a suggested key arrangement of economic study

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228 qUARTERLT JOURNAL OF E ONOMI S

Th e em igrant is sometimes described as the enter prising

and progressive person of his hamlet; and we sometimes

flatter ourselves that we are getting the pick of European

workmen, because only the most energetic and ambitious

would u nde rtake the dangers of removal to another country.

The se figures show the contrary . Th ey show tha t the gre at

bulk of our im m igration consists of th e people who can find

no place in their own c oun try. Th is immense prep ond eranc e

of the classes whose wages in Europe are the lowest, and

whose lack of acquired skill makes their securing of employ-

me nt mo st diflScult, shows th at we are g ett in g th e Eu rop ea ns

who ca n t ge t a foothold in th eir own country,— we are ge t-

ting what is left over after all the places in Europe are filled.

F E E D . P E E K T P O W E B S .

A SUGGESTED KEARRANGEMENT OF ECONOMIC STUDY.

It is not often that those scholars to whom the present state

of economics seems quite unsatisfactory venture on an explicit

statement of the manner in which improvement should take

place; but, in the last number of the Jahrbuch filr Qese tz

gebung

D r. Hasbach presents a scheme for reshaping instruc-

tion in economics, which is tantamount to a scheme for

reshaping economic science, and wh ich, thoug h no t aiming to

be more than tentative, yet is given in such detail as to make

tolerably clear the extent of th e proposed de pa rtu re from the

beaten trac k. T he auth or is professor in G reifswald, and has

been a pupil of Professor Schmoller; and Schmoller himself

adds a note, in which he points out wherein he agrees and

wherein he does not agree with his former pupil. W e have

therefore something like an authoritative statement of what

th e adhe rents of the more pronounced historical school wish

to efEect.

Hasbach would begin instraction in economics by a study of



NOTES AND MEMORANDA 229

advantageously in towns that are near to an active and varied

indu strial district,— for instance, in Bon n. A previous train ing

in natu ral science prom otes the thorough ness of such st u d y ;

and the author believes that study in the Heal Gymnasien, th e

non-classical schools, would form an exce llent p rep ara tion for

econom ics. T he ne xt step is th e stu dy of economic history,—

a subject which Hasba ch believes to be hard ly more than ex-

plored as yet, bu t still affording m ateria ls for a good gen eral

prese ntation . Th en comes the study of economic theo ry.

U ntil the first two stages hav e been gone throug h, the stu-

d en t is not equ ipped for economic theory , because t h e

th eo ry of econom ics is an analysis of th e econom ic life of th e

civilized peoples of our tim e. In its dom ain should be

placed all conclusions of a th eor etic k ind, which the custom-

ary arrangement of economics in the hands of German writers

pu ts into th e fields of finance and economic policy. Th eo ry

is to embrace a larger number of subjects, and bring about

a tho roug h und ersta ndin g of economic life. Th e author illus-

tra te s his m eanin g on this po int of t he enlarg ed scope of eco-

nom ic theory b y explaining tha t, und er the subject of ex-

change, not only value in exchange, price, and money are

to be handled, but a detailed treatment must be given to the

subjects of transportation, markets, and exchanges

JBSrsen),

weights and measures, money and coinage, moneyed capital

and banking, the function of trade and the infiuence of ex-

isting law,— so exact a theo retic trea tm en t to all these topics

th a t n o t a corner of economic life shall fail to be lit up .

Elsewhere, he mentions that the question of government man-

agement as against private industry, the economic effect of

direct taxation, the operation of indirect taxes, are to be taken

ou t of finance into the ore tic economics. H e believes th at,

w ith such full tre atm en t, th e insignificance of th e field in

which ded uctive trea tm en t is possible will become obv ious ;

and controversy as to methods will be heard less.

Th is wou ld close economic study prope r. A pa rt from it,



230 QU RTERLT JOURN L OF E ONOMI S

questions of imp ortan ce a t the time (such as, for our tim e,

bimetallism, American competition, and insurance legislation);

and, thir d, politics, or political science. In oth er wo rds , th e

stud ent of economics wou ld h ave six subjec ts, or courses of

lectures, to pursue; namely, processes of industry, economic

history, and economic theory in one group, and administration,

practical economic problems, and politics in another group.

But of these subjects, oddly enough, the first three are not

to be tau gh t b y th e p rofessor of political econom y. H e is to

teach only two in the first group,— economic history and eco-

nomic theory,— while he is also to hand le the practica l eco-

nomic problems in the second g roup,— a shifting of th e line

of division, which indicates th at the attem pte d discrimination

between economics and the related fields of administrative

law and politics is not so severely logical as it assumes to be.

Professor Schmoller adds a note to Hasbach's proposal,

expressing ge neral agreem ent with it . H e believes th a t stud y

of the processes of industry is a necessary introduction to that

of economics; and he says that he advises every student to

attend lectures on economic history before undertaking the

stud y of economic theo ry. H e acts alre ady in th e line of h is

pupil 's suggestion by not t rea ting finance as a separa te sub-

ject. H e lectures instead on genera l financial and adminis-

trative history. On other points, he differs. H e dou bts the

expediency of separate departments and faculties of political

science, the establishment of which Hasbach ad vocates. M ore-

over, he does not believe that a study of natural science is the

most useful prepa ration for th at of economics. A s th e lat ter

belongs to the me ntal sciences, and its fundam ental questions

are historical and psychological, a classical and philosophic

training gives the best foundation for it.

There is nothing in this proposed rearrangement of a course

of extended economic stud y which is inconsistent with the

severest deductive or o rt h o d o x treatm ent of the subject.

N o one will deny th e adv anta ge s of a careful de scription of in-



NOTES AND MEMORANDA

231

called the social organism forms the best introduction to eco-

nomic study, and that treatises and text-books would be

improved if their opening chapters consisted mainly of de-

scriptive m atte r. D r, Hasba ch, howev er, goes too far in

demanding a complete course of study on the processes of

ind ustry as indispensable to an und erstan ding of economics.

Inte restin g and useful as such a course m ight be in itself

much less would serve the economist's purposes. Th e general

drift of th e proposal, how ever, is no t w ithou t supp ort among

writers who have little sympathy with the extreme historical

school. Professor New com b begins his exposition in his

Principles

with a book entitled D esc riptio n of the Social

Organism ; and, as was no ted in the last issue of th is

Jour-

nal,

the unfinished treatise left by. Professor Jev on s contem -

plated a similar introductory part.

That the study of economic history should precede that of

economic theor y seems quite inadvisable. T he value of such

8tud y— ind ee d, the absolute need of it as a means of trainin g

in t he application of economic principles —

s

almost beyond

dispute . B ut it helps the stud en t mo re, if und ertake n after

a training in economic reasoning, or, at least, side by side with

it. H er e again, how ever, the re is occasion to dissent ra the r

as to th e arrang em ent and sequence of stud y than as to the

subject-matter to be taught.

Doubtless, a more serious difference of opinion would be

bro ug ht out if Hasbach and Schmoller had stated more ex-

plicitly w hat they would include und er economic theory. Th e

hints of the former indicate tha t th e o r y would include a

gre at deal of m atte r which others would call descriptive, such

as a treatment of coinage, of transportation, of weights and

measures. Alread y, Eng lish re aders of German treatises

(SchSnberg's

Sandbuch.,

for instance) are often at a loss to

know wh ere the y are, w hethe r in th e domain of economic

analysis or in that of economic description and practical poli-

tics ; an d this un cer tainty w ould proba bly be felt still mo re in



232 QU RTERLY JOURN L OF E ONOMI S

Schmoller repud iates with a contem pt not entirely w ithou t

excuse bu t also all deduc tions from the p lay of huma n motives

under assumed conditions not corresponding literally with the

facts of ind us try. On th is po int alone a real and serious dis-

agreement exists between the deductive economists and the

advocates of exclusively historical and practical treatment.

Ev en here we cannot be sure tha t th e disagreem ent is really

seriou s; for the historians never have stated e xplicitly how far

the y would go in fiinging away deduce d principles. V ery

likely a trea tise from them if finally wo rked o ut wo uld show

at bo ttom only a difference in emph asis in th e deg ree of cor-

rectness ascribed to gene ral conclusions in readiness to apply

them at once to prac tical questions and no t a sub stantial dis-

sen t from th c essential principles of classic political economy.

F . W . T A U SSI G .

a suggested key arrangement of economic study

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