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Show 468 . ON TH,E IMMEDIATE CAUSES [CH. VIT. individuals may continue to save to a very great extent; but the national saving, or the balance of produce above consumption, in reference to the 'vhole n1ass of producers and consun1ers, must necessarily be limited by the amount which can be advantageously en1ployed in supplying the dctnand for produce; and to create this den1and, there n1ust be an adequate consumption either among· the producers themselves, or other classes of con~ sumers. Adam Smith has observed "that the desire of food is lin1ited in every man by the narrovv capacity of the hun1an stomach ; but the desire of the conveniences and ornaments of building, dress, equipage, and household furniture, seen1s to have no limit or certain boundary." That it bas no certain boundary is unquestionably true; that it has no limit n1ust be allowed to be too strong an expression, when V\re consider how it will be practically litnitcd by the countervailing luxury of indolence, or by the general desire of mankind to better their condition, and make a provision for a fatnily; a principle which, as Adam Sm1th himself states, is on the whole stronO'er than the princ·iple which b . prompts to expense.* But surely it is a glaring tnts-application of this statement in any sense in which it can be reasonably understood, to say, that there is no limit to the savinO' and etnployment of capital b . t except the difficulty of procuring food. It ts 0 found a doctrine upon the unlimited desire of man- *Wealth ofN~tions, Vol. ii. B. ii. ch. ii. p. 19. 6th edit. SEC. IX.] OF THE PROGUESS OF WEALTH. kind to consun1e; then to suppose this desire limited in order _to save capital, and thus completely alter the pre1n1ses; and yet still to maintain that the doctrine is true. Let a suf-ficient consumption al\\rays take place, whether by the producers or others, to keep up and increase most effectually the exchangeable value of the whole produce ; and I an1 perfectly ready to allow that, to the enlployment of a national capital, increasing only· at such a rate, there is no other limit than that vvhich bounds the power of maintaining population. But it appears to n1e perfectly clear in theory, and universally confirn1ed by experience, that the ctnployment of a capital, too rapidly increased by parsin1onious habits, tnay firu] a limit, and docs_, in fact, often find a lin1it, long before there is any real difficulty in procuriug the tneans of subsistence; and that both capital and population n1ay be at' the same time, and for a period of great length, redundant, compared vvith the effective den1ancl for produce. Of the wants of mankind in general, it may be further observed, that it is a partial and narrow view of the subject, to consider only the propensity to spend what is actually possessed. It forms but a very small part of the question to detern1ine that if a man has a hu;ndred thousand a year, he will not decline the offer of ten thousand n1ore; or · to lay down generally that mankind are never disposed to refuse the means of increased power and enjoyment. The main part of the question re- · specting the wants of n1ankind, relates to their HH3 |
