THE  SOCIALISTS  OF  THE  CHA  IE.  2/3
fore,  never  been  treated  as  an  isolated  branch  of  knowledge,
regulated  by  special  laws.  Even  the  orthodox  disciples  of  the
English  school—as,  for  instance,  Rau—have  never  ignored  the
strict  ties  which  bind  it  to  the  other  social  sciences,  and  notably
to  politics,  and  they  have  readily  invoked  facts  and  history.
Ever  since  the  ideas  of  Adam  Smith  and  his  disciples  commenced ­
  to  spread  in  Germany,  they  have  met  with  critics  there,
such  as  Professor  Lueder  and  Count  Soden,  who  regarded  as
important,  not  the  mere  growth  of  wealth,  but  the  general  progress ­
  of  civilization.  Next  have  followed  Von  Thünen,  Adam
Müller,  Charles  Bernhard!,  List,  Lorenz  Stein,  Roscher,  Knies,
Hildebrand,.Hermann,  and  to-day  their  name  is  legion  :  Nasse,
Schmoller,  Brentano,  Schoenberg,  Roesler,  Dühring,  Wagner,
Schæffle,  Cohn,  Von  Scheel,  Samter,  Engel.
The  principles  of  the  orthodox  economy  have  had  in
Germany,  as  their  organ  in  point  of  practical  application,  the
Congress  of  Economists  (  Volkswirthschaftlicher  Congress),
which  assembles  each  year  in  a  different  town,  and  exercises
considerable  influence  at  first  on  opinion  and  then  on  legislation. ­
  It  is  to  this  influence  that  is  due  the  abolition  of  the
greater  number  of  restrictive  regulations  and,  consequently,  the
establishment  of  freedom  as  to  professions,  domicil,  loans  at
interest,  the  subdivision  of  properties,  and  also  the  successive
custom-house  reforms  in  the  direction  of  free  trade.  Owing  to
the  scientific  and  technical  knowledge,  widely  spread  by  public
educational  establishments,  owing  also  to  the  easy  and  abundant ­
  production  of  coal  in  Westphalia,  providing  a  cheap
motive-power,  the  large  system  of  industry  has  taken  such  rapid
strides,  that  soon  Germany  will  vie  with  France  and  even  with
England.  But,  as  an  inevitable  consequence,  the  labour
question  is  coming  to  the  front.  We  have  already  seen
how  Marx  and  Lassalle  caused  the  Socialist  movement  to
arise  out  of  the  same  economic  conditions.
One  section  of  the  Economists  have  remained  faithful  to
the  principle  of  natural  laws  and  non-intervention  of  the  State.
Others,  on  the  contrary,  were  struck  with  the  contrast  presented
f>y  the  extraordinary  increase  of  wealth  side  by  side  with  the
simultaneous  development  of  the  proletariat.  They  were
T