THE RESOURCES OF A NATION.*

THE aim of this volume is to show the relation which the material bear towards the moral and intellectual resources of a nation. The author deals with his subject in seven essays, of which the three first seem rather to be devoted to the develop- ment of the moral and intellectual, the last four to that of the material resources ; the object being to show that the conditions of progress in each case are in perfect harmony with each other. Thus, in the first part of his book, his endeavour is to convince the more sentimental school of thinkers of the necessity, before they frame rules for the distribution of wealth, of understanding the laws by which it must be produced—laws which, unlike those of distribution, have been instituted by "the ordinance of the Creator," and not the " devices of any class of men." In the second part, he shows, by a detailed examination of the principles of political economy, that it is a mistake to suppose that that science in any sense sets up the doctrine of selfishness as our best guide, at all events, for the affairs of this world. The latter portion of this plan is far more elaborately executed than the former, and occupies quite three-fourths of the entire volume. As to the earlier part, we cannot help thinking that the publica- tion of the writer's views is a little premature, and that he would have done far more-justice both to them and to himself had he laid aside his manuscript, we will not say for nine years, but until he had more fully thought out his theme. As these chap- ters stand, it is extremely difficult, even for an attentive reader, to see clearly the drift of his main argument. The parts are all intelligible enough, but the connection of the whole is obscure. And this is not, we think, because there is no connection in the mind of the writer. No one can read the latter part of this book without seeing that he has taken great pains to master the science of political economy, and is really a clear-headed and thoughtful man. But his mode of treating the earlier part of his subject involved him in ques- tions of the widest scope, and on which, in the present state of our knowledge, it is scarcely possible to arrive at very definite conclusions. Thus, the first part of the work is, so to speak, " muddy" in thought, and, in consequence, also rather "muddy " in style. At page 27, for instance, he says that one of the best modes of investigating the laws of nature is by hypotheses, which must include all that is known on the subject under consideration. " The work," he continues, "is not one of con-. struotion. Man is not inventing the creation, but in various times and ways has discovered some of the laws imposed bythe Creator "—a sentence of which it takes one some little time to see the meaning. We cannot help thinking that this proceeds not chiefly from intentional neglect of style, for in the latter part of the book he is always clear, and sometimes epigrammatic, • The Resources of a Patin. By Rowland Hamilton. London and Cambridge Macmillan and Co. 1863.

but from not having fairly thought out what he has to say. This is a great pity ; it is so much more often the duty of the critic in the present day to point out deficiencies of matter than of manner, that it is quite annoying to see a miter, who really has something to say that is worth hearing, put it forth in a crude state, so that he never gets the credit to which be is fairly entitled, and his ideas go to swell the meagre stock-in-trade of far more superficial men. If Mr. Hamilton should light on these remarks, we believe him to be capable of profiting by

them, even though we hint that there may also be some little carelessness in the case, since the errors of the printer have not

always been corrected. Even on the first page stands the sentence, " With it comes the inquiries," and this is by no means a solitary instance of the same sort of thing. If itis worth while to publish one's ideas, it is worth while to write them in the form in which they will most forcibly impress the mind of the reader.

It would be impossible, within any reasonable limits, to follow Mr. Hamilton over the wide field which he traverses. It will be enough if we indicate one or two points which he seems to have put in a new and striking manner, or on which he is at variance with previous writers. The whole history of progress is in his eyes the history of the organization of labour. But the moment labour is organized, the moment each member of the community sets himself to do that sort of work only for which he is best fitted, there arises the necessity for a mutual exchange of the products of labour. Thus political economy becomes the science

which determines the principles on which property and services, obviously widely differing in value and utility, can be equitably interchanged. "It makes no laws of its own, but lays open the working of those inevitable natural laws from the obligation and operation of which there is no escape." Now, supposing people

to be ordinarily intelligent, there is no such efficient check on

any unjust attempt by one man to get more than his fair share of the products of labour than by leaving every man free to exchange his products or services with those who will accord him the most liberal terms. What a selfish man wants to do is to decide for others what is best for them, 'to make his own interests over- ride theirs. What competition does is to compel him to recog- nize the interests of his neighbour. " It is not any man's selfish- ness, but every man's self-interest, that is to be considered."

It is to the neglect of this last truth that we ought to attribute half the evils which people are accustomed to lay at the door of competition. The frauds and adulterations of retailers have their origin in the desire of both retailer and consumer to get

more than their fair share of the products of labour. The re- tailer wants to get more money for his goods than he ought, but the consumer wants to get more goods for his money than he ought. All men are not dishonest ; if, therefore, retailers are worse than others, it is because honest men are driven out of retail trade. The chief cause of this is " a blind grasping spirit of mere bargain-driving on the part of consumers."

"If a man drive a hard bargain for a thing, the value of which he knows, he may show himself to be grasping and niggardly, but little further harm is done ; but where men ignorant of the true value of what they desire to buy follow the same course the mischief is far greater. They know not where to stop. They insist upon getting what cannot be truly and honestly supplied, and, in plain terms, must, in the end, either cheat or be cheated. Fair-dealing men are dis- couraged, and the dishonest, or, at best, the unscrupulous, are employed, and the tone of conventional morality, which with so many is their sole guide in matters of conscience, is lowered and debased, to enable them to meet the real requirements of an ignorant and indiscriminating demand ; for men do not get what they want simply because they desire it ; they can obtain only that for which they give real value. Endless complications are thus introduced, innumerable subterfuges are invented, and crooked trade-customs established,, by which profits are made frequently wholly disproportioned to the real value of the work done."

This passage seems to us to put very admirably a side of this question which is very commonly overlooked, and it affords a very fair specimen of Mr. Hamilton's style when he does him- self justice.

He is, however, somewhat of a devotee of the principle of Competition, so that he. rebukes 1E11 for " implying that profits, in the sense in which profits are the portion of gain falling to

employers of labour, should be shared by all labourers." He points out what is unquestionably true, that under a system of competition the labourer may possibly share, or even absorb profits. If wages are so high that the labourer receives a sum as wages which is in excess of the expenditure of others of his class, he does in that form receive a share of profits, for profits are the excess of production over expendi- ture. Suppose the rate of wages to be so high that the manu- facturer after reproducing stock had only just enough left

to maintain him in his own station, clearly he would either have no share of the profits or else they would be net. At times, in some of our colonies, this state of things may actually have existed ; but Mill obviously is addressing himself to the state of things which in fact exists, and always must exist, in this country, the number of the labourers being what it is. Even in the colonies, any approach towards a rate of wages which would give the labourer a share of profits causes an influx of fresh hands from other places, and brings wages down to their old level. Labourers cannot limit their own number. Is there, then, no means by which they can obtain a share of profits ? If competition is to be the rule, certainly there is not. But Mr. Hamilton thinks this state of things perfectly desirable. Mere unskilled labour, he says, is not worth more than just enough to sustain the labourer in health and strength for his daily toil. But to say this is, in fact, to beg the question. Labour is valuable in proportion as it is skilled, no doubt ; but it is worth what it will fetch. Suppose the painters were all to form a league and refuse to work for less than

a given sum per diem, would there bs anything unjust in it ? If so, the whole system of barristers and physicians must be unjust

also, for that is precisely what they do. The result is, that the number of persons competing for that kind of employment is kept down. Those who cannot got it have to go away to other pursuits, and if they were to attempt to attract business by lowering the scale of fees, they would be put down by the • bar- risters' union, just as they would be by the painters' union. The barristers would send them to Coventry and refuse to work with them, and, indeed, have the legal power to enforce their rule by disbarring the offender. It is difficult to see why it would be more unjust to dispainter a man. What would be unjust would be that the guild should be a close one.

It is not, however, precisely in this form that the principle of partnership, from which Mr. Mill hopes so much, is likely to come into play. We believe that if employers knew their own interest, they would give the men a moderate share of profits. A labourer working for a weekly fixed stipend has no induce- ment to put out his full energies. Let the roaster say, " I shall take a certain sum per week for my wages. I shall replace the stock-in-trade, and pay myself ten per cent. for interest on capital. What remains, the profits, shall be divided between us in proportion to what we each receive for wages." We believe that he would get in the long run far more by the increased zeal of his workmen than the share which he allotted them of the profits ; and the moral advantage to the men would be invalua- ble. Nor is this belief which we have expressed a mere theory. The principle has been adopted by one of the French railway companies, and it is that company which pays the highest dividend to its shareholders.

There are other points in which Mr. Hamilton seems to us too much disposed to look with complacency on the existing system, and to defend the favourite thesis of Dr. Pangloss, that all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds. We may give, as instances, his palliation of the evils of a war expenditure and of the system of raising the taxes of the year by means of loans. But if we are unable always to agree with him, we must admit that his arguments always deserve attention. Even if they served no other purpose than to compel his readers to confute him, and so to obtain a firmer hold of their own principles, they would be very much the better for time exercise; and there is, in fact, a vast deal in his book to admire, much new truth, and still more old truth put in a novel and striking manner.