The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1895-02-01
AN INSTRUCTIVE ,r1EETING.
The Social Science Club Listens to an
Interesting Paper by G. F. KOehIer.
Old and New Political Economy
Compared.

The subject which engaged the at
tention of the Social Science club at
it's meeting Tuesday was "Old and
New Political Economy" Prof. G. f.
Koehler read the paper, in which he
traced the growth of political econ
omy, giving an idea of the old and
what it accomplished, and followed
the growth of the new. He said that
the introduction of machinery into
the field of human industry had
served to change in many respects the
problems of political and social econ
omy, and conveyed the idea that it
had much to do with the growth of
the new political economy. He
quoted various authors as to What
political economy is, and drew from
them that it is the science which
deals with social phenomena from an
economic standpoint. The old polit-
ical economy, he said, looked largely
to man as a machine for the produc-
tion of wealth. The new political
economy regards man as something
higher than a mere machine, and
while it does not deny the science to
deal mainly with material wealth, yet
in the production and distribution of
wealth it takes into consideration the
moral and social conditions of man.
There was little or no ethics in the
old, while the new is ethical through
and through. The old political econ
omy resented the intrusion of politics
or any outside interference of state
into economics. The new invites such
intrusion or interference, holding that
the many should make life for the
many, and that any force which will
improve it's conditions is welcome.
But in this respect the new economy
does not drift toward socialism, for it
does not believe in any interference
of the state which would overturn the
main social conditions as they now
exist. Reform, not revolution, is it's
watchword.
Middle age political economy, he
said, was written from the stand
point of the rulers. What might be
called the orthodox political economy,
from the standpoint of the capitalist,
but the new, he thought, must take
the standpoint of the laboring classes,
and in this view he believed he was
sustained by the spirit of modern gov
eminent, especially in this country.
From this he briefly reviewed the
growth and history of political econ
omy. Briefly stated, he found that
political economy had not only the
material improvement of man in
view, but that it's modern idea is to
secure this improvement through his
moral and social betterment.
The discussion was opened by Prof.
Holtz, who outlined the development
of the new idea, showed wherein there
was danger from reformers who had
not given the subject more than mere
superficial study; that they often
times led the people off after false
lights from which it was hard to re-
turn. Both extremes should be care
fully avoided, and the golden mean
selected, and this, he thought, the
paper ably pointed out.
The general discussion which fol-
lowed was a very fruitful one. The
question of competition, and the rela-
tion of trusts to the economic world
were brought up and received consid-
cradle attention, and much informa-
tion on these questions was brought
out. 1t was generally conceded that
competition was waste, and that
while it had many good points, they
were counterbalanced by many radi-
cally bad. AS to trusts, it was ad-
mitted that while there were many
evils to be charged up against them,
there was also much that was good to
be credited to them, and the opinion
seemed to prevail that they are here
to stay, and that public attention
should be turned to the correcting of
the abuses connected with them,
rather than attempt the impossible
task of Kidding society of them
entirely.
The next meeting of the club will
be held on Tuesday evening, Febru-
airy 5th, when Prof. M V. O'Shea will
read a paper reviewing "Kidd's Social
Evolution"