Essays on political economy : being a sequel to papers which appeared in the 'Cornhill Magazine' / by John Ruskin.

  • John Ruskin
Date:
1862[-1863]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Essays on political economy : being a sequel to papers which appeared in the 'Cornhill Magazine' / by John Ruskin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    or in creasing it)of exhibiting it (as in magnificence of retinue or furni- ture),—of destroying, or, finally, of bequeathing it. And with multi- tudes of rich men, administration degenerates into curatorsliip; they merely hold their property in charge, as Trustees, for the benefit of some person or persons to whom it is to be delivered upon their death; and the position, explained in clear terms would hardly seem a covet- able one. What would be the pro- bable decision of a youth on his entrance into life, to whom the career hoped for him was proposed in terms such as these : ‘ You must work unremittingly, and with your utmost intelligence, during all your available years ; you will thus ac- cumulate wealth to a large amount; but you must touch none of it, beyond what is needful for your support. Whatever sums you gain beyond those required for your decent and moderate maintenance shall be properly taken care of, and on your death-bed you shall have the power of determining to whom they shall belong, or to what pur- poses be applied V The labour of life, under such conditions, would probably be nei- ther zealous nor cheerful; yet the only difference between this posi- tion and that of the ordinary ca- futalist is the power which the after delights in supposing him- self to possess, and which is attri- buted to him by others, of spending his money at any moment. This pleasure, taken in the imagination of power to. part with that with which we have no intention of parting, is one of the most curious though commonest forms of the Eidoloifrrhantasm^afc of Wealth. But the political economist has no- thing to do with this idealism, and looks only to the practical issue of it, —namely, that the holder of wealth, in such temper, may be regarded simply as a mechanical means of collection; or as a money-chest with a slit in it,* * set in the public thoroughfare;—chest of which only Death lias the key, and probably Chance the distribution of contents. In his function of lender (which, however, is one of administration, not use, as far as he is himself con- cerned), the capitalist takes, indeed, a more interesting aspect; but even in that function, his relations with the state are apt to degenerate into a mechanism for the con- venient contraction of debt;—a function the more mischievous, be- cause a nation invariably appeases its conscience with respect to an unjustifiable expense by meeting it with borrowed funds,—expresses its repentance of a foolish piece of business by letting its tradesmen wait for their money,—and always leaves its descendants to pay for the work which will be of the least service to them.t '■'IV than any English one can he, owing to the power of the general Greek term for wealth, ‘ useable things.’ y- Tavrci apa avra, rip psv iniorap'svip XP0<r9ai avrutv / eicacrroig ypjygara tern, rip 8s pi) sirurrapsvip, ov ff xPVfiara' w(T7rep yt avXoi rip psv iiriorciptvtp d£twp ( Xoyov aiiXsTv yp/;gard sim, rip 8s pi] sTncrrapsvip oii8tv paXXov ?/ aypr/aroi XiGoi, si pi) a7ro8i8olr6 ye avrovg. * * * Mi) moXovpsvoi psv yap ov xPVyar<* simv oi avXoL' (ov8sv yap ypr/cnpoi sim) TrioXovptvoi 8s Xpripara' lipbg ravra 8’ u SuiKparijg tlirtv, r)v S7tiirr)]rai yt irdXsiv. Et 8s irioXolr] ctv 7Tpog rovruv op pi] iiriorrirai xpil^Gai, ov8t 7rioXovptvoi sioi xpil)iara‘ * The orifice being not merely of a receptant, but of a suctional character. Among the types of human virtue and vice presented grotesquely by the lower animals, perhaps none is more curiously definite than that of avarice in the Cepbalopod ; a creature which has a purse for a body ; a hawk’s beak for a mouth ; suckers for feet and hands ; and whose house is its own skeleton. + It would be well if a somewhat dogged conviction could be enforced on nations as on individuals, that, with few exceptions, what they cannot at present pay for, they should not at present have.