Political Economy for the People

In addition to those triumphs of intellect which benefit the whole human species, we often see instances of skill which are confined to particular countries and districts. In this way Sheffield is distinguished for its cutlery, Birmingham for its hardware, Manchester for its cotton fabrics, Lyons for its silks, Sèvres for its porcelain, and the Gobelin manufactory for its tapestry. So, also, Cremona once made the best violins and Damascus and Toledo the best swords. Japan is still famous for its lacquered ware, and China for its gongs. Superior knowledge or art are thus, whether upon a small or a great scale, a source of wealth and power to their possessors.

III. Frugality. -- If some portion of the products of industry be not put away to aid man in his future creative operations, a nation could make no progress in wealth. It could never acquire capital, which, as we shall see, is indispensable to further production. Without this aid, creative industry can no more exist than man can live without food. The extraordinary opulence of Holland, which once carried on commerce with all the world, and which even now lends money to most of its neighbors, was owing no less to the economy than the industry of its inhabitants.

One cause of wealth which has ever characterized commercial nations, is the fact that they neither could have acquired the materials of traffic, nor have extensively prosecuted it without great forbearance to spend. It is obviously as true with a nation as with an individual -if it annually consumes all that it annually produces, it at best can be but stationary, and may be easily retrograde.

IV. Government. -- For a nation to be at once safe, prosperous, and happy, it must have the advantage of good government and laws. Man will be neither industrious nor frugal, if a rapacious government is ready to seize on the fruits of his labor. His productive powers are not likely to be much exerted, if his earnings are not secured to him, and placed beyond the reach of arbitrary power; and the spectacle of great national industry, either agricultural, manufacturing, or commercial, has never been seen under a pure despotism.

It is not only necessary that productive industry should be protected from the exactions of its own government, but also from the invasive violence of other nations. It must also be defended from the attacks of domestic force or fraud, and these defenses cannot be furnished without an efficient government, and a good system of jurisprudence.

The rights of property and of person should be accurately defined, and promptly and vigorously maintained. Contracts, freely and fairly made, should be strictly enforced -- and, above all, the Government should honorably fulfill its own engagements, whether they were to pay a debt, to relieve from a burden, or to concede a privilege. Nothing better shows the wise policy of honesty than a scrupulous preservation of the public faith. By a breach of it, a nation may lose more than it gains, even in a pecuniary view; but, for its loss of character, it can have no adequate compensation.