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Show ON 'fHE I~LMEDIATE CAUSES [ CH, VII. ,vi thou t guides; and if \Ve attend ~o the great la\VS of clen1and and supply, they \¥111 generally direct us into the right course. It is justly observed by Mr. Ricardo th~t ".the farn1er and 111anufacturer can no n1ore hve \Vtthout profit than the labourer without \vages. Their n1otive for accnrnulation 'vill di1ninish \vith every din1inution of profit, and will cease altog~ther \Vhen their profits are so low as not to afford thern an adequate con1pensation for their ~rouble, and ti:e risk \Vhich they n1ust necessanly encounter 1n en1ploying their capital productively. ":JC. lVIr. Ricardo applies this passage to the final and necessary fall of profits occasioned by the state of the land. I \vould apply it at all tirnes, throughout all the variable periods which intervene between the first stao-e of cultivation and the last. Whenever b . 1 capital increases too fast, the ~1 0t1ve to accun1u a-lation din1inishes, and there \Vtll be a natural tendency to spend 1110re and save l~ss. vyhe_n profits rise the 1110tive to accun1ulat10n Wlll Increase, and' there will be a tendency to spen d a sma ller Proporti.o n o f. t h e gat·n s, anc l . t o sa ve a gTe.a ter. These tendencies, operat·i ng on 1·1 1 c1·I VI· d ua 1s , direct then1 towards the just n1ean, \Vhich they ~oul~ more frequently atta·m 1·f t 1_1 ey we1.e no. t InteIt-f rupted by bad la\vs or un\VIse exhortations. every man who saves frotn h1. s 1· ncon1e 1·s 11ecesl-l sari1y a friend to his country, it follows that a those \\rho spend their incomes, though they may '* Prine. of Polit. Ecnn. ch . \'i. P· 12f. SEC. x.J OF 'fHE PROGUESS OF \VEALTII. 517 not be ·absolute enen1ies, like the spendthrift, n1ust be considered as failing in the duty of benefitingtheir country, and employing the labouring classes, when it is in their povver; and this cannot be an agreeable reflection to those whose scale of expenditure in their houses, furniture, carriages and table, 'would certainly admit of great retrench1nent, with but little sacrifice of real con1fort. But it: in · reality, saving is a national benefit, or a national disadvantage, according to the circumstances of the period; and, if these circun1stances are best declared by the rate of profits, surely it is a case in \V hich individual interest needs no extraneous assistance. Saving, as I have before said,. is, in nun1erous instances, a most sacred private duty. Ho\V far a just sense of this duty, together \vith the desire of bettering our condition so strongly in1plantecl in the hun1an breast, n1ay son1etin1es, and in some states of society, occasion a greater tendency to parsimony· than is consistent \Vith the n1ost effective encourao·ement to the gro\vth of public \Vealtb, it is difficulto to say; but whether this tendency, 1· r .let alone, be ever too great or not, no one could think of interfeing \Vith it, even in its caprices. There is no reason) however, for giving an additional sanction to it, by calling it a public duty. The market for national capital 'viii be supplied, like other n1arkets, \Vithout the aid of patriotisn1. And in leaving the \vhole question of saving to the uninfluenced operation of individual interest a~d individual feelings, \ve shal1 best conforn1 tQ LL 3 |
