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Show 380 ON THE LMlHEDIAT.E CAUSES [cH • V1J. greatest, compared with the quantity of labour required to produce it, we ought al,vays to find a sn1all portion of the population engaged in agriculture, and a large portion engaged in administering to the other ~ants of the society. And there can be little doubt that this is the state of thino·s "rhich \Ve really should see, w·ere it true, that if the means of n1aintaining labour be found, there can be no difficulty in tnaking it produce objects of adequate value; or that when food can be obtained with facility, more time will be devoted, to the production of conveniences and luxuries. But in examining the state of unin1proved countries, what do "ve really see?-almost invariably, a much larger proportion of the \V hole people e1nployed on the land than in those countries where the increase of population has occasioned the necessity of resorting to poor soils; and less tin1c instead of 1nore tin1e devoted to the production of conveniences and luxuries. Of the great landed nations of Europe, and indeed of the \vorld, England, vvith only one or two e_xceptions, is supposed to have pushed its cultivation the farthest; and thouo·h the natural qualities f . b o Its 'vhole soil by no n1eans stand very hiah in the scale of ~omparative richness, there is a sn1~ler proportion of the people emplovecl in aoTiculture, and " b a greater proportion en1ployecl in the production of · conveniences and luxuries or livino~ on 1nonied in- ' b comes, than in any other agricultural country of the world. Accordino· to a calculation of Susn1ilch, . 0 111 which he enumerates the different proportionL· SEC. IV.] OF THE PROGRESS OF WEALTH: 381 of people in different states, who live in towns and are not employed in ag-riculture, the hio·hes't • •J 5 • IS that of seven to three, or seven people living in the country to three living in the towns:* whereas in England, th~ proportion of those engaged in agriculture, cotnpared vvith the rest of the population, is less than as tvvo to three. t This is a very extraordinary fact, and affords a striking proof how very dangerous it is, in political economy, to draw conclusions fi·om the physical quality of the 1naterials which are acted upon, without reference to the 1noral as well as physical qualities of the agents. It is undoubtedly a physical quality of very rich land, if worked by people possessing a given degree of industry and skill, to yield a large quantity of produce, con1pared with the nun1ber of hands cn.lployed; but, if the facility of production which rich land gives has the effect, under certain circutnstances, of preventing the grovvth of industry and skill, the land may becon1e practically less productive, compared -vvith the nun1ber of persons employed upon it, than if it 'vere not distin{)'uished .c • • b .~or Its richness. Upon the san1e principle, the tnan \vho can procure the necessary food for his fa1nily, by t\VO days ~abour in the week, has the physical power of \Vorktng n1uch longer to procure conveniences ~ Susmilch, vol. iii. p. 60. Essay on Population, vol. i. p. 459. ed1t. 5th. In foreign states very few persons live in the country who are not engaged in agriculture; but it is not so in England. t Population Abstracts, 1811. |
