ECONOMIC COMPETITION 453 



The individualism of Liberal economists was begotten by State 

 absolutism. 



But the Liberal economists, while extolling unlimited compe- 

 tition, held more or less vaguely to the ethical ideal derived from 

 the teaching of the Rechtsstaat philosophy. According to Ricardo 

 " this pursuit of individual advantage is admirably connected 

 with the universal good of the whole." ^ Convinced of this abso- 

 lute identity of individual and social interest, the Liberal econo- 

 mists loudly sang the praises of unrestricted competition. 

 According to Bastiat, this principle of unrestricted competition 

 is infallible, and " il n'en est pas de plus feconde en harmonies 

 sociales, de plus bienfaisante dans ses resultats generaux."^ 

 And again : " II est evident que la concurrence c'est la liberte. 

 Detruire la liberte d'agir c'est detruire la possibilite et par 

 suite la faculte de choisir, de juger, de comparer ; c'est tuer 

 I'iatelligence c'est tuer la pensee, c'est tuer I'homme."^ John 

 Stuart MUl, re-echoing Bastiat, declared that " instead of looking 

 upon competition as the baneful and anti-social principle which 

 it is held to be by the generality of Socialists, I conceive that, 

 even in the present state of society and industry, every restriction 

 of it is an evil, and every extension of it ... is always an ultimate 

 good." 4 



Thus, Liberalism considers the individual as being possessed 

 of certain rights with regard to the community. As Herbert 

 Spencer expresses it, " it results that to recognise and enforce 

 the rights of individuals is at the same time to recognise and 

 enforce the conditions to a normal social life. There is one vital 

 requirement for both. . . . The life of a society, in whichever 

 of two senses conceived, depends on the maintenance of indi- 



1 Ricardo, Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, p. H4 (Gonner's 

 edition, 1895). 



* Bastiat, Les Harmonies economiques, p. 352. Paris, seventh edition, 

 1879. 



3 Ibid., p. 350. 



* J. S. Mill, Principles of Political Economy, p. 477. 



