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Show 584 SUM.l\'IAnY.' I' AGE In general) however, a very favourable foreign trade leads ta an importation of bullion from some quarter or other . . 453 If the den1and far foreign commodities increa es, it does not follow that the demand for home commodities must pro .. portionately diminish · . ib. The demand for foreign and home commodities, taken together, may be li~ited by the national revenue ; but the national revenue is at once increased by the increased profits of the foreign merchant, without a proportionate dimi-nution of revenue in any other quarter . . 454 When the increase ~f commodities derived from foreign com1nerce is not accompanied by an increa e of value, a stagnation in the demand for labour is immediately per-ceptible, and the progress of wealth is checked . ib. It is not the same to the labourer whether wages ri e, or provisions fall. In the fir t place he is sure of full employment; in the other case, he may probably be thrown out of work . . . 45 5 A great fall in the price of particular commodities is perfectly compatible with a continued and great increase in the whole value, both of the commodities them el vcs and of the general produce . . 45 6 Even in the cases where the whole value of the par6cular article diminishes, it does not follow that the value of the gen~ral produce will be diminished; but if it be, either temporary or permanent distress will be felt . . . 457 The specific and immediate cause of a general briskness of demand is such a distribution of the produce, and such an adaptation of it to the tastes and wants of the society, as will give its money price an increased command of do-mestic and foreign labour . . 458 The progress of the United States of America, and of this country from 1793 to 1814, and all the striking instances of a rapid increase of demand and wealth, will answer to this test . ib. But no instance can be produced of a country engaged in a successful foreign commerce, and exhibiting an increasing plenty of commodities, where the value of the whole pro-litJl\ IMAitY. 585 d • d . d , PAGE uce estimate In omestlc and foreign labour has been retrograde or stationary . . . . . . . . . . . 45 9 The natural tendency of foreign trade, as of all sorts of exchanges, by which a distribution is effected, better suited to the wants of society, is immediately to increase the value of that. part of th: national revenue which consists of profits 460 Mr. RICardo constders foreign trade chiefly as the means of obtaining cheaper commodities; but this is only looking to one half of its advantages, and probably not the larger half . . . . . . . . . . . . 461 We m~st estimate the advantages of the gre~tes.t p~rt .of .ou; foreign commerce upon a different principle, namely, that of exchanging what is wanted less, for what is wanted more . . . . . . . 462 Foreign commerce therefore, and all extension of markets must be considered as pre-eminently favourable to that in-' crease of value which arises from distJ·ibution . ib. SEcT. IX.-Of the Distribution occasioned 'by unproducti•oe CoJZsumers, considered as the Means of increasing the exchangeable Value oj' the whole Produce. If, under _a rapid conversion of unproductive into productive labour, the demand, compared with the supply of material products, would prematurely fail, it follows that a country with great powers of production must possess a body of unproductive consumers . 463 In the fertility of the soil, the powers of machinery, and the motives to exertion, unrler a system of private property, nature has made a provision for leisure; and if it be not accepted, the progress of wealth will be impeded rather than I accelerated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ib. The most advantageous proportion of the unproductive to the productive classes cannot be determined. It will vary with the fertility of the soil and the ingenuity of the people . 464 It will vary also with the diflerent degrees of consumption which may prevail among the producers themselves ib. Capitalists, though they have the power of consuming all their profits, have seldom · the will, as it is generally the great object of ·their live15 to save a fortune . 465 |