Footnotes
Yet Blanqui diffusively gives nearly one half of his “History of Political Economy” to the period before the sixteenth century, when politico-economic laws had not yet been recognized. A. L. Perry, “Political Economy” (eighteenth edition, 1883), also devotes thirty-five out of eighty-seven pages to the period in which there was no systematic study of political economy.
Xenophon, “Means of increasing the Revenues of Attika,” ch. ix; also see his “Economics;” and Aristotle, “Politics,” b. i, ch. vi, b. iii, ch. i.
“Republic,” b. ii.
Roscher exhumed this book, entitled “De Origine, Natura, Jure et Mutationibus Monetarum,” and it was reprinted in 1864 by Wolowski at Paris, together with the treatise of Copernicus, “De Monetae Cudendae Ratione.”
Sermon at St. Paul's Cross, 1549 (also see Jacob, “On the Precious Metals,” pp. 244, 245).
1530-1596. See II. Baudrillart's “J. Bodin et son temps” (Paris, 1853). Bodin wrote “Réponse aux paradoxes de M. de Malestroit touchant l'enchérissement de toutes les choses et des monnaies” (1568), and “Discours sur le rehaussement et la diminution des monnaies” (1578).
“A Briefe Conceipte of English Policy” (1581). The book was published under the initials “W. S.,” and was long regarded as the production of Shakespere.
For information on this as well as a later period, consult Jacob “On the Precious Metals” (1832), a history of the production and influences of gold and silver from the earliest times. He is considered a very high authority. Humboldt's “Essay on New Spain” gives estimates and facts on the production of the precious metals in America. A very excellent study has been made by Levasseur in his “Histoire des classes ouvrières en France jusqu'à la Révolution.” For pauperism and its history, Nicholl's “History of the Poor Laws” is, of course, to be consulted.
See Cossa, “Guide,” p. 119.
See Antonio Serra, “Breve Trattato delle Cause che possono fare abbondare li Regni d' Oro e d' Argento,” Naples, 1613.
Thomas Mun, “England's Treasure by Foreign Trade” (published in 1640 and 1664); “Advice of the Council of Trade” (1660), in Lord Overstone's “Select Tracts on Money”; Sir William Petty, “Political Arithmetic,” etc. (about 1680); Sir Josiah Child, “New Discourse of Trade” (1690); Sir Dudley North, “Discourse on Trade” (1691); Davenant's Works (1690-1711); Joshua Gee, “Trade and Navigation of Great Britain” (1730); Sir Matthew Decker (according to McCulloch, William Richardson), “Essay on the Causes of the Decline of Foreign Trade” (1744); Sir James Steuart, “An Inquiry into the Principles of Political Economy” (1767). For this period also consult Anderson's “History of Commerce” (1764), Macpherson's “Annals of Commerce” (1803), and Lord Sheffield's “Observations on the Commerce of the American States” (1783).
The English Navigation Act of 1651 is usually described as the cause of the decline of Dutch shipping. The taxation necessitated by her wars is rather the cause, as history shows it to us. Sir Josiah Child (1668 and 1690) speaks of a serious depression in English commerce, and says the low rate of interest among the Dutch hurts the English trade. This does not show that the acts greatly aided English shipping. Moreover, Gee, a determined partisan of the mercantile theory, says, in 1730, that the ship-trade was languishing. Sir Matthew Decker (1744) confirms Gee's impressions. It looks very much as if the commercial supremacy of England was acquired by internal causes, and in spite of her navigation acts. The anonymous author of “Britannia Languens” confirms this view.
This was, in substance, the whole teaching of one of the leading and most intelligent writers, Sir James Steuart (1767), “Principles of Political Economy.” See also Held's “Carey's Socialwissenschaft und das Merkantilsystem” (1866), which places Carey among the mercantilists.
Forbonnais, “Récherches sur les finances de la France” (1595-1721); Pierre Clément, “Histoire de Colbert et de son administration” (1874); “Lettres, instructions et mémoires de Colbert” (1861-1870); “Histoire du système protecteur en France” (1854); Martin, “Histoire de France,” tome xiii.
“Dîme royale” (1707).
“Factum de la France” (1707).
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.
From χράτησις τῆς φύσεως, as indicating a reverence for natural laws.
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.)
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.”
“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.
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.)
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.
(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.
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.)
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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).
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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).
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.
See p. 33.
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).
Established in 1848, and unquestionably the most useful economic publication for English questions.
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.
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).
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).
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).
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.
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).
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).
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.”
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.”
Died 1862; author of “De la liberté du travail” (1845).
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).
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.
The most vigorous advocate of monometallism in France. He also wrote well on taxation, “Traité des impôts” (4 vols., 1866-1867).
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).
An advocate of the mathematical method.
Founded in 1863, published at Berlin, and edited by Dr. Eduard Wiss.
Long Secretary to the Chamber of Commerce at Hamburg, and now honorary professor at Göttingen.
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).
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).
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).
This book has been translated into English by G. A. Matile, with notes by Stephen Colwell (1856).
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).
“Fortnightly Review” (1876).
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.
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.
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).
Died 1878. He devoted himself mainly to criticism of other systems, and seems to be the least able of the three.
“Catheder-Socialisten,” or “Professional Socialists.”
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).
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.”
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).
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.
Prof. C. F. Dunbar, “North American Review,” January, 1876, in an admirable review of economic science in America during the last century (1776-1876).
See supra, p. 16.
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.
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.
See an able study, by Adolphe Held, “Carey's Socialwissenschaft und das Merkantilsystem” (1866).
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.
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.
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.
He has written “Political Economy” (eighteenth edition, 1883), and also “Introduction to Political Economy,” an elementary work on the same basis as the former.
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.
Cf. p. 4, supra.
Bowen, “American Political Economy,” p. 25.
This is the beginning of Chapter II in the original treatise.
This is his “sacrifice,” which corresponds to the exertion of the laborer.
See Roscher's note 1, section 42, for various definitions of capital.
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.
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.
Page 371, English translation, N. Y. (1871).
Edward Atkinson, “Labor and Capital, Allies not Enemies,” p. 60.
Cf. Bowen, “American Political Economy,” p. 399.
The functions of money are discussed later in the volume, and it is not proposed to unfold them here.
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.
Edward Atkinson, “Labor and Capital, Allies not Enemies,” p. 33.
See book iv, chap. iv.
See Mr. Babbage's “Economy of Machinery and Manufactures.”
Constant use of the same muscles, as by gold-beaters or writers, very often produces paralysis.
Hearn's “Plutology,” p. 279.
Cairnes, “Leading Principles,” pp. 299, 300.
“American Political Economy,” p. 134. See also an article, “Malthusianism, Darwinism, and Pessimism,” “North American Review,” November, 1879.
See Cairnes, “Logical Method,” pp. 170-177.
See also Walker's “Wages Question,” chap. vi, and Roscher, “Political Economy,” book v, chaps. i, ii, iii.
See Galton's “Hereditary Genius,” p. 131-135.
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.
This is the “preventive check” of Mr. Malthus, while the limitation through war, starvation, etc., is the “positive check.”
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.)
See Lavergne's “Agriculture et Population,” pp. 305-316.
For tables of relative births and deaths, see “Statesman's Year-Book,” p. 253.
This and the subsequent quotations are taken by Mr. Mill from Rae's “New Principles of Political Economy.”
“International Review,” article “Colonization,” 1881, p. 88. See H. V. Redfield, “Homicide North and South,” 1880.
“Letters from America,” by John Robert Godley, vol. i. p. 42. See also Lyell's “Travels in America,” vol. ii, p. 83.—Mill.
Cf. “American Agriculture,” “Princeton Review,” May, 1882, by F. A. Walker.
“Social Science,” vol. iii, p. 19.
“Notes on North America,” 1851, vol. ii, pp. 116, 117.
See also Cairnes, “Logical Method,” p. 35.
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.”
Cf. Book IV, Chap. I.
“Economy of Manufactures,” pp. 163, 164.
“The Coal Question” (1866).
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.
Henry Gannet, “International Review,” 1882, p. 503.
Volume on Population, p. 481.
Estimated.
See article “Colonization,” “International Review,” 1881, p. 88.
See F. A. Walker's “Statistical Atlas.”
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).
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.
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.
Louis Blanc (born 1813, died 1882). His chief book, the “Organization of Labor,” appeared in 1840, in the columns of the “Revue du Progrès.”
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.
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.
For an account of this society see Theodore D. Woolsey's “Communism and Socialism” (1880); “Nineteenth Century,” July, 1878; and Ely, ibid., chap. xi.
See New York “Nation,” Nos. 684, 686.
From his posthumous “Chapters on Socialism,” “Fortnightly Review,” 1879, p. 513 (vol. xxxi), and written in 1869.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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).
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.
“Logical Method,” pp. 34, 36.
Cf. Cairnes, “Leading Principles,” pp. 180-188.
In the “Fortnightly Review,” May 1, 1869.
“Leading Principles,” pp. 149-189.
Counting six days to a week and four weeks to a month.
“Leading Principles,” p. 185.
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.
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.
See Cairnes, “Leading Principles,” p. 209.
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.
Mr. Carey takes this ground.
See the explanation of an economic law, Book II, Chap. II, § 1.
“Constitutional History of England,” vol. ii, p. 563. See also Nicholls's “History of the Poor Laws,” vol. ii, p. 303.
For further discussion of the advantages of small holdings, see Book IV, Chap. V, § 2.
“Leading Principles,” pp. 64-69.
See Young, “Labor in Europe.”
Walter Bagehot, “Lombard Street,” p. 13.
“Work and Wages.”
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).
“Logical Method,” p. 206.
“American Political Economy,” p. 164.
Rickards, “Population and Capital,” p. 135.
Rickards, ibid., p. 75.
“Political Economy,” p. 288.
“Progress and Poverty,” pp. 220, 221.
“American Political Economy,” p. 164.
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.
Cairnes, “Logical Method,” p. 199.
“Theory and Practice of Banking,” vol. i, p. 13. Cf. Cairnes, “Logical Method,” p. 106.
“Leading Principles,” p. 11.
“Political Economy,” p. 5.
“Social Science,” vol. i, p. 158.
“Harmonies,” p. 171.
“Political Economy,” p. 126.
“Political Economy,” Introduction, Chap. I, § 5.
“Précis d'Économie politique,” p. 175.
“Précis de la Science économique,” vol. i, p. 202.
“Political Economy Primer,” p. 98.
“Leading Principles,” p. 15.
“Theory of Political Economy,” pp. 82-91. See Cairnes, ibid., pp. 17-19.
“Political Economy,” p. 92.
“Social Science,” vol. ii, p. 335.
“Political Economy,” Introduction, Chap. I, § 5.
“Précis,” p. 206.
“Political Economy,” p. 165.
“Logic of Political Economy.”
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.
“Leading Principles,” p. 25.
“Leading Principles,” p. 108.
See his chapter on “Natural and Market Price,” book i, chap. vii.
“Report of the Director of the Mint,” 1883, p. 69.
Supra, p. 222.
“Leading Principles,” p. 41.
See supra, p. 210.
“Leading Principles,” part i, chap. iii, p. 87.
“Work and Wages.”
“Leading Principles,” p. 136.
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.
“Money and the Mechanism of Exchange,” chap. iii.
“Political Economy,” p. 127.
“Money and the Mechanism of Exchange,” p. 1.
“Political Economy,” p. 144.
The substance of Mr. Mill's former chapter, XV (Book III), is here inserted in its direct connection with the functions of money.
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.
“Money and the Mechanism of Exchange,” p. 31.
“A Serious Fall in the Value of Gold” (1863).
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).
Jevons, “Money and the Mechanism of Exchange,” pp. 336, 339.
“Edelmetall-Production,” in Petermann's “Mittheilungen,” Ergänzungsheft, No. 57.
See Jevons's “A Serious Fall in the Value of Gold.”
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.
“Report of the House of Commons on Depreciation of Silver,” 1876, p. v.
See Macaulay, “History of England,” chap. xxi.
“Money and the Mechanism of Exchange,” p. 84.
Jevons, ibid., p. 138.
See S. Dana Horton, “Gold and Silver,” 1877, p. 84, et seq.
See Linderman, “Money and Legal Tender,” p. 161.
Director of the Mint, Report, 1883, p. 49, and Linderman, ibid., p. 173.
See “Atlantic Monthly,” “The Silver Danger,” May, 1884.
See “International Review,” September, 1876; and for some further explanation of banks, see “Atlantic Monthly,” 1882, pp. 196, 695, 696.
“Report of the Comptroller of the Currency,” 1883, p. 34.
See “Nature,” xix, 33, 588.
See Walker's “Money,” p. 473.
Vol. i, p. 302. See Sumner's “History of American Currency” and Walker's “Money” for much valuable material.
See Cherbuliez, vol. i, p. 299.
“Money and the Mechanism of Exchange,” p. 232.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
See Walker, “Money,” p. 329.
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).
Report of 1861.
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.
This is practically the argument of a little book, “Excessive Saving a Cause of Commercial Distress” (1884), by Uriel H. Crocker.
“Leading Principles,” pp. 302-307.
“Essays on some Unsettled Questions of Political Economy,” Essay I.
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.
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.
“American Political Economy,” p. 481.
For a fuller discussion of this question see Cairnes, “Leading Principles,” p. 319, ff.
“Leading Principles,” p. 323.
Cairnes, “Leading Principles,” p. 301.
I have changed the illustration from England to the United States in this example.
See “Statistical Abstract,” 1883, pp. 32, 33.
This substitution has been made for Brazil.
See close of last chapter.
I have also changed the illustrations in this chapter so as to apply to the United States.
The examples in this and the next section have been altered so as to apply to the United States.
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.
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.
See Book III, Chap. XVIII, § 5, of Mill's original work.
“Principles of Political Economy and Taxation,” third edition, p. 143.
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.
“Leading Principles,” p. 357.
The illustrations in this chapter have also been changed, but only so far as to make them apply to the United States.
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.
See Walker, “Money,” Chap. XIX.
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.
The rate of interest at such crises in New York has several times risen to 400 or 500 per cent per annum.
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.
Cf. Cairnes, “Leading Principles,” p. 209.
For a brief bibliography on our own Navigation Laws and the Shipping Question, see Appendix I.
Supra, Book III, Chap. II, § 2, and Chap. XX, § 4.
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).
“Leading Principles,” Part I, chap. v.
For the distinction between normal and market values, see supra, Book III, Chap. II, § 4, and p. 269.
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.
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.
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.
A comparison of Chart No. XVIIwith Chart No. VIwill 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).
“Progress of the Working-Classes in the Last Half-Century” (1884), page 8.
“Leading Principles,” pp. 278-280.
“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.
1825.
1825.
Wages per day.
Wages per day.
Year 1878.
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.
Book II, Chap. V, § 5; see also “North American Review,” May, 1884, p. 517.
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.”
Cf. E. L. Godkin, “North American Review,” 1868, p. 150.
Fawcett, “Manual of Political Economy” (last edition), chapter on Co-operation.
Giffen, “Progress of the Working-Classes in the Last Half-Century,” p. 19.
“History of Co-operation in England” (2 vols., 1879), p. 105.
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 16s. 6d., 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.”
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.
Cf. Walker, “Wages Question,” p. 276.
Godkin, “North American Review,” 1868.
“History of Co-operation,” vol. ii, chap. ix.
Holyoake, “History of Co-operation,” p. 131.
Godkin, “North American Review,” 1868.
Pp. 27, 31, 32.
Barnard, “Co-operation as a Business,” pp. 150-152.
Holyoake, “History of Co-operation,” p. 235.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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).
See “Economics of Industry,” by Mr. and Mrs. Marshall, p. 223.
“Wealth of Nations,” Book V, chap. ii.
A higher rate is now imposed on landed than on professional incomes.
Cf. Walker, “Land and Rent,” page 134.
I have changed the sums mentioned in this illustration into our own money.
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.
I have here also changed the amounts into our own money.
This illustration has also been changed, but only so far as to fit the trade between England and the United States.
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.
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.
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.
See Lalor's “Cyclopædia,” article “Distilled Spirits,” by David A. Wells.
“United States Statistical Abstract,” 1883, pp. 2, 3.
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.”
“Financial Reform Almanac,” 1883, pp. 107-109.
“Handbuch der Verfassung und Verwaltung in Preussen und dem Deutschen Reich,” by Graf Hue de Grais (second edition, 1882), p. 138.
“Le Budget. Revenus et Dépenses de la France,” by M. Block (1881), pp. 57, 82.
Taken, with modifications, from Milnes's “Problems in Political Economy,” p. 377.
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.
Cairnes, “Leading Principles,” pp. 381, 382.
Mr. Mill here takes up political considerations, which are not properly to be included in a purely economic treatment. (See the beginning of § 6.)
See “Sketch of the History of Political Economy,” supra, p. 6, note 1.
For bibliography of the United States shipping question, see Appendix I.
D. A. Wells, “Cobden Club Essays,” second series, p. 533.
See F. W. Taussig's “Protection to Young Industries as applied in the United States” (1883).
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.
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.”
Cf. Cairnes, “Leading Principles,” pp. 324-341; and supra, Book III, Chap. II, § 4.
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.
Cairnes, “Leading Principles,” pp. 382-388.
“Compendium,” 1880, pp. 1343-1377.
“Princeton Review,” 1883, p. 222.
The United States have at the present time but five persons engaged in agriculture for each square mile of settled area.
“Fifteenth Annual Report of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics, 1884,” by Carroll D. Wright.
See Milnes's “Problems in Political Economy.”
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