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Show : I DEFINITIONS OF WEALTH [ CH. I. be absolutely necessary, in all discussions relating to the progress of \Vealth, to distinguish by so1ne particular title· a set of people who appear to act so in1portant a part in accelerating this progress. Aln1ost all the lower classes of people of every society are e1nployed in so1ne way or other, and it there were no grounds of distinction in their cinploynlents, ,;vith reference to their effects on the national wealth, it is difficult to conceive \vhat 'vould be the use of saving from revenue to add to capital, as it vvould be n1erely en1ploying one set of people in preference to another, 'vhen, according to the hypothesis, there is no essential difference b~t,veen then1. Ho\v then are ":e to explain the nature of saving, and the different effects of parsimony and extravagance upon the national capital ? No political econon1ist of the present day can by saving mean n1ere hoarding; and beyond this contracted and inefficient proceeding, no use of the ter1n, in reference to national vvealth, can \veil be imagined, but that which n1ust arise from a different application of \Vhat is saved, founded upon a real distinction between the different kinds of labour which 111ay be 1naintained by it. If the labour of n1enial servants be as productive of 'vealth as the labour of manufacturers, \vhy should not savings be en1ployed in their maintenance, not only \vithout being dissipated, but 'vith a constant increase of value? But menial servants, lawyers, or physicians, \vho save from their salaries, are fully a\vare that their savings would be inlmediately dissipated again if they \Vere advanced to SEC. II.] AND PRODUCTIVE LABOUR. themselves instead of being employed in the n1ain..~. tenance of persons of a different description. To consider the expenditure of the unproductive la• bourers of Adan1 Smith, as advances made to thenlselves, and of the satne nature as the advances of the master-manufacturer to his workmen, 'vould be at once to confound the very useful ,and just distinction between those 'vho live upon wages and those who live upon profits, and 'vould render it quite in1possible to explain the frequent 'and important operations of saving from revenue to add to capital, so absolutely necessary to the continued increase of wealth.:)(: It is not the question at present \Vhether saving may or 1nay not be carried too far (a point \Vhich \vill be considered in its proper place); but whether \Ve can talk intelligibly of saving and accumulation, and discuss their effects on national wealth without allo\\ring some distinction in the different kinds of labour. Thirdly, it has been stated by Adan1 Smith, and stated ·truly, that there is a balance very different frorn the balance of trade, which, according as it happens to be favourable or unfavourable, occasions the prosperity or decay of every nation: this • One of the most able impugners of the doctrine of Adam Smith respecting productive labour is Mr. Ganilh, in his valuable Work on the various Systems of Political Economy; but he appears tome to fail entirely, when he attempts to shew that savings are preserved instead of being destroyed, when consumed by the idle classes. I cannot understand in what sense it can be said that menial servants annually reproduce the capital by which they are fed. Book III. c. ii. D |