ECONOMICS AND THE SOCIAL QUESTION 7 1

The persons themselves are the wealth. . . . The
true veins of wealth are purple, . . . the produc-
ing as many as possible full-breathed, bright-eyed,
and happy-hearted human creatures. . . . Among
national manufactures, that of Souls of a good
quality may not at last turn out a quite leadingly
lucrative one.*' ^

It was a conversion of political economy which
was like the conversion of a sinner, from the pur-
suit of self-interest to the law of love. , The earlier
economics as a body of doctrine was to die like a
physical body and to rise again in the spirit of
social service. Political economy was translated
into ethics. The conscience of England was to
control its economic life. When, however, Carlyle
and Ruskin descend from these heights of pro-
phetic denunciation and become the law-givers of
a new economic world, it is evident that neither
of them is equipped for this technical and prosaic
task. Carlyle was essentially a moralist; Ruskin
was primarily an artist. The first arraigned the
social order for its lack of character, the second
for its lack of beauty ; and these passionate indict-
ments still convict the Mammonism and material-
ism of modern life. When, however, these
prophets proceed from criticism to creation, and
in their turn undertake to construct an economic
system to which modern business shall conform,
the results are almost childlike in their insufficiency.
Carlyle counsels a frank retreat from the conflicts

1 <* Unto this LASt,'' Essays i, 2, and 4.
