ABSTRACT
In the days when political economy was still young and aggressive, economists taught that there is an essential harmony between public and private interests. 'Consider Mr Zedekiah Stubbins,' they would say. 'He has, as you know, acquired a considerable fortune by cotton spinning' (it was always cottonspinning in those days) 'and in so doing has been actuated, doubtless, by purely self-regarding motives. But his fortune was due to the cheapness of his product, which benefited all the multitudinous consumers throughout the world. And by the wages paid in his factory he saved from starvation large numbers of men, women, and children, some of the latter still of tender age. Nor did the beneficent effect of his activities cease there; by increasing the demand for cotton goods through greater cheapness, he enriched the cotton planter, and enabled him to be more munificent towards the coloured population dependent on his bounty. All these admirable results have flowed from Mr Stubbins minding his own business.5
