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CONVERSATIONS
ON
POLITICAL ECONOMY;
IN WHICH
THE ELEMENTS OF THAT SCIENCE
ARE
FAMILIARLY EXPLAINED.
BY THE AUTHOR OF
« CONVERSATIONS ON CHEMISTRY.''
FIFTH EDITION,
REVISED AND ENLARGED.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR
j LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, BROWN, AND GREEN,
PATERNOSTEB-aOW.
1824.
ns
^fij
MAY 1 5 1972
LONT»ON :
, Printed by A. & R. Spottiswoode,
New.StreeU Square.
PREFACE.
In offering to the Public this small work,
in which it is attempted to bring within
the reach of young persons a science which
no English writer has yet presented in an
easy and familiar form, the author is far
from inferring, from the unexpected suc-
cess of a former elementary work, on the
subject of Chemistry, that tlie present at-
tempt is likely to be received with equal
favor. Political Economy, though so im-
mediately connected with the happiness and
improvement of mankind, and the object of
so much controversy and speculation among
men of knowledge, is not yet become a
popular science, and is not generally con-
sidered as a study essential to early educa-
tion. This work, therefore, independently
of all its defects, will have to contend
against the novelty of the pursuit with
young persons of either sex, for the instruc-
tion of whom it is especially intended. Ifj
A 2
IV PREFACE^
however, it should be found useful, and ifj
upon the whole, the doctrines it contains
should appear sound and sufficiently well
explained, the author flatters herself that
this attempt will not be too severely judged.
She hopes it will be remembered that in
devising the plan of this work, she was in
a great degree obliged to form the path she
has pursued, and had scarcely any other
guide in this popular mode of viewing the
subject, than the recollection of the impres-
sions she herself experienced when she first
turned her attention to this study ; though
she has subsequently derived great assist-
ance from the kindness of a few friends,
who revised her sheets as she advanced in
the undertaking.
As to the principles and materials of the
work, it is so obvious that they have been
obtained from the writings of the great
masters who liave treated this subject, and
more particularly from those of Dr. Adam
Smith, of Mr. Malthus, M. Say, M. Sis-
mondi, Mr. Ricardo, and Mr. Blake, that
the author has not thought it necessary to
PREFACE. V
load these pages with repeated acknowledg-
ments and incessant References.
It will immediately be perceived by those
to whom the subject is not new, that a few
of the most abstruse questions and contro-
versies in Political Economy have been
entirely omitted, and that others have been
stated and discussed without any positive
conclusion being deduced. This is a de-
fect unavoidably attached not only to the
author's limited knowledge, but also to the
real difficulty of the science. In general,
however, when the soundness of a doctrine
has appeared well established, it has been
stated conscientiously, without any excess
of caution or reserve, and with the sole
object of diffusing useful truths.
It has often been a matter of doubt
among the author's literary advisers, whe-
ther the form of dialogues, which was
adopted in the Conversations on Chemistry,
should be preserved in this Essay. She has,
however, ultimately decided for the affirm-
VI PREFACE.
ative; not that she particularly studied
to introduce strict coq«istency of character,
or uniformity of intellect, in the remarks
of her pupil, — an attempt which might have
often impeded the elucidation of the sub-
ject ; but because it gave her an opportu-
nity of inti'oducing objections, and placing
in various points of view questions and
answers as they had actually occurred to
her own mind, — a plan which would not
have suited a more didactic composition.
It will be observed accordingly, that the
colloquial form is not here confined to the
mere intersection of the argument by ques-
tions and answers, as in common school-
books ; but that the questions are generally
the vehicle of some collateral remarks con-
tributing to illustrate the subject ; and that
they are in fact such as would be likely to
arise in the mind of an intelligent young
person, fluctuating between the impulse of
her heart and the progress of her reason,
and naturally imbued with all the preju-
dices and popular feelings of uninformed
benevolence.
TABLE
<
OF
CONTENTS.
Conversation I. Introduction Page l
— II. Introduction— co////«?^^^ 17
"■ " III' On Property - - 30
IV. V\iov^m:Y— continued 52
^^' Onthe Division OF La-
bour - - . . Qy
VI. On Capital - - - gg
VII. Cavitai.— contimied - 106
VIII.On Wages and Popu-
lation - - - - 120
IX. Wages AND Populati on
— co7itinued - - 142
X. On the Condition of
the Poor - - - 162
Via COKTENTS.
Conversation XL On Revenue Page 183
XII. Revenue FROM LAND-
ED Property - 202
XIIL Revenue from the
Cultivation of
Land - - - 237
XIV. Revenue from Ca-
pital LENT - - 273
XV. On Value and Price 296
XVI. On Money - - 326
XVII. Money — continued 351
XVIII. Commerce - - 374
XIX. On Foreign Trade 394
XX. Foreign Trade —
continued - - - 415
XXI. Foreign Trade —
continued - - - 429
XXII. On Expenditure - 451
CONVERSATION I.
INTRODUCTION.
ERRORS ARISING FROM TOTAL IGNORANCE OF PO-
LITICAL ECONOMY. — ADVANTAGES RESULTING
FROM THE KNOWLEDGE OF ITS PRINCIPLES.
DIFFICULTIES TO BE SURMOUNTED IN THIS STUDY.
MRS. 13.
We differ so much respecting the merit of the
passage you mentioned this mourning, that I cannot
help suspecting some inaccuracy m the quotation,
CAROLINE.
Then pray allow me to read it to you ; it is im-
mediately after the return of Telemachus to Sa-
lentum, when he expresses his astonishment to
Mentor at the change that has taken place since
his former visit ; he says, " Has any misfortune
happened to Salentum in my absence ? the magni-
ficence and splendour in which I left it have dis-
B
Z INTRODUCTION.
appeared. I see neither silver, nor gold, nor
jewels ; the habits of the people are plain, the build-
ings are smaller and more simple, the arts lan-
guish, and the city is become a desert." — " Have
you observed,'* replied Mentor with a smile, " the
state of the country that lies round it ?" — " Yes,"
said Telemachus, " I perceive that agriculture is
become an honourable profession, 'and that there
is not a field uncultivated." — " And which is best,"
replied Mentor, " a superb city, abounding with
marble, gold, and silver, with a steril and neglected
country; or a country in a state of high cultiva-
tion, and fruitful as a garden, with a city where
decency has taken place of pomp ? A great city
full of artificers, who are employed only to effe-
minate the manners, by furnishing the superfluities
of luxury, surrounded by a poor and uncultivated
country, resembles a monster with a head of enor-
mous size, and a withered, enervated body, with-
out beauty, vigour, or proportion. The genuine
strength and true riches of a kingdom consist in
the number of people, and the plenty of provisions ;
and innumerable people now cover the whole ter-
ritory of Idomeneus, which they cultivate with un-
wearied diligence and assiduity. His dominions
may be considered as one town, of which Salentum
is the centre ; for the people that were wanting in
the fields, and superfluous in the city, we have re-
moved from the city to the fields."
I
INTRODUCTION. 3
Well — must I proceed, or have I read enough
to convince you that Mentor is right ?
MRS. B.
I still persist in my opinion ; for though some of
the sentiments in this passage are perfectly just, yet
the general principle on which they are founded,
that town and country thrive at the expence of
each other, I believe to be quite erroneous ; I am
convinced, on the contrary, that flourishing cities
are the means of fertilising the fields around them.
Do you see any want of cultivation in the neigh-
bourhood of London ? or can 3'ou name any
highly improved country which does not abound
with wealthy and, populous cities ? On the other
hand, what is more common than to observe de-
<:ayed cities environed by barren and ill-cultivated
iands ? The purple and gold of Tyre during the
prosperity of tlie Phoenicians, far from depriving
the fields of their labourers, obliged that nation to
colonise new countries as a provision for its excess
of population.
CAROLINE.
That is going very far back for an example.
MRS. B.
If you wish to come down to a later period,
compare the ancient flourishing state of Phoenicia,
B 2
INTRODUCTION.
with its present wretchedness, so forcibly described
by Volney in his travels.
CAROLINE.
Has not this wretchedness been produced by
violent revolutions, which, during a course of ages
have impoverished that devoted country, and does
it not continue in consequence of the detestable
policy of its present masters ? But in the natural
and undisturbed order of things, is it not clear
that the greater number of labourers a sovereign
should, after the example of Idomeneus, compel to
quit the town in order to work in the country, the
better that country would be cultivated ?
MRS. B.
I do not think so ; I am of opinion, on the con-
trary, that the people thus compelled to quit the
town, would not find work in the country.
CAROLINE.
And why not ?
MRS. B.
Because there would already be as many labour-
ers in the country as could find employment.
CAROLINE.
In England that might possibly be the case, but
would it be so in badly-cultivated countries ?
INTRODUCTION. 3^
MRS. B.
I think it would.
CAROLINE.
Do you mean to say that if a country which is
ill-cultivated were provided with a greater number
of labourers it would not be improved ? You must
allow that this requires some explanation.
MRS. B.
It does so, and perhaps even more than you
imagine ; for you cannot well understand this ques-
tion without some knowledge of the principles of
political economy.
CAROLINE.
I am very sorry to hear that, for I confess that I
have a sort of antipathy to political economy.
MRS. B.
Are you sure that you understand what is meaMt
by political economy ?
CAROLINE.
I believe so, as it is very often the subject of con-
versation at home ; but it appears to me the most
uninteresting of all subjects. It is about custom-
houses, and trade, and taxes, and bounties, and
smuggling, and paper-money, and the bullion-
committee, &c. which I cannot hear named without
B 3
6 INTRODUCl'lON,
yawning. Then there is a perpetual reference to
the works of Adam Smith, whose name is never
uttered without such veneration, that I was induced
one day to look into his work on Political Econo-
my to gain some information on the subject of corn,
but what with forestalling, regrating, duties, draw-
backs, and limiting prices, I was so overwhelmed
by a jargon of unintelligible terms, that after run-
ning over a few pages I threw the book away in
despair, and resolved to eat my bread in humble
ignorance. So if our argument respecting town
and country relates to political economy, I fancy
that I must be contented to yield the point in dis-
pute without understanding it.
MRS. B.
Well, then, if you can remain satisfied with your
ignorance of political economy yon should at least
make up your mind to forbear from talking of it,
since you cannot do it to any purpose.
CAROLINE.
I assure you that requires very little effort ; I
only wish that I was as certain of never hearing
the subject mentioned as I am of never talking
upon it myself.
MRS. B.
Do you recollect how heartily you laughed at
INTRODUCTION. 7
poor Mr. Jourdain in the Bourgeois Gentilhomme,
when he discovered that he had been speaking in
prose all his life without knowing it ? — Well, my
dear, you frequently talk of political economy
without knowing it. But a few days since I heard
you deciding on the very question of the scarcity
of corn ; and it must be confessed that your ver-
dict was in perfect unison with your present pro-
fession of ignorance.
CAROLINE.
Indeed I only repeated what I had heard from
very sensible people, that the farmers had a great
deal of corn ; that if they were compelled to brin
it to market there would be no scarcity, and th
they kept it back with a view to their own interest,
in order to raise the price. Surely it does not
require a knowledge of political economy to speak
on so common, so interesting a subject as this first
necessary of life.
MRS.B.
The very circumstance of its general interest
renders it one of the most important branches of
political economy. Unfortunately for your resolu-
tion, this science spreads into so many ramifications
that you will seldom hear a conversation amongst
liberal-minded people without some reference to it.
It was but yesterday that you accused the Birming-
B 4
S INTRODUCTION.
ham manufacturers of cruelty and injustice towards
their workmen, and asserted that the rate of wages
should be proportioned by law to that of pro-
visions ; in order that the poor might not be suf-
ferers by a rise in the price of bread. I dare say
you thought that you had made a very rational
speech when you so decided ?
CAROLINE.
And was I mistaken ? You begin to excite my
curiosity, Mrs. B. ; do you think I shall ever be
tempted to study this science ?
MRS. B.
1 do not know; but I have no doubt that I shall
convince you of your incapacity to enter on most
subjects of general conversation, whilst you remain
in total ignorance of it ; and that however guarded
you may be, that ignorance will be betrayed, and
may frequently expose you to ridicule. During
the riots of Nottingham I recollect hearing you con-
demn the invention of machines, which, by abridg-
ing labour, throw a number of workmen out of
employment. Your opinion was founded upon
mistaken principles of benevolence. In short, my
dear, so many things are more or less connected
with the science of political economy, that if you
persevere in your resolution, you might almost as
well condemn yourself to perpetual silence.
INTRODUCTION. 9^
CAROLINE.
I should at least be privileged to talk about
dress, amusemeuts, and such lady-like topics.
MRS. B.
I have heard no trifling degree of ignorance of
political economy betrayed in a conversation on
dress. "What a pity," said one lady, "that French
lace should be so dear ; for my part I make no
scruple of smuggling it ; there is really a great sa-
tisfaction in cheating the custom-house." Another
wondered she could so easily reconcile smuggling
to her conscience; that she thought French laces
and silks, and all French goods, should be totally
prohibited ; that she was determined never to wear
any thing from foreign countries, let it be ever so
beautiful ; and that it was shameful to encourage
foreign manufactures whilst our own poor were
starving.
CAROLINE.
What fault can you find with the latter opinion ?
It appears to me to be replete with humanity and
patriotism.
MRS. B.
The benevolence of the lady I do not question ;
but without knowledge to guide and sense to re-
gulate the feelings, the best intentions will be
frustrated. The science of political economy is
B 5
10 INTRODUCTIONr
intimately connected with the daily occurrences of
life, and in this respect differs materially from that
of chemistry, astronomy, or any of the natural
sciences; the mistakes we may fall into in the latter
sciences can have little sensible effect upon our
conduct, whilst our ignorance of the former may
lead us into serious practical errors.
There is scarcely any history or any account of
voyages or travels that does not abound with facts
and opinions, the bearings of which cannot be un-
derstood without some previous acquaintance with
the principles of political economy : besides, should
the author himself be deficient in this knowledge,
you will be continually liable to adopt his errors
from inability to detect them. This was your case
in reading Telemachus. Ignorance of the prin-
ciples of political economy is to be discovered in
some of the most elegant and sensible of our writ-
ers, especially amongst the poets. That beautiful
composition of Goldsmith, the Deserted Village,
is full of errors of this description, which, from its
great popularity, are very liable to mislead the
ill-informed.
CAROLINE.
I should almost regret to learn any thing which
would lower that beautiful poem in my estimation.
MRS. B.
Its intrinsic mei^it as a poem is quite sufficient to
INTRODUCTION. 11
atone for any errors in scientific principles. Truth
is not, you know, essential to poetic beauty ; but
it is essential that we should be able to distinguish
between truth and fiction.
CAROLINE.
"Well, after all, Mrs. B., ignorance of political
economy is a very excusable deficiency in women.
It is the business of Government to reform the
prejudices and errors which prevail respecting it ;
and as we are never likely to become legislators,
is it not just as well that we should remain in
happy ignorance of evils which we have no power
to remedy ?
MRS. B.
Wlien you plead in favour of ignorance, there
is a strong presumption that you are in the wrong.
If a more general knowledge of political economy
prevented women from propagating errors respect-
ing it, in the education of their children, no
trifling good would ensue. Childhood is spent in
acquiring ideas, adolescence in discriminating
and rejecting those which are false; how greatly
we should facilitate this labour by diminishing
the number of errors imbibed in early youth,
and by inculcating such ideas only as are founded
in truth.
B 6
Ifi INTRODUCTION.
CAROLINE.
Surely you would not teach political economy
to children ?
MRS. B.
I would wish that mothers were so far compe-
tent to teach it, that their children should not have
any thing to unlearn ; and if they could convey
such lessons of political economy as Miss Edge-
worth gives in her story of the Cherry Orchard,
no one I should think would esteem such inform-
ation beyond the capacity of a child.
CAROLINE.
I thought I remembered that story perfectly,
but I do not recollect in it a single word relative
to political economy.
MRS. B.
The author has judiciously avoided naming the
science, but that little tale contains a simple and
beautiful exposition of the division of labour, the
merit of which you would more highly appreciate
if you were acquainted with its application to poli-
tical economy. You would perhaps also allow
children to hear the story of King Midas, whose
touch converted every thing into gold.
CAROLINE.
Is that also a lesson of political economy? I
INTRODUCTION. IS
think, Mrs. B., you have the art of converting
every thing you touch into that science.
MRS. B.
It is not art, but the real nature of things. The
story of King Midas shows, that gold alone does
not constitute wealth, and that it is valuable only
as it bears a due proportion to the more imme-
diately useful productions of the earth.
CAROLINE.
But children will not be the wiser for such
stories unless you explain their application to poli-
tical economy. You must give them the moral of
the fable.
MRS. B.
The moral is the only part of a fable which
children never read ; and in this they are perfectly
right, for a principle abstractedly laid down is be-
yond their comprehension. The application will
be made as they advance in life. Childhood is the
period for sowing the seed, not forcing the
fruit ; you must wait the due season if you mean
to gather a ripe and plentiful harvest.
CAROLINE.
Well, my dear Mrs. B., what must I do ? You
know that 1 am fond of instruction, and that I am
ont afraid of application. You may recollect what
14 INTRODUCTION.
pleasure I took in the study of chemistry. If you
could persuade me that political economy would be
as interesting, and not more difficult, I would beg
of you to put me in the way of learning it. Are
there any lectures given on this subject? or could
one take lessons of a master? for as to studying
scientific books, I am discouraged by the difficulty
of the terms: when the language as well as the
subject is new, there are too many obstacles to con-
tend with at first setting out.
MRS, B.
The language of a science is frequently its most
difficult part, but in political economy there are
but few technical terms, and those you yill easily
comprehend. Indeed, you have already a consi-
derable stock of information on this subject, but
your notions are so confused and irregular, such
a mixture of truth and error, that your business
will rather be to select, separate, and methodise
what you already know, than to acquire new ideas.
It is not in my power to recommend you a master
on this subject, for there are none — perhaps be-
cause there are no pupils. Those who seek for
instruction on political economy, read the works
written on that science, particularly the treatise of
Adam Smith.* Lectures on political economy have
* An excellent treatise on political economy has more re-
cently been published in French by M. Say.
INTRODUCTION. 15
occasionally been given at the universities, especially
at Edinburgh, and many of the students there are
well versed in this science, as they turn their atten-
tion to it at an age when the mind is not yet strongly
biassed by prejudice.
CAROLINE.
But what then am I to do, Mrs. B. ? T cannot
attend those lectures, and I fear I shall never have
courage, to undertake the study of treatises which
appear to me so difficult.
MRS. B.
Perhaps I may be able to smooth the way for
you. It has been my good fortune to have passed
a great part of my life in a society where this sci-
ence has been a frequent topic of discussion, and
the interest I took in it has induced me to study its
principles in the works of the best writers on the
subject ; but I must tell you fairly, that I did not
commence my studies by opening these works at
random, or by consulting Adam Smith on an in-
sulated point, before I had examined his plan, or
understood his object. I knew that in order to
learn I must begin at the beginning, and if you are
of opinion that my experience can be of any service
to you, and will be content to receive an explan-
ation in a familiarmanner of what has beendiscussed
or investigated by men of acknowledged talent and
learning, I will attempt to guide you through the
16* INTRODUCTION.
first elements of the science, without, however, pre-
suming to peneti'ate into its abstruse parts.
CAROLINE.
Well, then, I am quite decided to make the at-
tempt; you are but too good to me, Mrs. B., to
allow me again to become your pupil. You have
so much indulgence, however, that I am never
afraid of exposing my ignorance by my enquiries,
though I fear I shall put your patience to a severe
test.
CONVERSATION II.
INTRODUCTION —continued,
DEFINITION OF POLITICAL EC0N03IY. RISE AND
PROGRESS OF SOCIETY. CONNECTION BETWEEN
POLITICAL ECONOMY AND MORALITY. DEFI-
NITION OF WEALTH.
CAROLINE.
I HAVE been thinking a great deal of political
economy since yesterday, my dear Mrs. B., but
I fear not to much purpose : at least I am no far-
ther advanced than to the discovery of a great con-
fusion of ideas which prevails in my mind on the
subject. This science seems to comprehend every
thing, and yet I own, that I am still at a loss to
understand what it is. Cannot you give me a short
explanation of it, that I may have some clear ideas
to begin with ?
MRS. B.
I once heard a lady ask a philosopher to tell her
in a few words what is meant by political economy.
Madam, replied he, you understand perfectly what
is meant by household economy, you need only ex-
18 INTRODUTCION.
tend your idea of the economy of a family to that
of a whole people — of a nation, and you will have
some comprehension of the nature of political eco-
nomy.
CAROLINE.
Considering that he was limited to a few words,
do you not think that he acquitted himself ex-
iremely well ? But as I have a little more patience
than this lady, I hope you will indulge me with a
more detailed explanation of this universal science.
MRS. B.
Political economy treats of the formation, the
distribution, and the consumption of wealth; it
teaches us the causes which promote or prevent
its increase, and their influence on the happiness or
misery of society.
In a country of savages, you find a small num-
ber of inhabitants spread over a vast tract of land.
Depending on the precarious subsistence afforded
by fishing and hunting, they are subject to frequent
dearths and famines, by which great numbers are
destroyed; they rear but few children, for want
cuts them off in their early years ; the aged and in-
firm are often put to death, rather from motives
of humanity than of cruelty ; for the hunter's life
requiring a great extent of country, and long and
perilous excursions in quest of food, they would be
wholly incapable of following the young and robust.
INTRODUCTION. 19
and would die of hunger, or become a prey to wild
beasts.
If these savages apply themselves to pasturage,
their means of subsistence are brought within nar-
rower limits, requiring only that degree of wander-
ing necessary to provide fresh food for their cattle.
Their flocks ensuring them a more easy sub-
sistence, their families begin to increase; they
lose in a great measure their ferocity, and a con-
siderable improvement takes place in their cha-
racter.
By degrees the art of tillage is discovered, a
small tract of ground becomes capable of feeding a
greater relative number of people; the necessity of
wandering in search of food is superseded ; families
begin to setde in fixed habitations, and the arts of
social life are introduced and cultivated.
In the savage state, scarcely any form of govern-
ment is established ; the people seem to be under
no control but that of they" military chiefs in time
of war.
The possession of flocks and herds in the pas-
toral state introduces property, and laws are neces-
sary for its security ; the elders and leaders of these
wandering tribes therefore begin to establish laws,
to violate which is to commit a crime, and to
incur a punishment. This is the origin of social
order; and when in the third state the people
settle in fixed habitations, the laws gradually as-
20 INTRODUCTION.
sume the more regular form of a monarchical or
republican government. Every thing now wears
a new aspect ; industry flourishes, the arts are in-
vented, the use of the metals is discovered; labour
is subdivided, every one applies himself more par-
ticularly to a distinct employment, in which he
becomes skilful. Thus, by slow degrees, this
people of savages, whose origin was so rude and
miserable, become a civilised people, who occupy
a highly cultivated countr}'', intersected by fine
roads, leading to wealthy and populous cities, and
carrying on an extensive trade both at home and
with other countries.
CAROLINE.
This is a very pleasing outline of the history of
the rise and progress of civilisation : but I should
like to see it a little more filled up.
MIl^. B.
The subject you will find hereafter sufficiently
developed ; for the whole business of political eco-
nomy is to study the causes which have thus co-
operated to enrich and civilise a nation. This
science is, therefore, essentially founded upon his-
tory, — not the history of sovereigns, of wars, and
of intrigues ; but the history of the arts, of trade,
of discoveries, and of civilisation. We see some
countries, like America, increase rapidly in wealth
INTRODUCTION. 21
and prosperity, whilst others, like Egypt and
Syria, are impoverished, depopulated, and falling
to decay : when the causes which produce these
various effects are well understood, some judgment
may be formed of the measures which governments
have adopted to contribute to the welfare of their
people; whether such or such a branch of com-
merce should be encouraged in preference to others;
whether it be proper to prohibit this or that kind
of merchandise ; whether any peculiar encourage-
ment should be given to agriculture ; whether it be
right to establish by law the price of provisions or
the price of labour, or whether they should be left
without control ; and so on.
You see therefore, that political economy con-
sists of two parts, — theory and practice; the
science and the art. The science compi'ehends a
knowledge of the facts which we have enumerated :
the art relates more particularly to legislation, and
consists in doing whatever is requisite to contribute
to the increase of national wealth,, and avoiding
whatever would be prejudicial to it. Mistakes in
theory lead to errors in practice. When we
enter into details we shall have occasion to ob-
serve that governments, misled by false ideas of
political economy, have frequently arrested the na-
tural progress of wealth when it was in their power
to have accelerated it.
22 INTRODUCTION.
CAROLINE.
But since the world was originally a rude wil-
derness, and yet has arrived at the improved state
of civiHsation in which we now find it, the errors of
governments cannot have been very prejudicial.
MRS. B.
The natural causes which tend to develop the
wealth and prosperity of nations are more power-
ful than the faults of administration, which operate
in a contrary direction. But it is nevertheless true
that these errors are productive of a great deal of
mischief; that they check industry and retard the
progress of improvement. Under bad governments
particular classes of people are favoured, others
discouraged and oppressed : prosperity is thus un-
equally shared, and riches unfairly distributed.
You look very grave, Caroline ; do you already
begin to grow tired of the subject ?
CAROLINE.
Oh no; I think thus far I have understood you:
but before we proceed you must allow me to men-
tion an objection which, I confess, distresses me; if
it is well founded I shall be quite at variance with
the maxims of political economy, and that science
will no longer retain any interest for me. I find
that you are constantly talking of wealth ; of the
causes which produce it; of the means of augment-
INTRODUCTION. 23
ing it. To be rich, very rich, richer than other
people, seems to be the great aim of political eco-
nomy. Whilst religion and morality teach us that
we should moderate the thirst of gain, that inordi-
nate love of wealth is the source oF all crimes. Be-
sides that, it is very evident that the richest people
are not always the happiest. Now, if wealth does
not conduce to the happiness of individuals, how-
can it constitute that of nations ? A poor but vir-
tuous people is surely happier than a rich and vi-
cious one. What remarkable examples do we not
see of this in history. We are taught to admire
the Greek republics, who despised the pomp and
luxury of wealth. And then the Romans ; during
the early part of their history they were poor and
virtuous, but the acquisition of wealth depraved
their character, and rendered them the slaves of
tyrants. Now political economy appears to me to
induce the love of riches, and to consider it as the
only end to be attained by government.
MRS. B.
This is a most alarming attack upon political
economy ! When, however, you understand it bet-
ter, you will find that your censure is unfounded.
At present you must take niy word for it, as I
cannot show you the benefits arising from just
principles of political economy, before you are ac-
quainted with the principles themselves ; but I can
24 INTRODUCTION.
assure you that they all tend to promote the happi-
ness of nations, and the purest morality. 1 do
not pretend to deny that wealth, like almost every
other human good, is liable to abuse ; and the
Greeks and Romans may, perhaps, in a great mea-
sure, owe their degradation to the ill use which
they made of their ill-gotten wealth ; for it should
be observed, that their riches were obtained by
rapine and plunder, and that they did not arise from
the gradual and natural growth of industry, in
which case alone they spread happiness around,
creating new desires by offering new gratifications.
But history acquaints us more with the sovereign
than with the people. In order to be able to form
a just estimate of the morals and manners of a
country, we must avail ourselves also of the inform-
ation of travellers, and we shall generally find,
that the poorer and ruder societies of mankind
are proportionally miserable in their condition, fe-
rocious in their manners, and vicious in their morals.
That wealth is not sufficient to constitute the
happiness of a people, I most readily admit ; it is
but one among a number of causes which conduce
to it. Social happiness is the result of a pure reli-
gion, good morals, a wise government, and a
general diffusion of knowledge. Without such
advantages, wealth can never be enjoyed. But
these are subjects upon which we can touch only
incidentally. They constitute the science of general
INTRODUCTION. 25
politics, and our attention is to be particularly
directed to political economy, which is but a branch
of it, and treats especially of the means of promoting
social happiness so far as relates to the acquisition,
possession, and use of the objects which constitute
national wealth. Political economy tends to mode-
rate all unjustifiable ambition, by showing that the
surest means of increasing national prosperity are
peace, security, and justice ; that jealousy between
nations is as prejudicial as between individuals ;
tliat each finds its advantage in reciprocal benefits;
and that far from growing rich at each other's ex-
pense, they mutually assist each other by a liberal
system of commerce. Political economy is par-
ticularly inimical to the envious, jealous, and ma-
lignant passions ; and if ever peace and moderation
should ilourish in the world, it is to enlightened
views of this science that we should be indebted
for the miracle.
But, my dear Caroline, I suspect that there is
some error in your idea of riches. What do you
call riches?
CAROLINE.
To be rich is to have a great income; to be
able to spend a great deal more than other
people.
MRS. B.
You speak of the riches of individuals; of com-
parative wealth. A rich man in one class of so-
c
26 INTRODUCTION.
ciety might be poor in another. But this is not
the definition that I asked for — what do you un-
derstand by riches in general — in what does wealth
consist ?
CAROLINE.
Oh, I suppose, you mean money? — I should say
wealth consists in gold and silver.
MRS. B.
Consider what would be the situation of a coun-
try which possessed no other wealth than money.
Do you recollect in what estimation Robinson
Crusoe held his bag of gold when he was wrecked
upon a desert island ?
CAROLINE.
True: but in an island which is not desert,
money will purchase whatever you want.
MRS. 6.
Then I should say that the things which we are
desirous to procure with money, such as land,
houses, furniture, clothes, food,&c. constitute riches,
as well as the money by which they are obtained.
CAROLINE.
Certainly : these are clearly the things which
constitute real wealth ; for unless we could pro-
cure the necessaries of life with gold and silver,
INTRODUCTION. 27
they would be of no more use to us than lead or
iron.
MRS. B.
We may therefore say that wealth comprehends
every article of utility, convenience, or luxury.
This includes every object of our wishes which can
become an article of commerce ; such as landed
estates, houses, the products of agriculture, those
of manufactures, provisions, domestic animals, in
a word, whatever can contribute to the welfare and
enjoyment of man.
CAROLINE.
Why should you confine your definition of
wealth to things that can become articles of com-
merce ?
MRS. B.
Because there are many countries where the
earth spontaneously produces things which can
neither be consumed nor sold; and however valu-
able such things would be to us, could we obtain
them, they cannot, under those circumstances, be
considered as wealth. The herds of wild cattle,
for instance, which feed on the rich pastures called
the Pampas, in South America, are of this descrip-
tion. Many of those extensive tracts of land are
uninhabited, and the cattle that range at large over
them are of no value. Parties of hunters occasion-
ally make incursions, and destroy some of them for
c 2
2S INTRODUCTION.
their hides and fat, whilst the flesh, which we should
esteem most valuable, is either left to putrify on
the ground, or is used as fuel to melt the fat for
the purposes of tallow, which being transported to
places where it can be sold and consumed, it ac-
quires value and becomes wealth.
In other parts of America the grass of rich pas-
tures is burnt on the ground, there being no cattle
to consume it.
CAROLINE.
This may be the case in wild and uncultivated
countries; but in those which are civilised, any
land yielding unsaleable produce would be con-
verted by the proprietor to some other use.
MRS. B.
I have heard that the fruit of many of the vine-
yards in France was not gathered a few years ago,
the grapes being so much reduced in value in con-
sequence of a decree prohibiting the exportation
of French wines, that the price at which they
could be sold would not pay the expense of ga-
thering them. In England, also, when all kinds
of colonial produce were excluded from the con-
tinent of Europe, coffee is said to have been thrown
into the sea, because it would not pay the charges
on being landed. You see, therefore, that the
effects of war, or other circumstances, may for a
INTRODUCTION. 29
time, in any country, destroy the value of com-
modities.
CAROLINE.
How very much you have already extended my
conception of the meaning of wealth ! And yet I can
perceive that all these ideas were floating confusedly
in my mind before. In speaking of wealth we ought
not to confine ourselves to the consideration of the
relative wealth of individuals, but extend our views
to whatever constitutes riches in general, without
any reference to the inequality of the division.
All this is perfectly clear : no one can be really
ignorant of it ; it requires only reflection ; and yet
at first I was quite at a loss to explain the nature
of wealth.
MRS. B.
The confusion has arisen from the common
practice of estimating riches by money, instead of
observing that wealth consists in such commodities
as are useful or agreeable to mankind, of which gold
and silver constitute but a very small portion.
c 3
so
CONVERSATION III
ON PROPERTY.
LABOUR THE ORIGIN OF WEALTH. LEGAL INSTI-
TUTION OF PROPERTY. — OF LANDED PROPERTY.
SECURITY THE RESULT OF PROPERTY. OB-
JECTIONS TO LANDED PROPERTY ANSWERED.
ORIGIN OF NATIONS IN A SAVAGE OR PASTORAL
LIFE. — THEIR PROGRESS IN AGRICULTURE.
CULTIVATION OF CORN. RECAPITULATION.
CAROLINE.
W ELL, my dear Mrs. B., since you have recon-
ciled me to wealth, and convinced me how essential
it is to the happiness and prosperity of nations, I
begin to grow impatient to learn what are the best
means of obtaining this desirable object.
MRS. B.
Do not leave every thing to me, Caroline ;
I have told you that you were not without some
ON PROPERTY. 31
general notions of political economy, though they
are but ill arranged in your mind. Endeavour,
therefore, to unravel the entangled thread, and dis-
cover yourself what are the principal causes of the
production of wealth in a nation.
CAROLINE.
I assure you tliat I have been reflecting a great
deal upon the subject. I do not know whether I
am right, but I think it is labour which is the
cause of wealth. Without labour the earth would
yield but very little for our subsistence. How in-
significant are its spontaneous productions com-
pared with those derived from agriculture ! The
crab with the apple; the barren heath with the
rich pasture of the meadow I
MRS. B.
It is very true that labour is a most essential re-
quisite to the creation of wealth, and yet it does
not necessarily insure its production. The labour
of the savage who possesses no wealth is often
more severe than that of our common ploughman,
whose furrows team with riches. The long and
perilous excursions of savages in search of prey;
the difficulty which, from want of skill, they must
encounter in every process of industry, in con-
structing the simplest habitations, fabricating the
^ rudest implements ; — all concur to increase their
I
32 ON PROPERTY.
toil. Labour is the lot of man ; whether in a
barbarous or a civilised state, he is destined to earn
his bread by the sweat of his brow. But how is it
that in the one case labour is productive of great
wealth, whilst in the other it affords barely the
necessaries of life ?
CAROLINE.
You have observed that the labour of the savage
is less advantageous on account of his ignorance
and want of skill ; besides, he works neither with
the activity and zeal, nor with the steady perse-
verance of men in civilised society. Savages, you
know, are proverbially noted for their idleness.
MRS. B.
Inducements must then be found to rouse them
from that idleness; motives to awaken their in-
dustry and habituate them to regular labour. Men
are naturally disposed to indolence; all exertion
requires effort, and efforts are not made without
an adequate stimulus. The activity we behold in
civilised life is the effect of education ; it results
from a strong and general desire to share not only
in the necessaries of life, but in the various com-
forts and enjoyments with which we are surrounded.
The man who has reaped the reward, as well as
undergone the fatigues of daily exertion, willingly
renews his efforts, as he thus renews his enjoyments.
ON PROPERTY. 33
But the ignorance of a savage precludes all desires
which do not lead to the immediate gratification of
his wants; he sees no possessions which tempt
his ambition — no enjoyments which inflame his
desires; nothing less than the strong impulse of
want rouses him to exertion ; and, having satisfied
the cravings of hunger, he lies down to rest with-
out a thought of the future.
CAROLINE.
But if the desires of savages are so few and so
easily satisfied, may not their state be happier than
that of the labouring classes in civilised countries,
who wish for so much, and obtain so little ?
MRS. B.
The brutish apathy which results from gross ig-
norance can scarcely deserve the name of content,
and is utterly unworthy that of happiness. Gold-
smith, in his Traveller, justly as well as beautifully
observes, that
*' Every want that stimulates the breast
Becomes a source of pleasure when redressed.'*
Besides, it is only occasionally that a savage can
indulge in this state of torpid indifference. If you
consult any account of travels in a savage country,
you will be satisfied that our peasantry enjoy a
comparative state of affluence and even of luxury^
c 5
34 CXN PtLOPI^tiTV,
But let us suppose a civilised being to come
among a tribe of savages, and succeed in teaching
some of them the arts of life — he instructs one
how to render his hut more commodious, another
to collect a little store of provisions for the winter,
a third to improve the construction of his bows and
aiTOws ; what would be the consequences ?
CAROLINE.
One might expect that the enjoyment derived
from these improvements would lead their country-
men to adopt them, and would introduce a general
spirit of industry.
MRS. B.
Is it not more probable that the idle savages
would, either by force or fraud, wrest from the in-
dustrious their hard-earned possessions : that the
one would be driven from the hut he had con-
structed with so much labour, another robbed of the
provisons he had stored, and a third would see his
well-pointed arrows aimed at his own breast ? Here
then is a fatal termination to all improvement.
Who will work to procure such precarious posses-
sions, which expose him to danger, instead of en-
suring his enjoyment ?
CAROLINE.
But all this would be prevented if laws were
made for the protection of property.
ON PROPERTY. 35
MRS. B.
True ; but the right of property must be esta-
blished, before it can be protected. For nature
has given mankind every thing in common, and
property is of human institution. It takes place
in such early stages of society that one is apt to
imagine it of natural origin ; but until it has been
established by law, no man has a right to call any
thing his own.
CAROLINE.
What, not the game he has killed, the hut he
has built, or the implements he has constructed ?
These may be wrested from him by force; but he
who thus obtains them acquires no right to them.
MRS. B.
When a man has produced any thing by his
labour, he has, no doubt, in equity the fairest
claim to it; but his right to se{)arate it from the
common stock of nature, and appropriate it to
his own use, depends entirely upon the law of the
land.
In the case of property in land, for instance, it
is the law which decrees that such a piece of
ground shall belong to Thomas, such another to
John, and a third to James ; that these men shall
have an exclusive right to the possession of the
land and of its produce ; that they may keep, sell,
or exchange it ; give it away during their lives, or
c 6
S^ ON PnopERTY-
bequeath it after their deaths. And, in order
that- this law should be respected, punishments are
enacted for those who should transgress it. It is
not until such laws have been made for the in-
stitution and protection of property, of whatever
description it be, that the right of property is
established*
CAROLINE.
You astonish me ! I thought that property in
land had always existed ; I had no idea that it was
a legal institution, but imagined that it had origi-
nated from the earliest period of the world. We
read that in the time of the ancient patriarchs, when
families became too numerous, they separated ; and
that those who went to settle elsewhere, fed their
flocks, and occupied the land without molestation.
There was no one to dispute their right to it ; and
after their deaths the children inhabited and culti*
vated the land of their fathers.
If we were to found a colony in a desert island,
every man would cultivate as much ground as he
wanted for his own use, and each having an equal
interest in the preservation of his possessions, pro-
perty would thus be established by general agree-
ment, without any legal institution.
MRS. B.
This general agreement is a kind of law ; a very
imperfect one it is true, and which was perhaps
ON PROPERTY. S7
originally founded on the relative strength of indi-
viduals. If one man attempts to carry oiF the cattle
or the fruits of another, the latter opposes force to
force ; if he is stronger or better armed, he either
kills his antagonist or drives him away; if weaker,
he is despoiled, or he calls in his neighbours to his
succour, shows them the common danger, and may
induce them to unite with him in taking vengeance
on the aggressor.
Many incidents of this nature must occur before
regular laws are instituted ; that is to say, before a
public authority is established, which shall protect
individuals against those who attack them, and
punish the offenders. It is then only that a man
may say, " This is my field ; this is my house ;
this seed which I cast into the ground will bring
forth an abundant provision for me and my family;
these trees which I plant will every year yield us
fruit, which we alone shall have a right to gather."
CAROLINE.
I now comprehend perfectly the advantage of
such laws — it is seairity — before they were es-
tablished, the strong might wrest every thing from
the weak ; and old men, women, and children who
had no means of defence, were exposed to their
rapine and violence. The idle and improvident,
when in want of subsistence, became the natural
•enemies of the laborious and industrious. So that
9i ON PROPERTY.
without this law the men who had toiled hardest
would be most likely to fall victims to those who
had done nothing. In a word, the wasps would
devour the honey of the bees.
MRS. B.
Yes, securitij is the grand point ; it is security
which stimulates industry, and renders labour
productive ; every step towards security is a step
towards civilisation, towards wealth, and towards
general happiness.
CAROLINE.
All this is very true : yet an objection to the in-
stitution of property in land has just occurred to
me which appears of considerable importance. Be-
fore land became private property, the earth, you
say, was possessed in common by all mankind ;
every one had an equal claim to it. But the law
which institutes landed property takes it from man-
kind at large, to give it to a ^^^.w individuals ; in
order, therefore, to make some men rich, it makes
others poor. Now what right has the law to dis-
possess some in order to enrich others ? It should
be just, before it is generous.
This objection, however, does not extend to any
other than landed property ; nothing is more fair
than that men should gather the fruits of their
labour ; that they should possess the houses they
ON PROPERTY. 99
have built, the goods they have fabricated; but the
land, it appears to me, cannot become private pro-
perty without injury to others who are thus de-
prived of their natural right to it.
MRS. B.
You would then secure to every one the posses-
sion of the wealth he may acquire, though you
would refuse him the means of producing it?
You would make him master of his house, but take
away the ground on which it stands ; protect his
harvests, but not allow him the property of a field
in w^iich he may raise his crops ?
CAROLINE.
I must confess that you have placed my objection
rather in a ludicrous point of view ; but that is not
enough, Mrs. B. ; you must show me where the
error lies, before I can consent to relinquish it. If
it is necessary for the encouragement of industry
that land should become private property, justice
requires that it should be equally divided amongst
all those who have a natural claim to it ?
MRS. B.
In countries newly occupied, grants of land are
usually made to those who are willing to reclaim
it from a state of nature ; it is in cases of conquest
only, that land has been arbitrarily partitioned by
the conqueror. Such was the fate of Europe when
to ON PROPERTY.
over-run by the northern barbarians, who, by their
division of land, laid the foundation of the feudal
system.
But whatever may have been the original causes
of the divbion of land, and whether or not it were
equally apportioned at first, it is impossible to
prevent inequality from arising afterwards.
CAROLINE.
Yet we read of laws having been instituted in
several countries to preserve this equality, and in
some instances with considerable success. In
Rome, frequent attempts were made to this effect ;
and the Spartans, during a long series of years,
rigorously persevered in the equal division of land-
ed property.
MRS. B.
And what were the consequences of this attempt?
At Rome the laws to prevent inequality of landed
property proved ineffectual ; in Sparta they pro-
duced a community of warriors, who tyrannised
with cruelty over a population of slaves, and who
were not possessed of a single virtue unallied to
military glory.
Both the virtues and vices of mankind tend
to destroy this equality ; the laborious, the intel-
ligent, and skilful, will raise plentiful harvests.
Nature thus rewards tlieir exertions. The posses-
sions of the idle, the careless, and the ignorant.
ON PROPERTY. 4#
will, on the contrary, gradually degenerate. Na-
ture has annexed this penalty to their neglect.
Shall we then counteract this wise dispensation of
Providence by giving to the idle the reward of in-
dustry, and making the industrious bear a punish-
ment due to the idle ?
CAROLINE.
Yet poverty frequently arises from sickness and
misfortune, which render men unable to work; and,
under such circumstances, it is hard to suffer the
penalty incurred by idleness*
MRS. B.
True; but you must consider also, that the in-
equality of condition, and the vicissitudes of human
life, give rise to the exercise of almost every virtue
patience, resignation, fortitude, on the part of the
afflicced ; benevolence, compassion, generosity, cha-
rity, on that of the more prosperous of the com-
munity — feelings which purify and refine the
enjoyment of wealth, and are amongst its highest
gratifications.
Nature, for equally wise purposes, has dispensed
her blessings with various degrees of munificence :
in some instances she bestows them with unbounded
and inexhaustible profusion. It is thus that she
has given us light and air, which are alike pos-
sessed and enjoyed by all. No one ever thought of
converting these elements into private property ;
42 ON PROPERTY.
and if food were as easily obtained, and the human
frame as readily supplied with nourishment as it
is with the air we breathe, no one would ever
have conceived the idea of separating from the
common stock, and converting into private pro-
perty, either the food he required, or the land on
which it was produced.
CAROLINE.
How delightful that would be ! Labour would
no longer be required ; and mankind would be
transformed into a race of contemplative philoso-
phers, whose only occupation would be to study
and admire the works of nature !
MRS. B.
It is dangerous to trust to your judgment when
it leads you to conclusions so different from the
established course of nature. We must bear in
mind that the dispensations of Providence are
always wise and good, though it is not always in
our power to trace their beneficial effects. In the
present instance, however, the design of Providence
appears sufficiently obvious. Were mankind not
under the necessity of labouring for a subsistence,
so far from becoming philosophers, I am inclined
to think that they would ever have remained a race
of indolent savages, scarcely raised above the brutt
creation. What motive would they have had for
exertion, what incentive to awaken their faculties.
ON PROPERTY. 43
.aid rouse them from the apathy of indolence so
natural to man? The necessity of regular industry
to secure subsistence appears to be the first step
towards the development of their faculties, both
physical and mental. But we have observed that
men will not be induced to cultivate the earth, so
long as it is possessed in common, when the idle
may reap the harvest sown by the hand of industry.
Property in land is therefore of necessity a pre-
liminary step to cultivation, and we have seen that
cultivation could not take place were the earth
unlimited in extent and powers of jn-oduction.
Let us then reflect, that when nature conferred
this blessing upon us with a more sparing hand,
than she has bestowed the other elements, it was
doubtless with a view of rousing the latent faculties
of man, and calling them into action ; it was in
order to raise him from a state of animal nature,
in which he is assimilated to the beasts that perish,
and urge him through a progressive course of
improvement, during which new ideas are succes-
sively formed : the character is developed by reason,
the mind strengthened by trials, chastened by ad-
versity, elevated by piety, softened by social affec-
tions, enlarged by science, refined by literature,
and /brought at length to that state in which we
discern the traces of a being destined for immor-
tality.
44 ON PROPERTY.
CAROLINE.
I am glad we arrive at the same satisfactory con-
clusion, the happiness of our .fellow-creatures, by
a safer road than that in which my imagination had
first wandered. There remains no rational doubt
in my mind of the advantages resulting from the
division of land, and the accumulation of landed
property ; nor am I disposed to murmur at the
larger share you have assigned to the more indus-
trious and better part of mankind. I see that soon
after the division of land these will infallibly be-
come the most considerable possessors ; that their
property should be secured to them and to their
heirs, and that in their hands it will be the most
highly cultivated, and yield the greatest produce.
MRS. B.
The institution of property in land augments
the wealth not only of the proprietors, but likewise
of all other classes of men.
Lands may be considered as the instrument by
which alone wealth is created ; and we have just
seen that the security of its possession gives life
and vigour to industry : it is this security which
raises the condition of our peasantry so much
above that of a savage people who possess the land
in common.
CAROLINE.
An institution of such evident and general utility
cannot then be considered as unjust.
ON PROPERTY. 45
MRS. B.
Certainly not. It is by the test of general utility
that the justice of all'laws should be tried ; for there
are none which do not impose some restraint on the
natural liberty of man, and which, in that point of
view, might not be deemed objectionable. But
without the control of laws, we have seen that
neither the lives, the property, the reputation, nor
even the liberty of men, are secure: we sacrifice
therefore some portion of that liberty to the law;
and, in return, it secures to us the remainder, to-
gether with every blessing which security can give.
Blackstone, in his Commentaries, says, " Every
*' man, when he enters into society, gives up a part
" of his natural liberty, as the price of so valuable
" a purchase; and in consideration of receiving
** the advantages of mutual commerce, obliges
" himself to conform to those laws which the com-
" munity has thought proper to establish. For no
" man who considers a moment would wish to
" retain the absolute and uncontrolled power of
" doing whatever he pleases ; the consequence of
" which is, that every other man would also have
" the same power, and there would be no security
" to individuals in any of the enjoyments of life :
" political, therefore, or civil liberty, which is that
" of a member of society, is no other than natura
" liberty, so far restrained by human laws (and no
" &rther) as is necessary and expedient for the
" general advantage of the public.
4-6 ON PROPERTY.
*' That constitution or form of government, that
" system of laws, is alone calculated to maintain
" civil liberty, which leaves the subject entire
" master of his own conduct, except in those points
'* wherein the public requires some direction or
" restraint."
CAROLINE.
You have completely removed all my scruples
respecting the institution of landed property.
Mrs. B., let us now, therefore, return to the pro-
gress of wealth and civilisation.
MRS. B.
We must not proceed too rapidly ; for the pro-
gressive steps in the history of civilisation are ex-
tremely slow, and we must learn to view the
development of human intellect and the progress
of human industry in successive and almost insen-
sible degrees.
Civilised nations generally originate from the
settlement of a colony ; they seldom arise from a
savage state. It was in tliis state we found the
Indians on the discovery of America ; they were
mere hunters; and so long as men behold an un-
limited space before them, in which they may
wander without obstacle or control, it is difficult
to conceive any circumstances which should lead
them to adopt a settled mode of life, and apply
themselves to tillage.
ON PROPERTY. 47
III countries abounding with large plains, the
pastoral mode of life has prevailed ; but for this
purpose there must have been established property
in cattle, though the land were possessed in common.
Such was the case with the ancient Scythians, who
inhabited the vast plains of Tartary, and with the
modern Tartars and Arabs; who, to this day, are
wandering tribes, and like the patriarchs of old,
live in tents, and travel about with their flocks and
herds in search of pasture.
We have observed that men were by nature dis-
posed to idleness, and this disposition is necessarily
a great obstacle to the introduction of agriculture;
for it requires a considerable degree of foresight
and knowledge, and a firm reliance on the security
of property, to labour at one season in order to
reap the fruits at another. We may suppose agri-
culture to be a progressive step from pastoral life ;
that a tribe of shepherds may have met with ene-
mies in their wandering excursions, and the appre-
hensions of losing their flocks may have induced
them to settle ; they would probably choose a spot
defended by nature from attacks of wild beasts, or
the incursions of savage neighbours. Thus Cecrops
pitched upon the rock on which the citadel of
Athens is founded, to build a town. Or they may
have been tempted by the attractions of some fruit-
ful spot, under the protection of a neighbourino-
government able to defend them. Volney, in his
4-8 ON PROPERTY.
account of the wandering tribes in Syria, says,
" As often as they find peace and security, and a
" possibility of procuring sufficient provisions in
" any district, they take up their residence in it,
" and insensibly adopt a settled life and the arts of
" cultivation." These arts they must have attained
by very slow degrees — they observed that fruit-
trees may be multiplied ; that nutritious plants may
be propagated ; that there are seeds which repro-
duce every year ; and that a great variety of animals
may be tamed and domesticated. Thus supplied
with a new fund of subsistence, their children are
better fed, their families increase, and age and
infancy are protected and provided for.
But these people are yet acquainted with only
the first elements of agriculture ; how many fortu-
nate chances must have occurred before they
reached the important era of the cultivation of
corn ! Wild corn has no where been found ; and
the Greeks imaginetl that a divinity descended on
earth, to introduce it, and to instruct them in the
cultivation of this valuable plant. Athens, Crete,
Sicily, and Egypt, all claim the merit of being the
original cultivators of corn ; but whoever are the
i:)eople to whom we are indebted for this important
discovery, or whatever are the means by which it
was accomplished, there is none which has had so
great an influence on the welfare of mankind.
Feeble as it appears, this plant can resist the sum-
ON PROPERTY. 49
ftier*s heat and the winter's cold. It flourishes in
almost every climate, and is adapted not only for
the food of man, but for that of a great variety of
domestic animals, and it yields by fermentation a
pleasant and salubrioiis beverage. The grain will
keep many years, and affords such a durable means
of subsistence, that danger could no longer be ap-
prehended in trusting to futurity, and plenty was
secured duting the longest and most unproductive
winters.
But the cultivation of this inestimable plant can*-
not be undertaken without considerable funds,
fixed habitations, implements of husbandry *, do-
mestic animals ; in a word, establishments which
could neither be created nor maintained without
the institution of property. Savages have no corn,
no cultivation, no domestic animals ; they consume
aiid destroy every thing without ever considering
re-production; — and how different are the results I
We now see millions of men and animals inhabit-
ing an extent of country which would scarcely
* These are at, first of a very rude and imperfect construc-
tion. In some parts of India, the plough of a Hindoo, even
to this day, is formed of a crooked stick very inartificially
sharpened, and not unfrequently drawn by his wife. The
use of domestic animals in agricdlture is another step towards
civilisation; but no farming establishment whatever could
either be created or maintained without the institution of
property.
50 ON PROPERTY.
have sufficed for the maintenance of two or three
hundred savages.
CAROLINE.
Let us rest a Uttle, my dear Mrs. B. , I am al-
most bewildered with the number and variety of
ideas that you have presented to my mind. I won-
der that these things have not occurred to me
before ; but I have been so accustomed to see the
world in its present improved state, that my atten-
tion was never drawn to the many obstacles and
difficulties it must have encountered, and the labo-
rious progressive steps it must have made, before «
society could have attained its present state of per-
fection.
MRS. B.
Perfection ! comparatively speaking I suppose
you mean ; for it is not long since you were making
lamentable complaints of the actual state of society ;
in which indeed I could not entirely agree with
you, though I think that we are still far removed
from perfection. But let us continue to trace the
progress of wealth and civilisation up to their pre-
sent state, before we begin to find any fault with
existing institutions.
CAROLINE.
I think I have now a very clear idea of the im-
portant consequences which result from the estab-
ON PROPERTY. 51
lishment of property. It puts an end to the wan-
dering life of barbarians, induces men to settle,
and inures them to regular labour; it teaches them
prudence and foresight ; induces them to embel-
lish the face of the earth by cultivation; to mul-
tiply the useful tribes of animals and nutritious
plants ; and in short, it enables them so prodigi-
ously to augment the stock of subsistence, as to
transform a country which contained but a few
poor huts and a scanty population into a great and
wealth}' nation.
1) 2
( 52 )
CONVERSATION IV.
ON VROFERTY ^ cmtinued.
EFI ECTS OF INSECURITY OF PROPERTY. EXAMPLES
FBOM VOLNEY's TRAVELS. OBJECTIONS RAISED
AGAINST CIVILISATION. STATE OF BCETICA
FROM TELEMACHUS. OBJECTIONS TO COMMU-
NITY OF GOODS. ESTABLISHMENT OF JESUITS
IN PARAGUAY. MORAVIANS. — STATE OF SWIT-
ZERLAND. ADVANTAGES RESULTING FROM THE
ESTABLISHMENT AND SECURITY OF PROPERTY.
MRS. B.
JNow that we have traced the rise and progress of
civilisation to the security of property, let us see
whetlier the reverse, that is to say, insecurity of
property in a civilised country, will not degrade
the state of man, and make him retrace his steps
till he again degenerates into barbarism.
CAROLINE.
Ar6 there any examples of a civilised people re-
ON PROPERTY. 53
turning to a savage state? I do not recollect ever
to have heard of such a change.
MRS. B.
No, because when property has once been insti-
tuted, the advantages it produces are such, that it
can never be totally abolished ; but in countries
where the tyranny of government renders it very
insecure, the people invariably degenerate, the
■country falls back into poverty, and a comparative
state of barbarism. We have already noticed the
miserable change in the once wealthy city of Tyre.
Egypt, which was the original seat of the arts and
sciences, is now sunk into the most abject degrad-
ation ; and if you will read the passages I have
marked for you in Volney's travels, you will find the
truth of this observation very forcibly delineated.
CAROLINE reads,
^ " When the tyranny of a government drives the
** inhabitants of a village to extremity, the peasants
" desert their houses, and withdraw with their fa-
'* milies into the mountains, or wander in the plains.
*' It often happens that even individuals turn rob-
" bers in order to withdraw themselves from the
*' tyranny of the laws, and unite into litde camps,
*' which maintain themselves by force of arms ;
" these increasing become new hordes and new
^^ tribes. We may say, therefore, that in cultivated
D 3
^4 ON PROPERTY.
" countries the wandering life originates in the jn-
" justice or want of policy of the government."
MRS.B.
This, you see, is very much to the point : but
here is another passage equally applicable,
CAROLINE reads.
; " The silks of Tripoly are every day losing their
" quality from the decay of the mulberry-trees, of
," which scarcely any thing now remains but some
'/.hollow trunks. "Why not plant new ones ? That
*' is an European observation. Here they never
"jplant; because were they either to build or plant,
*? the Pacha would say this man has money, and
" it would be extorted from him,"
Besides, where there is so little actual security,
what reliance can be placed on futurity ? What
reason would the proprietors have to hope that the
mulberry-tifees would ever repay them for the trou-
ble and expense of planting them ? Yet I wonder
that the government of the country should not, for
its own sake, encourage the industry of its subjects.
MRS. B.
In the wretched government of the Turks, every
thing is so insecure, from the life and property oi
the sovereign, to that of the lowest of his subjects,
that no one looks to futurity, but every man en-
ON PROPERTY. 55
deavours to grasp at, and enjoy what is immediately
within his reach. The following passage will show
you what sufferers they all are by such a mistaken
system of policy.
CAROLINE {redding)*
" In consequence of the wretchedness of the go-
'* vernment, the greater part of the pachalics are
" impoverished and laid waste. In the ancient
"registers of imports upwards of 3200 villages
" were reckoned in that of Aleppo, but at present
" the collector can scarcely find 4-00. Such of our
" merchants as have resided there 20 years, have
" themselves seen the greater part of the environs
" of Aleppo become depopulated. The traveller
^' meets with nothing but houses in ruins, cisterns
^* rendered useless, and fields abandoned. Those
*' who cultivated them are fled into the towns,
** where the population is absorbed, but where at
** least the individual conceals himself among the
^^ crowd from the rapacious hands of despotism. In
" other countries the cities are in some measure
*' the overflow of the population of the country ; in
f' Syria they are the effect of its desertion. The
ff roads in the mountains are extremely bad, as the
** inhabitants are so far from levelling them that
" they endeavour to render them more rugged, in
** order, as they say, to cure the Turks of their
** desire to introduce their cavalry.
D 4f
56 ON FROFEKTY.
" The Pacha may applaud himself for penetra<-
*' ing into the most secret sources of private pro-
" perty^ but what are the consequences ? The
" people, denied the enjoyment of the fruits of
" their labour, restrain their industry to the supply
" of their necessary wants ; the husbandman sows
" only to prevent himself from starving, the arti-
" ficer labours only to maintain his family ; if he
" makes any savings be strives to conceal them.
" The people live therefore in poverty and distress,
" but at least they do not enrich their tyrants,
" and the rapacity of despotism is its. own punish-
«« mentv"
MRS. B.
The degeneracy of the mighty Persian and Irr-
dian monarchies since the conquest of those coun-
tries by the Mahometans, is also clearly deducible
from the insecurity of property, andafFords the most
tremendous examples of national decline. Trott,
in his History of Hindostan, informs us that dur-
ing the disastrous times of the latter monarchs of
India, the cruelties and oppressions of the agents
of government were such that the farmers burnt
their houses, utensils, and crops, and took refuge
in the woods and mountains, where those who
could neither excite charity nor maintain them-
selves by the sword, perished through want.
CAROLINE.
What a melancholy picture thi^ is, my dea*.
ON PROPERTY. 57
Mrs. B. I it is, I think, even more painful to con-
template than the wretchedness of savages; for to
their actual misery tliese people must add the regret
of having known better times.
MRS. B.
Dr. Clarke*s Travels abound with similar in-
stances of insecurity of property, and legal oppres-
sion, which subvert society, and degrade the human
species. " In Circassia," he observes, that " the
" sower scattering seed, or the reaper who gathers
" the sheaves, are constantly liable to an assault;
*• and the implements of husbandry are not more
" essential to the harvest than the carbine, the
" pistol, and the sabre."
Speaking of the Isle of Cyprus, he says ;
" The soil every where exhibited a white marly
" day, said to be exceedingly rich in its nature,
" although neglected. The Greeks are so op-
'* pressed by their Turkish masters, that they dare
" not cultivate the land ; the harvest would in-
*' stantly be taken from them if they did. Their
" whole aim seems to be, to scrape together barely
" sufficient, in the course of the whole year, to
" pay their tax to the governor. The omission of
" this is punished by torture or by death : and hi
" case of their inability to supply the impost, the
" inhabitants fly from the island. So many emi-
<* grations of this sort happen during the year that
D 5
58 ON PROPERTY.
" the population of Cyprus rarely exceeds 60,000
" persons, a number formerly insufficient to have
" peopled one of its towns."
CAROLINE.
You have made me sensible of the advantages of
civilisation; but yet I confess that my mind is not
fully satisfied. Is there no medium between a
savage life and the extreme inequality of con-
dition which we see in the present state of society?
Can we not have conveniences without luxuries ;
plenty without superfluity ? I think I have met
with an example of such a people, Mrs. B. ; but I
dare not venture to mention my authority, as you
have once before rejected it.
MRS. B.
If you allude to Telemachus, there are many
sound doctrines of political economy in that work ;
though it must be acknowledged that it is not tree
from error. But let me hear the sentiments i>\'
Fenelon on this subject.
CAROLINE.
Do you remember that delightful picture whicii
he draws of the inhabitants of Boetica? There is jui
irresistible charm in the description of their lia})-
piness ; and if fabulous, it is certainly me.int at
least to delineate what ought to constitute the hnp-
ON PROPERTY. 59
piness of nations ; equality, community of goods,
but few arts and few wants ; an ignorance or con-
tempt of luxury, and manners perfectly conformed
to the simplicity of nature. I must read you the
passage, and you will tell me whether it is not a
satire on political economy : —
.' " They live in common without any partition of
" lands, the head of every family is its king. They
*' have no need of judges, for every man submits
*' to the jurisdiction of conscience. They possess
" all things in common ; for the cattle produce
" milk, and the fields and orchards fruit and grain
*^ of every kind in such abundance, that a people
" so frugal and temperate have no need of pro-
" perty. They have no fixed place of abode ; but
*' when they have consumed the fruits, and ex-
" hausted the pasturage, of one part of the paradise
" which they inhabit, they remove their tents to
*' another : they have, therefore, no opposition of
" interest, but are connected by a fraternal affec-
" tion which there is nothing to interrupt. This
*' peace, this union, this liberty, they preserve by
.^' rejecting superfluous wealth, and deceitful plea-
" sure : they are all free, they are all equal.
" Superior wisdom, the result either of long ex-
" perience, or uncommon abilities, is the only mark
*' of distinction among them ; tlie sophistry of fraud,
*' the cry of violence, the contention of the bar,
i** and the tumult of battle, are never heard in this
D 6
60 ON PROPERTT.
" sacred region, which the gods have taken under
" their immediate protection ; this soil has never
" been distained with human blood, and even that
" of a lamb has rarely been shed upon it. When
" we first traded with these people, we found gold
" and silver used for ploughshares ; and in ge-
^' neral, employed promiscuously with iron. As
" they carried on no foreign trade, they had no
" need of money ; they were, almost all, either
" shepherds or husbandmen ; for as they suffered
" no arts to be exercised among them, but such
" as tended immediately to answer the necessities
" of life, the number of artificers was consequently
" small ; besides, a greater part, even of those that
" live by husbandry, or keeping of sheep, are skil-
" ful in the exercise of such arts, as are necessary
" to manners so simple and frugal."
MRS. B.
This, my dear Caroline, is a representation of
what the poets call the Golden Age, and requires
only truth to make it perfect. If it were an his-
torical account, all the coiK-lusions you deduce from
it would be just; but it is fiction, which, you must
allow makes an essential difterence.
Supposing that the earth yielded spontaneously
all that is now produced by cultivation ; still with-
out the institution of property it could not be en-
joyed ; the fruit would be gathered before it was
ON PROPERTY. 61
ripe, animals killed before they came to maturity ;
for who would protect what was not his own ; or
who would economise when all the stores of nature
were open to him ? There would be a strange
mixture of plenty, waste, and famine*
In this country, for instance, where the only
common property consists in hedge-nuts and black-
berries, how seldom are they allowed to ripen?
In some parts of Spain, where the beauty of the
climate produces a considerable quantity of good
wild fruit, it is customary for the priest to bestow
a blessing upon it before any is allowed to be
gathered, and this ceremony is not performed till
the fruit is considered to be generally ripe; by
which means it is prevented from being prematurely
gathered. It is with the same view that our game-
laws prohibit shooting, till the season when the
birds have attained their full growth.
CAROLINE.,
But though the Boeticans had all their goods in
eommon, they were not without laws for protecting
them.
MRS. B.
If the earth were possessed in common, who
would set about cultivating this or that spot of
ground? Government must allot to every man
his daily task, and say to the one, You must work
in this spot ; to another, You must work in that.
62 ON PROPERTY.
Would these men labour with the same activity
and zeal as if they tilled their own ground, or
received wages equivalent to their exertions ? cer-
tainly not. Such a system would transform inde-
pendent men into slaves, into mere mechanical
engines. There would be no inequality of condi-
tion, it is true, but the earth would not yield one-
tenth part of its actual produce, the population
would necessarily be diminished in the same pro-
portion, and if all escaped the distresses of poverty,
none would enjoy the acquisition of riches, an
enjoyment, which, when derived from the exercise
of our talents and our industry, is a just and vir-
tuous feeling ; it raises men not only in the scale of
wealth, but in that of the power of doing good, of
enlarging the sphere of human knowledge, with all
the inestimable benefits which result from it.
There have, however, really existed establish-
ments founded on a community of goods. That of
the Jesuits in Paraguay was of this description. The
influence of religion enabled these priests to exer-
cise a despotic sway over the poor Indians whom
they had converted to Christianity; it must be
allowed that they tempered their power by a patri-
archal care of their docile subjects. Such a species
of government might perhaps be well adapted U)
a tribe of ignorant uncivilised Indians, but it would
never make a free, a happy, an independent, and a
wealthy people. There is, indeed, still existinu
ON PROPERTY. 63
a sect of the same description called Moravians ;
but it is their religious tenets alone which enable
them to keep up such an artificial system of com-
munity, and it should be compared rather to a con-
vent of Monks and Nuns, than to a great nation.
I must again repeat it, the industry of man
Requires the stimulus of exclusive possession and
enjoyment ; and will always be proportioned to the
personal advantage which he derives from it.
CAROLINE,
I find I must give up the point of community of
goods ; but still I cannot help thinking that the
great inequality of conditions which exist in the
present state of society is a serious evil.
In Switzerland, where there is much less inequa-
lity of fortune than in this country, I have often
admired and almost envied the innocent and simple
manners of the people. They seem not to know
half our wants, nor to suffer half our cares.
MRS. B.
The Swiss are generally governed by mild and
equitable laws, which render them a virtuous antl
a happy people; and if they are not a rich and po-
})ulous nation, it proceeds not from any want of
industry, but from the obstacles opposed both to
agriculture and trade by the nature of their coun-
try; for they are, on the contrary, uncommonly active
64 ON PROPERTY.
and enterprising. I have often seen men carry on
their shoulders baskets of manure up steep ascents
inaccessible to beasts of burden, and this for the
purpose of cultivating some Httle insulated spot of
ground, which did not appear worth any such
labour. The country-women wear their knitting
fastened round their waists, in order to have it at
hand to fill up every little interval that occurs in
their domestic employments. If a Swiss woman
goes to fetch water from the fountain, or faggots
from the wood, her burden is skilfully poised on
her head, whilst her fingers busily ply the needles.
But industrious as they are, the resources of the
country are too limited to enable a father of a
family to provide for all his children ; some of them
are therefore obliged to emigrate, and seek their
fortune in a foreign land, which offers greater re-
sources to their industry. Hence the number of
Swiss merchants, governesses, shopkeepers, and
servants, that are to be met with in almost all
countries: would not these people be happier if
they found means of exercising their industry and
their talents in a country to which they are all so
much attached, and which they have so much rea-
son to love. In the energy of youthful vigour men
may often quit their own country, and live happily
in a foreign land ; but enquire of the parents who
are on the point of separating from their children
as soon as they have attained the hoi)eful age of
15
ON PROPERTY. 65
manhood, whether their country would he less
happy for offering them the means of employment
and maintenance at home.
The Swiss cannot afford to support a standing
army for the defence of their territory ; they are
therefore under the necessity of engaging their
troops in the service of foreign potentates, in order
to provide for a part of their population, and to
have a resource by calling them home in times of
danger. Would not these soldiers be happier in
defending their own country, than in shedding their
blood as mercenaries in the cause of foreigners ?
We have a remarkable proof of it, in the effect
which their patriotic songs are said to produce on
them ; when these simple airs recall to their minds
their beloved and regretted country, it either drives
them to desertion, or renders their lives miserable ;
and so deep is the impression made by these
jiational airs, that it was found necessary to forbid
their being sung by the troops in foreign service.
CAROLINE.
There is no withstanding your attacks, Mrs B.
You drive me from all my strong holds. I ex-
pected to have found a safe asylum in the moun-
tains of Switzerland, but I see that I must once
more take refuge in London, where I am sure you
will admit that the contrast between the luxuries of
66 ON PROPERTY.
the rich and the wretchedness of the poor is shock*
ing to every person of common feeling,
MRS. B.
If the wretchedness of the poor were the effect of
the luxuries of the rich, I should certainly agree
with you on that point ; but T believe it to be other-
wise. However, as the people, whose progress
towards wealth and civilisation we have been tracing
in our two last conversations, are yet far from being
sufficiently advanced in their career to be guilty of
any gi'eat excess in luxury, we must patiently follow
them in their advancement in knowledge and the
acquisition of wealth before we treat of the subject
of luxury.
{ 67 )
CONVERSATION V.
ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR.
ORIGIN OF BARTER. DIVISION OF LABOUR. —
EXTRACTS FROM SMITH's WEALTH OF NATIONS
iiiiON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR. ADVANTAGES OF
MACHINERY. EFFECTS OF THE DIVISION OF
LABOUR ON THE MORALS AND INTELLECTS OF
THE PEOPLE. RECAPITULATION.
MRS. B.
We have ascertained that the establishment and
security of property were the chief causes of the
emancipation of mankind from the shackles of sloth
and ignorance ; but there are other subordinate
causes which tend greatly to promote the progress
\ of industry and civilisation. The first of these is
^e introduction o? exchange or barter.
We observed that when men found they could
place a reliance on the security of their possessions,
68 ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR.
they laboured with redoubled activity, and far from
being satisfied with a scanty and temporary main-
tenance, they provide for the future, they accumu-
late a little store not only of the necessaries, but of
the comforts and conveniencies of life. The one
has a stock of arrows for the chase, another of
provisions for the winter, a third of clothes or orna-
ments for his person. They will remain in undis-
turbed possession of this little property ; but those
who can no longer obtain it by force or fraud will
endeavour to procure it by other means. In the
hunting season they will apply to the fabricator
of arrows ; but they will not go to him with
empty hands ; they must be provided with some-
thing to offer in exchange for the arrows, some-
thing which they think will tempt him to part
with them : whilst those who have nothing to
give in return will wish in vain to obtain
them.
Here then is a new incitement to a spirit of in-
dustry. Whoever has accumulated more than he
wants of any commodity, may find means of ex-
changing the surplus for something that will gratify
other desires. As objects of desire increase, the
wish to possess and the eflbrt to obtain them increase
also ; and the industry of man is exerted either in
producing them himself, or in producing something
by means of which he may obtain them. Thus the
torpid apathy and languid indolence of a savage
OK TitE DIVISION OF LABOUR. 6^
yields to the curiosity, the admiration, the desire,
the activity, and industry of a civilised being.
The man, for instance, who first cultivates a little
spot of ground, may be said to produce in time a
general harvest ; not only by introducing the art of
tillage, but by the powerful impulse which it gives
to industry in general. He cannot himself con-
sume the whole produce of his little garden, but he
exchanges the surplus for other things of which he
stands in need.
CAROLINA.
Besides, he would not have had suflBcient time
to bestow on the cultivation of his garden, if he
had been, at the same time, obliged to provide for
all his other wants.
Mrs. ]Ef.
Very true ; those therefore who mean to partake
I of the fruits of his garden must contribute towards
' the supply of those other wants ; some will bring
him fish from the river, others game from the
; woods; when his immediate necessities are supplied
I he will be induced to exchange his vegetables for
articles of conveniency, such as baskets to contain
his fruit, or some of the rude implements of hus-
I bandry ; or he may finally be tempted to part with
some for mere luxuries, such as rare shells, feathers,
and other personal ornaments. His neighbours
70 ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR.
will therefore be eager to produce or procure ar-
ticles, which, either from necessity, conveniency, or
merely from pleasure, will induce the gardener to
part with the produce of his garden ; for this pur-
jwse invention will be stimulated, new commodities
will be fabricated, skill will be acquired, and a
general spirit of industry developed.
CAROLINE.
So far the introduction of barter seems to an-
swer a very useful purpose; but when once industry
is roused, why should not every one exert his abili-
ties to supply his own wants, and gratify his de-
sires, without the intervention of barter? If a man
happens to be possessed of a superfluous quantity
of any commodity, it is no doubt desirable to ex-
change it for something more wanted : but it seems
to me to be an unnatural and circuitous mode of
proceeding, to produce something which we do not
want, in order afterwards to exchange it for some-
thing which we do want.
MRS. B.
Would you then have the baker kill his own
meat as well as bake his own bread, brew his own
beer, build his own house, and make his own
clothes, instead of procuring these various article
in exchange through the sale of his bread ?
17
ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR. 71
CAROLINE.
Oh no, it would be impossible to undertake so
many occupations; and then he can do one thing
better than he can do many : but this separation of
trades and employments cannot take place in a
savage state.
MRS. B.
^Oi but it beguis to operate as soon as barter is
introduced; and it is to this circuitous mode that
we owe all our improvements in skill and dexterity ;
the advantages of which are much more important
than you imagine.
When barter became common, it was soon dis-
covered that the more a man confined himself to
any one single branch of industry, to the fabric-
ation of bows and arrows for instance, the greater
the skill and dexterity he acquired in that particu-
lar art ; so that he could make bows and arrows
not only quicker, but of better workmanship than
another man who followed a variety of pursuits.
CAROLINE.
Now I begin to understand the advantage that
results from barter, independently of its inspiring
a spirit of industry and a taste for a variety of en-
joyments. The artist who has acquired a superior
degree of excellence in the fabrication of bows and
arrows, would gain more, by confining himself
entirely to that occupation, and exchanging his
/2 ON tHE DIVISION OF LABOtJit.
merchandise for whatever else he was desirous of
obtaining, than by turning his attention to a variety
of pursuits.
MRS. B.
No doubt he would, provided he were sure of
being able to dispose of all the bows and arrows he
could make : for it would be useless to fabricate
more than he could sell or exchange ; and as no
one could become a purchaser unless he had some-
thing to offer in return, a long period of time must
elapse before the progress of industry would create
a sufficient number of purchasers to enable an indi-
vidual to earn a livelihood by the fabrication of
bows and arrows.
It is therefore only in a more advanced stage of
society that the demand for commodities is so great
that men find it advantageous to devote themselves
wholly to one particular art.
Adam Smith observes, that " in lone houses and
" very small villages which are scattered about in
" so desert a country as the Highlands of Scotland,
" every farmer must be butcher, baker, and brewer
" for his own family. In such situations We can
" scarcely ekpect to find even a smith, a carpenter,
" or a mason within less than twenty miles of an-
'•' other of the same trade. The scattered families
" that live at eight or ten miles distant from the
" nearest of them, must learn to perform for them-
*' selves a great number of little pieces of work, for
ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR. 73
" which, in more populous countries, they call in
" the assistance of these workmen."
This separation of employments, which, in poli-
tical economy, is called the division of labour, can
take place only in civilised countries. In the flou-
rishing states of Europe we find men not only ex-
clusively engaged in the exercises of one particular
art, but thatart subdivided into numerous branches,
each of which forms a distinct occupation for dif-
ferent workmen.
Here is a beautiful passage in Adam Smith, the
naerits of which you will now be able to appreciate.
" Observe the accommodation of the most com-
" mon artificer or day-labourer in a civilised and
" thriving country, and you will perceive that the
" number of people of whose industry a part,
" though but a small part, has been employed in
*' procuring him this accommodation, exceeds all
** computation. The woollen coat, for example,
** which covers the day-labourer, coarse and
" rough as it may appear, is the produce of the
*' joint labour of a great multitude of workmen.
** The shepherd, the sorter of the wool, the wool-
" comber or carder, the dyer, the scribbler, the spin-
" ner, the weaver, the fuller, the dresser, with
** many others, must all join their different arts in
** order to complete even this homely production.
" How many merchants and carriers, besides, must
" have been employed in transporting the materials
,74 ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR.
" from some of those workmen to others who often
" live in a very distant part of the country ! How
" much commerce and navigation in particular,
" how many ship-builders, sailors, sail-makers,
" rope-makers, must have been employed in order
'* to bring together the different drugs made use
" of by the dyer, which often come from the re-
" motest corners of the world I What a variety of
" labour too is necessary in order to produce the
" tools of the meanest of those workmen ! To say
" nothing of such complicated machines as the ship
" of the sailor, the mill of the fuller, or even the
*' loom of the weaver, let us consider only what a
'* variety of labour is requisite in order to form that
" very simple machine, the shears with which the
*' shepherd clips the wool. The miner, the builder
*' of the furnace for heating the ore, the seller of
" the timber, the burner of the charcoal to be made
" use of in the smelting house, the brickmaker, the
" bricklayer, the workmen who attend the furnace,
" the mill wright, the forger, the smith, must all of
" them join their different arts in order to produce
" them. Were we to examine, in the same man-
" ner, all the different pans of his dress and house-
" hold furniture, the coarse linen shirt which he
" wears next his skin, the shoes which cover his
" feet, the bed which he lies on, and all the differ-
" ent parts which compose it, the kitchen-grate at
" which he prepares his victuals, the coals which
ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR. 75
' he makes use of for that purpose, dug from the
• bowels of the earth, and brought to him by a long
" sea and a long land carriage, all the other uten-
" sils of his kitchen, all the furniture of his table,
" the knives and forks, the earthen or pewter plates
" upon which he serves up and divides his victuals,
*' the different hands employed in preparing his
*' bread and his beer, the glass window which lets
" in the heat and the light, and keeps out the wind
" and rain, with all the knowledge and art requisite
" for preparing that beautiful and happy invention,
*' without which these northern parts of the world
" could scarce have afforded a very comfortable
" habitation, together with the tools of all the dif-
" ferent workmen employed in producing those
" different conveniences ; if we examine, I say, all
*' these things, and consider what a variety of la-
*' hour is employed about each of them, we shall
*' be sensible that without the assistance and co-
" operation of many thousands, the very meanest
" person in a civilised country could not be pro-
" vided, even according to what we very falsely
" imagine the easy and simple manner in which he
" is commonly accommodated. Compared, indeed,
" with the more extravagant luxury of the great,
" his accommodation must no doubt appear ex-
" tremely simple and easy ; and yet it may be true,
" perhaps, that the accommodation of an European
" prince does not always so much exceed that of an
E 2
76 ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR.
" industrious and frugal peasant, as the accommo-
" dation of the latter exceeds that of many an
" African king, the absolute master of the lives
" and liberties of ten thousand naked savages."
CAROLINE.
It is very true, certainly; and it reminds me of
an observation of Dr. Johnson in the Rambler,
" That not a washerwoman sits down to break-
" fast without tea from the East Indies, and sugar
« from the West."
I now comprehend your reference to the little
story of the cherry-orchard : it was by dividing
amongst the children the different parts of the pro-
cess of plaiting straw, that they succeeded so much
better than the boy who was left to perform the
whole of his plait alone.
MRS. B.
I will now point out to you some examples re-
marked by Adam Smith in illustration of the be-
nefits derived from the division of labour. That
of the pin manufactory I shall give you in his own
words. He observes, that " A workman not edu-
*' cated to this business, nor acquainted with the
" use of the machinery employed in it, could
" scarce, perhaps, with his utmost industry, make
" one pin in a day, and certainly could not make
" twenty. But in the way in which this business
ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR. 77
" is now carried on, not only the whole work is a
" peculiar trade, but it is divided into a number of
" branches, of which the greater part are likewise
" peculiar trades. One man draws out the wire,
" another straightens it, a third cuts it, a fourth
" points it, a fifth grinds it at the top for receiving
" the head. To make the head requires two or
" three distinct operations; to put it on is a peculiar
" business, to whiten the pins is another; it is even
" a trade by itself to put them into the paper ;
" and the important business of making a pin is,
'' in this manner, divided into about eighteen dis-
** tinct operations, which, in some manufactories, are
" all performed by distinct hands, though in others
"the same man will sometimes perform two or
" three of them. I have seen a small manufactory
" of this kind where ten men only were em-
" ployed, and where some of them consequently
*' performed two or three distinct operations : but
** though they were very poor, and therefore but
" indifferently accommodated with the necessary
*' machinery, they could, when they exerted them-
" selves, make among them about twelve pounds of
" pins in a day. There are in a pound upwards of
" four thousand pins of a middling size. Those ten
" persons, therefore, could make among them up-
" wards of forty-eight thousand pins in a day. Each
" person, therefore, making a tenth part of forty-
E 3
78' ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR.
" eijoht thousand pins, might be considered as
" making four thousand eight hundred pins in a day.
" But if they had all wrought separately and inde-
'* pendently, and without any of them having been
" educated to this peculiar business, they certainly
'' could not each of them have made twenty, per-
" haps not one pin in a day ; that is, certainly,
" not the two hundred and fortieth, perhaps not
" the four thousand eight hundredth part of what
" they are at present capable of performing, in con-
'' sequence of a proper division and combination
" of their different operations."
CAROLINE.
These effects of the division of labour are really
wonderful !
MRS. B.
The instance which Adam Smith quotes in proof
of the dexterity acquired by men, whose labour is
reduced to one simple operation, is also very re-
markable. After observing that a man unaccus-
tomed to a blacksmith's forge can with difficulty
make three hundred nails in a day, he says that a
common blacksmith can forge one thousand; but
that he has seen boys who have been brought up to
^he art of nail-making exclusively, acquire such a
degree of dexterity as to complete two thousand
three hundred in a day.
ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR. T9
CAROLINE.
The difference is prodigious : but I can con-
ceive it when I observe with what awkwardness a
man handles the tools of an art with which he is
unacquainted, whilst they are used with ease and
dexterity by those who are accustomed to them.
MRS. B.
Then we must consider that when a man's whole
attention and^^ talents are turned to one particular
object, there is a much greater probability of his
discovering means of improving his workmanship,
or facilitating and abridging his labour, than if his
mind were engaged in a variety of pursuits. It is
most frequently to workmen, that we are indebted
for improvements in the process and instruments
of labour.
Another advantage derived from the division of
labour is the regular and uninterrupted manner in
which it enables the work to proceed. A labourer
who has many diversified occupations not only
loses time in going from one to another, but also
in settling himself to his different employments ;
and, to use a common expression, as soon as his
hand is in, he must quit his work to take up
another totally different. Thus he must go from
his plough to his loom, from his loom to his forge,
from his forge to his mill, — but no — there could
be neither plough, nor loom, nor forge, nor mill,
E 4
80 ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR.
before a division of labour bad taken place ; for no
man could either find time or acquire skill to con-
struct such machines, unless they could bestow the
whole of their labour and attention upon them.
The construction of machines, therefore, we may
consider as a refined branch of the division of la-
bour. Their effect in facilitating and abridging
labour is almost incredible. How easy, for instance,
the operation of grinding corn is rendered by so
simple a machine as a wind-mill, or a water-mill !
Were this to be done by manual labour, by bruis-
ing it between stones, it would be almost an end-
less task ; the hand-mill, which is still in general
use in India and many other countries, requires
both time and labour ; whilst in the wind-mill, or
the water-mill, the natural motion of the air, or wa-
ter, performs nearly the whole of the work.
CAROLINE.
But the cotton-mills we have lately seen are a
much more wonderful example of the effect of ma-
chinery. In these a steam-engine sets all the wheels
and spindles in motion, and performs the work of
hundreds of people.
MRS. B.
The great efficacy of machinery in the hands of
man depends upon the art of compelling natural
agents, such as wind, steam, and water, to per-
form the task which he would otherwise be obliged
ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR. 81
to execute himself; by which means labour is very
much abridged, a' great deal of human effort is
saved, and the work is often accomplished in a
more uniform and accurate manner.
We noticed the skill that could be acquired in
the art of forffinoj nails : but the utmost efforts of
manual labour fall far short of machinery, A ma-
chine has been invented in the United States of
America for the purpose of cutting nails out of
iron, the operation of which is so rapid that it
forms 250 perfect nails in the space of one minute,
or 15,000 in an hour.
CAROLINE.
The metals, I suppose, could not have been
brought into use, till a considerable progress had
been made in the division of labour ?
MRS. B.
Certainly not ; for it requires the exclusive la-
bour of a great number of men to work a mine.
The Mexicans and Peruvians in America, though
they had made some progress towards civilisation,
had never sought for gold in the bowels of the
earth, but contented themselves with what they
could pick up in the beds of rivers. In Britain,
die Cornish mines were worked in very ancient
times; and it is even supposed that the Phcenicians
had introduced this art among the ancient Britons,
£ 5
82 ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR.
with whom they are said to have trafficked for tin
and other metals.
CAROLINE.
I am perfectly satisfied that the division of labour
is a necessary step towards the accumulation of
national wealth : but may it not have an injurious
effect on the mental faculties of individuals ? A man
who is confined to one simple mechanical operation,
however great the facility and perfection he may
acquire in the performance of it, is shut out from
all other improvement; his mind will never be
roused to exertion by difficulty, interested by va-
riety, or enlightened by comparison. His ideas
will be confined within the narrow limits of his
monotonous employment? and his rational powers
will become so degraded as to render him scarcely
superior to the machinery at which he works.
Whilst a common husbandman, whose occupations
are diversified, and but little aided by machinery,
acquires knowledge by experience in his various
employments, and, having a much wider range of
observation, enjoys a corresponding development
of intellect.
MRS. B.
The knowledge of a ploughman is often remark-
ably distinct in his limited sphere : but yet I have
usually found that in conversing upon general
ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR. 83
topics with a ploughman and with a mechanic, the
latter has discovered more intelligence, and that
his mind has appeared more active and accustomed
to reflection. I conceive this to be owing to the
facility which the arts afford of bringing men to-
gether in societ3^ They are carried on in towns,
where neighbourhood renders social intercourse
much more easy than in scattered hamlets in the
country. When thjey meet together they talk over
each other's concerns, read the newspapers, and
discuss the politics of the parish, or of the state.
This observation is particularly applicable to ma-
nufactories, where a number of persons generally
work together in the same room, and their em-
ployment seldom prevents conversation. Social
intercourse, in whatever class of the community it
takes place, cannot fail to promote the diffusion
of knowledge ; the lower orders of people become
acquainted with the comforts and conveniences
which have been acquired by the more skilful and
industrious ; they learn to appreciate the value,
and are stimulated to acquire the means of obtain-
ing them ; a mode of instruction which we have
observed to be the most essential step towards dis-
pelling ignorance, and exciting industry.
CAROLINE.
But is there not some danger that the advan-
tages obtained in the improvement of the mind by
E 6
h4 ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR.
this state of constant intercourse amongst the lower
classes in manufacturing towns, will be more than
counterbalanced by the corruption of morals? How
much more vice appears to prevail amongst the
poor in crowded cities, than in the cottages of the
peasantry !
MRS. B.
You should consider the difference of the popula-
tion ; there are often a greater number of people
collected together in a manufacturing town than
there are scattered over a space of thirty square
miles of country : were their morals, therefore, the
i^ame, vice would appear much more conspicuous
in the town than in the country. Admitting, how-
ever, the comparative amount of crimes to be
greater in the former, I believe that it is compen-
sated by a more considerable proportion of virtue :
whilst innocence is probably more prevalent in the
country.
CAROLINE.
Yet you must allow that we hear much more of
the vices than of the virtues of manufacturing
D
towns and great cities.
MRS. B.
Because crimes, from being amenable to the laws,
are necessarily made known, whilst virtue seldom
receives any public testimony of approbation. Every
act of fraud or violence is sounded in our ears,
ON THE DIVISION OP LABOUR. 85
whilst the humanity, the sympathy for sufferings,
the sacrifices which the poor make to relieve each
other's distresses, are known only to those who enter
into their domestic concerns. This has been fre-
quently noticed by medical men who have attended
the lower classes of people in sickness at their own
houses.
CAROLINE.
Yet, upon the whole, do you not think that the
situation of the poor in the country is better than
it is in towns ?
MRS. B.
They have each their advantages and disadvan-
tages, and I should imagine that good and evil are
pretty equally balanced between them. If the in-
habitants of towns are better informed, and can
more easily acquire some of the comforts of life, the
inhabitants of the country are more vigorous and
healtliy, more cleanly, and they have the advantage
of a more constant and regular demand for the
produce of their labour, which is not so Kable to
be affected by the casualties of war, fashion, and
other causes, which often occasion great distress
to manufacturers.
But should you still entertain any apprehension
that the division of labour may check and repress
the intellectual improvement of the lower classes,
I should consider this as amply compensated by
86 ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR.
its prodigious effect in the multiplication of wealth,
a circumstance which not only increases the com-
forts of the poor, but by facilitating the means
of acquiring knowledge, ultimately promotes its
diffusion among all classes of men. It is to the
division of labour that we are indebted for im-
provements in the processes of art, and amongst
others for th^ invention of printing, which has
proved such wonderful means of extending know-
ledge of every description.
We have now, I think, brought our savages to
a considerable degree of advancement in civilis-
ation ; I would wish you briefly to recapitulate the
causes which have produced this happy change,
and at our next interview we will continue to trace
their progress.
CAROLINE.
Labour seems to be the natural and immediate
cause of wealth : but it will produce little more
than the necessaries of life until its benefits are ex-
tended by the establishment of such a government
as can give security to property. The spirit of in-
dustry will then be rapidly developed. The sur-
plus produce of one individual will be exchanged
for that of another. The facilities thus offered to
barter will naturally introduce the division of la-
bour or of employment ; and will soon give rise to
the invention of machinery, the merits of which we
have just discussed.
ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR. 87
MRS. B.
Extremely well, Caroline. We shall now take
leave of this improved state of society for the pre-
sent, with a conviction, I hope, that we leave man-
kind much happier than we found it.
CONVERSATION VI.
ON CAPITAL.
DISTINCTION OF RICH AND POOR. ACCUMULATION
OF WEALTH. HOW IT IS DISPOSED OF. THE
POOR LABOUR FOR IT. CONTRACT BETWEEN
THE CAPITALIST AND THE LABOURER. THE
RICH UNDER THE NECESSITY OF EMPLOYING
THE POOR. DEFINITION OF CAPITAL. HOW
CAPITAL YIELDS AN INCOME. PROFITS MADE
BY THE EMPLOYMENT OF LABOURERS. — PRO-
DUCTIVE LABOURERS. INDEPENDENCE OF MEN
OF CAPITAL. INDUSTRY LIMITED BY EX-
TENT OF CAPITAL. INDUSTRY INCREASES IN
PROPORTION TO CAPITAL. CAPITAL AUGMENTED
BY THE ADDITION OF SAVINGS FROM INCOME.
HAPPINESS RESULTING RATHER FROM THE GRA-
DUAL ACQUISITION, THAN THE ACTUAL POSSES-
SION OF WEALTH.
MRS. B.
In tracing the progress of society towards civilis-
ation, we noticed the happy effects resulting from
the security of property and the division of labour.
ON CAPITAL. 89
From this period we may also date the diversity of
ranks, and the general distinction between rich and
poor.
CAROLINE.
And all the evils that arise from inequality of
condition. This, alas ! is the dark side of the
picture.
MRS. B.
So far from viewing the diversity of rank and
condition as an evil, I consider it as productive of
much general benefit, as it is that state of society
best calculated to stimulate the industiy, and bring
into action the various faculties of mankind. If it
does not exist in a savage state, it is because indi-
gence is universal ; for no one being able to acquire
more than what is necessary for his immediate
maintenance, every one is poor. When civilis-
ation takes place, the advantages arising from the
security of property and the division of labour en-
able an industrious and skilful man to acquire more
wealth than will suffice to gratify his wants or de-
sires. By continued exertion, this surplus produce
of his industry in the course of time accumulates,
and he becomes rich; whilst the less industrious,
who acquires merely a daily subsistence, remains
poor or accumulates nothing, and the idle are re-
duced to positive indigence.
CAROLINE.
I cannot perceive what advantage arises from the
90 ON CAPITAL.
accumulation of wealth, for it must either be spent
or hoarded ; if spent, the hard-working man is even-
tually no richer than his less industrious neigh-
bours ; and if hoarded, the accumulation is of no
use to any one.
MRS. B.
Your dilemma is put with some ingenuity, but
you must at least allow that, where more is spent,
there is a greater scope for enjoyment ; and in re-
gard to hoarding, I hope you are not recurring to
your notions about riches and money, and forget
that the wealth of which we have been speaking
consists of exchangeable commodities, either agri-
cultural or manufactured, many of which are not
of a nature to be kept, were men inclined to hoard
them. A much better mode of disposing of them
has been devised ; one which not only secures, but
augments them.
CAROLINE.
What can that be ?
MRS. B.
This you will hardly understand without some
previous explanation.
In civilised society men cannot, as in a state of
nature, obtain a subsistence by hunting, or from
the spontaneous produce of the earth; because the
wilderness has been destroyed by cultivation, and
the land has become private property.
ON CAPITAL. 91
CAROLINE.
And when the land is occupied by the rich,
there seems to be no resource left for the poor ?
MRS. B.
What do you suppose the rich do with their
wealth ?
CAROLINE.
The poor, I am sure, partake but little of it, for
the sums the most charitable give away are but
trifling compared to what they spend upon them-
selves.
MRS. B.
I am far from wishing that the poor should be
dependent on the charity of the rich for a subsist-
ence. Is there no other mode of partaking of
their wealth but as beggars ?
CAROLINE.
Not that I know of, unless by stealth. Oh no,
I guess now — you mean they may earn it by their
labour ?
MRS. B.
Certainly. The poor man may be supposed to
say to the rich one, " You have more than you
want, whilst I am destitute. Give me some little
share of your wealth for a subsistence ; I have no-
thing to offer in exchange but my labour ; but with
that I will undertake to procure you more than
92 ON CAPITAL.
3^ou part with — if you will maintain me, I will
work for you."
CAROLINE.
But is it not usual to pay wages to labourers in-
stead of maintaining them ?
MRS. B.
It is in effect the same ; for the wages purchase
a maintenance ; the money merely represents the
things of which the labourer stands in need, and
for which he may exchange it.
CAROLINE.
The labourer may then be supposed to say to
the rich man, " Give me food and clothing, and
I by my labour will produce for you other things
in return."
MRS. B.
Precisely; the rich man exchanges with the
labourer the produce or work that is already
done, for work that is yet to be done. It is thus
that he acquires a command over the labour of the
poor, and increases his wealth by the profits he
derives from it.
CAROLINE.
This is a resource for the poor, I own; but not
enough to satisfy me entirely, for they are left at
the mercy of the rich, and if these did not choose
to employ them, they would starve.
ON CAPITAL. 93
MRS. B.
True ; but what could the rich do without their
assistance ?
CAROLINE.
Their wealth would furnish them a plentiful
subsistence.
MRS. B.
At first it might, but in time it would be con-
sumed. Their harvests and their cattle would be
eaten, their clothes worn out, and their houses
fallen into decay.
CAROLINE.
But you know that the harvests are annually re-
produced, new clothes are purchased, and houses
repaired or rebuilt : riches easily obtain all these
things.
MRS. B.
And who is it that re-produces the harvests ?
Who manufactures new clothes, and builds new
houses, but the poorer classes of men ?
CAROLINE.
That is very true ; I was indeed aware that it was
necessary to employ labourers for this purpose ; but
I did not consider that it created reciprocity of bene-
fit, by rendering the poor in a great measure inde-
pendent of the will of the rich.
94 ON CAPITAL,
MRS. B.
The rich and poor are necessary to each other ;
it is precisely the fable of the belly and the limbs ;
without the rich the poor would starve; without
the poor the rich would be compelled to labour for
their own subsistence.
CAROLINE.
And this, I suppose, is what you alhided to,
when you said that the rich had a means of secur-
ing their wealth without hoarding it.
MRS. B.
Yes; the labouring classes consume and re-
produce it. Wealth, thus destined for re-produc-
tion by the employment of labourers, is called
capital. You have heard of capital before^ no
doubt ?
CAROLINE.
Oh yes ; a man of fortune is said to be a man of
capital ; I always considered these as synon^nnous
terms.
MRS. B.
So they are ; and you may have heard also that
to spend a capital is very ruinous ; that it should be
placed in some profitable line, so as to yield an in-
come ; that is to say, it must be employed to set
ON CAPITAL. 95
labourers to work, and the protit derived from
their labour is called revenue or income.
CAROLINE.
If capital is employed in paying the wages of
labourers, it is spent and consumed by them, and
is lost to the capitalist as much as if he spent it.
MRS. B.
No ; capital employed is consumed, but not de-
stroyed : it is at least no more destroyed than the
seed sown in the ground, which is re-produced with
increase. Thus the capital consumed by labourers
is re-produced with increased value in the articles
of their workmanship. If the labourer raise corn
for twenty loaves of bread whilst his wages are
equivalent to the value of ten, if he manufactures
cloth for two coats whilst his wages are equal to
the price of one, the second coat and the second
loaf of bread will be the profit, and constitute part
of the income of his employer. It is thus that the
employment of capital produces an income.
CAROLINE.
Yet I have some scruple as to the mode of
obtaining this income. If the labourer can by his
industry produce more than the value of his wages,
it seems but fair that he should keep the whole of
his earnings ; it is surely a great discouragement
96 ON CAPITAL.
to his industry to be obliged to yield part of them
to his employer ?
MRS. B.,
If the labourer re-produce for the capitalist com-
modities equal in value to his wages, the income is
only equivalent to the out-going ; he restores there-
fore exactly what the capitalist has advanced him,
the latter being neither a loser nor a gainer by the
bargain; any further, at least, than that, by re-
production, perishable produce is made to last.
Now it is evident that no capitalist would consent
to such an agreement. When therefore the poor
man applies to the rich one for a maintenance,
offering his labour in return, he does not say —
for the food you give me during the present year,
I will produce an equal quantity of food next year
— because he knows that he would not be employed
on such terms ; he must, by the prospect of some
advantage, induce the capitalist to exchange food
that is already produced for something that is yet
to be produced. He therefore says — for the food
you give me now, I will raise you a greater or
more valuable supply next year.
CAROLINE.
It appears to me a hardship, notwithstanding,
that after the rich have engrossed the whole pro-
perty of the land, nothing should be left to the poor
ON CAPITAL. 97
beyond their own labour, and that they should not
be allowed to reap the whole of the advantages it
aiFords. If I were a legislator, I should be disposed
to establish a law compelling the capitalist to allow
the labourer the whole of the profit arising from
his work. Such a regulation would surely tend to
improve the condition of the poor. You smile,
Mrs. B., I am afraid that you do not approve of
my plan.
^ MRS. B.
I would suggest an addition to it, which is, a law
to compel the capitalist to employ the labourers;
for on your terms none would give them work.
The farmer, were he obliged to pay the husband-
men the value of the crop they raised, would de-
rive no profit from their sale; he would, therefore,
leave his fields uncultivated, the land would lie
waste, and the husbandmen starve. Manufacturers
for the same reason would discharge their work-
men, merchants their clerks ; in a word, industry
would be paralysed ; and were you to devise a
system of certain and inevitable ruin to a country,
I do not think you could adopt a more efficacious
mode of promoting your design.
CAROLINE.
So much for the wisdom of my laws ! I cer-
tainly ought to have foreseen these consequences,
since, as you observed before, the inducement for
r
98 ON CAPITA^.
the rich to employ the poor is the advantage the
former derive from it.
MRS. B.
Undoubtedly. The profits the rich derive from
the employment of their capital constitutes their
income ; w^ithout such income the capital, it is
true, might, by your compulsatory laws, be re-
produced annually ; but yielding no income, the
capitalist would gradually consume it in the main-
tenance of his family ; he would every year become
poorer, and his means of employing labourers
would annually diminish.
CAROLINE.
This is an idea which often perplexed me when
I was a child. I thought that in proportion as my
father spent his money he must be impoverished •
but now I understand that wealth is reproduced
and augmented by the labour of the poor,
MRS. B.
And observe, that an income can be obtained by
no other means than the employment of the poor.
So far from considering the profits which the
capitalist derives from his labourers as an evil, I
have always thought it one of the most beneficent
ordinations of Providence, that the employment of
the poor should be a necessary step to the increase
of the wealth of the rich.
Thus the rich man has the means of augmenting
ON CAPITAL. 99
his capital, not by hoarding, but by distributing it
among his labourers, who consume it, and repro-
duce another and a larger capital — hence have
they obtained the name o^ productive labourers,
CAROLINE.
When a man, therefore, becomes possessed of a
capital, whether by accumulation of his savings or
by inheritance, it is no longer requisite for him to
work for a maintenance, as others will labour for
him?
MRS. B.
It depends on the amount of his capital, and
the extent of his desires. If it will yield an income
sufficient to maintain him and his family with the
degree of comfort or affluence which satisfies his
ambition, he may live in idleness; if not, he will
work himself; or at least superintend his labourers.
This is the case with the farmer, the merchant,
the master-man uficturer, each of whom superin-
tends his respective concerns.
Do you understand now, that no productive en-
terprise can be undertaken without capital? Ca-
pital is necessary to pay labourers, to purchase
materials to work upon, instruments to work with;
in short, to defray the whole expense attached to
the employment of labourers.
CAROLINE.
But a man may undertake a productive enter-
100 ON CAPITAL,
prise without employing labourers : for instance, if
he gathers mushrooms on a common, he requires
'no capital for that purpose ; no tools are used, the
earth produces mushrooms spontaneously, and
every one has a right to gather them. The same
may be said of nuts and wild strawberries.
MRS. B.
These are small remnants of the resources of a
savage state, in which subsistence is derived from
the spontaneous produce of the earth : but the
employments which require no capital are very in-
considerable, and occur only during a short season
of the year.
CAROLINE.
There is one, which appears to me of great im-
portance— fishing. Fishermen are in no want of
capital ; the fish costs them merely the trouble of
catching. Oh no ! I am mistaken ; I forgot the
nets and the boats that are necessary for fishing;
besides, the men must have something to subsist on,
when the weather will not allow them to venture
on the water.
But there is another case, Mrs. B. ; I have
known persons who were worth nothing, and yet
who set up in business on credit.
MRS. B.
That is no exception ; for credit is the employ-
ment of the capital belonging to another.
ON CAPITAL, 101
CAROLINE.
Well, it is a melancholy reflection that one must
always possess something in order to gain more.
He then who has nothing to begin with, has no
means of escaping from poverty.
MRS. B.
Poverty is a word of vague signification. If you
mean to express by it a state of positive indigence,
the labourer who earns a subsistence from day to
day cannot come under that description. But if
you use the word poverty in opposition to wealth,
that is to say, to the possession of capital, labourers,
though usually in that state, are not necessarily
condemned to it. A healthy and hard-working
man* may, if he be economical, almost always lay
aside something as the beginning of a little capital,
which by additional savings accumulates.
CAROLINE.
That is true. Thomas, our under-gardener,
who is a very intelligent, industrious man, was
saying the other day to one of his fellow-labourers,
that as soon as he had laid by a little money to be-
gin the world with, he intended to marry. But it
seems to me that if my father would give him a
cottage, and an acre or two of ground, he might
raise vegetables for market, and by these means
support himself and his family.
F 3
102 ON CAPITAL.
MRS. B.
In that case your father would supply the capital.
The cottage and the land is a capital, but they will
not do alone. Thomas would besides require gar-
den tools to work with, and an assistant, if not seve-
ral, to prepare the ground. Then he must not only
subsist himself, but maintain his family till the pro-
duce of his garden can be brought to market. In the
course of three or four years, from the earnings of
daily labour he may have amassed a little capital
sufficient to enable him to undertake this; he will
then no longer be a labourer for hire, but will work
on his own account. It is thus every thing has a
beginning; the largest fortunes have often had no
greater origin.
Now, supposing Thomas to be able to rent an
acre of land when he is worth 100/., he may rent
ten acres when he is worth 1000/., but he cannot
rent more; he cannot increase his farm, beyond
his means of paying for it ; his industry, therefore,
is limited by the extent of his capital.
. CAROLINE.
I do not quite understand that.
MRS. B.
Let us imagine a tradesman, a shoemaker for
instance, to be master of a capital which will en-
able him to maintain ten workmen, and that the
ON CAPITAL. 103
following year he finds that he has gained 100/.
by the profits derived from their labour. This
100/. constitutes his income; if he spend it, his
capital remains what it was before : but if he adds
it to his capital it will enable him to maintain and
provide work for a greater number of journeymen.
Let us say that he can now employ twelve instead
of ten men ; these will make him a greater quan-
tity of shoes, and the additional profits arising
from their sale, will, if added to his capital, still
further increase his means of employing workmen.
Thus the demand for labour, or, in other words,
employment for the poor, will ever increase with
the increase of capital, and be limited only by its
deficiency.
CAROLINE.
But we must not forget that the master shoe-
maker and his family are to be maintained out of
these profits ; the whole of them cannot, therefore,
be added to his capital.
MRS. B.
Certainly not. The expenses of his family con-
sume, in general, by far the greater part of a man's
income ; but, if he is prudent, he will lay aside as
much as can be spared, and these savings will en-
able him to enlarge and improve his business, of
whatever description it may be.
F 4?
104 ON CAPITAL.
CAROLINE.
Thus a farmer would be able to extend and im-
prove the cultivation of his farm by increasing the
number of his labourers — and a merchant propor-
tionally to extend his commercial dealings — so
that the richer a man becomes, the more it will be
in his power to increase his wealth ?
MRS. B.
Yes; the second thousand pounds is often ac-
quired with less difficulty than the first hundred.
CAROLINE.
That is hard upon those who have nothing. The
rich have too many advantages over the poor.
MRS. B.
The man who accumulates a large fortune by his
industry injures no one ; on the contrary, he con-
fers a benefit on the community. You will under-
stand this better by-and-by. In the mean time I
must observe to you, that happiness, so far as it
is dependent on wealth, consists less in the pos-
session of riches than in the pleasure of acquiring
them. Every degree of increasing prosperity is
attended with its enjoyment. Your gardener, who
saves his earnings with the prospect of settling at
the end of two or three years, has probably more
satisfaction in the anticipation of his future wealth
than he will have in the possession of it ; as long
as he continues makiuij annual additions to his
ON CAPITAL, 105
capital, the same source of enjoyment will be pre-
served, but will never excite so strong an interest
as at first. Merchants will tell you that their
first gains gave them greater pleasure than all
their subsequent accumulations. Nature has wisely
attached happiness to the gradual acquisition,
rather than to the actual possession of wealth, thus
rendering it an incitement to industry; and we
shall hereafter see that this progressive state of
prosperity is most conducive also to the happiness
of nations.
F 5
CONVERSATION VII.
ON CAFITAL-' continued,
OF FIXED CAPITAL. DISTINCTION BETWEEN FIXED
AND CIRCULATING CAPITAL. EXAMPLES OF THE
DIFFERENT KINDS OF CAPITAL. — OF SLAVES.
FIXED CAPITAL AND CIRCULATING CAPITAL EQUAL-
LY BENEFICIAL TO THE LABOURING CLASS.
MACHINERY ADVANTAGEOUS TO THE LABOURING
CLASSES. QUOTATION FROM MACPHERSON ON
THE ADVANTAGES OF MACHINERY. QUOTATION
FROM MR. say's TREATISE ON POLITICAL ECO-
NOMY.
MRS. B.
1 HAVE some further remarks to make to you on
the nature of capital.
A land-owner, when he increases his wealth by
savings from his income, may probably, instead of
employing the whole of his additional capital on
husbandmen, find it more advantageous to lay out
some part of it on workmen to build barns and
outhouses, to store his crops and shelter his cattle ;
ON CAPITAL. 107
he may plant trees to produce timber, build cot-
tages, and bring into cultivation some of the waste
land on his farm.
A manufacturer also, in proportion as he in-
creases the number of his workmen, must enlarge
his machinery or implements of industry.
CAROLINE.
But the capital laid out in buildings, tools, and
machinery will not yield a profit like that which is
employed in the payment of workmen, the produce
of whose labour is brought to market ?
MRS. B.
The farmer and manufacturer would not lay out
their capital in this way, did they not expect lo reap
a profit from it. If a farmer has no barn or granary
for his corn, he will be compelled to sell his crops
immediately after the harvest, although he might
probably dispose of them to greater advantage by
keeping them some time longer. So a manufac-
turer, by improving or enlarging his machinery,
can, with less labour, perform a greater quantity of
work, and his profits will be proportionate.
CAROLINE.
No doubt if he employ machines instead of men,
he will have no wages to pay, and the whole will be
profit.
MRS. B.
Thus, for instance, when a manufacturer can
F 6
108 ON CAPITAL.
afford to establish a steam-engine, and use a stream
of vapour as a substitute for the labour of men and
horses, he saves the expense of more than half the
number of hands he before employed.
The capital laid out in this manner is called
fixed capital ; because it becomes fixed, either in
land, in buildings, in machinery or implements of
art ; it is by keeping this capital in possession, and
using it, that it produces an income. Whilst the
capital employed in the maintenance of productive
labourers, whose work is sold and affords an im-
mediate profit, is distinguished by the name of
circulating capital.
The produce of a farm, or the goods of a manu-
facturer, afford no profit until they are brought to
market, and sold or exchanged for other things.
This description of capital is, therefore, constantly
circulating. It is transferred first from the master
to the labourer, in the form of wages and raw ma-
terials, then from the labourer it is returned to the
master, in the form of produce or workmanship of
increased value ; but the latter does not realise his
profits until this produce is sold to the public, by
which it is consumed.
CAROLINE.
I think I understand the difference between fixed
and circulating capital perfectly. A farmer derive*
profit from his implements of husbandry by their
use, while kept in his possession; and from his
ON CAPITAL. 109
crops by parting with them. But to which kind
of capital should the farming cattle be referred ?
MRS. B.
It depends upon the nature of the cattle. The
value of the labouring cattle is fixed capital, like the
implements of agriculture ; thus, the horses which
draw the plough, as well as the plough itself, are
fixed capital. But sheep and oxen intended for
market are circulating capital.
CAROLINE.
But should the plough be drawn by oxen,
Mrs. B., how would you settle the point then ?
for whilst they labour for the farmer they are fixed
capital ; but when they are sold to the butcher they
become circulating capital.
MRS. B.
>
They alternately belong to each of these descrip-
tions of capital; because the farmer makes his
profit, first by keeping, and afterwards by selling
them.
CAROLINE.
I do not understand why you should call the
maintenance of labouring men circulating capital,
whilst you consider that of labouring cattle as fixed
capital : they appear to me to be exactly similar.
MRS. B.
And so they are The maintenance of cattle as
well as that of labourers is circulating capital ; that
110 ON CAPITAL.
maintenance is in both cases consumed and re-
produced with advantage : it is therefore by parting
with it that profits are derived. But the value of
the cattle themselves is fixed capital; and if labour-
ers, like cattle, were purchased, instead of being
hired, thus becoming the property of their employ-
ers, they also would be fixed capital.
CAROLINE.
And this, I suppose, is the case with the poor
Africans in the West Indies ?
MRS. B.
Yes, and with slaves of every description. Even
the peasantry of Russia and Poland are in general
considered as fixed capital, because their state of
vassalage is such as to amount to slavery, the pro-
prietors of the land having a right to their labour
without remuneration : and the value of an estate
in Russia is not estimated by the number of acres,
but the number of slaves upon it; in the same man-
ner as a West Indian plantation. A similar state
of vassalage prevailed throughout most parts of
Europe some centuries ago ; but in later times the
progress of civilisation has been such, that I believe
every country, excepting Russia and Poland, has
emancipated the labouring classes; experience hav-
ing proved that the more free and independent men
are, the more industrious they become, and the
better the land is cultivated.
ON CAPITAL. Ill
CAROLINE.
I wish that the West Indian planters could be
induced to adopt this opinion.
MRS. B.
The time will no doubt arrive when slavery will
be abolished in every civilised country. But im-
portant changes ought not to be introduced without
extreme caution. The minds of men should be
freed from the degrading fetters of ignorance, be-
fore they can reap advantage from personal eman-
cipation. An ingenious author observes, " that
liberty is an instrument with which men may either
make their fortune or destroy themselves ; that they
should therefore be taught the use of it before it is
intrusted to their hands." In all cases we shall
find that gradual and progressive improvement is
invariably conducive to the happiness of mankind,
whilst sudden and violent resoluTions are always
attended with danger. But we are deviating from
our subject.
CAROLINE.
Well then, to return to it. I thought at first
that I understood the difference of fixed and cir-
culating capital perfectly; but I find upon reflection,
: that I am at a loss to determine to which kind of
i capital several articles of property belong. For
I instance, does the money laid out in the improve-
j ment of land constitute fixed or circulating capital ?
112 ON CAPITAL.
MRS. B.
The money laid out on waste land to bring it
into a state fit for cultivation, such as inclosing,
draining, ditching, preparing the soil, &c. is fixed
capital ; and so is that which is employed in the
improvement of land already cultivated. If it is
the proprietor who lays out capital on land which
he lets, he receives in remuneration an increase of
rent ; if the farmer, he makes greater profits. But
the money laid out in the regular course of culti-
vation, such as ploughing, sowing, reaping, .&c.,
consists, as we have before observed, partly in fixed
and partly in circulating capital.
CAROLINE.
I must say that I prefer the employment of wealth
in the form of circulating, rather than in that of
fixed capital. Granaries, barns, machinery, &c.
may be advantageous to the proprietors, but they
must be injurious to the labouring classes ; for the
more a man lays out as fixed capital, the less
remains to be employed as circulating capital, and
therefore the fewer labourers he can maintain.
MRS. B.
You must always remember that the greatest
good you can do the labouring classes, is to increase
the consumable produce of the country. Whilst
plenty of the necessaries of life is raised, it signifies
ON CAPITAL. lis
little to whom it belongs ; for whoever may be the
proprietors of this wealth, they can derive no ad-
vantage from it but by employing it ; that is to say,
by maintaining with it productive labourers. The
more abimdant, therefore, this wealth is, the more
people will be employed.
Now it is evident that whatever tends to improve
or facilitate labour increases the productions of the
country; and if fixed capital should eventually
occasion the raising a greater produce than cir-
culating capital, it must be more beneficial to the
labourers as well as to the capitalist.
CAROLINE.
So it appears ; and yet I cannot understand how
this operates with regard to machinery. We can-
not substitute the powers of nature for human
industry without throwing people out of work.
How then can the poor derive any benefit from
inventions and improvements which prevent their
being employed ?
MRS. B.
It may appear paradoxical, but it is nevertheless
true, that whatever abridges and facilitates labour
will eventually increase the demand for labourers.
CAROLINE.
Or, in other words, to turn people out of work is
the most certain means of procuring them em-
114 ON CAPITAL.
plojment ! — This is precisely the objection I was
making to the introduction of new machinery.
MRS. B.
The invention of machinery, I allow, is often
attended with much partial and temporary incon-
venience and hardship; but on the other hand, the
advantages resulting from it are almost incalculable
both in extent and duration. When any new
machine or process whatever which abridges or
facilitates labour is adopted, the commodity being
produced at less expense falls in price, the low
price enables a greater number of persons to become
purchasers, the demand for it increases, and the
supply augments in proportion; so that it frequently
happens that more hands are eventually employed
in its fabrication than there were previously to the
adoption of the new process. When, for instance,
the machine for weaving stockings was first in-
vented, it was considered as a severe hardship on
those who had earned a maintenance by knitting
them ; but the superior facility with which stock-
ings were made in the loom, rendered them so
much cheaper, that those, who before were unable
to purchase them, could now indulge in the com-
fort of wearing them, and the prodigious increase
of demand for stockings enabled all the knitters to
gain a livelihood by spinning the materials that
were to be woven into stockings.
ON CAPITAL. 115
CAROLINE.
That was a resource in former times, but house-
hold spinning is scarcely ever seen since Ark-
wright's invention of spinning jennies. Where
are the spinners now to find employment ? The
improvements in machinery drive these poor work-
men from one expedient to another, till I fear at
last every resource will be exhausted.
MRS. B.
No ; that cannot be the case. Where there is
capital the poor will always find employment. In
countries possessed of great wealth we see prodi-
gious works undertaken. Roads cut through hills,
canals uniting distant rivers, magnificent bridges,
splendid edifices, and a variety of other enterprises
which give work to thousands, independendy of the
usual employment of capital in agriculture, manu-
factures, and trade. What is the reason of all
this ? It is in order that the rich may employ their
capital ; for in a secure and free government no man
will suffer any part of it to lie idle ; the demand
for labour is therefore proportioned to the extent of
capital. Industry, we have already observed, knows
no other limits. The capitalist who employs a
new machine is no doubt the immediate gainer by
it; but it is the public who derive from it the
greatest and most lasting advantage. It is they
who profit by the diminution of price of the goods
116 ON CAPITAL.
fabricated by the machine ; and, singular as it may
appear, no class of the public receives greater be-
nefit from the introduction of those processes which
abridge manual labour, than the working classes,
as it is they who are most interested in the cheap-
ness of the goods.
CAROLINE.
Well, Mrs. B., I must confess myself vanquished,
and beg pardon of Mr. Watts for having ventured
to doubt the beneficial effects of his steam-engine ;
and of Sir Richard Arkwright for having found
fault with his spinning jennies.
MRS. B.
I will read you a passage in Macpherson's
History of Commerce, which will show you the
degree of estimation in which the inventions of
Arkwright were held by that writer.
" If Mr. Arkwright made a great fortune, he
" certainly deserved it ; for the advantages he con-
" ferred upon the nation were infinitely greater
'* than those he acquired for himself; and far more
" solid and durable than a hundred conquests.
" Instead of depriving the working poor of em-
" ployment by his vast abridgment of labour, that'
" very abridgment has created a vast deal of work
" for more hands than were formerly employed ;
"and it was computed that in 1785, about 2^
" years after the invention of his spinning jennie%.
ON CAPITAL. 117
" half a million of people were employed in the
" cotton manufactures of Lancashire, Cheshire,
" Derby, Nottingham, and Leicester. And it is
" but justice to the memory of Sir Richard Ark-
" Wright to say, that he was unquestionably one
" of the greatest friends to the manufacturing and
" commercial interests of this country, and to the
" interest of the cotton planters in almost all parts
" of the world, and that his name ought to be
" transmitted to future ages, along with those of
" the most distinguished benefactors of mankind."
CAROLINE.
This is indeed a magnificent eulogium of Sir
Ricliard Arkwright, but not more so, it appears,
than he really deserves.
MRS. B.
I shall conclude my observations on the benefits
arising from machinery, by reading to you some
remarks on the invention of printing, extracted
from Mr. Say's excellent treatise on Political
Economy.
" Au moment ou elle fut employee une foule de
" copistes durent rester inoccupes, car on peut
" estimer qu'un seul ouvrier imprimeur fait autant
" de besogne que 200 copistes. 11 faut dcmc
" croire que 199 ouvriers sur 200 resterent sans
J' GUV rage. He bien, la facilite de lire les ouvrages
118 OM CA1>ITAL.
" imprlmes, plus grande que pour les ouvrages
" manuscrits, le bas prix auquel les livres tombe-
" rent, rencouragement que cette invention donna
" aux auteurs pour en composer un bien plus grand
" nombre, soit d'instruction, soit d'amusement ;
** toutes ces causes firent, qu'au bout de tres peu
" de temps, il y eut plus d'ouvriers imprimeurs
" employes, qu'il n'y avoit auparavant de copistes.
" Et si a present on pouvoit calculer exactement
" non seulement le nombre des ouvriers impri-
" meurs, mais encore des industrieux que I'impri-
*' merie fait travailler, comme graveurs de poin-
*' ^ons, fondeurs de caracteres, relieurs, libraires,
" on trouveroit, peut-etre, que le nombre des per-
" sonnes occupees par la fabrication des livres est
" cent fois plus grand que celui qu'elle occupoit
" avant I'invention de I'imprimei ie."
CAROLINE.
And the number of readers must have increased
in a still greater proportion. You may recollect
observing, in our conversation on the division of
labour, that the invention of printing was a cir-
cumstance most favourable to the diffusion of
knowledge.
But a considerable increase would not, in the
case of every commodity produced by machinery,
be required ?
ON CAPITAL. 119
MRS. B.
Certainly not. It is not a necessary consequence
of the invention of machinery, that more hands
should be required in the manufacture where it is
applied ; the additional quantity of the commodity
produced by the same number of hands will in
some instances be sufficient to supply the increased
demand. But supposing even that no augment-
ation of the commodity should be required, and
that a certain number of hands should be dismissed
in consequence of the abridgment of labour, the
capital thus economised, by being applied to some
other purpose, is an advantage both to the pro-
prietor and the public, and eventually affords em-
ployment for the labourers thrown out of work.
Thus you see that capital, whether fixed or cir-
culating, invariably promotes the increase of the
produce of the country; we may, therefore, I think,
define capital to be any accumulated produce which
tends to facilitate future productions. And the
capital of a country is composed of the aggregate
property of all its inhabitants.
I
120
CONVERSATION VIIL
ON WAGES AND POPULATION.
EXTREME LIMIT OF WAGES. WAGES REGULATED
BY THE PROPORTION WHICH CAPITAL BEARS TO
POPULATION. SMALL CAPITAL CREATES SMALL
DEMAND FOR LABOUR, LOW WAGES, AND GREAT
PROFIT TO THE CAPITALIST. INCREASE OF
CAPITAL CREATES GREATER DEMAND FOR LA-
BOUR, HIGHER WAGES, AND LESS PROFIT TO THE
CAPITALIST. NECESSITY OF RAISING SUBSIST-
ENCE BEFORE OTHER WORKS ARE UNDERTAKEN.
HOW WAGES ARE LOWERED BY THE INCREASE
OF POPULATION WITHOUT AN INCREASE -OF
CAPITAL. EFFECT OF SCARCITY OF PROVISIONS
ON WAGES. EFFECT OF RAISING WAGES DURING
A SCARCITY. OF A MAXIMUM PRICE OF PROVI-
SIONS. EFFECT OF DIMINUTION OF POPULATION
BY SICKNESS ON THE RATE OF WAGES. — IT IS
NOT WORK BUT FUNDS THAT CREATE A DEMAND
FOR LABOUR. WAGES IN IRELAND. WAGES
IN TOWN AND COUNTRY.
MRS. B.
In our last conversation I think we came to this
conclusion, that capital is almost as beneficial to
ON WAGES AND POPULATION. 121
the poor as to the rich ; for though the property of
the one, it is by its nature destined for the main-
tenance of the other.
CAROLINE.
It comes to the labourer in the form of wages;
but as we must allow the capitalist a profit on his
work, I should like very much to know what
proportion that profit bears to the wages of the
labourer ?
MRS. B.
It varies extremely, but the wages of the labourer
can never be permanently less than will afford him
the means of living, otherwise he could not labour.
CAROLINE.
On the other hand, they can never be equal to
the whole value of the work he produces ; for if his
master made no profit by him he would not em-
ploy him.
MRS. B.
Such then are the two extremes of the wages of
labour, but they admit of many intermediate de-
grees of variation. If besides furnishing subsistence
for himself, the wages of the labourer would not
enable him to maintain a wife and bring up a fa-
mily, the class of labourers would gradually dimi-
nish, and the scarcity of hands would then raise
their wages which would enable them to live with
122 ON WAGES AND POPULATION.
more comfort and rear a family ; but as the capital-
ist will always keep wages as low as he can, the
labourer and his family can seldom command more
than the necessaries of life.
CAROLINE.
By the necessaries of life do you mean such
things only as are indispensably necessary for its
support ?
MRS. B.
No; I mean such food, clothing, and general
accommodation, as the climate and custom of the
country have rendered essential to the preservation
of the life, health, and decent appearance of the
lowest classes of the people. Fuel, for instance,
and warm clothing, are necessary articles in this
country ; but they are not so in Africa. Civilis-
ation and the progress of wealth and manufactures
have greatly extended the scale of necessaries ; the
use of linen is now considered as necessary by all
classes of people, and shoes and stockings, in Eng-
land at least, almost equally so. Houses with
glazed windows and a chimney are become neces-
saries; for if our poor were deprived of such ac-
commodation it would very materially increase
mortality amongst them. In Ireland the peasantry
bring up their children in a mud-cabin, the door
of which answers also the purposes of window and
chimney.
ON WAGES AND POPULATION. 12S
CAROLINE.
Then would it not be better that the labouring
classes here should, like the Irish, accustom them-
selves to hardships and inconveniences, rather than
indulge in a degree of comfortable accommodation,
the privation of which, in a season of distress, is
attended with so much misery ?
JVIRS. B.
No; I would on the contrary wis^ rather to ex-
tend than contract the scale of the necessaries of
life. There is more health, more cleanliness, more
intellect, and more happiness, developed in an
English cottage than in an Irish cabin. There is
more strength, vigour, and industry in an English
peasant, who feeds on meat, bread, and vegetables,
than in an Irish one, who subsists on potatoes
alone.
CAROLINE.
No doubt I would wish the lower classes every
comfort which they can afford ; but as their wages
will not always allow them such gratifications, I
thought it might be better that they should not be
accustomed to them.
MRS. B.
By lowering the scale of the comforts and ac-
commodations of the poor, you not only diminisli
their enjoyments, but deprive them of a resource
G 2
124 ON WAGES AND POPULATION.
in seasons of distress. If their usual fare is con-
fined to the bare necessaries of life, they cannot be
reduced lower ; and when a scarcity occurs, a fa-
mine must ensue. This is the case with the Hin-
doos, who subsist almost wholly on rice ; when tliis
supply fails, they perish by thousands.
CAROLINE.
It is then most desirable that the rate of wages
should be such as to afford the lower classes some-
thing beyond a mere subsistence; but what is it
that determines the rate of wages ?
MRS.B.
It depends upon the proportion which capital
bears to the labouring part of the population of
the country.
CAROLINE.
Or, in other words, to the proportion which sub-
sistence bears to the number of people to be main-
tained by it ?
MRS. B.
Yes ; it is this alone which regulates the rate of
wages, when they are left to pursue their natural
course. It is this alone which creates or destroys
the demand for labour. In order to render it more
clear to you, let us simplify the question by examin-
ing it on a small scale — let us suppose, for instance,
that we have founded a colony in a desert island ;
ON WAGES AND POPULATION. 125
that the settlers have divided the land amongst them,
and cultivated it for their own subsistence; and that
being both proprietors and labourers, they reap the
whole reward of their industr3\ Thus situated,
should a ship be wrecked on the coast, and some
of the crew effect their escape to shore, what would
ensue ? They would furnish a supply of labourers,
who would be dependent on the original settlers
for maintenance and employment.
CAROLINE.
But if those settlers have not raised a greater
quantity of subsistence than is necessary for their
own use, how can they maintain the new-comers ?
Without capital, you know, they cannot employ
labourers.
i MRS. B.
You are perfectly right. But it is probable that
the most industrious of them will have raised some-
what more subsistence than is absolutely necessary
for their own consumption. They will possess some
little stock in reserve, which will enable them to
maintain and employ at least a few of the ship-
wrecked crew. Yet as these poor destitute men will
all be anxious to share in this little surplus, each
will offer his labour in exchange for the smallest
pittance that will support life. Thus the capital of
the island being inadequate to the maintenance of
G 3
126 ON WAGES AND TOPULATION.
Its population, the competition amongst the la-
bourers to get employment will render wages ex-
tremely low, and the capitalist will derive a high
profit from the industry of his labourers. A small
capital, therefore, creates but a sm.all demand for
labour.
CAROLINE.
By demand for labour do you mean the demand
of the poor for work, or of the capitalist for work-
men ?
MRS. B.
Certainly the latter. The demand for labour
means the demand for labourers by those who have
the means of paying them for their work, whether
it be in the form of wages, maintenance, or any
other kind of remuneration.
But what will happen in our colony, when the
labourers shall have richly repaid their employers
by the fruit of their industry ?
CAROLINE.
By raising a more plentiful harvest they would
of course have a more plentiful subsistence.
MRS. B.
The harvest, you must observe, belongs, not to
the men who produced it, but to their employers ;
how, therefore, does it follow of course that the la-
bourers obtain a larger share of it ?
ON WAGES AND POPULATION. 12'
CAROLINE.
I suppose that their masters having more capital,
are willing to bestow a larger proportion of it on
their labourers.
MRS, B.
I believe that the capitalist will always make as
high a profit as he can upon the work of his labour-
ers ; and that when his capital increases, he will
choose rather to increase the number of his workmen
than the rate of their wages. But the power of
employing more labourers increases the demand
tor labour ; anu triia, ua x ci»..ii ^..^i>,:.. ^^ ^ ^.r,
eventually raises the wages or reward of labour.
The capital of the settlers will probably be so
much augmented by the industry of the labourers,
that there will no longer be any difficulty in main-
taining the new-comers. The possessors of this
increased capital will be eager to procure the
services of the labourers ; one perhaps to build a
hut, another to fence a field, a third to construct
a boat, and so on. For the surplus, unless em-
ployed, will yield no profit ; the competition there-
fore will no longer be amongst the labourers to
obtain work, but amongst the masters to obtain
workmen ; and this will necessarily raise the price
of wages, and consequently diminish the profits of
the capitalist.
G i
128 ON WAGES AND POPULATION.
CAROLINE.
Oh, that is very clear. If John offers a man a
shilling a day to work at his house, and Thomas
gives eighteen-pence to those who will build his
boat, while James pays two shillings for fencing his
field ; wages must rise to two shillings a day : for if
John and Thomas did not give as much as James,
the latter would monopolise all the labourers.
MRS. B.
You see therefore that it is the additional capital
produced by the labour of these men, which bv in-
cicttaiii^ Liic aciijuiiu lor lauour raises their wages.
Thus whenever capital for the maintenance of la-
bourers abounds, the capitalist must content him-
self with smaller profits, and allow his workmen a
more liberal remuneration.
CAROLINE.
Oh, that is charming ! that is exactly what I
wish. But, Mrs. B., if, during the second year, our
colonists employ their labourers in building houses
and fencing fields, instead of cultivating them, sub-
sistence will again fall short, and the labourers will
be reduced to their former necessitous condition ;
unless having once experienced such distress, they
guard against it in future.
ON WAGES AND POPULATION. 129
MRS. B.
That does not depend on the choice of the la-
bourers, who must do the work they are hired to
perform, of whatever nature it may be. But their
employers will be careful to provide for their main-
tenance, for they know that those who should
neglect to make such a provision for their future
services would be deprived of them. They-cannot
work without subsistence, nor will they work with-
out an ample subsistence whilst any of the colony
has it to offer them. If John therefore does not
raise so great a harvest as James, he will not be able,
the following year, to employ so many workmen.
Each landed proprietor therefore will take care to
direct the labour of his workmen towards raising
the requisite subsistence, before he employs them
in any other description of labour : it is for this
subsistence that there will be the greatest demand,
and it is demand which regulates supply.
Now let us suppose that the shipwrecked crew
had brought wives with them, and reared families :
would that have affected the rate of wages ?
CAROLINE.
Their wages would remain the same ; but as
they would have to maintain their wives and
children as well as themselves, they would not
fare so well.
G 5
130 O^ WAGES AND POPULATION.
MRS. B.
And if there were not food enough for them all,
the most weakly of the children would die, not
precisely of hunger, but of some of those diseases
which want of sufficient and proper food engen-
ders. It is evident, therefore, that a labourer
, ought not to marry unless his wages are adequate
to the maintenance of a family; or unless he has,
like your gardener, some little provision in store to
make up the deficiency.
Suppose now, after several years of prosperity,
that a hurricane makes such devastation amongst
the crops of our colonists as to reduce the harvest
to one half what it was the preceding year ; what
effect would this have on the wages of labour?
CAROLINE.
It would unquestionably reduce them, for the
stock of subsistence would be diminished. But
in what manner the reduction would take effect
I do not clearly see.
MRS. B.
In order to trace its consequences step by step,
we may suppose that John, finding his capital will
not maintain more than one half of the number of
labourers he before employed, reluctantly discharges
the other half. These poor men wander about the
colony seeking for work; but instead of finding any,
they meet only with companions in distress, who
ON WAGES AND POPULATION. 131
have lost their employment for similar reasons;
thus without resource they return to their masters,
and entreat to be employed on lower terms. John,
who had discharged these men, not for want of
work to give them, but for want of funds to pay
them, js happy in his reduced circumstances to
employ labourers at lower wages. He therefore
makes a new agreement with them, and determines
to discharge those whom he had originally retained
in his service unless they will consent to work for
him on the same terms. These men, aware of the
difficulty of finding employment elsewhere, are
compelled by necessity to accept the conditions,
and thus wages are reduced to one half their former
rate throughout the colony.
CAROLINE.
It appears as evident as possible. I have only
one objection to make, which is, that though this
may be the case in our colony, it certainly is not so
in other places. Wages, so far from being re-
duced, are, I believe, frequently raised during a
scarcity; at least there are great complaints amongst
the poor if that is not done.
MRS. B.
In countries where money is used, it is unneces-
sary to make any reduction in the rate of wages during
a scarcity, because the high price of provisions
G 6
132 ON WAGES AND POPULATION.
produces a similar efTect. If you continue to pay
your labourer the same wages when the articles of
provision on which he subsists have doubled in
price, his wages are less efficient by one half, be-
cause he can prccure with them only one half of
what he did before the scarcity.
CAROLINE.
But this is a kind of imposition upon the poor
labourers, who, I suppose, are at least as ignorant
as I am of political economy, and are not aware
that a shilling can purchase more at one time than
it can at another, and therefore during a scarcity
continue to work at the usual rate of wages for
want of knowing better.
MRS. B.
Knowledge in this instance would only teach
them that they must bear with patience an un-
avoidable evil. The alternative for capitalists,
when capital is diminished, is to reduce, either
the number of their labourers, or the rate of their
wages — or rather, I should say, the remuneration
of their labour ; for the money-wages remain the
same. Now is it not more equitable to divide
the maintenance amongst the whole of the labour-
ing class, than to feed some of them amply, whilst
the remainder starve ?
ON WAGES AND POPULATION. 133
CAROLINE.
No doubt it is; but would it not, in this instance,
be allowable for the legislature to interfere, and
oblige the capitalist to raise the rate of wages in
proportion to the rise of price of provisions, so as
to afford the labourers their usual quantity of sub-
sistence ? I think the rate of wages ought to be
regulated by the price of bread, as that is the prin-
cipal subsistence of the poor ; so as to enable them
to purchase the same quantity of bread whatever
its price may be.
MRS. B.
Or, in other words, that every man may eat his
usual quantity of bread, however deficient the har-
vest is in its produce ; for unless you could find
means to increase the quantity of subsistence, it will
avail nothing to raise the rate of wages.
CAROLINE.
Very true ; yet two shillings will purchase twice
the quantity of bread that one will ; is not that
i true also Mrs. B. ? and yet these truths appear in-
compatible.
MRS. B.
One of them must therefore be an error ; two
shillings would not purchase twice the quantity of
bread that one did if wages were doubled, because
provisions would continue to rise in price in pro-
portion to the advance on wages.
134< ON WAGES AND POPULATION,
CAROLINE,
But I would prohibit the farmer from raishig the
price of his corn and his cattle, and then there
would be no necessity for the butcher and the
baker raising the price of meat and bread. It is
not just that the farmer, when he has a bad crop,
should throw his misfortune on the public,' and be
the only person who does not suffer from it; which
is the case if he raises the price of his produce in
proportion to its scarcity.
MRS. B.
The farmer consumes as well as produces pro-
visions ; and as a consumer he partakes of the evil
of the advance of price. If he sell his corn for twice
the usual price, what he consumes at home stands
him in the same value, for such is the price it would
fetch at market.
But supposing it were possible to prevent the
rise in price during a scarcity, what consequences
would ensue ? Keep in mind the important point,
that the harvest has yielded but half its usual pro-
duct ; that whilst the wages of labour and the price
of provisions undergo no alteration, the labourers
purchase and consume the usual quantity of food,
and at the end of six months ....
CAROLINE.
You need not finish the sentence, Mrs. B. ; at
OF WAGES AND POPULATION. 135
the end of six mouths the whole stock of provisions
would be consumed, and the people who excited
my commiseration would be starved.
MRS. B.
This would infallibly be the case, were such a
measure persevered in ; but though it has often
been attempted by sovereigns more benevolent
jhan wise to set limits to the price of provisions,
the consequences soon became so formidable as to
compel the legislature to put a stop to a remedy
which was as ineffectual as it was pernicious.
"In the year* 1315 England was afflicted by a
'* famine, grievous beyond all that ever were known
" before, which raised the price of provisions far
" above the reach of the people of middling classes.
'* The parliament, in compassion to the general
" distress, ordered that all articles of food should
" be sold at moderate prices, which they took
" upon themselves to prescribe. The consequence
" was, that all things, instead of being sold at or
*' under the maximum price fixed by them, be-
" came dearer than before, or were entirely with-
" held from the market. Poultry were rarely to
" be seen. Butchers' meat was not to be found at
" all. The sheep were dying of a pestilence, and
" all kinds of grain were selling at most enormous
* Macpherson's Annals of Commerce.
136 ON WAGES AND POPULATION.
" prices. Early the next year the parliament,
" finding their mistake, left provisions to find their
" own price."
Thus you see that the rise in the price of pro-
visions is the natural remedy to the evil of scarcity.
It is the means of husbanding the short stock of
food, and making it last out to the ensuing harvest.
Government should never interfere, either with
the price of provisions or the rate of wages ; they
will each find their respective level if left uncon-
trolled.
But to return to our colony. What effect would
it produce on wages, were some contagious malady
to carry off one half of the labourers ?
CAROLINE.
It would increase the demand for the labour of
those which remained, and consequently raise their
wages.
MRS. B.
We may generally state, therefore, that when
the number of labourers remains the same, the rate
of wages will increase with the increase of capital,
and lower with the diminution of it; and that if the
amount of capital remain the same, the rate of
wages will fall as the number of labourers increase,
and rise as the number of labourers diminish ; or,
as mathematicians would express it, the rate of
ON WAGES AND POPULATION. 137
wages varies directly as the quantity of capital, and
inversely as the number oflabourers.
Macpherson mentions that " a dreadful pesti-
" lence, which originated in the eastern regions,
" began its ravages in England in the year 1348,
" and is said to have carried off the greater part
" of the people, especially in the lower ranks of
" life. The surviving labourers took advantage of
" the demand for labour and the scarcity of hands
" to raise their prices. The king, Edward I.,
" thereupon enacted the statute of labourers, which
" ordained that all men and women under 60 years
" of age, whether of free or servile condition, hav-
"" nig no occupation or property, should serve any
" person of whom they should be required, and
" should receive only the wages which were usual
" before the year 1346, or in the five or six pre-
" ceding years, on pain of imprisonment, the em-
" ployers being also punishable for giving greater
" wages. Artificers were also prohibited from de-
ll" manding more than the old wages; and butchers,
" bakers, brewers, &c. were ordered to sell their
" provisions at reasonable prices. The ' ser-
" vants having no regard to the said ordinance,
" but to their ease and singular covetise,' refused
" to serve unless for higher wages than the law
" allowed them. Therefore the parliament, by
" another statute, fixed the yearly and daily wages
" of agricultural servants, artificers, and labourers.
138 ON WAGES AND POPULATION.
" the payment of threshing corn by the quarter,
" and even the price of shoes. They also forbad
" any person to leave the town in summer wherein
" he had dwelt in the winter, or to remove from
" one shire to another.
" Thus were the lower classes debarred by laws,
" which in their own nature must be inefficient,
" fi'om making any effort to improve their situation
" in life."
CAROLINE.
I had always imagined that a great demand fo
labour was occasioned by some great work that wi
to be executed, such as tIi^J^UJ«^ a. y^anal, maKUi^
new roads, cutting through hills, &c. ; but it seems'
that the demand for labour depends, not so much
on the quantity of work to be done as on the quan-
tity of subsistence provided for the workmen.
MRS. B.
Work to be performed is the immediate cause
of the demand for labour ; but however great or
important is the work which a man may wish to
undertake, the execution of it must always be li-
mited by the extent of his capital ; that is to say,
by the funds he possesses for the maintenance or
payment of his labourers. The same observation
applies to the capital of a country, which is only an
aggregate of the capital of individuals ; it cannot
ON WAGES AND POPULATION. 139
employ more people than it lias the means of
maintaining. All the waste land capable of culti-
vation in the country might be called work to be
done; but one must have, not only labourers to do
that work, but a sufficient quantity of subsistence
to support them. In our conversation on capital
we observed, that in countries of large capital great
works were undertaken, such as public buildings,
bridges, iron rail-ways, canals, &c. All these things
are a sign of redundance of wealth.
CAROLINE.
In Ireland I understand that the wages of com-
mon labourers are much lower than in England;
is it on account of the capital of that country
being less adequate to the maintenance of its
population ?
MRS. B.
That is, no doubt, one of the principal causes
of the low price of labour in that country; but
there are many other causes which affect the price
of labour, arising from the imperfection of its
government. The Irish are far less industrious than
the English. Arthur Young, in his travels through
Ireland, observes, that " husbandry-labour is
^* very low-priced, but not cheap. Two shillings
'" a-day in Suffolk is cheaper than sixpence a-day
" in Cork. If a Huron would dig for two-pence
" a-day, I have little doubt but that it might be
" dearer than the Irishman's sixpence."
140 ON WAGES AND POPULATION.
CAROLINE.
But, Mrs. B., the price of labour does not only
vary in different countries, but very considerably
in different parts of the same country. In pur-
chasing some cutlery a few days ago, I was shown
country and town-made knives and forks, appa-
rently the same, yet the difference in price was
considerable. Upon enquiring the cause, 1 was
informed that it was owing to wages being so much
higher in London than in the country.
MRS. B.
And if you had enquired the cause of the high
rate of wages of London workmen, you would have
heard that it was on account of their being better
workmen ; the ablest artificers generally resort to
London, as the place where their skill will be most
duly appreciated, and where their employers can
best afford to reward it.
It is but just to remunerate labourers according
to their ability. Your head-gardener does less
work than any of the men under him ; yet he has
the highest wages, on account of the skill and ex-
perience he has acquired. A working silversmith
has on this account higher wages than a tailor or
a carpenter.
But where skill is not requisite, the hardest and
most disagreeable kinds of labour are best paid ;
ON WAGES AND POPULATION. 141
this is the case with blacksmiths, iron-founders,
coal-heavers, &c.
A consideration is also had for arts of an un-
wholesome, unpleasant, or dangerous nature ; such
as painters, miners, gunpowder makers, and a va-
riety of other analogous employments.
149
CONVERSATION IX.
ON WAGES AND POPULATION.
Continued,
HIGH WAGES NOT INVARIABLY ACCOMPANYINC^
GREAT CAPITAL. — GREAT CAPITAL AND LOW
WAGES IN CHINA. SMALL CAPITAL AND HIGlf
WAGES IN AMERICA. ADVANTAGES OF NEW-
SETTLED COUNTRIES. POVERTY THE NATURAL
CHECK TO POPULATION. — GREAT POPULATION
ADVANTAGEOUS ONLY WHEN RESULTING FRO-AF
PLENTY. INCREASING WEALTH PREFERABLE TO
ANY STATIONARY CAPITAL. — MISTAKE IN ENCOU-
RAGING POPULATION. POPULATION OF MANU-
FACTURING TOWNS. INDUSTRY. PIECE-WORK.
CAROLINE.
I HAVE been reflecting a great deal on our kbL
conversation, Mrs. B. ; and the conclusions I have
drawn from it are, that the greater the capital a
country possesses, the greater number of people it
can maintain, and the higher the wages of labour
will be.
ON WAGES AND POPULATION. 143
MRS. B.
The greater the stock of subsistence, the more
people may be maintained by it, no doubt; but
your second inference is not at all a necessary con-
clusion. China is a very rich country, and yet
wages are, I believe, no where so low. The ac-
counts which travellers give of the miserable state
of the inferior classes are painful to hear ; and their
poverty is not the result of idleness, for they run
about the streets with tools in their hands, begging
for work.
CAROLINE.
That is owing to the immense population of
China ; so that, though the capital of the country
may be very considerable, still it is insufficient for
the maintenance of all its inhabitants.
MRS. B.
You should therefore always remember that the
rate of wages does not depend upon the absolute
quantity of capital, but upon its quantity relative
to the number of people to be maintained by it.
This is a truth which, however simple, is continually
lost sight of, and hence arise errors without num-
ber in political economy. If China had ten times
the wealth it actually possesses, and its population
were at the same time tenfold as numerous, the
people would not be better fed.
America, on the other hand, is a country of very
144 ON WAGES AND POPULATION-
small capital, and yet wages are remarkably high
there.
CAROLINE.
How do you account for that ; for the demand
for labour, you know, can be only in proportion
to the extent of capital ?
MRS. B.
The capital of America, though small when com-
pared with those of the countries of Europe, is very
considerable in proportion to the number of people
to be maintained by it. In America, and in all
newly-settled countries as yet thinly inhabited, the
wages of labour are high, because capital increases
with prodigious rapidity. Where land is plentiful
and productive, and the labourers to cultivate it
scarce, the competition amongst the landholders to
obtain labourers is so great as to enable this class to
raise their demands ; and the higher the wages the
labourer receives, the sooner he has it in his power
to purchase a piece of land and become landholder
himself. Thus the class of labourers is continually
passing into the class of proprietors, and making
room for a fresh influx of labourers, both from the
rising generation and from emigrations from foreign
countries.
CAROLINE.
America has then the double advantage of high
wages and low price of land ; no wonder that it is
so thriving a country.
ON WAGES AND POPULATION. 145
MRS.B.
The progress of wealth and improvement is no
where so rapid as in the settlement of a civilised
people in a new country : provided they establish
laws for the security of their property, they require
no other incitement to industry. In the new set-
tlements of America, where the experienced farmer
with his European implementsof husbandry is con-
tinually encroaching on the barren wilderness, want
is almost unknown, and a state of universal pros-
perity prevails. We may form some judgment of
the rapid increase of their capital by that of their
population. The facility with which the Ameri-
cans acquire a maintenance sufficient to bring up a
family encourages early marriages, and gives rise
to numerous families ; the children are well fed,
thriving, and healthy ; you may imagine how small
are the proportion that die in comparison to the
number born, when I inform you that their popu-
lation doubles itself in about 23 years !
CAROLINE.
But does not such an immense increase of popu-
lation reduce the rate of wages ?
MRS. B.
No; because their capital increases in a still
greater proportion ; and as long as that is the case,
wages, you know, will rise rather than fall. But
H
14<6 ON WAGES AND POPULATION*
what I have said relative to America refers only ta
the United States of that country; which have the
advantage of a free government protecting the pro-
perty of all classes of men. In the Spanish settle-
ments, where the government is of a very different
description^ the condition of the people is far less
flourishing. The population of Mexico, one of
the finest provinces of Spanish America, does not
double itself in less than 48 years.
CAROLINE.
Yet I do not well understand why the poor
should be worse off in England where there is a
large capital, than in America where there is a
small one.
MRS. B.
Because you are again forgetting the fundamental
rule which I have laid down for you, that capital
must always be considered with reference to the
number of people to be employed and maintained
by it.
In England, and all the old-established countries
of Europe, the population has gradually increased
till it has equalled the means of subsistence ; and
as Europe no longer affords the same facility for
the growth of capital as a newly-settled country, if
the population goes on augmenting, it may exceed
the means of subsistence, and in that case the wages
of labour will fall instead of rising, and the condi-
tion of the poor become very miserable.
Oi^ WAGES AND POPULATION. 14?
CAROLINE.
But how is it possible for population to increase
beyond the means of subsistence ? Men cannot live
without eating.
MRS. B.
No; but they may live upon a smaller portion of
food than is necessary to maintain them in health
and vigour; children may be born without their
parents having the means of providing for them.
Increase of population therefore, under such cir-
cumstances, cannot be permanent; its progress will
be checked by distress and disease, and this I ap~
prehend to be one of the causes of the reduced
state of the poor in this country.
CAROLINE.
1 declare I always thought that it was very de-
sirable to have a great population. All rich thriving
countries are populous ; great cities are populous ;
wealth, which you esteem so advantageous to a
country, encourages population ; and population in
its turn promotes wealth, for labourers produce
more than the-^ consume. You recollect how rich
our colony became by the acquisition of the labour
of the ship- wrecked crew : their first arrival was
attended with some inconvenience, it is true ; but I
should say as you do with respect to machinery,
the inconvenience is small and temporary, the ad-
vantage both durable and extensive.
H 2
148 ON WAGES ANI> POPULATION.
MRS. B,
A great population is highly advantageous to a
country, where there is a capital which will afford
wages sufficient for a labourer to bring up his chil-
dren ; for population is not usually increased by
the acquisition of a number of able labourers, (as
was the case in our colony,) but by the birth of
helpless infants, who depend entirely upon their
parents for subsistence. If this subsistence is not
provided, the children are born merely to languish
a few years in poverty, and to fall early victims to
disease, brought on by want and wretchedness.
Under such circumstances, they can increase neither
the strength, the wealth, nor the happiness of the
country. On the contrary, they weaken, impo-
verish, and render it more miserable. They con-
sume without reproducing, they suffer without
enjoying, and they give pain and sorrow to their
parents without ever reaching that age when they
might reward their paternal cares. Yet such is the
lot of many poor children, wherever population
exceeds the means of subsistence.
CAROLINE.
What a dreadful reflection this is ! But you do
not suppose that there are any children actually
starved to death ?
MRS* B.
I hope not; but the fate of those unfortunate
ON WAGES AND POPULATION. 149
infants is scarcely less deplorable who perish by
slow degrees for want of proper care and a suffi-
ciency of wholesome food. A large family of
young children would require the whole of a
mother's care and attention ; but that mother is
frequently obliged to leave them to obtain by hard
labour their scanty meal. Want of good nursing,
of cleanliness, of fresh au', and of wholesome nou-
rishment, engenders a great variety of diseases,
which either carry them off, or leave them in such
a state of weakness that they fall a sacrifice to the
first contagious malady which attacks them. It is
to this state of debility, as well as to the want of
medical advice and judicious treatment, that must
be attributed the mortality occasioned by the small-
pox and measles amongst the lower classes of chil-
dren, so much greater than in those of the upper
ranks of society.
Nor are the fatal effects of an excess of popula-
tion confined to children. A sick man, who might
be restored to health by medical assistance and a
proper diet, perishes, because he cannot afford
to obtain either. A delicate or an infirm woman
requires repose and indulgence which she cannot
command. The necessaries of life vary not only
with the climate and customs of a country, but with
the age, sex, and infirmities of the individuals who
inhabit it ; and wherever these necessaries are de-
ficient, mortality prevails.
H 3
150 ON WAGES AND POPULATION.
Do you understand now, why the rate of wages
and the condition of the poor are better in countries
which, like America, are growing rich; than in
those which, like England, have long accumulated
large capitals, but whose wealth is either stationary,
or making but slower progress ?
CAROLINE.
Yes; it is because when capital augments very
rapidly, labour is in great demand and well re-
warded. But when wealth, however great, has
long been stationary, population has risen up to
the means of subsistence, or perhaps gone beyond
it, so that wages fall, and distress comes on.
MRS. B.
This is what I formerly alluded to, when I told
you that you would find that the accession of wealth
was more advantageous to a country, as well as to
an individual, than the possession of any capital
which did not increase.
I must read you a passage of Paley on this sub-
ject, in which he expresses himself with remarkable
perspicuity.
" The ease of subsistence and the encourage-
" ment of industry depend neither upon the price
" of labour, nor upon the price of provisions ; but
" upon the proportion which the one bears to tlie
ON WAGES AND POPULATION. 151
^ Other. Now the influx of wealth into a country
*' naturally tends to advance this proportion ; that
*' is, every fresh accession of wealth raises the
*' price of labour, before it raises the price of
*' provisions.
" It is not therefore the quantity of wealth col-
** lected into a country, but the continual increase
" of that quantity, from which the advantage arises
*' to employment and population. It is only the
'' accession of wealth which produces the effect ;
" and it is only by wealth constantly flowing into,
*' or springing up in a country, that the effect can
' *' be constant."
You must not, however, imagine that the capital
of this country remains stationary; on the con-
trary, we are making rapid advances in wealth,
though we cannot pretend to equal the progress of
a newly- settled country. The only apprehension
is, that population may have been increasing in
a still greater ratio than capital. The severe
checks which industry has received during these
last thirty years, throughout the greater part of
Europe, from a constant state of the most ex-
pensive warfare, has, I fear, greatly retarded the
progress of capital, without equally affecting that
of population ; but if the increase of the latter
has occasionally outstripped the means of sub-
' sistence, it is no less owing to the ill-judged con-
H 4?
152 ON WAGES AND POPULATION*
duct of the upper classes than to the imprudence
of the lower orders of people.
CAROLINE.
You allude, I suppose, to the encouragement of
early marriages amongst the poor ?
MRS. B.
Yes 5 we observed that when a great population
springs from ample means of subsistence, it is
the highest blessing a country can enjoy ; the chil-
dren brought up in plenty, attain a healthy and
vigorous manhood, with strength to defend, and
industry to enrich their country. Those who have
not reflected on the subject have frequently con-
founded cause and effect, and have, with you, con-
sidered a great population under all circumstances
as the cause of prosperity. Hence the most stre-
nuous efforts have been made, not only by indivi-
duals, but even by the legislature, to encourage
early marriages and large families, conceiving that
by so doing they were promoting the happiness and
prosperity of their country.
CAROLINE.
This is a most unfortunate error. But when
population is again reduced, the evil corrects
itself; for capital being thus rendered more adequate
ON WAGES AND POPULATION. 153
to the maintenance of this diminished population,
the wages of labour will again rise.
MRS. B.
Certainly. But it often happens that as soon as
the labouring classes find their condition improved,
whether by a diminution of numbers, or an aug-
mentation of capital, which may spring up from
some new source of industry, marriages again in-
crease, a greater number of children are reared,
and population once more outstrips the means of
subsistence ; so that the condition of the poor,
after a temporary improvement, is again reduced
to its former wretchedness.
CAROLINE.
That is precisely what has occurred in the village
liear which we live. It was formerly, I have heard,
but a small hamlet, the inhabitants of which gained
a livelihood as farmers' labourers. Many years
ago a cotton-manufacture was set up in the neigh-
bourhood, which afforded ample employment for
the poor ; and even the children, who were before
idle, could now earn something towards their
maintenance. This, during some years, had an
admirable effect in raising the condition of the
labouring classes. I have heard my grandfather
say that it was wonderful to see how rapidly the
village improved, how many new cottages were
H 5
154 ON WAGES AND POPULATION.
built, and what numerous families they contained.
But this prosperous state was not of long duration :
in the course of time the village became over-
stocked with labourers, and it is now sunk into a
state of poverty and distress worse than that from
which it had so recently emerged.
MRS. B.
You see, therefore, that this manufacture, which
at first proved a blessing to the village, and might
always have continued such, was, by the improvi-
dence of the labourers, converted into an evil. If
the population had not increased beyond the de-
mand for labour, the manufacture might still have
afforded them the advantages it at first produced.
CAROLINE.
This, then, must be the cause of the misery which
so frequently prevails amongst the poor in manu-
facturing towns, where it would be so natural to
expect that the facility of finding work would pro-
duce comfort and plenty.
MRS. B.
And it proves that no amelioration of the con-
dition of the poor can be permanent, unless to
industry they add prudence and foresight. Were
all men as considerate as your gardener, Thomas,
and did they not marry till they had secured a pro-
ON WAGES AND POPULATION. 155
vision for a family, or could earn a sufficiency to
maintain it; in short, were children not brought
into the world until there was bread to feed them,
the distress which you have just been describing
would be unknown, excepting in cases of unfore-
seen misfortunes, or unless produced by idleness
or vice.
CAROLINE.
And is it not to these latter causes that a great
part of the misery in manufacturing towns should
be ascribed ? I have heard it observed that skilful
workmen, who could earn a livelihood by three or
four days' labour in the week, would frequently
spend the remainder of it in idleness and profli-
gacy.
MRS. B.
' I believe that it is much more common for great
gains to act as a stimulus to industry. Like every
other human quality, industry improves in propor-
tion to the encouragement it receives, and it can
have no greater' encouragement and reward than
high wages. It sometimes happens, it is true, that
workmen act in the way you mention, but such
conduct is far from being common ; the greater
part, when their wages are liberal, keep steadily to
their work, and if they are paid by the piece, are
even apt to overwork themselves.
H 6
156 On wages and population.
caroline.
That I have observed. My father lately agreed
to pay a certain sum for digging a sunk fence
in our pleasure-grounds; and two of the under-
gardeners engaged to do it after the day's work
was over. I thought they would repent of their
undertaking, when they came to such hard labour,
after having performed their usual task ; but I
was astonished at their alacrity and perseverance :
in the course of a week they completed the job,
and received the price in addition to their usual
wages. I wonder that work is not always paid
by the piece, it is such an encouragement to in-
dustry.
MRS. B.
All kinds of work do not admit of being so paid ;
for instance, the care of a garden could not be
divided into jobs, and the gardener be paid so much
for planting trees, so much for cleaning borders, so
much for mowing grass, &c. Besides I doubt
whether it would be desirable that this mode of
payment should be generally adopted, on account
of the temptation it aflPords to labourers to over-
work themselves ; for notwithstanding all the ad-
vantages of industry, one would never wish it to be
pushed to that extreme which would exhaust the
strength of the labouring classes, and bring on
disease and infirmity. The benefits resulting from
industry are an increase of the comforts and con-
ON WAGES AND POPULATION. 157
veniences of life ; but it would be paying too dear
for these to purchase them by a sickly and prema-
ture old age.
In order to be of permanent service to the la-
bouring classes, we must not rest satisfied with en-
couraging industry; but we should endeavour by
instruction to awaken their minds to a sense of re-
mote consequences, as well as of immediate good,
so that when they have succeeded in rendering their
condition more comfortable, they may not rashly
and inconsiderately increase their numbers beyond
the means of subsistence.
CAROLINE.
But if population be constantly kept within the
limits of subsistence, would it not always remain
stationary ?
MRS. B.
Certainly not: if the people are industrious,
capital will increase ; and the increase of popula-
tion will follow of course, and with advantage.
CAROLINE.
I now see evidently, that population should never
be encouraged, but where there is great plenty of
subsistence and employment.
MRS. B.
And then it requires no encouragement. If
158 ON WAGES AND POPULATION.
men so often marry without having made any pro-
vision for a family, there is no danger of their not
marrying when a subsistence is easily obtained; and
their children will be healthy and long-lived in
proportion as they are well fed, clothed, and taken
care of.
CAROLINE.
I feel considerable satisfaction in having acquired
correct ideas on this subject ; but the knowledge I
have gained is not without alloy. The miseries
arising from an excess of population have left a
very melancholy impression on my mind.
MRS. B.
That population should tend to press upon the
means of subsistence, and render exertion necessary
to obtain food, appears to be a law of nature wisely
calculated to call into activity the various powers of
man. It is to this pressure that we owe the appro-
priation of land, and the consequent diversity of
ranks and conditions which we have observed to be
so essential to the progressive improvement of
society. It is the foundation-stone of the great
structure of civilisation, and the means by which
scanty tribes of wandering savages have been trans-
formed into populous nations of civilised beings.
If then it produces want and wretchedness to some
part of the community, it feeds millions of in-
ON WAGES AND POPULATION. 159
dustrious happy beings ; and in a well-constituted
society, the evil will always tend to diminish, and
the good to increase.
CAROLINE.
Yet as the world becomes more populous, the
difficulty of procuring subsistence must surely in-
crease ?
MRS. B.
A period may, it is true, one day arrive when
the world will be so perfectly cultivated, and so
fully peopled, that no further augmentation either
of population or of subsistence can take place.
How many generations will pass away before that
epoch, it is impossible to surmise; but let us hope
that before that period arrives, the human character
will be so far improved in virtue and knowledge,
that population will no longer trespass upon the
bounds of subsistence.
In the present state of the world, the incon-
venience arising from this pressure on subsistence
is so far from being confined to great nations and
populous districts, that it is nowhere so severely
felt as among the savage tribes, who are without
resource when the supply of food afforded them by
the chase, by fishing, or the spontaneous produce
of ^he earth, proves deficient. In India, where the
Hindoos subsist on rice alone, famines have re-
peatedly swept away thousands. The more im-
160 ON WAGES AND POPULATION.
proved the state of society, the less dreadful are
these effects ; but it is in newly-settled countries
alone, and under free governments, such as the
United States of America, that we can look for
complete exemption from this evil.
We will conclude this subject by reading a pas-
sage in Mr. Malthus's Principles of Political Eco-
nomy.
" From high wages, or the power of commanding
" a large portion of the necessaries of life, two very
" different results may follow ; one, that of a rapid
*' increase of population, in which case the high
'• wages are chiefly spent in the maintenance of
" large and frequent families ; and the other, that
" of a decided improvement in the modes of sub-
" sistence, and the conveniences and comforts en-
"joyed, without a proportionate acceleration in
" the rate of increase.
" In looking to these different results, the causes
" of them will evidently appear to be the different
" habits existing among the people of different
" countries, and at different times. In an enquiry
" into the causes of these different habits, we shall
" generally be able to trace those which produce
" the first result to all the circumstances which
" contribute to depress the lower classes of the
" people, which make them unable or unwilling to
" reason from the past to the future, and ready to
" acquiesce, for the sake of present gratification,
ON WAGES AND POPULATION. 161'
" in a very low standard of comfort and respect-
" ability ; and those which produce the second re-
" suit, to all the circumstances which tend to ele-
" vate the character of the lower classes of society,
" which make them approach the nearest to beings
" who * look before and after,* and who conse-
*' quently cannot acquiesce patiently in the thought
" of depriving themselves and their children of the
" means of being respectable, virtuous, and happy.
" Among the circumstances which contribute to
" the character first described, the most efficient
** will be found to be despotism, oppression, and
*^ ignorance : among those which contribute to the
" latter character, civil and political liberty, and
" education."
( 16^ )
CONVERSATION X.
ON THE CONDITION OF THE POOR.
OF THE CULTIVATION OF COMMONS AND WASTE
LANDS. OF EMIGRATION. EDUCATION OF THE
LOWER CLASSES. BENEFIT CLUBS. SAVING
BANKS. PAROCHIAL RELIEF. ALMS AND PRI-
VATE CHARITIES. REWARDS.
CAROLINE.
I jiAVE been reflecting ever since our last inter-
view, Mrs. B., whether there were no means oP
averting or at least alleviating the misery resulting
from an excess of population, and it appears to me
that though we have not the same resource in land
as America ; yet we have large tracts of waste
land, which, by being brought into cultivation,
would produce an additional stock of subsistence.
ON THE CONDITION OF THE POOR. 163
MRS. B.
You must remember that industry is limited by
the extent of capital, and that no more labourers
can be employed than we have the means of main-
taining ; they work for their daily bread, and with-
out obtaining it, they neither could nor would work.
All the labourers which the capital of the country
can maintain being disposed of, the only question
is, whether it be better to employ them on land
already in a state of cultivation, or in breaking up
and bringing into culture new lands; and this
point may safely be trusted to the decision of the
landed proprietors, as it is no less their interest
than that of the labouring classes that the greatest
possible quantity of produce should be raised.
To a certain extent it has been found more ad-
vantageous to lay out capital in improving the
culture of old land, rather than to employ it in
bringing new land into tillage ; because the soil of
the waste land is extremely poor and ungrateful,
and requires a great deal to be laid out on it before
it brings in a return. But there is often capital
sufficient for both these purposes ; and of late years
we have seen not only prodigious improvements in
the processes of agriculture throughout the country,
but a great number of commons inclosed and
cultivated.
CAROLINE.
I fear you will think me inconsistent, but I can-
164 ON THE CONDITION OF THE POOR.
not help regretting the inclosure of commons ;
they are the only resource of the cottagers for the
maintenance of a few lean cattle. Let me once
more quote my favourite GoWsmith ; —
" Where, then, ah ! where shall poverty reside,
*' To 'scape the pressure of contiguous pride ?
" If to some common's fenceless limits stray'd,
" He drives his flock to pick the scanty blade,
" Those fenceless fields the sons of wealth deride,
" And e'en the bare-worn common is deny'd."
MRS. B.
You should recollect that we do not admit poets
to be very good authority in political economy. If,
instead of feeding a few lean cattle, a common, by
being inclosed, will fatten a much greater number
of fine cattle, you must allow that the quantity of
subsistence will be increased, and the poor, though
in a less direct manner, will fare the better for it.
Labourers are required to inclose and cultivate
those commons, the neighbouring cottagers are
employed for that purpose, and this additional
demand for labour turns to their immediate ad-
vantage. They not only receive an indemnity fori
their loss of right of common, but they find pur-
chasers for the cattle they can no longer maintain,
in the proprietors of the new inclosures.
When Finchley Common was inclosed, it was
ON THE CONDITION OF THE POOR. 165
divided amongst the inhabitants of that parish;
and the cottagers and little shopkeepers sold the
small slips of land which fell to their share to men
of greater property, who thus became possessed of
a sufficient quantity to make it answer to them to
incJose and cultivate it; and the poorer classes
were amply remunerated for their loss of common-
age by the sale of their respective lots.
CAROLINE.
But if we have it not in our power to provide
for a redundant population by the cultivation of
our waste lands, what objection is there to sending
those who cannot find employment at home, to
seek a maintenance in countries where it is more
easily obtained, where there is a greater demand
for labour ? Or why should they not found new
colonies in the yet unsettled parts of America ?
MRS. B.
' Emigration is undoubtedly a resource for an
overstocked population ; but one that is adopted in
general with great reluctance by Individuals, and
is commonly discouraged by governments, from a
mistaken apprehension of its diminishingthe strength
of the country.
CAROLINE.
It might be wrong to encourage emigration to a
166 ON THU COJfDITlON OF THE t»00{l.
very great extent ; I meant only to provide abroad
for those whom we cannot maintain at home*
MRS. B.
Under an equitable government there is little
danger of emigration ever exceeding that point.
The attachment to our native land is naturally so
strong, and there are so many ties of kindred and
association to break through before we can quit it,
that no slight motive will induce a man to expa-
triate himself. An author deeply versed in the
knowledge of the human mind says, " La seule
bonne loi contre les emigrations, est celle que la'
nature a grave dans nos coeurs." On this subject I
am very willing to quote the Deserted Village: —
" Good heaven ! what sorrows gloom'd that parting day
" That call'd them from their native walks away !"
Besides, the difficulties with which a colony of
emigrants have to struggle before they can effect a
settlement, and the hardships they must undergo
until they have raised food for their subsistence, are
so discouraging, that no motive less strong than
that of necessity is likely to induce them to settle in
an uncultivated land.
Some capital, too, is required for this as well as
for all undertakings; the colonists must be provided
with implements of husbandry and of art and sup-
plied with food and clothing until they shall have
ON THE CONDITION OV THE POOR. 167
succeeded in producing such necessaries for them-
selves.
Were emigration therefore encouraged, instead
of being checked, scarcely any would abandon their
country but those who could not find a mainten-
ance in it. But should emigration ever become
so great as to leave the means of subsistence easy
and plentiful to those who remain, it would natur-
ally cease, and the facility of rearing children, and
maintaining families, would soon fill the vacancy in
population.
There are, it is true, some emigrations which
are extremely detrimental to the wealth and pros-
perity of a country ; these, however, are not occa-
sioned by poverty, but result from the severity and
hardships imposed by arbitrary governments on
particular classes of men. Want of toleration in
religion has caused the most considerable and nu-
merous emigrations of this description. Such was
that of the Huguenots from France at the revoca-
|l tion of the edict of Nantz. They were a skilful
and industrious people, who carried their arts and
manufactures into Germany, Prussia, Holland, and
England, and deprived France o£some of her most
valuable subjects. Spain has never recovered the
blow which her industry received by the expulsion
of the Moors, under Ferdinand and Isabella; not
all the wealth of America has repaid her for this
loss.
168 ON THE CONDITION OF THE POOR.
But to return to the population of England :
the more we find ourselves unable to provide for
an overgrown population, the more desirous we
should be to avail ourselves of those means which
tend to prevent the evil ; — such, for instance, as a
general diffusion of knowledge, which would excite
greater attention in the lower classes to their future
interests.
CAROLINE.
Surely you would not teach political economy to
the labouring classes, Mrs. B. ?
MRS. B.
No ; but I would endeavour to give the rising
generation such an education as would render them
not only moral and religious, but industrious, fru-
gal, and provident. In proportion as the mind is
informed, we are able to calculate the consequences
of our actions : it is the infant and the savage who
live only for the present moment ; those whom in-
struction has taught to think, reflect upon the past
and look forward to the future. Education gives
rise to prudence, not only by enlarging our under-
standings, but by softening our feelings, by hu-
manising the heart, and promoting amiable affec-
tions. The rude and inconsiderate peasant marries
without either foreseeing or caring for the miseries
he may entail on his wife and children ; but he who
has been taught to value the comforts and decencies
ON THE CONDITION OF THE POOR. 16
oF life, will not heedlessly involve himself and all
that is dear to him in poverty, and its long train of
miseries.
CAROLINE.
I am very happy to hear that you think instruc-
tion may produce this desirable end, since the zeal
for the education of the poor that has been dis-
played of late years gives every prospect of success;
and in a few years more, it may perhaps be impos-
sible to meet with a child who cannot read and
write.
^ MRS. B.
The highest advantages, both religious, moral,
and political, may be expected to result from this
general ardour for the instruction of the poor. No
great or decided improvement can be effected in
the manners of the people but by the education of
the rising generation. It is difficult, if not impos-
sible, to change the habits of men whose characters
are formed and settled ; the prejudices of ignorance
that have grown up with us, will not yield to new
impressions ; whilst youth and innocence may be
moulded into any form you choose to give them.
This has been remarkably well expressed in a
foreign periodical work. * " Tout est lie dans
** les dispositions morales et dans les habitudes
" de Phomme. Un travail qui met de I'ordre
* La Bibliotheque Universelle.
170 ON THE CONDITION OF THE POOR.
" dans les idt^es, prepare a I'ordre dans la con-
" duite. L'exercise de Tattention la fortifie, et
" par elle le jugement et la mdmoire, les deux:
" facult^s les plus usuelles dans les affaires de la
" vie. L^instruction religieuse et morale infusees
" dans I'esprit et dans le coeur des enfans, a mesure
" que les notions elementaires des lettres leur
" deviennent familieres ; la discipline et la regie
" qu'il est facile d'introduire dans les ecoles, les
" fa9onnent aux devoirs dont I'accomplissement
" assure le maintien de I'ordre social, en meme
" temps que le bonheur des individus qui s'y
" soumettent. Des hommes eleves de cette ma-
" niere sont non-seulement plus intelligens, plus
" aptes a saisir et appliquer les iddes utiles, plus
" economes, plus laborieux, que ceux qui sont
" demeures ignorans ; mais ils sont aussi plus
" moderes, plus patiens, plus sages, plus juste.^
" Tons les rapports, dans Tinterieur des families,
" en ont plus de douceur et de force; rinfluencc
" des parens est plus marquee et plus durable ;
" le loisir n'est point accompagne des inconve-
" niens qu'il a pour les hommes illitcres ; les re-
" lations de voisinage sont signal^es par plus
" d'egards, et celles de I'interet par plus d'equite."
But independently of schools, and the various
institutions for the education of youth, there is an
establishment among the lower classes which is pe-
culiarly calculated to inculcate lessons of prudence
t)iSr THE CONDITION OF THE POOR. 171
and economy. I mean the Benefit Clubs, or
Friendly Societies ; the members of which, by con-
tributing a small stipend monthly, accumulate a
fund which furnishes them relief and aid in times
of sickness or distress. These associations have
spread throughout the country, and their good ef-
fects are rendered evident by comparing the condi-
tion of such of the labouring classes as belong to
them, with those of the same district who have no
resource in times of distress, but parochial relief
or private charity. The former are comparatively
cleanly, industrious, sober, frugal, respecting them-
selves^ and respected by others; depending in times
of casual sickness or accident on funds created by
their own industry, they maintain an honourably
pride and independence of character : whilst the
latter, in a season of distress, become a prey to dirt
and wretchedness ; and being dissatisfied with the
scantiness of parish-relief, they are often driven to
the commission of crimes. It is above a century
since these clubs were first instituted; they re-
ceived encouragement both from government and
individuals, and have spread throughout the
country. I dare say that your prudent gardener
Thomas is a member of one of them.
CAROLINE.
Yes ; and he belongs to one which can boast of
|>eculiar advantages, as most of the gentlemen in
I 2
172 ON THE CONDITION OF THE POOR.
the neighbourhood subscribe to it ; in order, by in-
creasing the fund, and consequently the amount of
the relief which the distressed members can re-
ceive, to encourage the poor to belong to it.
MRS. B.
That is an excellent mode of bestowing charity,
for you are not only sure that you relieve the ne-
cessitous, but also the industrious poor. A similar
plan has been adopted, within these few years, in a
village in the neighbourhood of London, and has
been attended with the greatest success. Various
schemes had been devised by the charitable inha-
bitants of this village to relieve the necessities of
their poor, and so much was done for them by the
opulent, that they found little need to exert their
own industry; whilst the poor in the neighbouring
parishes, attracted by the munificence of the cha-
ritable donations, flocked to the place ; so that,
notwithstanding all their bounty, the rich still found
themselves surrounded by objects of penury and
distress. Convinced at length that they created as
much poverty as they relieved, they came to a re-
solution of completely changing their system. They
established benefit clubs ,* and the sums which they
before gave away in alms were now subscribed to
these societies, so as to afford very ample relief to
its members in cases of distress. The consequence
was, that the idle poor abandoned the place, and the
ON THE CONDITION OF THE POOR. 173
industrious poor were so well provided for, that the
village has assumed quite a new aspect, and penury
and want are scarcely any more to be seen.
But the institution which, of all others, has most
essentially contributed to the improvement of the
condition of the poor, is that of the Savings Banks.
Scotland has the glory of having first established
an institution, the merits of which are so univers-
ally acknowledged, that within a few years it has
spread throughout the civilised world. " The ob-
" ject of this institution," says the Edinburgh Re-
view, No. 4<9., ** is to open to the lower orders a
" place of deposit for their small savings, with the
" allowance of a reasonable monthly interest, and
" with full liberty of withdrawing their money, at
" any time, either in whole or in part, — an ac-
*' commodation which it is impracticable for the
<* ordinary banks to furnish."
These institutions, variously modified, according
to the circumstances and localities of the different
countries in which they are established, afford the
greatest encouragement to industry, by securing
the property of the labouring poor. How frequent-
ly it happens that an industrious man, after having
toiled to accumulate a small sum, is tempted to lay
it out in a lottery ticket, is inveigled by sharpers to
a gambling table, or induced by adventurers to en-
gage in some ill-judged and hazardous speculation;
to lend it to a distressed or a treacherous friend, —
I 3
174 ON THE CONDITION OF THE POOKr
not to mention the risk of its being lost or stolen.
But now that Savings Banks are established in
almost every district in England, where the poor
may without difficulty or trouble deposit the trifle
they can spare from their earnings, and where, as
an additional inducement, some interest is allowed
them' for their money, all this mischief may be
avoided, and we may hope that the influence oi
prudential habits will help to raise the poor above
the degrading resource of parochial assistance, and
prepare the way for the abolition of the poor-rate,
a tax which falls so heavily on the middling
classes of people, and which is said to give rise tc
still more poverty than it relieves.
CAROLINE.
I cannot understand that.
MRS. B.
The certainty that the parish is bound to attend
to their wants, renders the poor less apprehensive of
indigence than if they were convinced that they
must suffer all the wretchedness it entails. When
a young man marries without having the means of
supporting his family by his labour, and without
having made some little provision against accidents
or sickness, he depends upon the parish as a never-
failing resource. A profligate man knows, that if
he spend his wages at the public-house instead of
providing for his family, his wife and children can
ON THE CONDITION OF THE POOR. 175
at worst but go to the poor-house. Parish-relief
thus becomes the very cause of the mischief which
it professes to remedy.
CAROLINE.
It appears to me to encourage the worst species
of poverty, that arising from idleness and ill
conduct.
MRS. B.
The greatest evil that results from this provision
for the poor is, that by encroaching on the funds
destined for the maintenance of labourers, it di-
minishes the demand for labour, and consequently
lowers wages. Whilst, therefore, on the one hand
the poor-rate raises up a population which requires
work to maintain it, on the other, it curtails the
means by which it is employed. The poor-rate be-
stows in the form of alms, and but too frequently on
the idle and profligate, that wealth which should be
the reward of active industry ; if the amount of the
poor-rate were added to the circulating capital of
the country, the independent labourer might earn
a better livelihood for himself and his family than
he can now do; and, without the degrading resource
of parish relief, might lay by a portion to provide
for sickness and old age.
When it was once proposed to establish a poor's
rate in France, the committee of mendicity, in re-
jecting it, thus expressed themselves on that of
England: —
I 4
176 ON THE CONDITION OP THE POOK*
" Cet exemple est une grande et importante le9on
" pour nous, car independamment des vices qu'elle
" nous presente et d'une d^pense monstreuse, et
" d'un encouragement necessaire a la faineantise,
" elle nous decouvre la plaie politique de I'Angle-
" terre la plus devorante, qu'il est egalement dan-
" gereux pour sa tranquillite, et son bonheur, de
" detruire ou de laisser subsister."
CAROLINE.
But what is to be done; the poor cannot be
allowed to starve, even when idle and vicious ?
MRS. B.
Certainly not ; and besides, the wife and chil-
dren of a profligate man are often the innocent
victims of his misconduct. Then there are fre-
quently cases of casual distress, which no prudence
could foresee or guard against; under these cir-
cumstances, the poor-rate could not be abolished
without occasioning the most cruel distress. I
know therefore of no other remedy to this evil
than the slow and gradual effect of education. By
enlightening the minds of the lower classes their
moral habits are improved, and they rise above
that state of degradation in which all feelings of
dignity and independence are extinguished.
CAROLINE.
But, alas ! how many years will elapse before
ON THE CONDITION OF THE POOR. l*?*"
these happy results can take place ! I am impa-
tient that benefits should be immediately and uni-
versally diffused; their progress is in general so
slow and partial, that there is but a small chance
of our living to see their effects.
MRS. B.
There is some gratification in looking forward
to an improved state of society, even if we should
not live to witness it.
CAROLINE.
Since it is so little in our power to accelerate its
progress, we must endeavour to be contented with
the prospect of improvement : but I confess that I
cannot help regretting the want of sovereign power
to forward measures so conducive to the happiness
of mankind.
MRS. B.
You might possibly fail in your projects by at-
tempting too much. The Emperor Joseph II.
endeavoured at once to transform a bsid govern-
ment into a good one, and by adopting arbitrary
and violent measures to accomplish his purpose,
without paying any regard to the habits and man-
ners, -the prejudices and ignorance of his subjects,
created ill-will and opposition, instead of co-oper-
ation ; and ended by leaving them but little more
advanced than he found them. I cannot too often
I 5
178 ON THE CONDITION OF THE POO"K.
repeat to you, that gradual improvement is always
preferable, and more likely to be permanent than
that which is effected by sudden revolution.
But of all modes of bestowing charity, that ot
indiscriminate alms is the most injudicious. It en-
courages both idleness and imposition, and gives
the bread which should feed the industrious poor
to the indolent and profligate. By affording cer-
tain support for beggars, it trains up people to
those wretched means of subsistence as regularly
as men are brought up to any respectable branch
of industry. This is more especially notorious in
Catholic countries, where alms-giving is universally
considered as a religious duty ; and particularly in
those towns in which richly endowed convents and
religious establishments dispense large and indis-
criminate donations.
Townsend, in his Travels in Spain, tells us, that
" The Archbishop of Grenada once had the cu-
" riosity to count the number of beggars to whom
" he daily distributes bread at his doors. He
" found the men 2000, the women 3024, but at
'' another time the women were 4000.
" Leon, destitute of commerce, is supported by
" the church. Beggars abound in every street, all
" fed by the convents and at the bishop's palace.
" Here they get their breakfast, there they dine.
" Beside food at St. Marca's, they receive every
" other day, the men a farthing, the women and
ON THE CONDITION OF THE POOR. 179
*' children half as much. On this provision they
" live, they marry, and they perpetuate a miserable
*' race. Were it possible to banish poverty and
** wretchedness by any other means than by in-
" dustry and unremitted application, benevolence
** might safely be permitted to stretch forth the
*' hand, and without distinction to clothe the naked,
" feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, and
" furnish habitations to the desolate. But the
" misfortune is, that undistinguished benevolence
" offers a premium to indolence, prodigality, and
"vice."
CAROLINE.
All this is very true : but you must allow that it
is extremely painful to pass, so frequently as we do,
objects of distress in the streets, without affording
them some trifling assistance.
MRS. B.
I cannot blame any one for indulging feelings
of humanity : to pity and relieve the sufferings of
our fellow-creatures is one of the first lessons
which nature teaches us ; but our actions should
be regulated by good sense, not blindly directed
by undistinguishing compassion. We should cer-
tainly consider it as a duty to ascertain whether the
object whom we relieve is in real want, and we
should proportion our charity, not only to his dis-
tress, but also to his merits. We ought to do much
I 6
180 ON THE CONDITION OF THE POOR.
more for an industrious family, whom unforeseen
or unavoidable accidents have reduced to poverty,
than for one who has brought on distress through
want of a well-regulated conduct. When we relieve
objects of the latter description, it would be well
at the same time to bestow a trifling reward on
some individual among the labouring classes of the
neighbourhood distinguished for his industry and
good conduct. This would counteract the perni-
cious effect which cannot fail to be produced by
assisting the indolent, whilst we suffer the indus-
trious to remain without reward.
CAROLINE.
But the advantages and comforts derived from
industry constitute its natural recompence, and it
seems to require no other reward.
MRS. B.
Nor would it, if a similar result could not be ob-
tained without effort; but when a hard-working
labourer observes that the family of his idle neigh-
bour is as well provided for as his own — that the
hand of charity supplies them with what he earns
by the sweat of his brow — such reflections are apt
to produce discontent, and tend to check his in-
dustry. While, therefore, we tacitly encourage
idleness by relieving the distress it produces, we
at the same time discourage that laborious industry
ON THE CONDITION OF THE POOR. 181
which passes unnoticed. The value of pecuniary
rewards is increased by their being bestowed as
marks of approbation ; so far from exciting a
sense of humiliating dependance, they produce a
feeling of a very opposite nature, which raises and
improves the character — a consciousness of merit
seen and approved by those to whom the poor look
up. Such sentiments soften whilst they invigorate
the labours of the industrious. Thus if help for
the distressed, and rewards for the meritorious poor
were to go hand in hand, the one would do as
much towards the prevention of poverty as the
other towards relieving it.
CAROLINE.
I had an opportunity last summer of witnessing
a mode of improving the condition of the labour-
ing poor, in which the system of rewards is intro^
duced with the happiest effect. An extensive piece
of ground has been laid out in gardens by a great
landed proprietor in Hertfordshire, for such of his
labourers as have none attached to their cottages.
He lets the ground to them at the low rate of six-
pence a-year each. These gardens are sufficiently
large to provide an ample supply of common ve-
getables for the labourer's family, and to employ
his leisure hours i^i its cultivation ; but not so ex-
tensive as to tempt him to withdraw his attention
from his daily labour, and render the produce an
182 ON THE CONDITION OF THE POOR.
article of sale. As a further means of exciting
industry, the proprietor annually distributes three
prizes as rewards to those whose gardens are found
to be in the highest state of cultivation. This
judicious mode of rewarding industry has been
beneficial also in producing a spirit of emulation
amongst the rival gardeners, whose grounds being
separated only by paths, the comparative state of
each is easily determined.
MRS. B.
This is indeed an excellent plan; the leisure
hours which the labourers might probably have
passed at the alehouse are occupied in raising an
additional stock of wholesome food, and the money
which would have been spent in drinking is saved
for a better purpose — it may form perhaps the
beginning of a capital, and in process of time
secure a little independence for himself and his
family.
( 183 )
CONVERSATION XL
ON REVENUE.
MODES OF EMPLOYING CAPITAL TO PRODUCE REVE-
}sUE, WHICH OF THESE IS MOST ADVANTAGEOUS.
VARIES ACCORDING TO THE STATE OF THE
COUNTRY. GARNIER's OBSERVATIONS ON THE
EMPLOYMENT OF CAPITAL. EQUALITY OF
PROFITS AFFORDS A CRITERION OF THE DUE DIS-
TRIBUTION OF CAPITAL. NATURAL ARRANGE-
MENT OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF CAPITAL.
EQUALITY OF PROFITS IN AGRICULTURE, MANU-
FACTURES, AND TRADE. — WHY THOSE PROFITS
APPEAR UNEQUAL.
MRS. B.
In our last conversation we have in some mea-
sure digressed from our subject ; but I trust that
you have not forgotten all we have said upon the
accumulation of capital. Let us now proceed to
examine more specifically the various modes in
which it may be employed in order to produce a
revenue or income. Capital may be invested : —
184 ON REVENUE.
In Agriculture,
Mines,
Fisheries,
Manufactures, and
Trade.
CAROLINE.
Of all these ways of employing capital, agricul-
ture, no doubt, must be the most advantageous to
the country, as it produces the first necessaries of
life.
MRS. B.
In these northern climates it is almost as essen-
tial to our existence to be clothed and lodged as to
be fed ; and manufactures are, you know, requisite
for these purposes.
CAROLINE.
True ; but then agriculture has also the advan-
tage of furnishing the raw materials for manufac-
tures; it is the earth which supplies the produce
with which our cloaths are made and our houses
built.
MRS. B,
Yet without manufactures these materials would
not be produced ; it is the demand of the manufac-
turer for such articles Which causes them to be raised
by the farmer; agriculture and manufactures thus
re-act on each other to their mutual advantage.
ON REVENUE. 185
CAROLINE.
It may be so ; but still it does not appear to me
that they can be equally beneficial to the country.
Manufactures do not, like agriculture, actually
increase the produce of the earth; they create
nothing new, but merely put together under
another form the materials with which they are
supplied by agriculture.
MRS. B.
True : but by such operations they frequently in-
crease the value of these materials an hundredfold.
The jx)wers of man in processes of art, are unques-
tionably inferior to those of nature, in the produc-
tion of vegetation ; for its operations consist not
merely in a new system of chemical or mechanical
combinations, but in the formation of organised
bodies, endowed with the principles of hfe and of
reproduction. You are mistaken, however, if you
suppose that, in agriculture, any more than in ma-
nufactures, a single new particle of matter is created;
it is merely by a new system of arrangements per-
formed in that great laboratory of nature, the bo-
som of the earth, in a manner which eludes our
observation, that the wonders of vegetation are de-
veloped.
CAROLINE.
But in agriculture nature facilitates the labours
of man j she seems to work together with the hus-
186 ON REVENUE.
bandman ; and provided that he but ploughs the
field and sows the seed, she performs all the re-
mainder of the task. It is nature that unfolds the
germ, and raises up the plant out of the ground ;
she nourishes it with genial showers, she ripens it
with sun-beams, and leaves the farmer little more
to do than to gather in the fruits of her labours.
How different is the case in manufactures !
There man must perform the whole of the work
himself; and notwithstanding the aid he derives
from his mechanical or chemical inventions, it is
all the result of his own toil ; whether it be the
labour of the head or the hands, it is all art.
MRS. B.
We are accustomed to speak of art in opposition
to nature, without considering that art itself is
natural to man. A state of nature in the human
species, is a course of progressive improvement.
Man is endowed with the faculties of invention and
contrivance, which give him a considerable degree*
of command over the powers of nature, and render
them in a great measure subservient to his use.
He studies the peculiar properties of bodies in
order to turn them to his advantage ; he observes
that light bodies float on the surface of the water,
and he builds himself a boat ; he feels the strength
of the wind, and he raises sails ; he discovers the
powers of the magnet, and he directs his course by
ON REVENUE. 187
it to the most distant shores: but the water which
supports the vessel, the wind which wafts it on,
and the magnet which guides, it, are all natural
agents compelled by the art of man to serve his
purposes.
We cannot, therefore, say that it is in agricul-
ture alone that nature lends us her assistance. The
miller is as much indebted to nature for grinding
his corn as the farmer is for raising it. In manu-
factures her share of the labour is sometimes even
more considerable than in agriculture. You may
recollect our observing, that the effect of machinery
in facilitating labour consists chiefly in availing
ourselves of the powers of nature to perform the
principal part of the work; and there are some
chemical processes of art for which we seem almost
wholly indebted to nature. In bleaching, it is the
air and light which perform the entire process ; in
the preparation of fermented liquors, we are igno-
rant even of the means which nature employs to
accomplish this wonderful operation. In short, it
would be difficult to point out any species of labour
in which nature did not perform a share of the
task.
CAROLINE.
That is very true; and it requires only a litde
reflection to discover how much we owe to her
assistance in every work of art. We could not
make a watch without the property of elasticity
188 ON REVENUE,
natural to steel, which enables us to construct a
spring; nor could the spring be fabricated without
the natural agency of fire, rendered subservient
to art.
But, Mrs. B., in agriculture we avail ourselves
of machinery as well as of those secret operations
of nature which produce vegetation.
MRS. B.
Undoubtedly we do ; for every tool which fa-
cilitates manual labour is a machine — the spade
and hoe, which save us the trouble of scratching
up the earth with our hands — the plough and
harrow, which still more facilitate the process —
the flail, which prevents the necessity of rubbing
out the corn — and the threshing-machine, which
again diminishes the labour. Machinery is, how-
ever, not susceptible of being applied to rural
occupations with the same degree of perfection as
to the arts, because the processes of agriculture are
(extremely diversified, carried on over an extensive
space, and dependant to a very considerable degree
on the vicissitudes of the seasons, over which we
have no control.
Agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, are
all essential to the wellbeing of a country ; and the
question is not whether an exclusive preference
should be given to any one of these branches of
industry, but what are the proportions which they
ON REVENUE. 189
should bear to each other, in order to conduce most
to the prosperity of tlie community.
CAROLINE.
That is all I ask. I never imagined that every
other interest should be sacrificed to that of agri-
culture; but I feel persuaded that in this country
at least, trade and manufactures meet with greater
encouragement than agriculture.
MRS. B.
That is a point on which I cannot pretend to
decide ; and when you are a little better acquainted
with the subject, you will be more aware of its
difficulties.
CAROLINE.
But surely political economists ought to know
in what proportions the capital of a country should
be distributed among these different branches of
industry ?
MRS. B.
• It is not easily ascertained; because these pro-
portions vary exceedingly in different countries,
according to their local situation or peculiar cir-
cumstances. In America, for instance, or any new
country in which land is cheap, population but
thinly scattered, and capital scarce, the prevailing
branch of industry will be agriculture. For in such
countries, when a labourer accumulates a litde
190 ON REVENUE.
money, which (where wages are so higli) he is soon
enabled to do, he is immediately tempted by the
cheapness of land, to lay it out in a farm ; and
though the wealth of the Americans is so rapidly
increasing, they have hitherto found it more advan-
tageous to import the greater part of their manu-
factured goods, than to establish manufactures at
home, a circumstance not so much to be ascribed
to a deficiency of capital, as to their having a more
profitable use for it.
CAROLINE.
And in England, where the population is abund-
ant, and land comparatively scarce, we must find
it advantageous to take their corn in exchange for
our manufactures.
MRS. B.
No doubt ; if old countries were not to purchase
elsewhere some part of the agricultural produce
they consume, new countries :would not raise more
than they required for their own consumption, for
want of a foreign market to dispose of it.
In this country, where land is dear, if a labourer
make a little money, he never thinks of purchasing-
land ; he cannot even afford to rent a farm ; but
he may set up a shop, or invest his capital in a
manufacture.
There are other circumstances which affect the
15
ON REVENUE; 191
destination of capital ; such as the local situation of
a country : if it abound with rivers and sea-ports,
as is the case with England, so great a facility for
the disposal of its manufactures in foreign parts
will render that branch peculiarly advantageous.
CAROLINE.
So then if agriculture suits one country best,
manufactures are more profitable to another, and
thus they mutually accommodate each other ?
MRS. B.
Exactly. If in England the proportion of ca-
pital employed in manufactures be more than is
requisite for our own use, it is because we find our
advantage in supplying other countries with ma-
nufactures in exchange for their produce, and that
advantage arises from our being able to import it
cheaper than we could produce it at home. Agri-
culture thus leads to manufactures and trade, as
youth leads to manhood ; the progress of the former
i is the most rapid, the latter adds the vigour and
! stability of mature growth. Gamier, in his Intro-
i duction to his French edition of Adam Smith's
. Essay, remarks on this subject, that, —
"It is almost in every instance an idle refine-
: " ment to distinguish between the labour of those
" employed in agriculture, and those employed
J92 on REVENUfi.
** in manufactures and commerce ; for wealth is-
" necessarily the result of both descriptions of la-
** hour, and consumption can no more take place
" independently of the one than of the other. It
** is by their simultaneous concurrence that any
** thing becomes consumable, and of course that
" it comes to constitute wealth. The materials of
" all wealth originate in the bosom of the earth,
" but it is only by the aid of labour that they can
" ever truly constitute wealth ; it is industry and
" labour which modify, divide, and combine the
" various productions of the soil, so as to render
" them fit for consumption."
CAROLINE.
But, Mrs. B.^ though political economists cannot
specify the proportion of capital which should be
employed in these several branches of industry,
have they no means of judging whether it is ac-
tually distributed in that proportion which is most
conducive to the welfare of a country? Men follow
their own taste and inclination in the employment
of their capital, and I fear the public benefit has
very little weight in the scale.
Mils. B.
Fortunately there is a better guide than mere
inclination to regulate our choice in the employ-
ox REVENUE. 193
ment of capital, and that is interest. Men are in-
duced to invest their capital in those branches of
industry which yield the greatest profits ; and the
greatest profits are afforded by those employments
of which the country is the most in need.
CAROLINE.
I do not exactly understand why there should
be such a perfect coincidence between the wants of
the public and the interest of the capitalist ?
MRS. B.
The public are willing to give the highest price
for things of which they stand in greatest need.
Let us suppose there is a deficiency of clothing for
the people; the competition to obtain a. portion of
it raises the price of clothing, and increases the
profits of the manufacturer of clothes. What will
follow ? Men who are making smaller profits by
the cultivation of land will transfer some of their
capital to the more advantageous employment of
manufacturing clothes; in consequence of this more
clothes will be made, the deficiency will no longer
exist, the eager competition to purchase them will
subside, they will fall in price, and reduce the pro-
fits of the manufacturer to those of the agricul-
turist — or should these profits fall still lower, the
farmer will take back the capital he had placed in
manufactures to restore it to agriculture.
191' .ON REVENUE.
CAROLINE.
But a total change of business is not easily ac-
complished : the skill and experience acquired in
one branch of industry might be quite useless in
another; then the machinery of manufactures can
no more be converted into implements of hus-
bandry, than the latter could be rendered service-
able to the manufacturer. I should suppose that a
farmer could not transfer his capital to manufacr.
tures or trade, nor a manufacturer or merchant to
agriculture, but under disadvantages almost insu-
perable.
MRS. B.
Nor is this requisite in order to restore the level
of pi'ofits when its variations are slight or tempo-
rary.
In all rich countries there are many persons who
live on the income produced by lending their mo-
ney at interest, and there are few merchants or
manufacturers who limit their dealings to the em-
ployment of their own capital without having re-
course to the loans of these monied men. When
the profits of any particular branch of industry are
found to be rising above the common level, those
engaged in it are induced to borrow more in order
to enlarge their dealings, whilst some ether branch
of industry which experiences a diminution of profit,
contracts its dealings and discontinues borrowing.
ON REVENUE. 1-5^5
Mr. Ricardo observes*, that " When the demand
" for silks increases, and that for cloth diminishes,
" the clothier does not remove with his capital to
*' the silk trade, but he dismisses some of his work-
" men, he discontinues his demand for the loan
" from bankers and monied men ; while the case
" of the silk manufacturer is the reverse : he
" wishes to employ more workmen, and thus his
" motive for borrowing is increased : he borrows
" more, and thus capital is transferred from one
*' employment to another, without the necessity
" of a manufacturer discontinuing his usual occu-
" pation."
CAROLINE.
Then the profits of agriculture and manufactures
will always be, or at least tend to be, upon
a footing of equality ?
MRS. B.
Yes ; tend to he : that is a very proper qualifica-
tion, for these changes are not produced on a sud-
den. The tendency to equalization of profits takes
place not only in agriculture and manufactures,
but in every other branch of industry. In a country
where capital is allowed to follow its natural course,
it will always flow into that channel which affords
the highest profits, till all employments of capital
are nearly upon the same level.
* Principles of Political Economy, p. 84.
K 2
196 ON REVENUE.
CAROLINE.'
You say nearly, why not exactly the same ?
MRS. B.
Because, generally speaking, agricultural pur-
suits are more congenial to the tastes of the majo-
rity of mankind than manufactures or commerce:
and hence in countries where fertile land is to be
obtained at an easy rate, a man no sooner acquires
a little capital than he is desirous of purchasing
land, and retiring even to remote and almost un-
peopled districts, where he can live as the lord of
his little domain ; as is the case in America at pre-
sent. Yet this preference will not lead beyond a cer-
tain limit; therefore it may be stated that the profits
of different employments of capital are nearly upon
a level,
CAROLINE.
How admirably nature makes all her arrange-
ments ! The more I learn of political economy, the
more it appears to me, that the institution of laws
which control her operations are generally pror
ductive of greater evil than good.
MRS. B.
That may frequently be the case, but generally ^
is too comprehensive a term. Every law that if
enacted infringes more or less upon the natun
ON REVENUE. 1^7
order of things ; and yet I should not hesitate to
say that the worst system of laws is preferable to
no government at all. Art, we have observed, is
natural to man; it is the result of reason, and
leads him onwards in the progressive path of im-
provement. Instead of being chained down like
the brute creation by instinct, he is free to follow
where inclination leads. But as soon as he enters
into a state of society he feels the necessity of a
control which nature has not imposed, and his
reason enables him to devise one. He enacts laws
which are more or less conducive to his good, in
proportion as his rational faculties are developed
and cultivated. Many of these laws, no doubt,
are inimical to his welfare ; yet the balance upon
the whole is in their favour ; the advantages result-
ing from the single law of the institution of pro-
perty has conferred a greater benefit on mankind
than all the evils which spring from the worst
system of government.
CAROLINE.
But this level — this equality of profits to which
you say every branch of industry naturally tends,
cannot yet have taken place in England, since
manufactures and trade are here allowed to yield
greater profits than agriculture.
MRS.B.
You are mistaken in that opinion. It is true
K 3
198 ON REVENl>E#;
that it is more common to see merchants and ma-
nufacturers accumulate hirge and rapid fortunes
than farmers. They are a class who generally em-
ploy capital upon a more extensive scale, hence their
riches make a greater show. Yet, upon the whole,
trade and manufacturers do not yield greater profits
than agriculture.
CAROLINE.
I cannot understand why the merchant and ma-
nufacturer should grow richer than the farmer un-
less they make larger profits.
MRS. B.
, You must observe that though a farmer does noC
so frequently and rapidly amass wealth as a mer-
eharkt, neither is he so often ruined. The risks a
man encounters in trade are much greater than in
farming. The merchant is liable to severe losses
arising from contingencies in trade, such as war,
changes of fashion, bad debts, which scarcely
affect the farmer; he must therefore have a chance
oi' making proportionally greater profits.
CAROLlls^E.
That is to say, that the chances of gain must
balance the chances of loss ?
MRS. B.
Yes ; the merchant plays for a larger stak«. II
ON REVENUE. 199
therefore he be so skilfal or so fortunate as to
make more than his average share of gains, he will
accumulate wealth with greater rapidity than a
former; but should either a deficiency of talents or
of fortunate circumstances occasion an uncommon
share of losses, he may become a bankrupt.
CAROLINE.
But, Mrs. B., you should, on the other hand,
consider that the farmer is exposed to the risk
attending the uncertainty of the seasons, a cause
which is continually operating, and over which we
have no control.
MRS. B.
Yet, in these climates, the loss occasioned by
such causes are seldom attended with ruinous con-
sequences ; for seasons which prove unfavourable to
one kind of produce are often advantageous to an-
other. And besides, the produce of agriculture
consisting chiefly of the necessaries of life, the de-
mand for it cannot well be diminished, and the
price rises not only in proportion to the scarcity,
but even higher ; so that farmers frequently make
the greatest gains in a bad harvest.
We may then conclude that though agriculture,
manufactures, and trade, do upon the whole afford
similar profits, these profits are, amongst farmers,
more equally shared than amongst merchants an^
K 4.
200 ON REVENOK.
manufacturers ; some of whom amass irametise
^vealth5 whilst others become bankrupts.
The rate of profit, therefore, upon any employ-
ment of capital is, generally speaking, proportioned
to the risks with which it is attended ; but if cal-
culated during a sufficient period of time, and upon
a sufficient number of instances to afford an average,
all these different modes of employing capital will
be found to yield similar profits.
It is thus that the distribution of capital to the
several branches of agriculture, manufactures, and
trade, preserve a due equilibrium ; which, though
it may be accidentally disturbed, cannot, whilst
allowed to pursue its natural course, be perma-
nently deranged. If you are well convinced of this,
you will never wish to interfere with the natural
distribution of capital.
You must not, however, consider this general
equality of profits as being fixed and invariable,
even in countries where government does not in-
terfere with the direction of capital. A variety of
circumstances occasion a temporary derangement
of it. The invention of any new branch of in-
dustry, or the improvement of an old one, will
raise the profits of capital invested in it ; but no
sooner is this discovered, than others, who have
capital that can be diverted to the new employ-
ment, engage in this advantageous concern, and
competition reduces the profits to their due pro-
ON REVENUE. 201
portion. The opening of a trade with a new coun-
try, or the breaking out of a war which impedes
foreign commerce, will affect the profits of the
merchant : but these accidents disturb the equal
rate of profits, as the winds disturb the sea ; and
when they cease, it returns to its natural level.
k; 5
( 202 )
CONVERSATION XIL
ON REVENUE DERIVED FROM PRO-
PERTY IN LAND.
RENT THE EFFECT, NOT THE CAUSE, OF THE HIGH
PRICE OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE. — CAUSES OF
rent; 1. THE FERTILITY OF THE EARTH; 2. DI-
VERSITY OF SOIL AND SITUATION REQUIRING
DIFFERENT DEGREES OF EXPENSE TO RAISE
SIMILAR PRODUCE. ORIGIN OF RENT. RENT
INCREASES POSITIVELY IN A PROGRESSIVE COUN-
TRY, AND DIMINISHES RELATIVELY. HIGH PRICE
OF RAW PRODUCE NECESSARY TO PROPORTION
THE DEMAND TO THE SUPPLY.
CAROLINE,
I HAVE been reflecting much upon the subject of
revenue, Mrs. B. ; but I cannot comprehend how
farmers can afford to pay their rent if they do not
make more than the usual profits of capital. I
had imagined that they began by raising greater
produce from the same capital than merchants or
20
REVENUE FROM LANDED PROPERTY. 203
manufacturers, but that the deduction of their rent
eventually reduced their profits below those of
other branches of industry.
MRS. B.
You were right in the first part of your conjec-
ture ; but how did you account for the folly of
farmers in choosingamode of employing their capi-
tal which, after payment of their rent, yielded them
less than the usual rate of profit?
CAROLINE.
I believe that I did not consider that point. I
had some vague idea of the superior security of
landed property ; and then I thought they might
be influenced by the pleasures of a country life.
MRS, B.
Vague ideas will not enable us to trace inference^
with accuracy, and to guard against them we should
avoid the use of vague and indeterminate expres-
sions. For instance — when you speak of the secu-
rity of landed property being advantageous to a
farmer, you do not consider that in the capacity of
farmer a man possesses no landed property,* he rents
his farm; \S Yiq purchases it, he is a landed proprie-
tor as well as a farmer. It is not therefore the
security of landed property which is beneficial to a
K 6
204» RETENUE FROM LANDED PROPERTY.
farmer, but the security or small risk in the raising
and disposing of his crops.
A farmer, when he reckons his profits, takes his
rent into consideration ; he calculates upon making
so much by the produce of his farm as will enable
him to pay his rent besides the usual profits of his
capital ; he must expect therefore to sell his crops
so as to afford that profit, otherwise he would not
engage in the concern. Farmers then really pro-
duce more by the cultivation of land than the
usual rate of profit ; but they are not greater gain-
ers by it, because the surplus is paid to the land-
lord in the form of rent.
CAROLINE.
So then they are obliged to sell their produce
at a higher price than they would otherwise do, in
order to pay their rent ; and every poor labourer
who eats bread contributes towards the mainte-
nance of an idle landlord ?
MRS. D.
You may spare your censure, for rent does not
increase* the price of the produce of land. It is
because agricultural produce sells for more than it
cost to produce, that the farmer pays a rent. Rent
is therefore the effect and not the cause of the high
price of agricultural produce.
REVENUE FROM LANDED PROPERTY. 205
CAROLINE.
That is very exti'aordinary ! If landed proprie-
tors exact a rent for their farms, how can farmers
afford to pay it, unless they sell their crops at
a higher price for that purpose ?
MRS. B.
A landlord cannot exact what a tenant is not
willing to give ; the contract between them is volun-
tary on both sides. If the produce of the farm can
be sold for such a price as will repay the farmer the
usual rate of profit on the capital employed, and
yet leave a surplus, farmers will be found who will
willingly pay that surplus to the landlord for the
use of his land.
CAROLINE.
But if the profits of agriculture are not the effect
of rent, why are they hot reduced by competition,
and brought down to the usual rate of profit?
Why does not additional capital flow into that
channel, and by increasing the supply of agricultu-
ral produce reduce its price ?
MRS. B.
Agriculture is not, like manufactures, susceptible
of an unlimited augmentation of supply. If hats
and shoes are scarce, and sell at extraordinarily
high prices, a greater number of men will set
up in the hat and shoe-making business, and by
20^ REVENUE FROM LANDED PROPERTY.
increasing the quantity of those commodities re-
duce their price. But land being Hmited in extent,
farmers cannot with equal facility increase the
quantity of corn and cattle. It might however be
done to a very considerable extent by improve-
ments in husbandry, and bringing new lands into
cultivation. But to whatever extent this were
accomphshed, it would not have the effect of per-
manently diminishing the price of those commo-
dities which constitute the necessaries of life, be-
cause population would increase in the same
proportion, and the additional quantity of sub-
sistence would be required to maintain the addi-
tional number of people ; so that there would remain
(after allowing a short period for the increase ot
population) the same relative proportion between
the supply and the demand of the necessaries of
life, and, consequently, no permanent reduction of
price would take place. The necessaries of life
therefore differ in this respect from all other com-
modities; if hats or shoes increase in plenty they
fall in price, but the necessaries of life have the
peculiar property of creating a demand in pro-
portion to the augmentation of the supply.
CAROLINE.
So that the country no sooner produces the bread
than it produces the mouths to eat it.
REVENUE FROM LANDED PROPERTY. 207
MRS. B.
Such is the order of nature, when impatient man
does not pervert her wise designs, and increase the
population before an increased stock of provisions
has been provided for its subsistence.
CAROLINE.
But what is it that makes agricultural produce
sell at so high a price as to afford a rent besides
the usual rate of profit? If it is not rent that
occasions this high price, there must be some other
cause for it.
MRS. B.
There are several circumstances which concur
to raise and maintain the price of agricultural pro-
duce above its cost of production, and enable the
f&rnier to pay rent. Its first source is what upon
a superficial view would seem to have the effect of
diminishing price; it is that invaluable quality with
which Providence has blessed the earth, of brino*-
ing forth food in abundance ; an abundance more
than sufficient to maintain the people who cultivate
it* For if those who occupy the land and raise the
-l^rops consumed the whole of them, there would be
no surplus to sell at any price to others ; and under
such circumstances it would be impossible that the
cultivator of the soil should pay rent. But th(rf
208 IlEVENUE FROM LANDED PROPERTY.
natural fertility of the earth is such as to render
almost all soils capable of yielding some surplus
produce which remains after the farmer has de-
frayed all the expences of cultivation, including the
profits of his capital. It is from this fund that he
pays his rent. The quantity of this surplus pro-
duce varies extremely, according to the degree of
fertility of the soil, and enables a farmer to pay a
higher or a lower rent.
CAROLINE.
But, Mrs. B., in countries newly settled, where
the greatest choice of fertile land is to be had, and
where we are told that the harvests are so product-
ive, as in many parts of America, no rent is paid ?
MRS.B.
Wherever land is so plentiful that it may be
cultivated by any one who takes possession of it,
no man will pay a rent. But the cultivator, ne-
vertheless, makes such a surplus produce as would
enable him to pay rent. The only difference is,
that instead of transferring it to a landlord, he
keeps the whole himself. This is the reason that
such rapid fortunes are made by new settlers, in a
fine climate and a fertile soil.
It is the fertility of the soil, then, which enables
the cultivator to pay a rent ; but we must look for
another cause which induces him to do so.
REVENUK FROM LASDEtJ PROi^ERtV. ^00
CAROLINA.
You speak as if It it were left to his option, Mrs,
B. ; and if that were tlie case, I do not think that
rent would ever be paid,
MRS. B.
We shall see presently how far you are right. —
When a newly-settled country, such as the island
in which we established a colony, augments its
j capital and population, the demand for food will
increase, its price will rise, and more land will be
: taken into cultivation; and when all the most fertile
i neighbouring districts are occupied, soil of an in-
ferior quality, or less advantageously situated, will
I be brought under tillage. Now, corn, or any agri-
i cultural produce, raised upon less fertile soils, will
: stand the farmer in a greater expense; more labour,
more manure, and more attention will be required
to raise a less abundant crop, and the cost of its
production will, upon the whole, be greater.
CAROLINE.
The original settlers who had the first choice of
the land have, then, an advantage over the others ;
they will make the greatest profits, and accumulate
fortunes soonest. For the several crops, when
brought to market, if of the same quality, will sell
for the same price, whatever difference there may
210 REVENUE FROM LANDED PROPERTY.
have been in the cost of their production. Nay,
it is even likely that the crops which cost the least
to the farmer, may fetch the highest price ; for the
most fertile soil will, in all probability, yield the
finest produce.
MRS. B.
The first settlers have also another advantage;
they will have selected the most favourable situ-
ations as well as the most fruitful soil ; their fields
will flourish on the borders of a navigable river, or
surround the town which they have built; afford-
ing them a resource both for a home and a foreign
market. Whilst those who cultivate land in more
remote parts must add all the charges of convey-
ance to the market where the produce is sold, or
the port from whence it is exported. Let us sup-
pose that the first settlers make 30 per cent., whilst
the latter make only 25 per cent, of their capital.
With the double advantage of the most fertile soil,
and free from rent, it is no wonder if the first
settlers should rapidly amass large capitals; and it
is not improbable that towards the decline of life
they may be desirous of retiring from the fatigues
of an active life, yet without wishing to sell their
property. Under these circumstances, do you not
think that they would readily find new settlers,
who, rather than undertake to cultivate remote
districts, of perhaps a still inferior soil, would pay
REVEirUE FROM LANDED I»ROPERTY. 21 T
mi annual sum for the use of their land, and be-
eome their tenants?
CAROLINE.
' "^^at is very true : ,it would answer to the new^
eomers to give the 5 per cent, which the first set-
tlers make above the others, in consequence of
having the most eligible land.
MRS. B.
This, then, is the origin of Rent, If the tenant;
pay a rent of 5 per cent., which is equal to one-sixth
of what the proprietor made by cultivation, his pro-
fits will be reduced to 25 per cent., and will con-
sequently be upon a level with those of the second
settlers, who remain both proprietors and formers j
and thus the profits of agriculture are reduced
from 30 to 25 per cent.
CAROLINE.
And those of other branches of industry will, I
suppose, be reduced to the same rate, in order to
maintain the level of equality of profits ?
MRS. B.
No doubt. In what manner this is effected, I
shall explain presently. When the profits of agri-
culture are ^5 per cent., accumulation will still pro-
212 REVENUE FROM LANDED PROPERTY.
ceed with rapidity ; and as the country gi'ows rich
and populous, the demand for corn will increase,
and fresh land will be required to be brought into
cultivation. The new land being either more re-
mote, or of an inferior quality, will be cultivated
under still greater disadvantages, and will not
yield, let us suppose, above 20 per cent, profits.
As soon as this happens, the second settlers will
be able to obtain a rent for their land. For it will
be as advantageous to a farmer to pay a rent of 5
per cent, for land, by the cultivation of which he
makes 25 per cent., as to give nothing for the usef
of the land when he makes only 20 per cent, of
his capital.
The general profits of capital are thus again
reduced, from 25 to 20 per cent.
CAROLINE.
But do not those who first rented land continue
making 25 per cent, by cultivating it ? j
MRS. B.
Only as long as their leases last ; for as soon as
iheir landlords find that the profits of capital are
reduced to 20 per cent, they will not allow their
tenants to make more, but require all the surplus
profits above that sum to be paid them in the form
of rent. Thus every fresh portion of land that is
REVENUE FROM LANDED PROPERTY. 213
taken into cultivation, either of inferior quality or
less favourably situated, produces the double effect
of creating f^dditional rents on the land before
cultivated, and of reducing the profits of capital.
CAROLINE,
That I perfectly understand ; but how does it
affect the price of agricultural produce — the high
price of which, you say, is not owing to rent ?
MRS. B.
In proportion as recourse is had to land of an
inferior quality, to provide food for an increasing
population, the difficulty and consequently the ex-
pense of producing it is increased, and no produce
lyill be cultivated which will not sell for so much as
its cost of production. Every new tract of inferior
soil, therefore, brought under tillage, which raises
rents and diminishes profits, will also raise the price
" of raw produce; for every quartern of corn, and
loaf of bread, whether grown on the finest soils at
the least cost of production, or yielded by land the
li most unfavourably circumstanced, will fetch the
i\ same price in the market.
CAROLINE.
That is undoubtedly true; we had already obr
served it : but it is curious enough to think that of
two similar loaves of bread brought on table, the
214 REVENUE FROM LANDED PROPERTY.
cost of production of one of them may perhaps
have been nearly twice as much as that of the
other; and that one may have paid three-pence,
whilst the other has only paid a half-penny towar^l^
the rent of the land on which it was raised.
The price of raw produce in general is then re-
gulated by the expence of producing it on soils of
the worst quality, or the most disadvantageously
situated, which are incapable of paying a rent ?
MRS. B.
Yes ; provided you include in the cost of pro-
duction the profits of the farmer; for though thb
worst soils cultivated may not afford a rent, they
must bring the cultivator a profit; and if the pro-
duce of such land ceased to afford him profits, it
would be thrown out of cultivation.
CAROLINE.
The high price of agricultural produce results,
then, from the necessity of raising some portion of
it at an additional expense on inferior soils ?
MRS.B.
Yes ; and as this has at the same time the effect
of producing a rent on land of superior quality,
we may define rent to be that part of the surplus
produce of the land which remains after all the
expenses of cultivation are deducted.
REVENUE FROM LANDED PROPERTY. 215
CAROLINE.
I think I understand it now perfectly; when
population increases, the new people will eat as
heartily and consume as much as the others, but the
j new land will not yield so much as that before cul-
j tivated ; therefore, a greater quantity of land must
; be turned up to feed a given number of men, more
I labourers will be required to work it, and the cost
' of production being dearer, the price of its crops
must rise. Under such disadvantages, I only
wonder that the price of corn, and of raw produce,
should not be higher than it is.
MRS. B.
The natural rise in the price of raw produce,
owing to the cultivation of inferior soils, is in n,
great measure counterbalanced by other circum-
stances. If the productive powers of nature diminish
, as we proceed in the cultivation of inferior soils, those
I of art increase, with the progress of wealth. Every
year improvements are made in agriculture, which
augment the produce without proportionally in-
creasing the expenses of cultivation, and enable
corn to be brought cheaper to market. Besides,
though land of an inferior quality is at first culti-
vated at an additional expense, it improves by til-
lage, so tliat the cost of production gradually
diminishes ; and by draining, manuring, and other
ameliorating processes of agriculture, an ungrateful
216 REVENUE FROM LANDED PROPERTY.
soil is in the course of time not unfrequently ren-
dered fertile. Disadvantages of situation are also
remedied with the progress of society, the neigh-
bourhood increases in population, new towns are
built, and new markets opened ; if therefore it were
not indispensably necessary to continue bringing
fresh land into cultivation to provide for an ever-
growing population, corn would be produced at
less expense, and would fall instead of rising in
price.
CAROLINE.
But if all the surplus produce which remains
after the expenses of production are deducted, go
to the landlord in the form of rent, improvements
in agriculture will not lower the price of raw pro-
duce, but will increase the rent.
MRS. B.
I beg your pardon ; you have just observed that
the price of raw produce in general is regulated by
the expense of producing it on soils of the poorest
quality, and the most disadvantageously situated ;
therefore, the more we diminish the expense of
raising it on such soils, and the more we can re-
medy the disadvantages of situation, the lower we
shall fix the standard price of raw produce. The
cost of production of a loaf of bread raised on
land of the lowest description is now one shilling ;
if by improvements in agricultural labour we could
REVENUE FROM LANDED PROPERTY. 217
reduce it to ten-pence, bread in general would sell
at that price.
CAROLINE.
But, Mrs. B., if the profits of the farmer are
gradually diminished by the natural increase of
rent as inferior land is brought into cultivation,
are they not, on the other hand, augmented by the
enhanced price of agricultural produce? If the land-
lord require more rent, it is because the farmer
sells his crops for more money. One of these
effects, of increasing cultivation, appears exactly to
counterbalance the other, and therefore one does
not see why the farmer's profits should not remain
stationary.
MRS. B.
It is perfectly true that the enhanced price of
the farmer's crops remunerates him for the rise of
rent. But it is not rent, it is the increased expense
of production on poorer soils, which diminishes his
profits. You may recollect my explaining to you
how this occasioned a diminution of profits previous
to the introduction of rent.
CAROLINE.
But this circumstance affects only the cultivator
of new and inferior land. What is it that dimi
nishes the profits of the cultivator of superior soils,
if it is not the increase of rent ?
L
213 III5VENUE FROM LANDED PROPERTY.
MRS. B.
The bringing inferior soils into cultivation pro-
duces a general diminution of profits in all employ-
ments of capital, by producing a general rise of
wages.
The wages of labour, we have observed, are
always kept by the capitalist as low as the circum-
stances of the country will admit. If then agri-
cultural produce, which constitutes the chief
necessaries of life, rises in price, from an increased
cost of production ; how are the labouring classes
to subsist unless their wages rise also ?
If the price of corn were enhanced in consequence
of a bad harvest, the poor must necessarily submit
to the evil of scarcity. — We have already observed,
that in this case there is no resource ; but such a
calamity would be only of a temporary nature ;
whilst a rise in the price of corn, occasioned by
increased cost of production, would be permanent.
The capitalist who intends keeping up the same
stock of labourers, must therefore consent to raise
the general rate of wages ; and not only farmers,
but all persons employing labourers, will be under
the same necessity ; since labourers, of whatever
description, are affected by the enhanced price of
the necessaries of life.
CAROLINE.
Is not this rise of wages analogous to that pcca-
sioned by accumulation of capital ?
REVENUE FROM LANDED PROPERTY. 219
MRS. B.
Oh no; it is far from being attended with
the same happy consequences, for it neither in-
creases the demand for labour ; nor does it improve
the condition of the labouring classes. If the
labourer receive more wages from his employer,
it is not because capital abounds, but because his
maintenance is dearer — dearer on account of the
increased expense of producing it.
In order to impress this on your memory, and
avoid confusion, I will enumerate the several
causes which occasion a rise of wages.
1st. Wages rise in consequence of accumulation
of capital ; labour is then well rewarded, the profits
of capital are low, population increases, and the
country is in a state of prosperity.
2dly. Wages rise in consequence of the increased
cost of production of agricultural produce ; then,
though profits are diminished, labour is not better
paid ; it is the produce of the soil which is deficient^
and there is less to divide between the labourer and
his employer.
3dly. Wages sometimes rise in consequence of
dearness of provisions occasioned by scarcity, the
effect of which is merely to increase the price of the
necessaries of life, so that the labourer suffers equally
from the scarcity whether his wages rise or not.
CAROLINE.
I understand that perfectly well ; but as I ad*
L 2
220 REVENUE FROM LANDED PROPERTY^
vance in the subject, fresh difficulties occur to me.
So in ascending a mountain path, we expect on
reaching the first eminence that all our difficuUie?
will be over; but as we proceed, we find new sum-
mits rise in succession, till we almost despair of
attaining the highest.
MRS. B.
If your metaphor alludes to perfect knowledge,
it is an eminence we can never expect to attain :
yet we are well rewarded for the difficulty of the
ascent by the enlarged horizon, which, in propor-
tion as we rise, expands before our view.
But what are the difficulties which just now
impede your progress ?
CAROLINE,
Should not the rise of price of agricultural pro
duce precede, instead of follow, the cultivation ol
inferior soils; for when an increasing population
augments the demand for food, their wants would
not prove a sufficient inducement to the farmer to
turn up new land, if the price of corn did not rise
to tempt him to do so ?
MRS. B.
That is actually the case : but this rise of corn
is the effect of a deficiency of supply, and would be
temporary ; for corn would fall again as soon as
REVENUE FROM LANDED PROPERTY. 2'21
the additional crops were brought to market, if the
expense of producing these crops were not greater
than that of corn raised on land previously culti-
vated ; but if more labour has been bestowed upon
them, if they cost the farmer more, they must
continue to sell higher. This, then, is the cause of
the permanent continuation of high price of raw
produce after the demand has been supplied. ' It
proceeds from no deficiency of supply, but from an
increase in the cost of production. The new corn
will, however, fall in price, if its cost of production
does not greatly exceed that of land previously
cultivated ; but the price can never fall so low as it
was before the deficiency of supply, if the land on
which it is raised be in any respect inferior to that
which was previously cultivated.
CAROLINE.
Then do not wages as well as corn rise previously
to the cultivation of inferior soils?
MRS. B.
They do; but this rise is in consequence of
accumulation of capital, and takes place some time
previous to the cultivation of inferior soils.
CAROLINE.
But since capital consists of food, of clothing, in
a word of all that can supply the wants of man, if
L 3
222 REVENUE FROM LANDED PROPERTY.
it is increased before new land is brought into cuK
tivation, it seems to supersede the necessity of that
measure. Is it not rather inconsistent to say, that
because the augmenting population is supplied by
an increased capital, it requires a still further addi-
tion to it ?
MRS. B.
Capital does not consist solely of the necessaries
of life, but includes also conveniences, comforts,
and luxuries ; capital may increase, therefore, with-
out an augmentation of food. Mr. Ricardo has
so clearly explained this, in his recent treatise on
Political Economy, that I cannot do better than
to read you the passage : —
" When a high price of corn is the effect of an
"increasing demand, it is always preceded by an
** increase of wages ; for demand cannot increase
" without an increase of means in the people to pay
" for that which they desire. An accumulation of
*' capital naturally produces an increased competi-
** tion among the employers of labour, and a
** consequent rise in its price."
CAROLINE.
Yes, I recollect that was the case in our colony.
MRS.' B. {reading),
*' The increased wages are not immediately
" expended on food, but are first made to contri-
REVENUE FROM LANDED PROPERTY. 22S
** bute to the other enjoyments of the labourer,
** His improved condition, however, induces and
*' enables him to marry, and then the demand for
** food for the support of his family naturally
** supersedes that of those other enjoyments on
*' which his wages were temporarily expended. Corn
*' rises, then, because the demand for it increases^
*' because there are those in the society who have
'* improved means of paying for it ; and the profits
" of the farmer will be raised above the general
** level of profits, till the requisite quantity of
** capital has been employed on its production.
" Whether, after the supply has taken place,
'' com shall again fall to its former price, or shall
" continue permanently higher, will depend on the
*' quality of the land from which the increased
" quantity of corn has been supplied. If it be
*' obtained from land of the same fertility as that
*' which was last in cultivation, and with no greater
*' cost of labour, the price will fall to its former
** state ; if from poorer land, it will continue per-
" manently higher."
You see, therefore, that your observation, that
the rise of raw produce should precede the cultiva-
Ition of inferior soils, is perfectly just. But you
must remember that the cause of the original rise
of price, and that which subsequently produces its
permanent continuation, are quite distinct; the
first ceases, and the second commences as soon as
L 4
224 REVENUE FROM LANDED PROPERTY.
the new crops are brought to market. Every time
that inferior land is brought into culture, the price
of raw produce, and consequently the profits of
farming, must have previously risen. This occurs
more or less at every progressive step made in
agriculture. No new land can be cultivated till
capital has accumulated to maintain and employ
a greater number of labourers. And no new land
will be cultivated till population has so far increased
as to raise the price of corn, and make it answer
to the agriculturist to break up new land for
tillage.
CAROLINE.
Since my last observation has proved just, 1 will
venture to make another. The rise of wages in
consequence of accumulation of capital should be
followed by a diminution of profits; this, there-
fore, would also precede the cultivation of inferior
soils.
MRS. B.
And it does so. But the diminution of profiti>
arising from abundance of capital and consequent
increase of wages, is, like its cause, but temporary.
It is soon followed by an increasing population and
demand for food. The enhanced price of raw pro-
.duce then repays the farmer the expense of high
wages, and his profits are for a time even higher
than those of other employments of capital.
I
\
REVENUE FROM LANDED PROPERTY. 225
CAROLINE.
Then, will not also the landlord come upon him
for rent, previously to the cultivation of inferior
soils ?
MRS. B.
No, not any more than he would for having had
a remarkably productive crop, his extraordinary
profits being only temporary. If, as we have already
observed, the increased demand for corn is sup-
plied by land of as good quality as that previously
cultivated, corn will fall to its former price, just
as cloth or linen would first rise in price by an
increasing demand, and fall again when that de-
mand was supplied. But if the additional supply
of cloth or linen could only be produced at a
greater expense than before, those commodities
could not then fall to their former price. An ad-
ditional supply of corn is almost always produced
imder this disadvantage, being raised on land of
inferior quality : corn therefore will remain perma-
nently higher priced ; and it is not till then that
the landlord comes upon the cultivator of the better
soil for rent.
Increase of capital could never produce a perma-
nent fall of profits; for as soon as population
increased to correspond with the capital, labour
would fall, and profits be restored to their former-
rate. It is only when the cost of production of
L 5
226 REVENUE FROM LANDED PROPERTY.
food is increased, that the rise of wages and dimi*
nution of profits is permanent.
CAROLINE.
But, Mrs. B., is there any cultivated land in this
C50untry which can afford no rent ? I know that
gentlemen frequently farm their own estates, but it
is with a view either to amusement or advantage,
not because they could not obtain a rent for them.
MRS. B.
England is so far advanced in wealth and popu-
lation, and has brought such numerous gradations
of soil successively into cultivation, that I do not
suppose there are now any considerable tracts of
land under tillage which afford no rent; but in
countries that have made less progress, such as
Poland, Russia, and America, we know this to be
the case; and in this country, as there is yet land
which is suffered to lie waste, because at the present
price of corn it is not worth cultivating independ-
ently of rent, it is not natural to suppose that from
such very poor land we should suddenly rise to
that of so good a quality that it will yield both
rent and profit ; there must undoubtedly be some of
an intermediate nature, which will afford the usual
rate of profit to the cultivator, but will produce
no rent.
The inclosure of commons may afford us an
J4.
REVENUE FROM LANDED PROPERTY. 227
example of land of this quality ; they are, I believe,
usually granted in lots to the parishioners, free of
cost, who cultivate it on their own account ; but I
do not think they could obtain a rent for it, unless
they previously laid out capital upon it in fencing,
ditching, draining, manuring, &c., which are part
of the necessary expenses of cultivation, and which,
if the proprietor undergoes for the tenant, he natur-
ally requires to be repaid. For it must be under-
stood, that by the rent of land I do not mean the
total rent of a farm, comprehending, a dwelling-
house, barns, stables, and farming-stock of various
descriptions, but simply the use of the re-produc-
tive powers of the land.
CAROLINE.
Commons newly cultivated, in the course of time,
will in their turn, I suppose, afford a rent?
MRS. B,
No doubt they will, when their soil is improved,
or that an increase of population shall have forced
soils of still inferior quality into cultivation. But I
conceive that a considerable quantity of land, for
which rent is actually paid, may be incapable of
affording it. A farm generally consists of a variety
of soils ; one field may yield double or quadruple
the produce that another will. On farms of poor
land there are probably some fields that yield no
L 6
228 REVENUE FROM LANDED PROPERTy.
rent at all ; that is to say, if taken separately, their
produce would not more than repay the expenses
of cultivation, and give the usual rate of profit,
whilst other fields may be of so superior a quality,
as to afford a greater proportion of rent than is
paid per acre for the farm ; an average is therefore
taken, and the farmer pays more rent for the worst,
and less for the best, than they would afford. The
total rent of the farm includes also the rent of
the various buildings and improvements made on
the premises.
CAROLINE.
All this is perfectly clear; but I am not at all
pleased to learn that as a country advances in the
accumulation of wealth, rent, the portion of the idle
landlord, augments, while profits^ the portion of
the industrious farmer, diminishes.
■MRS. B.
These idle landlords, of whom you complain,
neither lower the profits of capital nor raise the
price of agricultural produce. Both these effects
i-esult from the diversity of soils successively
brought into cultivation. Were rents, therefore,
to be abolished, the only effect produced would
be to enable farmers to live like gentlemen, as
tliey would be enriched by that share of the pro-
duce of their farms which before fell to the lot of
the landlord.
REVENUE FROM LANDED PROPERTY. 229
CAROLINE.
And would not that be a very desirable change ?
Is it not better that those who labour should grow
rich, rather than those who live upon the fruits of
the labours of others ?
MRS. B.
The yeomanry are a class of men who cul-
tivate their own property; and if you wish to
encourage their industry, you must allow them to
reap the full reward of their labours, — to accu-
mulate wealth, and, when wealthy, to indulge in
ease and repose, and to let their land to others, if
they prefer this plan to that of cultivating it them-
selves. Were landed proprietors prohibited from
letting their land when rich, they would nevertheless
become idle, and would neglect the farming busi-
ness ; which being left to the care of servants, the
cultivation would suffer, and the country, as well
as the proprietor, be injured by the diminution of
produce. In civilised countries, landed property
has been obtained by industry, or by wealth, the
fruits of industry, and should be secured in its full
value, not only to the individual who has earned
it, but to his heirs for ever.
CAROLINE,
Bat these wealthy men, who indulge in ease mid
repose, are no better members of society than the
indolent savage.
230 REVENUE FROM LANDED PROPERTY.
MRS. B.
The love of ease, so commonly found among the
rich and great, so far from being adverse to pro-
duction or consumption, is quite the reverse ; they
are indolent, not from a want of taste for enjoy-
ment, but because their wealth enables them to
obtain these enjoyments through the agency of
others.
Besides, though it is true that rents rise as a
country advances in prosperity, this rise is not in
proportion to the increasing produce of the soil,
owing to the additional capital laid upon it. Rent
formerly used to bring in to the landlord one-third
of the produce of his land ; it has since fallen to
one-fourth, and has lately been estimated as low ns
one-fifth; so that the landlord, whilst he receive
a higher rent, has a smaller share of the wholi
produce.
CAROLINE.
That is some consolation. But could no means
be devised to abolish rents, and compel farmers to
reduce in consequence the price of their produce,
so that neither the landlord nor the farmer, but the
public, should enjoy the benefit of the surplus pro-
duce which constitutes rent ? Surely this would
reduce the price of provisions, and of all agricul-
tural produce.
REVENUE FROM LANDED PROPERTY. 231
MRS. B.
Since the price of raw produce is regulated by
the expense of producing it on the poorest soils
under cultivation, which can afford no rent, it could
not fall in consequence of the abolition of rents.
But supposing that it did so, what advantages
would you expect to result from the reduction of
prices so produced ?
CAROLINE.
If food were cheaper, people would be able to
consume more, and the poor would have plenty.
MRS. B.
How so ? would the land be more productive in
consequence of the abolition of rent? and if more
should not be produced, how could the people con-
sume more ? An increased consumption without an
increased supply will, as we have remarked on a
former occasion, lead to a famine. The price of
a quartern loaf is now one shilling; I conclude,
therefore, that at that price the consumption
of bread will be so proportioned to the quantity
wanted, that the stock of wheat will last till the
next harvest. The adoption of your compulsory
measures might reduce the price of a quartern
loaf to nine-pence ; and every poor family being
thus enabled to increase their consumption of
532 REVENUE FROM LANDED PROPERTY.
bread, the stock of wheat would not last out till
the ensuing harvest. Then the following year,
instead of raising more corn to make up the de-
iiciency, the poorest land, which yields no rent,
and but just affords the profits of capital at the
present price of raw produce, would, by such a
diminution of price be thrown out of cultivation ;
and the produce of the country would thus be con-
siderably diminished.
CAROLINE.
Very true. I did not foresee that consequence.
And a scarcity would perhaps raise the price of
bread higher than it was before.
MRS. B.
How much would it be necessary for bread to
rise in price in order to make the corn last till the
next crops came in ? ^
CAROLINE.
To the price at which it now sells, one shilling.
MRS. B.
• We return then to the rent-price, though no rent
is paid: you see, therefore, the fallacy of your
proposed measures. The high price, of which you
so bitterly complain, is the price necessary to pro-
portion the consumption to the supply, so as to
make it last till the ensuing harvest.
10
REVENUE FROM LANDED PROPERTY. 233
Cy^ROLINE.
So far from being r^ortified, Mrs. B., I am
delighted with my disappointment, as it has been
the means of convincing me that if the poor are
obliged to pay a high price for the necessaries of
life, it is for their own benefit, as well as that of the
mighty lords of the land ; since it ensures them a
uniform supply throughout the year.
MRS. B.
The labouring classes are besides in a great
measure relieved from the burthen of high prices,
as their wages rise in proportion ; but observe,
that this is the case only when high prices are occa-
sioned by increased cost of production, not by
scarcity. " A high price" (Mr. Ricardo observes),
" is by no means incompatible with an abundant
" supply ; the price is permanently high, not be-
" cause the quantity is deficient, but because there
" has been an increased cost in producing it."
CAROLINE.
I the more willingly acquit rent of the accu-
sation of creating high prices, since I see that
there are two other sources from whence that evil
may flow ; the diversity of soil, and the necessity of
proportioning the consumption to the supply.
MRS. B.
Since you acknowledge that high prices are ne-
2S4 REVENUE FROM LANDED PROPERTY.
cessary to prevent scarcity, you should, I think,
no longer consider them as an evil.
An enquiry into the effects of human laws and
institutions often discovers error; but whatever
flows in the course of nature springs from a pure
source, and the more accurately we examine it,
the more admiration we feel for its Author.
Thus though rent cannot in itself be considered
as an evil, since we have traced its cause to the
natural fertility of the earth, and the diversity of
soil, and have ascertained its effect to be to regu-
late the consumption of food to the supply ; yet
every artificial measure which tends to raise , the
price of agricultural produce, so as to enable the
farmer to pay a higher rent, is certainly injurious.
Therefore restrictions on the free importation of
corn, or any other species of raw produce, which
raises the price of those articles at home, is taking
an additional sum out of the pockets of the con-
sumer to put into that of the landlord. For rent
may be considered as a necessary tax which the
consumer pays to the landlord; the farmer is
merely the vehicle of conveyance from the one to
the other.
CAROLINE.
And has such a measure immediately the effect
of raising rents ?
MRS. B.
Not until the leases are expired; during their
REVENUE FROM LANDED PROPERTY. 235
existence the farmer enjoys all the adventitious
gains, or suffers all the losses that may occur ; but
when his lease is renewed, it must correspond with
the rate of profit, and rise or fall in proportion to
the gains which the farmer expects to make, so as
to give the whole of the surplus produce to the
landlord, and leave only the usual profits of capital
to the farmer. It may happen, indeed, either from
ignorance or carelessness, and sometimes from
motives of humanity, that the landlord does not
exact all that the farmer can afford to pay ; but
these are accidental circumstances, and the whole
of the surplus produce is considered as the fair and
usual rent.
This theory of the origin and progress of rent,
which I hope I have now explained to your satis-
faction, was first developed by Mr. Malthus, and
its consequences have since been more fully traced,
and some important inferences deduced from it, in
a late publication by Mr. Ricardo, some passages
of which I have read to you.
CAROLINE.
I hope I have understood all you have said on
the subject; but I beg that you will allow me to re-
capitulate the principal heads, in order to see if I
am not mistaken. In proportion as capital accu-
mulates, the demand for labour increases, which
raises wages, improves the condition of the poor.
'2SG HEVENUE FROM LANDED PROlPERTY.
and enables them to rear a greater number ot
children — this increases the demand for subsist-
ence, raises the price of corn temporarily, and in-
duces the farmer to take more land into cultivation
— if the new land be of inferior quality, the crops
are produced at an increased expense, which raises
the price of raw produce generally, and creates
rent on superior soils. Corn, now become perma-
nently dearer, causes a permanent rise of wages,
and a corresponding fall of profits.
MRS. B.
Your recapitulation is very correct, and 1 am
glad to find you have understood me so well ; for
the subject of rent having been but recently inves-
tigated with accuracy, it is neither so thoroughly
developed, nor so well understood, as most other
branches of political economy.
( 237 )
CONVERSATION XIII.
ON REVENUE DERIVED FROM THE
CULTIVATION OF LAND.
TWO CAPITALS EMPLOYED ON LAND — TWO REVE-
NUES DERIVED FROM IT. OF THE CAPITAL AND
PROFITS OF THE FARMER. OF THE DURATION
AND TERMS OF LEASES. OF TITHES. EX-
TRACT FROM PALEY. — OF PROPRIETORS FARM I N( J
THEIR OWN ESTATES. EXTRACT FROM TOWNS-
ENd's travels. FARMS HELD IN ADMINISTRA-
TION. advantage of an opulent TENANTRY.
METAYER SYSTEM OF FARMING. SMALL
LANDED PROPERTIES. — EXTRACT FROM ARTHUR
young's TRAVELS. DAIRY ESTABLISHMENTS IN
SWITZERLAND, SMALL FARMS. SIZE OF FARMS
IN BELGIUM AND TUSCANY. OF MINES. OF
FISHERIES.
CAROLINE.
From the subject of our last conversation I have
l^rnt that agriculture yields two distinct incomes :
one to the proprietor, the other to the cultivator of
the land.
238 REVENUE FROM CULTIVATION OF LAND.
MRS. B.
And it employs also two capitals to produce
those incoQies; the one to purchase, the other to
cultivate the land. A man who lays out money in
the purchase of land becomes a landed proprietor,
and obtains a revenue in the form of rent. He
who lays out capital in the cultivation of land
becomes a farmer, and obtains a revenue in the
form of produce.
CAROLINE.
I thought that the land was the capital from
which the farmer derived his profits.
MRS. B.
You mistake : the land is the capital of its pro-
prietor, and as such yields him a revenue ; what-
ever the farmer obtains from it, is derived from
cultivation ; that is to say, from the labour and ex-
pense he bestows on the soil. The cultivation of
land is to the farmer what the operation of machi-
nery is to the manufacturer. A farmer requires
capital to pay his labourers, and to purchase his
farming -stock, such as cattle, waggons, ploughs,
&c. It is the bare land and the farming building
which he rents. The crops which are upon the
ground when the agreement is made are paid for
independently, and become the property of the'
REVENUE FROM CULTIVATION OF LAND. 239
farmer. Unless therefore he has a capital to defray
these expenses, he cannot take the lease of a farm.
CAROLINE.
I always supposed that the produce of a farm
was sufficient to defray its expenses ; nor can I
understand how profits are to be derived from a
farm, if the cultivation and rent cost more than
its produce will repay.
MRS. B.
It is not so. The capital of the farmer is em-
ployed as the means of cultivating his farm ; and
when at the end of the year, after paying his rent,
his labourers, and keeping his stock in repair, he
6nds himself in possession not only of his original
capital, but also of a surplus or profit, it is a proof
that the farm produces more than the cost of its
rent and cultivation. The case is similar in all
employment of capital. The manufacturer who
lays it out in the purchase of raw materials, and in
paying the labour which is afterwards expended on
them ; or the merchant whose capital is employed
in the purchase of goods for sale, could not carry
on their respective occupations without first laying
out their capital : but it is returned to them, toge«
ther with the profits that have accrued by its em-
ployment. Each of these occupations bring in
240 REVENUE FROM CULTIVATION OF LAND.
more than is laid out, but none of them could be
carried on without a capital.
CAROLINE.
Oh yes ; I recollect the labourer produces for
his employer more than he receives from him as
wages, and this surplus is the source of his master's
profit ; but if the farmer had not wherewithal to
pay his labourers' wages, he could not set them to
work.
It is then upon the capital which a farmer em-
ploys On his land, that he calculates his profits ?
MRS. B.
Yes. Let us suppose that a farmer employs a
capital of the value of 3000/. on his farm : he may,
possibly, after deducting the rent and the expenses
of cultivation, make ten per cent, or SOO/. profit.
CAROLINE.
That is to say, that at the end of the year lie
would find himself SOOZ. richer than he was before?
MRS. B.
Provided that he had spent none of his gaing
during the course of the year. But as his family
are commonly maintained by the produce of the
farm, he will at the end of the year be actually
richer or poorer according to the proportion which
REVENUE FROM CULTIVATION OF LAND. 241
his domestic expenses have borne to his gains. But
these cannot be considered as a deduction from his
profits, as the expense of the maintenance of his
family must fall upon his revenue in whatever way
it is obtained.
CAROLINE.
And what is the usual rent paid for such a
farm ?
MRS. B.
It depends in a great measure upon the extent
and condition of the land. A considerable farm,
in a good state of cultivation, and possessing the
advantage of a fertile soil, may not require a capital
of more than 3000^. to carry it on ; whilst a farm
of only half that extent, if in a bad condition, and
witVi an ungrateful soil, may require as large a
capital to be laid out on it. But a very different
rent would be paid for these two farms.
CAROLINE.
The large productive farm will naturally pay a
higher rent than the smaller ill-conditioned one ?
MRS. B.
And the difference of rent will equalise the profits
which a farmer would derive from employing the
same quantity of capital on each of these farms.
i Taking an average of the state of culture, a farm
which requires 4000/. capital may pay a rent of
M
242 REVENUE FROM CULTIVATION OF LAND,
about 200/., the share of the farmer being nearly
double that of the landlord.
CAROLINE.
You said in our last conversation, that the rent
of land had lately been estimated as low as ^th
of the produce. A farm, such as you have de-
scribed, would therefore yield produce worth
1000/., in which case the profits of the farmer
would be above three times as great as those of the
landlord.
MRS. B.
You forget that from the total or gross produce
must be deducted not only the rent, but also the
expenses of cultivation ; these are generally esti-
mated at one-half of the produce, after deducting
the rent; there will remain therefore 400/., which
is 10 per cent, profit on the 4000/. capital em-
ployed on the farm. If from this sum the farmer
saves 50/., he may lay it out in *the improvement
of his land, which will render the produce more
plentiful the following year; an advantage of which
he will derive the full benefit, as his rent will re-
main the same to the end of the lease.
CAROLINE.
But on granting a new lease, the proprietor, I
suppose, would expect a higher rent for a farm that
had been thus improved ?
REVENUE FROM CULTIVATION OF LAND. 243
MRS. B.
No doubt; it is therefore desirable that land
should not be let on short leases, because farmers
would have no inducement to improve the condi-
tion of their land without the prospect of reaping
the benefit of it for some years to come.
CAROLINE.
But towards the end of the lease, this objection
would remain in force ?
MRS. B.
True: but to prevent this, farmers generally
obtain a renewal of their leases some time before
they are elapsed. Besides it would be contrary to
the interest of the landlord to deal hardly with
his tenants on such occasions, as it would dis-
courage them from improving their farms ; an
advantage in which the landlord must eventually
partake. -
In Staffordshire, Nottinghamshire, and some
other parts of the country, it is not customary to
grant leases ; the tenants hold their farms at the
will of the landlord. There is, however, a sort of
conventional agreement between the parties, that
except in cases of misconduct, the farmer shall not
be removed, nor have his rent raised during a cer-
tain period. Some people are of opinion that this
mode of letting land is preferable to granting a
M 2
244f REVENUE FROM CULTIVATION OF LAND.
lease ; because they say the industry of the farmer
is stimulated both by hope and fear ; the hope of
profit from his labours, and the fear of being
turned out should he neglect the improvement of
his farm : but in arguing thus they do not consider
that this fear must operate in two ways; for in
proportion to the improvement which the farmer
makes, so is the temptation to the landlord, if he
be needy or illiberal, to turn him out, or to exact
an increase of rent. In short, there can be no
greater check to industry than the insecurity of the
profits it produces ; and how can a farmer feel his
interests secure whilst he is dependent on the will
of his landlord ?
CAROLINE.
Besides, though a farmer may repose great con-
fidence in the character of the individual whose
land he holds, the uncertainty of life renders him
dependent also upon his heir, and this may perhaps
be some wild extravagant youth, who, without re-
gard to his ultimate interest, will exact the highest
rents from his tenants.
MRS. B.
Security is, no doubt, the most important point
for the encouragement of industry ; and the greatest,
indeed the only encouragement which government
can give to agriculture, is to secure to the farmer
all the power over the soil that is necessary for its
REVENUE FROM CULTIVATION OF LAND. 245
perfect cultivation, and to ensure to him the profits
of every improvement he may make. I will read
you a passage from Paley on this subject : —
" The principal expedient by which laws can
" promote the encouragement of agriculture, is to
*' adjust the laws of property as nearly as possible
** by the following rules : 1st, To give to the oc-
*' cupier all the power over the soil which is neces-
*' sary for its perfect cultivation. 2dly, To assign
*' the whole profit of every improvement to the
** persons by whom it is carried on. Now it is
*' indifferent to the public in whose hand this power
** of the land resides, if it be rightly used; it mat-
*' ters not to whom the land belongs if it be well
*' cultivated.
" Agriculture is discouraged by every constitu-
** lion of landed property which lets in those who
** have no concern in the improvement to a parti-
** cipation of the profit. This objection is appli-
" cable to all such customs of manors as subject
*' the proprietor, upon the death of the lord or
** tenant, or the alienation of the estate, to a fine
'* apportioned to the improved value of the land.
*' But of all institutions which are in this way
" adverse to cultivation and improvement, none is
" so noxious as that of tithes. When years perhaps
" of care and toil have matured an improvement,
*' when the husbandman sees his new crops ripen-
^* ing to his industry, the moment he is ready to
M 3
^4^6 REVENUE FROM CULTIVATION OF LANI>r
" put his sickle to the grain he finds himself com-
" pelled to divide his harvest with a stranger*
" Tithes are a tax not only upon industry, which-
" feeds mankind, but upon that species of exertion
" which it is the aim of all wise laws to cherish
" and promote."
CAROLINE.
It is indeed much to be regretted that a pro-
vision for the clergy should not be raised in some
other manner.
MRS. B.
Since all right of property is derived from legal
institutions, the clergy have an equal right to their
tithes as the landed proprietors to their estates;
yet I believe that few of the clergy venture to levy
tithes to the extent of their rights, for they cannot
do it without incurring the ill-will and opposition
of their parishioners. The system must therefore
certainly be defective which appears to dispossess
one man of the fruits of his industry, whilst it will
not allow another to take, without exciting vex-
ation and disturbance, that which the law has assign-
ed to him as his property.
CAROLINE.
And this opposition of interests must be preju-
dicial both to religion and morals, by creating an
endless source of contention between the clergy
and their parishioners ; — but why do you say
hevenue from cultivation of land. 24-7
** appears to dispossess;" for surely nothing can
be more certain than that the tithes really dispossess
the cultivator of one tenth of his produce ?
MRS. B.
It is the opinion of a political economist of great
eminence, Mr. Ricardo, that the farmer is eventually
remunerated for the expense of tithes.
CAROLINE.
Indeed ! do tithes then fall upon the landlord ?
they appear to be very analogous to rent; and I
suppose that, like rent, they may be considered as a
portion of the surplus produce of the land ?
MRS. B.
It is not so; because, whether a farm yield a
surplus produce for rent or not, it is equally obliged
to pay tithes. The farmer, therefore, in order to
defray this expense, is compelled to sell his crops
at an advanced price, and it is eventually the con-
sumer who pays the tithes; whilst, if they were a
portion of the surplus produce of the farm, the
whole burden of them would, as you observe, fall
on the landlord.
CAROLINE.
But, supposing that the consumer refused to pay
the advanced price requisite to relieve the farmer
from the burden of tithes, the landlord would be
obliged to lower the rent for that purpose ?
M 4
248 REVENUE PROM CULTIVATION OF LAND,
MRS. B.
Who, then, would pay the tithes on lands which
afford no rent ? They must fall on the cultivator;
and as he cannot afford to pay them without en-
hancing the price of his crops for that purpose, he
would no longer find it answer to cultivate soil of
so poor a quality ; he would throw up his farm, in
consequence of which the supply of corn would be
diminished, its price would rise, and the farmer
would again find it expedient to resume the culti-
vation of his land ; it is thus that the consumer is
compelled to pay tithes, or any other arbitrary tax
laid on the land.
CAROLINE.
That is certainly true with respect to land which
pays no rent ; but I cannot understand why tithes
should not be deducted from the surplus produce,
where the soil is of a nature to afford it.
MRS. B.
The price of raw produce, you must recollect, is
regulated by the expense of producing it on soils
of the worst quality under cultivation ; tithes must
increase that expense, and enhance generally the
price of raw produce. The farmer being thus
repaid by the consumers, the same surplus produce
will remain to the landlord as previously to the
introduction of tithes*
REVENUE FROM CULTIVATION OF LAND. 249
CAROLINE.
But if it is not the farmer who pays the tithes,
why is he willing to give a higher rent for land
tithe free ?
MRS. B.
Because he has the advantage of selling his crops
at the advanced price which tithes occasion, whether
his land is tithe free or not ; if he is exempted
from this tax, therefore, it will increase the sur-
plus produce which remains for the landlord after
the expenses of cultivation are deducted. In Scot-
land, tor example, where the tithes are very incon-
siderable, the landlord receives a proportionally
greater rent than in England. For the Scotch
farmer is able to sell his corn as dear as the Eng-
lish farmer, and the difference goes to the landlord
under the form of rent.
CAROLINE.
Farmers, I suppose, are not aware that the price
of their crops is raised in consequence of the tithes,
otherwise this tax would not produce so much dis-
content among them ?
MRS. B.
* Probably not. Tithes, therefore, do not con-
stitute a portion of the surplus produce of the soil,
they must be considered as part of the expenses
M 5
250 REVENUE FROM CULTIVATION OF LAND.
of cultivation ; they add to the cost of production
of the crops, and consequently raise the price of
all raw produce. This, you know, is not the case
with rent, which is the surplus produce of the land,
after deducting the expenses of cultivation.
CAROLINE.
Since it is so desirable for the cultivator to
have unlimited power over the soil, I should have
thought that it would have been particularly ad-
vantageous for landed proprietors to cultivate their
own estates, instead of letting them to farmers;
and yet it is a common observation that gentlemen
make the least profits by agriculture. This is the
more unaccountable, because being both landlord
and farmer, the proprietor must receive the two
incomes comprised in the produce of the land,
rent and profit.
MRS. B.
But recollect that he also employs two capitals^
in order to make the two incomes j the one to
purchase the land, the other to cultivate it. The
reason why gentlemen who cultivate their own
estates do not usually make profits equal to those
of a common farmer, is either because they do not
understand the business so well, or that they do
not bestow the same care and attention upon it.
The common farmer usually devotes the whole of
14
ntVENUE ]PROM CULI-IVATION OF LAND. 251
Jiis time to his farm, either in the capacity of
bailiff, or that of labourer; while the gentleman
farmer never earns the wages of labour, and gene-
rally leaves the important office of bailiff to be
performed by a substitute ; therefore were the gen-
tleman to raise as plentiful crops as the farmer,
they would be produced at a more considerable
■expense, and his gains would be proportionally
diminished. As to the value of the rent, it must
be reckoned independently, as he receives it in his
quality of landlord. •
CAROLINE.
It would then probably increase the agricultural
produce of the country, if gentlemen were always
to let their land instead of farming it themselves.
MRS. B.
On the contrary, I believe it to be very desirable
that some few gentlemen, in diflPerent parts of the
countrv\ should cultivate their own estates. Beinjr
generally men of greater information than common
farmers, they are more willing to make experi-
ments, and adopt any new mode in the various
agricultural processes which may appear eligible.
Besides, the land is frequently better improved in
the hands of the proprietor than in those of a
labouring farmer; as the proprietor has usually
M 6
252 REVENUE FROM CULTIVATION OF LANB.
the advantage of a larger capital to lay out on his
land, and then he is not restrained by the appre-
hension that his rent will be ultimately raised in
proportion to the additional value which he gives
to the land.
Townsend, in his Travels in Spain, has made
some very judicious observations on English gen-
tlemen farmers.
" By residing," he says, " on their own estates,
" they not only spend money among their tenants,
" which by its circulation sets every thing in mo-
" tion, and becomes productive of new wealth, but
" their amusement is to make improvements. By
" planting, draining, and breaking up lands which
" would have remained unprofitable, they try new
" experiments, which their tenants could not af-
" ford, and which, if successful, are soon adopted
" by their neighbours. They introduce the best
" breed of cattle, the best implements of husband-
" ry, and the best mode of agriculture ; the^
" excite emulation, they promote the mending of
" the roads, and secure good police in the villages
" around them. Being present, they prevent their
" tenants from being plundered by their stewards.
" they encourage those who are sober, diligent,
" and skilful ; and they get rid of those who would
" impoverish their estates. Their farmers, too,
" finding a ready market for the produce of the
" soil, become rich, increase their stock, and by
REVENUE FROM CULTIVATION OF LAND. 253
"their growing wealth make the land more pro-r
" ductive than it was before."
CAROLINE.
You have enumerated so many advantages on
the opposite side of the question, that I begin to
think that it would be more beneficial to the coun-
try that all landed proprietors should cultivate their
own estates ; for though they might not be great
gainers by it themselves, yet the country would
derive all the advantage fi-om the improvement of
the soil, and the introduction of scientific agri-
culture.
MRS. B.
A few gentlemen farmers in each county will be
sufficient for the latter purpose. Were it common
for proprietors to farm their own estates, I am
convinced that it would be extremely injurious to
agricultural produce ; for no command of capital,
no scientific knowledge, can, in a general point of
view, compensate for the keen and vigilant eye of
the industrious farmer, who sees that every thing
is turned to the best account.
CAROLINE.
I should suggest as a medium between these two
modes, that a landed proprietor should neithei
farm his estate, nor let it, but employ an agent to
cultivate it for him, whose salary should be pro-
S54 REVENUE FROM CULTIVATION OP LAND.
portioned to the produce which he raises on the
land.
MRS. B.
Such, I believe, was the species of tenure by which
farms were held by the vassals of the nobles when
they were first emancipated from slavery, and that
military services were no longer, as in feudal times,
considered as a sufficient remuneration for the oc-
cupancy of land. To give the cultivator any in-
terest in the produce he raises, acts certainly as a
spur to his industry ; but it is one much less pow-
erful than the security and independence of the
leasehold-farmer, who, after paying a stipulated
rent, enjoys the whole advantage of the efforts of
his industry.
Townsend informs us, that most of the great
estates in Spain are held in administration, that is,
cultivated by agents or stewards for the account of
the proprietor ; and it is principally to this cause
that he attributes the low state of agriculture.
" No country," he observes, " can suffer more than
" Spain for want of a rich tenantry, and perhaps
" none in this respect can rival England. We find
" universally that wealth produces wealth; but then
" to produce it from the earth, a due proportion
" of it must be in the pocket of the farmer. Many
" gentlemen among us, either for amusement, or
" with a view to gain, have given attention to agri-
•' culture, and have occupied much land ; they
REVENUE PROM CULTIVATION OV LAND. 255
" have produced luxuriant crops, and have intro-
" duced good husbandry ; but I apprehend few can
" boast of having made much profit, and most are
1' ready to confess that they have suffered some
" loss. If, then, residing on their own estates,
" with all their attention, they are losers, how
" great would be the loss if in distant provinces
" they employed only stewards to plough, to sow,
" to sell, and to eat up the produce of their lands?"
There are, however, in warmer climates, some
species of produce, which from their pecuHar nature
farmers would not venture to undertake to cultivate
on their own account, and proprietors would be
unwilling to trust entirely to their management.
Such is the culture of the vine and the olive, plants
which require the utmost care and attention during
a number of years before they begin to yield any
fruit, and farmm-s are seldom sufficiently opulent
to engage m a species of husbandry the profits of
which are so long protracted. On the other hand,
as these plants may be very materially injured by
being allowed to bear fruit either prematurely or too
luxuriantly, and as the interest of the farmer looks
rather to immediate than remote profits, it is not
considered safe to trust such plantations entirely to
his care. Vineyards and olive-grounds are there-
fore, I am informed, cultivated by the farmer in
half account with the proprietor, who shares with
him equally the expences and the profits. This is
256 REVENUE FROM CULTIVATION OF LAND.
called the Metayer system of cultivation : it was
formerly very common on the Continent for all
kinds of produce, and still prevails in Italy, where
the land is so extremely subdivided, that the Me-
tayer farmers, frequently subsisting upon half the
produce of not more than five or six acres of
land, are seldom superior in condition to our pea-
santry. In France and Switzerland this system of
farming is confined almost exclusively to the culture
of the vine and the olive. But how requisite so-
ever the system may be for particular plantations,
the usual mode in this country of granting leases, I
conceive to be, not only most advantageous to the
farmer, but ultimately so to the landed proprietor,
who can procure the highest rent for the land best
cultivated ; and it is also most beneficial to the
country by yielding the greatest produce. But in
Spain this mode could not be adopted for want of
an affluent tenantry. The wealth of the country is
chiefly engrossed by the nobles and clergy ; there
is a total deficiency of yeomen who cultivate their
own land ; and the middling classes are few in
number, and so destitute of capital that they are
incapable of taking a lease of land.
CAROLINE.
I often wish that the property of land was more
subdivided in this country. How delightful it would
be to see every cottage surrounded by a few acres
REVEl^rtJi: FROM CULTIVATION OF LAND. 257
belonging to the cottager, which would enable him
to keep a cow, a few pigs, and partly at least to
support his family on the produce of his little farm.
Do you recollect Goldsmith's lines ? —
" A time there was, ere England's griefs began,
" When every rood of ground maintain'd its man :
" But now, alas !
" Along the lawn where scatter'd hamlets rose,
" Unwieldy wealth and cumb'rous pomp repose,
" And every want to luxury allied."
MRS. B.
I shall point out to you a passage in Arthur
Young's Travels in France, in which this question
is discussed.
CARoLiNt readSi
" I saw nothing respectable in small properties,
" except most unremitting industry. Indeed it is
" necessary to impress on the reader's mind that
" though the husbandry I met with in a great
" variety of instances was as bad as can well be
" conceived, yet the industry of the possessors was
" so conspicuous and meritorious that no com-
" mendations would be too great for it It was
" sufficient to prove that property in land is the
" most active instigator to severe and incessant
" labour. And this truth is of such force and ex-
" tent that I know no way so sure of carrying tillage
258 REVENUE FROM CULTIVATION OF LAND. ,
" to a mountain-top as by permitting the adjoining
'' villagers to acquire it in property; in fact, we
" see that in the mountains of Languetloc they
" have conveyed earth in baskets on their backs to
** form a soil where nature has denied it."
MRS. B.
Land that is too poor to afford a rent, you will
recollect, may still yield sufficiently to pay the
proprietor for its cultivation; it is therefore the
property of such soils alone which will ensure their
being cultivated. — But go on.
CAROLINE reads,
" But great inconveniency arises in small pro-
'* perties from the universal division which takes
" place after the death of the proprietor. Thus I
'^ have seen some farms which originally consisted
** of 40 or 50 acres reduced to half an acre, with a
*' family as much attached to it as if it were an
" hundred acres. The population flowing from
" this extreme division is often but the multiplica-
'' tion of wretchedness. Men increase beyond the
** demand of towns and manufactures, and the
" consequence is distress, and numbers dying of
" diseases arising from insufficient nourishment
** Hence small properties much divided form the
'* greatest source of misery that can be conceived.
" In England small properties are exceedingly
REVENUE FROM CULTIVATION OF LAND. 259
*' rare ; our labouring poor are justly emulous of
'* being the proprietors of their cottages, and that
" scrap of land which forms the garden ; but they
" seldom think of buying land enough to employ
" themselves. A man that has two or three
*' hundred pounds with us does not buy a field,
" but stocks a farm. In every part of England in
*' which I have been, there is no comparison be-
" tween the case of a day-labourer and of a very
" little farmer : we have no people that fare so
*' ill and work so hard as the latter. No labour is
" so wretchedly performed and so dear as that of
" hired hands accustomed to work for themselves ;
" there is a disgust and listlessness that cannot
" escape an intelligent observer, and nothing but
" real distress will drive such little proprietors to
" work at all for others. Can any thing be appa-
" rently so absurd as a strong hearty man walking
" some miles and losing a day's work in order to
" sell a dozen of eggs or a chicken, the value of
" which would not be equal to the labour of con-
" veying it, were the people usefully employed ?"
CAROLINE.
This reminds me of a poor woman in Savoy,
who kept a few cows among the mountains two or
three leagues distant from Geneva. Having no
other market for her milk, she carried it regularly
every day to that town for sale; thus the greater
260 REVENUE I*ItDM OUlTlVATIOKT OP LAND*
part of her time was spent upon the road, whilst it
might certainly have been much more profitably
employed had she been dairy-maid to some con-
siderable farmer, who, having milk enough to turn
it to butter and cheese, could in that state send it
wholesale to market.
MRS. B.
The inconvenience you allude to has of late years
been obviated in many of the villages of Switzer-
land, especially in the neighbourhood of Geneva,
by the introduction of a peculiar species of public
dairy establishments, which, I understand, origin-
ated in the plains of Lombardy. To these dairies,
called Friiitieres, the farmers in the vicinity bring
their daily stock of milk, which is converted into
butter and cheese, and returned to them in that
form, the establishment retaining only such a por-
tion as is necessary to defray its expences.
There are also considerable dairy establishments
in the Swiss mountains, but these are commonly
private property ; the proprietor of the mountain-
pasture usually hiring cows of the neighbouring
farmers, who are commonly repaid in the manu-
factured produce of the dairy.
Small landed properties are extremely common
in Switzerland; and I confess that the observations
I have made durinor a lonfj residence in that conn-
try, have not led me to form the same conclusions
REVENUE FROxM CULTIVATION OF LAND. ^261
as Arthur Young. Wlien a farm is insufficient for
the maintenance of more than a single family, the
law which enjoins an equal division of the property
after the death of the father, among his children,
is easily evaded ; the children, instead of waiting
for that event to parcel out the land into portions,
which would be nearly without value from their
minuteness, agree that one of the brothers shall
succeed to the landed property, and pay to the
other children an equivalent for their share ; this is
done either immediately on their coming to the
inheritance, or by instalments, as circumstances
will admit. In the meantime those who have thus
sold their birth-right, learn some trade, or other
mode of gaining a livelihood.
In the Canton of Berne it is usually the youngest
son who remains at home with his father, and suc-
ceeds to the estate when it is too small to be di-
vided.
There are also many districts in France, parti-
cularly in Burgundy, where farms of about ten
acres are known to have existed to the same extent
I for above a century and a half; — the theorist, ac-
cording to an apparently unanswerable calculation,
would have reduced these farms to a few square
yards during such a period of time ; but human
nature is very ingenious in devising methods for
eluding or softening the effects of a law which has
ii an unfavourable tendency.
i ■
262 REVENUE FROM CULTIVATION OF LAND.
CAROLINE.
I heard a gentleman who is recently returned
from France say, that three servants, whom he had
hired at Marseilles, had all been men of landed
property; but that the portion of inheritance to
each had been so small that they had disposed of
it to other members of their families, in order to
hire themselves as servants.
MRS. B.
When this or any other cause prevents the ex-
treme partition of landed property, the principal
objections to small properties are removed ; and
the disadvantage arising from deficiency of capital
may be in a great measure compensated by the
stimulus given to the industry of a man who cul-
tivates his own land. This system is perhaps best
calculated for mountainous countries, where the
strongest motives to industry are required, to in-
duce men to climb the steep rock in order to culti-
vate a small patch of earth favourably situated on
its acclivity.
Neither can I agree with Arthur Young as to
the disinclination of small propriety's to work for
hire. In the Canton de Vaud, it is usual for the
French-border peasantry, after having got in their
own harvests, to descend the mountains of the
Jura and assist in the labours of the Vaudois :
tliere they meet the Savoyards, whose crops, situ-
REVENUE FROM CULTIVATION OF LAND. 263
ated in the elevated valleys of the Alps, are not yet
ripe; all parties unite their labours, apparently in
a most joyous manner, and I am inclined to think
that the prospect of receiving a pecuniary reward
gives them an additional stimulus. Those who
usually work without pay, feel a particular gratifi-
cation in acquiring a little ready cash, *and what
they gain in this way goes to their clothing and a
few little luxuries ; the shops at Geneva are
thronged after harvest time, both with French and
Savoyard peasants, who are laying out their earn-
ings.
CAROLINE.
I have heard that the condition of the lower
agricultural classes in France has been very much
improved by the sale of the national domains, at
the commencement of the Revolution in that coun-
try ; that it has enabled the small farmers and many
of the peasantry to become landed proprietors, and
thus to cultivate their own land ; and that this sub-
division of property has proved so beneficial that,
notwithstanding all the evils they have since had
to contend with, they are yet in a very thriving
condition.
MRS. B.
By the sale of the national domains, very small
proprietors, whose land was scarcely equal to the
maintenance of their families, were enabled to
enlarge their farms. The ill consequences arising
264? REVENUE FROM CULTIVATION OF LAND.
from an extreme subdivision of land would thus be
remedied. But we must recollect that at the com-
mencement of the French Revolution, the restrictive
and oppressive laws which checked the progress of
every branch of industry were abolished ; this gave
vigour to agricultural pursuits. Then the sale of
confiscated lands, at a period when its tenure was
considered as extremely insecure, rendered them so
cheap, that it was almost as easy to purchase an
estate in France as in America, with the additional
advantage of its being already in a state of culti-
vation. These circumstances all concurred to im-
prove the condition of the small landed proprietors.
With a view of amassing little capitals to lay out
upon their new domains, they have acquired habits
of industry and economy, and such habits are of
themselves a treasure to a country. At the same
time it must be admitted, that very serious disad-
vantages result from a great division of landed
property, even though the extreme division we
have alluded to should be avoided. The small
landed proprietor is deficient both in capital and in
education; he has not the means of laying out
money in the improvement of his land ; and his
ignorance generally renders him averse to any new
process of agriculture, even though it should not
be attended with additional ejcpense. His land is
therefore cultivated in a very inferior manner; he
is frequendy obliged to sell his crops at an unpro«»
REVENUE FROM CULTIVATION OF LAND. 265
fitable period, and in seasons of distress he is nearly
without resource.
CAROLINE.
And are there the same objections to small lease-
hold farms ?
MRS. B.
In a great measure. It is poverty alone which
induces a man to take a very small farm ; and a
poor farmer cannot make those exertions which are
requisite for good husbandry. The profits of a
considerable farmer enable him to improve his land;
those of a small one are entirely consumed in the
maintenance of his family ; his land is therefore
badly cultivated, and he has little or no surplus
produce to send to market.
CAROLINE.
What sized farms do you suppose to be most
beneficial to a country ?
MRS. B.
That must vary extremely, according to the local
situation, the nature of the climate and soil, and
the capital of the farmer. In Belgium, which is
esteemed one of the best cultivated countries in
Europe, I am informed that the farms are upon an
average about 40 acres ; and in Tuscany, another
spot remarkable for the excellence of its agriculture,
N
266 REVENUE FROM CULTIVATION OF LANDw
the farms seldom exceed 10 or 15 acres, all culti-
vated upon the Metayer system ; but in this favoured
climate the fields yield such abundant crops that
the produce approaches more nearly to that of a
Belgic farm than you would imagine from the dif-
ference of their extent.
In this country there is, 1 think, a strong predi-
lection in favour of considerable farms. Were I to
give an opinion, I should say that a farm should
never be so large that the farmer cannot superintend
the whole of the cultivation himself; nor so small
as not to enable him to keep up that farming stock
establishment necessary for the most perfect hus-
bandry. But this is a point which may be safely
left to regulate itself. I do not apprehend that this
country can suffer by the different size of farms ;
for there are very few small landed properties ; and
as it is the interest of the landlord to draw the
greatest possible income from his estate, he will let
his farms of such dimensions as he conceives his
tenant will be able to turn to the best account.
To a very opulent farmer he may be induced to
grant a lease of a large farm ; whilst he will refuse
that of a single field to a cottaj^er who would ex-
haust instead of improving the soil.
The advantages of considerable farms have been
so ably delineated in one of the numbers of the
Edinburgh Review that I shall read you the
passage :
•REVENrE PROM CULTIVATION OF LAND. 267
^* It is quite evident that some of the most valu-
** able mechanical inventions could never have
** come into general use if there had been no farms
*' of more than 100 or 150 acres ; that no great
*^ improvement could have been made in our live
" stock ; that there would have been still less room
" than there is at present for the division of labour,
*' and for its accumulation for the purpose of dis-
*' patch at particular seasons ; that there would not
** have been that systematic arrangement by which
*' every different quality of soil is made to produce
*' those crops, and to feed those sorts of animals for
" which it is best calculated ; that it would have
** been almost impracticable to practise convertible
** husbandry at all, which by combining tillage and
*' pasturage on the same farm, contributes so power-
" fully to sustain and augment the fertility of the
*' soil ; that the surplus produce for the supply of
*' towns would have been inconsiderable at all
** times, and from the general poverty of small
** tenants brought to market in too great abun-
** dance in the early part of the season, instead
** of apportioning it over the whole year ; and
** in bad seasons there would have been no sur-
" plus at all: — and that, in short, as no person
" of capital or enterprise would ever have en-
** tered into the profession, our extensive moors
" and morasses, and indeed all our inferior
** soils must have remained in their natural state,
N 2
268 REVENUE FROM CULTIVATION OF LAND.
" cr been partially and most unprofitably iin-
** proved under the delegated management of great
" proprietors."
It is now, I think, high time to conclude the
subject of agriculture ; and it is necessary to say
only a few words on Mining, a branch of industry
which I have placed next to agriculture, on account
of its analogy to it, in affording a rent.
Mines, like the surface of the earth, yielding dif-
ferent quantities of produce according to their re-
spective degrees of richness, all those which are not
of the poorest quality must afford a rent.
CAROLINE.
The price of the metals, then, like that of corn,
must be regulated by the expense of producing it
from the last mines opened ?
MRS. B.
Your observation applies, with more correctness,
to the produce of the surface of the earth ; the land
last cultivated is generally the poorest, or labours
under other disadvantages, which have prevented
its being' sooner brought under the plough ; but
mines being less open to observation, new mines
are not unfrequently discovered, which yield more
metal than others previously worked. You should
rather say, therefore, that the price of metal is
regulated by the expense of extracting it from the
poorest mines now worked.
REVENUE FROM CULTIVATION OF LAND. 269
The same laws apply to coal-pits, which, not-
withstanding the great assistance derived from
machinery, give work to several hundred thou-
sand labourers who earn their maintenance, be-
sides the profits of their employer and the rent of
the proprietor ; and this rent is in general more
considerable than that of agricultural land, as the
produce of coal-pits is more valuable than that of
the soil.
CAROLINE.
The mines containing metals are, I suppose, of
still greater value ?
MRS. B.
Yes, and their rent proportionally higher; but
the profits of the capitalist who rents them, and of
the labourers who woi-k them, is not greater. As
the value of a mine, however, depends upon the
quantity, as well as on the quality of the metal it
affords, it frequently happens that a lead-mine will
fetch a higher rent than a silver-mine. The expense
of working coal-pits is less than that of metallic
mines. The coal requires nothing more thcin to be
extracted from the earth : but with the metals the
labour is much more complicated; they must be
separated from the ore in the furnace, and undergo
a variety of processes before they are fit for the
purposes of art.
The risk and uncertainty attending mining is
N 3
^70 REVENUE FROM CULTIVATION OF LAND.
greater than that of any other employment of
capital; and accordingly we find both larger for-
tunes made, and more people rumed in that than
m any other branch of industry*
CAROLINE.
The chance of gain, then, compensates for the
risk of loss; but upon the whole I suppose the
profits are similar to those derived from other
modes of employing capital ?
MRS. B.
I am inclined to believe the profits of mining to
be rather lower than the common standard. In all
hazardous enterprises men are prone to trust to
their good fortune, and generally consider the
chances more in their favour than an accurate
calculation would warrant. This is evinced by
the readiness with which men venture to stake
their money in the lottery, though it is well known
that the chances of gain are decidedly against
them. A mine is a more advantageous lottery
no doubt than that of government, but it con-
tains a prodigious number of blanks, and only a
few great prizes. Sanguine hopes and expect-
ations in some measure supply the place of actual
gains ; yet if the average profits of mining should
at any time fall so low as to discourage the spirit
of enterprise, and diminish the requisite supply of
REVENUE FROM CULTIVATION OF LAND. 271
metals, their price would rise until it had brought
back a sufficient capital to that branch of industry.
I have mentioned fisheries as a source of employ-
ment for capital, and a means of affording a revenue.
Very large capitals are engaged in the whale, the
cod, and the herring fisheries, besides those smaller
ones which supply the country with fresh fish. But
as the sea in which these fisheries are carried on is
not susceptible of becoming private property, they
yield no rent. There are however some consider-
able uiland river fisheries which belong to individuals,
and bring in a rent. No fewer than forty-one
different salmon fisheries upon the river Tweed
are rented for several thousands a-year ; and I am
informed that the Duke of Gordon lets a salmon
fishery on the Spey for 7000^. a-year. In the
Scotch fisheries it is very common to take four or
five score of salmon at a drauo^ht. In Enn^land
there are also considerable salmon fisheries in the
Tyne, the Trent, the Severn, and the Thames.
CAROLINE.
The rent of fisheries depends, I suppose, upon
some rivers abounding more with fish than others.
MRS. B.
Yes ; all rent is derived from the same principle,
the lesser quantity of labour required to produce
die commodity in some situations than in others.
N 4
272 REVENUE FROM CULTIVATION OF LAND.
We have already noticed the manner in which a
revenue is obtained from manufactures ; what fur-
ther observations we have to make on this branch
of industry we shall defer till we enter on the subject
of trade, with which it is so naturally connected.
CAROLINE.
And will that be the subject of our next con-
versation ?
MRS. B.
No ; we have yet many general remarks to make
upon revenue. And it will be necessary also, be-
fore we turn our attention to trade or commerce,
that you should understand the nature and use of
money, without a knowledge of which it would be
extremely difficult to render the subject perspi-
cuous.
{ 273 )
CONVERSATION XIV.
ON THE REVENUE OF THOSE WHO
DO NOT EMPLOY THEIR CAPITAL
THEMSELVES.
RENT, OR INCOME DERIVED FROM LETTING LAND.
— INTEREST OF MONEY, OR INCOME DERIVED
FROM LOANS. CAUSES OF THE DIFFERENT RATE
OF INTEREST YIELDED BY LAND OR BY MONEY.
CAUSES OF THE FLUCTUATIONS OF INTEREST.
RATE OF INTEREST IN INDIA, IN CHINA,
AND IN AMERICA. OF USURY. GOVERNMENT
LOANS, OR INCOME DERIVED FROM THE FUNDS.
OF UNPRODUCTIVE LABOURERS, OR THOSE
WHO DERIVE AN INCOME FROM THE EXPENDI-
TURE OF OTHERS.
CAROLINE.
I THINK I now understand very well how an
income is derived from agriculture and manu-
factures; and also how it is produced by trade;
but there are many men of property who follow
N 5
274; ON REVENUE FROM CAPITAL LENT.
none of these occupations ; how, therefore, can
their capital yield an income ?
MRS. B,
When a man possesses a very large property, he
frequently will not be at the trouble of employing
it himself; but will engage some other person to
do it for him. You have seen that a landed pro-
prietor who does not farm his own estate derives a*
revenue from the farmer in the form of rent.
CAROLINE.
But I allude to men of fortune without landed
property, who live upon their income, although
their capital is not employed.
MRS. B.
Reflect a moment, and you will be convinced
that no capital can yield an income without being
employed. If, therefore, the owner does not in-
vest it in some branch of industry himself, another
person must do it for him. A capitalist under
such circumstances may be supposed to say, " I
'' am possessed of an ample stock of subsistence
" for labourers, and of materials for workmanship,
" but I will engage some other person to take
" charge of so troublesome an undertaking as that
" of setting the people to work, and collecting the
"profits derived from their labours."
ON REVENUE FROM CAPITAL LENT. 275
CAROLINE.
This person must be handsomely remunerated
for the time and pains he bestows on the manage-
ment of a capital which is not his own.
MRS. B.
No doubt; a considerable share of the profits
derived from the use of capital must go to him
who takes charge of it; but when a man's pro-
perty is very large, he would rather lose that share
than be at the trouble of managing it himself.
Thus you see that the employer and the proprietor
of capital are frequently different persons.
CAROLINE.
Yet I do not recollect ever to have heard of a
man of fortune making use of an agent to employ
his capital.
MRS. B.
He does not engage an agent on his own ac-
count, but he lends his capital to some person who
invests it either in agriculture, manufactures^ or
trade, and who pays him so much per cent, for the
use of it. This is called lending money at interest.
CAROLINE.
Is it then simply money that is lent ; or cctpital
consisting of produce ?
N 6
276 ON REVENUE FROM CAPITAL LENT.
MRS. B.
It is eventually the same ; for money gives the
borrower a command over a proportional share
of the produce of the country. If the money
vi^ould not purchase the things which the borrower
wanted, it would not answer his purpose ; but it
will procure him either materials or implements
for work, maintenance for labourers, stock for*
farming, or merchandise for trade. In a word,
it will enable him to exert his industry in what-
ever way he chooses.
CAROLINE.
I should have imagined that it would have been
more advantageous to the capitalist to have engaged
an agent at a stipulated salary, for the purpose of
undertaking the use of his capital ?
MRS. B.
Your plan would probably not answer so well;
for if, instead of lending his capital at interest, a
man of property paid an agent to employ it for
him, the agent would be less cautious what risks he
engaged in, as he would not be a sufferer by losses.
CAROLINE.
But is not the loan of capital at interest liable
to the same objection ? If the employer of capital
be ruined, the proprietor of it must share the same
fate.
■J '■
ON llEVENUE FROM CAPITAL LENT. 277
MRS. B.
This not unfrequently happens ; yet there is less
risk incurred in this mode than if the employer of
capital could injure the proprietor without being
himself involved in the same fate ; and it would be
so if he acted as clerk or agent, as he would lose
only his salary, although the proprietor might be
utterly ruined.
Prudent men seldom lend capital without good
security. If the loan is made to a merchant, it is not
unfrequent to require other merchants, or men of
property, to become responsible for the payment.
If to a man of landed property, the capital is lent
upon the security of his estate ; that is to say, if
the ^loan be not repaid according to agreement, the
lender has the right to seize that particular property,
upon the security of which the capital was advanced.
This is called lending money upon the security of
mortgage.
CAROLINE.
That must be the best kind of security, for the
land cannot be made away with. It is making
fixed capital responsible for circulating capital.
The man who borrows capital with a view to
employ it, must necessarily expect to make greater
profits than will pay the interest of the loan, other-
wise he would be no gainer by it.
278 ON REVENUE FROM CAPITAL LENT.
MRS. B.
Certainly. The average profits of the use of
capital may be estimated at about double the in-
terest of money. Legal interest, that is to say, the
highest rate which the law allows to be given, is
five per cent., and the usual profits of trade are
about ten per cent.
CAROLINE.
Therefore the lender and the borrower, or in
other words the proprietor and employer of capital,
commonly divide the profits arising from it equally
between them ; the one making as much by his
property as the other by his industry.
The landed proprietor who lets his land to a
farmer, I conceive to be situated in the same man-
ner as the man who lends his capital at interest,
neither of them choosing to undertake the employ-
ment of their capitals themselves, but procuring
some other person to do it for them ; and the rent
the farmer pays for the use of the land is similar to
the interest paid for the use of capital ?
MRS. B.
It is so ; and the advantages derived from letting
land are analogous to those that result from the
loan of capital. We have observed that if the
farmer, instead of paying a rent, received a certain
stipend for his labour, and reserved the whole of
ON REVENUE JFROM CAPITAL LENT. 279
the produce for the landlord, he would certainly
be less attentive to the cultivation of the land than
if his gains resulted from the value of the produce
raised.
There is, however, one essential difference be-
tween borrowing capital and renting land. The
man who borrows capital to be employed in trade
or manufactures, requires nothing more to enable
him to prosecute his business. Whilst the farmer
who borrows land cannot undertake the cultivation
of it without the assistance of another capital,
which he must either possess or borrow for that
purpose.
CAROLINE.
Then there is another difference. The landed
proprietor and the farmer do not divide the pro-
fits arising from the cultivation of the land equally
between them, as is usually, you say, the case with
the lender and borrower of capital ; for the farmer
makes greater profits by the use of the land than
the proprietor by the rent.
MRS. B.
There are several reasons for this difference*
In the first place you must recollect that the
profits of capital vary with the degrees of risk to
I which it is exposed; and then consider that an
income derived from the rent of land is much
njore secure tlian any other kind of revenue* For
280 ON REVENUE FROM CAPITAL LENT.
if the farmer ruin himself) he cannot make away
with the land : he may be obliged to quit his farm,
but then his stock is liable to seizure for the pay-
ment of rent.
Another considerable advantaije attached to
landed property is, that in proportion as agricul-
ture improves, the produce of the land increases ;
this augments the profits of the farmer, and enables
the landlord to raise his rent. And lastly, we
must call to mind the observations we made on the
origin of rent; and we shall find that in propor-
tion as agriculture extends, and new and inferior
lands are taken into cultivation, the rent of land
rises. If you weigh all these advantages, you will
no longer be surprised that a landed proprietor
should be satisfied with making between three and
four per cent, of his capital, instead of lending it at
five percent, interest, with more or less risk of loss,
and a certainty that the capital will not improve.
CAROLINE.
The real profit, therefore, to be derived from
the loan of capital perfectly secure, is between
three and four per cent., and whatever is received
above that sum may be considered as an indemni-
fication for the risk to which it is exposed ?
MRS. B.
If you take the improvable nature of rent, as
ON REVENUE FROM CAPITAL LENT. 281
well as its perfect security into the calculation,
some deduction may be allowed in consideration
of the certain prospect of future increase; the profit
to be derived from the loan of capital, even when
the security is perfect, may therefore be estimated
somewhat higher than that which is afforded by
the rent of land.
We must now make a few observations upon the
interest of money.
The interest of money, or price paid for the
loan of capital, was formerly much higher than it
is at present. It has gradually diminished for some
centuries past.
CAROLINE.
And why should that be the case ?
MRS. B.
Whenever great profits can be made by the em-
ployment of capital, great interest will be given for
the loan of it. When, on the contrary, but small
profits can be made, the interest will be low.
Thus, as I have already pointed out to you,
when a nation advances in opulence and population,
so as to render it requisite to take inferior soils
into cultivation, the necessaries of life become
dearer, the wages of labour rise, the profits on
capital are low, and the interest of money will
generally correspond with the rate of such profits,
for the borrower can afford to pay only in propor-
282 ON REVENUE FROM CAPITAL LENT.
tion to the profits he expects to make by the use
of it.
A great and sudden accession of capital, by in-
creasing the demand for labour, will raise wages
and diminish profits ; but this effect will last only
till population increases in the same ratio, — it is
then that it will be necessary to turn up new and
inferior land, and the effect becomes permanent.
Thus the greater or lesser demand for labour
makes profits and interest fluctuate ; but the only
steady and permanent cause of the diminution of
profits and of interest is the cultivation of inferior
soils.
During the reign of the Emperor Augustus, the
interest of money at Rome fell from ten to four
per cent., owing to the great influx of wealth from
the conquered provinces. In India, where the pro-
portion of capital to the number of labourers is
comparatively small, wages are extremely low, and
the profits of capital and interest of money exor-
bitantly high. The common rate of interest was
for a long time twelve per cent., and I have heard
that it is not unusual to make as much as twenty,
or even thirty per cent, interest. In China, interest
is six per cent, per month.
CAROLINE.
And is interest low in America, where labourers
are scarce and wages high ?
ON REVENUE FROM CAPITAL LENT. 283
MRS. B.
No, it is not; on account of the great profits
made by agriculture. In a country not yet fully
peopled, where there is so great a choice of fertile
land, that scarcely any of an inferior quality is
brought into cultivation, and consequently where
little or no rent is paid, the cultivator can afford to
give high wages, and yet make great profits ; and
wherever great gains can be made by the use of ca-
pital, high interest will be given for the loan of it.
Therefore, though capital has been increasing in
America more rapidly than in any other country ;
yet as immediate and advantageous employment is
found for every accession of capital by the culti-
vation of new and fruitful lands, the interest of
money does not fall.
In all old-established fully peopled countries the
low interest of money is a sign of great accumu-
lation of capital, abundant population, extensive
cultivation of a variety of soils, high price of raw
produce, high wages of labour, and small profits.
CAROLINE.
If I understand you right, you mean to say that
a borrower will give but little for the loan of ca-
pital when he can make but small profits by it ;
that he can make but small profits when he must
pay high wages ; that wages will be high whenever
284 ON REVENUE FROM CAPITAL LENT.
subsistence is dear ; that subsistence will be dear
when inferior soils are taken into cultivation ; that
inferior soils are taken into cultivation when popu-
lation multiplies, and that population multiplies
when wages are high, in consequence of accumu-
lation of capital.
MRS. B.
Thus we trace low interest to a source which is
the origin of national prosperity — accumulation of
capital.
CAROLINE.
But I thought that the interest of money was
fixed by law, and incapable of fluctuation ?
MRS. B.
The legal interest in this country is 5 per cent. ;
it may fall below that rate, though it cannot rise
above it without becoming usury. In former
times, to receive any remuneration for the loan of
money was regarded much in the same light as
usury is at present; that is to say, as taking an
unfair advantage of the borrower.
CAROLINE.
Such an opinion could have been entertained by
those only who understood nothing of the repro-
ductive nature of capital ; for had they been aware
of the profits to be made by the employment of
ON REVENUE FROM CAPITAL LENT. ^85
inoney, they could not have considered it as unfair
to pay for the use of it.
MRS. B.
Our forefathers had no pretensions to a know-
ledge of political economy ; it is a science of later
date. The prejudice against lending money at in-
terest appears not to have prevailed in very ancient
times, but to have originated in the darkness of
the middle ages ; for the interest of money was
legally instituted both amongst the Grecians and
the Romans. It must have been an established
practice in the time of Solon, since it is upon re-
cord that he reduced the legal interest to 12 per
cent. The Bramins, in India, are said to have
taken 2^ per cent, monthly, so far back as 3000
years, and yet legal interest was not established in
modern Europe until the year 1516.
Macpherson, in his History of Commerce, makes
the following observations on the unpopularity of
receiving interest for the loan of money : " In the
"year 1251," he observes, "the consequence of
** the clamour rnd persecution raised against those
" who took interest for the use of money was so
" violent, that they were obliged to charge it much
" higher than the natural price, (which if it had
** been let alone would have found its level,) in
" order to compensate for the opprobrium, and
" frequently the plunder which they suffered ; and
S86 ON REVENUE FROM CAPITAL LENT.
" thence the usual rate of interest was, what we
" should now call most exorbitant and scandalous
" usury." And what we now call exorbitant and
scandalous usury proceeds in a great measure from
a similar prejudice, which prevents the interest of
money, like all other pecuniary interests, from find-
ing its natural level, and stamps with criminality,
and the odium of usury, any bargain in which
money is lent at a higher interest than 5 per cent.,
however great the risk incurred by the lender.
Why should there be a limit to the terms on which
money may be borrowed, any more than to the
borrowing, or I should rather say, to the hiring
any other commodity ?
CAROLINE.
Would not such unlimited freedom of interest
afford too great encouragement to capitalists to
supply prodigals and thoughtless youths with mo-
ney, and thus facilitate their means of squander-
ing it ?
MRS. B.
Men of this description find no difficulty in bor-
rowing of usurers, provided they are able to give
security for the payment, and without such security
they would not obtain the loan of money either
fi'om men of respectability or from crafty usurers.
The only difference now is, that they must pay a
higher price for the loan, because the lender re-
ON REVENUE FROM CAPITAL LENT. 287
quires to be remunerated, not only for the use of
the money, and the risk he incurs, but also for the
ignominy and criminality attached to the proceed-
ing; this necessarily takes it out of the hands of
men of honourable character, and throws it into
those of people, who having no value for reputation,
are much more likely to take undue advantage of
the distress of men who are in urgent want of
money, and of the unguarded thoughtlessness of
prodigal youth.
There is yet another means by which a man of
property may derive an income from his capital
without employing it himself: it is by lending it to
a borrower who is distinguished from all others by
the singularity of his dealings — who borrows not
only without any intention of making profits ,by the
use of the capital : but also, in general, without any
prospect of repaying the principal of the debt.
CAROLINE.
Without any prospect of repaying the debt !
; And where can they find people who will agree to
lend capital on such terms ?
MRS.B.
This extraordinary borrower is no other than
' the government of the country. When govern-
ment makes a loan, that is to say, borrows capital,
it is for the purpose of spending it as soon as pro-
288 ON REVENUE FROM CAPITAL LENT.
cured; and the proprietors of this capital, or, as
they are usually denominated, the public creditors
or stockholders, scarcely ever expect that the debt
should be repaid. Yet notwithstanding this cir-
cumstance men are willing to lend their money to
government even upon lower terms than to other
borrowers. This arises from two causes; the first
that the security of government for the punctual
payment of the interest is better than that of any
individual ; and the second, that the public creditor
has an indirect neans of getting back his capital
whenever he pleases, without being repaid by
government.
CAROLINE.
In what way ?
MRS. B.
By selling his right to receive the interest, to any
individual who wishes to invest his capital in the
funds, and who will then stand in the place of the
original creditor.
CAROLINE.
And can he always sell that right for the sum he
originally lent to government ?
MRS. B.
Not always exactly ; he will sometimes get more,
and sometimes less, according to the state of the
ON REVENUE FROM CAPITAL LENT. 289
market. If there are many creditors or stock-
holders desirous to sell, and but few capitalists
wishing to buy, he will get less; if many buyers
and few sellers, he will obtain more : in the latter
case the stocks are said to be high, or rising ; in the
former, to be low, or falling.
CAROLINE.
But since government spends the capital bor-
rowed instead of deriving any profit from it, by
what means is the interest paid ?
MRS. B.
It is paid by taxes levied expressly for that
purpose.
CAROLINE.
If, then, government spends what is borrowed,
the capital no longer exists, and the stockholder
remains possessed of only an imaginary or fictitious
capital.
MRS. B.
He remains possessed of the right to receive an
annual payment, or annuity, equal to the stipulated
interest, till the government pays him back the
principal. And this annuity (where the government
can be depended upon) will always sell for its value
to such persons as have capital which they wish to
290 ON REVENUE FROM CAPITAL LENT.
lend at interest. It is thus that the stockholder is
enabled to realise this fictitious capital, whenever
he chooses, by selling his stock. The capital is,
therefore, not lost to the individual ; but it is en-
tirely lost to the country. The stock may be sold,
but the sale does not re-create the capital that has
been spent ; it merely transfers to the seller capital
already existing in the hands of the buyer, and
which would equally have existed whether the stock
were sold or not. So long, however, as it can be
exchanged for real capital, and in the mean time
produces a substantial income to the possessor, it
affords him all the enjoyments that can be derived
from wealth.
CAROLINE.
And is it not very injurious to the prosperity of
a country that the government should spend its
capital ?
MRS. B.
No doubt; but under some circumstances it is
an unavoidable evil. In cases of urgent danger
during a war, it is often necessary to raise
larger sums of money, and with more expedition,
than can be obtained by taxes ; recourse is then
had to loans, which, if not paid off, accumulate
by repetitions, and become at length a heavy na-
tional debt, and a great burden to the country.
ON REVENUE FROM CAPITAL LENT. 291
owing to the taxes that must be raised in order to
pay the interest.
We may return to this subject at some future
time : let me now ask you whether you fully under-
stand how those who do not employ their capital
themselves derive an income from it ? ,
CAROLINE,
Through the agency of otiicrs, who, if the
capital consists in land, pay them rent; if in money,
pay them interest.
MRS. B.
Very well ; take care, however, not to be misled
by the term money, for no man's capital consists
wholly in money. It must consist chiefly either in
lands or saleable produce, rude or manufactured; all
of which is estimated in money. And you cannot, as
I said before, have clear ideas on this subject until
the nature and use of money have been explained
to you.
We have now examined all the modes by which
men derive a revenue from their capital ; there yet
remains to be noticed a class of men who are main-
tained by the revenue of others.
CAROLINE.
Do you mean labourers, who are maintained
by wages, and bring a profit to their employers ?
o 2
292 ON REVENUE FROM CAPITAL LENT.
MRS. B.
No; these, whom we have distinguished by the
name of jwoductive labourers, are maintained by
the capital of others ; whilst the class of men to
whom I now allude are maintained by the income
of others. They are labourers, it is true ; but of
this peculiar description, that their labour is to-
tally unproductive ; they consume without re -pro-
ducing : their labour, therefore, can add nothing to
the future wealth of the country, and hence they
are called unproductive labourers.
CAROLINE.
I think I guess what description of people
you mean ; are not menial servants unproductive
labourers ?
MRS. B.
Yes, they are ; for their labour, however useful,
does not augment the riches of the country. A
productive labourer is paid out of the value of the
work he produces: this work remains with his
employer, and may be either accumulated or ex-
changed for other commodities; but the labour of
the menial servant, so far from increasing the re-
venue of his master, is an expense to him, his
wages being necessarily paid with the produce of
some other labour.
ON REVENUE FROM CAPITAL LENT, 29S
CAROLINE.
There is no doubt an essential difference between
these two kinds of labourers : keeping a number of
workmen is a source of wealth, whilst keeping a
number of menial servants is a source of expense.
MRS. B. .
The one is the employment of capital ; the other
the expenditure of income. Franklin, in his Cor-
respondence, expresses this difference with his usual
perspicuity and neatness : — " The first elements
" of wealth are obtained by labour from the eartli
" and waters. I have land and I raise corn : with
" this I feed a family that does nothing ; my corn
" will be consumed, and at the end of the year I
" shall be no richer than I was at the beginning.
" But if, while I feed them, I employ them, some
" in spinning, others in hewing timber and sawing
" boards, others in making bricks for building,
'' the value of my corn will be arrested, and re-
" main with me, and at the end of the year we
" may all be better clothed and better lodged.
" And if instead of employing a man, I feed, in
" making bricks, I employ him in fiddling for me,
** the corn he eats is gone, and no part of his ma-
" nufacture remains to augment the wealth and
" conveniences of the family : I shall therefore be
" the poorer for this fiddling man, unless the rest
o 3
294 ON REVENUE FROM CAPITAL LENT,
" of my family work more or eat less to make up
" the deficiency he occasions."
But the class of unproductive labourers is far
from being confined to menial servants ; it extends
to all the servants of the public : actors, singers,
dancers, and all those who are maintained by the
productive labour of others, are of this descrip-
tion.
CAROLINE.
Is it not to be regretted that these people can-
not be compelled to a more useful mode of em-
ployment ?
MRS. B.
Their labour, though of an unproductive nature,
is generally useful. Servants, for instance, by re-
lieving the productive labourer of much necessary
work, enable him to do more than he could other-
wise accomplish. Thus a man engaged in the
employment of a considerable capital can spend his
time to greater advantage, both to himself and to
the community, than in cleaning his own shoes and
cooking his own dinner.
CAROLINE.
The use of servants is evidently attended with
some of the benefits of the division of labour.
MRS. B.
You will probably be surprised to hear that
ON REVENUE FROM CAPITAL LENT. 295
many of the most valuable ranks of society are in-
cluded in the class of unproductive labourers. The
divine, the physician, the soldier, ministers of state,
and magistrates, are of this description.
CAROLINE.
I did not imagine that the class of unproductive
labourers had been so respectable. And although
their labour is of an unproductive nature, they are,
I think, in many instances, more valuable members
of society than some of the productive labourers.
A magistrate, who faithfully administers justice ; a
physician, who restores health ; a clergyman, who
teaches religion and morals ; are certainly of more
essential benefit to society, than the confectioner
or the perfumer, or any of those productive la-
bourers who are employed in the fabrication of
luxuries.
MRS. B.
No doubt they are. There is no greater stimu-
lus to industry than security of property ; justice is
therefore essentially necessary to encourage pro-
ductive labour ; and the legislator and magistrate,
though they do not immediately produce commo-
dities, are as necessary to their production as the
labours of the husbandman or artisan.
o 4
296f
CONVERSATION XV.
ON VALUE AND PRICE.
OF THE VALUE OF COMMODITIES. — OF THE DIS-
TINCTION BETWEEN EXCHANGEABLE VALUE AND
PRICE. — OF THE CAUSE OF VALUE. OF VALUE
IN USE, AND VALUE IN EXCHANGE. OF THE
COST OF PRODUCTION, OR NATURAL VALUE OF
COMMODITIES. OF THE COMPONENT PARTS OF
THE COST OF PRODUCTION, RENT, PROFIT, AND
WAGES. — OF THEIR IMPERFECTION AS A MEA-
SURE OF VALUE. OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND.—
OF THE COMPONENT PARTS OF THE EXCHANGE-
ABLE VALUE OF COMMODITIES.— HIGH PRICE OF
COMMODITIES ARISING FROM SCARCITY. LOW
PRICE ARISING FROM EXCESSIVE SUPPLY. LOW
PRICE ARISING FROM DIMINUTION OF COST OF
PRODUCTION.
MRS. B.
Before we proceed to the subject of trade, it is
necessary that you should understand what is meant
by the value of commodities.
ON VALUE AND PRICE. 297
CAROLINE.
That cannot be very difficult ; it is one of the
first things we learn.
MRS. B.
What is learnt at an age when the understand-
ing is not yet well developed, is not always well
learnt. What do you understand by the value of
commodities ?
CAROLINE.
We call things valuable which cost a great deal
of money ; a diamond necklace, for instance, is
very valuable.
MRS. B.
But if, instead of money, you gave, in exchange
for the necklace, silk or cotton goods, tea, sugar,
or any other commodity, would you not still call
the necklace valuable ?
CAROLINE.
Certainly I should ; for, supposing the necklace
to be worth 1000/., it is immaterial whether I give
1000/. in money, or 1000/. worth of any thing
else in exchange for it.
MRS. B.
The value of a commodity is therefore estimated
by the quantity of other things generally for which
it will exchange, and hence it is frequently called
exchangeable value.
o 5
298 ON VALUE AND PRICE.
CAROLINE.
Or, in other words, the price of a commodity.
MRS. B.
No; price does not admit of so extensive a sig-
nification. The price of a commodity is its ex-
changeable value, estimated in money only. It is
necessary that you should remember this distinction.
CAROLINE,
But what is it that renders a commodity valu-
able ? I always thought that its price was the cause
of its value; but I begin to perceive that I was
mistaken : for things are valuable independently of
money ; it is their real intrinsic value which induces
people to give money for them.
MRS. B.
Certainly; money cannot impart value to com-
modities; it is merely the scale by which their value
is measured ; as a yard measures a piece of cloth.
CAROLINE.
I think the value of things must consist in their
utility, for we commonly value a commodity accord-
ing to the use we can make of it. Food, clothing,
houses, carriages, furniture, have all their several
uses.
ON VALUE AND PRICE. 299
MRS. B.
That is true ; yet there are some things of the
most general and important utility, such, for in-
stance, as light, air, and water, which, however
indispensable to our welfare, have no exchangeable
value; nothing is given for them, nor can any
thing be obtained in exchange for them. Utility,
therefore, does not in all cases produce exchange-
able value.
CAROLINE.
No one will give any thing for what is so plen-
tiful, and so readily obtained that every one may
have as much as he requires, without making any
sacrifice : but as light, air, and water, are essential
even to our existence, surely they should be
esteemed valuable.
MRS. B.
No doubt they are, but it is in a point of view
different from that of exchangeable value. Dr.
Adam Smith distinguishes two kinds of value; the
one arising from utility, the other from what can
be obtained in exchange. He says, " The word
" value, it is to be observed, has two different
<' meanings ; it sometimes expresses the utility
" of some particular object, and sometimes the
" power of purchasing other goods which the pos-
*' session of that object conveys. The one may be
o 6
300 ON VALUE AND PRICE.
" called value in use, the other value hi exchange,
" The things which. have the greatest value in use
" have frequently little or no value in exchange ;
" and, on the contrary, those that have the great-
" est value in exchange, have frequently little or no
" value in use. Nothing is more useful than water,
" but it will purchase scarce any thing ; scarce
" any thing can be had in exchange for it. A
" diamond, on the contrary, has scarce any value
*' in use, but a very great quantity of other goods
" may frequently be had in exchange for it."
Nature works for us grjituitously ; and when
she supplies us with articles in such abundance,
that no labour is required to procure them, those
articles, however useful they may be, have not ex-
changeable value : but when the labour of man
becomes necessary to procure us the enjoyment of
any commodity, he must be remunerated, and that
commodity acquires a value ; either a price is paid
for it in money, or other things are given in ex- j
change for it. Light, air, and water are the free
and bountiful gifts of nature, but if a man con-
structs a lamp, we must pay for the light it diffuses :
if we are indebted to his labours for 'a ventilator,
or even a fan, we pay for the air they procure us ;
and when water is conveyed through pipes into our
houses, raised by pumps, or brought to us in any
manner by the art of man, a price is paid for it.
Utility may therefore be considered as the sole
ON VALUE AND PRICE. 301
cause of value in use, whilst value in exchange may
be produced by any circumstance which renders
the possession of an object so difficult of attainment,
and at the same time so desirable, that men are
willing to give something in exchange for it.
Thus not only utility, but beauty, curiosity, fiishion,
rarity, and many other qualities, may create ex-
changeable value ; and it is to this value that, in
political economy, we chiefly confine our attention.
CAROLINE.
There are many articles of luxury which are
perfecdy devoid of utility, such, for instance, as
pictures, jewels, artificial flowers, and other orna-
ments ; these are valued either for their beauty,
their curiosity, or their rarity.
But, Mrs. B., if an object is valuable in pro-
portion as we are desirous to obtain it, its value
will vary with respect to different persons to whom
its possession may be more or less desirable.
Thus, medicine to the sick, and food to the
hungry will be more valuable than to the healthy
and the well fed.
MRS. B.
The value of a commodity is not estimated by
the sacrifice which those in the most urgent want
would make rather than be deprived of it; but by
what is requisite to be given in exchange, in order
to obtain it. The apothecary knows that if he
302 ON VALUE AND PRICE.
endeavoured to take advantage of the sick man's
necessity to raise the price of his medicine, it
would be procured at another shop ; and that in-
stead of making an exorbitant profit he would
lose a customer; and if the hungry man were at-
tempted to be imposed upon in a similar manner,
he would purchase food elsewhere : thus compe-
tition (under ordinary circumstances) prevents un-
due advantage being taken of the wants of in-
dividuals.
CAROLINE.
What is it, then, that regulates the exchange-
able value of commodities ; you have said that it
was estimated by the quantity of things given in
exchange for them, but I wish to know what it is
that determines the specific quantity to be given ?
MRS. B.
It is fundamentally regulated by the cost of
production of the commodity, that is to say, the
expense laid out upon it in order to bring it to a
saleable state. A great deal of labour has been
bestowed upon that book-case ; if the workmen
who made it were not repaid, they would no
longer make book-cases, but seek some more pro-
fitable employment. The price of a commodity,
therefore, must be sufficient to defray the cost of
production.
ON VALUE AND PRICE. 303
CAROLINE.
But, Mrs. B., the money which this book-case
cost does not all go to the workmen who made it ;
the materials of which it is made must be paid for ;
the upholsterer who sold it derives a profit from it.
MRS. B.
It was his capital which purchased the raw ma-
terials, which furnished the tools, and set the jour-
neymen to work; without this aid the book-case
could not have been made. The price of commo-
dities is the reward not only of those who prepared
or fabricated them, but also of every productive
labourer who has been employed in bringing them
to a saleable state, for each of these concurred in
giving value to the commodity.
We have formerly observed that no work can be
undertaken without the use of capital, as well to
maintain the labourer as to supply him with the im-
plements to work with, and the materials to work
upon. Subsisting upon this maintenance, and
working with these implements, he is to transform
the useless trunk of a tree into a useful or beautiful
piece of furniture, which acquires value in propor-
tion as it becomes an object of desire. The profit
of capital is, therefore, a component part of the
value of a commodity, as well as the wages of la-
bour. There remains yet a third component part
304? ON VALUE AND PRICE.
of the value of a commodity, which a little reflec-
tion will, I think, enable you to discover.
CAROLINE.
Agricultural produce must, besides the wages of
labour, and profit of capital, pay the rent of the
land on which it is raised. But this will not be
the case with manufactured goods.
MRS. B.
The raw materials for manufactures are all, or
almo.>5t all, the produce of land, and consequently
must defray the expence of rent, the same as corn
or hay. But rent does not enter into the price of
commodities in the same manner as the profit of
capital, or the wages of labour, because, as you may
recollect, rent is the effect, not ihe cause of the high
price of commodities. Dr. Smith observes, that
" high or low wages are the causes of high or low
" price ; high or low rent is the effect of it. It is
" because high or low wages or profit must be
" made, in order to bring a particular commodity
" to market, that its price is high or low. But it
" is because its price is high or low, a great deal
" more, or very little more, or no more than what
" is sufficient to pay those wages and profit, that
" it affords a high rent, or a low rent, or no rent
" at all."
Let us now observe how the value of a commo-
ON VALUE AND PRICE. 305
llity resolves itself into these three component parts.
Take, for instance, a load of hay ; its price pays,
first, the wages of the labourer who cut down the
grass and made it into hay ; then the profits of the
farmer who sells it ; and, lastly, the rent of the field
in which it grew. This, therefore, constitutes the
whole cost of production of the load of hay ; and
may be called its natural value,
CAROLINE.
But, Mrs. B., if rent does not raise the price
of commodities, how can you consider it as form-
ing a component part of their value ?
MRS. B.
That part of the value of commodities which goes
to the landlord in the form of rent would, were
there no rent, go to the cultivator in the form of
profit; it is, therefore, immaterial under which
head you consider it.
CAROLINE.
Or should the commodity be produced on land
of too poor a quality to afford a rent, rent could
I no longer be considered as entering into the cost
of its production.
MRS. B.
Certainly not ; these three component parts of
306 ON VALUE AND PRICE.
the natural value of a commodity are not always
essentially necessary to its production ; one or other
of them may occasionally be deficient.
CAROLINE.
Pray let me try whether I could trace the various
payments made to the several persons concerned in
the production of a loaf of bread. — Its price must
first pay the wages of the journeyman baker who
made it ; then the profits of capital of the master-
baker who sells it; next the wages of the miller
who ground the corn, and the profits of the master
who employs him; afterwards the wages of the
several husbandmen who cultivated the field of
corn ; the profits of the farmer ; and, lastly, a por-
tion of the rent of his farm.
MRS. B.
Exactly so. Thus you see that the value of a
commodity is composed of three parts, rent, profit,
and wages ; the rent of the proprietor of the laud,
the profits of the several employers of capital, and
the wages of the various labourers who give it
qualities which render it an object of desire, and
consequently a saleable commodity.
It sometimes happens that the proprietor of
land, and farmer, and even the labourer, are united
in one individual. We have already observed,
that in many parts of America the cultivators of the
ON VALUE AND PRICE. 307
land are both proprietors and labourers, and reap
the reward of rent, profit, and wages.
CAROLINE.
And in this country a cottager who possesses a
litde garden cultivated by his own hands, and of
which he brings the produce to market, likewise
concentrates in himself all the advantages of pro-
prietor, capitalist, and labourer; for he sells his
vegetables for the same price as a market-gardener,
who has to deduct from the price the rent of the
garden and the wages of the labourer.
MRS. B.
But he is not, therefore, the greater gainer, for
if he has no rent to pay, it is because he has laid
out a capital in the purchase of the land ; and if he
pays no wages, it is because he works himself, and
employs that labour which might otherwise bring
him wages : then some capital is used to purchase
garden-tools, manure, or whatever may be requisite
for the culture of his garden.
CAROLINE.
I think I now understand perfectly well how
rent, profit, and wages enter into the value of com-
modities. I may say, for instance, so much rent,
profit, and wages has been expended in the pro-
jduction of this carpet, and therefore I must pay
308 ON VALUE AND PRICE.
a sum of money for it, if I wish to purchase it ;
but how am 1 thence to infer what sum of money
it is worth ?
MRS. B.
By applying the same scale or measure to esti-
mate the value of money, that you have applied to
estimate the value of the carpet. Examine what
quantity of rent, profit, and wages was bestowed
upon the production of the money, and you will be
able to ascertain how much of it should be given in
exchange for the carpet, or, in other words, what ;
the carpet is worth in money. I paid 20 guineas
for this carpet; I conclude therefore that the cost
of production of the carpet is equal to the cost of
production of 20 guineas.
CAROLINE.
But it would be impossible to calculate with any
degree of accuracy the quantity of rent, profit, and
wages which a commodity cost, and still less that of
the gold or silver for which it is sold.
MRS. B.
Nor is it necessary to enter into this calculation ;
it is by long experience only that the world forms
an estimation of the relative value of different com-
modities, sufficiently accurate for the purposes of
exchange. The calculations to which we have been
alluding, though true in principle, are by no means
susceptible of being brought into practical use.
ON VALUE AND PRICE. 309
CAROLINE.
Yet when barter was first introduced, one savage
might say to another : ' It is not just to offer me
a hare, which is the produce of a day's hunting, in
exchange for a bow which I have spent three days
in making; I will not part with it unless you give
me also the fruit which you gathered in the woods
yesterday, and the fish you caught the day before ;
in short, I vvill not enchange the produce of my
toil and trouble for less than the produce of an
equal share of your toil and trouble.* And surely
this is much more clear and simple reasoning than
to say that the bow is worth so much money ?
MRS. B.
To a savage unacquainted with money it cer-
tainly is; but I believe that in the present times
people understand better the value of a commodity
sstimated in money.
CAROLINE.
But if it were practicable to calculate with pre-
cision the quantity of rent, profit, and wages which
lad been expended on the production of commodi-
;ies, that, I suppose, would constitute an accurate
measure of their value.
MRS. B.
No; because there are other circumstances,
510 ON VALUE AND PRICE.
which, as we shall presently observt^j affect the
value of commodities. Besides, it would be im-
possible to calculate with any degree of accuracy
the cost of production of a commodity, since
rent, profit, and wages are all liable to vary in
their own value ; and we cannot adopt, as Vijixtd
standard, a measure which is itself subject to
change. If we were to measure apiece of cloth by
a yard measure, which lengthened at one season
of the year and shortened at another, it would not
enable us to ascertain the lengdi of the piece of
cloth. Now, rent varies much according to the
situation of the land, and the nature of the soil.
Profit, according to the abundance or scarcity of
capital ; but nothing fluctuates more than the wages
of labour; it differs not only in different countries,
but even in the same town, according to the de-
mand for labour, the strength, the skill, and the
ingenuity of the labourer. A skilful artisan may
not only do more work, but may do it in a superior
manner, and he will require payment in the ar-
ticles of his workmanship, not only^tbr the labour
he has bestowed on them, but also for the pains he
has taken, and the time he has spent in acquiring
his skill ; the wages of a superior workman are
for this reason much higher than those of a com-
mon labourer. Since, therefore, neither the quantity
nor the quality of the labour bestowed on a com-
modity can be determined by the number of days
ON VALUE AND PRICE. 311
or hours employed in producing it, time is not a
measure of the value of labour; we must take into
account the degrees of skill and attention which
the work may require, as also the healthy, plea-
sant or unpleasiint, easy or severe nature of the
employment, all of which are to be paid accord-
ingly-
CAROLINE.
Thus the bow which employed the savage during
three days might be worth twice the labour of the
other savage during the same period of time ; for
much less skill is required to be a huntsman than
to be a fabricator of bows and arrows.
'' MRS. B.
On the other hand, we find that eight hours of
"^the labour of a coal-heaver will be paid much
higher than the same number of hours of a weaver's
labour, because, although the latter requires more
jkill, the first is much more severe and unpleasant
abour. But the weaver will receive greater wages
than a farmer's labourer, because the work of the
atter is both more healthy and requires less skill.
Now, since it is impossible to enter into a calcu-
ation of all the shades of these various difficulties,
ent, profit, and labour can never form an accurate
.tandard of value.
it\
CAROLINE,
They have at least enabled me to acquiie a much
312 ON VALUE AND PRICE.
more clear and precise idea of value than I had
before.
MRS. B.
Your idea of value is, however, yet far from being
complete ; for there are, as I have just observed,
other circumstances to be considered independently
of the cost of production, which materially influ-
ence the value of commodities. In a besieged
town, for instance, provisions have frequently risen
to twenty or thirty times their natural value, and
have increased proportionally in price.
CAROLINE.
Their increased price in this case is owing merely
to the scarcity, not to any increase of value, for
were they as plentiful as usual they would sell at
the usual price.
MRS. B.
Their high price is the consequence of their in-
creased value, for they would not only sell for a
greater sum of money, but also exchange for a
greater quantity of any commodities, except such
as are convertible into food.
CAROLINE.
Unless perhaps it were gunpowder, or any kind
of ammunition, which in a besieged town might be
as much in request as food.
0>f VALUE AND PRICE. 313
MRS. B.
Certainly ; in that case ammunition would rise
in value as well as provisions.
Plenty and scarcity are. then, circumstances
which considerably affect the value of commodities.
Tell me whether you understand the meaning of
the words, plenty and scarcity.
CAROLINE.
Yes, surely ; when there is a great quantity of
any thing, it is said to be plentiful ; — when very
little, it is scarce.
MRS. B.
If there was very litde corn in a desert island,
should you say there was a scarcity of corn there?
CAROLINE.
No ; because as there would be no one to eat it,
none would be wanted ; and scarcity implies an in-
sufficiency.
MRS. B.
And when a few years ago there was a scarcity
of corn in this country, do you think that the whole
of the island produced only a small quantity ?
CAROLINE.
No; not positively a small quantity, but a smaller
p
SI 4 ON VALUE AND PRICE,
quantity than was required to supply the whole of
the population of the country with bread.
MRS. B.
Plenty and scarcity are therefore relative terms :
a scarcity neither implies a small quantity, nor
plenty a large one ; but the first implies an insuffi-
ciency, or less than is wanted ; the last as much,
or perhaps more than is required. When there is
plenty, the supply of the commodity being at least
equal to the demand, every one who can pay the
cost of its production will be able to purchase it.
If, on the contrary, the commodity is scarce, some
of these must go without it, and the apprehension
of this privation produces competition amongst
those who are desirous of buying the commodity,
and this raises its value above the cost of pro-
duction.
CAROLINE.
This, then, is the cause of the rise in the price
of provisions in a besieged town ?
MRS. B
Yes ; or during a famine, or in any case of
scarcity. Whenever, on the contrary, the supply
exceeds the demand, the price will fall below the
natural value of the commodity.
You see, therefore, that the natural value and
exchangeable value do not always coincide.
ON VALUE AND PRICE. 315
CAROLINE.
The exchangeable value appears to me to consist
of the natural value, subject either to augmentation
or diminution, in proportion as the commodity is
scarce or plentiful.
MRS. B.
True ; and it is this proportion, that is to say,
the proportion of the supply to the demand, which
regulates the market price,
CAROLINE.
That is very clear : if there are fewer chickens
brought to market than are wanted, the supply
being inadequate to the demand, the market price
will rise ; if more than are wanted, the demand
exceeds the supply, and the market price will fall.
MRS. B.
There is some little difficulty in forming a clear
conception of the meaning of the word demand;
what do you understand by it ?
CAROLINE.
I understand that those who go to market to
buy chickens, by offering a price make a demand
for them ; that if there are more persons wanting
to buy chickens than there are chickens to be sold,
the demand is greater than the supply; if the con-
trary, the supply is greater than the demand.
p 2
■ ft
SI 6 ON VALUE AND PRICE*
MRS. B.
So far you are right; but when chickens, in con-
sequence of scarcity, rise considerably in price,
will those who intended to purchase chickens, t)ut
who are not willing to give the advanced price,
still make a demand for them ?
CAROLINE.
Why, no — it would be absurd to say that they
demanded a thing at market for which they would
not pay the market price ; yet as they would have
bought chickens had they been at a reasonable
price, the offer they had previously made must
have tended to raise the market price.
MRS. B.
No doubt ; they formed part of the competition
of bidders ; but when once the market price is
fixed, the demand of all those, who either will not
or cannot pay it, ceases.
CAROLINE.
Certainly ; I may either not be able to afford to
pay the market price, in which case I want the
means to purchase; or finding chickens too dear,
I may prefer buying butcher's meat ; if so, I want
the will to purchase ; but in either case my demand
ceases.
ON VALUE AND PRICE. 317
MRS. B.
What demand then remains ? That of those
alone who have both the power and the will to
pay the market price.
This, which has been distinguished by the name
of effective demand, will exactly coincide with the
supply. It cannot exceed it, else you would have
the will and the power to purchase more chickens
than there are to be sold ; and it cannot be inferior
to it, otherwise the competition of buyers and sel-
lers would have fixed the market price lower, in
order to have disposed of all the supply.
CAROLINE.
But should the supply prove so abundant as to
reduce the market price below the natural value ;
if chickens, for instance, should sell for only six-
pence each ; surely the owners, rather than dispose
of them to such a disadvantage, would take them
back, and run the chance of selling them better
another day, or at another market. And if the
whole were not sold, it appears to me that the
supply would exceed the demand.
MRS. B.
If a seller is not distressed for ready money, and
if he think the market price likely to improve, he
will very naturally withdraw his goods, rather than
sell them under the usual profits. But he who
P 3
318 ON VALUE AND PRICE^
withdraws his goods from sale no longer furnishes
a supply, any more than he who will not pay the
market price offers a demand. The withdrawing
a commodity which is in excess prevents the
market price from falling so low as it would other-
wise do ; but the market price being once settled,
the supply and demand, you see, will coincide.
CAROLINE.
But this is not the case with the demand and
supply which regulates the market price ; for if
these coincided, commodities would always sell for
their natural value, and there would never be any
fluctuation in the market price.
MRS. B.
You must, however, recollect, that it is the cost
of production of a commodity which constitutes its
exchangeable value ; the proportion of supply and
demand should be considered as only accidentally
aflfecting it,
CAROLINE.
Yet when once the conniiodity is brought to
market, it is the proportion of the supply to the
demand which alone regulates the price. It is in
vain that the owner of the chickens should declare
that they cost him so much to rear and fatten ; if
the supply exceed the demand, he must sell them
ibr less, or not sell them at alL
ON VALUE AND PRICE, 319
MRS. B.
True; but at a future period the market will
suffer an alteration, for a commodity which will
not fetch its natural value will cease to be pro-
duced.
To illustrate this, let us suppose that, by the
breaking out of a continental war, our foreign trade
should meet with such obstructions, that great part
of the manufactured goods we had prepared for
exportation will remain at home and overstock the
market. The supply in this case exceeding the
demand, the goods will fall in price below their
natural value, in order to attract a greater num-
ber of purchasers; the consumption will thus be
increased, but the manufacturers and dealers,
having been obliged to sell the goods for less than
they cost to produce, will be losers instead of
gainers by their industry.
CAROLINE.
I recollect that calicoes and English muslins
were much cheaper during the last war than they
are at present ; and the shopkeepers then said that,
at the price at which they sold them, they did not
pay for the workmanship, independently of the
materials.
MRS. B.
The cheapness of these goods, although it arose
from plenty, so far from being a sign of prospe-
p 4
320 ON VALUE AND PRICE.
rity, entailed ruin on the manufacturers and their
labourers.
CAROLINE.
But you observed that if the price of a commo-
dity would not defray all the expenses of produc-
tion, it would not be made ?
MRS. B.
In the case we have alluded to, the fall in price
did not take place till after the production of the
commodities; and the expense of labour having
been already bestowed on them, it is better to sell
them at any price than to lose entirely their value.
But the manufacturers would in future take care
to fabricate a smaller quantity, in consequence of
which many of their labourers would be deprived
of work, and part of their capital be thrown out
of employ.
Plenty and cheapness are really advantageous
only when they arise from a diminution of the cost
of production. Thus when the use of any new
machinery, or other improvement in the process of
labour, enables farmers or manufacturers to pro-
duce commodities at less expense, the reduction of
price is beneficial both to the producer and the
consumer; to the former, because cheapness in-
creases the number of purchasers ; to the latter,
because he obtains the commodity at less expense.
ON VALUE AND PRICE. 321
CAROLINE.
But when nature gives us a superabundant sup-
ply of corn, the fall in price it occasions, is not, I
suppose, attended with disadvantage?
MRS. B.
If the supply should be so great as to produce a
glut in the market, and that the farmer should be
under the necessity of selling his crops below the
cost of production, the low price is not a benefit ;
for the evil arising from the check given to industry
surpasses the immediate advantage of cheapness of
corn. The farmers and their labourers would be
the first sufferers ; but it is probable that, in the
end, the whole community would feel the effects
the following season.
CAROLINE.
True: for farmers would grow cautious, and
cultivate less wheat, in order that it might not sell
below its natural value ; and, whilst they would be
endeavouring exactly to proportion the supply to
the demand, the season might chance to be less pro-
ductive than usual, so as to occasion a scarcity of
corn, which would be followed by a rise in the price
of bread above the expense of its production.
I
MRS. B.
Very well. Tell me now whether the demand
P 5
$32 ON VAXUE AND PRICE*
for bread is greatest when wheat is scarce or when
it is plentiful?
CAROLINE.
The demand which regulates the market price is
greatest when wheat is scarce, for the utmost price
that purchasers can afford will then be given for
bread. But the effective demand is greatest whens
bread is plentiful ; because then it is cheap, and
more people have the power to purchase it.
MRS. B.
Thus, you see, when the supply equals the de-
mand, the commodity is sold for its natural value,
the producer making just the usual rate of profit.
If the supply exceed the demand, it is sold below
that value, the competition of producers or dealers,
to dispose of their goods, lowering the price. If
the supply is less than the demand, the competition
of purchasers raises the price of the commodity
above its natural value, and the dealers make ex-
traordinary profits.
CAROLINE.
It must, then, be the interest of the farmer that
corn should sell above its natural value ; and the
interest of the people tliat it should sell below it ?
MRS. B.
If we extend our views beyond the present
ON VALUE AND PRICE. 323
moment, it will appear that the interest of the
, producer and consumer of any commodity are the
same ; and that it is for the advantage of both that
the price and natural value should coincide. If
the consumers pay less for a commodity than its
cost of production, tlie producers will take care to
diminish the quantity in future, in order that com-
petition may raise the price; for they could not,
without exposing themselves to ruin, continue to
supply the public with a commodity which did not
repay them. If, on the other hand, the consumers
pay more for an article than its natural value, the
producers will be encouraged by their great profits
to increase the supply, and the price will conse-
quently fell until it is reduced to the natural value.
CAROLINE.
I do not understand why the producers of a
commodity should increase the supply, if the con-
sequence is to lessen their profits ?
MRS B.
We are arguing under the supposition that com-
petition is free and open, and in that case, you
know, capital will immediately flow towards any
branch of industry that affords extraordinary pro-
fits. If^ therefore, the original producers of the
profitable commodity did not increase the supply,
they would soon meet with competitors, which
P 6
324 ON VALUE AND PRICE,
would compel them to lower their price without
increasing their sale.
" Price," Mr. Buchanan observes, with great
happiness of expression, " is the nicely poised
" balance with which nature weighs and distributes
" to her children their respective shares of her
" gifts, to prevent waste, and make them last out
" till re-produced."
You will now be able to understand, that when
you consider labour as a measure of value, you
must estimate, not the quantity of labour bestowed
on the production of any commodity, but the
quantity of labour it can command ; that is, that
can be obtained in exchange for it. The former
represents its natural value ; the latter its market
price, which is certainly the more accurate measure
of value.
We have dwelt a long time upon the subject of
value; and we may now conclude, that though a
fluctuation in the exchangeable value of comhio-
dities may be occasioned by various circumstances,
it will seldom deviate much from the natural value,
or cost of production, which is a variable quantity,
to which (when the employment of capital is left
open) the exchangeable value will always tend to
approximate.
CAROLINE.
Value and wealth, 1 perceive, are far from being
synonymous terms ; for the increased value of food.
ON VALUE AND PRICE. 325
in times of scarcity, indicates a diminution of
wealth ?
MRS. B.
Certainly. Wealth depends upon the abund-
ance of commodities possessed, no matter what
their production cost, whether the result of manual
labour or machinery, whether obtained by fair or
fraudulent means. The Romans were wealthy by
conquest; the Carthaginians, by industry. Ma-
chinery augments the wealth of a country by facili-
tating the production of commodities, whilst, by
reducing the cost of production, it reduces the value
of those commodities.
( 326 )
CONVERSATION XVL
ON MONEY.
OF THE USE OF MONEY AS A MEDIUM OF EX-
CHANGE. OF COINING. — USE OF MONEY AS A
STANDARD OF VALUE. OF THE VARIATION OF
THE EXCHANGEABLE VALUE OF GOLD AND SIL-
VER. IN WHAT MANNER IT AFFECTS THE
PRICE OF COMMODITIES. OF NOMINAL AND
REAL CHEAPNESS. WHAT CLASSES OF PEOPLE
ARE AFFECTED BY THE VARIATION IN THE VALUE
OF GOLD AND SILVER. HOW FAR MONEY CON-
STITUTES A PART OF THE WEALTH OF A COUN-
TRY. OF THE EXPORTATION OF MONEY. OF
THE MEANS BY WHICH THE VALUE OF THE
PRECIOUS METALS EQUALISES ITSELF IN ALL
PARTS OF THE CIVILISED WORLD.
MRS. B.
H AViNG obtained some knowledge of the nature
of value, we may now proceed to examine the use
of money.
ON MONEY. 327
Without this general medium of exchange, trade
could never have made any considerable piogress ;
for as the subdivisions of labour increased, insuper-
able difficulties would be experienced in the adjust-
ment of accounts. The butcher perhaps would
want bread, at a time that the baker did not want
meat ; or they might each be desirous of exchang-
ing their respective commodities, but these might
not be of equal value.
CAROLINE.
It would be very difficult, T believe, at any time
to make such reckonings exactly balance each
other.
MRS. B.
In order to avoid this inconvenience, it became
necessary for every man to be provided with a com-
modity which w^ould be willingly taken at all times
in exchange for goods. Hence arose that useful
representative of commodities, money^ which, being
exclusively appropriated to exchanges, every one
was ready either to receive or to part with for that
purpose.
CAROLINE.
When the baker did not want meat he would
take the butcher's money in exchange for his bread,
because that money would enable him to obtain
from others what he did want.
328 ON MONEY.
MRS. B.
Various commodities have been employed to an-
swer the purpose of money. Mr. Salt, in his Travels
in Abyssinia, informs us, that wedges of salt are
used in that country for small currency, coined
money being extremely scarce. A wedge of rock-
salt, weighing between two and three pounds, was
estimated at l-30th of a dollar.
CAROLINE.
How extremely inconvenient such a bulky ar-
ticle must be as a substitute for money coined ; the
carriage of it to any distance would cost almost as
much as the salt was worth.
MRS. B.
A commodity of this nature could be used for the
purpose of money in those countries only where very
few mercantile transactions take place, and where
labour is very cheap. Tobacco, shells, and a great
variety of other articles, have been used at different
times, and in different countries, as mediums of
exchange ; but nothing has ever been found to
answer this end so well as the metals. They are
the least perishable of all commodities ; they are
susceptible, by the process of fusion, of being di-
vided into any number of parts without loss, and
being the heaviest, they are the least bulky of all
bodies. These properties render them peculiarly
ON MONEY. 329
appropriate for the purposes of commerce and
circulation.
CAROLINE.
The use of metals as money must be very ancient,
for mention is made in history of the iron coin of
the Greeks, and the copper coin of the Romans.
MRS. B.
Nor are gold and silver coins of modern date ;
but they were scarce before the discovery of the
American mines. The first gold coins were struck
at Rome, about 200 years before Christ. Those
of silver about 65 years earlier. Previous to that
period the as, which was of copper, was the only
coin in common use.
CAROLINE.
It is said in the Bible that Abraham gave 400
shekels of silver for the purchase of the field of
Machpelah, to bury Sarah in. — Was that, do you
suppose, coined money?
MRS. B.
No : I believe there was no coined money of so
ancient a date as the time of Abraham. The me-
tals were originally used for the purpose of money
in bars ; and it is mentioned that Abraham
weighed the silver for the purpose ; which would
have been unnecessary had it been coined. Before
330 ON MONEY.
the invention of coining, the use of the metals as a
medium of exchange was attended with great in-
convenience; it being necessary not only to weigh,
but also to assay the metal, to ascertain both its
quantity and its degree of purity.
The invention of coining superseded this incon-
venience ; for coining money is affixing to a piece
of metal a particular stamp or impression, which
declares that it is of a certain weight and quality.
Thus the impression on a guinea signifies that it is
a piece of gold of a certain fineness, weighing 107
grains nearly.
CAROLINE.
Money must also be of great use in fixing the
value of commodities ; before its introduction the
butcher and the baker might dispute which was
worth most, the joint of meat or the loaf of bread
which they wished to exchange.
MRS. B.
Yes ; money became useful not only as a medium
of exchange, but also as a common measure of
value. You will learn hereafter that it is not, any
more than labour, a very accurate measure, when
the values of one period are compared with the|
values of another distant period ; but for the com-
mon purposes of traffic it answers sufficiently well.
Previous to the invention of money, men were
much at a loss how to estimate the value of theur
ON MONEY.
331
property. In order to express that value they were
necessarily obliged to compare it to something else,
and having no settled standard, they would natur-
ally choose objects of known and established value.
Accordingly we read both in Scripture and in the
ancient poets, of a man's property being worth so
many oxen and so many flocks and herds. Dr.
Clarke informs us, that even at the present day,
the Calmuc Tartars reckon the value of a coat of
mail from six to eight, and up to the value of fifty
horses. In civilised countries every one estimates
his capital by the quantity of money it is worth ; —
he does not really possess the sum in money, but
his property, whatever be its nature or kind, is
equivalent to such a sum of money. For instance,
a man who is worth a capital of 20,000/. may per-
haps not be possessed of 201. in money ; but his
property, whether land or commodities, if sold,
would bring him 20,000/.
CAROLINE.
When gold is brought into this country, pray
how is it paid for ? Something must be given in
|) exchange for it ; and yet that something cannot be
money ?
MRS. B.
Certainly not. A bullion merchant would derive
no advantage from a trade in which he would be
employed in exchanging a certain weight of gold
S32 ON MONEY.
and silver in one country, for a similar weight of
gold and silver in another country : he would lose
not only all the profits of trade, but the expenses
of the freight, &c. ; so that in fact he would be ex- ,
changing 100/. for 90/., or 95/.
We pay for gold and silver in woollen cloths,
hardware, calicoes, and linens, and a variety of
other commodities.
CAROLINE.
Then we purchase gold with goods just as we
purchase goods with gold ?
MRS. B.
Exactly ; those who take our goods in exchange
for gold bullion, buy goods with gold ; only as the
gold is not coined, it may rather be called an ex-
change of commodities than a purchase.
CAROLINE.
And if the mines should prove less productiv(
than usual, or any circumstance should render goU
scarce, and thus raise its exchangeable value, W(
must export a greater quantity of goods to exchang
for the same quantity of gold ?
MRS. B.
Undoubtedly. The natural value of gold bulli<
like that of any other commodity, may be estimate
by the labour bestowed upon it, both to extrac
N
Oi? MONEY. 333
it from the mines, and bring it to the place where
it is to be sold ; and its exchangeable value fluc-
tuates according to the proportion of the supply to
the demand. This fluctuation, however, can be
discovered only by the greater or smaller quantity
of goods for which the same quantity of gold
will exchange. For as gold and silver may be
bought with any kind of good-s, they are not sus-
ceptible of a standard of value like that of other
comm.odities which is estimated in one particular
article — money.
CAROLINE.
As gold and silver are the standard of value of
all other commodities, all other commodities, I con-
ceive, must be affected by an alteration in the ex-
changeable value of gold and silver?
MRS. B.
And this is the reason why money is not an ac-
curate standard of the value of commodities : for
if money by its plenty diminish in value, less
goods will be given in exchange for it ; it therefore
enhances the price of commodities, that is to say,
their exchangeable value estimated in v.ioney^ and
renders them dearer. Whilst if money by its
scarcity increase in value, more goods will be given
in exchange for it : it therefore lowers the price of
commodities, and renders them cheaper.
334 ON MONEY.
CAROLINE.
A deficiency of any article raises its exchange-
able value, and consequently its price, above its
natural value ; thus a deficiency of gold or silver
would make a smaller quantity exchange for the
same quantity of goods as before ; and therefore a
loaf of bread would sell for less money, or, in other
words, would be cheaper.
MRS. B.
Yes ; and not only bread, but meat, clothes, fur-
niture, houses; in short, every thing would be
cheaper, in consequence of the scarcity of the pre-
cious metals.
CAROLINE.
It would appear, then, that a scarcity of money
is advantageous to a country by rendering things
cheap ?
MRS. B.
When the cheapness of commodities arises from
that plenty which results from a reduction of the
cost of production, it is very advantageous ; but
not when it proceeds from a scarcity of money. In
the latter case, the supply not being increased,
conmiodities are lower in price, without any altera-
tion in their general exchangeable value. They,
may, therefore, be considered rather as nominally
ON MONEY. 335
than really cheaper. If, for instance, a loaf of
bread should sell for a penny, though there should
not be a single loaf more in the country than when
it sold for a shilling, the cheapness would not make
bread more plentiful.
CAROLINE.
But if the price of bread were so low as a penny,
though the supply should not be increased, the
labouring classes would increase their consumption
of it so considerably as to produce a scarcity, if not
a famine, before the next harvest. This nominaf,
or I would call it false^ cheapness, must therefore
be prejudicial instead of being beneficial to a
country.
MRS. B.
The consequence you have drawn from it is er-
roneous; for the labouring classes would not be able
to purchase a greater quantity of bread than usual,
owing to the scarcity of money. The wages of la-
bour would not be exempted from the general fall
in price which this scarcity would produce : the
labourers, as well as the bread they eat, would be
'paid in pence instead of shillings, and their power
of purchasing bread would neither be increased
aor diminished.
CAROLINE.
True ; I did not consider that. I suppose, then,
336 ON MONEY.
that if the contrary case occurred, that is, if the
quantity of money were considerably augmented,
either by the discovery of a mine in the country, or
by any other means, a general rise in the price of
commodities would be the consequence.
MRS. B.
Undoubtedly ; but without producing any scar-
city. Therefore, though commodities would rise
in price, their value would not be increased, and
the commodities being the same in quantity, the
public would be equally well supplied ; but as
money fell or became depreciated in value from its
excess, fewer commodities would be given in ex-
change for the same sum ; or more money must be
paid for the same commodity. A loaf of bread
might cost two shillings instead of one, but as the
wages of labour would at the same time be doubled,
the labourer would suffer no privation from the
increase of price. You now see the propriety of
making the distinction between the vahi£ and the
j^ice of a commodity.
Tt is very possible for the price of a commodity
to rise, whilst its value falls. A loaf of bread may
rise in price from one to two shillings ; but money
may be so depreciated by excess that tw) shilling
may not procure so much meat, butter, and cheese]
as ' ne shilling did before ; therefore a loaf of brea<
would no longer exchange for so much of thos
ON MONEY. 337
commodities, and its exchangeable value compared
with other things generally, would have fallen ;
while its price^ or exchangeable value estimated in
money only^ would have risen.
CAROLINE.
And when the price alters, how can we distin-
guish whether it is the goods or the money which
change in value ?
MRS. B.
There is no point so difficult to ascertain as a
variation of value, because we have no fixed stand-
ard measure of value ; neither nature nor art fur-
nishes us with a commodity whose value is incapa-
ble of change ; and such alone would afford us an
accurate standard of value.
CAROLINE.
How useful such a commodity would be ; for we
cannot estimate the value of any thing without
comparing it with the value of something else;
and if that something else is liable to variation, it
is but of little assistance to us : it is supporting the
earth by the elepliant, and the elephant by the
tortoise ; but we still remain in the same dilemma.
When a man says he is worth 500 acres of land,
we can form scarcely any judgment of his wealth,
unless he tells us what the acres are worth ; his
3S8 ON MONEY.
land may be situated in the most fruitful parts of
England, or it may be in the wilds of America, or
the deserts of Arabia ; and if he values his land in
money, and says my acres are worth, or would sell
for 1000/., we can form some notion of their real
value, but not an accurate one ; for we do not
know what is the real value of the money, whether
it is plentiful or scarce, cheap or dear ; nor can we
ever learn it unless we had some invariable standard
by which to measure it.
MRS. B»
Now supposing money to be depreciated in value
25 per cent., and that the expense of manufacturing
a piece of muslin, from some improvement in the
process, fell from four to three shillings a-yard, at
what price would the muslin sell ?
CAROLINE.
It would retain its original price of four shillings
though it would really be cheaper ; for the diminu-
tion of tlie value of money would exactly counter-
balance the diminution of the cost of production of
the muslin.
MRS. B.
Very well. And if, on the contrary, money
silKHild become scarce at the same time as the cost
of production of a commodity diminished, then
these two causes, acting in conjunction instead of
ON MONEY. 339
opposition, the commodity would be both no-
minally and really cheaper.
CAROLINE.
The muslin in that case would fall from four to
two shillings a-yard.*
MRS. B.
In order still further to reduce the price of the
muslin, we may suppose the supply to exceed the
demand, so as to oblige the manufacturer to sell it
below its cost of production ; and thus the price
might fall so low as one shilling, or even sixpence
a-yard.
But of all these reductions of price, that which
proceeds from a diminished cost of production is
the only one from which general advantage is
derived. That arising from the depreciation of
money producing merely a nominal cheapness;
and that which results from an excess of supply
being decidedly an evil, inasmuch as it creates
distress and discourages industry.
CAROLINE.
It appears, then, from what you have said, that
an increase or diminution of money in a country
does not really alFect the pecuniary circumstances
of any one?
* Accurately calculated the muslin would sell for is. 3d, a
yard, because the rise m the value of money would be reckon-
ed upon the reduced cost of production.
82
340 ON MONEY.
MRS.B.
I beg your pardon ; all classes of men are tem-
porarily affected when the change is abrupt ; be-
cause the due level is not immediately ascertained,
and until that takes place, the pressure falls un-
equally. But independently of this, there are
many classes of people who would be very sensibly
and permanently injured by an alteration in the
exchangeable value of money.
Let us suppose, for instance, that the proprietor
of a field lets it for a long lease at a rent of 20/.
a-year ; and that some years afterwards, money
having risen in value, and he being in want of hay
for his horses, purchases the crop of hay for 15L
In this case the landlord will continue to receive
20/. a-year for the rent, and yet pay but 15/. for
the produce, so that the farmer will lose 5/., be-
sides the profits of his capital. Is not this a very
serious injury ?
CAROLINE.
No doubt ; and this would be the case with all
leases ; for it is immaterial to whom the farmer
sells his crops ; if the market-price has fallen, he
must be a loser.
MRS. B.
Yes. Were money raised to double its former
value, the rent would purchase double the quantity
of commodities that it did before; for 100/. in mo-
ney would exchange for a quantity of goods which
ON MONEY. 341
was reckoned worth 200 Z. previous to the alter-
ation ; so that rent, though nominally the same,
would in reality be doubled, and it would be so
much unjustly taken out of the pocket of the tenant
to put into that of the landlord.
CAROLINE.
This evil, however, admits of a remedy v/hen a
new lease is made ?
MRS. B.
True; but should the old one have several years
to run, the farmer may be ruined first ; and though
it is true that it does not violate any law, it, is a
manifest infraction of the security of property,
which we have observed to be the foundation of
all wealth, and the strongest motive for its accu-
mulation. There is not a more active and steady
stimulus to industry than the certainty of reaping
the fruits oi^ our labour.
CAROLINE.
Then I suppose that when money Is depreciated
in value, in consequence of being more plentiful,
the case would be reversed ; the farmer would be
benefited and the landlord would be the loser ; for
the rent would not be really worth so much as it
was before ?
MRS. B.
Undoubtedly. Another class of people who are
Q 3
S42 ON MONEY.
materially affected by an alteration in the value of
money, are the unproductive labourers. Their pay
is generally a regular stipend, not liable to the
same variation as the wages of productive labourers.
The pay of the army and navy, of all the officers
under government, and of the learned professions,
is fixed ; those persons must therefore suffer all the
evil, or enjoy all the benefit arising from an alter-
ation in the value of money.
N CAROLINE.
The higher classes of the unproductive labourers
might be able to support the hardship resulting
from a depreciation of the value of money; but
how can the common sailor or soldier do so ? It is
absolutely necessary that their pay should enable
them to procure a suitable subsistence.
MRS. B.
They are usually paid, partly in money and
partly in provisions and clothing, and are not
therefore such sufferers by a depreciation of money
as they would be if paid entirely in currency. It
has nevertheless been found necessary of late to
augment the pay of both army and navy.
CAROLINE.
The value of money has then fallen ?
ON MOKEY. 343
MRS. B.
Yes, it has ; but I must defer explaining the
reason of this fall till our next interview. A third
class of people who are considerably injured by a
depreciation of the value of money, are those who
have lent money at interest for a long period of
time, persons who live on annuities, and parti-
cularly the stockholders in the public funds. Not
only is the interest they receive depreciated, but
also the value of their capital. The interest they
receive for their stock remains nominally the same,
whatever diminution may have taken place in the
value of money ; and their income being thus ap-
parently stationary, they partake in the general
disadvantage of the rise of prices, without being
enabled to avail themselves of the compensation
arising from the greater abundance of money.
Professional men, and all those who receive sala-
ries, have ultimately the remedy of an increase of
pay ; but the stockholder has no resource : his
income wastes awaj^, and he perceives his means of
procuring his accustomed enjoj^ments gradually
diminish, without being able to trace the source
from whence the evil springs ; for as his income
remains nominally the same, he is not aware of any
diminution of wealth.
CAROLINE.
How very much I have been mistaken in my
Q 4.
344 ON MONEY.
idea of money ! Instead of being the only, or at
least the principal article which (as I thought) con-
stituted wealth ; it seems, on the contrary, to be
the only one which is unworthy of that title, since
it does not contribute to the riches of a country.
An excess of money renders other things dear ; a
deficiency of it makes them cheap ; but it appears
to me that a country is not one atom the richer
for all the money it possesses. Money, therefore,
I think, cannot be called wealth, but merely its
representative, like the counters at cards; and its
chief use seems to consist in its affording us a
convenient medium of exchange, and a useful,
though imperfect standard of value.
MRS. B.
Money cannot with justice be compared to
counters, for it is not, like them, a sign or repre-
sentative of value, but really possesses (or ought to
possess) the value for which it exchanges. A bank-
note, which has no intrinsic value, is simply a sign
of value ; but when you purchase goods for a
guinea, you give a piece of gold of equivalent value
in exchanire.
In order to judge whether money forms any
part of the wealth of a nation, let us refer to our
definition of wealth. I believe we said that every
article, either of utility or luxury, constituted
wealth. Now I leave you to judge whether mo-
ON MONEY. 345
ney, considered either as a medium of exchange,
or as a standard of value, is not eminently useful ;
since by facilitating the circulation of commodities
it indirectly contributes to their multiplication.
CAROLINE.
That is true, certainly, with regard to the mo-
ney actually required for circulation ; but should
it exceed that sum, the surplus would be of no
value to us.
Mrs; b.
The same might be said of a superfluous quan-
tity of any kind of wealth ; more tables and chairs,
or a greater quantity of gowns and coats than are
wanted, would be equally useless, and would equally
be depreciated in value.
CAROLINE.
But then we could export such commodities,
and exchange them for goods which we did want.
MRS. B.
And why should we not do the same with money ?
When we have more money than is required for
the purpose of circulation, we should export it, by
purchasing foreign goods; without this resource, a
superfluity of money is perfectly useless, and will
no more contribute to the production of wealth,
2 5
34-6 ON MONEY.
than a superfluous number of mills would contri-
bute to the production of flour.
CAROLINE.
I had always imagined that the more money a
country possessed, the more affluent was its con-
dition.
MRS. B.
And that usually is the case. The error lies in
mistaking the cause for the effect. A great quan-
tity of money is necessary to circulate a great quan-
tity of commodities. Rich flourishing countries
require abundance of money, and possess the means
of obtaining it ; but this abundance is the conse-
quence, not the cause of their wealth, which con-
sists in the commodities circulated, rather than in
the circulating medium. Specie, we have just said,
constitutes wealth, so far as it is required for cir-
culation ; but if a country possess one guinea more
than is necessary for that purpose, the wealth which
purchased that guinea has been thrown away.
CAROLINE.
Yet what a common observation it is, that plenty
of money animates the industry of a country, and
encourages commerce; and this seems to be proved
by the miserable and barbarous state of Europe
previous to the discovery of the American mines.
ON MONEY. S47
MRS. B.
The discovery of America was certainly a very
efficient cause in rousing the industry of Europe
from the state of stagnation into which it was sunk
by ignorance and barbarism. But had America
possessed no mines, I doubt whether the advan-
tages we have derived from our connection with
that country would not have been almost equally
great; we could easily find a substitute for the
specie with which she supplies us, but never for
the abundance and variety of wealth which she is
incessantly pouring in upon us. The increase of
European comforts, of affluence, of luxury, is at-
tributed to the influx of the treasures of the new
world — and with reason ; but those treasures are
the sugar, the coffee, the indigo, the tobacco, the
drugs, &c. which America exports, to obtain which
we must send her commodities that have been
produced by the employment of our poor. Gold
and silver, though they have greatly excited our
avarice and ambition, have eventually contributed
but little to stimulate our industry.
It is not t^ the multiplication of the precious
raetals that we are indebted for our improved agri-
culture, our prosperous commerce, and the variety
and excellence of our manufactures ; nor do I be-
lieve that it was their scarcity which deprived our
ancestors of these advantages. It was because'they
were ignorant and barbarous, and that we are com-
26
348 ON MONEY.
paratively enlightened and civilised; — compara-
tively I may indeed say, for error is still active in
retarding the progress of improvement, and this is
no where more evident than in the anxiety of go-
vernments to prevent the exportation of specie,
although it is now nearly forty years since Adam
Smith fully proved the impolicy of this prohibition.
CAROLINE.
If the exportation of specie be prohibited, the
only use that can be made of a superfluous quan-
tity of it, is to melt it down and re-convert it into
bullion.
MRS. B.
But melting the coin is, in this country, equally
illegal. A superfluous quantity of money, there-
fore, (were these laws never infringed,) would be
necessarily added to the circulation, and depreciate
the value of the whole.
How different is the situation of a country where
no such prohibitory laws exist ! There, no sooner
does money accumulate so as to occasion a depre-
ciation of its value, or, in other words, an advance
in the price of commodities, than the merchants of
that country export specie, and purchase with it
foreiirn ffoods ; while at the same time foreiofu
merchants send their goods to the country where
prices have risen, and exchange them, not for
ON MONEY. 349
Other goods, which are dear, but for money, which
is cheap.
CAROLINE.
That is to say, they will sell, but not purchase ?
MRS. B.
Precisely : — it is thus that a country is drained
of its superfluous specie ; as this traffic goes on,
money rises in value, commodities fall in price, and
forei«cn merchants again exchanoje their ooods for
commodities of the country, instead of receiving
payment for it in specie.
No apprehension need therefore be entertained
of ill consequences arising either from the melting
down or exporting the coin of the country. This
exportation will take place secretly whenever there
is a superfluity, however severe the law may be
against it ; the only difi^erence is, that instead of
being carried on in an open and regular manner
by merchants of respectability, it is thrown into
the hands of men of despicable character, who are
tempted by extraordinary profits to engage in this
illicit traffic.
Could Spain and Portugal, countries which re-
ceive all the precious metals imported from Ame-
rica to Europe, have carried into effect the absurd
restrictive laws by which they attempted to keep
their gold and silver at home, those metals would
350 ON MONEY.
eventually have become of little more value to them
than lead and copper.
If you have understood what I have said, you
will now be able to tell me what effect will be pro-
duced in the mercantile transactions of a country,
which is not shackled by restrictive laws, when a
scarcity of money produces a fall in the price of
commodities.
CAROLINE.
In that case the very reverse will happen of what
we before observed. Foreign merchants will come
and buy goods, and instead of offering merchandise
in exchange, will bring money in payment; for
they will be willing to make purchases, but not
sales at a cheap market.
MRS. B.
It is thus that gold and silver are diffused
throughout all parts of the civilised world, wherever
there is a deficiency, it flows in from every quarter ;
and wherever there is a redundancy, the tide sets
in an opposite direction. It is the regular diffusion
of the precious metals, and their constant tendency
to an equality of value, which renders them so
peculiarly calculated for a general standard. Were
money as liable to variation of value as the com-
modities for which it serves as a medium of ex-
change, it would be totally unfit for a standard.
{ 351 )
CONVERSATION XVII.
Subject of MONEY continued,
OF THE DEPRECIATION OF GOLD AND SILVER.
OF THE ADULTERATION AND DEPRECIATION OF
COINED MONEY. OF BANKS. OF PAPER MO-
NEY. EFFECTS OF PAPER MONEY WHEN NOT
PAYABLE IN SPECIE ON DEMAND. OF THE PRO-
PORTION OF CURRENCY TO THE COMMODITIES TO
BE CIRCULATED BY IT.
CAROLINE.
I HAVE been reflecting much upon the subject of
our last conversation, Mrs. B. ; and it has occurred
to rae, that though there may be no permanent
excess and depreciation of specie in any pai'ticular
country, yet it must gradually decrease in value
throughout the world: for money is very little
liable to wear; a great quantity of the precious
metals is annually extracted from the mines, and
though a considerable portion of it may be con-
verted into plate and jewellery, yet the greater
352 ON MONEY.
part, I suppose, goes to the mint to be coined,
and this additional quantity must produce a depre-
ciation of value ?
MRS. B.
An increase of supply will not occasion depre-
ciation of value, if there should at the same time
be a proportional increase of demand, and we must
recollect that the consumable produce of the earth
increases as well as that of the mines — the com-
modities to be circulated as well as the medium
of circulation; and it is not the actual quantity of
money, but the proportion which it bears to the
quantity of commodities for which it is to serve as
a medium of exchange, that regulates the price of
those commodities.
Let us suppose the price of a loaf of bread to be
one shilling ; and say, if 1000 more loaves of bread
be produced every year by agriculture, and such
an additional number of shilhngs be obtained from
the mines as will be necessary to circulate them,
the price of a loaf will then remain the same, and
the value of money will not, by this additional
quantity of specie, be depreciated.
CAROLINE.
But, Mrs. B., you do not consider that when the
thousand additional loaves are eaten, the additional
shillings will remain.
ON MONEY. 353
MRS. B.
The greater part of these loaves will be eaten by
those who will not only reproduce them, but pro-
bably increase the number the following year.
CAROLINE.
In that case it would be very possible that the
progress of agriculture and manufactures siiould
keep pace with, or even precede that of the mines.
MRS. B.
If the quantity of the precious metals annually
extracted from the mines be exactly what is re-
quired for the arts, and for the additional specie
necessary to circulate the increasing produce of the
land, there will be no change in the value of money,
and commodities will continue to be bought and
sold at their former prices. If less gold and silver
be extracted than is requisite for these purposes,
goods will fall in price ; and if, on the contrary, a
greater quantity be produced, goods will rise in
price, the fluctuations in the price of commodities
gradually and constantly conforming to the vari-
ations of the scale by which their value is measured.
Dr. Adam Smith was of opinion that for many
years past the supply of gold and silver did not
exceed the demand ; but several later writers con-
ceive that he was mistaken on this point. I am
very far from being a competent judge of such a
354 ON MONEY.
question, but I confess that I feel inclined to favour
the opinion of a general depreciation.
Previous to the discovery of America the ex-
changeable value of money was certainly much
greater than it has been since that period. Some
notion may be formed of the difference of the
value of money in ancient and in modern times
from the amount of the revenue which Xerxes,
King of Persia, derived from his wealthy and ex-
tensive empire, and which enabled him to maintain
his mighty fleets and armies ; it is said in history
to have amounted to only three millions sterling.
CAROLINE.
The prodigality and extravagance of the Romans
was then in fact still greater than it appears, since
the immense sums they expended upon luxuries
were then more valuable than they would be at the
present times.
MRS. B.
As the wealth of the Romans arose in a great
measure from the spoliation of the countries they
conquered, gold and silver formed an essential part
of their plunder ; specie, therefore, might possibly
be of less value there than in other parts of the
world at the same period.
Independently, however, of the increase of quan-
tity which produces a depreciation in the value of
the precious metals themselves, there are causes
quite foreign to this, which have considerable effect
ON MONEY. S55
on the value of the money into which they hare
been coined. One of these is the adulteration of
the coin. A pound sterling, or twenty shillings,
originally weighed a pound of silver; hence its
denomination. But sovereigns, in making new
coinages, frequently found it convenient to adul-
terate the metal by mixing it with alloy. It was a
means of increasing the value of their treasures, by
paying their debts with a much less quantity of the
precious metals, and thus defrauding their creditor-
subjects, who in the first instance were not aware
of the change.
In the year 1351, Edward the Fourth, distressed
by the debts he had incurred in his chimerical
attempts to conquer France, adopted this mode of
paying his creditors with less money than he bor-
rowed of them. He ordered a pound of silver to
be coined into 266, instead of 240 pennies. Having
experienced the beneficial effects of this expedient,
he soon after coined 270 pennies out of the same
pound. By this imposition, not only the creditors
of the crown, but all other creditors were defrauded
of about a tenth of their property; being compelled
to receive in payment money of less value than that
they had lent. Considerable inconvenience was
also experienced from the alteration in the standard
of value ; as soon as it was discovered, it produced
a general rise in the price of commodities, and the
poor were greatly distressed by the enhancement of
prices of the necessaries of life.
856 ON MONEY*
CAROLINE.
But did not wages rise in the same proportion?
MRS. B.
Eventually they did, no doubt ; but after such a
revolution in prices as an event of this nature pro-
duces, a length of time is required to restore the
due level ; and the rich always resist the rise of
wages as long as they can. In the instance I have
mentioned it does not appear that the labouring
class made any effort to obtain a compensation by
n rise of wages, until a dreadful pestilence, which
originated in the east, extended its ravages to Eng-
land, and carried off the greater part of the lower
classes. The survivors then took advantage of the
scarcity of hands to raise their terms ; but the king,
instead of allowing the remedy to pursue its natural
course, considered this attempt of the labourers to
raise their wages as an unwarrantable exaction;
and in order to prevent it, enacted the statute of
labourers. This statute ordained that labourers
should receive no more than the wages which were
paid previous to the adulteration of the coin.
It would be difficult to conceive a law more
calculated to repress the efforts of industry. But
Edward, urged by the weight of his accumulated
debts, continued to depreciate the value of the coin;
endeavouring to conceal the fraud by the introduc-
tion of a new silver coin called a groat, but in value
DN MONEY. S57
only 3ld. : and in 1358 he made 75 groats, or 300
pennies, out of a pound of silver.
CAROLINE.
What a prodigious depreciation in the course of
so short a period of time ! and have similar expe-
dients been resorted to by successive sovereigns ?
MRS. B.
Yes ; so repeatedly that 20 shillings, or a pound
sterling, instead of containing, as formerly, a pound
of silver, now weighs rather less than four ounces of
that metal.
CAROLINE.
But this is a partial depreciation, which affects
only the coin of Great Britain. Have other coun-
tries adopted so unjust and pernicious a measure ?
MRS. B.
It is so tempting an expedient for sovereigns,
that it has been resorted to in almost all countries
where money is used. In the time of Charlemagne
the French livre weighed a pound, of 12 ounces.
Philip the First adulterated it with one-third of
alloy. Philip of Valois practised the same fraud
on gold coin, and it has been repeated by successive
sovereigns till the depreciation of the French livre
is even greater than that of our pound sterling, it
being now worth not more than ten-pence.
358 ON MONEY,
As far back as the time of the Romans this sur-
reptitious mode of obtaining wealth had been dis-
covered, and was practised. The Roman as, which
originally contained a pound of brass, was in the
course of time diminished to half an ounce.
CAROLINE.
But now that the world must be fully aware of
the imposition, I should think that governments
would not venture to have recourse to such ex-
pedients.
MRS. B.
This country has increased so much in wealth,
that in the present times less difficulty is expe-
rienced in raising taxes ; and the facility of making
loans has 'induced government to give the prefer-
ence to that mode of obtaining money during a time
of war, or whenever any extraordinary expenses
are incurred.
Of late years a new mode of augmenting the
currency of the country has been invented ; by sub-
stituting for the precious metals a more convenient
and more economical medium of exchange, under
the form of ;papei'-mona/.
CAROLINE.
Paper-money ! There can be no real value in
money made of paper ?
ON MONEY. 359
MRS. B.
None whatever intrinsically, yet it has been found
to answer most of the purposes of specie. — You
remember that money was first invented to avoid
the inconvenience of barter. When a commodity
is sold for money, it is under a confidence, on the
part of the seller, that he will be able with the
money to purchase any other commodity of equal
value that he may want. It is of no consequence
to him of what material the money be made, pro-
vided it have this quality.
CAROLINE.
True ; but paper can never have that quality ;
who would part with any thing of value for a bit of
paper ?
MRS. B.
Suppose I were to give you a paper containing
my promise to pay you lOOZ. in money whenever
you demanded it ; would you not consider the pro-
mise so formally given, nearly of the same value as
the money itself?
CAROLINE.
Yes ; because I have perfect confidence in you :
but a stranger would not.
MRS. B.
Suppose that instead of my promise to pay you
100/., I should give you a piece of paper contain-
'^^b ON MONEY.
ing a promise to the same effect of some of the
wealthiest and best known merchants in London ?
CAROLINE.
My confidence in the value of such paper would
be in proportion to the reliance I could place on
the promise of such merchants.
MRS. B.
Exactly so. Such confidence is the foundation
of all banking establishments, which are in general
a partnership of wealthy and respectable merchants,
in whom the public repose so great a confidence
that they are willing to take their promissory note,
commonly called a bank-note, instead of money.
CAROLINE.
A bank-note then is a written engagement, or
promise to pay the sum, whatever it be, that is
specified in the note ?
MRS. B.
It is ; and these notes become current as a me-
dium of exchange; having no intrinsic value, the}'
are merely the sign or representative of wealth ;
but are'received by the public under the persuasion
that they will be paid in money by the bank which
issues them, whenever it may be required.
CAROLINE.
This is indeed an excellent invention ; what a
ON MONEY. 361
saving of expense ! The establishment of a bank
of paper-money appears to me very similar to the
discovery of a mine of gold in the country ; or in-
deed the bank has even some advantages over the
mine, for it is certain of being productive, and yet
it is attended with much less expense.
MRS. B.
The saving of capital to a country by the substi-
tution of paper to a metallic currency, is perhaps
still greater than you imagine. If, for example,
the currency of Great Britain be estimated at
twenty millions of sovereigns, and the ordinary
rate of profit at 8 per cent., it is evident that this
currency costs the country above a million and a
half a-year; for had not the twenty millions been
employed as coin, they would have been invested
in different branches of industry, and yielded above
a million and a half profit. Besides, the loss of
coin occasioned by fires, shipwrecks, and other
accidents, is very considerable, and requires an
annual addition to be made to the stock of currency
in order to fill up the void. Thus, you see that it
is an expensive luxury for a country to maintain
twenty millions of gold in circulation.
CAROLINE.
I am only surprised that facts like these should
not have given rise to paper-money long before the
R
362 ON MONEY.
present period. Pray, is the invention of paper-
money quite of modern date ?
MRS. B.
There is, I believe, no vestige of any thing of
the kind in ancient history ; unless we should con-
sider, as such, a species of stamped leather used as
money by the Carthaginians ; and as they had also
coined money, it is possible that their stamped lea-
ther might be considered merely as a sign or re-
presentative of real value, analogous to our paper-
money.
CAEOLINE.
The leather was probably a species of parchment,
the substance commonly used for writing on, be-
fore the invention of paper, and the impression
stamped on it might signify the sum of money
which the piece of leather was to represent, or pass
for.
MRS. B.
These are points upon which, in the imperfect
state of our knowledge of Carthaginian currency,
it would be difficult to determine ; it is fortunate,
therefore, that they are questions more of curiosity
than of utility.
The first bank we are distinctly acquainted with
was established at Amsterdam in the year 1609 • ;
* It is said, however, that a bank was established at Venice
at least two centuries before.
ON MONEY. 363
but this institution was of a different kind from
what I have been describing. It issued no paper,
but received the deposit of coined money, an ac-
count of which was taken in the books of the bank
and through the medium of these books, transfers
of property were made from one individual to an-
other, as occasion required, without the money be-
ing once removed from the strong chests in which
it was originally deposited.
CAROLINE.
There does not seem to be any economy in this
species of bank ; whilst those that issue bank-notes,
by the substitution of a cheap circulating medium,
render that of gold and silver superfluous, and en-
able it to be sent abroad to purchase foreign com-
modities.
MRS. B.
And, should foreign countries adopt the same
economical expedient, and send us their super-
fluous specie ?
CAROLINE.
True, I did not consider that. If paper mo-
ney were generally adopted, every country would
be overstocked with specie ; for though the estab-
lishment of a bank in any one country may force
the superfluous money into others, this cannot hap-
pen if banks are set up in every country. They
E 2
364 ON MONEY.
are far, therefore, from being attended with the
advantages I at first imagined.
MRS. B.
By issuing paper-money, so much is, in fact,
added to the circulation throughout the civilised
world ; and inasmuch as it supersedes the use of the
precious metals, and therefore lessens the demand,
it must to a certain degree lessen their value. The
immediate effect of opening a new bank is certainly
to drive some portion of the specie out of the coun-
try in which the bank is established. It does not
however, force out the whole quantity which the
paper represents, for independently of the general
excess to which we have alluded, a bank must keep
a certain quantity of specie in reserve to be enabled
to fulfil the promise of paying its notes on demand.
CAROLINE.
You do not mean to say that a bank will keep a
fund of specie, like that of Amsterdam, equal to
the value of its notes, for that purpose ; for if so,
no saving would result from the use of paper-
money ?
MRS. B.
Certainly not. The profits of the bank arise
JTom the employment of the capital thus saved,
which consists of the difference between the amount
of notes issued and the specie reserved in the bank.
ON MONEY. 365
It is so improbable that every person possessed of
notes should apply at once for payment, that there
is no necessity for providing a fund equal to the
amount of the notes in circulation in order to fulfil
the engagement. Banks discover from experience
what is the proportion of specie requisite to enable
them to answer the average demand made upon
them ; and they regulate the quantity of notes they
issue accorduigly : for if they failed in their engage-
ment to pay them in cash on demand, they would
become bankrupt.
CAROLINE.
Yet I understand that a few years since the Bank
of England did not pay its notes in specie ?
MRS. B.
That is true ; but it was owing to an act of par-
liament having been passed purposely to grant this
privilege to the Bank of England for a specified
tirae-
CAROLINE.
And when a Bank of England note could no
longer be exchanged at pleasure for specie, in what
did its value consist ?
MRS. B.
In the expectation that it would one day be paid
in specie; this opinion rendered bank-notes still
R 3
366 ON MONEY.
current : had such confidence been destroyed, their
value would have been reduced to that of the pa-
per of which they are made.
CAROLINE.
But when the Bank of England was not obliged
to pay its notes in cash, it was at liberty to issue
any quantity however great. In short, it seems to
have discovered the philosopher's stone, for though
it may not have found the means of making gold,
it possessed a substitute which answered the pur-
pose equally well.
MRS. B.
Excepting, that having no intrinsic value, it
cannot be exported in case of excess ; and you may
recollect our observing, that no use could be made
of any superfluous quantity of money but to ex-
change it for foreign goods. An excess of currency
produced by an over-issue of bank-notes must
therefore remain in the country, and cause a de-
preciation in the value of money, which would be
discovered by a general rise in the prices of com-
modities, and would be attended with all the evils
enumerated in our last conversation.
CAROLINE.
And is there not great danger of a bank issuing
an excess of notes when it is not restricted by th«i
obligation of paying them in specie ?
ON MONEY* 367
MRS. B.
A very considerable risk is certainly incurred by
such an exemption.
When a bank issues more notes than are required
for the purpose of circulation, its effect in depre-
ciating the value of the currency, and raising the
price of commodities, is at first very trifling, because
as soon as that effect is perceived, the coined money
begins to disappear. Notwithstanding the prohi-
bition <?jilaw, it never fails to make its escape out
of the country. It is either clandestinely sent
abroad, or privately melted, and exported in bul-
lion. As long, therefore, as an over-issue of notes
sei'ves to replace the coin which it forces out of the
country, there is but little augmentation of the cir-
culating medium ; but if after the specie has dis-
appeared, the bank still continue to force an addi-
tional quantity of notes into circulation, the excess
will be absorbed in it, the value of the currency will
be proportionally depreciated, and a corresponding
rise will take place in the price of commodities.
CAROLINE.
But is it known whether the Bank of England
materially increased its issue of notes when it was
exonerated from the obligation of paying them in
cash?
MRS. B.
Of that there is no doubt ; but it is the opinion
B 4?
368 ON MONEY.
of some people that the supply of notes did not
exceed the demand ; — that the paper-mine (as
you call it) increased its produce only in pro-
portion to the increase of the produce of the
country, and the peculiar exigencies of the times,
political circumstances having deranged the natural
order of things, and rendered, during the late re-
volutions of Europe, a more than usual quantity of
currency necessary.
CAROLINE.
But was it not during the late war that all our
gold coin disappeared, and was supposed to be
melted down or exported ? And was there not a
general rise in the price of provisions and com-
modities at the same period ?
MRS. B.
That is true; and the question has been very much
disputed whether these circumstances were owing to
the war, and the taxes it entailed upon us, or to an
over-issue of bank-notes. England was under the
necessity of paying her troops on the Continent,
and of subsidising foreign sovereigns ; and the opi-
nion was maintained by many people that this was
a sufficient reason to account for the disappear-
ance of our specie, and to render an additional
issue of bank-notes necessary.
ON MONEY. > 369
But the strongest argument in favour of a de-
preciation of the currency is, that guineas no longer
passed for the same value as gold bullion, which is
the natural standard of the value of coined money.
CAROLINE.
Has the gold then been adulterated, and an ounce
of gold coined into more than 3/. 175. 10^^. ?
MRS. B.
No; but gold bullion partook of the general
rise of commodities, and instead of selling for
3/. 175. lOjc?., it sold for above 4/., and even once
was as high as 51. an ounce.
CAROLINE.
But why did not guineas rise in the same pro-
portion ? I cannot conceive how they can be less
valuable than a similar weight of the gold of which
they are made.
MRS. B.
The coined and the uncoined gold remained in
reality of the same value, but as it is not lawful to
pass a guinea for more than a pound-note and a
shilling, the guineas were compelled to share the
fate of the paper- currency ; and if that was depre-
ciated, all the coined money of the country, whether
•gold or silver, must have been so likewise.
R 5
$70 ON MONEY.
CAROLINE.
Then, if it had not been illegal, every one would
have melted his depreciated guineas and shillings,
and converted them into gold and silver bullion?
MRS. B.
Certainly. It is this which caused our specie to
disappear, and transported it to foreign countries,
where it w^as freed from the shackles of a depre-
ciated paper-currency, and enabled to fetch its real
value in exchange for goods ; it is this also which,
as we before observed, brought foreign goods to
be sold at our market, because it was dear ; and
sent our money to purchase goods at foreign mar-
kets, because they were cheap.
CAROLINE.
But if an ounce of gold rises in price from
3l. 17 s, lO^d. to 51., is it not rather the value of
the bullion that has risen than the currency that
has fallen ?
MRS. B.
Gold bullion, like every other commodity, rises
in price only, not in value ,- and that rise is owing
to the depreciation of the currency in which its
price is estimated ; were there no depreciation, bul-
lion and guineas would both be worth 31. 17s. 10 d,
an ounces
ON MONEY. 371
CAROLINE.
This, then, seems to decide the point of depreci-
ation.
MRS. B.
I think it does ; but it is yet a disputed ques-
tion, and the principle becomes every day more
generally acknowledged ; but you must recollect,
that when I undertook to assist you in acquiring a
knowledge of the principles of political economy,
we agreed to confine our enquiries to such points
as were well established. We will, therefore, re-
frain from deciding a question upon which there
still exists a difference of opinion.
It is very easy to acquire some knowledge of the
principles of a science, but extremely difficult to
know how to apply them. I would particularly
caution you against hasty conclusions or inferences ;
the errors arising from the misapplication of sound
principles are scarcely less dangerous than those
which proceed from ignorance.
Let us now conclude our observations on cur-
rency, which we may henceforth consider as con-
sisting not merely of specie, but of coined and of
paper-money.
CAROLINE.
It is not, I suppose, necessary that the value of
the currency of a country should be equal to the
value of the commodities to be circulated by it?
B 6
372 ON MONEY.
MRS. B.
By no means. The same guinea or bank-note
will serve the purpose of transferring from one
individual to another several hundred pounds' worth
of goods in the course of a short time. There are
besides many expedients for economising money,
the most remarkable of which is an arrangement
made amongst bankers. Their clerks meet every
day after the hours of business to exchange the
draughts made on each other for the preceding day.
If, for instance, the banking-house A. has draughts
to the amount of 20,000/. on the banking-house B.,
the latter has also, in all probability, draughts
upon the former, though they may not be to the
same amount; the two houses exchange these
draughts as far as they will balance each other, and
the necessit}^ of providing money for the payment
of the whole is thus obviated. By this economical
expedient, which is carried on amongst all the
bankers in London east of St. Paul's, I understand
that about 200,000/. performs the function of four
or five millions.
CAROLINE.
And what do you suppose to be the proportion
of the money to the value of the commodities to
be circulated by it ?
MRS. B.
That, I believe, it would be impossible to ascer-
ON MONEY. 373
tain. Mr, Sismondi, in his valuable Treatise on
Commercial Wealth, compares these respective
quantities to mechanical powers, which, though of
different weights, balance each other from the
equality of their momentum ; and, to follow up the
comparison, he observes that though commodities
are by far the most considerable in quantity, yet
that the velocity with which currency circulates,
compensates for its deficiency.
CAROLINE.
This is an extremely ingenious comparison, and
I should suppose the analogy to be perfectly cor-
rect ; for the less money there is in circulation the
more frequently it will be transferred from one to
another in exchange for goods.
MRS. B.
Perfectly correct is rather too strong a tenrn.
The analogy will only bear to a certain extent,
otherwise, whatever were the proportions of cur-
rency and of commodities, they would always
balance each other, and the price of commodities
would never be affected by the increase or diminu-
tion of the quantity of currency.
( 374 )
CONVERSATION XVIII.
ON COMMERCE.
DIFFERENCE OF WHOLESALE AND RETAIL TRADE.
GENERAL ADVANTAGES OF TRADE. HOW IT
ENRICHES A COUNTRY. — ADVANTAGES OF RETAIL
TRADE. GREAT PROFITS OF SMALL CAPITALS
EXPLAINED. ADVANTAGES OF QUICK RETURN
OF CAPITAL TO FARMERS AND MANUFACTURERS.
ADVANTAGES OF ROADS, CANALS, &C. — DIF-
FERENCE OF THE HOME TRADE, FOREIGN TRADE,
AND CARRYING TRADE, OF THE HOME TRADE :
IT RETURNS CAPITAL QUICKER.
MRS. B.
We mentioned commerce as one of the modes
of employing capital to produce a revenue; but
deferred investigating its eflPects until you had ac-
quired some knowledge of the nature and use of
money. We may now, therefore, proceed to ex-
ON COMMERCE. 375
amine in what manner commerce enriches indivi-
duals, and augments the wealth of a country.
Those who engage their capitals in commerce or
trade, act as agents or middle-men between the
producers and the consumers of the fruits of the
earth ; they purchase them of the former, and sell
them to the latter ; and it is by the profits on the
sale that capital so employed yields a revenue.
There are two distinct sets of men engaged in
trade : — merchants, who purchase commodities
(either in a rude or a manufactured state) of those
who produce them, — this is called wholesale trade;
and shopkeepers, who purchase goods in smaller
quantities of the merchants, and distribute them to
the public according to the demand, — this consti-
tutes the retail trade.
CAROLINE.
Trade will no doubt bring a revenue to those
who employ their capital in it; but I do not con-
ceive how it contributes to the wealth of the
country : for neither merchants nor shopkeepers
produce any thing new ; they add nothing to the
general stock of wealth, but merely distribute that
which is produced by others. It is true, that
mercantile men form a considerable part of the
community ; but if their profits are taken out of
the pockets of their countrymen, they may make
fortunes without enriching their country.
376 ON COMMERCE.
MRS. B.
Trade increases the wealth of a nation, not im-
mediately by raising produce, like agriculture, nor
by working up raw materials, like manufactures ;
but it gives an additional value to commodities by
bringing them from places where they are plentiful
to those where they are scarce ; it enables us to
procure what we want more in exchange for what
we want less ; and by providing the means of a
more extended distribution of commodities, it gives
a spur to the industry both of the agricultural and
manufacturing classes. It would be impossible,
you know, for every town or district to produce
the several kinds of commodities required for its
consumption ; different soils and climates, and
various species of skill and industry are requisite
for that purpose. Some lands are best calculated
for corn, others for pasture ; some towns are cele-
brated for their cotton manufactures, others for
their woollen cloths. Every place has, therefore,
an excess of some kind of commodities, and a de-
ficiency of others ; which renders a system of ex-
changes necessary, not only between individuals
(as we observed in treating of the origin of barter),
but between towns and countries to the most dis-
tant regions of the earth.
Now it is the business of merchants to exchange
the surplus produce of one place for that of an-
other. A man who deals in any particular com-
ON COMMERCE. 377
modity makes it his business to find out in what
parts that commodity is most abundant and will
be sold at the lowest price ; and in what parts it is
most scarce, and will fetch the highest price, and
then to ascertain the least expensive mode of con-
veying it from the one to the other market.
CAROLIKE.
In this they consult their own interest ; since
to purchase at the cheapest, and sell at the dearest
market, will give them the greatest profits.
MRS. B.
No doubt ; but it is wisely and beneficially or-
dained by Providence, that in consulting their own
interest they are at the same time favouring that of
the community. When merchants hasten to send
their goods to a market where they will sell at a
high price, they supply those who are in want of
such goods : the higher the price, the more urgent
is the demand : it is a deficiency that has rendered
them dear, and by furnishing the market with an
ample supply, merchants not only satisfy the wants
of the purchasers, but ultimately lower the price of
the commodity.
Do you think that manufacturers would be able
to dispose of an equal quantity of goods without
the intervention of mercantile men ? In such a
case Manchester would be reduced to distribute
378 ON COMMERCE.
its cottons merely within its own precincts and en-
virons, instead of supplying, as it now does, not
only the demand of all England, but even that of
the most remote provinces of America.
Trade encourages industry, in the second place,
by rendering commodities cheaper. The merchant,
by dealing in large quantities, is enabled to bring
goods to market at a less expense of conveyance,
and can therefore afford to sell them on lower
terms than if the consumer were obliged to send
for them to the places where they are produced.
CAROLINE.
Yet things may generally be bought at the lowest
price where they are produced or manufactured ?
MRS. B.
True ; but if you add the charges of a private
conveyance, they will cost you much dearer. Had
we no means of procuring coals, than by sending
a waggon to Newcastle, though we should pay less
for them there than in London, they would, from
the expense of carriage, cost us more. Merchants
who deal in large quantities have a regular system
of conveyance for their goods, which considerably
diminishes the charges. The coals are by them
transported in ships to the different sea-ports, and
thence conveyed in barges to the inland parts of
the country wherever water-carriage is practicable.
ON COMMERCE. 379
CAROLINE.
It would, to be sure, not only be very expensive,
but extremely inconvenient, were we obliged to
send to distant parts for the commodities they pro-
duce. If, for instance, it were necessary to send
to Sheffield to purchase a set of knives and forks ;
to Leeds for a coat, and to Norwich for a shawl ; —
or, without going so far, were it requisite to send
into the country for corn, meat, hay, in short,
every thing which the country produces, these
things would cost us much more than if we bought
them of shopkeepers.
But admitting that trade, by facilitating the
distribution of commodities, and rendering them
cheaper, promotes their consumption, I cannot
understand how that can conduce to the wealth of
a country : it increases its comforts and enjoy-
ments, but it seems to me to encourage expendi-
ture rather than production.
MRS. B.
It would be rather difficult to encourage the
one independently of the other, unless you could
purchase what has not been produced. To in-
crease the comforts and enjoyments of a country
is the ultimate aim of national wealth, and it is
only by augmenting these productions that we
can increase the enjoyment of them. Now whilst
380 ON COMMERCE.
trade promotes consumption, by rendering com-
modities cheaper, it encourages industry in the pro-
ducer, to augment the supply. A reduction of
price brings a commodity within the reach of a
greater number of persons, which increases the
demand for it ; the man who could afford to wear
only a linen frock, will, when commodities are
cheaper, be able to wear a coat. He who could
allow himself but one coat in the year, can now
without extravagance wear two.
This increasing demand for commodities stimu-
lates the industry of the farmer and manufacturer,
and they enrich themselves by furnishmg the re-
quisite supplies. With their wealth their consump-
tion also augments ; for the wants of men increase
with their means of satisfying them ; and when they
add to their income, they usually add also to their
expenditure. The farmer has more to satisfy the
desires of the manufacturer ; and the manufecturer
produces more to supply the demands of the farmer:
so that each is enabled to give and receive a greater
quantity of things in exchange. These exchanges,
it is true, are made through the agency of mer-
chants, and by the means of money, but they are
effectually exchanges of commodities, as really as
if the manufacturer supplied the farmer with cloth-
ing in exchange for provisions. The increase of
saleable commodities affects in a similar manner all
classes of people. The proprietor of land improves
ON COMMERCE. 381
his fortune by the increasing value of his rents,
which the prosperous state of agriculture enables
the farmer to pay; and the labourer betters his
condition by the rise in the rate of wages resulting
from the increased demand for labour. The whole
may be summed up by saying, that the quantity of
commodities being increased, a larger portion will
fall to the lot of every consumer who has any share
in their production.
CAROLINE.
I now begin to understand the general advan-
tages resulting from commerce. The retail trade
carried on by shopkeepers must be attended with
the same happy effects. It would be extremely
inconvenient to the rich, and impracticable for the
poor, to purchase the commodities they wanted in
such large quantities as are disposed of by mer-
chants and wholesale dealers. Were there no
such trade as a butcher, for instance, every family
would be obliged to purchase a whole sheep or a
whole ox of the farmer.
MRS. B.
Retail trade is one of the most useful subdivisions
of labour. Nothing can be more desirable than
that the poor, who are maintained by daily or
weekly wages, should be able to purchase their
provisions in as small quantities as possible.
382 ON COMMERCE.
CAROLINE.
Yet 1 have often regretted the high price which
the lower orders of people are obliged to pay for
fuel, candles, grocery, and various little articles
with which they are supplied by the chandlers'
shops ; whilst the higher ranks, who can afford to
purchase the same goods in larger quantities, ob-
tain them of more extensive deSlers at a cheaper
rate.
MRS. B.
You must consider that were there no small
shopkeepers, the lower classes would be reduced to
the utmost distress ; and these petty dealers cannot
afford to sell their pennyworths, without being paid
for the additional labour and trouble such kind of
traffic requires. Their profits cannot be exorbi-
tant, otherwise competition would in time reduce
them to their natural standard.
CAROLINE.
But by selling very small quantities at a higher
price, they must make more than the usual rate of
profit ; and how do you reconcile this to the com-
mon level of profit in all employment of capital ?
MRS. B.
By reckoning whatever gains they make above
the usual profits of capital, as 'wages, that is to say,
10»
ON COMMERCE. 38 S
the reward of their personal labour. The smaller
is the capital which a man employs, the greater is
the proportion which his wages will bear to the
profits of his capital. A man who sells oranges in
the streets has laid out perhaps a capital of 20 or
30 shillings on the goods in which he deals, the
usual profits of trade on such a sum is two or three
shilUngs a-year; but if he did not carry about
oranges for sale, he would work as a labourer, and
get perhaps two shillings a day wages ; these two
shillings a day, or 626 shillings a-year, the man
must make by the sale of his oranges, in addition
to the usual profits of trade ; the whole of his gains
go, however, under the name of profits, because the
distinction can be made only in theory.
CAROLINE.
But all tradesmen and mercantile men devote
their time and attention to their business : should
not, therefore, a portion of their gains be con-
sidered as the reward of their personal labour,
which must be valuable in proportion to the ex-
tent and importance of the concern in which they
are engaged ?
MRS. B.
No doubt; yet it will bear but a small pro-
portion to their profits, compared with that of
petty dealers. A merchant who makes in trade an
income of 5000/, a-year, were he to engage himself
S84' ON COMMERCE.
as clerk, would probably not obtain a salary of
above 500/. ; his wages would therefore be equal to
only one-tenth of his profits, whilst those of the
man who sold oranges would be above 200 times
the amount of the profits of his capital.
Another advantage resulting to the farmer and
manufacturer, from the disposal of their goods to
merchants, is the quick return of the capital they
have employed in their production ; for they receive
the price of their goods from the merchant much
sooner than they would, were they obliged to col-
lect it gradually from the consumers.
Let us suppose a cotton-manufacturer who de-
votes a capital of a thousand pounds to the employ-
ment of as many labourers as it will maintain, and
sells their work to a wholesale dealer for 1100/.
With this money he immediately sets his men
and his mills to work again ; whilst, if he retailed
the goods himself, though instead of 1100/. he
might perhaps get 1200/. or even 1300/. for them ;
yet, as the money would come in very slowly, lie
and his workmen would necessarily be kept a long
time out of employ.
CAROLINE.
To the farmer such delays would prove ruinous,
if he could not sell his crops in time to proceed
with the necessarv cultivation of the farm for the
ensuing season.
ON COMMERCE. 385
MRS. B.
In order to avoid such extremities, both the
farmer and manufacturer would be obliged to
divide their capital into two parts, and employ the
one in raising or manufacturing commodities, and
the other in disposing of them. To the occupations
of agriculture or manufactures, they would find it
necessary to add that of trade, a complication which
would be equally injurious to each of the concerns.
Commerce is one of the economical divisions of
labour ; if it sets apart a certain number of men,
for the purpose of circulating and distributing the
produce of the earth, it is in order that those who
are engaged in raising and manufacturing that pro-
duce should be able to devote the whole of their
capital, their time, and their talents, to their re-
spective employments. It is worthy of observation,
too, that none of these divisions are enforced by
law, but exist under the choice of the parties, and
have been adopted from ar view to their general
interest
But although it is advantageous to separate
commerce from other branches of industry, it is
desirable that its operations should be facilitated as
much as possible, both in order that agricul-
ture and manufactures should not be deprived of
too many labourers, and that commodities should
be brought to market with the least possible ex-
:i86 ON COMMERCE.
pense. Good and numerous roads and navigable
canals are extremely conducive to this end, as they
enable the produce of the country to be conveyed
with ease and expedition to the several markets ;
for ease and expedition economise time and labour,
and economy of time and labour is productive of
cheapness.
CAROLINE.
Were there no roads, the farmer being without
means of sending his crops to market would not
produce more than could be consumed by his
family, and perhaps some few customers in his
neiohboLirhood, and he must be content to clothe
himself with the fleeces of his flocks and the skins
of his herds, for he would be unable to procure
manufactured articles. Nor would the manufac-
turers be better off*, as the market for the disposal
of their goods would be equally limited.
MRS. B.
Neither towns nor manufactures could exist in
such a state of things, because they could not be
supplied with the produce of the country, which is
still more necessary to their existence, than the
workmanship of the towns is to the farmer. It is
the surplus produce of the country which pays for
the workmanship of the towns, and the suq>his
workmanship of the towns that pays for the pro-
ON COMMERCE. 387
duce of the country. The greater, therefore, the
intercourse between town and country, the greater
is the encouragement given to the industry of
both.
History teaches us that in all old settled coun-
tries no material improvement has taken place in
the cultivation of the lands without a considerable
advance in the state of manufactures and commerce;
and Adam Smith even goes so far as to say, that
" through the greater part of Europe the com-
'^ merce and manufactures of cities, instead of
" being the effect, have been the cause and oc-
" casion of the improvement and cultivation of the
" country.''
But as the forms of governments, and the man-
ners and customs of our barbarous ancestors, have
constantly interfered with and restricted the pro-
gress of wealth and civilisation of Europe, the
natural order of things has frequently been re-
versed: and towns have arisen, not from the surplus
wealth of the country, but as citadels and fortresses
in which the people found shelter from the oppres-
sion of their superiors, and the incursions of their
warlike neighbours. We must look to America
for the natural effect of the progress of wealth and
civilisation, and we shall there behold the habi-
tations of farmers scattered over the face of the
country, and towns built only after cultivation was
far advanced.
s 2
388 ON COMMERCE.
CAROLINE.
In expatiating on the advantages of facility of
conveyance, it must not, how^ever, be forgotten,
that the land which is converted into roads is taken
from tillage; and could we calculate the quantity of
corn and hay which the roads, in a state of culture,
might have produced, it would perhaps be found
that some of them have occasioned more loss than
gain.
To take land from cultivation for the purpose
of roads appears to me very analogous to taking
labourers from agriculture for the purpose of trade.
MRS. B.
The result is in both cases similar ; for there can
be no doubt but that the general effect of roads
and canals is to increase the produce of the coun-
try. If we are indebted to merchants for the ad-
vantages of trade, roads and canals are the instru-
ments with which they carry it on. Deprived of
«iich means, their operations would be very cir-
cumscribed ; there would be no trade but at sea-
ports, and along the course of rivers.
The charges of conveyance from Liverpool to
Manchester on the Duke of Bridgewater's canal is
six shillings a ton, whilst the price of land-carriage
is forty shillings.
CAROLINE.
If there had been a river from one of those .
ON COMMERCE, 389
towns to the other the expense of carriage would
have been still less than that of the canal.
MRS. B.
Probably not ; a river is seldom uniformly navi-
gable, and is always more or less circuitous in its
course; and where the stream is powerful, it will
admit of navigation only in one direction, as is the
case in some of the American rivers. Before the
Bridgewater canal was dug, the usual mode of con-
veyance of goods was along the Mersey and the
Trevell, and the cost was twelve shillings a ton, just
double that of conveyance on the canal. Macpher-
son observes, that " this spirited and patriotic en-
" 4:erprise of the Duke of Bridgewater is rewarded
" by a vast revenue, arising from his water-carriage
" and his formerly useless coal-mine; and the sur-
" rounding country is benefited a pound at least in
" every shilling paid to the Duke."
CAROLINE.
This reminds me of a circumstance that occurred
during a tour in Wales ; we were admiring a neat
fountain which supplied a village with water, and
were informed by the landlord of the inn, that he
had constructed it, and had had the water conveyed
from a distant spring, whence the people of the
village had formerly been under the necessity of
fetching it. A trifling sum was annually paid by
s 3
390 ON COMMERCE.
each family for liberty to use this water, and the
landlord thought it necessary to make many apo-
logies for not allowing it them free of expense, and
talked much of the money he had laid out in the
enterprise. My father assured him that he was
convinced the speculation was still more beneficial
to the village than it was to himself; that as the
inhabitants had the option of fetching water for
themselves, the payment proved that it was because
they could turn the time and labour they bestowed
on the conveyance of water to better account ; and
upon enquiry we found the village had been in an
improving state ever since the erection of this foun-
tain. It had not only become more opulent, but had
acquired habits of cleanliness, which had proved
very beneficial to the health of the people.
MRS. B.
There are three species of commerce in which
merchants engage their capitals. The home trade,
foreign trade, and the carrying trade.
The home trade comprehends all the internal
and coasting trade of a country. The foreign trade
is that in which we exchange our commodities for
those of foreign countries ; and the carrying trade
consists in conveying the commodities of one fo-
reign country to another. Let us at present con^
fine our observations to the home trade*
ON COMMERCE. 391
CAROLINE,
The home trade, I conclude, must be the most
advantageous to the country, because it encourages
the industry of our own people.
MRS. B.
But what difference can it make whether our la-
bourers are employed to work for us, or for fo-
reigners ? For if we export English goods, we
receive an equal amount of foreign goods in ex-
change ; so that foreign labourers work equally for
us in return.
The only advantage of the home trade is that it
usually affords a quicker return of capital, which
is a further means of promoting industry. The
nearer is the market at which the merchant dis-
poses of his goods, the sooner will his capital be
returned to him, and the sooner will he be able to
take other goods from the hands of the farmer or
manufacturer. If a London merchant trades with
Sheffield or Manchester, his capital may be re-
turned to him in the course of a few weeks; if with
America or the East-Indies, it may be a year or
two, or more, before he gets it back. The greater
the vicinity of the market, therefore, the greater
the number of sales and purchases he will be able
to make in a given time. A capital of 1000/., for
instance, might in the home trade be returned
once a month, and enable the merchant, during
s 4
392 ON COMMERCE.
the course of the year, to purchase ] 2,000/. worth
of goods; whilst, if he sent his merchandise to
India, two years would probably elapse before he
got his capital returned. In the first case, there-
fore, the 1000/. capital would afford twenty-four
times inore encouragement to industry than it
would in the latter.
CAROLINE.
You do not thence mean to infer, that in the first
case the profits would be twenty-four limes greater ?
MRS. B.
Certainly not. Competition is, you know, per-
petually tending to equalise the profits of capital,
in whatever way it is employed. Profits will con-
sequently be proportioned to the slow return of
capital ; and must, therefore, be reckoned annually,
and not calculated upon every time the capital is
returned.
CAROLINE.
The period of the return of capital applies, then,
not so much to the home or foreign trade, as to
the distance of the market; for capita! might be
returned quicker in trading with Calais or Dunkirk
than with Edinburgh and Cork ?
MRS. B.
It is very true ; and how much is it to be re-
gretted that jealousies and dissensions should so
ON COMMERCE. 393
frequently impede and restrict the trade between
neighbouring nations, which would otherwise be
carried on with such great and reciprocal advan-
tage ! But we shall reserve till our next interview
the observations we have to make on foreign trade.
S 5
( 394 )
CONVERSATION XIX,
ON FOREIGN TRADE.
ADVANTAGES OF TOREIGN TRADE. IT EMPLOYS
THE SURPLUS OF CAPITAL, AND DISPOSES OF A
SURPLUS OF COMMODITIES. OF BOUNTIES.
EFFECTS OF RESTRICTIONS ON FOREIGN TRADE.
EXTRACT FROM SAy's POLITICAL ECONOMY.
CAROLINE.
At our last interview, Mrs. B., you were regret-
ting that any restraint should be imposed on our
trade with foreign countries ; yet I cannot help
thinking that every measure tending to discourage
foreign commerce, and promote our own industry,
would be extremely useful.
MRS. B.
You would find it difficult to accomplish both
those objects ; for in order to encourage our own
industry we must facilitate the means of selling the
ON FOREIGN TRADE. 395
produce of our manufactures, and extend their
market as much as possible. On the other hand,
if we prohibit exportation, we hmit the production
of our manufactures to the supply which can be
consumed at home. If the woollen manufacturers
of Leeds, after having supplied the whole demand
of England for broad cloths, have any capital
left, they will use it in the preparation of woollen
goods for exportation.
CAROLINE.
Why not rather employ it in the fabrication
of other commodities which may be consumed at
home?
MRS. B.
If there were a deficiency of capital in any other
branch of industry at home, the redundancy would
naturally be drawn to that branch ; but if all the
trade, that is, all the exchanges that could be made
at home, have been made, we send the residue of
our commodities to foreign markets for sale.
CAROLINE.
Yet it appears a great hardship on the poor to
send goods abroad, which so many of them are in
want of at home.
MRS. B.
The poor are first supplied with whatever they
can afford to purchase : and without the means of
s 6
396 ON FOREIGN TRADE.
purchase you must recollect that there can be no
effectual demand. It is not to be expected that
farmers and manufacturers should labour for them
merely from charitable motives, and were they so
disposed, they would not long possess the means of
continuing their benevolence. It would be very
wrong, therefore, to consider this surplus produce
as taken from the poor ; for it would not have been
produced had there been no demand for it in fo-
reign countries,
CAROLINE.
That is very true. In all employment of capital
men labour with a view to profit ; they work, there-
fore, only for those who will pay them the value of
their produce. And it is easy to conceive that those
who have no further want of English commodities
may yet wish to procure foreign goods. The Eng-
lish merchant will therefore say, " Since there is no
more demand for the goods I deal in, I will export
the remainder, which will be purchased abroad,
and I shall get foreign commodities in exchange ; —
though my countrymen do not require any more
cotton goods, I know that they will purchase wirtes,
coffee, sugar, &c."
MRS. B.
Very well. Let us examine now what would
be the effect of confinuig tlic employment of
ON FOREIGN TRADE. 397
commercial capital to the home trade. If the
inhabitants of the West-Indian islands, Jamaica,
for instance, were to prohibit the exportation of
coffee and sugar, and the planters were obliged to
trade only within the island, the consequence
would be, that the demand for coffee and sugar
would be very insignificant, and that an incon-
siderable part only of the capital of the colony
would find employment. The same effect would
take place in Russia, if foreign merchants were not
allowed to purchase the hemp and flax so abund-
antly produced in that country. If in Peru and
Chili the exportation of indigo, bark, and other
drugs was prohibited, the Europeans, who pur-
chase them, would not be the only sufferers ; the
Americans would be impoverished for want of
employment for their capital.
CAROLINE.
All this is very clear, I admit. But what security
have we that merchants will not employ their
capital in foreign commerce, before the demand for
it in the home trade is fully supplied ?
MRS. B.
That security is derived from the natural distri-
bution of capital according to the rate of profit If
foreign commerce employed more capital than the
country could spare, the demand for it at home
S98 ON FOREIGN TRADE.
would raise the profits of the home trade, and the
temptation of these increased profits would soon
restore that portion of capital which had been
unnecessarily withdrawn from it.
CAROLINE.
The rate of profit, then, affords an excellent cri-
terion of the employment of capital most advan-
tageous to the community. When foreign com-
merce offers greater profits than the home trade,
it proves that there is a greater demand for capital
in that branch of industry ?
MRS. B.
Yes ; it proves that the country possesses a sur-
plus quantity of produce either agricultural or
manufactured, which cannot be disposed of in the
home market ; and if the owners of this surplus
were prevented from exchanging it for foreign
commodities, it would not in future be produced,
and those who produced it would be thrown out of
employment.
The first commodities a country usually exports
is agricultural produce, which she exchanges for
manufactured goods; this is still the case with
America, on account of it being a newly-settled
nation ; it is also the case with Poland and Russia,
those countries having made slower progress in
wealth and population than the other communities
ON FOREIGN TRADE. 399
of Europe. When nations are considerably ad-
vanced in wealth and population, all the food they
raise is required at home, and manufactures are
established in order to employ the increased num-
bers of people ; in the course of time they find that
they require more food than is produced at home,
it then becomes expedient to export manufactured
goods in exchange for corn, which they can obtain
cheaper by importation than by raising it on infe-
rior soils at home. And it is at this point that
England is now arrived.
CAROLINE.
I am surprised that foreign commerce with dis-
tant countries should ever offer sufficient profits to
afford a compensation to the merchant for the dis-
advantages arising from the slow return of capital.
MRS. B.
If it did not, no merchant would engage in it.
The greater the distance of the market to which
he sends his goods, the greater must be the profits
on their sale, to make up not only for the tardy
return of his capital, but also for the charges of
conveyance of the goods. Freight and insurance
from sea risks are both to be deducted from the
profits of the merchant in foreign trade.
CAROLINE.
Then since we are obliged to sell our goods at
such high prices in distant markets, I wonder that
400 ON FOREIGN TRADE.
we should find purchasers for them : would it not
answer better for those countries to produce them
at home ?
MRS. B.
You may be assured that no nation will pur-
chase from abroad what may be procured of the
same quality and for less expense at home. But
all countries are not equally capable of producing
the same kind of commodities, either rude or
manufactured. The gifts of nature are still more
diversified in the different climates of the earth,
than the habits and dispositions of men. It would
be impossible for us at any expense to produce the
wines of Portugal, on account of the coldness of
our climate. We can procure them only by an
exchange of commodities : the Portuguese take our
broad cloth in return : this, it is true, they might
manufacture at home ; but as our climate is pecu-
liarly favourable to pasturage, and our workmen
particularly skilful in manufactures, broad cloths
could not be made in Portugal equally good at the
same expense, including the charges of freight and
insurance ; and whilst the Portuguese can purchase
them of us for less than they can fabricate them at
home, it is certainly their interest to procure them
in exchange for commodities the culture or fabri-
cation of which is more suited to the nature of their
climate and the habits of the people.
But the difference of price of our manufactured
0» FOREIGN TRADE. 4?01
goods at home or abroad is not so great as you
would imagine ; in articles of small bulk it is very
trifling. I recollect some years since purchasing
an English pocket-book at Turin for nearly the
same price that it would have cost in London.
v
CAROLINE.
How, then, was the expense of conveyance de-
frayed ; and what compensation was there for the
slow return of capital ?
MRS. B.
These expenses probably did not more than
counterbalance the high rent and taxes paid by
London shopkeepers, which I believe are com-
paratively insignificant at Turin. There might,
perhaps, also be some bounty on the exportation
of such goods, which would enable the merchant to
sell them at a lower price.
CAROLINE.
Pray what is a bounty on goods ?
MRS. B.
It is a pecuniary reward given by government
for the exportation of certain goods. Govern-
ments, so far from partaking of your prejudices
against foreign trade, often think it right to encou-
rage the exportation of their manufactures by such
artificial measures.
402 ON FOREIGN TRADE*
CAROLINE.
A bounty, then, on any commodity has the effect
of inducing merchants to export more of it than
they would otherwise do, as it raises their profits.
But in consequence of this, capital will be drawn
into that trade beyond its due proportion ?
MRS* Br
Certainly ; a bounty often tempts merchants to
invest capital in a trade which otherwise would not
answer ; that is, to export goods which would not
yield a profit, after paying the expenses of con-
veyance, without such encouragement ; and this
capital, were it not artificially drawn out of its
natural course, would flow into channels which
would yield profits without any expense to go-
vernment.
CAROLINE.
Here, then, my apprehension of foreign trade is
well-founded ; for more capital is drawn into it
than is required to preserve the equality of profits.
MRS. B.
That is sometimes the case ; but it may also be
unduly drawn from one branch of foreign com-
merce to another. The effect of bounties, how-
ever, is generally counteracted by the nations with
whom we trade. Alarmed at our thus forcing our
goods upon them, and dreadfully apprehensive of
ON FOREIGN TRADE. 403
its interfering with the sale of their own manufac-
tures, they immediately lay a duty on the commo-
dity on which we grant a bounty, and oblige it to
pay, on entering their territory, a sum at least
equivalent to that which we bestow on it on quit-
ting our^own.
CAROLINE.
What a pity that either party should interfere to
check and restrain the natural course of commerce !
The disease, however, seems to call for the remedy ;
as it is sometimes expedient to take one poison as
an antidote to another.
MRS. B.
If we are so generous, or so absurd, as to enable
foreigners to purchase our commodities at a cheaper
rate, by paying a part of the price for them, under
the form of bounty, are we not doing them a ser-
vice, and ourselves an injury? And is it wise in
them to endeavour to counteract such a measure?
CAROLINE.
True ; I did not consider it in that point of
view. It is really laughable to see two nations,
the one strenuously endeavouring to injure itself,
whilst the other studiously avoids receiving a benefit;
and thus, by the mutual counteraction of each
other's artifice, they leave the trade to follow its
natural course.
404 ON FOREIGN TRADE.
I am now perfectly satisfied of the advantage of
obtaining, by means of foreign commerce, such
articles as cannot be produced at home; but I
confess I do not feel the same conviction with regard
to commodities which might be produced at home,
though with some additional expense.
MRS. B.
Why should it not be the interest of a country
as well as that of an individual to purchase com-
modities wherever they can be procured cheapest ?
It might be very possible, as it has been observed
by an ingenious writer *, for England to produce
at a great expense of labour the tobacco which we
now import from Vri'ginia : and the Virginians, with
no less difficulty, might fabricate the broad cloths
with which we furnish them. But if our climate is
better adapted to pasturage, and that of Virginia
to the culture of tobacco, it is evident that the
exchange of these commodities is a mutual ad-
vantage.
CAROLINE.
But are not the goods exchanged in trade of
equal value? If we send the Virginians a thousand
pounds worth of broad cloths, they will send us
only a thousand pounds worth of tobacco in return.
It may be a convenient measure, and the exchang-
* Sir Francis Divernois.
ON FOREIGN COUNTRY. 405
ing merchants will each make their profits ; but I
cannot perceive how the country can derive any
accession of wealth from such traffic.
MRS. B.
The exchangeable value of both these commo-
dities will be augmented by bringing them from
places where they are plentiful to those where they
are scarce. When we ship off 1000/. worth of
broad cloths for Virginia, and the Virginians ex-
port 1000/. worth of tobacco for England, the com-
modities of each acquire an additional value during
the transport; the tobacco will be worth more
when it arrives in England, because, not being
cultivated here, it is more scarce and in greater
demand with us. The broad cloth will be worth
more when it reaches Virginia, because, not being
fabricated in that country, it is more scarce and in
greater demand there. The respective cargoes
will perhaps each have acquired the additional
value of 200/. on being landed at their destined
ports.
CAROLINE.
Very true; but if we both cultivated tobacco and
fabricated broad cloths ; and if the Virginians did
the same, each country would be supplied at home,
and the expense of conveyance of the two cargoes
exchanged would be saved.
406 ON FOREIGN TRADE.
MRS. B.
If we could raise tobacco at as little expense as it
is done in Virginia, and the Virginians could manu-
facture broad cloths as cheap as they can purchase
them of us, your argument would be just; but that
is not the case. To make this clear to you, let us
examine what quantity of labour is bestowed upon
the production of these several commodities. If the
broad cloth which we send to Virginia cost us the
labour of one man we will say for 1000 days, while
the tobacco which we receive in exchange would
have cost us 2000 days' labour to produce at
home, we do not save a thousand days' labour?
and is not the advantage to the Virginians similar,
if the tobacco which cost them 1000 days' labour
to raise, will exchange for English broad cloth
which they could not have .manufactured under
2000 days' labour ?
CAROLINE.
By such an exchange, then, each country saves
1000 days' labour?
MRS. B.
Yes ; and to save is to gain ; for the thousand
days' labour thus economised are employed in the
production of some other connnodity, which is so
much clear gain to each country.
bN J-OREiGN TRADE. 407
CAROLINE.
Then each country procure the commodity it
wants at half the expense which would have been
required to produce it at home?
MRS. B.
Just so. To put the question in other words,
we may say, if by the employment of 50,000/. in
the Virmnia trade we can obtain as much tobacco
as would require 100,000/. if cultivated at home,
there is 50,000/. economised, which will be em-
ployed in producing something else. The advan-
tages of foreign commerce, it is true, are seldom
carried so far as a saving of half the expenses of
production ; but they must always exist in a greater
or less degree ; for it is evident that no nation will
purchase from abroad what can be produced
equally cheap and good at home.
CAROLINE.
When goods are equally good and cheap I cer-
tainly prefer buying them of shops in the neigh-
bourhood rather than at a distance, because it is
more convenient; but why merchants should feel
the same preference I do not clearly see : provided
the goods they receive in their warehouses are of
the same quality and price, I should think it would
be immaterial to them from whence they came ?
4-08 ON FOREIGN TRADE,
MRS. B.
They, like you, find advantages in dealing with
their neighbours; it enables them to ascertain
better the character of the persons of whom they
make their purchases ; it affords them the means
of protecting themselves against imposition, and
of applying a legal remedy in case of necessity. As
long as profits are equal, therefore, (independently
of risk,) a merchant will always prefer employing
his capital in the home trade ; and it is only
superior profits that can tempt him to enter on
a trade in which he is exposed to greater risks,
You may recollect we formerly observed that the
chances of gain must always be proportioned to
the chances of loss.
CAROLINE.
I confess that before this explanation I never
could comprehend how foreign trade could be a
mutual advantage to the countries engaged in it,
for I imagined that what was gained by the one
was lost by the other.
MRS. B.
All free trade, of whatever description, must be
a mutual benefit to the parties engaged in it ; the
only difference that can exist with regard to profit'
is that it may not always be equally divided be-
tween them. An opposition of interests takes place,
ON FOREIGN TRADE. 409
not between merchants or countries exchanging
their commodities, but between rival dealers in the
same commodity ; and it is from that circumstance
probably that you have been led to form such an
erroneous idea of commerce. Do you not recollect
our observing, some time since, that competition
amongst dealers to dispose of their commodities
renders them cheap, whilst competition amongst
purchasers renders them dear. When you make
any purchase, are you not sensible that the greater
the number of shops in the same neighbourhood
dealing in the same commodity, the more likely
you are to purchase it at a low price ?
CAROLINE.
. Yes, because the shopkeepers endeavour to un-
dersell each other.
MRS. B.
It is therefore the interest of the dealer to nar-
row competition, whilst it is that of the consumer
to enlarge it. Now which do you suppose to be
the interest of the country at large ?
CAROLINE.
That of the consumers ; for every man is a con-
sumer, even the dealers themselves, who, though
they are desirous of preventing competition in their
own individual trade, must wish for it in all other
species of commerce.
T
410 ON FOREIGN TRAIXE.
MRS. B.
No doubt ; it is by free and open competition
alone that extravagant prices and exorbitant profits
are prevented, and that the public are supplied
with commodities as cheap as the dealer can afford
to sell them.
CAROLINE.
But in regard to luxuries, Mrs. B., maj' we not
be allowed to encourage those of our own produc-
tion in preference to those brought from foreign
countries ?
MRS. B.
The commercial state of France during Bona-
parte's system of prohibition will furnish a very
satisfactory answer to your question. The West-
Indian produce, which the French were prohibited
from purchasing, consists chiefly of certain luxuries
of which they could not endure to be deprived ; so
that, (for instance,) they were employed, at an im-
mense expence of capital, in extracting a saccharine
juice from various fruits and roots to answer in an
inferior degree the purpose of sugar; they cultivated
bitter endives, the root of which supplied them with
a wretched substitute for coffee ; their tea was com-
posed of indigenous herbs of a very inferior flavour
to that of China. In a word, labour was multiplied
to produce commodities of inferior value ; or they
would have been altogether deprived of a variety of
comforts to which they had been accustomed, and
ap
ON FOREIGN TRADE. 4-1 1
which, besides the pleasure derived from the en-
joyment of them, we have observed to be one of
the strongest incitements to industry.
But the privation of the consumers of luxuries is
but a trifling evil compared with the consequences
of such restrictions upon the labouring classes;
for its effect is to increase the difficulty of raising
produce, and, consequently, to diminish the quan-
tity of capital, the fund upon which the poor
subsist.
Mr. Say, who witnessed all the pernicious effects
of this system, thus expresses himself: " C'est un
<* bien mauvais calcul que de vouloir obliger la
** zone temperee a fournir des produits a la zone
" torride. Nos terres produisent peniblement, en
" petite quantite, et en qualite mediocre, des ma-
** tieres sucr^es et colorantes, qu*un autre climat
" donne avec profusion ; mais elles produisent, au
" contraire, avec facility, des fruits, des c^reales
" que leur poids et leur volume ne permettent
" pas de tirer de bien loin. Lorsque nous con-
" damnons nos terres a nous donner ce qu'elles
*' produisent avec desavantage aux depends de ce
" qu*elles produisent plus volontiers ; lorsque nous
" achetons fort cher, ce que nous payerions a fort
•* bon march^, si nous le tirions des lieux ou il
" est produit avec avantage, nous devenons nous
" memes victimes de notre propre folic. Le comble
«< de rhabilite est de tirer le parti le plus avantageux
T 2
412 ON FOREIGN TRADE.
" des forces de la nature ; et le comble de la de-
" nience est de lutter contre elles ; car c*est em-
" ployer nos peines a detruire une partie des
" forces qu'elle voudroit nous prater."
CAROLINE.
The prohibition of foreign commodities has, then,
an effect precisely the reverse of that of machinery;
for it increases instead of diminishing the quantity
of labour ; and produces inferior, instead of more
perfect commodities.
MRS. B.
And, consequently, the wealth, prosperity, and
enjoyments of a country so situated, instead of
augmenting, would decline. Let us hear what Dr.
Franklin says on the subject of restrictions and
prohibitions.
" Perhaps, in general, it would be better if go-
" vernment meddled no further with trade than to
" protect it, and let it take its course. Most of the
" statutes or acts, edicts, arrets, and placards, of
" parliaments, princes, and states, for regulating,
" directing, or^ restraining of trade, have, we think,
*' been either political blunders, or jobs obtained
" by artful men, for private advantage, under pre-
" tence of public good. When Colbert assembled
" some wise old merchants of France, and desired
** their advice and opinion how he could serve and
ON FOREIGN TRADE. 413
" promote commerce : their answer, after consult-
" ation, was in three words only, * Laissez 7ioiis
'' ^faiy^e^ It is said by a very solid writer of the
** same nation, that he is well advanced in the
" science of politics who knows the full force of
" that maxim, jpas trop gouverner, which perhaps
" would be of more use when applied to trade than
" in any other public concern. It were, therefore,
" to be wished that commerce wer^ as free between
" all the nations in the world, as between the
" several counties of England. So would all, by
** mutual communication, obtain more enjoyment.
" Those counties do not ruin each other by trade,
" neither would the nations. No nation was ever
" ruined by trade, even seemingly the most disad-
" vantageous. Whenever desirable superfluities
" are imported, industry is thereby excited and
" superfluity produced."
CAROLINE.
Well, I abandon the exclusive use of English
luxuries; but the very argument you have used
against them makes me think that it must be ad-
visable to rely on home produce for the necessaries
of life. Were we dependent on foreign countries
for a supply of cofn, what would become of us if
those countries, in time of war, prohibited its ex-
portation ?
T 3
414 ON FOREIGN TRADE.
MRS. B.
Your question will lead us into a discussion on
the corn trade, which it is too late for us to enter
upon to day ; we will, therefore, reserve it for our
next meeting.
4.15
CONVERSATION XX.
Contiiuiation of FOREIGN TRADE.
ON THE CORN TRADE, CONSEQUENCES OF DEPEND-
ING UPON A HOME SUPPLY OF CORN IN COUNTRIES
OF GREAT CAPITAL AND POPULATION. — IT PRO-
DUCES HIGH PRICES IN ORDINARY SEASONS, AND
GREAT FLUCTUATION OF PRICES IN TIMES OF
SCARCITY AND OF ABUNDANCE. WHY THIS IS
NOT THE CASE IN NEWLY SETTLED COUNTRIES.
PROPRIETY OF FREE TRADE IN GENERAL.
DANGER OF INTRODUCING A NEW BRANCH OF
INDUSTRY PREMATURELY. EXTRACT FROM MI-
RABEAU'S MONARCHIE PRUSSIENNE ON THE AD-
VANTAGES OF FREE COMMERCIAL INTERCOURSE.
MRS. B.
When we last parted, you expressed a wish that
we should raise all our corn at home, in order to
be completely independent of the casualties attend-
ing a foreign supply.
T 4
416 ON FOREIGN TRADE*
CAROLINE.
Yes ; for were we at war with those countnesF
which usually furnished us with corn, they would
withhold the supply. Or, should they experience a
dearth, they would no longer have it in their power
to send us corn,
MUs. B.
We occasionally import corn from different
parts of America, from the shores of the Baltic,
and those of the Mediterranean seas. Now it is
very improbable either that we should be in a state
of warfare with those various countries at the same
period of time, or that they should all be afflicted
with a dearth of produce in the same season.
There is much greater chance of a scarcity pre-
vailing in any single country than in every part
of the world at once. Indeed, facts have fully
demonstrated, that when the weather is unfavour-
able to the crops of one country, it is almost inva-
riably found to be favourable to those of another.
I believe no single instance can be produced of a
simultaneous failure of the crops throughout the
whole commercial world. In the year 1800, when
England suffered so much distress from the defici-
ency of the harvest, the crops were very abundant
in Spain. While the harvest of 1803, which was
extremely plentiful in this country, was so deficient
in Spain as to produce a famine. Now it is evident.
ON FOREIQN TRADE. 4-17
that had a free corn trade existed between these
countries, the distresses of both would have been
alleviated.
CAROLINE.
Under such circumstances it would certainly be
right to import corn; I object only to doing so
habitually, and not depending in ordinary times,
on the produce of our own country.
MRS. B.
If we apply to corn countries only in seasons of
distress we shall find it very difficult to obtain
relief. Those countries raise corn expressly for
the nations which they usually supply with that
article ; but they will have but little to spare for a
new customer, who, from a dearth at home, is
compelled to seek for food abroad ; and we could
obtain it only by out-bidding other competitors.
The supply, therefore, would be both scanty, and
at a price which the lower ranks of people could
ill afford to pay ; so that there would be great dis-
tress, if not danger of a famine.
CAROLINE.
To prevent such a calamity we have only to
raise so large a quantity of corn at home as will
afford a plentiful supply in years of average pro-
duce ; then in seasons of abundance we have the
resource of exportation, and in bad seasons we
might still have a sufficiency.
T 5
418 ON FOREIGN TRADE.
MRS. B.
It is impossible to raise at all times a sufficiency,
without having often a superfluity. This is par-
ticularly the case with corn, as it is the most va-
riable of almost all kinds of agricultural produce.
If, therefore, we wish to raise such a quantity as
will always secure us against want, we must in com-
mon seasons have some to spare, and in abundant
years a great superfluity.
Now the more corn-land we cultivate, the higher
will the price of corn be in average seasons. You
start, Caroline; but paradoxical as this may ap-
pear, if you reflect upon the causes which occasion
the regular high price of corn, independently of
the variations of supply and demand, you will
understand it.
The more corn is grown in a country, the greater
will be the quantity of inferior land brought into
cultivation, in order to produce it ; and the price
of corn, you know, must pay the cost of its pro-
duction on the worst soil on which it is raised*,
otherwise it would cease to be produced. If, there-
fore, in order to insure a home supply, we force
an ungrateful soil, at a great expense of capital, to
yield a scanty crop, we raise the price of all the
corn of the country to that standard, and we thus
enable the landed proprietors to increase their
rents.
* See Conversation on Rent.
ON FOREIGN TRADE. 419
CAROLINE.
That is very true ; and then by enhancing the
price of the first necessaries of life we must raise
the rate of wages, in order to enable the labouring
classes to live.
MRS. B.
Nor is this all ; when the home supply proves
superabundant, what is to become of it ? The un-
natural high price at which it usually sells in our
market, owing to the forced encouragement given
to agriculture, renders it unsaleable in foreign
markets until the price is fallen so low as to be
ruinous to farmers.
CAROLINE.
I cannot easily bring myself to look upon a
superfluity of the necessaries of life as a calamity ;
— if it is injurious to the farmer, what an advan-
tage it is to the lower classes of people !
MRS. B.
The advantage is of a very temporary nature.
The farmer who cultivates poor land in hopes of a
remunerating price, must be ruined if he continues
to cultivate at the low price occasioned by super-
fluity : he will therefore throw up the inferior lands^
and the consequence will be that less com will be
produced in succeeding years than is requisite for
T 6
420 ON FOREIGN TRADE.
the supply ; and the superfluity will be succeeded by
dearth or famine. Thus the price of corn will be
continually fluctuating between the low price of a
glutted market and the high price of scarcity.
A redundance of the necessaries of life is in some
respects attended with more pernicious conse-
quences than the excess of any other species of com-
modity. If the market were overstocked with tea
and coflTee, those articles would fall in price^ and
would not only be more freely consumed by the
people accustomed to enjoy them, but the reduction
of price would bring them within reach of a lower
and more extensive class of people. Now this can-
not happen with bread, because it is already the
daily and most common food of the lowest ranks of
society, and though in seasons of great plenty they
may consume somewhat more than usual, the dif-
ference will not be very considerable; they will
rather avail themselves of the cheapness of bread to
devote a larger share of their wages to other grati-
fications ; they will eat more meat, drink more
spirits, or wear better clothes. Great part of the
superabundance of com will therefore remain in the
granary of the farmer, instead of supplying liim
with the means of carrying on the cultivation of
his land ; the labourers who raised that corn will
probably be driven to the parish for want of work,
and the consequences which will ensue to the com-
munity who would have been fed by the fruits of
their industry, may be easy to conceive*
ON FOREIGN TRADE. 421
CAROLINE.
But do you then regard a low price of corn,
under all circumstances, as an evil ?
MRS. B.
On the contrary, I consider it in general as
highly advantageous when it results from low
cost of production ; it is attended with injurious
consequences only when it will not remunerate the
farmer. But when corn can be raised at a small
expense, it can afford to be sold at a low price. It
is this which renders it desirable to bring only
good land under tillage, and not to force poor soils
to yield scanty and expensive crops.
Countries that have plenty of good land and but
little capital find no branch of industry so advan-
tageous as the productions of agriculture ; and the
exportation of corn, we have observed, is their first
attempt at foreign commerce. Thus America, being
a newly settled country, and as yet but thinly inha-
bited, has great choice of fine soils, and can raise
corn at a very small expense of production ; accord-
ingly we find that she not only feeds her own popu-
lation, but regularly exports corn.
Poland and Prussia are still agricultural coun-
tries, exporting corn ; but old established countries
in general, such as England, which are far advanced
in arts and manufactures, and have raised a popula-
tion too great to be maintained by the produce of her
4-22 ON FOREIGN TRADE.
good soils, will find it answer better to import some
portion of the corn they consume, and to convert
their inferior lands into pasture. This would not
only lower the price of bread, but also that of meat,
milk, butter, and cheese, the supj)ly of which would
be increased by the conversion of corn land into
pasture. When the home crops proved abundant,
they would import less ; when scanty, they would
import more. Thus without difficulty they would
proportion the supply to the demand, and keep both
bread and wages steadily at moderate prices.
CAROLINE.
But with the additional expenses of freight and
insurance, can we import corn from America
cheaper than we can produce it at home ?
MRS. B.
In ordinary seasons we certainly can ; but not at
the present price of corn.
CAROLINE.
And do you suppose that the present low price
of corn, and the distressed state of agriculture, are
owing to our producing too much corn at home ?
MRS. b;
I have no doubt but that it is one of the causes,
but it is connected with many others, which render
the question so complicated and intricate that we
ON FOREIGN TRADE. 423
must leave it to wiser heads than our own to un-
ravel it.
The system of growing a home supply of corn,
in countries where great capital affords the means
of maintaining a very large population, is attended
not only with the disadvantage of keeping the'price
of corn high in average seasons, but likewise occa-
sions greater fluctuations of price in times of dearth
or abundance, than if those casualties were dimi-
nished by a free corn-trade with other countries.
It would perhaps be difficult to say whether we have
suffered most from a high or a low price of corn,
within these last twenty years; but we have acquired
sufficient experience of the evils arising from botii
these extremes to think, that the wisest course we
could pursue, would be to adopt such measures as
would prevent great fluctuations of price.
Nothing is more injurious to the interests of the
labouring classes than great and sudden fluctuations
in the price of bread : they are either distressed by
unexpected poverty, or intoxicated by sudden pros-
perity ; but if that prosperity is the effect but of one
fruitful season, it gives rise to expenses they are un-
able to maintain. It is but a gleam of sunshine on
a wintry day, and the buds it untimely developes
are nipped by the succeeding frost.
CAROLINE.
Well, Mrs. B., I see that you will not allow of
4-24« ON FOREIGN TRADE.
any exception in favour of the corn-trade, and that
I must consent to admit of the propriety of leaving
all trade whatever perfectly free and open,
MRS. B.
That is certainly the wisest way. Instead of
struggling against the dictates of reason and nature,
and madly attempting to produce every thing at
home, countries should study to direct their labours
to those departments of industry for which their
situation and circumstances are best adapted.
CAROLINE.
Yet you must allow me to observe, that there are
numerous instances of our having established
flourishing manufactures of goods which we formerly
procured entirely from foreign commerce : such, for
instance, as china-ware, muslins, damask linen, and
a variety of others. Now does not this imply that
we may sometimes direct our labour to a new
branch of industry with greater advantage than by
importing the goods from foreign countries?
MRS. B.
It certainly does ; and it shews also, that as soon
as we are able to cultivate or fabricate the commo-
dities we have been accustomed to procure from
foreign parts as cheap as we can import them, we
never fail to do so. But the period for the intro*
6K FOREIGN TRADE. 425
duction of any new branch of industry should be
left to the experience and discretion of the indivi-
duals concerned in it, and not attempted to be
regulated or enforced by government. James I.
attempted to compel his subjects to dye their woollen
cloths in this country, instead of sending them to
the Netherlands, as had been the usual practice ;
but the English-dyed woollen cloths proved both
of worse quality and dearer than those of the Ne-
therlands, and James was obliged to abandon his
plan. Had the sovereign not interfered, dyers
would have established themselves in this country
as soon as the people had acquired sufficent skill to
undertake the business; but the discouragement
produced by an unsuccessful attempt probably re-
tarded the natural period of adopting it.
If it were possible for a country both to cultivate
and manufacture all kinds of produce with as little
labour as it costs to purchase them from other
countries, there would be no occasion for foreign
commerce : but the remarkable manner in which
Providence has varied the productions of nature in
different climates, appears to indicate a design to
promote an intercourse between nations, even to
the most distant regions of the earth ; an intercourse
which would ever prove a source of reciprocal be-
nefit and happiness, were it not often perverted by
the bad passions and blind policy of man.
426 ON FOREIGN TRADE.
CAROLINE,
And independently of the diversity of soils, cli-
mates, and natural productions, I do not suppose
that it would be possible for any single country to
succeed in all branches of industry, any more than
for a single individual to acquire any considerable
skill in a great variety of pursuits ?
MRS. B.
Certainly not. The same kind of division of
labour which exists among the individuals of a
community, is also in some degree observable
among different countries ; and when particular
branches of industry are not formed by local cir-
cumstances, it will generally be found the best po-
licy to endeavour to excel a neighbouring nation in
those manufactures in which we are nearly on a
par, rather than to attempt competition in those in
which by long habit and skill they have acquired a
decided superiority. Thus will the common stock
of productions be most improved, and all countries
most benefited. Nothing can be more illiberal
and short-sighted than a jealousy of the progress of
neighbouring countries, either in agriculture or
manufactures. Their demand for our commodities,
so far from diminishing, will always be found to
increase with the means of purchasing them. It is
the idleness and poverty, not the wealth and in-
ON FOREIGN YRADE. 427
dustry of neighbouring nations, that should excite
alarm.
CAROLINE.
A tradesman would consider it more for his in-
terest to set up his shop in the neighbourhood of
opulent customers than of poor people who could
not afford to purchase his goods; and why should
not countries consider trade in the same point of
view.
MRS. B.
Mirabeau, in his " MonarcJiie Prussienne^'' has
carried this principle so far, that it has made him
doubt whether the trade of France was injured by
the revocation of the edict of Nantz, which drove
so many skilful manufacturers and artificers out of
the country.
" II est en general un principe sur en commerce:
'* plus vos acheteurs seront riches, plus vous leur
** vendrez ; ainsi les causes qui enrichissent un peu-
*' pie augmentent toujours Industrie de ceux qui
** ont des affaires a n^gocier avec lui. Sans doute
** c*est une demence frenetique de chasser 200,000
" individus de son pays pour enrichir celui des
*' autres ; mais la nature qui veut conserver son
** ouvrage ne cesse de reparer, par des compensa-
** tions insensibles, les erreurs des hommes ; et les
** fautes les plus desastreuses ne sont pas sans
** remedes. La grande verite que nous offre cet
" example memorable, c'est qu'il est insens^ de
\
428 ON FOREIGN TRADE.
" detruire Tindustrie et le commerce de ses voisins,
" puisqu^on aneantit en meme tems chez soi-meme
'< ces tresors. Si de tels efforts pouvoient jamais
** produire leur efFet, ils d^peupleroient le monde,
•* et rendroient tres-infortun^e la nation qui auroit
** eu le malheur d'engloutir toute I'industrie, tout
" le commerce du globe, et de vendre toujours
" sans jamais acheter. Heureusement la Provi-
" dence a tellement dispose les choses que les d^lires
" des souverains ne sauroient arreter entierement
" ses vues de bonheur notre espece."
CAROLINE.
The more I learn upon this subject, the more I
feel convinced that the interest of nations, as well
as those of individuals, so far from being opposed
to each other, are in the most perfect unison.
MRS. B.
Liberal and enlarged views will always lead to
similar conclusions, and teach us to cherish senti-
ments of universal benevolence towards each other;
hence the superiority of science over mere practical
knowledge.
429
CONVERSATION XXI,
Sidjject. of FOREIGN TRADE continued.
OF BILLS OF EXCHANGE. OF THE BALANCE OF
TRADE. CAUSE OF THE REJL VARIATION OF
THE EXCHANGE. DISPROPORTION OF EXPORTS
AND IMPORTS. CAUSE OF THE NOMINAL VA-
RIATION OF THE EXCHANGE. DEPRECIATION
OF THE VALUE OF THE CURRENCY OF THE
COUNTRY.
MRS. B.
I HOPE that you are now quite satisfied of the ad-
van tages which result from foreiojn commerce ?
CAROLINE.
Perfectly so ; but there is one thing which per-
plexes me. In a general point of view I conceive
that trade consists in an exchange of commodities ;
but I do not understand how this exchange takes
place between merchants. The wine-merchant,
for instance, who imports wine from Portugal, does
430 ON FOREIGN TRADE.
not export goods in return for it ; his trade is con-
fined to the article of wine ?
MRS. B.
There are many general merchants who both
export and import various articles of trade. Thus
the Spanish merchant, the Turkey merchant, and
the West-Indian merchant, import all the different
commodities which we receive from those countries,
and generally export English goods in return. It
is, however, the countries, rather than the indi-
viduals, who exchange their respective productions ;
for both the goods exported and imported are
in all cases bought and sold, and never actually
exchanged.
CAROLINE.
But since the merchants of the respective coun-
tries do not literally exchange their goods, they
must each of them send a sum of money in pay-
ment; and these sums of money will be nearly
equivalent. If the London merchant has 1000/.
to pay for wines at Lisbon, the Lisbon merchant
will have nearly the same sum to pay for broad
cloth in London. It is to be regretted, therefore,
that the goods should not be actually exchanged,
or that some mode should not be devised of reci-
procally transferring the debts, in order to avoid so
much useless expense and trouble.
ON FOREIGN TRADE. 431
MRS. B.
Such a mode has been devised, and these pur-
chases and sales are usually made without the in-
tervention of money, by means of written orders
called bills of exchange,
CAROLINE.
Is not then a bill of exchange a species of paper-
money like a bank-note ?
MRS. B.
Not exactly ; instead of being a promissory note,
it is an order addressed" to the person abroad to
whom the merchant sends his goods, directing him
to pay the amount of the bill, at a certain date, to
some third person mentioned in the bill. Thus
when a woollen merchant sends broad cloths to
Portugal, he draws such a bill on the merchant to
whom he consigns them ; but instead of sending it
with the goods to Portugal, he disposes of it in
London ; that is to say, he enquires whether any
person wants such a bill for the purpose of dis-
charging a debt in Portugal. He accordingly ap-
plies to some wine-merchant who owes a sura of
money to a mercantile house at Lisbon for wines
imported from that country, and who finds it con-
venient to avail himself of this mode of payment, in
order to avoid the expense of sending money to
Portugal, He therefore gives the woollen-merchant
432 ON FOREIGN TRADE.
the value of his bill, and having his own name or
that of his correspondent in Portugal inserted in
the bill as the third person to whom the amount of
the bill is to be paid, transmits it to his corre-
spondent in Portugal, who receives the money from
the person on whom it is drawn.
CAROLINE.
The same bill then is the means of paying for
both commodities, the broad cloth and the wine;
and it supersedes the necessity of transmitting two
sums of money for that purpose. A bill of ex-
change is a most convenient and economical con-
trivance, and I feel very much inclined to avail
myself of it. A friend of mine at York owes me a
sum of money for purchases I have made for her
in London ; and my sister Emily is indebted about
the same sum to a glover at York. I might, there-
fore, draw a bill of exchange on my friend, which
Emily would buy of me, and forward it to the
glover at York for the purpose of discharging her
debt for the gloves ; and he would receive the mo-
ney from my friend on whom it was drawn. It
is, if I understand you right, by such transfers of
debts that commodities are really exchanged be-
tween merchants ?
MRfi. B.
I am glad to see that you understand the use of
ON FOREIGN TRADE. 433
a bill of exchange so well. It will therefore be
evident to you that if, when two countries are
trading together, the value of the goods exported
and imported be equal, the amount of the bills of
exchange in payment of those goods will be so
likewise; and the debts will be mutually settled
without the necessity of transmitting money.
CAROLINE.
That is quite clear: but it must, I suppose,
frequently happen that the value of the goods
exported and imported is not equal, and in that
case the bills of exchange will not settle the whole
of the respective debts, and some balance or sum
of money will remain due from one country to the
other.
MRS. B.
This is called the balance of trade. In order to
explain to you in what manner such a debt is
settled, let us take, for example, our trade with
Russia : — if, in trading with that country, our ex-
ports and imports are exactly equal in value, the
exchange between Russia and England is said
to be at par, or equal.
But if the value of our imports should have
exceeded our exports, so that, for instance, we
should have received more hemp and tallow^row,
than we have sent broad-cloths and hardware to
Russia, there will be a greater amount of bills
u
434; ON FOREIGN TRADE.
drawn by Russian merchants on England, than by
English merchants on Russia. After their reci-
procal debts are settled, therefore, as far as the
bills will enable them to do so, there will remain a
surplus of Russian bills drawn on England, which
will require to be paid in money.
CAROLINE.
Then some of our merchants will be under the
necessity of sending money to Russia in payment
of their debts.
MRS. B.
This every merchant endeavours to avoid, on
account of the heavy expenses of freight and insur-
ance of the money; a» soon, therefore, as there
appears to be a scarcity of English bills on Russia,
every English merchant who is indebted to that
country is eager to procure them. The competi-
tion of merchants for these bills raises their price,
for they find it answer to give something more than
the amount of the bill rather than send gold to
Russia to pay for their hemp and tallow. The sum
thus given for a bill above its amount is called a
j)remium^ and our exchange with Russia is, in this
case, said to be unfavourable^ or below par,
CAROLINE.
That is to sav, that a man who owes a sum of
ON FOREIGN TRADE. 435^
money to Russia, must give something more than
the amount of the debt in order to pay it ?
MRS. B.
Yes ; and the amount of the premium given, de-
pends, of course, on the degree of scarcity of the
bills.
CAROLINE.
And as the scarcity of the bills is owing to the
value of our imports exceeding that of our exports,
our exchange must be favourable or unfavourable
with any country in proportion as the exports or
imports prevail,
But our exchange with Russia, I suppose, can
never fall below what it would cost to transport
gold to Russia; for as it is optional with our mer-
chants to pay either in bills or money, if the pre-
mium on the bill were greater than the expense of
sending money, they would prefer the latter mode
of payment.
MRS. B.
Undoubtedly ; and as the expense of sending
gold to different countries varies according to the
distance, and to the facility or difficulty of our in-
tercourse with them, a favourable or unfavourable
exchange with those countries will vary accordingly,
CAROLINE.
13ut the premium given for bills of exchange,
u 2
436 ON FOREIGN TRADE.
after all, does not supersede the necessity of our
paying the balance of debt in gold ; it merely re-
moves the difficulty from one individual to an-
other: for those merchants who finally cannot
obtain bills must transmit money in payment.
MRS. B.
I beg your pardon ; an unfavourable exchange
in a great measure corrects itself; but this, it is
true, requires some explanation. There are mer-
chants who make it their business to trade in bills
of exchange ; that is to say, to buy them where
they are abundant and cheap, and sell them where
they are scarce and dear. Thus bills of exchange
become an article of commerce like cloth, or any
other commodity. Therefore when English bills
on Russia are scarce, those merchants buy up the
bills drawn by other countries on Russia, and sup-
ply the English market with them.
CAROLINE.
But when English bills on Russia are scarce,
there may perhaps be no surplus of bills on Russia
in other countries to supply the English market.
MRS. B.
Generally speaking, when there is a deficiency
of bills on Russia in one country', there will be a
redundancy of them in some other ; for though the
ON FOREIGN TIlAl>E. 437
exportations and importations of Russia with any
particular country may be unequal, her general
exportations and importations will, upon the whole,
nearly balance each other : because if there vvas a
constant excess of importation, Russia would be
drained of money to pay for it ; if, on the contrar}^,
there was an excess of exportations, the money
received in payment would accumulate, and de-
preciate the value of the currency of the country.
The goods which Russia purchases, therefore,
from foreign countries, must, upon the long run,
be to the same amount as the goods which she sells
in exchange for them ; so that if there is a balance
of debt due to Russia from one country, there must
be a balance of debt due from Russia to another
country. The bills of exchange, therefore, drawn by
Russia on foreign countries, and those drawn by
foreign countries on Russia, will balance each other;
and it is the business of the dealers in bills to dis-
cover where there is a superfluity, and where a de-
ficiency of these bills, with a view to buy them in
the one place, and sell them in the other.
CAROLINE.
If, then, the bill-merchants instead of supplying
the English market with bills on Russia, bought
up tlie surplus of Russian bills on England, it
would equally answer the purpose of paying our
debt to that country ?
u 3
438 ON FOREIGN TRADE,
MRS. B.
Exactly. In our trade with Italy, for instance,
we import large quantities of silk, olive oil, and
various other articles, and our exportations are
manufactured goods only to a trifling amount.
The exchange would, in this case, be so unfavour-
able as to reduce us to the necessity of exporting
gold in payment for the excess of imports, did not
the bill-merchants come to our assistance. This
useful class of men buy up the surplus of Italian
bills on England, and send them for sale to Ger-
many, France, Spain, or wherever there is a de-
ficiency of bills on Italy, and where they will con-
sequently sell with profit.
CAROLINE.
Thus Germany, France, or Spain, discharge our
debt to Italy?
MRS. B.
Yes ; provided any of those countries are in our
debt; otherwise, you know they would not pur-
chase our bills of exchange.
CAROLINE.
One would imagine that these operations of the
bill-merchants would invariably have the effect of
counteracting the fluctuations of exchanges, and
keep them constantly at par.
ON FOREIGN TRADE. 439
3IRS. B.
If the business of the bill-merchant could be
transacted with the same celerity and regularity as
that of the bankers in London, who meet together
every day, after the hours of business, to settle
their respective accounts, it might influence the
exchanges in the manner you suppose. But the
speculations of the bill -merchant embrace so wide
a sphere, and so many circumstances occur in the
course of trade, or of political events, by which
the exchanges are affected, that no individual pru-
dence or foresight can prevent great fluctuations.
CAROLINE.
Are then merchants often reduced to the neces-
sity of sending abroad money in payment of foreign
goods ?
MRS. B.
Scarcely ever, I believe, excepting where there
is a greater demand for money than for goods;
for independently of the operations of the bill-
merchants, there is yet another means of prevent-
ing that expense. When the English merchants
who export goods to Russia, find that the excess
of imports over exports produces a scarcity of their
bills on Russia, which enables them to sell them
to the importing merchants at a premium, such an
addition to their usual profits of trade induces
them to increase their exportations, and has, in
u 4
440 ON FOREIGN TRADE.
fact, the effect of a bounty ; for they can now af-
ford to export goods which, before, did not yield
sufficient profits to enable them to do it. Whilst,
on the contrary, our importing merchants of Rus-
sian commodities, who are obliged to purchase
these bills at a premium, (which has the effect of
a duty, since it is a clear deduction from their pro-
fits,) will confine their importations to such com-
modities only as will leave them their usual profits,
after deducting the premium upon the bills with
which they were to be paid.
CAROLINE.
The premiums, then, which our importing mer-
chants lose, our exporting merchants gain. This
must undoubtedly have a considerable effect in
encouraging exportation, and restraining import-
ation, and tend rapidly to restore the equality of
the exchange.
MRS. B.
The evil, then, of an unfavourable exchange im-
mediately gives rise to the remedy which corrects
it, and actually tends to equalise the exports and
imports. But in order to have completely that
effect, it would be necessary that the country with
whom the exchange is unfavourable should require
as much of our productions as we do of theirs,
which is not always the case. The unfavourable
exchange, however, enables the exporting mer-
chant to afford his goods abroad at a lower rate,
ON FOREIGN TRADE. 441
because a part of his profit is derived from the
premium on the exchange, and thus more persons
abroad being able to purchase at the reduced price,
the market for the goods is enlarged, and a greater
quantity consumed.
CAROLINE.
All these circumstances, then, together must
nearly supersede the necessity of sending money to
balance the account ?
MRS. B.
Very nearly so, I believe, except with such coun-
tries as, having mines of their own, may be said to
produce money. If Spain and Portugal were to
retain all the gold and silver which they derive from
their mines, it would fall so much in value in those
countries, that no laws could pi'event its conveyance
to others where its value was greater. It would be
the most profitable article a Spanish or Portuguese
merchant could export in payment for the goods
imported ; and indeed we find that they supply
Europe with gold and silver, in the same manner
as we supply it with the produce of our West-
Indian colonies, coffee and sugar. We have, in a
former conversation, observed how the precious
metals were diffused throughout all civilised nations,
and the supply every where so proportioned to the
demand, as to admit of no other variation of value
u 5
442 ON FOREIGN TRADE.
than the small difference arising from the expense
of bringing them from the mines to the different
countries where they are wanted.
CAROLINE.
But have I not heard of the exchange having
been much below what it would cost to send money
abroad ?
MRS. B.
That is true ; but I believe it is principally to be
ascribed to another and a totally different cause,
which nominally influences the exchanges to a very
great extent. We formerly observed, that a de-
preciation of value of the currency of a country
raises the price of commodities in that country.
Whether the depreciation arises from an unneces-
sary increase of currency, from an adulteration of
the coin, or from any other cause, it invariably
produces this effect.
Let us suppose the currency of England to be
depreciated 25 per cent.; that is to say, that a sum
worth 100/. previous to the depreciation, is now
really worth only 75/., though it retains its nominal
value of 100/. An English bill of exchange, which
represents a certain portion of the currency, will
partake of this depreciation, and will no longer be
equal in value to a foreign bill of the same amount.
It would require an English bill of 133/. 6s. 8d. to
exchange for a foreign one of 100/. ; therefore, if
5*
ON FOREIGN COMMERCE. 443
before the depreciation the exchange were at par,
this circumstance would make it immediately fall
25 per cent.
CAROLINE.
Would not the evil, then, be remedied by in-
creasing the exports, and diminishing the imports,
as when the unfavourable state of the exchange
arises from the unequal balance of trade ?
MRS. B.
Certainly not. For though it is true that in
both cases the exporting merchant can sell his bills
at a premium, yet when this premium arises from
a depreciation of the currency, it cannot be con-
sidered as any gain to him, because it is exactly
balanced by the advanced price of the goods he
exports, which operates as a loss.
CAROLINE.
I think I understand it. The depreciation of
currency which produces the premium on the bill
of exchange produces also an increase in the price
of the merchandise, and these effects, resulting from
the same cause, must always correspond and be
felt in the same proportion. Thus if a merchant
exports cloth to Hamburgh which costs him 200/.,
whatever profits he might expect under the ordinary
state of the currency must be diminished 25 per
cent., in consequence of his giving 50/. more for
u 6
444 ON FOREIGN COMMERCE.
his cloth than he would otherwise have done. Yet
as he will sell the bill of exchange which he draws
on Hamburgh for the payment of his cloth at a
premium of 50/., his profits will remain precisely
the same, upon the whole transaction, as if every
thing had gone on in its regular way.
MRS. B.
You have explained it perfectly well. Remember
therefore that when the exchange is unfavourable
in consequence of the depreciation of the currenc}^,
it is only nominally, not really unfavourable ; for it
may take place when the exports and imports are
perfectly equal. And recollect also that the differ-
ence the exchange produces in the sale or purchase
of bills is neither a loss nor a gain to the parties,
and that it has no effect either on exportation or
importation.
CAROLINE.
But is it easy to distinguish between two causes
which are so similar in their effects, and to ascer-
tain at any time which of them it is that influences
the exchange ?
MRS. B.
Far from it : this has been a subject of much
discussion, particularly during the late war. If it
be true that the currency of the country has been
increased beyond what was required, it must be
ON FOREIGN COMMERCE. 445
considered as depreciated, and as having nominally
affected the exchange.
On the Other hand, as the system of warfare
engaged us in very great expense on the Continent,
whilst it was remarkably unfavourable to our ex-
portations, the balance of foreign debt was very
much against us, and the expense of transmitting
gold considerably increased ; so far the exchange
may be said to have been really unfavourable. It
is probable that both these causes contributed to
the very low rate of our exchange during the late
war.
Notwithstanding all the investigation which these
subjects have undergone, there still prevails, even
amongst our legislators, the old popular error re-
specting the balance of trade. Even at this day
we find persons congratulating the country, that
the exports exceed the imports, and that in conse-
quence a balance of money remains due to us,
which is considered as so much gain to the country.
CAROLINE.
But do those who maintain such an opinion
know, that this money would not be due to us,
unless we had exported a surplus of merchandise
to an equal amount?
MRS. B.
It is from that circumstance they conceive the
advantage arises. They assert that since the poor
HS ON FOREIGN COMMERCE.
are maintained by labour, the more work we per-
form for other countries, and the more money we
receive for our work, the richer we must be.
CAROLINE.
Not if we export the fruits of their labour and
receive only gold in return : for the poor are main-
tained not by the act of labour, but by its pro-
duce ; and if all that produce were exported, and
nothing but gold received in exchange, v/e should
be much in the situation of King Midas, who was
starved because every thing he touched was con-
verted into gold.
But do not the bill-merchants prevent this im-
portation of gold, by transferring the bills of ex-
change from one country to another? for if our
balance of trade is favourable with one country, it
must be unfavourable with another.
MRS. B.
No doubt they do. If it were possible to have
what is called a favourable balance of trade with
every country, we should accumulate a quantity of
the precious metals which would answer no other
purpose than to depreciate our currency.
The most advantageous trade for both parties
concerned is when the exports and imports are
equal, so that the balance does not preponderate
on either side ; for it is as injurious to one country
to part with money which is wanted at home for
ON FOREIGN COMMERCE. 447
purposes of currency, as it is to the other to receive
it when it is not wanted.
When a country receives bulhon, it should not
be in payment of a balance of debt, but as a com-
modity for which there is a demand. This demand
will always take place in thriving countries, not
only because gold and silver bullion are wanted by
jewellers and silversmiths for the purposes of lux-
ury : but also because, as the saleable produce of
the country increases, an additional quantity of
currency is required for its circulation.
CAROLINE.
According to this theory of the balance of trade,
it should always be against Spain and Portugal,
and favourable to every other country ; because it
is through Spain and Portugal that all the trea-
sures of the new world flow into Europe ?
MRS. B.
True ; but they are not sent immediately from
those countries to the most distant parts of Europe,
but are transferred through the intermediate coun-
tries. Thus France sends Louis to Geneva to pay
for the watches she imports from that place ; or to
Italy, in payment of raw silks, olive oil, &c. So
that the countries most distant from Spain and
Portugal would consequently have what is absurdly
called the balance of trade in their favour; whilst
448 ON FOREIGN COMMERCE.
the intermediate countries would have it favourable
with those which were nearer Spain than them-
selves, and unfavourable with those which were
more distant.
This, however, is a general principle, which,
though true in theory, requires modification, if
applied to practice. A great variety of circum-
stances occasion fluctuations in the regular distri-
bution of the wealth of America. However extra-
ordinary it may appear, it is not very long since
we sent considerable quantities of specie to Spain
and Portugal, to maintain our troops in those
countries : so much does war reverse the natural
order of things. Instead of exporting our manu-
factures to bring back gold, we were obliged to
drain our circulation to send money in order to
support our troops, whilst our manufacturers were
either starving, or became members of that very
army which caused their ruin.
CAROLINE.
But if Spain, from the abundance of her gold
and silver, imports such large quantities of manu-
factured goods, is it not a check to her industry at
home ? '
MRS. B.
It certainly is ; though not so much as you would
imagine, because she does not obtain the gold and
silver of America free of cost; she obtains it partly
ON FOREIGN COMMERCE. 449
in the form of a tax imposed by the mother-country,
or rent for the royal mines ; and the rest by pay-
ment in produce or manufactured goods. But
these goods are not necessarily manufactured in
Spain or Portugal. A Spanish merchant having
imported goods from England and sent them to
America, receives back gold and silver in payment,
which are transmitted to England, if wanted there.
Spain and Portugal being the entrepot, in conse-
quence of the strict regulations by which the gold
and silver are compelled to be brought to the
mother-country.
The want of industry in Spain, though it pro-
ceeds in a great measure from the nature of its
religion and government, is also in part attribut-
able to the effect which the influx of the precious
metals has produced.
In Townsend's Travels in Spain, which abound
with philosophical observations, it is stated, " that
" the gold and silver of America, instead of ani-
" mating the country and promoting industry,
" instead of giving life and vigour to the whole
*' community, by the increase of arts, of manufac-
" tures, and of commerce, had an opposite effect,
" and produced in the event weakness, poverty,
" and depopulation. The wealth which proceeds
" from industry resembles the copious yet tranquil
" stream, which passes silent, and almost invisible,
" enriches the whole extent of country through
450 ON FOREIGN COMMERCE.
"which it flows ; but the treasures of the new
" world, like a swelling torrent, were seen, were
" heard, were felt, were admired : yet their first
" operation was to desolate and lay waste the spot
" on which they fell. The shock was sudden ; the
" contrast was too great. Spain ovei*flowed with
" specie, whilst other nations were comparatively
" poor in the extreme. The price of labour, of
" provisions, and of manufactures, bore proportion
" to the quantity of circulating cash. The conse-
" quence is obvious ; in the poor countries industry
*' advanced; in the more wealthy it declined.
** Even in the present day (1806), specie being
*' about 6 per cent, less valuable in Spain than it
** is in other countries, operates precisely in the
" same proportion against her manufactures and
*' her population."
We may here, I think, conclude our observ-
ations on the principles of trade ; and having now
explained the different sources from which a reve-
nue may be derived, we shall at our next meeting
make a few enquiries into the nature and effects of
expenditure.
4.51
CONVERSATION XXII.
ON EXPENDITURE.
OF THE DISPOSAL OF REVENUE. OF THE EXPENDI-
TURE OF INDIVIDUALS. EFFECTS OF CONSUM-
ING CAPITAL. — INCREASE OF REVENUE OF A
COUNTRY BENEFICIAL TO ALL CLASSES OF PEOPLE.
EXCEPT IN CASES WHERE GOVERNMENT INTER-
FERES WITH THE DISPOSAL OF CAPITAL. OF
SUMPTUARY LAWS. — OF LUXURY. INDUSTRY
PROMOTED BY LUXURY. PASSAGE FROM PALEY
ON LUXURY. SUDDEN INCREASE OF WEALTH
PREJUDICIAL TO THE LABOURING CLASSES.
PASSAGE FROM BENTHAM ON LEGISLATION.
LUXURY OF THE ROMANS NOT THE RESULT OF
INDUSTRY. — OF THE DISADVANTAGES ARISING
FROM EXCESS OF LUXURY.
MRS. B.
1 TRUST that you now understand both the manner
in which capital is accumulated, and the various
modes of employing it to produce a revenue. It
452 ON EXPENDITURE.
remains for us to examine how this revenue may be
disposed of,
CAROLINE.
I have already learnt that revenue may either be
spent, or accumulated and converted into capital ;
and that the more a man economises for the latter
purpose, the richer he becomes.
MRS. B.
This observation is equally applicable to the
capital of a country, which may be augmented by
industry and frugality, or diminished by prodi-
gality.
CAROLINE.
The capital of a country, I think you said, con-
sisted of the capital of its inhabitants taken col-
lectively ?
MRS. B.
It does ; but you must be careful not to estimate
the revenue of a country in the same manner, for
it would lead to very erroneous calculations. Let
us, for instance, suppose my income to be 10,000/.
a-year, and that I pay 500L a-year for the rent of
my house — it is plain that this 500/. constitutes a
portion of the income of my landlord ; and since
therefore the same property, by being transferred
from one to another, may successively form the in-
come of several individuals, the revenue of the
country cannot be estimated by the aggregate in-
come of the people.
ON EXPENDITURE. 453
CAROLINE.
And does not the same reasoning apply to the
expenditure of a country ; since the 500/. a-year
which you spend in house-rent will be afterwards
spent by your landlord in some other manner ?
MRS. B.
True, because spending money is but exchanging
one thing against another of equal value ; — it is
giving, for instance, one shilling in exchange for a
loaf of bread, five guineas in exchange for a coat ;
instead of a shilling we are possessed of a loaf of
bread ; instead of five guineas, of a coat ; we are
therefore as rich before as after these purchases are
made.
CAROLINE.
If so, how is it that we are impoverished by
spending money?
MRS. B.
It is not by purchasing, but by consuming the
things we have purchased, that we are impoverished.
When we have eaten the bread and worn out the
coat, we are the poorer by five guineas and a
shilling than we were before.
A baker is not poorer for purchasing a hundred
sacks of flour, nor a clothier for buying a hundred
pieces of cloth, because they do not consume these
commodities.
454 ON EXPENDITURE.
When a man purchases commodities with a view
of re-selling them, he is a dealer in such commodi-
ties, and it is capital which he lays out. But when
he purchases commodities for the purpose of using
and consuming them, it is called expenditure. Ex-
penditure therefore always implies consumption.
CAROLINE.
I understand the difference perfecdy. The one
lays out capital with the view of re-selling his goods
with^ profit. The other spends money with the
view of consuming the goods with loss; — that is
to say, the loss of the value of the goods he con-
sumes.
MRS. B.
Just so. Thus though the sum of money you
spend will serve the purpose of transferring com-
modities successively from one person to another,
yet the commodities themselves can be consumed
but once.
Therefore the consumption of a country may,
like its capital, be estimated by the aggregate con-
sumption of its inhabitants ; and the great question
relative to the prosperity of the country, is, how far
that consumption takes place productively, and how
far unproductively.
CAROLINE.
That certainly is a very important point ; for in
ON EXPENDITURE. 4/55
the former case it increases wealth, in the latter it
destroys it.
Yet, Mrs. B., supposing a man were so prodigal
as to spend not only the whole of his income, but
even the capital itself, provided that it were spent
in the maintenance of productive labourers, though
it would ruin the individual, I do not conceive that
it would injure the country; for whether a man
la}^ out his capital in the maintenance of produc-
tive labourers with a view to profit, or whether he
spend it in purchasing the fruits of their industry
for the purpose of enjoyment, I can perceive no
difference relative to the country ; in both cases
an equal number of people would be employed,
and consequently an equal quantity of wealth pro-
duced. If his money went to the maintenance of
unproductive labourers, and nothing substantial
was had in exchange, that would alter the case;
but if it is spent amongst tradesmen, who will fur-
nish him with articles for his enjoyment, such as
magnificent apparel, splendid equipages, sumptu-
ous entertainments, he will then replace the ca-
pital that those tradesmen have been consuming,
in order to produce these commodities, which ca-
pital will again be usefully employed in producing
more.
MRS. B.
That is very true ; and so far the prodigal has
^one no harm. In spending his capital amongst
^56 ON EXPENDITURE.
tradesmen, he has exchanged his various commo-
dities for others of equal value, and the same quan-
tity of capital exists as before the exchange took
place; but what is the prodigal to do with the
new stock that he has acquired ?
CAROLINE.
It will be applied to the gratification of his de-
sires : he will regale with his friends at sump-
tuous feasts, he will use the equipages, and clotlie
himself and his servants in the rich apparel.
MRS. B.
Then he and his friends will consume amonffst
servants and dependants, in fetes and splendid
entertainments, what the tradesmen furnished him
with, instead of that which he gave in exchange for
it ; and as much capital will be lost to himself and
to the community in the one case as in the other.
The spending of capital is a sterile consumption
of it, whilst its employment is a reproductive
consumption.
CAROLINE.
But if money were not thus spent, what would
the tradesman do with the luxuries which he had
prepared for the purpose of supplying the demand
of persons who spend in order to enjoy ?
4#
ON EXPENDITURE. 457
MRS. B.
Such tradesmen would certainly find less em-
ployment ; but you would not thence conclude that
the community would be injured. You have al-
al ready seen that capital cannot produce revenue
unless it is consumed ; if it be consumed by in-
dustrious persons, who work whilst they are con-
suming it, something of superior value will be
produced, and that product, whatever it may be,
will be exchanged against other productions ; it will
be distributed amongst another order of tradesmen,
and will afford precisely the same amount of en-
couragement, though of a different kind. What-
ever is saved from the extravagant consumption of
the rich, is a stock to contribute to the comforts of
the middling and lower ranks of society.
CAROLINE,
Yet how often has it been said that a generous
and liberal expenditure, however injurious to the
individual, was a source from which the middling
and lower classes drew their principal means of
subsistence ?
MRS. B.
There is not a more fatal delusion in political
economy. By such wanton extravagance as we
have been describing, the capital, which should
annually furnish a subsistence to labourers, is
458 ON EXPENDITURE.
wasted and destroyed, and the industrious are
reduced to idleness and want. They are covered
with rags, because the prodigal has clothed him-
self in gorgeous apparel ; they wander without a
home, because the prodigal has erected a palace ;
they must starve, because the wealth that should
have fed them has been squandered in sumptuous
feasts.
It is easy to comprehend that the prevalence of
such conduct in a state must be followed by the
gradual decay of its wealth and population.
CAROLINE.
This is a most painful reflection; but on the
other hand it would not, I suppose, be possible for
a country to make any progress in wealth by which
the poor were not more or less benefitted ?
MRS. B.
Certainly not, if no undue influence is exercised
and things are allowed to follow their natural
course. Where property is secure, there is a
general tendency to accumulation of capital. The
great majority are governed by good sense and
l)rudence, and their efforts to save and better their
condition more than counterbalance the occasional
loss that arises from the extravagance of spend-
thrifts. Besides, if expenditure were directed in
loo large a proportion towards the production of
ON EXPENDITURE. 459
mere luxuries, and the number of persons employed
in producing them were to be increased without at
the same time augmenting the number of persons
employed in producing articles of subsistence,
the same quantity of provisions must be divided
amongst a greater number of consumers ; and as
provisions, in consequence of being more scarce,
would increase in price, the profits of agriculture
would become so great, that the capital which had
been applied to the production of luxuries would
flow to the more advantageous employment of
agriculture, and thus the natural distribution of
capital would be restored.
CAROLINE.
The more I hear on this subject, and the better
I understand it, the greater is my admiration of
that wise and beneficent arrangement which has so
closely interwoven the interests of all classes of
men !
MBS. B.
We are accustomed to trace the hand of Provi-
dence chiefly in the natural world, but it is no less
conspicuous in moral life, and cannot be more
strongly exemplified than in that order of things
which renders it essential to the interests of the
rich not to turn the labour of the poor to the pro-
duction of superfluities until they have provided an
ample supply of the necessaries of life.
X 2
460 ON EXPENDITURE.
But these wise dispensations are often in a great
measure subverted by the folly and ignorance of
man. An injudicious interference of government,
for instance, may give peculiar advantages to the
employment of capital in one particular branch of
industry, to the prejudice of others, and thus de-
stroy that natural and useful distribution of it,
which is so essential to the prosperity of the com-
munity,
CAROLINE.
If ever the legislature could interfere with ad-
vantage, I should think it would be in some regu-
lations respecting expenditure. I should be strongly
tempted to restrain the use of luxuries, in order to
induce the owners of capital to employ it in agri-
culture, and such homely manufactures as are
suited to the consumption of the poor : such a
measure could not fail to produce a more equal
distribution of the comforts of life.
MRS. B.
Sumptuary laws have been instituted with that
view in many countries. But after all we have
said of the benefits resulting from the natural dis-
tribution of capital when unrestrained and unin-
fluenced by political regulations, I confess that I
am sm-prised at your wishing to compel people to
employ it in one way rather than in another.
20
ON EXPENDITURE. 461
CAROLINE.
But if that one way should prove the right way ?
MRS. B.
Then capital will follow that direction by its
natural impulse, without requiring any foreign aid.
Be assured that the only right way is to leave the
use of capital to the care of those to whom it be-
longs ; they will be the most likely to discover in
what line it can be employed to the greatest ad-
vantage.
CAROLINE.
Of their own advantage they are no doubt the
best judges; but are you sure that they will be
equally attentive to the advantage of the poor?
Sumptuary laws appear to me to afford peculiar
encouragement to the production of the neces-
saries of life. But the principal use of sumptuary
laws would be to repress the expenditure of re-
venue. And since it is so desirable that capital
should not be dissipated, surely the same prin-
ciples will apply to revenue ; would it not be ad-
vantageous to save great part of that also, in order
to convert it into capital ?
MRS. B.
Capital, you know, has arisen solely from savino-s
from revenue ; but you are aware that there must
be a limit to such savings.
X 3
462 ON EXPENDITURE.
CAROLINE.
Certainly there is a limit, because we could not
live without consuming some part of it; but the
less we consume, and the more we save, the better.
MRS. B.
That is pushing the principle too far : wealth is
accumulated for the purpose of enjoyment ; and
if by a liberal though prudent expenditure, social
affections are cultivated, and the happiness of man-
kind promoted and extended, I see no reason why
we should be debarred from indulging in some of
the best feelings of our nature.
The two extremes of parsimony and prodigality
are perhaps equally pernicious ; the one as de-
structive of the social and benevolent affections, the
other as wasting the provision which nature has
destined for the maintenance and employment of.
the poor.
But there is another point of view in which
sumptuary laws have a dangerous tendency. By
diminishing objects of desire you run some risk of
giving a general check to industry.
Tell me why do the rich employ the poor?
CAROLINE.
In order to derive an income from the profits of
their labour.
ON EXPENDITURE. 463
MRS. B.
And what use do the rich make of this income ?
CAROLINE.
They either spend the whole, or they economise
part in order to augment their capital.
MRS. B.
But why should they be desirous of increasing
their capital.
CAROLINE.
There are so many reasons for wishing to be
rich, that I scarcely know how to enumerate them.
The pride of wealth is a motive with some men,
the love of independence with others ; the appre-
hension of future reverses incites a third to accu-
mulate ; the wish to increase his means of doing
good stimulates the industry of another ; the desire
of providing for a family, and leaving them in afflu-
ence, is a powerful inducement with many; but the
ambition of improving their situation in life, and of
increasing their enjoyments by a more liberal ex-
penditure, is, I think, the most general, and per-
haps the strongest of all the motives for accumu-
lating riches.
MRS. B.
If, then, laws be enacted which restrain a man
X 4
464 ON EXPENDITURE.
from spending any part of his income in luxuries,
you take away one of his motives for wishing to
augment his capital : and a growing capital is, you
know, an increase of subsistence for the poor.
CAROLINE.
I would wish to prohibit only that excess of
luxury which you have censured as pernicious.
MRS. B.
It IS extremely difficult to draw the line between
necessaries and luxuries ; these form a scale which
comprehends all the various comforts and con-
veniences of life, the graduations of which are too
numerous and too minute to be distinct. We
have considered as necessaries whatever the rate of
wages of the lowest ranks of people have enabled
them to command ; they would consider as luxuries
whatever they have not been accustomed to enjoy ;
though when they can afford it there is no excess.
Excess, I conceive, depends not so much on the
quantity or nature of the luxury, as upon its rela-
tive proportion to the means of the individual. A
daily meal of meat is an excess of luxury to the
family of a common labourer, because they are not
used to it, and their wages will not enable them to
command it ; whilst a table abounding with expen-
sive delicacies can scarcely be called excess of lux-
ury to a man whose income is so large that such
ON EXPENDITURE. 4-65-
gratifications do not prevent his making consider-
able savings.
CAROLINE.
Since, then, it is impossible to define what are
and what are not luxuries, no general line of pro-
hibition can be drawn. Yet it is surely much to
be regretted, that excessive expenditure, so mis-
chievous in its effects, should neither be restrained
nor punished.
MRS. B.
The ruin which extravagance entails on the
prodigal is his natural punishment, and serves as a
warning to deter others from similar imprudence.
Any attempt to prevent such partial evil by sump-
tuary laws, would, generally, tend to depress the
efforts of industry. The desire of increasing our
enjoyments, and of improving our situation in life,
as it is one of the strongest sentiments implanted
in our nature, so I conceive it to be essentially
conducive to the general welfare. It is the active
zeal of each individual exerted in his own cause,
which, in the aggregate, gives an impulse to the
progressive improvement of the world at laro-e.
The desire of bettering his condition is justly con-
sidered as a laudable disposition in a poor man,
and it is a feeling dangerous to repress in any
classes of society.
X 5
^66 ON EXPENDITURE.
CAROLINE.
" The man of wealth and pride
" Takes up a space that many poor supply'd ;
" Space for his lake, his park's extensive bounds ;
" Space for his horses, equipage, and hounds ;
" The robe that wraps his limbs in silken sloth,
" Has robb*d the neighbouring fields of half their growth ;
" His seat, where solitary sports are seen,
" Indignant spurns the cottage from the green."
What can you reply to these beautiful lines,
Mrs. B. ? I fear they are but too faithful a repre-
sentation of the state of society.
MRS. B.
I must first enquire whether this man of wealth
and pride either spends or produces capital in order
to procure these gratifications. If the former, he
deserves all the censure we have bestowed upon the
spendthrift. If the latter, his wealth may possibly
be more increased by his industry than diminished
by his luxury.
CAROLINE.
In all probability he does neither; but being
possessed of a considerable property, he lives upon
his income; and such an expensive style of living
must greatly diminish, if not wholly absorb what
he might otherwise economise.
MRS. B.
Still I cannot approve of compulsory measures
ON EXPENDITURE. 467
to lessen his expenses. If it be desirable to stimXi-
late and encourage the industry of man, and induce
him to accumulate wealth, he must be at full liberty
to dispose of it according to his inclinations. It is
unquestionably true, that unless the rich impoverish
themselves by spending their capital, they cannot
impoverish their country,
CAROLINE.
That is not enough ; the question is, what are the
best means of enriching their country ?
MRS. B.
One man sits down contented with his little
property ; brings up his children with humble views
and desires, and every year lays by something to
provide for their future support in life.
Another of a more ambitious character rises early
and labours hard, exerting every faculty of his
mind to turn his capital to the best account; he
likewise makes savings from his income, but they
do not prevent his growing wealth from enabling
him to spend more liberall)^, and enjoy more freely ;
and none of his enjoyments is more heartfelt, than
that of having raised his family in the world by the
exertions of his industry.
CAROLINE.
Every man who is striving to acquire wealth is
X 6
468 ON EXPENDITUIIE.
certainly more or less actuated by the prospects of
the various enjoyments which he hopes his increasing
income will enable him to command. One wishes
to become rich enough to marry ; another to keep
a carriage, or a country-house ; a third to be able
to settle his children respectably in the world.
«
MRS. B.
Such motives are strong incitements both to
industry and frugality; and these useful habits
often remain when the cause which gave rise to
them no longer exists ; it is flir from uncommon to
see men retain the taste for accumulating long after
they have lost the inclination for spending.
Dr. Adam Smith observes, that before the intro-
duction of refined luxuries, the English nobles had
no other means of spending their wealth, than by
maintaining in their houses a train of dependants,
either in a state of absolute idleness, or whose only
business was to indulge the follies or flatter the
vanity of their patron ; and this is in a great mea-
sure the case in Russia, Poland, and several other
parts of Europe, even at the present day. We
find that the consumption of provisions by the
household of an English nobleman some centuries
ago was perhaps a hundred times greater than it
is at present. But you must not thence infer that
the estate, which maintained such numerous re-
ON EXPENDITURE. 469
tainers, produces less now than it did in those times ;
on the contrary, it is perhaps as much increased as
the consumption of the household is diminished.
The difference is, that the produce, instead of sup-
porting a number of lazy dependants, maintains,
probably a hundred times that number of indus-
trious independent workmen, part of whom are
employed in raising the produce of the estate, and
part in supplying the nobleman with all the luxuries
he requires: it was to obtain these luxuries, that
he dismissed his train of dependants, that he im-
proved the culture of his land, and that, whilst
studying only the gratification of his wishes, he
contributed so essentially to the welfare of his
country.
Here is a passage in Paley's Political Philosophy
on the subject of luxury, extremely worth your
attention : —
" It appears that the business of one half of
" mankind is to set the other half at work ; that is,
'• to provide articles, which, by tempting the de-
" sires, may stimulate the industry, and call forth
" the activity of those upon the exertion of whose
" industry, and the application of whose foculties,
" the production of human provision depends.
" It signifies nothing to the main purpose of trade
" how superfluous the articles which it furnishes
" are, whether the want of them be real or imao-in-
" ary ; whether it be founded in nature or in
470 ON EXPENDITURE,
" opinion, in fashion, habit, or emulation ; it is
*' enough that they be actually desired and sought
'* after. Flourishing cities are raised and supported
" b}' trading in tobacco : populous towns subsist
** by the manufactory of ribbons. A watch may be
** a very unnecessary appendage to the dress of a
" peasant, yet if the peasant will till the ground in
" order to obtain a watch, the true design of trade
" is answered ; and the watchmaker, whilst he po-
" lishes the case, and files the wheels of his machine,
" is contributing to the production of corn, as
'' effectuall}^, though not so directly, as if he handled
" the spade or the plough. If the fisherman will
" ply his nets, or the mariner fetch rice from foreign
" countries, in order to procure the indulgence of
" the use of tobacco, the market is supplied with
*' two important articles of provision by the instru-
" mentality of a merchandise which has no other
" apparent use than the gratification of a vitiated
" palate."
CAROLINE.
This reminds me of an anecdote in Dr. Frank-
lin's works. He describes the admiration which
was excited by a new cap worn at church by one
of the young girls of Cape May. This piece of
finery had come from Philadelphia; and with a
view of obtaining similar ornaments, the young girls
had all set to knitting worsted mittens, an article
ON EXPENDITURE. 471
in request at Philadelphia, the sale of which enabled
them to gratify their wishes.
MRS. B.
We often hear the poor reproached for aiming
at things above their situation ; but I own that I
delight in seeing them strive to ornament their
cottages, to raise a few flowers amongst the nutri-
tious vegetables in their gardens, to deck their
room, though it be but with rows of damaged china
cups, and plates, or a few gaudy prints ; it shows a
desire of creditable appearance, and of aiming at
something beyond the bare means of subsistence.
CAROLINE.
The desire of improving their condition is not,
however, in all cases a sufficient motive to rouse the
industry of the lower classes. I once knew an easy
indulgent landed proprietor, who having no ambi-
tion to increase his income could never be induced
to raise his rents; his tenants, finding that they
could pay their landlord and maintain their families
as well as their neighbours, with much less labour,
neglected their farms, and became so idle and dis-
orderly, that the estate was the least productive of
any in the county.
MRS. B.
The country thus suffered from the well-meant,
but ill-judged indulgence of this landlord.
472 ON EXPENDITURE.
CAROLINE.
But why was not the industry of these tenants
stimulated by the desire of raising themselves in
the world, which the forbearance of their landlord
enabled them so easily to do?
MRS. B.
Tn the course of time it probably would have had
that effect ; but when uneducated men obtain an
increase of wealth, the first use they generally
make of it is to procure indulgences and exemption
from labour ; it is only after becoming sensible that
idleness leads them back to poverty, that they
think of turning their wealth to better account.
Well-educated people seldom require the experi-
ence of so severe a lesson, but amongst the lower
classes it is not uncommon to find that a great, and
especially a sudden accession of riches, terminates
in ruin.
CAROLINE.
There are frequently instances of poor people
being ultimately ruined by a high prize in the
lottery.
MRS. B.
And the lower the state of ignorance and de-
gradation of mind of the poor man who gains the
prize, the more certain is his ruin. The different
state of improvement of the lower classes in Eng-
land, in Scotland, and in Ireland, are strongly ex-
ON EXPENDITURE. 4:73
emplified in this respect. If you were to give a
guinea to a Scotch peasant, he would deliberately
consider how he could turn it to tlie best account ;
he would perhaps buy a pig, or something that would
bring a future profit. An English peasant is not
quite so long sighted, yet he would contrive to derive
some substantial advantages from the gift of a
guinea ; he would probably lay it out in repairing
his cottage, or in purchasing some new clothes for
his children. But the Irishman, whose joy would
be the greatest of the three at such an unexpected
acquisition of wealth, would in all likelihood spend
the whole of it in drinking whiskey with his friends,
and thus disable himself for the labour of the
following day.
CAROLINE.
And do you suppose that a sudden and consider-
able increase of wages would be attended with
mischievous effects to the labouring poor ?
MRS. B.
In the first instance it probably would. In ma-
nufactures it is commonly found that an accidental
increase of wages, arising from a sudden demand
for workmen, is productive of intemperance and
disorderly conduct; and this has been urged as a
general objection to high wages ; but this bad effect
seldom takes place unless the augmentation be
sudden and unlooked for, and it discontinues when
4.74- ON EXPENDITURE.
the high wages become regularly established. You
may almost consider it as certain, that uneducated
men will derive no advantage from such an augment-
ation of income as raises them suddenly above their
accustomed habits of life. The beneficial effects I
have described to you in one of our preceding con-
versations as arising from increasing wealth and
demand for labour, must Be gradual in order to
prove useful to the lower classes.
CAROLINE.
All that you have said reconciles me, in a great
measure, to the inequality of the distribution of
wealth ; for it proves that, however great a man's
possessions may be, it is decidedly advantageous
to the country that he should still endeavour to
augment them. Formerly I imagined that what-
ever addition was made to the wealth of the rich
was so much subtracted from the pittance of the
poor, but now I see that it is, on the contrary, an
addition to the general stock of wealth of the
country, by which the poor benei&t equally with the
rich.
MRS. B.
Yes ; every accession of wealth to a country must
have not only employed labourers to produce it, but
will in future employ other labourers in order that
the proprietor may derive an income from it. For
every increase of capital is the result of a past and
the cause of a future augmentation of produce
ON EXPENDITURE. 475
therefore whatever a man^s property may be, he
should be encouraged to improve it. I will read
you an eloquent passage in Bentham's Theorie de lu
Legislation on the subject of luxury.
" L'attrait du plaisir, la succession des besoins,
" le desir actif d'ajouter au bien etre, produiront
" sans cesse, sous le regime de la sui'ete, de nou-
" veaux efforts vers de nouvelles acquisitions. Les
" besoins, les jouissances, ces agens univetsels de la
" societe, apres avoir fait eclore les premieres gerbes
" de bles, eleveront peu-a-peu les magazins de
" I'abondance toujours croissans et jamais remplis.
" Les desirs s'etendent avec les moyens ; I'horizon
" s'aggrandit, a mesure qu'on s'avance, et chaque
" besoin nouveau, cgrJeir.er.t acccmpagiie de sn
" peine et de son plaisir, devient un nouveau prin-
" cipe d'action ; I'opulence qui n'est qu'un terme
" comparatif n'arrete pas meme ce mouvement,
" une fois qu'il est imprimc; au contraire, plus
" on opere en grand, plus la recompense est
" grande, et par consequent plus est grande
" aussi la force du motif qui anime I'homme au
" travail.
" On a vu que Tabondance se forme peu-a-
" peu par ^operation continue des memes causes
" qui ont produit la subsistance. II n'y a done
" point d'opposition entre ces deux buts. Au con-
" traire, plus Tabondance augmente, plus on est sur
** de la subsistance. Ceux qui blament I'abondance
^76 ON EXPENDITURE.
" SOUS le nom de luxe n*ont jamais saisi cette con-
" sideration.
" Les intemperies, les guerres, les accidens de
" toute espece attaquent souvent le fond de la sub-
" sisUmce ; en sorte qu*une societe qui n'auroit pas
" de superflu et meme beaucoup de superflu seroit
*' sujette a manquer souvent du necessaire ; c'est ce
" qu'onvoitchezlespeuplessauvages. C'estcequ'on
" a vu frequemment chez toutes les nations dans
" les terns de I'antique pauvrete. Cest ce qui
" arrive encore de nos jours dans les pays peu
** favorises de la nature, tels que la Suede, et dans
" ceux ou le gouvernement contrarie les operations
" du commerce au lieu de se borner a le proteger.
" Mais les pays ou le luxe abonde et ou I'adminis-
" tration est eclairee, sont a Tabri de la famine.
" Telle est Theureuse situation de I'Angleterre.
" Des manufactures de luxe deviennent des
" bureaux d'assurances contre la disette. Une
" fabrique de bier re ou d'amidon se convertira en
" moyen de subsistance. Que de fois n'a-t-on pas
" declame contre les chevaux et le chiens comme
*' devorant la subsistance des hommes ! Ces pro-
" fonds politiques ne s'elevent que d'un degre
" au dessus de ces apotres du desinteressement, qui,
" pour ramener I'abondance des blcs courent
" incendier les magazins."
CAROLINE,
We had not yet considered luxury under this
ON EXPENDITURE. 477
point of view ; I confess that I was of the opinion of
those who thought that dogs and horses devoured
tlie subsistence of man, but I am much better
pleased to think that the food which luxury raises
for the nourishment of those animals may, in case
of necessity, become nourishment for the human
species ; and, if a famine should take place, even
the animals themselves would afford a resource.
MRS. B.
Hair-powder we may consider as a kind of
granary for the preservation of wheat, for though
the powder would not, unless in cases of very great
urgency, be converted into food, the quantity of
corn annually grown for the purpose of making
hair-powder would, during a moderate scarcity,
find its way more readily to the baker's than to
the perfumer's shop.
'CAROLINE.
And pray, Mrs. B., what do you think of the
luxury of the Romans ? We read in Pliny of a
Roman lady who was dressed in jewels to the
amount of 300,000/. I recollect, also, an account
of a dish of fish having cost 64/.
MRS. B.
These are but trifling instances of profusion, in
comparison of some others related of the Romans.
i78 ON EXPENDITURE.
Marc Antony expended 60,000/. in an entertain-
ment given to Cleopatra. And the supper of He-
liogabalus cost 6000/. every night. But nothing
can be said in apology for the luxuries of the Ro-
mans ; they were peculiarly objectionable, because
their wealth did not proceed from industry, but
from plunder. Their extravagance and profusion,
therefore, far from being a spur to industry, acted
in a contrary direction ; it encouraged the love of
rapine in themselves, whilst it depressed the spirit
of industry in the countries subject to their power,
by destroying the strongest of all inducements to
labour, the security of property. It has been well
observed by Macpherson, that " the luxuries of
" the Romans cannot be considered as the summit
" of a general scale of prosperity ; it was a scale
" graduated but by one division, which separated
" immense wealth and power from abject slavery,
" wretchedness and want."
In considering the advantages to be derived from
luxury, we must, however, carefully remember, that
it acts in a twofold manner; whilst on the one hand
it encourages industry, on the other it increases
expenditure ; so far as its productive powers prevail
over its prodigal effects, it is beneficial to mankind ;
but in the contrary case it becomes an evil, and
when it encroaches on capital we have seen that it
is an evil of the greatest magnitude.
The grand object to be kept in view in order to
ON EXPENDITURE. 479
promote the general prosperity of the country, is
the increase of capital. But it is not in the power
of the legislature to promote this end in any other
way than by providing for the security of property ;
any attempts to interfere either with the disposal of
capital or with the nature and extent of expendi-
ture, are equally discouraging to industry.
CAROLINE.
Whoever, I conceive, augments his capital by
savings from his income, increases the general stock
of subsistence for the labouring classes; whilst he
who spends part of his capital diminishes that stock
of subsistence, and consequently the means of em-
ploying the labouring classes in its reproduction.
Every man ought, therefore, to consider it as a
moral duty, independently of his private interest,
to keep his expenditure so far within the limits of
his income that he may be enabled every year to
make some addition to his capital.
MRS. B.
And the question what that addition should be,
must depend entirely upon the extent of his in-
come, and his motives for expenditure. We can
only point out illiberal parsimony, and extravagant
prodigality as extremes to be avoided ; there are
so many gradations in the scale between them, that
every man must draw the line for himself, accord-
480 ON EXPENDITURE.
iiig to the dictates of his good sense and his:^on-
science, and in so doing should consult, perhaps,
the moral philosopher as well as the political eco-
nomist. He who has a large family to maintain
and establish in the world, though more strict
economy be required of him, cannot be expected to
make savings equal to those of a man of a similar
income, who has not the same calls for expenditure.
But however large a man's income may be, he
has no apology for neglect of economy. Economy
is a virtue incumbent on all ; a rich man may have
sufficient motives to authorise a liberal expendi-
ture, but he can have none for negligence and
waste ; and however immaterial to himself the loss
which waste occasions, he should consider it as so
much taken from that fund which provides main-
tenance and employment for the poor.
INDEX.
A
Accumulation of wealth, 89.
Adulteration of the coin of the country, 355.
its effects on wages, 356.
has been adopted in almost all countries, 357.
Agriculture, introduction of, 19. 43. 182.
whether preferable to other branches of industry, 1 84.
of the proportion it should bear to manufactures
and commerce, 189.
most advantageous to newly settled countries, 190.
yields two incomes, 256.
Metayer system of, 256.
state of, in France, 257.
Agricultural produce, high price of, 204.
not susceptible of unlimited increase, 205.
causes of its high price, 210.
causes which lower its price, 215.
high price of, necessary to proportion the consump-
tion to the supply, 231.
the first commodity which a country exports, 598.
421.
Alms-giving, effects of, 175. 178.
America, increase of population in, 145.
exports corn, 398.
agriculture of, 421.
effects of its discovery on the industry of Ejirope,547.
y
482 INDEX.
America, the produce of its mines how distributed through-
out the world, 449.
Annuitants, affected by the exchangeable value of money, 358.
Art, advantages it has over the powers of nature, 188.
B
Balance of trade, 435.
popular error respecting it, 445.
Banks, saving, advantages of, 173.
Banks, issuing notes, 560.
of Amsterdam, 360.
of England, 565.
restriction of paying in specie, 565.
Barter, origin of, 67.
Benefit clubs, or friendly societies, advantages resulting from,
171.
Bentham's Theorie de Legislation, extract from^ on the effects
of luxury, 475.
Bills of Exchange, their use in foreign commerce, 431.
Blackstone's Commentaries, extract from, on civil liberty, 45.
Bounty, on the exportation of goods, 401.
Buchanan's edition of Adam Smith's passage from, on price,
524.
C
Canals, advantages arising from, 586. 588.
Capital, origin of, 89.
employment of, 92. 107.
profits derived from, 95. 99.
necessary for all productive enterprises, 100. 305.
fixed and circulating, distinction of, 108.
definition of, 1 1 9.
of a country, 1 1 8. 452.
effect of its increase on profit and wages, 127.
effect of its diminution, 130.
increase of, in Europe, 150.
increase of, in America, 144.
Capital, various modes of employing it, 185.
required for agriculture, 238, 239.
lent at interest, 275.
quick return of, in the home-trade, 391.
expenditure of, 454.
increase of, always advantageous, 479.
Cheapness, beneficial only when it arises from a low cost of
production, 320, 321.
only nominal when arising from scarcity of money,
334. 337.
Circulating capital explmned, 109.
Civilisation, progress of, 46.
Civilised state of society, 20.
Clarke*s (Dr.) Travels, extract from, on insecurity of pro-
perty, 57.
Coined money, antiquity of, 329.
advantages of, 350.
Coin, adulteration of, 355.
Colonies, establishment of, 167.
Commerce, a mode of employing capital, 374.
foreign, 589. 395.
advantages of, 395. 396.
Competition of sellers reduces prices, 409.
Consumption, distinguished from expenditure, 454.
of a country, 455.
productive and unproductive, 455.
Corn, unknown origin of, 48.
-trade, 415.
home and foreign supply of, 416.
exportation of, 422.
natural high price of, 304.
Cost «f production of commodities, 501. 304.
component parts of, 305.
diminished, cause of cheapness, 520.
Creditor, public, bow repaid, 290.
Y 2
484 INDEX.
Dairy, establishments of Fruitieres in Switzerland, 260,
Debt, national, 290.
Demand, definition of, 124.
for labour, on what it depends, 144.
for the necessaries of life, 206.
and supply, 315.
Depreciation of money, its effect on price, 355.
Division of labour, 75.
passages from Adam Smith on, 72, 75. 76.
its effect on the moral and intellectual faculties, 85,
its effect in the multiplication of wealth, 88.
Economy, 479.
Edinburgh Review, extract from, on small farms, 266.
Education of the poor, advantages of, 168.
Emigration, a resource for redundant population, 165.
impolicy of restraining it, 168.
under some circumstances injurious to a country, 168.
Employment of capital, 95. 122.
Exchange, bill of, its use in trade, 425.
unfavourable, or below par, 428.
premium on, 428.
unfavourable, promotes exportation, 458.
how affected by depreciation of currency, 442.
nominal, 444.
Exchangeable value, 299. 525.
definition of, 299.
and natural value do not always coincide, 314.
of money, what classes of men affected by its vari-
ations, 559.
Expenditure, 103. 451.
distinguished from consumption, 4 54.
INDEX. -485
Expenditure of capital, its consequences, 295. 456.
Exportation of corn, under what circumstance advantageous,
425.
F
Farmers, exposed to small risks, 201.
require capital, 238.
gentlemen, 251. 255.
Farms, small, objections to, 257.
what size most advantageous, 264.
size of, in Belgium and Tuscany, 265.
Fisheries, rent of, 271.
Fishing, capital required fot it, 100.
Fixed capital, 110.
Foreign trade, 395.
advantages of, 596,597.
advantages to both countries engaged in it, 407.
Franklin, passage from, on prohibitions in trade, 412.
anecdote from, on the effects of luxury, 470.
Friendly societies, or benefit clubs, 1 75.
G
Gardens, for cottagers, 182.
Gamier, extract from, on the employment of capital, 192.
Gold, how paid for, 551.
-coins, antiquity of, 528.
-bullion, the standard of, value of coined money, 569.
-bullion, high price of, 569.
and silver, effect of its influx in Spain, 446, 447.
Goldsmith's Deserted Village, passages from, on small farms,
257.
on inclosures, 164.
on emigration, 166.
on luxury, 466.
Goods, community of, 62.
Y 5
486 INDEX,
Governments; origin of, 19.
errors of, in political economy, ^.
despotic, efiects of, 53, 54, 55. 51,
Happiness, how influenced by wealth, 106-
Home trade,^388. 591.
I
Ignorance of savages,. 52,
Importation ©f corn, 419.
Income, or revenue, origin of, 95»
derived from profits, 101.
Industry, encouraged by security, 58.
of the Swiss, 65.
limited by extent of capital, 101. T6 J.
encouraged by emancipation, no.
by high wages, 155.
by piece-worky 15T.
Interest ofmoney, 278.
diminishes, as wealth and population increase, 2T8.
varies in different countries, 282, 285.
low rate of, a sign of prosperity, 285,
impolicy of fixing it by law, 285.
in ancient times and countries, 182.
in the public funds,^ 288^
J
Jesuits, their establishment in Paraguay, 62.
I>
Labour, its effect in the production of wealth, 51.
considered as a cause of value, 501.
Labourers, productive, 9.
.17
4a*7
Labourers unproductive, 291.
Land mortgaged, 277.
Landed property, 35. 38.
Laws, utility of, 40.
Leases, their terms and duration, 242.
Loans, to individuals, 275.
to government, 286, 287.
Luxury, a relative term, 464.
its excess only pernicious, 464.
promotes industry, 464.
a resource in scarcity, 477.
of the Romans, objection to, 478.
vfhen beneficial, and when injurious, 477.
M
Machines, their effect in abridging labour, 75.
Machinery, objections to it, 116.
advantages derived from it, 117.
Macpherson's History of Commerce, extract from, on ma-
chinery, 117.
on fixing the price of provisions, 135. 138.
Manufactures, their influence on population, 165.
rate of their profits, 194.
Measures of value, all imperfect, 308. 336.
Merchants, rate of their profits, 193.
Metals, used only in civilised countries, 81.
Metayer system of farming, 256.
in Belgium and Tuscany, 265.
Mines, first worked in England, 81.
in general, 265.
of coal, 268.
of metal, 270.
great risk attending them, 269
y 4
488 INDEX.
Mirabeau's Monarchic Prussienne, passage from, on free trade,
427.
Money lent at interest, 302.
in general, 325.
its use as a medium of exchange, 326.
various articles used for this purpose, 527. i
coined, antiquity of, 328.
advantages of, 329.
its use as a standard of value, 329.
not an accurate standard of value, 332.
cheapness of commodities arising from its scarcity,
335.
dearness of commodities arising from its abundance,
335.
depreciation of, 337, 350.
variation in the exchangeable value of, 358.
has of late years fallen in value, 338, 55^.
has real value, not merely a sign, 545.
impolicy of preventing its exportation, 344. 347.
effects of its free exportation, 348.
how it regulates price, 352.
its value in ancient times, 353.
adulteration of, 354.
of paper, no real value, 357.
excess of, creates depreciation, 566.
expedients for economising it, 367. 37 K
Moravians, their institution, 66..
Mortgage of land, 277..
N
National debt, 290.
Natural value, 295.
ofgold bullion, 332.
Nature, of the variety and profusion of her gifts, 40, 41. 45.
assists the labours of man,^ 186.
rSlJEX. 4-89
Necessaries of life, definition of, varies in different countries,
123.
effects of redundancy of, 419.
Nominal cheapness, 334.
exchange, 444,
Paley*s Moral Philosophy, passage from, on accumulation of
wealth, 150.
on agriculture, 24 5.
on luxury, 469.
Paper money, no real value, 357.
its effect in driving specie out of the country, 363.
excess of, creates depreciation, 366.
Pastoral life, 19. 47.
Piece-work stimulates industry, 156.
Poor-rates, objections to, 173.
lowers the price of labour, 174.
Political economy, errors arising from ignorance of its prin-
ciples, 7.
advantages arising from some of its principles, 1 1 .
difficulties to be surmounted in this study, 14.
definition of, 18.
Population, wages how affected by it, 125. 129.
rapid increase of, in America, 144.
in Europe, 145.
great, under what circumstances advantageous, 147.
effects of its increase beyond the means of subsist-
ence, 148.
naturally increases with capital, 156.
redundant, relieved by emigration, 164.
Poverty, 100.
Price, impolicy of the legislature interfering with it, 134.
490 t^tfJEX.
Price of raw produce, how regulated, 21 5.
and value, 295.
defined, 297.
generally equivalent to cost of production, 501.
how affected by scarcity of money, 327.
how affected by depreciation of money, 355.
various circumstances affecting it, 358.
how regulated, -548.
reduced by free competition of sellers, 409.
Prodigality, its pernicious effects, 458.
Production, cost of, 501.
Productive labourers, 97. 291.
Profits, derived from the employment of capital, 97.
of capital, 128.
decrease with increase of capital, 150.
tending to equality in all employments of capital, 1 95.
proportioned to the degrees of risk, 198.
; circumstances which derange the equality of profits,
200.
of agriculture diminish as inferior soils are culti-
vated, 213.
of the farmer, how calculated, 240.
of mining, 270.
a component part of cost of production, 504.
great, of small dealers, 581.
Promissory notes, 451.
Property, security of, 37.
in land, 38, 59.
consequences of its establishment, 48, 49.
consequences of its insecurity, 53.
in common, objections to it, 59.
in land, effects of its extreme division, 238.
R
Rent, 215.
effect of the high price of agricultural produce, 205.
INDEX. 491
Rent, derived from the surplus produce of agriculture, 208.
why not paid in new settlements, 209.
origin of, 212.
definition of, 214.
consequences of its abolition, 228. 231.
rise positively, but not relatively, 250.
of farms, 241.
of mines, 268.
of fisheries, 271.
a component part of cost production, 30.3.
Revenue, or income, origin of, 93. 104, 105.
modes of employing of capital to produce it, 182.
derived from property in land, 202.
derived from cultivation of land, 237.
of those who do not employ their capital themselves,
273.
Rewards, advantages of, 181.
Riches, of what they consist, 26.
Rich and poor, distinction between, 88.
contract between, 90. 95.
Savings banks, 173.
Say's Political Economy, extract from, on the invention of
printing, 117.
on prohibitions in trade, 411.
Scarcity, its effect on wages, 130.
its effect on price, 312.
Security, stimulus to industry, 33.
Skill, acquired by the division of labour, 73.
higher wages paid for it, 140.
Slaves, fixed capital, 110.
Slavery, discouraging to industry. 111.
Smith, Adam, passage from, on the division of labour, 73. 76.
492 INDEX.
Smith, Adam, on forging nails, 78.
on value, 297.
Soils of inferior quality increase the cost of production, 214*
Spain, her industry affected by the American mines, 450.
Spinning jennies, invention of, 115, 116.
Statute of labourers, 156.
Stockholders, fictitious capital of, 288.
affected by variations in the value of money, 342.
Sumptuary laws, 461.
effects of, 465.
Telemachus, passage from, on Salentum, 1 .
on Boetica, 39.
Tenants at will, 243.
Townsend*s Travels in Spain, passage from, on alms-giving,
177.
on gentlemen farmers, 250. '
on farms held in administration, 253.
on the influx of gold and silver in Spain, 449.
Trade, wholesale and retail, distinction of, 371.
general advantages of, 376.
wholesale, 377.
retail, 381.
home, 341, 342.
policy of freedom of, 425.
U
Unproductive labourers, 288.
how affected by fluctuations in the value of money,
341.
Usury, 284.
Utility considered as essential to value, 297. 302.
INDEX. ^93
Value and price, 295,
in exchange, 298. 315.
its component parts, 304. 306.
natural, 306. 514.
and price, distinction between them, 297.
no accurate measure of, 308. 314.
Vineyards and olive-grounds, tenure of, 309.
Volney's Travels, passages from, on the effects of despotic
governments, 53, 54, 55.
W
^'Wages, origin of, 91.
of labour, their limits, 122.
how regulated, 123. 145.
increase with increase of capital, 128.
decrease with increase of population, 130.
diminish with diminution of capital, 130.
impolicy of being fixed by law, 133.
low in Ireland, 139.
proportioned to skill, 141.
pVopjrtionedto the severity and disagreeableness of
the labour, 141.
how affected by scarcity, 137.
high, not always accompanying great capital, 143.
in China, 143.
in America, 145.
rise of, in England, 150.
high, encourage industry, 155.
lowered by poor-rates, 175.
component part of value, 302.
affected by adulteration of the coin, 355
effects of sudden increase of, 473.
Wealth, definition of, 26. 279.
494 INDEX.
Wealth, accumulation of, 90. '
reproduction of, 94. 105.
incitements to increase it, 464. 471.
effects of sudden increase of, 472.
Y
Yeomamy, 229.
Young's, Arthur, Travels in France, passage from, on the ex-
treme division of landed property, 257.
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