Morning journal and courier., 1882-02-01
COMMUNICATIONS.
A Valuable Study.

To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
 A young man away from home. mechanic, who had been reading some of Carlyle's writings-'' iSartor Resartus" and {" Hero Worship"-in tLe freshness of his enthusi- asm over new-found treasures, wrote to his father about them, asking if he had read them He received what seemed to hir very cool reply Oh yes, he had read them, long ago. So, I suppose, to the young man. any new study wears @ freshness which 1t fails to display to older men. Life is all new, and the subjects of life are new. Natural science, history, politics and political econo- my-what are these? Do they not to the young mans mind wear an air of unreality and enchantment? Have they indeed any bearing upon real life2 The young man says to himself, ''I will find out" At first, perhaps, in the hours of release from work, during the long evenings of early winter, he takes general taste of everything-a slight dip into whatever appears attractive. But, if of steady habit of mind, he soon finds that it is better to know some one thing very well and all other things not quite so well. That of course which concerns his daily work is important but he cannot study bis work all the while. What other knowledge is of great account, of the next greatest account The writer has stumbled upon the study of political economy, and feels a desire to say something about it's value a science. By virtue perhaps of the illusions common to young men, he has come to believe knowl- edge of its principles to be, next to a knowl- edge of ones particular trade or business, one of the most valuable kinds of knowledge, especially in these days, when the nations are trying to guide their way by knowledge and not by empiricism.
 Political economy Sis the science which in- vestigates the laws of the production and distribution of wealth and all that relates to the wages of labor and the earn ings of capital all regulations of trade; all questions of currency and finance; all taxes and public disbursements short, every thing that can in any way affect the amount of wealth which Q community can secure, or the proportion in which that wealth will be distributed between individuals. Though not the science of government, it is essential to the science of government. And as the development of the nobler part of hu- man nature is powerfully modified by mate rial conditions, if it does not absolutely de- pend upon them, the laws sought for by po- litical economy are the laws which at least control the mental and moral as well as the physical states of humanity"
 Can any doubt exist as to the great value of such knowledge to every voter and property owner, to every man of work or of business, to every earnest citizen of this great repub- lie? Let every one who feels such doubt recall the mistaken courses of many able business men, most plainly shown during our late civil war, men who owed most of their failures to want of knowledge of the laws of political economy. But it is 8 study which requires slow and careful thinking. It will not do to jump at conclusions. NoI is it a study which dishonest men can favor, for it needs mind unbiased by gold oi fame. 1t is, in short, as I think Emerson has said, ''s good Bible in which to study the laws of morality" T.