteenth Annual Report of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics,
1884,” by Carroll D. Wright.
374 See Milnes’s “Problems in Political Economy.”