UNCONSCIOUS ASSUMPTIONS IN ECONOMICS. 529 



described political economy as a science which, assuming the facts of 

 human nature and of the physical world, considers the laws of the pro- 

 duction and distribution of wealth. But what are the facts of human 

 nature which we may legitimately assume? At first sight we are in- 

 clined to take for granted that human nature is much the same all 

 the world over. The late Professor Jevons gave clear expression to 

 this view. " The laws of political economy," he says, " treat of the rela- 

 tions between human wants and the available material objects and 

 human labor by which they may be satisfied. These laws are so simple 

 in their foundation that they could apply, more or less completely, to 

 all human beings of whom we have any knowledge." He adds : " I 

 should not despair of tracing the action of the postulates of political 

 economy among some of the more intelligent classes of animals."* It 

 has seemed as if in the march of progress modern industrial conditions 

 must inevitably be introduced in backward countries, and that they 

 would everywhere result in molding individual aims and character on the 

 same lines. Each individual is to some extent affected by his environ- 

 ment; and it has been supposed that the keen competition and struggle 

 for existence, which in one form or another dominates economic life 

 in all parts of the globe, would make for the survival in all areas of 

 men of the type with which we are familiar in business circles at home. 

 In England there is on the whole a condition of free exchange, where 

 each individual puts in his quota of service to the community and bar- 

 gains for payment. His success in the management of land is rewarded 

 by an increase of rent ; his enterprise in investing his capital, by larger 

 profits; his diligence and skill as a workman, by the wages he draws. 

 The man who is self-disciplined enough to follow routine work habit- 

 ually for the sake of reward, and whose ambitions lie in the direction 

 of better paid and more responsible service, is the normal man of such 

 a society. But it must be remembered that modern civilization is also 

 producing another class; whatever the force of social environment may 

 be, it does not, as a matter of fact, form each unit of the rising gener- 

 ation on the same type. There are men who do not fit readily into 

 our modern system; they dislike the monotony and stationary life 

 which steady industry imposes, though they may be able to work well 

 and hard when the fit takes them. The tramp of the American conti- 

 nent is as much the product of existing industrial conditions as the 

 ambitious leader of an organized body of skilled artisans. The 'ins 

 and outs ' of Great Britain have characteristics which may be described 

 as nomadic, f Economists recognize that the fluidity of labor is one 

 of the assumptions that can be fairly made in regard to modern society.} 



* W. S. Jevons, ' Principles of Economics,' p. 196. 

 t J. C. Pringle in Economic Revieto, XV., p. CO. 

 tW. Bagehot, 'Economic Studies,' p. 21. 



VOL. LXVII. — 35. 



