A GREAT BOOK.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12063, 19 July 1917, Page 7

A GREAT BOOK.

ADAM SMITH'S "WEALTH OF NATIONS."

The Scotch economist's " Wealth of Nations" is not- fairly described as a book much talked about, but not read, but. it- is indisputably one of the most quoted and least understood of the flood of works on political economy which has inundated the world siuce its publication in 1776. Adam Smith is sometimes spoken of as the father of political economy, and is occasionally execrated for inflicting on mankind the "dismal science,"' but he is not entitled to the credit of foundation nor deserving of the blame, which may attach to the interest it. has excited since he wrote.

There were political economists before Smith, notably the physiocrats, many of whose views he accepted and some of which he dissented from- Ihe principal merit of his work consists in the fact that be discussed h:s subject in a practical manner; while most, ot those who preceded him indulged too freely in speculation. He was a good observer, and although a professional literary man was evidently accustomed to testing out theories by attempting to square them with tlie_ actual_ practices of the period in which he livedIt is said of some of his predecessors that their observations disregarded the teaching of history, while ne found in its pages many facts to illustrate and emphasise, his views. The tribute is deserved, even though a great aeal ot that, which Vie accepted without cnallenge has been found by later investigators to be. untrustworthy- A history of commerce in antiquity, written by a eonnt.rvman of Smith's about the came time, shows that the. study of the past was greatly influencing those who gave thought, to industrial matters, and it also "betrays the fact that the habit of looking backward to some extent impaired"" the ability of writer? to project themselves into the future. This was by no means always the case, and in some particulais oroith exhibited a pronounced tendency to getaway from h:s environment. It must, be admitted that for a. Briton on the eve of the revolt of the thirteen colonies to discuss the possibility of the transference of the capital of the united Kincdom to the other side or the Atlantic indicated a. breadth of view uncommon in those days- It is true that Berkeley's apothegm, "Westward the courso of empire takes its way. was framed before Smith wrote, but tV bishop's prediction partook more of imagination than the clearly expressed" belief in ''The Wealth ot Nations" that, the day would come when population and other considerations would prompt tho removal of the teat of British Government to America. " Although "The Wealth of Nations was published in 1776 its author was enaaged in its composition during tlio preceding ten years. He was fortythree -years old "hen he began th~ work- " Prior to taking up his more solid subject Smith was a pro.essoi ot i rhetoric and belles-lettres and had fid Jod the chair of moral philosoph> in I Edinbureh. His first vr.tmgs««P ea ed in the- "Edinburgh in I] 7.-50 Two articles were published, (one on Johnson's dictionary and the 'other on the state or liteiatuie Europe. Neither of these foreshadowed his great work, nor aid bis mteivenmg publications, which were H devoted to philosophy and ethics. • giveanv indication of the n,action.; wnw. of *'» 1,00 \ "'"J occupied him ten year? m the \witis net thinkable Uiat- nn economic WO'- 1 ' of the port produced by Jinu-b would create a sensation, but it undoubtedly achieved a, mailed niid was-welcomed with words ot pia~<by contemporary writers. Ineie plenty of evidence that it- was read the colonials who had a. pait m fiain in- our Government, and was we!. thought- of by them- Bui- general re-fOfiiit-irui was not- accoided_ it unt-i miiny .years after the author's deatn, winch occurred in 1790, and it was nou until the agitation over the abolition of the Com Laws by the United Kingdom that it. became- a sort of economic Bible. Like the Bible, it was drawn upon bv men of varying views, yho could find in the voluminous discussions of the author expressions with which to supnort then' side of the argument. In view of the fact, that Smith laid so much stress on the superiority or the domestic over the foreign market jr. is surprising fhat the. Gobdenites should have virtually appropriated him to themselves and made him the chief apostle- q> their ism. It did not matter to them tha.t_ lie was a- stout defender of the navigation acts, and that in numerous places ho emphasised the desirability of encouraging the home, producer, whose, prosperity he elevated to the first place: they found plenty of support- for their_ contention that his chief advocacy was for freedom of trade. Smith was eminently ptac-tic--,1 and when ho set down his observations he usually did so wan as mMch force as when he said: ''But the returns of the foreign trade of consumption a.rc very seldom so quick as thos 0 of the home trade. A capital therefore employed in the home trade will sometimes make twelve op : era l ions, or be sent out and returned more times before a. capital employed in tho foreign trade of consumption has made one. If the capitals are equal, therefore, the one will give four and twenty times more, encouragement. and support to the industry of the country than the other." From this and numerous other \ pressions we may reasonably conclude that. Smith., bad ho lived and wroro in America, would bo.vo strongly advocated a system calculated to promote domestic industry; and on the j other hand there is no dctobt that, had ' he been in England when Cobden flourished he "would have urged that the best interests of th e United Kingdom would be served by the extension of her foreign trade, unless, perhaps, the idea- might have struck him that it. is not. tbtt part of wisdom for 3 nation to display undue eagerness to get rid of its irreplaceable resources. It is also probable that ho would have been on the side "of the bimetallists in tho controversy concerning the standards in this country, for h e unhesitatingly assents to the proposition j that tho price of corn is regulated by the quantity of money, and he knew enough about Sir Thomas Gresham'r mint law to not bungle when stating its meaning. So, on the whole, it may be concluded that " Tho "Wealth of Nations.'' although a, trifle neglected lately will have a recrudescence of favour in England when the war is over, and that it will be used to demonstrate the soundness of doctrines tho very opposite of 'those maintained with almost religious zeal for nearly threequarters of a century.