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Show 440 0 N 'f HE I lH J\11 ED I A 'I' E CAUSES [ C II. V 1 I. slight diminution in the po\\Ter of production n1ay turn the scale; and any change \\rhich is unfavourable to accumulation, enterprize, and the di\'Tision of labour, 'vill be unfavourable to the progress of 'vealth. But if the country be ill situated for foreign con1merce, and its tastes, habits, and internal c;on1- n1unications be such as not to encourage an active home trade, nothing can occasion an adequate demand for produce, but an easy subdivision of landed property; and \Vithout such a subdivision, a country with great natural resources tnight slumber for ages 'vith an uncultivated soil, and a scanty yet starving population. SECTION VIII. Of the Distribution occasioned by Commerce, internal and extel'nal, considered as the lJ!Ieans oj' increasing the exchangeable II alue of Produce. The second main cause fa voura.Lle to that increase of exchangeable value, which depends upon distribution, is internal and external cotnn1erce. Every exchange which takes place in a country, . effects a distribution of its produce better adapted to the wants of the society. It is with regard to both parties concerned, an exchange of "vhat is '\Vanted less for what is wanted more, and must therefore raise the value of both the products. If t'vvo districts, one of which possessed a rich copper SEC. Vlli.] OF THE PROGRESS OF 'VEALTH. mine, and the other a rich tin 1nine, had always been separated by an in1passaLle river or tnountain, there can Le no doubt that on the opening of a comn1unication, a greater den1ancl would take place, and a greater price be given both for tin and copper; and this greater price of both metals, though it n1ight only be temporary, . would alone go a great 'vay towards furnishing the additional capital wanted to supply the additional den1and; and the capitals of both districts, and the products of both mines, would be increased both in quantity and value to a degree 'vhich could not have taken place without this ne\v distribution of the produce, or some event equivalent to it. The Economists, in their endeavours to prove the unproductive nature of trade, al\vays insisted that the effect of it 'vas tnerely to equalize prices, which were in sotne places too high and in others too low, but in their amount the satne as they would be after the exchapge had taken place. This position must be considered as unfounded, and capable of being contradicted by incontrovertible facts. The increase of price at first, fron1 the extension of the tnarket, is unq uestionablc. And when to this \Ve add the effect occasioned by the demand for further produce, and the means thus afforded of rapid accutnulation for the supply of this demand, it is in1possible to doubt for a mo1ne11t the direct tendency of all internal trade to increase the value of the national produce. If indeed it did not tend to increase the value of the national produce, it vvould not be carried |