Principles of Political Economy Part 28

[Footnote 232-2: _Plin._, H. N., x.x.xVII, 7; XVIII, 2; _Seneca_, Quaest. Natur., I, 17; Consol. ad. Helviam, 12.]

[Footnote 232-3: _Seneca_, Quaest. Natur., III, 18; _Plin._, H. N., IX, 30.]

[Footnote 232-4: _Seneca_, De Benef., VII, 9; _Plin._, N.

N., VIII, 74.]

[Footnote 232-5: _Valer. Max._, IX, 1; _Seneca_, Epist, 122.

Thus Hortensius sprinkled his trees with wine. _Macrob._, Sat., III, 13.]

[Footnote 232-6: Besides Cleopatra, Caligula especially did this frequently. Compare also _Horat._, Serm., II, 3, 239 ff. Similarly, the luxury of the actor Aesopus, when he placed a dish worth 6,000 _louis d'or_ before his guests, consisting entirely of birds which had been taught to sing or speak. _Pliny_, H. N., X, 72. Compare _Horat._, loc.

cit., 345.]

[Footnote 232-7: _Sueton._., Caligula, 37. _Hoc est luxuriae propositum, gaudere perversis. Seneca_., Epist., 122.

According to the same letter of Seneca, the luxury of Nero's time had its source rather in vanity than in sensuality and gluttony.]

[Footnote 232-8: _Martial_, V, 79; _Plin_., H. N. XIII, 5.

_Seneca_, De Brev. Vitae. I, 12.]

[Footnote 232-9: _Seneca_, Cons. ad Helviam 10, _Martial_, III, 22.]

[Footnote 232-10: Hence, early limited by law. _Sueton._.

Caes. 10. Augustus limited the exiles to taking 20 slaves with them: _Dio Ca.s.s._ VII, 27. Special value attached to dwarfs, buffoons, hermaphrodites, eunuchs, precisely as among the moderns in the times of the degenerated absolutist courts, the luxury of which is closely allied in many respects to that of declining nations.]

[Footnote 232-11: Caligula's wife wore, on ordinary occasions, 40,000,000 sesterces worth of ornaments. _Plin._ H. N. IX, 58.]

[Footnote 232-12: _Gibbon_, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ch. 27. What a parallel between this later Roman luxury and the literary taste represented for instance by Seneca!

Let any one who would embrace the three periods of luxury in one view, compare the funeral ceremonies of the Greek age of chivalry (_Homer_, Il.), with those in _Thucyd._ (II, 34, ff.), _Demosth._ (Lept., 499 seq.), and the interment of Alexander the Great and, of his friend Hephaestion (_Diodor._, XVII, 115, XVIII, 26 ff.) Sullas (Serv. ad _Virgil_, aeneid VI, 861. _Plutarch_, Sulla, 38), and that of the wife of the emperor Nero (_Plin._, H. N. XII, 41).

_Roscher_, loc. cit. 66 ff.]

SECTION CCx.x.xIII.

LUXURY-POLICY.

Sumptuary laws (_die Luxusgesetzgebung_) have been aimed, at all times, princ.i.p.ally at the outlay for clothing, for the table and for funerals.[233-1] In most nations the policy of luxury has its beginning in the transition from the first to the second period of luxury above described.[233-2] The extravagant feasts, which remain of the first period, seem vulgar to the new public opinion which is created. On the other hand, the conveniences of life, the universality, the refinement and variety of enjoyments characteristic of the second period are not acceptable to the austerity of old men, and are put down as effeminacy.

In this period the bourgeoisie generally begin to rise in importance, and the feudal aristocracy to decay. The higher cla.s.ses see the lower approximate to them in display, with jealous eyes. And, hence, dress is wont to be graded in strict accordance with the differences of cla.s.s.[233-3] But these laws must be regarded as emanating from the tendency, which prevails in these times, of the state to act as the guardian of its wards, its subjects. The authority of the state waxes strong in such periods; and with the first consciousness of its power, it seeks to draw many things into its sphere, which it afterwards surrenders.

[Footnote 233-1: Which of these three kinds of luxury specially preponderated has always depended on the peculiarities of national character. Thus, among the ancient Romans, it was the second; among the French, the first. In Germany the prohibitions relating to "toasts," or drinking one another's health have played a great part. Thus the well-known Cologne reformation of 1837. Compare _Seb.

Munster_, Cosmogr., 326.]

[Footnote 233-2: In Greece, _Lycurgus'_ legislation seems to have contained the first prohibition relating to luxury. No one should own a house or household article which had been made with a finer implement than an ax or a saw; and no Spartan cook should use any other spice than salt and vinegar. (_Plut._, De Sanitate, 12; _Lycurg._, 13. On Periander, see _Ephorus_, ed. _Marx_, fr. 106. _Heracb._, Pont. ed.; _Kohler_, fr. 5; _Diog. Laert._, I, 96 ff.) The luxury-prohibitions of Solon were aimed especially at the female pa.s.sion for dress and the pomp of funerals. Those who had the surveillance of the s.e.x watched also over the luxury of banquets. _Athen._, VI, 245; _Demosth._ in _Macart._, 1070. In Rome, there were laws regulating the pomp of and display at funerals, dating from the time of the Kings; but especially are such laws to be found in the twelve tables.

Lex Oppia de Cultu Mulierum in the year 215 before Christ. A very interesting debate concerning the abolition of this law in _Livy_, x.x.xIV, 1 ff. About 189, prohibition of several foreign articles of luxury. _Plin._, H. N., XIII, 5, XIV, 16. Measures of Cato the censor. (_Livy_, x.x.xIX, 44.) First law relating to the table, L. Orchia, in the year 187; afterwards L. Fannia, 161, L. Didia, 143 before Christ.

(_Macrob._, Sat. V, 13; _Gellius_, N. A., II, 24. _Plin._, H. N., X, 7.) After a long pause, sumptuary laws relating to food, funerals and games of chance, const.i.tute an important part of Sulla's legislation.]

[Footnote 233-3: _Latus clavus_ of the Roman senators; _annulus_ of the knights. In the latter middle age, the knights were wont to be allowed to wear gold, and esquires only silver; the former, damask; the latter, satin or taffeta; but when the esquires also used damask, velvet was reserved for the knights alone. _St. Palaye_, Das Ritterwesen, by _Kluber_, IV, 107; II, 153 seq. But towards the end of the middle ages many sumptuary laws were enacted in cities by plebeian jealousy of the rich. The Venetian sumptuary laws were pa.s.sed on account of the anxiety of the state that some rich men might s.h.i.+ne above the rest of the oligarchs.]

SECTION CCx.x.xIV.

HISTORY OF SUMPTUARY LAWS.

As in Italy, Frederick II., in Aragon, Iago I., in 1234, in England, Edward III., by 37, Edward III., c. 8 ff., so in France Philip IV. was the first who busied himself seriously with sumptuary legislation;[234-1] that is the same king who had introduced in so many things the modern political life into France. (For instance, the ordinance of 1294, regulating apparel and the luxury of the table.) In the 14th century, we find sumptuary laws directed mainly against expense for furs, and in the 16th mainly against that for articles of gold and silver. From the descriptions left us in such laws of the prohibited luxuries, we may learn as much of the history of technology and of fas.h.i.+on, as we may of the history of cla.s.ses from the gradation of the things permitted. The fines imposed for violations of these laws, under Philip IV. went for the most part to the territorial lord; and in the 16th and 17th centuries to the foundation of charitable inst.i.tutions.

The state, as a rule, took no share of them; doubtless to avoid the odium which might attach to this kind of revenue.

Beginning with the end of the 16th century, the sumptuary laws of France relating to the luxuries permitted to the several cla.s.ses of the people disappear. The legislator ceases to be guided by moral considerations and begins to be influenced by reasons partaking of a commercial and police character; and here we may very clearly demonstrate the origin of the so-called mercantile or protective system. Thus, in the declaration of Louis XIV. dated December 12, 1644, we find a complaint, that not only does the importation of foreign articles of luxury threaten to rob France of all its gold and silver, but also that the home manufacture of gold cloth, etc., which at Lyons alone ate up 10,000 livres a week, had the same effect. Under Colbert, in 1672, it was specially provided for, in the prohibition of coa.r.s.er silver ware, that all such ware should be brought to the mint.[234-2] In the edict of 1660, the king even says that he has in view especially the higher cla.s.ses, officers, courtiers, etc., in whom it was his duty to be most deeply interested. To preserve the latter from impoverishment was the main object of the law.

Under Louis XV. all sumptuary laws were practically a dead letter.[234-3] Their enforcement is, indeed, exceedingly difficult, as it is always harder to superintend consumption than production. The latter is carried on in definite localities, not unfrequently even in the open air. The former is carried on in the secrecy of a thousand homes. Besides, sumptuary laws have very often the effect to make the forbidden fruit all the sweeter. Where they are based on a difference of cla.s.s, not only the pa.s.sion for pleasure, but the vanity of the lower cla.s.ses is an incentive to their violation.[234-4] Spite of the severity of the penalties attached to the violation of these laws, of redoubled measures of control, which are dreadful burdens on the intercourse between man and man,[234-5] the French government has been compelled to admit, after almost every internal commotion, and almost every external war, that its sumptuary laws fell into disuse.

[Footnote 234-1: Ordonnances de France, I, 324, 531. Worms law of 1220. (_Riehl_, Pfalzer, 246.) Braunschweig law of 1228, that at weddings there should not be over 12 plates nor more than three musicians. (_Rehtmeyer_, Chron., 466.) Danish sumptuary law of 1269. First law regulating dress in Prussia in 1269. (_Voigt_, Gesch. von Preussen, V, 97.) On Henry II., see _v. Raumer_, Hohenstaufen, VI, 585. Some of the earlier restrictions on luxury, such as that of 190 in England and France, against scarlet ermine, etc., may have been related to the religious fervor of the crusades. _St.

Louis_, during the whole period of his crusades wore no articles of luxury.]

[Footnote 234-2: The English prohibition against the wearing of silk on hats, caps, stockings etc. (1 and 2 Phil. and Mary, ch. 2.) was promulgated with the intention of promoting the home manufacture of wool. And so _Sully_, Economics, L, XII, XVI, was in favor of laws regulating outlay mainly from "mercantilistic" reasons, that the country might not be impoverished by the purchase of foreign expensive articles. The police ordinance of the Empire of 1548, t.i.t. 9, desired to guard against both the "excessive"

exportation of money and the obliteration of cla.s.s differences; that of 1530, t.i.t. 9, and the Austrian police ordinance of Ferdinand I. had only the second object in view. (_Mailath_, Gesch., von Oesterreich, II, 169 ff.) How, in Denmark, prohibitions of luxury grew very soon into prohibitions of imports with a protective intention, see in _Thaarup_, Danische Statistik, I, 521 seq. On the mercantilistic object of the greater number of prohibitions of coffee, in the 18th century, see _Dohm_, uber Kaffeegesetzgebung, in the D. Museum, Bd., II, St. 8, No.

4.]

[Footnote 234-3: _Des Essart_, Dictionnaire universel de Police, VI, 146. In Great Britain, the Scotch luxury-law of 1621 is the last. (_Anderson_, Origin of Commerce, a. 1621.) In Germany, there were some such laws until the end of the 18th century; and the laws regulating mourning have lasted longest. Compare that of Frederick the Great of 1777, the Bamberg and Wurzberg laws of 1784, in _Schlozer_, Staatsanzeigen, IX, 460; fol. 141 ff. There are many men who have no desire to go to any heavy expense in mourning, but do not dare to give expression thereto in certain cases, and therefore look with favor on a law to which they may appeal as an excuse.]

[Footnote 234-4: Compare _N. Montaigne_, 1580, Essais, I, 63. A striking instance in antiquity: _Macrob._, II, 13; most recently in _Lotz_, Revision, I, 407.]

[Footnote 234-5: Compare especially the French sumptuary law of 1567. Zaleucos went so far in his severity as to punish with death the drinking of unmixed wine, without the prescription of a physician. (_Athen._, IX, 429.) The effort has sometimes been made to enlist the feeling of honor of the people in the controlling of luxury. Thus old Zaleucos forbade the wearing of gold rings or Milesian cloth unless the wearer desired to commit adultery, or to be guilty of sins against nature (_Diodor._, XII, 21); but such laws are scarcely attended with success.]

SECTION CCx.x.xV.

DIFFICULTY OF ENFORCING SUMPTUARY LAWS.

The impossibility of enforcing sumptuary laws has been most strikingly observed, where it has been attempted to suppress the consumption of popular delicacies in the first stages of their spread among the people.

Thus, an effort was made in this direction in the sixteenth century, as regards brandy; in the seventeenth, as regards tobacco; in the eighteenth, as regards coffee; all which three articles were first allowed to be used only as medicines.[235-1] When governments discovered after some time the fruitlessness of the efforts, they gave up the prohibition of these luxuries and subst.i.tuted taxes on them instead.[235-2] Thus an effort was made to combine a moral and a fiscal end. But it should not be lost sight of that the lower these taxes are, the greater the revenue they bring in; that is, the less the moral end is attained, the more is the fiscal end. Even Cato took this course. His office of censor, which united the highest moral superintendence with the highest financial guidance, must of itself have led him in this direction.[235-3] In modern times the most important excises and financial duties of entry have been evolved out of sumptuary laws. Even the Turks, after having long tried to prohibit tobacco-smoking in vain, afterwards found in the duties they imposed on that plant a rich source of income. That such taxes are among the best imposed, where they do not lead to frauds on the government, become excessive, or diminish consumption to too great an extent, is universally conceded.

Beyond this there is, on the whole, little left of the old police regulations relating to luxury. Thus, governmental consent is, in most countries, required for the establishment of places where liquors are sold at retail, for the maintenance of public places of amus.e.m.e.nt, for shooting festivals, fairs, etc.; and this consent should not be too freely granted. The police power prescribes certain hours at which drinking places shall be closed. Games of chance are wont to be either entirely prohibited or restricted to certain places and times (bathing places), or are reserved as the exclusive right of certain inst.i.tutions, especially state inst.i.tutions. The object of this is, on the one hand, to facilitate their supervision, and on the other, to diminish the number of seductive occasions. Here, too, belongs the appointment of guardians to spendthrifts, which is generally done on the motion of the family by the courts; but which, indeed, occurs too seldom to have any great influence on the national resources, or on national morals.[235-4]

[Footnote 235-1: Hessian law that only apothecaries should retail brandy, 1530. English tobacco laws of 1604; _Rymer_, Fdera, XVI, 601. Papal excommunication fulminated in 1624, against all who took snuff in church, and repeated in 1690. A Turkish law of 1610 provided that all smokers should have the pipe broken against their nose. A Russian law of 1634, prohibiting smoking under penalty of death. In Switzerland, even in the 17th century, no one could smoke except in secret. Coffee had a hard struggle even in its native place. (_Ritter_, Erdkunde, XIII, 574 ff.) Prohibited in Turkey in 1633, under pain of death. _v. Hammer_, Osmanische Staatsverwaltung, I, 75. In 1769, coffee was still prohibited in Basel, and was allowed to be sold by apothecaries only, and as medicine. (_Burkhardt_, C. Basel, I, 68.) Hanoverian prohibition of the coffee trade in the rural districts in 1780: _Schlozer_, Briefwechsel, VIII, 123 ff.]

[Footnote 235-2: According to _v. Seckendorff_, Christenstaat, 1685, 435 seq., a decidedly unchristian change.]

[Footnote 235-3: _Livy_, x.x.xIX, 44. In Athens, too, the highest police board in the matter of luxury was the areopagus, which was at the same time a high financial court. Sully transformed the prohibition of luxury in regard to banquets into a tax on delicacies. Similarly, in regard to funeral-luxuries, at an earlier date. (_Cicero_, ad.

Att., XII, 35.)]

[Footnote 235-4: Customary even in the early Roman republic, and adjudged _exemplo furioso_. (_Ulpian_, in L. 1 Digest, XXVII, 10.) The immediate knights of the empire were in this respect very severe towards those of their own order. See _Kerner_, Reichsrittersch. Staatsrecht, II, 381 ff. _Sully_ ordered the parliaments to warn spendthrifts, to punish them and place them under guardians.h.i.+p. (Economies royales, L, XXVI.) According to _Montesquieu_, it is a genuine aristocratic maxim to hold the n.o.bility to a punctual payment of their debts. (Esprit des Lois, V, 8.)]

SECTION CCx.x.xVI.

EXPEDIENCY OF SUMPTUARY LAWS.

To judge of the salutariness of sumptuary laws, we must keep the above three social periods in view throughout. At the close of the first period, every law which restricts the excesses of the immediately succeeding age (the middle age) is useful because it promotes the n.o.ble luxury of the second period.[236-1] And so, in the third period, legislation may at least operate to drive the most immoral and most odious forms of vice under cover, and thus to diminish their contagious seduction. It is a matter of significance that, in Rome, the most estimable of the emperors always endeavored to restrict luxury.[236-2]

But too much should not be expected of such laws. _Intra animum medendum est; nos pudor in melius mutet._[236-3] It is at least necessary, that the example given in high places should lend its positive aid, as did that of Vespasian, for instance, who thus really opposed a certain barrier to the disastrous flood of Roman luxury.[236-4]