lands. People actually refuse to see that wealth must be increased by
producing it where it can be produced most easily and plentifully. Each
trade, each town, each nation must furnish what it can yield most
cheaply, and other goods must be bought from the places where they also
can be raised most easily.

Political economy teaches us to look beyond the immediate effect of what
we do, and to seek the good of the whole community, and even of the
whole of mankind. The present prosperity of England is greatly due to
the science which Adam Smith gave to the world in his "Wealth of
Nations." He taught us the value of #Free Labour and Free Trade#, and
now, a hundred years after the publication of his great book, there
ought not to be so many mistaken people vainly acting in opposition to
his lessons. It is certain that #if people do not understand a true
political economy, they will make a false one of their own#. Hence the
imperative need that no one, neither man nor woman, should grow up
without acquiring some comprehension of the science which we are going
to study.

#3. Divisions of the Science.# I will begin by stating the order in
which the several branches or divisions of the science of economy are to
be considered in this little treatise. Firstly, we must learn what
wealth, the subject of the science, consists of. Secondly, we proceed to
inquire how wealth is used or consumed; nothing, we shall see, can be
wealth, unless it be put to some use, and before we make wealth we must
know what we want to use. Thirdly, we can go on to consider how wealth
is produced or brought into existence; and how, in the fourth place,
having been produced, it is shared among the different classes of people
who have had a hand in producing it. Briefly, we may say that political
economy treats of (1) #The Nature#, (2) #The Consumption#, (3) #The
Production#, and (4) #The Distribution of Wealth#. It will also be
necessary to say a little about #Taxation#. A part of the wealth of
every country must be taken by the government, in order to pay the
expenses of defending and governing the nation. But taxation may come,
perhaps, under the head of distribution.

#4. Wealth and Natural Riches.# We do not learn anything by reading that
#political economy is the science of wealth#, unless we know what
science is, and what wealth is. When one term is defined by means of
other terms, we must understand these other terms, in order to get any
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