The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1911-04-22
THE FATHER OF
POLITICAL ECONOMY
Richard Cantillon, of County Kerry,
Wrote the First Treatise on
the Subject.
A Well Known Writer Calls the
1rishman's Work the Cradle of
Political Economy.
This Science Began When KnoWl-
edge of Wealth Phenomena was
First Systelnatized.

FIRST SyStelnalZed.
The production and the distribution
OF wealth are old, old phenomena,
and writer's have busted themselves
with speculatiOns concerning them
for long. long time. Real political
economy began when the various
speculations Oh the different aspects
of these phenomena were worked up
into a satisfying organic system,
writes Frank O'liara, PHI. d., In the
Catholic Sentinel tPortlandj.
The precise time when this hap
pened is, to some extent, a question
of personal taste. Many wcll-iniorm-
the belief that political economy was
born in 1916 when Adam Smith pub
lished his famous Inquiry Into the
Nature and Causes of the Wealth Of
Nations" Without wishing to detract
from the Scotchman'S fame, one who
is at all acquainted with the work Of
the French physiocrals must deny
Smiths claim TO the paternity of the
science. Turgot, certainly, and Cues
nay, possibly, had better claim than
had the author of the wealth OF
Nations"
! Ire
But the real father OF political
economy was neither Scotchman nor
Il Frenclman, but an lrshman, and.
beyond reasonable doubt, a Catholic.
Richard Cantilon, the author OF the
"Essai sur l;l Nature du Commerce
en- General" was born about 1850 in
County Kerry, ireland. At an early
age he went to Paris, where he found
ed a bank in ZIG. He was not only
very successful in the practical bust
ness of banking, but he had worked
out theory of money and credit
which will compare favorably with
anything which has been produced
since. 1t was at the time when Cam
! tillon was rising into prominence that
| the Scotchman, John Law, worked his
way into the confidence Of the French
regent and undertook to float the fa-
nous Mississippi Scheme. Cantillon
recognized that the speculation was
based upon unsOund finance, and he
not only refused to invest any money
in the shares Of Laws company, but
he also expressed his opinion of the
venture freely to his acullaintanccs.
Thereupon Law sent for him and said
TO him. "lf we were in England we
come to an understanding, but since
we are in France, ] can have you
put in the Bastlle this evening If you
do not give me your word that you
will leave the kingdom in twcnty-four
hours!" CantiIlon thought the mat
| ter over for an instant and replied:
81 shall not go, but l shall make your
system a success" Accordingly he
| bought stock in the mississippi
Scheme, and thus contributed toward
its prosperity for the time. He was
certain of it's ultimate failure, how
ever, and sold out before the bubble
! burst. He moi only sold the shares
which he owned, but he also sold stock
which had been deposited in his bank
as collateral for loans, feeling that
lower figure when called upon to do
so. This was d pretty good imitation
of "frcnZicd finance" and it. caused
him a good deal Of trouble later. He
succeeded in proving that he had been
acting on the safe side Of the French
law and insisted that there was moth
ing irregular in his banking methods.
AS result of his difficulties, he left
! France, and later took up his resi-
dence in London, where he was mur,
dered in 1874 by a discharged cook,
who robbed the house and then sci it
on fire in an attempt TO cover up his
crime. ....
The elder Mirabeau, in his "L'Ami
des Hommes," classes Cantillon as a
Protestant. "The Friend Of Man" was
born in 1715, and, therefore, was of
the next generation after Cantillon
1t is likely that he got his notion OF
Cantillon's religious belief from the