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Show ON THE IMl\tiEDIATE CAUSES [CH. VII. ditninished value so estin1ated lasts: and if it could be proved that, under particular circun1stances, any species of foreig·n trade tended permanently to dilninish the power of the national produce in the con11nand of dotnestic and foreign labour, such trade vvould certainly have the effect of checking pennanently the progress of \Vealth and population. Th-e causes of an increase in the effective den1ancl for particular corntnodities are of very easy explanation; but it has been considered, and with reason, as not very easy to ex plain the cause of that oo ·eneral briskness of den1and which is son1e-tin1es so very sensibly felt throughout a 'vhole country, and is so strikingly contra:sted \Vith the feeliug \vhich gives rise to the expression of trade being universally very dead. As the specific and in1tnecliate cause of this general increase of effective den1ancl, I should decidedly point to such a distribution of the produce, and such an adap~ation of it to the wants and tastes of the society as 'vill give the n1oney price for \V hich it sells an increased con1rnand of domestic and foreign labour-; and I an1 inclined to think that, if tbjs test be applied to all the striking cases that have occurred, it \Vill rarely or never be· found to fail. It cannot for a n1on1ent be doubted, for instance, that the annual increase of 'the produce of the United States of America, estimated either in bullion or in don1estic and foreio·n labour, has been b . I greater than that of any country vve are acquainte.c with, and that this has been greatly owing to theH SEC. VIII.] OF THE PROGRESS OF 'VEALTH. 459 foreign comn1erce, which, notwithstanding their facility of production, has given a value to their corn and ra'v produce equal to \Vhat they bear in many of the countries of Europe, and has consequently given to then1 a power in comn1anding the produce and labour of other countries quite extraordinary, ·when co1npared with the quantity of labour which they have en1ployecl. It can as little be doubted that in this country, fron1 1793 to 1814, the 'vho1e exchangeable value of the produce, estimated either in don1estic and foreign labour, or in bullion, vvas greatly augn1ented every year. In this increase of value, as well as riches, the extension of our foreign con1n1erce has been considered, almost vvithout a dissentient opinion, as a 1nost powerful agent; and certainly till J 8 L5, no appearances see1ned to indicate, that the increasing value of our in1ports had the slightest tendency to din1inish the value of our don1estic produce. They both increased, and increased greatly, together, estimated either in bullion or labour. But while in every country to 'V'hich it seen1s possible to refer, an increase of value \Vill be found to. accompany increasing prosperity and riches, I an1 inclined to think that no single instance can · be produced of a country engaged in a successful con1Inerce, and exhibiting an increasing plenty of comn1odities, vvhere the value of the 'vhole produce esti1nated in do1nestic and foreign labour was retrograde or even stationary. And of the tw·o ways in ,vhich capital n1ay be accumulated, _ as stated by Mr. Ricardo in his chapter on Fo- |