| OCR Text |
Show 44 DEFINITIONS OF 'rEALTII [en. 1. rect to assert that the unproductive labourers of Adan1 Stnith necessarily create the 'vealth which pays . them. It is true that the d sire to enjoy the convenience or parade of personal attendance and the benefit of n1edical advice has a strong tendency to stimulate industry; but they are both purchased in large quantities by persons who have no means of increasing their incomes in consequence of this expenditure, and sornetirnes they are bought by the actual destruction of capital, and the positive dinlinution.of the po,ver of production. 'I'hough we allo,v, therefore, fully their tendency to act as a stimulus to the production of wealth, yet they can never be said necessarily to create it; and even -under the circun1stances n1ost favourable to their influence, their operation is obviously indirect, and not immediate. · When 've consider then the difficulties \vhich present themselves on every supposition we can n1al{e, it may fairly be doubted vvhether it is probable that we shall be able to find a distinction 1nore useful for practical purposes, and, on the 'vhole, less objectionable in point of precision, than that of Adam Smith; \vhich draws the line that distino·uishes riches from other kinds of value, between ~hat is mat~er and what is not n1atter, between "''hat has duration and what has no duration, between \vhat is susceptible of accumulation and definite valuation, and what is \Vithout either one or both of these essential properties. · S~~e. degree of duration, and a consequent susceptlbthty of accumulation, seen1s to be essential SEC. II.] AND PRODUCTIVE LABOUR. to our usual conceptions of wealth, not only because produce of this kind seen1s to be alone capable of forn1ing those accun1ulations vv hich tend so tnuch to facilitate future production, but because they alone contribute to increase that store reserved for consumption, which is certainly one of the most distinguishing n1arks of riches con1parerl '~rith poverty. The characteristic of poverty seems to be to live fron1 hand to 1nouth. The characteristic of riches is to have a store to apply to for the comnlodities wanted for in1rnediate consumption. But in every case of productive labour, .as explained by Adatn Sn1ith, there is always a period, though in some cases it n1ay be very short, when either the stock destined to replace a capital, or the stock reserved for itnmediate consuinption is distinctly augmented by it; and to this quality of adding to the national stock, the term, enriching or productive of riches seems to be peculiarly appropriate. But it is not enough that it should be susceptible of accutnulation, and of adding to the national stock, to entitle it to be called productive accordina~ to the o~eneral tneanin~r of Adam Sn1ith. In 5 b L) order to make the term useful for practical pur-poses, the kind of labour to vvhich it refers should be susceptible of sotne sort of definite valuation. The lavvs of the legislator, the precepts of the moralist, and the conclusions of the natural philosopher, may certainly be said to be susceptible of accutnulation and of receiving assistance from past labour; but ho'v is it possible to estimate then1, or to say to what atnount the country has been en- |
