Principles of Political EconomyPerry, Arthur Latham
General
Principles of Political Economy
Perry, Arthur Latham
Economics
There are some propositions that are _certainly_ true, and one of them
is, that no man can write like that, who ever analyzed into their
elements either Economics or Politics, who ever gained a clear
conception of the sphere of either science in its relation to the
other, or who ever saw distinctly the relations of either to the
nature of Man. The sole motive in Buying and Selling is the gain of
the individual, each for and by himself. That always was the motive,
is now, and always will be. No complications of modern business, no
complexities of credit, no combinations of capitalists or laborers,
ever altered or ever can alter one particle the motives of men in
buying and selling. In a natural and progressive state of things,
Individualism, instead of going out, comes more and more into play,
through the Division of Labor and the falling of all sorts of services
more and more into specialties. To talk glibly, as Professor Ely does,
about Government taking up easily and carrying on in a better way and
to better ends branches of pure business as they are dropped or
forced from the hands of Individuals, is ignorance at once and alike
of the real nature of Government and of Business. Let us look at a few
of the native incongruities and logical fallacies of this
nationalistic position.
(1) What is human Government? Is there anything substantive and
continuous in its _personnel_ and purposes, as there is in the
government of God? Is government anything more, can it be anything
more, than a transient Committee of the citizens charged and changed
to do in certain few particulars the changing will of a Majority?
Government is indeed a necessity, as men are, to restrain the lawless,
and to shape the ends of the law-abiding; but it has to be
administered, if at all, by precisely the same kind of men as the rest
are, chosen for brief periods, their duties sharply prescribed by
constitution or custom, and impeachments or other punishments provided
for them when they transgress. One President of the United States and
one Judge of its Supreme Court have already been solemnly impeached by
the sovereign people themselves.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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