Some of you might find this BBC story about Adam Smith's last home of
interest. It is from July of this year.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-28326308
Joe Horton
Joseph Horton
Professor of Economics
UCA dedicates itself to Academic Vitality, Integrity, and Diversity
>>> Mason Gaffney <[log in to unmask]> 9/12/2014 2:10 PM >>>
Good Grief, do you realize how many sites could qualify?
There are several communities, for example, laid out and settled by
followers of Henry George: Canberra, in Australia, for example;
Fairhope, AL; Harvard, MA; Free Acres, NJ; etc.
There are utopian colonies everywhere, many of which have grown beyond
recognition: Salt Lake City, Anaheim, for example, and a dozen small
cities in California: Patterson, Reedley, Solvang, Atascadero come to
mind.
In Lincoln, NE, there is a memorial to the Homestead Act. On Euclid
Ave. in southern California there is a statue to “The Madonna of the
Trail”.
There are memorials to noted socio-economic reformers all around: Mt.
Rushmore, SD; Altgeld’s statue in Chicago; Jefferson’s and
Lincoln’s memorials in D.C.; T.R.’s summer white house on
Sagamore Hill, L.I.; FDR’s memorial at Hyde Park.
One of my favorites, a tiny one, is a statue at the corner of Sheridan
Rd. and Lloyd Place in Winnetka, IL. It was erected by Progressive
muckraker Henry Demarest Lloyd, showing a homeless man huddled on a
bench closing his collar against the cold and damp to survive the bitter
night.
On a vaster scale there are our National Parks, and scores of city and
state parks, each one a memorial to some or many reformists (whether
writers or not) who thought the land belongs to the people – all the
people. In Marin Cnty, CA, there is Muir Woods, gift of socially minded
Wm. Kent in honor of John Muir.
There are even some company towns, like Gary, IN, whose benefactors
intended them to show the best side of benevolent capitalistic
despotism. Paul Samuelson and Joe Stiglitz both benefited from high
quality education at Gary H.S.
In Limoges there is a Turgot Avenue, and I surmise other memorials to
that great economist.
In Taipeh there are huge murals of Sun Yat-Sen all over town.
One could go on and on. But let us not think that a few early
“Satanic Mills” exhaust the genus!
Mason Gaffney
From: Societies for the History of Economics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Malcolm Rutherford
Sent: Friday, September 12, 2014 9:50 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [SHOE] Auchy-lès-Hedin and the History o f Economic
Thought
Thanks to Steve for this information about Say’s textile mill.
Apart from New Lanark, which is well worth a visit, there are other
sites of interest to HET people. Adam Smith’s house in Edinburgh
still stands (beside the Canongate Churchyard), although only the
exterior remains from Smith’s time. I believe the building is now
owned by Heriot Watt University. Also the von Thuenen estate still
exists and houses a museum and puts on events. It is located in Tellow
in Germany.
See:
http://www.thuenen-museum-tellow.m-vp.de/
There may be others.
Malcolm Rutherford.
From: Societies for the History of Economics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Steve Kates
Sent: September-12-14 1:36 AM
To: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Subject: [SHOE] Auchy-lès-Hedin and the History of Economic Thought
So far as I can tell, aside from Robert Owen's New Lanark - which is
now a World Heritage Site - there are no historic sites that one would
associate with the study of economics. Yet there is, in fact, one that
ought to be preserved in just the same way, both because of its
association with one the greatest economists of all time and also
because of its on-site interest as a place in which, even now, one can
trace out the contours of the industrial revolution from the earliest
years of the nineteenth century almost right down to the present. I
refer here to the textile mill that was set up by Jean-Baptiste Say
following his exile from Paris in 1805 at the hands of Napoleon.
Auchy-lès-Hesdin is a small village, and to be quite technical about
it, is found in the Pas-de-Calais department and Nord-Pas-de-Calais
region of France. Say, who had been a journalist and writer, having
refused to alter the text of his Treatise to suit Napoleon's statist
demands, went off to Auchy to start a textile mill. He went there
because by the river sat an old abbey that had one specific feature, a
waterfall which could be harnessed to run the machinery of the mill. The
waterfall is still there, as are most of the buildings that were
subsequently built on the site (but not the original abbey). These
include the power plant that used to generate the steam when steam
replaced water, and even more remarkably, an electric generator that was
used even later that was driven by diverting the river past a water
wheel.
There is also the "Château Blanc", a massive three-storey house that
Say commissioned to be built but which he never lived in since by 1813
he was able to return to Paris. There are also worker's cottages nearby
which are still lived in. So what we find, if you will excuse my
enthusiasm, is a kind of Versailles for economists. The buildings are
falling apart but are still intact. There is restoration work going on
and there seems to be a determination to save this site for posterity if
it can be done. But having just been there myself, I cannot tell you
just how extraordinary it is. We on this discussion thread have an
interest in history, and this is a kind of living history of the
industrial revolution that is also a place of great interest because of
its association with J.-B. Say.
At the moment, and I cannot tell you why, there is a collection of
antique fire trucks housed in one of the buildings. But other
possibilities are latent in how this site may be developed, including a
museum for the history of economic thought. At the moment, there are
some scattered artefacts associated with Say in place but things are at
an early stage in thinking this through. I am off here in Australia but
this is something that the European Society along with the UK Society
should consider becoming closely involved with. And while it may not be
politic to say it about a destination in France, as was pointed out by
M. Zephyr Tilliette – who has written the history of Auchy and is an
authority on all of this – the town lies midway between Azincourt and
Crécy. It is also is a short drive from the Calais and Chunnel crossing
points.
If I may be allowed to say so, this is a place you should visit if you
get the chance. The website I am told is coming, but in the meantime you
can make arrangements to visit the site by phoning this number in Auchy:
06.45.49.59.29. You will not be disappointed.
For some idea what you will find if you go, see this, which is an
invitation to join J.-B. Say's Nexus, which is something you might also
consider:
<http://says.univ-littoral.fr/?page_id=112>
http://says.univ-littoral.fr/?page_id=112
And I would go one more step and also suggest that you might join the
International Society Jean-Baptiste Say:
<http://says.univ-littoral.fr/> http://says.univ-littoral.fr/
I would emphasise here that in participating in both, neither is in any
way an endorsement of Say’s Law. This is about Say and his pioneering
work on entrepreneurship and the entrepreneur. It is also about one of
the great early works on economics which is still worth reading today.
It is thus one more reminder how studying the history of economic
thought is of benefit in making sense of how an economy works.
--
Dr Steven Kates
Associate Professor
School of Economics, Finance
and Marketing
RMIT University
Building 80
Level 11 / 445 Swanston Street
Melbourne Vic 3000
Phone: (03) 9925 5878
Mobile: 042 7297 529
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