New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-03-05
language of common life, and the abstract ideas
they cypress are moro fully represented in familiar

language of common life and the abstract ideas
they express are more fully represented In familiar
facts
1t will bc perceived from these citations thar
the Duke reasons shrcwdly and well, and that
he is to say, the least quite a. match Tor ms
opponents Those who follow his elaborate
arguments throughout will perhaps reach inc
conclusion that lac Is good deal more IMAM u
match for his opponents OF whose .neorr i,,o m'
certainly does not leave much IN stable conui'l0h
The real strength Of the attack consists III th'
cumulative way in which the neglected conditions
are narshaed ana arrayed 80 elaborate am
carefully turned Is the whole welchty args'
ment III every part that it would not be worm
while 10 make an attempt TO dissect II. ne
purpose throughout is TO demonstrate that th,'
pcccant economists nave written with an equal
ignorance of human nature ana OF the con
ditions prevailing in the world about when
they wrote OF course that Is t IcroI n, Sn" Of
Argyle found much OF the hardest WORK OF
demonstration done already TO his ldnd by thc
men of that younger school whom IN their 'urn'
he subjects TO severe discipline. =.
The fact is, and it is most amply proven "l'il!i
the covers of this book. that me ec1noll''S' !,
Of the present era no less 'nah ."oSr rul "'
ignorant Of the structure, functions, habits ana
tendencies of the society for which they never
thclcss undertook to lay down the most DracO man
laws Thus Professor JevOns. as the DUKE saws,
almost RACES against Ricardo James MIL, J0hn
Stuart Mill. and the whole school TO which they
belong. lie considers that they have by the
iallacics they have taught shattered the science
Of economies. lie declares that 1t has een
"Shuntcd into wrong line, and that nothing
can be done, no progress can be- made, uh,i! 'Nc
train Of economic reasoning has been brought out
again from the blind alley into which these men
have led it and left il. lie speaks OF the IN
sular narrowness' of English economic teachings
" The only hope, he says. "of attaining ~ 'ru99
system of economies is TO fling aside oEce ana
forever the may and prcpoSterouS dss"ip,l ;p'
of the Ricardian school Ricardo he ascrlo'S
as an able but wrong headed man. whose ccono,
mic teaching has been further urged TOWARD
confusion by his equally able and wrong-hcadcd
But it is needless to dwell further upon the
denuncations which lave been applied by the
new school of economists to the old one Hui,cc
it to say that the latter would he entirely dlS,
credited but for the fact here tellngly enforced
by the Duke Of Argyll. that the new schooi +
just as full of fallaccs. and plumbers. and wrong
medicines the old. But there are some m
f,rcnccs to be drawn from this book which the
author has not touched At all. One oi these,
which will doubtless occur to many readers ls'
that the study of political ccon2ny really Ga,l'
for a kind Of mental capacity which has seldom;
if ever. been applied to il. Ii has fccn dunpri
the dismal science. and has been cnltlvairi u!
the dryasdusts in the mistaken belief that II
really did have 10 90 with nothing but theories
and speculati0ns. Now what stands out most
plainly in these pages is the fact that whenever
the economists have failed and come to Siicl
they have done because they did not perceive
that what they had TO do with concerned tine
whole of humanity.
The way men live with and among themselves;
that is involved in oil political economy: ana not
TO include all such knowledge as NAV condic" Z"
the throwing of new light upon that problem Is
to ignore what the Duke terms the unseen ionr,
datOns Of Society. That il. However. what an
the economists have i,cn doing pcr>>tcntly, th"
new ones just badly as the old. and the very
natural nay inevitable out."nr, - thr nr'a,S
courage to wade. intent upon reformation. W."
shall! not here and now. enter upon any further
exposition Of his thesis. which embraces ar,
propcrtion of the until recently bcs: accredited
theories or political economy Lot il u" enough
to intimate that the Duke. an ori. nal Fro" Tracer
does not SEQ reason 10 rccant his views upon
that head bat that the Australian Colonies hav"
taught him some lessons IA 10 the WAY IN whirh
ostensiblc Free Trade may b. turned into IN"
most decided Protection. This. however. ~
merely by the way TIE reader who finds his WAY
TO the end Of tie volume will certainly ir oi
opinion that lie has read an nncomnonlv vigor MS
able and powerful argument. and that IN" 'c'n9,
,nistS whose theories ar" examined MINT a. wei
take them in fer repairs