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themselves; or by wars and prohibitory import duties?
We now see into what extraordinary mistakes and contradictions
the popular school has fallen in making material wealth or value of
exchange the sole object of its investigations; and by regarding
mere bodily labour as the sole productive power。
The man who breeds pigs is; according to this school; a
productive member of the community; but he who educates men is a
mere non…productive。 The maker of bagpipes or jews…harps for sale
is a productive; while the great composers and virtuosos are
non…productive simply because that which they play cannot be
brought into the market。 The physician who saves the lives of his
patients does not belong to the productive class; but on the
contrary the chemist's boy does so; although the values of exchange
(viz。 the pills) which he produces may exist only for a few minutes
before they pass into a valueless condition。 A Newton; a Watt; or
a Kepler is not so productive as a donkey; a horse; or a draught…ox
(a class of labourers who have been recently introduced by
M'Culloch into the series of the productive members of human
society)。
We must not believe that J。 B。 Say has remedied this defect in
the doctrine of Adam Smith by his fiction of 'immaterial goods' or
products; he has thu s merely somewhat varnished over the folly of
its results; but not raised it out of its intrinsic absurdity。 The
mental (immaterial) producers are merely productive; according to
his views; because they are remunerated with values of exchange;
and because their attainments have been obtained by sacrificing
values of exchange; and not because they produce productive
powers。(4*) They merely seem to him an accumulated capital。
M'Culloch goes still further; he says that man is as much a product
of labour as the machine which he produces; and it appears to him
that in all economical investigations he must be regarded from this
point of view。 He thinks that Smith comprehended the correctness of
this principle; only he did not deduce the correct conclusion from
it。 Among other things he draws the conclusion that eating and
drinking are productive occupations。 Thomas Cooper values a clever
American lawyer at 3;000 dollars; which is about three times as
much as the value of a strong slave。
The errors and contradictions of the prevailing school to which
we have drawn attention; can be easily corrected from the
standpoint of the theory of the productive powers。 Certainly those
who fatten pigs or prepare pills are productive; but the
instructors of youths and of adults; virtuosos; musicians;
physicians; judges; and administrators; are productive in a much
higher degree。 The former produce values of exchange; and the
latter productive powers; some by enabling the future generation to
become producers; others by furthering the morality and religious
character of the present generation; a third by ennobling and
raising the powers of the human wind; a fourth by preserving the
productive powers of his patients; a fifth by rendering human
rights and justice secure; a sixth by constituting and protecting
public security; a seventh by his art and by the enjoyment which it
occasions fitting men the better to produce values of exchange。 In
the doctrine of mere values; these producers of the productive
powers can of course only be taken into consideration so far as
their services are rewarded by values of exchange; and this manner
of regarding their services may in some instances have its
practical use; as e。g。 in the doctrine of public taxes; inasmuch as
these have to be satisfied by values of exchange。 But whenever our
consideration is given to the nation (as a whole and in its
international relations) it is utterly insufficient; and leads to
a series of narrow…minded and false views。
The prosperity of a nation is not; as Say believes; greater in
the proportion in which it has amassed more wealth (i。e。 values of
exchange); but in the proportion in which it has more developed its
powers of production。 Although laws and public institutions do not
produce immediate values; they nevertheless produce productive
powers; and Say is mistaken if he maintains that nations have been
enabled to become wealthy under all forms of government; and that
by weans of laws no wealth can be created。 The foreign trade of a
nation must not be estimated in the way in which individual
merchants judge it; solely and only according to the theory of
values (i。e。 by regarding merely the gain at any particular moment
of some material advantage); the nation is bound to keep steadily
in view all these conditions on which its present and future
existence; prosperity; and power depend。
The nation must sacrifice and give up a measure of material
property in order to gain culture; skill; and powers of united
production; it must sacrifice some present advantages in order to
insure to itself future ones。 If; therefore; a manufacturing power
developed in all its branches forms a fundamental condition of all
higher advances in civilisation; material prosperity; and political
power in every nation (a fact which; we think; we have proved from
history); if it be true (as we believe we can prove) that in the
present conditions of the world a new unprotected manufacturing
power cannot possibly be raised up under free competition with a
power which has long since grown in strength and is protected on
its own territory; how can anyone possibly undertake to prove by
arguments only based on the mere theory of values; that a nation
ought to buy its goods like individual merchants; at places where
they are to be had the cheapest that we act foolishly if we
manufacture anything at all which can be got cheaper from abroad
that we ought to place the industry of the nation at the mercy of
the self…interest of individuals that protective duties
constitute monopolies; which are granted to the individual home
manufacturers at the expense of the nation? It is true that
protective duties at first increase the price of manufactured
goods; but it is just as true; and moreover acknowledged by the
prevailing economical school; that in the course of time; by the
nation being enabled to build up a completely developed
manufacturing power of its own; those goods are produced more
cheaply at home than the price at which they can be imported from
foreign parts。 If; therefore; a sacrifice of value is caused by
protective duties; it is made good by the gain of a power of
production; which not only secures to the nation an infinitely
greater amount of material goods; but also industrial independence
in case of war。 Through industrial independence and the internal
prosperity derived from it the nation obtains the means for
successfully carrying on foreign trade and for extending its
mercantile marine; it increases its civilisation; perfects its
institutions internally; and strengthens its external power。 A
nation capable of developing a manufacturing power; if it makes use
of the system of protection; thus acts quite in the same spirit as
that landed proprietor did who by the sacrifice of some material
wealth allowed some of his children to learn a productive trade。
Into what mistakes the prevailing economical school has fallen
by judging conditions according to the mere theory of values which
ought properly to be judged according to the theory of powers of
production; may be seen very clearly by the judgment which J。 B。
Say passes upon the bounties which foreign countries sometimes
offer in order to facilitate exportation; he maintains that 'these
are presents made to our nation。' Now if we suppose that France
considers a protective duty of twenty…five per cent sufficient for
her not vet perfectly developed manufactures; while England were to
grant a bounty on exportation of thirty per cent; what would be the
consequence of the 'present' which in this manner the English would
make to the French? The French consumers would obtain for a few
years the manufactured articles which they needed much cheaper than
hitherto; but the French manufactories would be ruined; and
millions of men be reduced to beggary or obliged to emigrate; or to
devote themselves to agriculture for employment。 Under the most
favourable circumstances; the present consumers and customers of
the French agriculturists would be converted into competitors with
the