ST. THOMAS AND THE IDEAL OF NATIONAL SELF-SUFFICIENCY

In his treatise on the Governance of Princes, the Angelic Doctor writes: “There are two ways in which an abundance of the things it requires can be supplied to a State. The first, which we have already mentioned, is met with where the soil is so fertile that it abundantly provides for all the needs of human life. The second is by trade, by which the necessities of life are brought to the State from different places. It is quite clear that the former means is the better. For the higher a thing is in the scale of being, the more fully self-sufficient it is. since whatever needs another’s help is by that very fact shown to be defective. But that State is more fully self-sufficing which is supplied with all that it needs from its own territory, than is one which must obtain its supplies from abroad by trade. A State which has an abundance of food from its own territory in a more dignified position than one which is supplied by merchants. It appears to be in greater security also, for the importing of supplies from abroad can be easily hindered, whether owing lo the uncertain issue of wars or to the many dangers of the roads, and thus the State may be vanquished through lack of food. Again, this method is. better for social morality. For the country which needs considerable imports for its support must tolerate continuous intercourse with foreigners . . . who, having been brought up under different laws and customs, behave in many ways differently from the inhabitants of the country, so that these latter are spurred on to act similarly, and social life is disturbed. Again, if the citizens devote their lives to trade, the way will be opened to many vices. For, since the aim of traders is especially to make money, familiarity with trade leads to the awakening of greed in the hearts of the citizens. The result is that everything in the State will be put up for sale, mutual confidence will be destroyed and an atmosphere favourable to deceit and fraud created. Everyone, growing careless about the Common Good, will seek only his own advantage. The cultivation of virtue will decline, since honour, the reward of virtue, will be bestowed indiscriminately upon all comers. Hence, in such a State, social morality will inevitably suffer …. “Accordingly, it is better that a State should be supplied with food and whatever it needs from its own territory than that it should be completely dependent on trade. This does not mean, however, that merchants should be altogether excluded from the State, for it is not easy to find a State so well provided with all that it needs in every department that it can do without foreign trade. Then, in addition, many of the inhabitants would lose heavily, if their surplus could not be marketed elsewhere by traders. Hence a well-balanced State will have recourse to trade and traders in moderate fashion.” Legitimate trading, then, is meant to be carried on with a view-to supplementing the native resources of a country. Much of our modern trade is the result of the desire to get interest from weaker nations, by compelling them to accept loans from and buy the goods of the lending country, A modern loan from a foreign country, in addition to upsetting the price-level of the borrowing country, leaves the way open to the enslavement of the inhabitants to finance. Wars are frequently brought about by the endeavour to force a people to accept a loan, that is, to purchase goods in the creditor country. “To put it quite bluntly, the purpose of wars is to compel weaker nations to take surpluses off the hands of the stronger, running up debts, if need be, in order to pay for them. Then the threat of future war is necessary to ensure that the debts and the interest mi them shall not be repudiated.”

(Denis Fahey C.S.Sp.; The Mystical Body of Christ)