Item 58 - Richard Jones to William Whewell

RJ is at work on his first lecture as Professor of Political Economy at King's College, and should have a copy to show WW in ten days time: 'In the mean time I find I cannot limit my subject without a definition of wealth, which however I shall declare to be merely arbitrary and meant to convey no knowledge but a knowledge of what wealth I meant to treat of and what to neglect or exclude . Malthus's is The material objects necessary, useful or agreeable to man, which have required some portion of human exertion to appropriate or produce. MacCulloch's [J.R. McCulloch] those articles or products which have exchangeable value, and are either necessary, useful or agreeable to man'. McCulloch 'takes in immaterial wealth[,] skill[,] wisdom etc. service of menials etc. and limits, by the phrase exchangeable value. If he had kept the word material I would not have quarrelled with his exchangeable value which Malthus admits in the Quarterly'. However, 'it has misled Mac. himself to call Political economy the science of values and Whately [Richard Whately] into arguing that Political economists have nought to do with wealth save so far forth as it has exchangeable value'. RJ would like 'to stick wherever I can to Malthus but he has abandoned his own definition and it is clear exchangeable value is a dangerous attribute to define from where logicians or Scotch systematizers are to be found'. RJ proposes: 'The material objects which are appropriated by man previous to being used by him (I like used best) to their consumption. This shuts out light, air, water, (not appropriated) and skill[,] menial services etc. avoids the necessity of the words necessary[,] useful or agreeable because no one takes the trouble to appropriate what is none of these - includes the idea of exchangeable value since whatever is appropriated may be exchanged and shuts out all temptation to talk nonsense about the science being a science of values - confined to exchanges etc'. RJ re-phrases his definition of wealth - 'The material objects which man appropriates, before he uses them avoiding both the participles on which are appropriated by man before he uses them I like the last best'.