The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1877-09-13
SOCIAL SCIENCE.
Meeting of the American Social
Science Association.
OPENING ADDRESS OF HON. DAVID A. WELLS.
SARATOGA. N. Y. Sept 4, 1877.

SARATOGA, N. y. Sept 4, 1871
Hon. David A. Wells, President Of the
American Social Science Association,
opened the session here this evening
with an address on "The Relation Of
Economic Laws to Public and Private
Morality" He said that this subject had
not heretofore received the attention it
merited No economic author had ever
written on it. For eighteen centuries
controversies on This subject had been on
abstract reasonings, not going to expert
ence. Taking up the early social condi-
ton Of Europe, he said it was controlled
by a spirit of antagonism between man
and man, nation and nation-hIse eco.
nomic laws that what one man gained
others lost--so each State sought TO i'm
pose 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 mysteries
No one could be allowed to follow trade
excepkhe was freeman of the town or
city.
Guilds Denounced.
He stigmatized as Internal the system
by which treemen in trades surrounded
themselves. In France the right to fol.
low an occupation became an heirloom,
to be transmitted by will or marriage.
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 Reve.
nue. law in force in 1856 was almost as
bad. l.
1t was once referred to the Commits
sioner to know if man who bought ma.
terials for house and used some in re.
pairing carriage Should not pay taxes
as 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 of labor was a royal right,
which he denounced as a heresy to be
rejected. The right to labor is inherent
in man and inalienable. The relation
of labor and capital, under the rules alb
rogated by Turgot, were crude and i'm.
perfect. By them capital was destroyed |
and accumulation prevented. Under
the condition of affairs prevailing from
the thirteenth to the eighteenth century
production was impeded and capital
could not accumulate. All business was
disarranged.
Labor Resisting Progress.
That barbarism did not return was due
to the fact that human labor is uncon-
querable. Yet labor, through its repre-
did its best to prevent and
hinder advancement. This is illustrated
by the difficulties overcome by James
Watt, first as an apprentice and then as
a iourneyman in England and Scotland.
He was only able to work in the pre-
cincts of college as an operative for it.
He never could have succeeded if the
trade laws could have prevented. Every
nation sought to monopolize trade and
prevent other nations from sharing
therein. Wars were declared and car
ried on to break down trade rivals.
English Restrictions on Trade.
It is only through study of English
trade laws that the true cause of the
American Revolution can be found. Re-
3trictions on trade were the main causes.
Otis's argument against writs of assist
anCe was against system which author
zed the searching of houses for Coutra-
band goods. He compared these ante
Revolutionary writs with those issued in
New York city within five years, which,
instead of searching for goods, searched
'or private papers to find evidence of il
egal trade. Such false economic laws
made the people nation Of law break
John Hancock was the very
prince of Contraband traders, and the
lay on which the battle of Lexington
was fought was set down as the time
when argument was to have been had
IN some of his acts as a Contraband ira
Ter. All felt that the government was
heir enemy. Fully half the commerce
If the world before the Revolution was
,ontraband or brigandage. In Europe
numerous large and influential bodies Of
nen lived by breaking the laws of trade.
Had it not been for trade illegally car
led on commerce would have ceased,
With the abrogation of these restrictive
avs public and private morality in
reased.
Teaching Forbidden.
Even such matters as teaching the deaf =
nd dumb were hedged in by law in
England, which prevented Gallaudet !
rom learning how to instruct them, and ,
e had to go to France for knowledge to
nable him to set up his institution here.
here is no such great cause of danger to
ur institutions as that arising from pub !
C and private immortality. Since 1864
he taint Of corruption has entered ev- S
rywhere. '
DemOrallzing Taxation.
In that year fully $5OOOOOOO were t
lken from the pockets of the people by
orrupt legislation. The tax on whisky
as put up step by step until it reached
900 per cent on its cost. When the tax :