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Show 470 ON THE I~IlHEDIATE. CA lJSES [ CH. VU. power of calling forth the exertions necessary to acquire the n1eans of expenditure. It is unquestionably true that wealth produces wants; but it is a still more itnportant truth, that wants produce wealth. Each cause acts and re-acts upon the other, but the order, both of precedence and of importance, is with the wants which stimulate to industry; and 'vith regard to these, it appears that, instead of being always ready to secon~ the physical powers of man, they require for their developement, "all appliances and means to boot." The greatest of all difficulties in converting uncivilized and thinly peopled countries into civilized qnd populous ones, is to inspire them with the 'vants best calculated to excite their exertions in the production of wealth. One of the greatest benefits which foreign conliuercc confers, and the reason why it has always appeared an almost necessary ingredient in the progress of wealth, is, its tendency to inspire new wants, to form new tastes, and to furnish fresh tnotives for industry. Even civilized and in1proved countries cannot afford to lose any of these motives. It is not the most pleasant employment to spend eight hours a day in a: counting-house. Nor w-ill it be subn1itted to after the com1non necessaries and conveniences of life are attained, unless adequate motives are presented to the mind of the man of business. An1ong these tnotives is undoubtedly the desire of advancing his rank, and. contendin<r ,vith the landlords in the enjoy1nent of leisur:, as well as of foreign and don1estic luxuries. - SEC. lx.J Of THE PltOGRESS OJ!' "'EA L'l'H. 471 But the <1esire to reali·ze a fortune as a pennanent provision for a family is perhaps the most general motive for the continued exertions of those whose incomes depend upon their own personal skill and efforts. Whatever may be said of the virtue of parsimony or saving, as a public duty, there cannot be a doubt that it is, in numberless cases, a n1ost sacred and binding private duty; and were this legitimate and praiseworthy motive to persevering industry in any degree 'veakened, it ·is impossible that the wealth and prosperity of the country should not most materially suffer. But if, from the want of other consumers, the capitalists were obliged to consurne all that could not be advantageously added to the national capital, the motives which . support them in .their daily tasks must essentially be weakened, and the san1e powers of production would not be called forth. It has appeared then that, in the ordinary state of society, the n1aster producers and capitalists, though they n1ay have the power, have not the ''ril1, to consume to the necessary extent. And with reO'arcl to their 'vorkmen, it must be allowed b that, if they possessed the will, they have not the , power. It is indeed n1ost important to observe that no power of consun1ption on the part of the labourin<r classes can ever, according to the common n1orlves which influence mankind, alone furnish an encourao·ement to the employment of capital. As I ha~e before said, nobody will ever employ capital 1nercly for the sake of. the demand occasioned by those who work for h1m. Unless II H 4 |