incentive would actuate men
in their industrial existence? What force would hold economic society
together? The answer was a plain one. Enlightened self-interest was
the incentive, universal free competition was the force. James
Anderson, in his _Political Economy_, published in 1801, says,
"Private interest is the great source of public good, which, though
operating unseen, never ceases one moment to act with unabating power,
if it be not perverted by the futile regulations of some short-sighted
politician." Again, Malthus, in his _Essay on Population_, in 1817,
says: "By making the passion of self-love beyond comparison stronger
than the passion of benevolence, the more ignorant are led to pursue
the general happiness, an end which they would have totally failed to
attain if the moving principle of their conduct had been benevolence.
Benevolence, indeed, as the great and constant source of action, would
require the most perfect knowledge of causes and effects, and
therefore can only be the attribute of the Deity. In a being so
short-sighted as man it would lead to the grossest errors, and soon
transform the fair and cultivated soil of human society into a dreary
scene of want and confusion."

In other words, a natural and sufficient economic force was always
tending to act and to produce the best results, except in as far as it
was interfered with by external regulation. If a man wishes to earn
wages, to receive payment, he must observe what work another man wants
done, or what goods another man desires, and offer to do that work or
furnish those goods, so that the other man may be willing to
remunerate him. In this way both obtain what they want, and if all
others are similarly occupied all wants will be satisfied so far as
practicable. But men must be entirely free to act as they think best,
to choose what and when and how they will produce. The best results
will be obtained where the greatest freedom exists, where men may
compete with one another freed from all trammels, at liberty to pay or
ask such wages, to demand or offer such prices, to accept or reject
such goods, as they wish or can agree upon. If everybody else is
equally free the man who offers the best to his neighbor will be
preferred. Effort will thus be stimulated, self-reliance encouraged,
production increased, improvement attained, and economy guaranteed.
Nor should there be any special favor or encouragement given by
government or by any other bodi