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poverty : all the theft and much of the licentiousness of which society has to complain is produced by want or by the recklessness which attends a state of want . There is no question that the frauds and all the demoralizing methods of circumvention frequent in the commercial world are occasioned by institutions which make one man's gain another man ' s loss , and foster a spirit of jealousy
and selfishness : —institutions equally bad as they regard morals and social economy . There is no question that idleness and imposition are encouraged by all methods which interfere with the free course of industry , or which , by affording a premium on over-population , cause the supply of labour to exceed the demand . There is no question that many and obstinate wars have been occasioned by the faulty framing of commercial treaties , and by commercial
jealousies and national competitions , —all which are inconsistent with sound principles of political economy . We might extend our exemplification much further ; but it is needless . It is as true of a nation as of a family that its individual members will be less exposed to temptation , and more enlightened to perceive , and more at liberty to discharge its duties in a state of ease than of poverty ; and that its most favourable circumstances are those where there is
harmony between the various members at home and goodwill towards their neighbours abroad , —a harmony and goodwill secured by an union of interests and a reciprocity of good offices . Is it not the duty of all philanthropic persons to act upon this truth s —to ascertain the leading principles on which the national interests are based , and according to which they must be secured ? If our philanthropists would but do this , —if they would but aim
at rectifying principles instead of ameliorating the consequences of such as are bad , how speedily would the worst of pur social evils disappear ! It grieves us to the heart to see how charity is misunderstood , —what labour and ^ pains are spent with the best intentions for nothing or worse than nothing , while the same exertions rightly directed would benefit thousands . Hundreds , every winter , give money , and time , and pains to supply the poor
of our towns with bread and soup . The business is inadequately done , at the best ; and the moral effect upon the poor of that sort of charity is so bad as probably to counterbalance the present advantage . If half the pains had been taken to procure a repeal of the corn-laws , directly , by urging the measure on government , and indirectly , by enlightening the public mind on the policy of such a proceeding , the poor of Great Britain might , by this time , have
been well fed without having lost their spirit of independence , and would moreover have the prospect of being well fed as long as they could work . In hard winters there have been committees in almost every town near the coast to furnish the poor with coals , at a similar expense of moral evil , trouble and cash . A very few individuals who , last year , urged and carried the repeal of thfe tax on sea-borne coal , did more towards warming the population—
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28 On the Duty of Studying Political Economy *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1832, page 28, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1804/page/28/
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