From a practical standpoint also, especially in his defence of free labour and his condemnation of corporations, Condillac is more categorical than the Physiocrats. “All these iniquitous privileges,” he writes, “have no claim to a place in the order beyond the fact that they are already established.” He is as persistent as Turgot in his justification of the taking of interest and in his demand for the determination of the rate by competition. This very elegant argument is employed to show its similarity to exchange: Exchange implies compensation for overcoming the drawbacks of distance, whether of place or of time.[125] Exchange generally refers to place, interest to time, and this is really the foundation of the modern theory. CHAPTER II: ADAM SMITH Notwithstanding the originality and vigour displayed by the Physiocrats, they can only be regarded as the heralds of the new science. Adam Smith,[126] it is now unanimously agreed, is its true founder. The appearance of his great work on the _Wealth of Nations_ in 1776 instantly eclipsed the tentative efforts of his predecessors. To-day the Physiocratic doctrines scarcely do more than arouse historical curiosity, while Smith’s work has been the guide for successive generations of economists and the starting-point of all their speculation. Even at the present day, despite many changes in the fundamental principles of the science, no economist can afford to neglect the old Scotch author without unduly narrowing his scientific horizon. Several reasons account for the commanding position held by this book—a position which no subsequent treatise has ever successfully rivalled. First is its supreme literary charm. It is above all an interesting book, bristling with facts and palpitating with life. The burning questions of the hour, such as the problems presented by the colonial _régime_, the trading companies, the mercantile system, the monetary question, and taxation, supply the author with congenial themes for his treatment. His discussion of these questions is marked by such mastery of detail and such balance of judgment that he convinces without effort. His facts are intermixed with reasoning, his illustrations with argument. He is instructive as well as persuasive. Withal there is no trace of pedantry, no monotonous reiteration in the work, and the reader is not burdened with the presence of a cumbersome logical apparatus. All is elegantly simple. Neither is there the slightest suggestion of the cynic. Rather a passion of genuinely human sympathy, occasionally bordering upon eloquence, breathes through the pages. Thanks to rare qualities such as these we can still feel something of the original freshness of this old book.