THE PRESENT PROBLEMS IN THE ECONOMIC INTER- 

 PRETATION OF HISTORY 



BY SIMON NELSON PATTEN 



[Simon Nelson Patten, Professor of Political Economy, University of Pennsylvania, 

 since 1888. b. May 1, 1852, Sandwich, Illinois. A.M. Halle," Germany; Ph.D. 

 1878. Member of American Academy of Political and Social Science, American 

 Economic Association. Author of Development of English Thought; Theory of 

 Social Forces; Economic Basis of Protection; Heredity and Social Progress, etc.] 



To the man of theory and often to the man of practice the study 

 of history seems a useless occupation. Both have an interest in the 

 present and demand solution of present problems. Has history any- 

 thing to offer these men, and can its methods be applied to the 

 investigation of present conditions? At first sight the theorist gains 

 little from its perusal. He finds the attention of historians limited 

 to events of little present importance; wars occupy more space than 

 the avocations of peace, and personal affairs are discussed to the 

 neglect of social tendencies and principles. 



If a reader overlooks the prolix statements of non-essentials to 

 which some historians are prone and seeks principles to guide present 

 action, what does he find but the familiar assertion, " History repeats 

 itself"? Driven back from history, the searcher for present guidance 

 once more resorts to theory, in the hope that some light may be struck 

 that shows the road he is blindly seeking. But all in vain. 



Is there no link between these two disconnected methods of 

 research? Must the past be interpreted by a method that yields no 

 valuable results and the present by a method that discards all 

 reference to the past? 



This opposition and these defects continued for a long time before 

 any remedy was suggested. Historians sneered at the theorist, and 

 the economist had an openly expressed contempt for those who 

 did not use his methods. It is only of late that a new method of 

 research has arisen, giving to history a wider meaning and offering 

 to the economist a test for his theories. 



Progress in this direction has, however, been slow. The historical 

 appetite for facts is in a measure satisfied by the study of the eco- 

 nomic conditions of earlier times. It acted as a limitation on theo- 

 rizing to know that the conditions economists emphasized as parts 

 of a perpetual economy were of recent origin and have application 

 to but a small section of humanity. The doctrines of free com- 

 petition, personal liberty, free trade, individual bargaining, and like 

 tenets of the current economic philosophy thus lost their position 



