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Show ON THE I 1\11\IEDIA 1'E CAUSES [ C~-1. VII, ciety which was not engaged in raising raw produce, consisted merely in preparing the other simple necessaries of life, the number required for this purpose being inconsiderable, the rest of those whom the soil could support would be thro-vvn out of \Vork. Having no means of legal1 y demanding a portion of the raw produce, ho\vever plentiful it n1ight be at first, they would gradually decrease in nurn hers · and the failure of effective den) and for ' the produce of the soil 'vould necessarUy diminish cultivation, and throvv a still greater .nun1ber of persons out of employment. This action and reaction would thus go on till the balance of produce and consumption was restored in reference to the ne'v tastes and habits which were established; and it is obvious that without an expenditure which will encourage co1nn1erce, manufactures, and unproductive consun1ers, or an Agrarian law calcu- . lated to change the usual motives for acctnnulation, the possessors of land would have no sufficient sell our goods at once, can be an adequate substitute for a circu· lating medium, and enable us in the same manner to provide for children, to purchase an estate, or to command labour and provisions a year or two hence. A circulating medium is absolutely necessary to any considerable saving; and even the manufacturer would get on but slowly, if he were obliged to accumulate in kind all the wages of his workmen. We cannot .therefore be surprized at his wanting money rather than other goods ; and, in civilized countries, we may be quite sure that if the farmer or manufacturer cannot sell his products ,so as to aive him a profit estimated in 0 • money, his industry will immediately slacken. The circulatmg medium bears so important a part in the distribution of wealth, and the encouragement of industry, that to set it as.ide in our reasonings may often lead u::; wrona. . b SEC. III. ] OF THE PROGRESS Oli' WEALTH. stimulus to cultivate well; and a country such r Own which had been rich and populous, as ou ' . . [; ll"bl would, with such parsimonious habits, In a 1 y become poor, and comparati.vely ~npeop~ed. The same kind of reasontng will obvtously ap-ly to the case noticed before. While the far~ ers were disposed to consume the luxuries produced by the manufacturers, and the manufacturers those produced by th~ farmers, all would go on stnoothly ; but if either one or both of the ~arties were disposed to save with a view. of be~t~r1~g their condition, and providing for the1r fam1hes 1n future the state of things would be very different. The f~nner, instead of indulging hitnself in ribands, lace, and velvets,* would be disposed to be satisfied \vith tnore simple clothing, but by this economy he would disable the n1anufacturer from purchasing the same amount of his produce ; and for the rett~rns of so much labour en1ployed upon the land, and all greatly increased in productive power, there would evidently be no market. 1~he manufacturer, in like manner, instead of il'ldulging himself in sugar, grapes and tobacco, might be disposed to save \Vith a view to the future, but would be totally unable to do so, owing to the parsin1ony of the farmers and the want of den1and for n1anufactures. t *Edinburgh Review, No~ LXIV. p. 471. t Of all the opinions advanced by able and ingenioNs men, which I ha"·e ever met with, the opinion of M. ~ay, which states that, un produit <:onsomme ou detruit est un debouclte ferme (1. i. ch. |