John Stuart Mill: A Criticism with Personal Recollections

CAIRNES ON MILL S POLITICAL ECONOMY. 2OI
greater part of the habitable globe was, he showed, not competition but
custom; and he further pointed out that there are countries in which the
actual rent p aid by the cultivators is governed neither by the causes set
forth by R.cardo, nor yet by custom, but by a third cause different from
either the absolute will of the owners of the soil, controlled only by the
physical exigencies of the cultivator, or by the fear of his vengeance if
disturbed in his holding. The recognition of this state of things Threw an
entirely new light over the whole problem of land tenure, and plainly
furnished grounds for legislative interference in the contracts between land
lords and tenants. Its application to Ireland was obvious, and Mill ,
himself, as the world knows, did not hesitate to urge the application with
all the energy and enthusiasm which he
invariably
that he espoused.
threw into
every cause
In the above remarks I have attempted to indicate
briefly some few of
the salient features in Mill s contributions to the science of political eco
nomy. There is still one more which ought not to be omitted from even
the most meagre summary. Mill was not the first to treat political economy
as a science, but he was the first, if not to perceive, at least to enforce the
lesson, that, just because it is a science, its conclusions carried with them
no obligatory force with reference to human conduct. As a science it tells
us that certain modes of action lead to certain results ; but it remains for
each man to judge of the value of the results thus brought about, and to
decide whether or not it is worth while to adopt the means necessary for
their attainment. In the writings of the economists who preceded Mill it
is very generally assumed, that to prove that a certain course of conduct
tends to the most rapid increase of wealth suffices to entail upon all who
accept the argument the obligation of adopting the course which leads to
this result. Mill absolutely repudiated this inference, and while accepting
the theoretic conclusion, held himself perfectly free to adopt in practice
whatever course he preferred. It was not for political economy or for any "~
science to say what are the ends most worthy of being pursued by human
beings : the task of science is complete when it shows us the means by
which the ends may be attained ; but it is for each individual man to decide
how far the end is desirable at the cost which its attainment involves. In"
and not our masters. This -
a word, the sciences should be our servants,
was a lesson which Mill was the first to enforce, and by enforcing which he
may be said to have emancipated economists from the thraldom of their
own teaching. It is in no slight degree, through the constant recognition
of its truth, that he has been enabled to divest of repulsiveness even the
most abstract speculations, and to impart a glow of human interest to all
that he has touched.