The project constitution of replenishing their coffers in this manner may be compared to that of a m

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Adam constitution Smith s skill was as a storyteller of the first order. It takes one a while to realize where his appeal lies. As many have noted, constitution his Wealth of Nations is rambling, polemical, and rather cavalier with evidence. [2] All this sits rather strangely with the popularity of his writing, both then and now. [3] How to understand that appeal? We suggest it may be found not in any skill at constructing careful and detailed argument, but in his ability to tell stories. With that in mind, let us offer some samples of the various fables, sayings, moral tales, vignettes, and parables that overcrowd Wealth of Nations.
Perhaps the most significant fable is the one that follows Smith s observation that has since become a slogan constitution of the ideologues of capitalism: there exists, he writes, a certain propensity in human nature, which is the propensity to truck, barter, and exchange one thing for another. [4] Aware that this may be a contested suggestion, he offers not detailed argument to back it up but a cute fable concerning dogs. They stand in for all animals, whose nature is said to be different from that of human beings. Do animals too exchange with one another? Two greyhounds may appear to act together in chasing a hare, turning to each other from time to time. But that is mere coincidence, brought about by their common passion. After all, Nobody ever saw a dog make a fair and deliberate exchange of one bone for another with another dog. Indeed, constitution Nobody ever saw one animal by its gestures and natural cries signify to another , this is mine , that yours; I am willing to give this for that. [5] The only way a dog can obtain something it wants is to fawn over its master. Exchange or barter simply does not enter into the equation. Obviously a fable such as this is no replacement for argument. But it is readable, entertaining perhaps, designed to appeal constitution at another and more persuasive level.
The project constitution of replenishing their coffers in this manner may be compared to that of a man who had a water-pond from which a stream was continually running out, and into which no stream was continually running, but who proposed to keep it always equally full by employing a number of people to go continually with buckets to a well at some miles distance in order to bring water to replenish it. [6]
Both have a rather earnest moral tone. Indeed, the crazy house appears in the midst of a moral tale concerning the practice of dubious bills of exchange, which one moves perpetually about in order to delay repayment. [8] Others moral tales include to name but a few the folly of the Ayr Bank of Scotland, which opened in 1769 and folded constitution soon afterwards in 1772; the dangers of lotteries, the riskiness of searching for new mines; and the juggling trick of reducing precious metals in coinage. [9] In order to gain a sense of these syrupy tales, we quote one concerning the merchant and the country constitution gentleman:
Merchants are commonly ambitious of becoming country gentlemen, and when they do, they are generally the best of all improvers. A merchant is accustomed to employ his money chiefly in profitable projects; whereas a mere country gentleman is accustomed to employ constitution it chiefly in expence. The one often sees his money go from him and return to him again with a profit: constitution the other, when once he parts with it, very seldom expects to see any more of it. Those different habits naturally affect their temper and disposition in every sort of business. A merchant is commonly a bold; a country gentleman, a timid undertaker Whoever has had the fortune to live in a mercantile town situated in an unimproved country, must have frequently observed how much more spirited the operations of merchants were in this way, than those of mere country gentlemen. The habits, besides , of order, economy and attention, to which mercantile business naturally forms a merchant constitution , render him much fitter to execute, constitution with profit and success, any project of improvement. [10]
The moral coding of Smith s work emerges here in all its glory, a coding reinforced constitution time and again through stories such as this. The industrious merchant is of course the virtuous one, full of spirited energy, order, economy, and boldness. He is able to generate profit and thereby improve the condition of the land itself. By contrast, the country gentleman simply has not a clue, for he is timid and lacking in the discipline needed for real improvement.
The moral tale we have just quoted leaks into the dominant form of the parable, although the demarcations between various types are never firm. Parables there are aplenty,