but does not ignore other motives than the desire for wealth.and distribution of wealth, we do not wish, in a feeling of opposition, to ignore the other phenomena of man's social existence; we isolate this class of phenomena, because the necessities of scientific investigation demand it. Every social question, either directly or indirectly, involves some considerations of wealth, and therefore has an aspect from which it must be considered by political economy. Thus, when it was proposed to extend to the whole nation the system of compulsory education, introduced by the Factory Acts, political economy pointed out how production in this country, and how the wages of the labouring classes, would be affected, by compelling every child under thirteen years of age, who might be employed in any kind of labour, to attend school a fixed number of hours per week. This was an aspect of the question which it was necessary to consider, but even if the political economist had proved that the production of commodities would be rendered more expensive, he might have been the first to admit that such a loss of national wealth would be abundantly compensated by the increased intelligence of the labouring population.
Numerous other examples might be given which would still further prove the complete fallacy of the accusation which is so constantly brought against political economy, that it is a science which encourages selfishness and degrades the best feelings of human nature. If a political economist considers that the only aim and end of life is the accumulation of wealth, then the individual ought to be blamed, and not the science which he studies. Political economy, if kept within its proper limits, does not provide a code of social ethics which will enable us to decide what is right or wrong, and what is just or unjust It is the business of political economy to explain the effect which any circumstance, such as the imposition of a tax, or the enforcement of a particular land-tenure, will exert upon the production, the distribution, and the exchange of wealth; and it is therefore manifest that political economy cannot take account of various other consequences which may be independent of any considerations concerning wealth. Thus, to revert to our original illustration, the principles of political economy