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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



HONOB TO ADAM SMITH. 



ABOUT a hundred gentlemen sat 

 down to dinner at Delmonico's, 

 December 12th, in commemoration of 

 the centennial anniversary of the publi- 

 cation of Adam Smith's "Wealth of 

 Nations." The occasion was an inter- 

 esting one, and the various topics sug- 

 gested were treated with an earnest- 

 ness and ability of which the public 

 got but a very imperfect idea through 

 the newspaper reports. Mr. Parke 

 Godwin presided with efficiency, and 

 made a very instructive opening speech, 

 which was followed by addresses from 

 Mr. Bigelow, Mr. Atkinson, Mr. D. 

 A. "Wells, Prof. Sumner, and Dr. An- 

 derson, of the Eochester University, 

 each of which brought out an impor- 

 tant aspect of the great subject of free- 

 trade. While Adam Smith was hon- 

 ored as the chief historic representa- 

 tive of rational and liberal views in 

 regard to the liberty of commerce, it 

 was pointed out that his position may 

 be easily misconceived, and his claims 

 exaggerated. Without denying the 

 proposition of Mr. Buckle, that Smith's 

 "Inquiry into the Nature and Causes 

 of the Wealth of Nations " is probably 

 the most important book in its influ- 

 ence upon the policy of states and the 

 economical welfare of mankind that 

 was ever written, it was shown also 

 that Adam Smith was but the mouth- 

 piece of his age ; that a preceding gen- 

 eration of inquirers had prepared for 

 him ; that the French economists were 

 in advance of Europe in their economic 

 views ; and that an elaborate French 

 work appeared in 1778, simultaneously 

 with the " Wealth of Nations," in which 

 the same conclusions were reached, and 

 enforced with great clearness and pow- 

 er. As stated by Mr. Bigelow, it was 

 but another case so common in the 



progress of scientific investigation, 

 where the ideas reached belong rather 

 to the epoch than to any individual 

 exponent of them. 



Mr. Wells gave an admirable ac- 

 count of the workings of the restric- 

 tive system, which burdened the indus- 

 tries of Europe from the middle ages 

 down to the time of Adam Smith. He 

 showed that the fundamental idea in 

 all business transactions, whether be- 

 tween nations or individuals, was that 

 parties trading were in necessary rela- 

 tions of enmity, and that what one man 

 or one nation gained the other party 

 inevitably lost. So radical was this 

 antagonism regarded between men, 

 guilds, and different countries, as to 

 find expression in Hobbes's theory that 

 the state of man in society is one of 

 necessary and perpetual war. The 

 merit of Adam Smith was, that he 

 demonstrated the utter fallacy of this 

 view, and proved that by the natural 

 laws of trade the advantages of ex- 

 change are mutual, and that in its 

 largest possible freedom there will 

 accrue the largest possible benefits to 

 all. Christianity had been trying for 

 many centuries to enforce the golden 

 rule of mutual justice as a matter of 

 duty, to be carried out even though it 

 involve suffering and loss ; Adam Smith 

 showed that the rule of right in human 

 intercourse, so far as trade is concerned, 

 produces reciprocal good, and is for the 

 pecuniary interest of both parties. 



Dr. Anderson maintained forcibly 

 and impressively that free-trade is to 

 be placed on the broadest grounds of 

 morality. The liberty of commerce he 

 held to be a God-given right as much 

 as any other kind of liberty ; and the 

 restrictions upon trade to be just as 

 immoral and vicious as interference 

 with other forms of freedom. A man 



