40 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



The principal object of this paper was to poinj out the wide 

 schism which exists at the present epoch between the theories of 

 political economists and the practices of States. The former are 

 dominated by the negative ideas of Adam Smith and the English 

 doctrinaires which constitute nearly all the literature of the subject, 

 and are taught and professed almost universally. Notwithstanding 

 this it was shown by profuse illustrations from history and statistics 

 that the policy pursued by the various governments of the world is 

 totally opposed to these teachings, and scarcely at all affected by 

 them. The political economists declare that the true province of 

 government is simply to protect the spontaneous operation of natu- 

 ral laws working in society, which will then work out all the results of 

 civilization, and that any interference with these natural operations 

 will be either wholly inoperative or will result in mischief. They 

 found their doctrines upon the observed phenomena of the physical 

 world which are known to be uniform and invariable. This they 

 hold to constitute true political science, analogous to all physical 

 science. 



Notwithstanding the unanimity of writers, past and present, on 

 this subject, positive state regulation, especially during the last 

 quarter of a century, has made rapid strides, and nearly all civil- 

 ized governments are openly violating these economic rules. The 

 post office, the telegraphs, and the railways of many countries are 

 passing under government control, while national banking and 

 national education are rapidly superseding private banking and 

 private instruction. 



It was further shown that the desire for positive regulation con- 

 sists for the most part of a mere intuition, or social instinct, and 

 coexists, even in the same individual, to a great extent with the 

 incompatible belief in the laissez /aire policy of the schools. This 

 greatly complicates the problem, and renders it highly important 

 that a clear exposition of the grounds on which the positive policy 

 is conducted be made. In seeking to do this it was shown that the 

 unrestrained operations of natural laws in social phenomena invari- 

 ably result : 



