Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/686

 666 POLITICAL ECONOMY manufactures, the employment of men, the trades most important to communities, com- merce, transportation, money, &c. In 1613 Antonio Serra published in Naples a volume on the causes which tend to aid an accumula- tion of the precious metals in those countries which do not produce them ; and in 1616 Gian Donato Turbulo published in the same city a treatise on the money of the country. About this time treatises on commerce and the pro- hibitive system were published by Duarte Go- mez (Lisbon, 1622) and Juan de Castafiares (1626). The attention of the earliest English writers on political economy was directed to foreign trade. They saw that it was desirable to have a metallic currency suited to the wants of the business of their country, and while advocating the extension of this trade they recommended the adoption of such measures as would cause gold and silver to flow into the country, and not out. The policy advocated by this school is known to economists as the mer- cantile system. It was supported among oth- ers by Thomas Mun in "A Discourse of Trade from England unto the East Indies" (1621), and by the same author in " England's Trea- sure by Forraign Trade, or the Balance of our Forraign Trade is the Eule of our Treasure " (1664). The last named treatise was probably written as early as 1 635-'40. In 1 663 appeared "England's Interest and Improvement," by Samuel Fortrey, who held that the trade with France occasioned a clear loss equal to the balance against England. This was attacked by an anonymous author in " England's Great Happiness" (London, 1677). Another writer of this school was Misselden, who in 1623 published his " Circle of Commerce." In 1668 appeared Sir Josiah Child's " Brief Ob- servations concerning Trade and the Interest of Money," of which a new edition appeared in 1690, entitled "A new Discourse of Trade." Its author is usually classed among the mer- cantile school, but he did not regard a direct examination of the comparative amount of imports and exports, or even the movements of the precious metals, as a proper test of the advantages or disadvantages of a foreign trade; he rather looked to its increase or decrease as presenting the most tangible evidence. He advocated reducing the rate of interest from 6 to 4 per cent., believing it to be the unum magnum, as he expressed it, and that it would greatly facilitate business. He recommended " the prevention of the exportation of our wool, and encouraging our woollen manufactures," and that in Ireland the "linen rather than the woollen manufacture be set up ;" further, that the trade of those countries " that vend most of our manufactures, or supply us with materials to be further manufactured in Eng- land," be most encouraged. Andrew Yarran- ton published "England's Improvement by Sea and Land : to outdo the Dutch without Fight- ing, to pay Debts without Moneys, to set at Work the Poor of England with the Growth of our own Lands," &c. (2 parts, 1677-'81). He designed to advance the prosperity and power of England by the introduction of a general system of banking, thus furnishing u the great sinews of trade, the credit thereof making paper go in trade equal with ready money," a registry of real estate to facilitate its transfer and mortgage, the improvement and development of the production and trade in linen, woollen goods, and iron, the introduction of canals and the improvement of rivers and harbors, with a view to facilitating internal trade and intercourse. He held that a country desiring to be rich, powerful, and happy must introduce a diversified industry ; and he recog- nized the necessary means for bringing about its development. " Above all," says Patrick Edward Dove, who regards him as the founder of English political economy, " we must note his prospective sagacity, for he points out in detail the very course that England has pur- sued, and the very elements that were to con- tribute to her commercial superiority." An important era in the history of political econ- omy, as well as of industrial development, was the year 1661, when Louis XIV. made Colbert comptroller general of the finances of France. He reduced the national finances to system and order, and instituted a complete plan of checks and balances ; reformed abuses in this depart- ment, and punished those who had been guilty of them ; increased the revenues of the state while at the same time he decreased the bur- dens of the people ; provided for economical expenditures, and abolished many of the inter- nal taxes ; developed agriculture, manufactures, the arts, and the sciences ; improved roads and rivers, built canals, and by every means fos- tered and increased the internal commerce of the country. By some writers certain features of his tariff laws of 1664 and 1667 have been condemned ; but on the other hand we are as- sured that for several years before his adminis- tration " France swarmed with vagabonds and mendicants," and had reached " the most pro- found depth of commercial depression," and that under the laws of which he was the au- thor she rose to " a point of wealth and in- dustry far beyond any she had ever reached since the foundation of the monarchy;" and M. Say says: u lt is not true that Colbert ruined France," but that, " on the contrary, France under Colbert's administration emerged from the distress in which two regencies and a weak reign had involved her." The various restric- tions upon trade, especially upon the importa- tion of manufactured goods and the exporta- tion of the raw materials used in manufactures, at this time, and even later, and especially in England, were very onerous. The penalties for the infringement of the laws were in many cases cruel and even barbarous. This system, with the policy pursued under it, was attacked by various writers. Among the earliest and ablest of these was Sir Dudley North, who pub- lished "Discourses on Trade" (4to, London,