SIMON NEWCOMB 383 



for, and in consequence they were given to the world in book 

 form. 



Professor Irving Fisher who fills so acceptably the chair of 

 political economy in Yale University, has described with such 

 skill Newcomb's contributions to political economy that I venture 

 to include his brief analysis. He says: 



"It is true that Newcomb sought not so much to add to economic 

 science as to restate what was already known, but in so doing he 

 struck out in many new paths. Perhaps his chief contribution 

 was the distinction between a 'fund' and a 'flow' , a 'fund* 

 relating to a point of time and a 'flow' relating to a period of 

 time. This distinction he applied especially to the societary cir- 

 culation which he expressed in one equation between the circula- 

 tion of money and the reverse flow of goods. He was apparently 

 the first to state this equation and thereby to formulate accurately 

 the so-called 'quantity theory of money.' He also applied the 

 distinction between a 'flow' and a 'fund' to expose the fallacy of 

 the wage-fund. The same distinction many of us have found 

 extremely fruitful in the analysis of capital and income. Among 

 other problems to the solution of which Professor Newcomb con- 

 tributed may be mentioned the problem of the standard of deferred 

 payments and the perennial problem of Labor and Capital. In 

 general, Professor Newcomb was an advocate of laissez faire, but 

 he distinguished sharply between the government policy of 'letting 

 alone' and that of 'keeping out.' 



"In Methodology Professor Newcomb maintained that Econom- 

 ics was a science and should be treated by scientific methods. 

 One of the most stimulating discussions in his Elements of Political 

 Economy is that concerning the nature of scientific method. He 

 points out that a scientific law merely expresses what would happen 

 under certain hypothetical conditions." 



Of his writings on this subject the following are the more impor- 

 tant: A Critical Examination of our Financial Policy during the 

 Rebellion (New York, 1865); The A. B. C. of Finance (1877); 

 A Plain Man's Talk on the Labor Question (1886) ; Principles of 

 Political Economy (1886) ; and The Problem of Economic Educa- 

 tion (1893). 



As further evidence of his remarkable versatility may be men- 

 tioned his stories: The Wreck of the Columbia (1896) ; The End of 



