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Show 586 SUMl\IAUY. PAGE It is not true that the desire of consumption is c01nmensurate with the power. Merchants and manufacturers, as a body, have such a tendency to save, that they could not, among themselves, find an adequate market for what they produce 465 'Vithout a sufficient numb r of other consun1ers to enable the merchant to realize his profit , he Inust either consume more himself, or produce le s ; aud if he adopt the latter course, the wealth of the country n1ust neces arily suflcr . 466 Mr. Ricardo seems to consider saving as an end; but, in reference to national 'vealth, it can only be considered as a 1ncans; and a saving owing to cheap comn1odities has a totally different effect fr01n a saving in cons~qucnce of high profits ib. National saving, considered as the means of increased production, must be limited by the amount 'vhich can be advantageously employed in supplying the actual demand for produce . 4G7 The tendency to consuine is powerfully counteracted by the love of ind~lence, and the desire to save in order to better our condition. Both capital and population ntay be redundant compared with the effective deinand for produce . . 468 It is true that wealth produces wants; but it is a still more important truth that wants produce wealth. The greatest difficulty in civilizing and enriching countries is, to inspire them with wants . . . 469 The desire to realize a fortune, in order to provide for a family, is a powerful motive to exertion; but the motive would not operate to the same extent, if, from the want of other consumers, the producers were obliged to consume nearly all that they produced then1sel ves . . . 471 If the master producers have not the will greatly to increase their consumption, the labouring producers have not the power; and further, no consumption, on the part of workmen alone, can give encouragement to the en1ployment of capital · ib. If each workman were to consume double, all poor land would be thrown out of cultivation, and the power anH will to accun1ulate would soon come to a stop 472 There is little danger, however, of the labouriug classes con- SU.l\IMARY. 5 7 . PAGE summg too much. Owing to the principle of population th~ tendencies are all the other way . . . . . . . . 473 It might be desirable, on other accounts than with a view to wealth, that the labouring classes should not work so hard . but as this could only be accomplished by a simultaneou; resolution among workmen, it cannot take place . . . ib. With the single exception of the effects to be expected from prudential habits, there is no chance of an increased con. s um. ption among the working classes ; and if th~re were ' 1t IS not the kind of consumption best calculated to encou-rage the employment of capital . . . . . . . . 475 When the demands of the landlords have been added to those of the productive classes, it appears from experience that profits have often prematurely fallen . . . . ib. But if the master producers have not the will to consume sufficiently, and the working producers have not the power, then, if the aid of the landlords be not found sufficient, the consumption required Inust take place among the unpro-ductive labourers of Ad~m Smith 476 Every country must necessarily have a body of unproductive labourers; but it is a Inost important practical que tion to determine, whether they detract from the wealth of a coun-try, or encourage it . . 477 The solution of this question depends upon the solution of the greater questions, I st. whether the motive to accumulate may be checked from the want of demand, before it is checked by the difficulty of procuring food; and 2dly, whether such check is probable . . 478 An attempt has been made to determine these two questions in different parts of the present work, and if the determination be just, we 1nay conclude that a body of unproductive labourers is necessary as a stimulus to wealth . ib. Of the persons constituting the unproductive classes, those which are paid voluntarily will be considered in general as the most useful in exciting industry, and the least Hkcly to be prejudicial by inte1fering with the costs of pro-duction . 478 Those which are supported by taxes are equally useful with regard to distribution, but may be prejudicial by occasion- |