New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-01-15

the action of legislators. AS Dir. Mill admits, IL
cannot test by crucial experiment the ehect OF
a restrictive commercial policy; two nations
exactly alike cannot be found; the abstract
theories do not exactly fit state of facts to be
found anywhere in the world. So Mr.. Mill says
The discrepancy between our anticipation and the
actual facts is often the only circumstance which
would have drawn our attention to some important
disturbing cause which we had overlooked" The
Professor of abstract science stands in the same
relation to the legislator as the mere geographer 10
the practical navigator: telling him the latitude
and longitude of all sorts of places hut not how to
find wherea bout he himself is sailing" Professor
Jevons more buntly says: "Our English ec0no-
mists have been living in a fools paradise '-whlch
appears to be preferred to Heaven by some New
England Professors. Mr.. Bagehot, man OF prac-
teal aptitude as well as scientific training says OF
the motives and causes assumed by the economists TO
be universal hold these causes are only the man
ones in single kind of soc;ety-a society OF grown
up competitive commerce, such as we have IN Eng
land" And 9again, of the English economists
generally, They have been too content to remain
in the abstract, and to shrink from concrete no.
tons because they could not but feel that many OF
the most obvious phenomena of many nations did
not look much like their distractions" Next Tue
author quotes freely from Cones criticism oil Mlil'
and from the destructive criticisms oil Professor
Leslie Mr.. Harrison and DIR. Ingram, putting
especial stress the point that human beings CAP
not be considered as isolated individuals, but are
associated in nations each of which is political
and industrial entity, and finally suggests that
Carlisle was about right in saying to the teachers
of science of exchanges" between economic
men, isolated in condition. and thOut family,
creed or country Professors Of the dismal science.
I perceive that the length of your tother is now
,,anr mud hat | m
a little lower in future"
But many columns of quotations would give buta
meag idea of the acumen and power with which
this destructive criticism OF the socaled science IL
pressed and the declarations of hundreds oi writers
are turned against each other The conclusions 10
which the mind is convincingly led are. first. that
there Is no such body of reasoned trnth as GER
tain Professors pretend, which commends the assent
of all reasonable minds, and which prcscr6es free
dom of trade as the high road to national wealth.
aud second, that the pretended science which pro-
lessedly deals only with men rs supremely selfish
and denationalzed creatures and POUNDS all its
theories that assumption is utterly useless Ill any
practical application.
The strong grasp of he author uron the pretended
abodv of reasoned truth with which lie deals s
shown in the next fifth, chapter III which lie
handles the doctrine of " Laiseztaire,' showing
that il has for its only logical basis this false as
sumpt ion. If man is not as IN fact lie nowhere is.
exclusively devoted to tho getting of wealth; II he
has passions and vices appettes and habits tastes
and enthusiasts, lofty aspirations, eXhalted Ideals
and devoted affections. which control him in dsre-
gard of the greed for gam it follows that he cannot
be expected in free barter to seek at all times in
crease of wealth for himself, or for the community
or nation Unless man Is supremacy selfish, aud
capable of perfectly pcrce,ving his separate inter
est and bindered by no other motive from seeking
gain. and unless every man i'll pursuing his own
GAIN at the same me fuTthers the good OF all. the
sO-callcd science is sham and the doctrine of let
ting things alone is fraud. Actual life is the prod
uct:
Of all the capabilities of the composite man,
buyer seller, father, citizen azy industrious, hope
full honest. poor. unjust prudent. or reckless. 10 Is
an orchestra whose balanced melodies are not the
consecutive notes of instruments alternately Played
upon. but the Joint contemporancOus and instantl-
neOus concord OF the whole Ihe sensuous effect OF
The orchestral harmony is irresO vabie into the con-
tTibution OF each performer. 1t Is "a chorus IN
which here are solos. II the buyer and selle as
such are operating under the actions OF p1Tc
sellishntss' there can he no guarantee that me
transaction will not result In theft and not sale
The sole pursuit OF tbcseconomic gain which egosm
prOvokes may provoke justice To- reward 10 with the
penitentiary. II the motives inspiring us which
we ordinarily call moral motives were drouped out
of the lives of of u.s. the daily record OF conduct
would be d blank. Any snch purely atoTnistic con
cepiOn Of society is worthless for this OF any other
science. Moral motives not only do not drop ont,bk
they cannot be nude to drop ont If they could
dr0p ont the race would cease TO he human. he
economists first empty their economic man of I'll
the apttUdes and attributes which they conceive,
Tor the sake OF simplicity, are not involved IN the
" buyer and seller as such' and having aSccrtaincd
how they think such asuppositltous creation would
c0inpOrt itself they conclude that tho actual human
being will bring his acts into conformity with
their theOretc laws.
Moreover, it is not true as n rule that when midi
viduaIs seek selfish gam they at the same time seek
the go od OF the whole. Every foul howell and rcek
ing tenement house every slave or seri every luOr
saloon or gambling house, by Whatever name called,
proves that it is false. Bastat finds virtual slavery
among workers, and confesses that liberty ap-
pears pOweress to cure that ranking sore which
dominate pauperism." So England though preach
ing the let-aloue gospel establishes schools, and
leyie poor rates pcriorcc and lends money TO Irish
occupants, and restricts landlords. Nowhere on
the face of the EARTH unless it be in Dahomey,
exists government which acts upon the doctrine
that the good of all will be best promoted by letting
each man alone to seek gain as he will.
The author next takes up little out Of IT'S logical
order the fraudulent preence that restrictive legis
ation is taxation He pointedly comments upon
Professors Perry and Sumner thus
1t is one of the unacc0n ntable things that lay
man IS expected 10 draw calm AMI lucid con-
illusions from the furions and urid rhetoric
with which the professors OF political economy
always go abOpt it to lay down their premises in
this department. OF their science.
Thereupon he quotes quite fr el; this lurd
rhetoric but his keen exposition OF the falslty of
tins assumption would have greater force If it
followed and were based upon the examination of
foreign exchanges. No part Of the WORK is more
deliberately reasoned than the demonstration that
if the United States cannot sell abroad the products
which the labor of the whole people would yield, If
applied to the mOst profitable industry "-as in
fact it could not nness the country rednccd
to the condition of mere market garden Tor Europe
it is not burden to anybody. but a benefit 10
everybody, to build up a home market tor these
products by the development of other less profit
able" industries. As Governor IIoyt shows, the
assumption that the other industries are less
L.