The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-12-28 00:00:00

POLITICAL ECONOMY.

In London, the other evening, at the City of London
College,'Leadenhall-street, a highly interesting lecture—the
ninth of a series—was delivered by Dr. N. Heinemann,
F.R.G.S., F.R.H.S., on the subject of "Political Economy."
Dr. Heinemann, dealing on this occasion with the
questions of competition and custom, observed that
these were two great principles in political economy.
By different writers on political ecenemy great
stress had been laid en competition and many of
them even went so far as to leave out to a large ex-
tent, if not entirely, any consideration of the ques-
tions of custom, and how far it counterbalanced,
or neutralised, the principle of competition. Of course
(said Dr. Heinemann) people in our day might
speak in feeling terms on the question, but it should
not be forgotten that custom was more powerful than
people in general believed. They were aware that the
market, of course, was decided, as to price, by com-
petition; but there were callings in which, up to the
present, custom was the one—the decisive point. Ac-
cording to custom, fees—he would not say wages—were
laid in many instances, For example, the medical
profession. The services of the physician were more
or less paid by custom, not by competition. Not many
weeks ago, letters were written to the leading daily
papers by members of the medical profession, iefid the
argument of these gentlemen was not to pay by
competition but rather to remunerate their services
by the substitution of one custom for another—the
substitution of a guinea fee to one of two guineas.
The principle of competition was not here even
thought of ; custom was the decisive point. Neither
did it matter how many physicians there were ready
to effect a cure, for they knew that the public paid
fer their services, not by competition, but by custom.
Not only in professional callings, but in trade,
it would be found, said the lecturer, that cue-
torn instead of competition decided the price.
In the wholesale trades, Dr. Heinemann ob-
served, competition alone decided the market,
whilst in the retail, custom very often, in ad-
dition to competition, decided the market price.
The lecturer next dwelt on the questions of value and
price—a most important chapter, he said, in the sub-
ject of political economy. Great confusion had fre-
quently been produced, even by writers on political
!99nomy, by making the two terms sy.nonymons.
The " value "of anything was estimated by compar-
ing it with other things, or by ascertaining the
quantity of other things for which it would be ex-
changed. People sometimes spoke about the rise and
fall lit thekeydaluneonosien Therease7nmod igitym,bhutt:
be a general
in this
jmply talked
rise or fall of prim And what was meant by price?
expressed In in money.
The value of a commodity
The value of all commoditiyes
additional money for everything
decrease At once.; not e 0 with the price; aleFlasaheemaonr
aptaythe same time, the value f 11
re-
quired,ha d to
0 A COMM° tura
was not thereby affected, though the price was. As
John Stuart Mill said, for a thing to have any value
at all in exchange there are two conditions necessary
—first, it must be of some use; and secondly, it must
not only have some use—sorne utility—but it must be
difficult of attainment.
Dr. Heinemann, towards the conclusion of his lec-
ture, dealt briefly with the subjects of supply and
demand, utility, and the costs of production,