ATKINSON. — BASIS OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. 221 



and twenty-five per cent of the wool ; also consuming such a wasteful 

 abundance of food, that in spite of waste we feed others to nearly half 

 our own number. 



I therefore venture to submit the claims of political economy to recog- 

 nition, not only as a science, but as the science to which all the physical 

 sciences are subordinate, except as pursuits for those who, being sustained 

 in their material existence by the efforts or work of others, devote the 

 whole time to pure science, without regard to its application. Yet with- 

 out the application of science to the pursuits of peace, order, and industry, 

 could even the devotion to pure science be justified ? There is but one 

 department of philosophy to which we must all bow, and that is the sci- 

 ence of law. None can attain the place of the true jurist who deals with 

 rights and establishes the conduct of society on the foundation of rights. 

 Yet political economy emulates the science of law in bringing to the 

 gradual conviction of mankind the sense of the fact that rights must 

 be sustained in order that the greatest material prosperity and the great- 

 est physical welfare of humanity may be secured. Moreover, the science 

 of political economy is not only a handmaid of jurisprudence, but the 

 foundation of liberty. In the interchange of services the greatest benefit 

 ensues. The greatest benefits are gained where the utmost freedom is 

 permitted, subject to restriction only for police purposes or for the pro- 

 tection of the public health. The motto of the social scientist and of the 

 political economist, if there is a distinction to be made, may rightly be, 

 " Liberty and Law," — freedom to use but not abuse the opportunities 

 which year by year are widened and extended, opening broader fields and 

 more numerous ways to the attainment of the common welfare. 



" Of wliat avail the plough or sail, 

 Or land or life, if freedom fail 1 " 



I had completed the essay of which this is a digest some time ago ; 

 and on reading it aloud, one of my sons remarked the close analogy to 

 Kant's essay upon Eternal Peace. I confess that I was surprised and 

 gratified to find that I had been an unconscious plagiarist of so great a 

 man. There is a close analogy between the conclusions which I have 

 derived from the experience of this free country, and the wonderful 

 prophecy which Kant uttered a hundred years ago regarding the neces- 

 sary effect of the free conditions of the English speaking people in pro- 

 moting Eternal Peace. 



