第 20 节
作者:
翱翔1981 更新:2021-02-19 18:34 字数:9322
writer will; I fear; be disagreeably surprised to hear; that I
am; and always have been; an utterly fearless and unscrupulous
free…trader。 Seven years ago; speaking of the various signs of
infancy in the European mind (Stones of Venice; vol。 iii。 p。
168); I wrote: 〃The first principles of commerce were
acknowledged by the English parliament only a few months ago; in
its free…trade measures; and are still so little understood by
the million; that no nation dares to abolish its custom…houses。〃
It will be observed that I do not admit even the idea of
reciprocity。 Let other nations; if they like; keep their ports
shut; every wise nation will throw its own open。 It is not the
opening them; but a sudden; inconsiderate; and blunderingly
experimental manner of opening them; which does the harm。 If you
have been protecting a manufacture for a long series of years;
you must not take the protection off in a moment; so as to throw
every one of its operatives at once out of employ; any more than
you must take all its wrappings off a feeble child at once in
cold weather; though the cumber of them may have been radically
injuring its health。 Little by little; you must restore it to
freedom and to air。
Most people's minds are in curious confusion on the subject
of free trade; because they suppose it to imply enlarged
competition。 On the contrary; free trade puts an end to all
competition。 〃Protection〃 (among various other mischievous
functions;) endeavours to enable one country to compete with
another in the production of an article at a disadvantage。 When
trade is entirely free; no country can be competed with in the
articles for the production of which it is naturally calculated;
nor can it compete with any other; in the production of articles
for which it is not naturally calculated。 Tuscany; for instance;
cannot compete with England in steel; nor England with Tuscany in
oil。 They must exchange their steel and oil。 Which exchange
should be as frank and free as honesty and the sea…winds can make
it。 Competition; indeed; arises at first; and sharply; in order
to prove which is strongest in any given manufacture possible to
both; this point once ascertained; competition is at an end。
13。 I should be glad if the reader would first clear the ground
for himself so far as to determine whether the difficulty lies in
getting the work or getting the pay for it。 Does he consider
occupation itself to be an expensive luxury; difficult of
attainment; of which too little is to be found in the world? or
is it rather that; while in the enjoyment even of the most
athletic delight; men must nevertheless be maintained; and this
maintenance is not always forthcoming? We must be clear on this
head before going farther; as most people are loosely in the
habit of talking of the difficulty of 〃finding employment。〃 Is it
employment that we want to find; or support during employment? Is
it idleness we wish to put an end to; or hunger? We have to take
up both questions in succession; only not both at the same time。
No doubt that work is a luxury; and a very great one。 It is;
indeed; at once a luxury and a necessity; no man can retain
either health of mind or body without it。 So profoundly do I feel
this; that; as will be seen in the sequel; one of the principal
objects I would recommend to benevolent and practical persons; is
to induce rich people to seek for a larger quantity of this
luxury than they at present possess。 Nevertheless; it appears by
experience that even this healthiest of pleasures may be indulged
in to excess; and that human beings are just as liable to surfeit
of labour as to surfeit of meat; so that; as on the one hand; it
may be charitable to provide; for some people; lighter dinner;
and more work; for others; it may be equally expedient to provide
lighter work; and more dinner。
14。 Book I。 chap。 iv。 s。 1。 To save space; my future references
to Mr Mill's work will be by numerals only; as in this instance;
I。 iv。 I。 Ed。 in 2 vols。 8vo。 Parker; 1848。
15。 If Mr Mill had wished to show the difference in result
between consumption and sale; he should have represented the
hardware merchant as consuming his own goods instead of selling
them; similarly; the silver merchant as consuming his own goods
instead of welling them。 Had he done this; he would have made his
position clearer; though less tenable; and perhaps this was the
position he really intended to take; tacitly involving his
theory; elsewhere stated; and shown in the sequel of this paper
to be false; that demand for commodities is not demand for
labour。 But by the most diligent scrutiny of the paragraph now
under examination; I cannot determine whether it is a fallacy
pure and simple; or the half of one fallacy supported by the
whole of a greater one; so that I treat it here on the kinder
assumption that it is one fallacy only。
16。 I take Mr Helps' estimate in his essay on War。
17。 Also when the wrought silver vases of Spain were dashed to
fragments by our custom…house officers; because bullion might be
imported free of duty; but not brains; was the axe that broke
them productive? the artist who wrought them unproductive? Or
again。 If the woodman's axe is productive; is the executioner's?
as also; if the hemp of a cable be productive; does not the
productiveness of hemp in a halter depend on its moral more than
on its material application?
18。 Filigree: that is to say; generally; ornament dependent on
complexity; not on art。
19。 These statements sound crude in their brevity; but will be
found of the utmost importance when they are developed。 Thus; in
the above instance; economists have never perceived that
disposition to buy is a wholly moral element in demand: that is
to say; when you give a man half…a…crown; it depends on his
disposition whether he is rich or poor with it whether he will
buy disease; ruin; and hatred; or buy health; advancement; and
domestic love。 And thus the agreeableness or exchange value of
every offered commodity depends on production; not merely of the
commodity; but of buyers of it; therefore on the education of
buyers; and on all the moral elements by which their disposition
to buy this; or that; is formed。 I will illustrate and expand
into final consequences every one of these definitions in its
place: at present they can only be given with extremest brevity;
for in order to put the subject at once in a connected form
before the reader; I have thrown into one; the opening
definitions of four chapters; namely; of that on Value (〃Ad
Valorem〃); on Price (〃Thirty Pieces〃); on Production (〃Demeter〃);
and on Economy (〃The Law of the House〃)。
20。 Perhaps it may be said; in farther support of Mr Ricardo;
that he meant; 〃when the utility is constant or given; the price
varies as the quantity of labour。〃 If he meant this; he should
have said it; but; had he meant it; he could have hardly missed
the necessary result; that utility would be one measure of price
(which he expressly denies it to be); and that; to prove
saleableness; he had to prove a given quantity of utility; as
well as a given quantity of labour: to wit; in his own instance;
that the deer and fish would each feed the same number of men;
for the same number of days; with equal pleasure to their
palates。 The fact is; he did not know what he meant himself。 The
general idea which he had derived from commercial experience;
without being able to analyze it; was; that when the demand is
constant; the price varies as the quantity of labour required for
production; or; using the formula I gave in last paper when
y is constant; x y varies as x。 But demand never is; nor can be;
ultimately constant; if x varies distinctly; for; as price rises;
consumers fall away; and as soon as there is a monopoly (and all
scarcity is a form of monopoly; so that every commodity is
affected occasionally by some colour of monopoly); y becomes the
most influential condition of the price。 Thus the price of a
painting depends less on its merits than on the interest taken in
it by the public; the price of singing less on the labour of the
singer than the number of persons who desire to hear him; and the
price of gold less on the scarcity which affects it in common
with cerium or iridium; than on the sunlight colour and
unalterable purity by which