The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1877-09-08

David A. Wells on-the Moral Effect Of
Economic Laws.

cIation. at Saratcga, on the 4th inst, David
A. Wells, who is president Of the Associa-
ton, spoke as follows on the relation of
economic laws to public and private
III orality:
He said that this subject had not here.
totore received the attention it merited. |
No economic author had ever written on it, |
For eighteen centuries controversies to |
this subject had been on abstract reason
ings, not going to experience Taking up |
the early social condition of Europe he |
said it was controlled BY a spirit of
antagonism between man and man. nation |
and nation; false economic laws, that what
one man gained others lost. so each state
sought to impose tolls and restrictions, not
only on trade between nations, but also OF
cities, derived from imports on trade, and
each trade and occupation was fenced in
by unions and guilds, secrets and myster-
les. No one could be allowed to follow
trade except he was a freeman Of the
town or city. He stigmatized as Internal
the system by which freemen in trades
surrounded themselves. In France the
right to follow an occupation became an
heirloom to be transmitted by will or mar
riage. So restricted did things become
under this system that no single craftsman
could make even SO small thing as
bucket, but four separate tradesmen must
be employed. He said, strange as it may
SEEM the United States internal revenue
law IN force in 1855 was almost as bad. 1t
was once referred to the commissioner to
know if a man who bought materials for
house and used used some IN repairing
a carriage should not pay taxes as a
manufacturer. He read the edict OF
Turgot, the great French minister, against
guilds. There, he said, it had come to
be considered that the right to labor was
royal right, which he denounced as a
heresy to be rejected. The right to
labor is Inherent iD man and iHalien :
: able The relations OF labor and capital
under the rules abrogated by Turgot
we're crude and imperfect By them capital
was destroyed and accumulation pre-
vented. Under the condition of affairs
, prevailing from the thirteenth to the
eighteenth century, production was i'm.
, peded and capital could not accumulate.
J All business was disarranged. That bar.
barism did not return was due to the fact
that human labor is unconquerable. Yet
labor, through its representatives, did Its
J best to prevent and hinder advancement.
, This is illustrated by the difficulties over.
come by James Watt, first as an apprentice
aud then as jourDeyman IN England and
; Scotland. He was only able to work IL
the precincts of college as an operative
{ for it. He never could have succeeded il
the trade laws could have prevented it
Every nation sought to monopohZe trade
aud prevent other nations from sharing
;. therein. Wars were declared and carried
n on to break down trade rivals, 1t is only
~ through study OF English trade law
that the true cause of the American revo
: luton can be found. Restrictions on trade
; we're the main causes. Otis's argumen
,e against writs of assistance was against
= system which authorized one searching o
houses for contraband goods. He com
u pared these ante-revolutionaIy writs will
= those issued in New \ ork City within five
IT years, which, instead of searching for goods
o searched for private papers to find evi
dence of illegal trade. Such false economic
- laws made the people nation OF law
e breakers. John Hancock was the very
1t prince of contraband traders, and the dal
,e on which the battle of Lexington wa
/ fought was set down as the time when ar
n gument was to have been had on some o
| us dClSs as COHlEaDduu tEdueES Ill lOlO Iua
D. the government was their enemy. Full
ne half the commerce of the world before I'd
:, revolution was cOntraband or brigandagt
= In Europe numerous large and inhuentls
u bodies of men lived by breaking the Law
at of trade Had it not been for trade lille
in gally carried on commerce would hav
10 ceased. With the abrogation of these re
- strictive laws public aud private moralit
~ increased. Even such matters as teachin
he the deaf and dumb were hedged in by la
ed in England, which prevented Gallandt
on from learning how to instruct them, and h
had to go to France for knowledge to Ell
's' able him to set up his institution her
er There is no such great cause of danger
ss- our institutions as that arising from publ
he and private immortality. Since 1854 Il
e faint of corruption has entered ever
Vi where. In that year fully $50,000,0 on
Dol were taken from the pockets of the Peep
we by corrupt legislation. The tax on whisl
S. was put up step by step until it reacht
a 900 per cent on its cost; when the Ia
~ was reduced from 81 TO so cents per "a
on lon, the revenue increased from $l8.000,O On
Ssh to $44, 900 900. Tax and other laws a
IRE enacted seemingly to encourage immorali
10 by giving premiums Oh evasions. Usu
laws were particularly denounced. N
10 Wells was attentively listened to by lar
ct. audience, who show a deeper interest
lst the meetings of the association this ye
h;s than they did last year.