Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

one, for it relieved the directors of affairs | were asserted to be the basis, was curious. from the charge of causing, or suffering, It was clear that increase of population led the poverty and wretchedness by which they were surrounded.

to famine. It was equally clear that increase of wealth tended to the extension of cultivation over inferior soils, with constantly decreasing returns to labor. Nevertheless, the political economist was everywhere surrounded by facts showing that the condition of man improved as numbers increased and as cultivation was extended. With lessened rewards of toil there should be deterioration of moral condition, and abridged facilities for intellectual cultivation, but it was incontestible that men were more moral and better instructed than in any previous centuries. The increasing disproportion between the share of the landlord and that of the laborer was calculated to increase the inequality of condition, and yet it was not to be doubted that the two were nearer together than they were in the days of Elizabeth or of Henry VIII. The fact and the theory were always at variance with cach other, and hence resulted a determination to limit the science to the consideration of wealth alone, excluding all reference to social condition. Mr. McCulloch therefore defined Political Economy as the Science of Values, and Archbishop Whately desired

Soon after this, Mr. Ricardo attempted to explain by what means the supply of food was limited. He taught that men always commenced the work of cultivation on the most fertile soils, capable of yielding, say, one hundred quarters for a given quantity of labor; but that as population increased, it became necessary to resort to poorer soils, yielding but ninety quarters, and that then the owner of the first could command as rent ten quarters. With a further increase, lands of a third quality, yielding but eighty quarters, were brought into use, and then the first and second would command as rent the whole difference, say, twenty quarters for the first, and ten quarters for the second. The payment of rent is thus regarded, in this school, as an evidence of constantly diminishing reward of labor, resulting from the increase of population, in consequence of which it is necessary to extend the area of cultivation. With each step of its progress, the owner of the land takes a larger proportion of this constantly decreasing product, leaving a smaller one to be divided among those who apply either labor or cap-to change the name to Catallactics, or the ital to cultivation, thus producing a constant increase in the inequality of human condition. The interests of the landlord are in this manner shown to be for ever opposed to those of all the other portions of society. Rent is supposed to be paid because land has been occupied in virtue of an exercise of power, and not because the owners have done anything to entitle them to it. Here we see the germ of that discord which everywhere in Europe exists between the payers and receivers of rent. The annual fund from which savings can be made is held to be continually diminishing, the poor becoming poorer as the rich grow richer. The ten-schools of England. The consequences are dency to increase is more powerful in population than in capital, and the natural result must be that "wages will be reduced so low that a portion of the population will regularly die of want."*

The effect of the promulgation of these principles, upon the science of which they

* Mr. Mill, quoted by Mr. Carey. VOL. VII. No. I. NEW SERIES.

Science of Exchanges. The whole duty of the teacher of this new science was held to be that of explaining how wealth might be increased, allowing "neither sympathy with indigence nor disgust at profusion or at avarice; neither reverence for existing institutions, nor detestation of existing abuses; neither love of popularity, nor of paradox, nor of system, to deter him from stating what he believed to be the facts, or from drawing from those facts what appeared to him to be the legitimate conclusions."*

Such was the Political Economy then, and such is that which is now, taught in the

seen in the manner in which the poor people of every part of the United Kingdom are being expelled from the little holdings to which they have been reduced by a system of unbounded public expenditure, and the contemptuous tone in which the common people are spoken of in all their jour

* Mr. Senior, quoted by Mr. Carey.

6

nals. Charity is denounced as tending to the amount of the return as cultivation is promote the growth of population. Mar- improved and extended.* So it is with the riage among the poor is regarded as a crime, and farmers are regarded as participant in crime for giving employment to men with families in preference to single men. But the system itself was an enormous wrong against nature. Mr. Carey entered the lists against it, with the earnest

* The following table of the distribution at various periods in the progress of population and wealth, will enable the reader more readily to apprehend this:

Production.

Proportion of Quantity to
Capitalists. Capitalists.

ness and confidence inspired by a conviction First.... 100,000....... that he contended for humanity.

Second..300,000,
Third....600.000..........
Fifth...1,000,000......

.. .......50,000...
120.000,

[ocr errors]

200.000.

Quantity to
Laborers.

50,000

180,000

400,000

.250,000..... 750,000

M. Bastiat's new work, Harmonies Economiques, it By the following passages, which we take from will be seen that he adopts these views as the bacapitaux s'accroissent, la part absolue des capitasis of his political economy: "A mesure que les listes dans les produits totaux augmente et leur part relative diminue. Au contraire, les travailleurs voient augmenter leur part dans les deux sens." (P. 280.). 'Ainsi le partage se fera de la

66

manière suivante:

Produit tota!

Deuxième periode, 2000

Première periode, 1000

Troisieme periode, 3000

[blocks in formation]

"Telle est la grande, admirable, consolante, nécessaire, et inflexible loi du capital." (P. 281.) ce qui concerne le partage du produit de la col"Ainsi la grande loi du capital et du travail, en laboration, est determinée. Chacun d'eux a une part absolue de plus en plus grand, mais la part proportionnelle du capital diminue sans cesse comparativement à celle du travail." (P. 284.)

His book commences with a single elementary proposition, that man desires to maintain and improve his condition, whether physical, moral, intellectual, or political: and the object of it is to show, that the the ories of Mr. Malthus and Mr. Ricardo are in direct opposition to the universal fact, and therefore cannot be regarded as natural laws. On the contrary, he shows that food has always grown faster than population, and that the power to obtain subsistence has always increased most rapidly in those countries, and at those times, in which pop-quatrieme periode, 4000 ulation has most rapidly increased, and in which cultivation has most rapidly extended over those soils denominated by Mr. Ricardo inferior. The error of all these writers is shown to be in taking quantities instead of proportions, and it is the law of proportions that constitutes the novel feature of this work. Ricardo and Malthus assert that land, labor, and capital are the agents of production, and are subject to different laws, all tending to produce contrariety of interests, and that the reason why such is the case is that land owes its value-or power to command rent for its use to monopoly, while capital is the accumulated product of labor. Mr. Carey, on the contrary, shows by a vast variety of facts, that land owes its value to labor alone, and that its selling price is invariably less than would purchase the quantity of labor required to induce its present condition were it restored to a state of naIt is therefore, like steam engines, mills, or ships, to be considered as capital, the interest upon which is called rent, and it is subject to the same laws as capital in any other form. With the growth of wealth and population, the landlord is shown to be receiving a constantly decreasing proportion of the product of labor applied to cultivation, but a constantly increasing quantifu, because of the rapid increase in

ture.

tous les autres, est de creation humaine et social.” Cause of value in land.-"Cette valeur, comme (P. 362.) After reciting the various modes of applying labor to the improvement of land, he says: et c'est pourquoi on pourra très bien dire par méLa valeur c'est incorporée, confondue dans le sol, tonymie: le sol vaut" (P. 363.)

[ocr errors]

Land not changeable for as much money as it has cost.-"J'ose affirmer qu'il n'est pas un champ en changer contre autant de travail qu'il en a exigé France qui vaille ce qu'il a couté, qui puisse s'épour être mis à l'état de productivité où il se trouve." (P. 398.)

Cause of this.-"Vous avez employée mille journées à mettre votre domaine dans l'état où il raison est qu'avec huit cents journées je puis faire est; je ne vous en restituerai que huit cents, et ma aujourd'hui sur la terre à cote ce qu'avec mille vous avez fait autrefois sur la votre. Veuillez considerer que depuis quinze ans l'art de dessécher, de détricher, de batir, de creuser des puits, de disposer les étables, d'executer les transports a fait des travail, et je ne veux me soumettre à vous donner progrès. Chaque resultat donné exige moins du dix de ce que je puis avoir pour huit, d'autant que le prix du blé a diminue dans la proportion de ce progrès, qui ne profite ni à vous ni à moi, mais à l'humanité toute entière." (P. 368.)

The reader who may desire to see the perfect

remedy was to be found in that improvement of political condition which should enable men to govern and to tax themselves, doing which they would be disposed to remain at peace.

capitalist. The rate of interest falls as cultivation is improved and capital is accumulated with greater facility, and the capitalist receives a smaller proportion; but the quantity of commodities obtainable in return for the use of a given amount of capital increases, and with every change in that direction there is shown to be an increasing tendency to equality and to im-crease with increase in the density of popuprovement of condition, physical, moral, intellectual, and political.

According to the system of Mr. Ricardo, the interests of the land owner and laborer, the capitalist and the employer of capital, are always opposed to each other. Mr. Carey, on the contrary, proves, and we think most conclusively, that "the interests of the capitalist and of the employer of capital are thus in perfect harmony with each other, as each derives advantage from every measure that tends to facilitate the growth of capital and to render labor productive; while every measure that tends to produce the opposite effect is injurious to both."*

That man may be enabled to improve his physical condition, combination of effort is shown to be necessary, and that tends to in

lation. Therewith comes increased security of person and property, and increased respect for the rights of others, tending to promote the further increase of wealth, and to enable men to devote more time to the cultivation of mind. Improved mental condition enables men to apply their labors more productively, and thus obtain better subsistence from a diminished surface, facilitates combination of action, and increases the growth of wealth. With its growth the proportion of the laborer increases, and that of the landlord or other capitalist decreases, and the power of the former to govern himself, and to tax himself, grows steadily with the growth of wealth and population; and thus we have physical, moral, intellectual and political improvement, each aiding and aided by the other.

The entire novelty of these views rendered it necessary that they should be supported by a great body of facts, and Mr. Carey therefore furnished an examination of the causes which have in various countries, particularly It will be seen from this brief summary India, France, Great Britain, and the United that the field occupied is a most extensive States, retarded the growth of wealth-one, more so than that of any similar work demonstrating that they were to be found in the great public expenditure for the support of fleets and armies, and the prosecution of wars, the natural results of a state of things in which the few govern the many, taxing them at their will; and that the

that has been written. The views are presented with great distinctness and force, and illustrated throughout by numerous facts drawn not only from the four countries principally referred to, but from Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, &c. It is one of the chief distinguishing merits of the work that each part of it, while com

correspondence of these views with those pub-plete in itself, has that relation to the other lished by Mr. Carey, as far back as 1837, may do so by a glance at Chapters II., III, IV., and VII. of his first volume, where he gives a great number of facts in support of ideas then so new, and of course so heretical.

A remarkable fact, to which we now desire to call the attention of our readers, is, that M. Bastiat has thus adopted the views of Mr. Ca rey, without, so far as we have been able to see, alteration or addition. His name never occurs in the work, except as authority for one of his quotations, which M. Bastiat has copied, while the names of Ricardo, Malthus, Senior, Scrope, Considerant, and a host of others are found in almost every chapter. It must be highly gratifying to Mr. Carey to see his views obtain so entirely the approbation of a man of the reputation of M. Bastiat, that he should be willing to give them to

the world as his own.

*Vol. I., p. 339.

which belongs to the divisions of a whole, in which all things are so interblended and harmonious as to produce a cumulative and finally perfect effect; while in the various systems presented to us by Europe, every part is in conflict with every other.

In denying Mr. Ricardo's theory of the occupation of the Earth, Mr. Carey did not undertake to present any by himself, but this he has done in his more recent performance, The Past, the Present and the Future, published in Philadelphia in 1848. In this original and masterly composition he has shown that the law is in direct opposition to the principle announced by Mr. Ricardo and since adopted in the English school,

and to some extent in France and in this | of constantly decreasing powers; and that, country. In the infancy of civilization man therefore, manufactures and trade, steamis poor and works with poor machinery, and engines and ships, are more profitable than must take the high and poor soils requiring agriculture; whereas, Mr. Carey shows that little clearing and no drainage; and it is land is a machine of constantly increasing only as population and wealth increase, that capacities, and that the only manner in which the richer soils are brought into cultivation. machinery of any description is beneficial, is The consequence is, that in obedience to a by diminishing the labor required for congreat law of nature, food tends to increase verting and transporting the products of the more rapidly than population, and it is only earth, and permitting a larger quantity to by that combination of effort which results be given to the work of production. The from increasing density of population that earth is the sole producer, says Mr. Carey, the richer soils can be brought into activity. and man merely fashions and exchanges her The truth of this is shown by a careful and products, adding nothing to the quantity to particular account of the settlement of this be converted or exchanged, and the growth country, followed by a rapid sketch of the of wealth everywhere is shown to be in the occupation of Mexico, the West Indies, South ratio of the quantity of labor that can be America, Great Britain, France, Italy, Greece, given to the cultivation of the great machine India, and the Islands of the Pacific, illus- bestowed on man for the production of food trating and confirming the position that the and wool. This leads to an examination of poor lands at the heads of streams, or the the British system, the object of which is small and rocky islands,are first chosen for cul- shown to have been that of compelling the tivation, while the lower and richer soils are people of every part of the world to bring left unimproved for want of the means which to her their raw products to be converted come with growing wealth and population. and exchanged, thus wasting on the road a Mr. Ricardo's theory is then examined in all large portion of them, and all the manure its parts, and shown to be entirely opposed that would result from their home consumpto the whole mass of facts presented in a tion, the consequence of which is shown to rapid review of the course of events in the be the exhaustion of the land and its owner. different portions of the world, while the The broad ground is then taken that the exceptions made by him for the purpose of products of the land should be consumed providing for the infinite number that could upon the land, and that nations grow rich not be brought under his general law, are or remain poor precisely as they act in acshown to be themselves the law; and that cordance with, or in opposition to, that view. such is the case is now admitted by some of Mr. Carey is a free-trader. In his first book the most eminent economists of Europe. he advocated the British doctrine of diminWith the downfall of Mr. Ricardo's hy-ished duties, as the means of bringing about pothesis of the occupation of land disappears the base on which rests the celebrated theory of Mr. Malthus-a theory which has been largely discussed in this country by Mr. Everett and others, and which is examined at length from his point of view by Mr. Carey, who shows that everywhere increase of population has led to the cultivation of the lower and richer soils, followed by increase in the facility of obtaining food, while depopulation has everywhere been marked by the retreat of cultivation to the hills; a truth which he illustrates by numerous in

stances.

He next surveys the circumstances at tending the progress of wealth. It is held by the English economists that capital, applied to lar, must necessarily bring diminishing profi, -e applied to a machine

free trade. In his Past and Present he admits his error, and shows that the protective system was the result of an instinctive effort at the correction of a great evil inflicted upon the world by British legislation, and that the only course towards perfect freedom of trade is to be found in perfect production.

The effect of increasing wealth and population resulting from the power to cultivate the richer soils, in bringing about the division of land and the union of man is then shown, and illustrated by examples drawn from the history of the principal nations of the world, ancient and modern; and here the European system of primogeniture is examined, with a view to show that it is purely artificial, and tends to disappear with the growth of wealth and population. This leads to the discussion of the relations of

Man himself next appears on the scene. Mr. Malthus, Mr. Ricardo, and all others of the English school, represent him as the slave of his necessities, working because he fears starvation. Mr. Carey, on the contrary, shows him to be animated by hope, and improving in all his moral qualities, precisely as by the growth of wealth and population the results of peace-he is enabled to clear and cultivate the rich soils of the earth.

"With each

man to his fellow-men, which are shown to cultivation on the poorer ones. tend to the establishment of equality wher-step in the progress of concentration, his ever peace is maintained, and wealth and physical condition would improve because population are allowed to grow; and to ine- he would cultivate more fertile lands, and quality, with every step in the progress of obtain increased power over the treasures of war and devastation. the earth. His moral condition would improve, because he would have greater inducements to steady and regular labor, and the reward of good conduct would steadily increase. His intellectual condition would improve, because he would have more leisure for study, and more power to mix with his fellow-men at home or abroad; to learn what they knew, and to see what they possessed; while the reward of talent would steadily increase, and that of mere brute wealth would steadily decline. His political condition would improve, because he would acquire an increased power over the application of his labor and of its proceeds. He would be less governed, better governed, and more cheaply governed, and all because more perfectly self-governed."

Thence we pass to the relations of man and his helpmate, which are shown to improve precisely as do those of man to his fellow-man, as the rich soils are brought into cultivation. Man and his family follow, and the same improvement, under the same circumstances, is shown to take place in the relations of parent and child.

Concentration, or the habit of local selfgovernment, so strikingly illustrated in NewEngland, is next examined in contrast with centralization, as exhibited in England and France, and its admirable effects in tending to the maintenance of peace are fully exhibited. The various systems of colonization next pass in review, and give occasion for an examination of the various causes that brought negro slavery into this country, and the reasons why it is here alone that the race has increased in numbers. India and Ireland, and the devastating effects of the colonial system, Annexation, and Civilization furnish the materials for the succeeding chapters, and give occasion-the last particularly for the expression of opinions much at variance with those taught by Guizot and others of the most distinguished men of our day. Such are the Past and Present. The closing chapter is the Future, and contains an examination of many remarkable facts now presented to our view by our own country, produced by the exist ence of the unnatural system fastened upon the world by England, and to be remedied by the adoption of an American policy, having for its object that of enabling men to live togther and combine their exertions, instead of flying from each other, leaving behind rich lands uncultivated, and going to Texas or Oregon to begin the work of

The field surveyed by Mr. Carey in the Past and Present is a broad one- -broader than that of any other book of our timefor it discusses every interest of man. The ideas are original-whether true or not, they are both new and bold. They are based upon a great law of Nature, and it is the first time that any system of political economy has been offered to the world that was so based. The consequence is, that all the facts place themselves, as completely as did the planets when Copernicus had satisfied himself that the earth revolved around the sun.

*

More recently, in his Harmony of Interests, Mr. Carey has published a full examination of the great question of commercial policy, with a view to show that protection, as it exists in this country, is the true and only road to free trade. He has brought to the illustration of this important doctrine a mass of facts, greater, probably, than was ever before displayed in support of any position in political economy. It commences with an examination of our whole commercial policy for the last thirty years, and shows the effect of protection in increasing the sum of production and consumption, the means of transportation, internal and exter

*This work has been much read abroad, and

we perceive that it has recently been translated into Swedish, and published at Stockholm.

« AnteriorContinuar »