They send the money out of the country, they favor foreign industry at the prejudice of domestic, and ruin the inhabitants by exciting them to expenses beyond their incomes.' Such is the cry of these alarmists.Perhaps I return too frequently to a consideration of such errors; but they are so common, and, at the same time, so injurious, that I think it my duty to neglect no opportunity to prove their fallacy, whether by arguments or by examples; and what more striking example could I oppose to this doctrine than that of the prosperity of the Irish!"Speaking of the probability of a rise in the price of colonial productions, he observes farther, "that it may possibly diminish their consumption, but that it is much more likely that the Irish, who bare acquired a taste for such enjoyments, will work still harder, and produce still more linen, hemp, and oats, that they may have plenty of sugar and rum.With a people so ingenious, all that is requisite is to give them wants, and excite them to labor." (153)Science is said to be prophetic; does this then sound like her voice?
I shall conclude these remarks, by observing, that in my opinion the disciples and followers of Adam Smith, in claiming for the speculations contained in the Wealth of Nations, and for the doctrines they have founded on them, the rank of an experimental science, the conclusions of which are entitled to the same credence with other experimental sciences, act injudiciously, and by insisting on pretensions which are unfounded, injure the cause of that philosopher and conceal his real merits.If we view his philosophical system of the Wealth of Nations, or indeed any of his philosophical systems, as be views every such system, "as an imaginary machine invented to connect together in the fancy those different movements and effects which are already in reality performed," nothing of the sort can be more beautiful.A clear, orderly and extensive view is given of a vast number of interesting and important facts, connected by a few familiar principles.
A great body of knowledge is thus brought before the mind in a shape which it can readily grasp, and easily command.The object being not to discover, but to arrange and methodize, all the subordinate principles of the system are artfully bent so as to embrace the phenomena, and care is taken that the imagination be not shocked by a view of matters that shall seem irreconcilable to the aspect of affairs which the contemplation of the world of life itself presents.Nor is it to be disputed that a general system of the sort, besides the pleasure and the advantage derived from it, is likely to be nearer the truth than speculations of the same nature, confined to particular parts.
The case, however, is completely altered, when the loose and popular principles on which such a system proceeds, are adopted as demonstrative axioms, the discoveries of real science, and are carried out to their extreme consequences.Their original purpose is then altogether changed, and instead of serving to bring before the mind a collection of facts, they lead it farther and farther away from truth and reality, into the barren and wearisome regions of mere verbal abstractions.
APPENDIX TO BOOK II.Of the Principle of the Division of Labor.
Not having been able without interrupting the course of investigation, to enter into a discussion of the principle of the division of labor, as viewed by Adam Smith, I have thought it better to place apart the observations I have to make on it.
In the Wealth of Nations, the division of labor is considered the great generator of invention and improvement, and so of the accumulation of capital.
In the view I have given it is represented as proceeding from the antecedent progress of invention, and increase of stock, and as operating chiefly by quickening the exhaustion of instruments, and so placing them in orders of more speedy return.Now in reality, as far as its origin is concerned, the account of the matter which we find in the Wealth of Nations, is more favorable to the latter supposition, than to the former.
"In a tribe of hunters, or shepherds, a particular person makes bows and arrows, for example, with more readiness and dexterity than any other.
