The independent. [volume] (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907, 1903-03-12
A new ADAM SMITH
Latest "SchoOl" OF Political Economy
Launched by National Economic
League

Launched by National Economic
League
1t begins to look as II the Austrian
school of political economy is to be
supplanted by a new one, if the eff
forts of the National Economic league
succeed. Adam Smith. Karl Marx,
Henry George, and Eugen BOhm-
Bawerk will be relegated to obscur.
i.y and the new school founded by
Judge Freeman Otis Wiley will forge
to the front-that is, provided.
Karl Marks surplus value" theory
satisfies the socialists as to what
causes the great inequalities in the
distribution of wealth. The laborers
are robbed by the capitalist, who owns
the means of production-the land,
machines and raw material-and buys
labor-power at it's cost uses it up in
connection with his machinery and
raw material and sells the finished
product at an advance over what it
costs him. Henry Georges philosophy
is based on the equal right Of all to
use the land, and satisfies the single
takers that the laborer is robbed only
Uy LuC IL 10 W soy
that Bohm- -Bawerk's marginal the
cries satisfy any persons except col
lege professors who delight in mysti-
flying phrases. Adam Smith, the
father of political economy, is the
patron saint Of those who revolted
against the mercantilist (now protec-
tive tariff) idea and demanded "lais-
sez faire' Tor let it alone).
The Willeyites will combine mer
cantilism and "laissez faire." They
will have protective tariff and other
special privileges, and then say "let
well enough alone" which is only
slightly different from 'laissez faire. ;"
+ In the last analysis of exchange
Adam Smith found it to be not an ex-
change of products, but an exchange
of services. This is precisely the posi-
tion of Freeman Otis Wiley, but his
statement is so simple that it is re-
markable that none of the numerous
professors of political economy ever
found it out While they were puz-
zling over surplus value" economic
rent" or external non-transferable
goods" Freeman Otis Wiley discov-
cred the eternal truth that
Mature has ordained that we shall
buy and sell to others, precisely as
others buy of and sell to us; SO that
in the long run the benefits arising
from the exchange are shared by all. )"
-(''The Laborer and the Capitalist" :"
p. SO, Nat. Economic League, N. Y.)
Of course, in the last analysis, it is
all a matter of exchange of services,
and "if $100,000,000 lodged in the
hands of Vanderbilt another $780,
100000 necessarily lodged in the hands
of the people as a consequence" (p.
94) because
5 When we consider the difference
that exists in talent and industry,
as well as locality, or luck, whichever
lou please to call it, it is not hard to
account for the difference in the
wealth of individuals upon the basis
of each giving value equal to what
he receives" I'D, page 3D.
Vanderbilt's hundred millions, ac-
cording to Judge Willey's eternal law
of equivalents, could not possibly have
been accumulated by him without his
giving in return services worth
hundred millions. These the people
received, but because of their vastly
inferior capabilities to perform valu-
able service, each received only an in
significant portion-yet all he de-
served!
This is comforting doctrine, in
line with Pope's, Whatever is is
right" Rockefeller has earned his
hundred millions, more or less, be-
cause he is million times more eff
ficient than the man who has $100
saved up, His services are worth to
humanity exactly what he charges
humanity for them.
Human laws have nothing to do
with the distribution of wealth, ac-
cording to Willeyism. Mature has
ordained it because
"Order is Heavens first law and this
confessed,
Some are, and must be, wealthier
than the rest"
This is quite in keeping with the
God-ordained revenues of the single
takers; or the inevitability of the
overthrow of capitalism, as preached
by the socialists. Man himself has
nothing to say about it. He is a
mere puppet in the hands of fate or
luck. Enacting a tariff law or grant