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THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
The successors of Adam Smith, such as Ricardo, McCulloch, 
J. B. Say, and the whole “ English School,” followed the de 
ductive method. This school starts from certain views regarding 
man and nature, which it announces as axioms, and from which 
it draws all its conclusions. Rossi put this method in a clear 
light when he said that “ Political Economy, in so far as it lays 
down general propositions, is a science of reason rather than a 
science of observation. It has for its aim reasoned knowledge 
of the relations which flow from the nature of things. ... It 
seeks for its laws, while relying on the general and constant 
facts of human nature.” * 
In this system, man is treated as a being who pursues at all 
times and places his individual interest. Actuated by this 
motive, which is good in itself, since it is the principle of his 
preservation, each man seeks what is useful for himself, and 
what this is nobody can discern better than he. If, then,'he is 
free to do as he chooses, he will succeed in procuring for him 
self all the happiness which it is given him to attain. Hitherto 
the State has always placed restrictions on the full expansion of 
economic forces ; but remove these restrictions, and, all men 
advancing freely to the pursuit of well-being, the true order will 
be established in the world. Universal competition, free from 
restraint, brings each individual to the place which suits him 
best, and enables him to obtain the appropriate reward for his 
labour. As Montesquieu says, “ it is competition that fixes the 
proper price of merchandise.” It is the infallible regulator of 
the industrial world. It is a sort of providential law which 
makes order and justice reign in the complicated relations of 
human societies. Let the State refrain from all interference in 
human affairs, let entire freedom be given to property, capital, 
labour, trade, and callings, and the production of wealth will 
reach the highest pitch, and thus the general welfare will become 
as great as possible. The legislator should not trouble himself 
about the distribution of wealth ; it will take place conformably 
to natural laws and to free conventions. A single phrase, 
uttered by Gournay in the last century, sums up the whole 
doctrine : Laissez faire, laissez passer. 
* Cours d’économie politique. Lesson IL, year 1836.