Note 599 — Chapter IV · : FRIEDRICH LIST AND THE NATIONAL SYSTEM OF POLITICAL ECONOMY

National System, p. 230. We do not by any means imply that the Germany of List’s day was in greater need of Protection than the Germany of to-day. Indeed, if we accept Chaptal’s view, we may well deny this, for, writing in 1819, he said that Saxony occupied a place in the front rank of European nations in the matter of industry. Speaking of Prussia, he declared that the industry of Aix-la-Chapelle alone was enough to establish the fame of any nation (De l’Industrie française, vol. i, p. 75). We must also recall the fact that the basis of the present prosperity of Germany was laid under a régime of much greater freedom.