A Policy of Free Exchange

Thomas Mackay (1849-1912) was a British wine merchant and classical liberal. He was educated at Glenalmond and New College, Oxford. He was called to the bar in 1879 but left to enter the wine trade because he felt that he was not earning enough to support his wife and family. He retired ten years later in order to campaign for liberalism. He criticised old age pensions because he believed they would harm character. Mackay did not favour a compromise between individualism and socialism. His works include: The English Poor (1889), A Plea for Liberty: An Argument Against Socialism and Socialistic Legislation (as editor) (1891), A Policy of Free Exchange (as editor) (1894), Methods of Social Reform: Essays Critical and Constructive (1896), The State and Charity (1898) and Public Relief of the Poor Law: Six Letters (1901).