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Show 572 SUMMARY. The body of manufacturers would be still less able to improve their condition by saving;. and it appears quite certain that a pas ion for accumulatiOn n1u t lead to a supply of comnwdities beyond the den1and for then1 . 365 It is a most in1portant error therefore to couple the passion for expenditure and the passion for accunn1lation together, as if they were equally calculated to nsure de1nand . . ib. In the division of the produce, labour might absorb the value of a large proportion of Inanufactured com1nodities, owing to their cheapness, although it might be ill paid in neces-saries . . . . . 366 In agriculture, all the parts of the same produce n1ight not be of the sa1ne value. The wage of the labourer cannot sink below a certain point, but a part of the ·upply of corn might lose the character of wealth . . . . . . 367 If the cultivator could only employ a di1nini hed capital on his land at a tolerable rate of profits, and could find no use . for the remainder it would be the alne to him as if profits were generally loJw ered . · 368 If all that was lost by the capitalist were gained by the labourer the evil would be temporary, as stated by 1\ir. Ric~ rdo ;, but saving, pushed beyond a certain point, will destroy profits and throw labourer out of employment at the smne tu• ne J . • 369 Parsimony and even a temporary diminution of consump~ion are often useful and necessary; but no nation can posstbl!J grow rich by an accu1nulation of capital arj sing from a permanent diminution of consu1nption . . . . . · · ib. The limits to such an accumulation of capital as shall not be attended with a rapid diminution of the n1otive to accumu-late may very easily be passed · 370 'J:'he laws which regulate the rate of profits and the rrogr~ss of capital bear a striking resen1blance to the laws wh.Ich regulate the wages of labour and the progress of populat1~n ib. Mr. Ricardo has not been satisfied with shewing that the chfficulty of procuring the food of the labourer is the only absolutely necessary cause of the fall of profits; but he has gone on to say that there is no other cause that has any degree of permanence · · , 371 SUMMARY. 573 P I . PAG1~ opu at10n may be redundant compared with the demand for it and the actual means of supporting it, although it may be greatly deficient compared with the extent and capabili- . ties of the terrhory . . . . . 371 ·In the same manner, ~apital may be greatly deficient compared with the territory ancJ population, though redundant con1parecl with the effectual demand for commodities and the capital that is to produce them . . 372 The first thing wanted in both these cases is a demand for commodities by those who are able and willing to pay an adequate price for them . . ib . The recovery of capital during a war is rapiu, for the same reason that the recovery of population is rapid after it has 'been suddenly diminished . . 373 In neither case would the same rate of increase have taken place without the previous din1inution . . 37 4 It is equally vain, with a view to a permanent increase of wealth_, to push saving to excess, as to push population to excess . 375 --- SEcT. IV.-Of the Fertility of the Soil considered as a Stimulus to · the continued Increase of TVealth. A fertile soil gives at once the greatest natural capability of wealth that a country can possess ; and in speaking of the deficient ·wealth of a fertile country, it is meant to speak comparatively rather than positively . 375 The settlers upon a very rich soil, with a vicious division of property at first, and unfavourably situated with regard to markets, might increase very slowly in wealth and popula-tion_, and would be very likely to acquire indolent habits . 3 7 6 It is found by experience that those who have the command of labour do not always employ it so as adequately to administer to heir wants and wishes. The establishment of the finer manufactures has always been found to be a work of time and difficulty . . 377 An individual workman has the power of devoting more time to luxuries, the less time he is obliged to employ in procuring food ; a whole nation possesses a similar power, but it is practically very seldom exerted . . . . · · · · 378 The co~veniences and luxuries of life would be scanty, if the |
