18 UTILITARIAN SCIENCES 



Economics 



We may justify the inclusion of economics among the utilitarian 

 sciences on grounds which would equally include the sciences of 

 ethics and hygiene. It is extremely wise as well as financially profit- 

 able to take care of one's health, and still more so to take thought 

 of one's conduct. The science of economics in some degree touches 

 the ethics of nations and the "wealth of nations," a large factor in 

 the happiness of the individuals contained within them, depends 

 on the nation's attitude towards economic truths. Another justi- 

 fication of this inclusion is found in the growing tendency in our 

 country to call on professional economists to direct national opera- 

 tions. On the other hand, our economists themselves are becoming 

 more and more worthy of such trusts. The inductive study of their 

 science brings them into closer contact with men and with enter- 

 prises. By this means they become students of administration 

 as well as of economics. They realize the value of individual effort 

 as well as the limitations which bound all sorts of executive work, 

 in a republic. "Only a few years ago," writes a correspondent, 

 "the teachers of economics were far more generally unfavorable 

 critics of government work which interested them. They have 

 become more and more disposed to cooperate at the beginning 

 rather than to condemn at the end. Just as economics has taken 

 a more kindly and hospitable attitude towards politics, so similarly 

 has it towards business, as illustrated in the rapid rise of courses 

 in commerce." The demand for trained economists in public affairs 

 is " compelling the teachers of economics more and more to seek 

 contact with the men who are grappling face to face with economic 

 problems." 



The relation of economic theory to administration is a subject 

 on which there is much diversity of opinion. It is claimed by able 

 authority that "economic science, by becoming ultra-theoretical, has 

 come into far closer touch with practical life than it ever attained 

 before. Laws, the statement of which seems like a refinement of 

 theory, determine the kind of legislation required on the most 

 practical of subjects." On another hand, it is claimed by high au- 

 thority that our country must have its own political economy. 

 "The generalizations arising solely from the uniformity of human 

 nature are so few that they cannot constitute a science. The classical 

 or orthodox political economy of England was conditioned from 

 start to finish by the political problems it had to face. We are only 

 beginning to acquire our national independence." 



Still another view is that "all that has been achieved in the field 

 of economics that is of any value, has been the result of logical 

 analysis applied to the phenomena and experiences of every-day 



