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Show 402 r THE !~MEDIATE CAUSES (CH. VII. 0 f · ro~ement and civilization, and, in their more pertfmepc t forms, gener~lly come I· n ai" d o f t h e .lc.a ·l1t· ng powers of . productlo~ on t~e land. The ~ertility of the soil, betng a gift of nature, exists whether it is wanted or not ; and must often therefore exceed for many hundred years the _power of fully usino- it. Inventions, which substitute machinery fo~ manual exertions, being the ~esult of the ino·enuity of n1an, and called forth by hts wants, will, :s might be expected, seldom greatly exceed those wants. But the satne lavvs apply to both. They ?oth come under the head of facilities of product1o1~; and in both cases a full use cannot be made of this facility, unless the power of supply which it ~urnishes be accompanied by an adequate extenswn of the n1arket. . When a machine is invented, which, by saving labour, will bring goods into the 1narket at a muc!l cheaper rate than before, the most usual effect IS such an extension of the demand for the commodity by its beino· brought within the power of a mu;h greater nu~ber of purchasers, that the value of the \Vhole 1nass of goods tnade by the new machinerv <Treatly exceeds their former value; and, notwiths~ndino- the saving of labour, more hands, illstead of few:r are required in the manufacture. This effect ha~ been very strikingly exemplified in the cotton machinery of this country. The consumption of cotton goods has been so greatly extended both at home and abroad, on account 0~ their cheapness, that the value of the whole 0 SEC. v.] OJT THE PROGRESS OF \VEALTII. 403 the cotton goods and twist now n1ade exceeds beyond compan.s on, the fonner value; vvhile the' rfipidly increasing population of the towns of Manchester~ G lasgovv, &c. during the last thirty years, an1ply testifies that, with a few temporary exceptions, the den1and for the labour concerned in the cotton manufactures, in spite of the machinery used, has been increasing very greatly. When the introduction of machinery has this effect, it is not easy to appreciate its enriching power, or its tendency to increase both the value and quantity of do1nestic and foreign comn1odities. When however the comn1odity to \Vhich machinery is applied is not of such a nature, that its consun1ption can extend \Vith its cheapness, the increase of vvealth derived fron1 it is neither so great nor so certain. Still hovvever it n1ay be highly beneficial; but the extent of this benefit depends upon a contingency. Let us suppose a nun1ber of capitalists in the habit of en1ploying 20,000!. each in a n1anufacture of limited consumption, and that machines \Vere in traduced \V hich, by the saving of labour, would enable them to supply the actual demand for the cotntnodity with capitals of ten thousand pounds each, instead of twenty. There would, in· this case, be a certain number of ten thousand pounds, and the men· ernplayed by these capitals, thrown out of employ~ lent. On the other hand, there \vould be a portion of revenue set free for the purchase of fresh commodities; and this de1nand would undoubtedly he of the greatest advantage in encouraging the D D2 |