PREFACE. TH HERE is an extremely clever little book by a French writer, M. Bastiat, of which there is a translation by Dr. Hodgson, entitled, What is Seen, and What is Not Seen; or, Political Economy in One Lesson.' The meaning of this title is, that the phenomena, the appearances, of social arrangements are seen, but the causes and consequences are not seen. In the last century it was said by another French writer who has scattered abroad sound and foolish opinions with a pretty equal hand, that "it requires a great deal of philosophy to observe what is seen every day." (J. J. Rousseau.) To no branch of human knowledge can this remark be more fitly applied than to that which relates to the commonest things of the world-namely, the Wants of Man and the means of supplying them. It is the almost unlimited extent of the wants of man in the social state, and the consequent multiplicity and complexity of his means-both his wants and means proceeding from the range of his mental faculties-which have rendered it so difficult to observe and explain the laws which govern the production, distribution, and consumption of those articles of utility essential to the subsistence and comfort of the human race, which we call Wealth. It is not more than a century ago that even those who had "a great deal of philosophy" first began to apply themselves to observe "what is seen every day" exercising, in the course of human industry, the greatest influence on the condition and character of individuals and nations. The properties of light were ascertained by Sir Isaac Newton long before men were agreed upon the circumstances which determined the production of a loaf of bread; and the return of a comet after an interval of seventy-six years was pretty accurately foretold by Dr. Halley, when legislators were in almost complete ignorance of the principle which regularly brought as many cabbages to Covent Garden as there were purchasers to demand them. Many of the false and sometimes mischievous opinions which are entertained, not only by those we call working men, but by some of the more educated classes, might be first neutralized and then eradicated by the dedication of their minds to a few of the most elementary lessons of Political Economy. To those who decline to investigate the principles of this science, the mere phenomena of society are apparent-the things seen. The causes and resultsYet the know the things not seen-are dark and doubtful. ledge, so desirable to be acquired, is really not abstruse or difficult. It is to be attained by the young and the adult, through an exercise of the reasoning power which very quickly leads to a conviction that the learner is treading on firm ground. We would invite those who doubt this to follow us in spirit to a day-school, where five hundred children are taught useful things at a charge of sixpence a week each, a school that prospers, because self-supporting, --where economical science is expounded from the lips of very young disciples, who are working out their knowledge of great truths by the simplest of inductive processes. In that school "political economy" is intelligently taught not "brought down to the capacity of a child" by evasions or dilutions of the truths which the philosophical student receives as axioms; but by leading "the capacity of a child" to recognise, step by step, and to expound himself as he goes on, the whole "phenomena of industrial life," and the "conditions of industrial success.' ""* In the South-Eastern District of the metropolis is the largest of many schools, known as the "Birkbeck" Schools. These Birkbeck Schools have, with the exception of that of the London Mechanics' Institute, been established at the expense of Mr. William Ellis. Some six years ago the writer of Knowledge is Power' visited the Peckham School, and took notes of the mode of instruction pursued in the Political Economy Class. The lesson of about an * The admirable little book by Mr. William Ellis, edited by the Dean of Hereford, is entitled Lessons on the Phenomena of Industrial Life and the Conditions of Industrial Success.' hour, conducted by a most intelligent teacher, was gone through without any previous knowledge having been acquired by the scholars from books. We have reserved for a future chapter "On the Necessity for Elementary Instruction on Political Economy," the questions and answers which we took down on that occasion, giving each as literally as possible. One of the circumstances with which we were most forcibly impressed in our visit to the Birkbeck School was this:-The children, many under ten years of age, were as deeply interested in the subject of their lesson as if they had been questioned about the incidents and characters of one of the most romantic stories of history or fiction. It was the reality of the topics that came home to their understandings. Matters affecting the interests of every human being, and involving a variety of facts having relation to the condition of mankind in every age and country, are not necessarily, as has been supposed, dry and difficult to understand, and consequently only to be approached by systematic students. In this belief it is proposed in this volume to exhibit the natural operation of the principles by which Industry, as well as every other exchangeable property, must be governed. The writer has to apply all the universal laws which regulate the exchanges of mankind to the direction of that exchange which the great bulk of the people are most interested in carrying forward rapidly, certainly, and uninterruptedly-the exchange of Labour for Capital. But he has also to regard those laws with especial reference to that mighty Power which has become so absorbing and controlling in our own day-the Power of Science applied to the Arts, or, in other words, Knowledge. It is not too much to assert that, henceforth, Labour must take its absolute direction from that Power. It is now the great instrument of Capital. In time it will be understood universally to be the best partner of Labour. The present volume is founded upon two little works which the author wrote more than thirty years ago, and which were widely circulated. One of these books, 'The Results of Machinery,' was published, in connection with the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, at a period of great national alarm, when a blind rage against a power supposed to interfere with the claims of labour was generally prevalent, and led, in the southern agricultural districts especially, to many acts of daring violence. Happily, that spirit is passed away. The spirit of knowledge has arisen. In remodelling that portion of the present volume it is unnecessary so fully to deprecate the evils of hostility to machinery; but rather to look forward to its more complete union with skilled labour as the triumph of the productive forces of modern society. In the other little book upon which this volume is founded, Capital and Labour,' the general subject of the Production of wealth was popularly treated, and forms the subject of Part I. of this volume. The argument is here carried forward into many details of the various industrial arts, forming Part II. In the present work the general relations of Capital and Labour in the Distribution of wealth are briefly treated in Part III. As the mistakes about Production have yielded, in a great degree, to improved education, so may those which belong to Distribution also yield to the progress of Knowledge. These are not mistakes which are confined to one class, and that the most numerous. The little books upon which this enlarged work was based were addressed to " Working Men." In this revised edition of the more complete book, the writer has endeavoured to adapt it for the information of all ranks. Without attempting to give this volume the formal shape of a treatise on Political Economy, it is the wish of the author to convey the broad parts of his subject in a somewhat desultory manner, but one which is not altogether devoid of logical arrangement. He desires especially to be understood by the young; for upon their right appreciation of the principles which govern society will depend much of the security and happiness of our own and the coming time. To each chapter of this edition is appended a sort of summary in the form of questions. If this book should be used in Public Elementary Education these interrogatories may be put by the teacher. If used at home they may not be without their value to the student. CONTENTS. Feeble resources of civilized man in a desert-Ross Cox, Peter the Wild Boy, and the Savage of Aveyron-A Moskito Indian on Juan Fernandez-Conditions necessary for the production of utility. Society a system of exchanges - Security of individual property the principle of exchange-Alexander Selkirk and Robinson Crusoe- Adventures of John Tanner-Habits of the American Indians-Their sufferings from famine, and from the absence among them of the principle of division of labour-Evils of irregular labour-Respect PAGE |