The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-07-11
sTAeNAET POLITIOAL ECONOMY.

A STAGNAET POLITICAL ECONOMY
The ''Wealth of Nations was published the
first year of American independence It was
the herald and inspiration of a system of eco
Monies which had for its generalized definition
that Political economy is the science which
treats of the production, distribution and ex-
change of wealth" It ignored policy, history
and statistics. 1t was agreeable to the English
governing classes and property as it
upheld the rich, and, by its letalone policy,
oppressed the poor. 1t is variouslY known as
the classical, the orthodox, the deducting and
the Manchester school of political economy.
This system was simple; it was deductive; its
major premises were few; its formulas were
easily fitted to all cases A few hypothesis
were laid down regarding human nature and
the external physical world. The structure
was largely based on universal sef-interest;
selfshness was the preponderating cause Of
economic phenomena; love of ease and aver
sion to labor were assumed as universal hui
man characteristics. There was no friction.
Capital and labor fitted into each other and
were readily transferred from place to place,
or from this business to that, without delay or
loss.
Individual humor, passion and government,
which holds that passion in check, was taken
no account Of The free play of natural
forces, the benefcent powers of nature, were
implicitly trusted to secure the best good Of
all by the unrestrained action of each seeking
his own good.
1t was grand scheme on paper, and in
textbooks 1t took no note of the histor-
ical development of nations; it was a com
plete and perfect thing Sixty years ago
McCulloch said: "The errors with which
political economy was formerly infected have
nearly Disappeared and Torrens: Twenty
years hence there will scarcely exist doubt
respecting any of its fundamental principles"
John Stuart Mill said: Happily there is
nothing in the laws of value which remains
for the present or any future writer to clear
up; the theory of the subject is complete"
This was the classical political economy
the deductive system, propagated from the
great English manufacturing center, and so,
also, known as the Manchester school. It was
slick, oily and seductive; it was simple, or
thodox, attractive and Evolutionary. It was
pure science and had no more connection
with policy, nationality or government than
had physics, chemistry or astronomy.
It was just this element in the political
economy of England and France that gave it
precedence over right, reason, justice and
common sense, and gained for its sophistries
adherents among the governing powers in
state and society. Nature was to do all for
the individual; law and society nothing. It
was ratification of the government and so
cial condition of the France and England Of
the early nineteenth century.
These theories of political economy de-
ment or Of the golden rule, on the part Of the
wealthy. or the ruling classes, to alleviate the
condition of the lower classes. This gospel of
selfshness taught to let them alone and pass
by on the other side, convinced that they
we're best helping others by pursuing their own
private wealth and glory. It was the sur
viyal of the fttest, the fttest being those
possessing present wealth and power. There
was the wage fund" for the laborers, and the
profits" for the capitalist; these constituted
capital, and natural competition" was to
distribute them equitably
Thus was political science made tool by
which the greedy and avaricious governing
and wealthy classes kept down the laboring
classes, making the laissez-faire policy an
excuse for starving and depressing the poor
As result Of these doctrinaire extremes Eng
land came to her unhappy year 1917, when,
with legions Of paupers and millions in state
Of starvation, dteading a rising of their own
oppressed countrymen even more than an in
yasion Of the French, the ruling classes, the
aristocracy and the bondholders, sought safety
in extreme measures of repression and restric-
ton. The misery brought about by this let
alone policy, carried to its extreme by the old
school, was never compensated by its discoy-
cry of the value Of self-interest in economic
affairs, or by its theories of rent and doctrine
Of population, as set forth by Ricardo and
Nautilus. The great error Of this long domi-
nant system Of economies was that it did not
see and utilize the power of the state to cor
rect and modify and round out for the good of
all the powerful and benefcent effect of self
interest in the pursuit of wealth. It did not
recognize that while the habits and disposi-