EDITOR'S TABLE. 



3 6 7 



that the points of the present contro- 

 versies are not of the same importance 

 as those of earlier days ; that there re- 

 mains not much to he done in the way 

 of direct legislation ; in short, that its 

 great work is done. 



In a sense this may be said to be 

 true. The repeal of usury and corn 

 laws, and the establishment of free 

 trade, was a great work; and in many 

 minds this practical application of prin- 

 ciples stood for the science. Being ac- 

 complished, it forms so essential a part 

 of the commercial policy of the country, 

 and has become so rooted in the minds 

 of the present generation, that the value 

 of the benefits derived is not duly ap- 

 preciated, nor the importance of ex- 

 tending this work to other countries 

 sufficiently recognized. 



Economical reform in England has 

 reached that critical period, which 

 comes in the history of all reforms, 

 when effort has been crowned with 

 success. Its old rallying -cries have 

 lost their potency because the ideas 

 which they represented have become 

 universally -accepted axioms; the evils 

 which it labored to correct no longer 

 exist ; its champions find their old weap- 

 ons useless, and no new ones are, as 

 yet, fitted to their hands. 



Naturally, this chaotic condition 

 has begotten dissension and revolt, 

 even among those who are by no means 

 willing to admit that the functions of 

 the science have become unimportant ; 

 the ranks of the faithful have fallen 

 into disorder ; rival sects have arisen, 

 and the validity of time-honored ten- 

 ets is discussed with earnestness if not 

 with heat. The orthodox school still 

 holds in the main to the old creed ; 

 while the dissenters, styling themselves 

 the Historical School a name the fit- 

 ness whereof their opponents decline 

 to allow denounce this creed as being 

 based upon rude generalizations, ob- 

 tained by a superficial and unphilosoph- 

 ical process of abstraction. 



We shall not, at this time, attempt 



any discussion of these questions. We 

 have faith in political economy as a 

 science, and a perfect assurance that, 

 whatever subdivision or specialization 

 it may undergo, its vitality will remain 

 unimpaired. We could, therefore, look 

 upon the present contention with equa- 

 nimity were it not for the reflection 

 that, here in America, we are still 

 disputing over those economical prin- 

 ciples which in England are irrevocably 

 settled. 



However true the statements that the 

 science has outlived its usefulness may 

 be with regard to that nation, they have 

 no application to the condition of Ithe 

 United States. Here its most funda- 

 mental propositions are matters for 

 discussion and legislation, and the prob- 

 lems involved imperatively demand so- 

 lution. We who, this year, are cele- 

 brating the hundredth anniversary, not 

 of a book, but of % the nation's birth, 

 have still to decide whether the prog- 

 ress over which we are prone, rightly 

 enough, to indulge in a good deal of self- 

 glorification, has been helped or hin- 

 dered by the policy of protection which 

 has ruled hitherto; whether, had an 

 opposite course been pursued, our in- 

 ternal resources might not have been 

 quite as fully developed, and at the same 

 time our external commerce have re- 

 ceived a commensurate impetus instead 

 of being at its present low ebb. This, 

 and the condition of our curreney, are 

 very real questions with us ; the way 

 in which they are answered may make 

 all the difference between continued 

 progress and comparative immobility ; 

 and yet, while the country is in a fer- 

 ment from shore to shore over the most 

 inconsequential of elections, these im- 

 portant matters lie apparently dead in 

 the public mind. 



The profound stagnation of the 

 commercial world has brought us near- 

 ly to a stand. Old combinations are 

 disturbed and broken up. In the lull 

 some of the hallucinations of specula- 

 tive fever are disappearing, but the 



