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POLITICAL ECONOMY.

"POLITICAL economy," says Wayland, "is the science which teaches the manner in which nations and individuals acquire wealth."

Wealth is a general term applied by mankind to any object or thing, no matter of what character, that possesses an inherent value, as diamonds, gold, silver, grain, goods and merchandise of every description.

The acquirement of wealth is one of the first objects of the human mind: how wealth may be produced is consequently one of its first questions.

Wealth can only exist where its subject possesses an inherent value, and it exists only in proportion to the quantity of that value-great, where it is great; and small, where it is small. The value of an article depends not upon the estimation in which it is held by its owner, but upon what other persons may offer in exchange for it when, and then only, its value becomes determinate, and the article rises or falls as the case may be, to an equal value with that of the article offered in exchange. This brings us to the consideration of price. Price is whatever amount of money an article will command in the market; and it only becomes what is entitled current price, when the owner of the article is sure to obtain it whenever he offers his goods for sale.

The re-creation of objects under another and more useful form may be defined to be production, for the value mankind attaches to any object arises only from the fact that they can make some use of it; otherwise it would be valueless. Whatever, therefore, is useful is valuable, but the amount of its value can only be estimated by the extent of its utility, for there can be no real production of what is called wealth without an augmentation of utility.

OF THE VARIETIES AND NATURE OF INDUSTRY.

The usefulness of an object is increased in proportion to the amount of labour bestowed upon it. The application of this labour to the object is called industry Whatever objects are destitute of exchangeable valueobjects not procurable by production, nor capable of being destroyed by consumption, as air and light-do not belong to the science of which we treat. There are others, however, equally as indispensable as these, such as the articles which constitute the food, raiment, and lodgings of man, which he could never enjoy except through the means of his own industry. This industry is of three kinds-agricultural, where it is applied to the production of natural products; manufacturing, where it re-creates the products of nature and fits them for the uses of man; or commercial, where it places in our reach objects of utility which we could not otherwise

obtain.

Whatever industry furnishes for the use of man are entitled products, and these products are rarely the fruits of any one particular branch of industry: on the contrary, they may employ two, or all the branches. For instance, agricultural industry produces wheat, but manufacturing industry changes it into flour, while commercial carries it where it may be rendered more useful than it otherwise would have been.

OF CAPITAL.

Human industry, however great, when unassisted is insufficient to invest things with value. Man requires, first, tools and implements; secondly, those products which are necessary to sustain life, and lastly the raw material, to be fashioned into products by that industry. Raw materials

are sometimes furnished gratuitously by nature, but they are oftener the products of previous labour in some of the branches of industry, as iron from the mine, wheat from the farmer, or articles brought by commerce from some other section of the earth. This brings us to the consideration of capital, which may be defined to be the value of the various articles employed in the production of a product. Capital is either productive or unproductive, fixed or circulating.

Whatever produces is productive capital; whatever is idle and useless is unproductive. Money, for instance, may be either. When employed in commercial industry, in the transportation of products from one country or place to another, it is the one; when locked up in the chests of a miser, the other. Money, however, is of small importance in political economy, for neither the merchant's, manufacturer's, nor farmer's capital consists wholly of gold or silver: on the contrary it is the least portion of it. The capital of the first consists in his goods and his ships; of the second, in his machines and manufactorios; of the third, in his farms, manures, implements of husbandry, and other articles of agricultural utility Indeed, all hesitate at possessing more of it than is sufficient for their actual use.

The capital of government is that of individuals, for it is made up of what is possessed by individuals under its care. The circulating medium of a nation, however, is small when compared with its actual wealth, for while the gold and silver coin of a country may amount but to twenty millions of dollars, its fixed capital may be one hundred times that amount.

OF NATURAL AGENTS.

Natural agents are those which are not created by man, but which he avails himself of in the production land, with the assistance of the sun, air, and rain, to proof products, as, for example, land; it is in the nature of duce crops; but land would produce nothing unless prepared for the purpose by the plough, the harrow, &c, pre-existing products by which the labourer is enabled to employ the natural agents to advantage, and which, as has been seen, form a considerable portion of his capital. Fire, air, water, and other natural agents, and the union of these with others, enable the labourer unassisted by them. Wood, for instance, when joined to produce more than he otherwise could do, were he to fire, naturally produces heat; heat when applied to for manufacturing but commercial purposes to greater water generates steam, and steam is daily used not only advantages than any other agent. The same may be of lands, or in forcing machinery, where steam would be said of water alone, which is employed in the irrigation too costly an agent, or of air, or rather of wind, which, by machinery of a mill for manufacturing purposes, or a ship means of sails employed for the purpose, will propel the for commercial. As may have been gathered, natural from one place to another, with the assistance of water, agents form a prominent part in the production of wealth.

HOW INDUSTRY, CAPITAL, AND NATURAL AGENTS CONCUR IN PRODUCTION.

It is not necessary that these three requisites should be united in one person, on the contrary, they may be divided.

One possessing land may lend it to one possessing capital, while an industrious person may lend his indus

try to the latter or to the former, should he possess both | kind of crop, for such a course would produce exhaustion, capital and land.

Whenever any one of the three is lent, for they must all unite in the production of what is valuable, its use, being likewise so, demands an equivalent, which, in the case of land, is rent; capital, interest; and industry, wages.

Industry and capital, however, can sometimes act without land, but this is generally when articles of foreign cultivation only are employed, as is the case with American cotton in the factories of Europe. The use of land, therefore, is not absolutely necessary.

OF LABOUR, NATURE, AND MACHINERY. Labour is human action exerted to increase the value of whatever is susceptible of industry; and wherever it is employed, is always productive, for labour which produces nothing is but folly, and not likely to be attempted by any one a degree removed from a fool. It may be divided into two kinds, the labour of nature and of capital, both of which are closely related and too often confounded; for tools or machines, which are actual capital, are mere expedients, the better to effect an object by means of natural resources. The object of tools and machines is to enlarge the power of production, that is, to enable one to do more than he otherwise could do unassisted by them. They consequently supplant human labour, for where an engine managed by one will perform as much labour as a hundred, ninety-nine must be thrown out of employ. This is often the cause of an outery against machinery, the use of which has frequently been prevented by violence, and almost as often by the intervention of laws. Machinery, however, is productive of great good, for, as a necessary consequence, that which can be made cheaper can be sold cheaper, and is therefore capable of a wider circulation. Besides, it is useless to clamour against, or to prevent the introduction of machinery, for if destroyed here, they will be employed elsewhere, where a more liberal policy is adopted, and their products imported into the country will be bought, because they will be more uniform and better in character as well as cheaper, in preference to those made by hand, when the labourer will be as much out of employment as if they were in use in his vicinity. Besides, had they been in use, the greater amount of the products manufactured, in consequence of their wider circulation, would have employed as many hands as before.

Division of Labour.-Labour is capable of infinite division, for it is rarely that we find all the requisites necessary for the performance of a task united in the same person; the manufacture, therefore, of almost every article, is divided among those who are best capable of performing their several parts. For instance a book: the type-founder casts the type, the compositor sets it, the pressman prints it, when it passes into the hands of the book-binder, in whose establishment the labour is again subdivided. Now could one man perform all these parts, the time occupied in the preparation of a volume would be so great that its value would be materially increased, indeed, so much so, as to place it beyond the reach of the mass. By dividing the labour, however, and suffering each man to perform that part which he best understands, the product is produced in less time, in greater quantities, is far cheaper, and as a necessary consequence, is capable of greater circulation. Agricultural labour, however, is incapable of much division, for it is almost impossible to collect a sufficient number of agriculturists in one spot, and equally so to unite them in the cultivation of one particular product. Besides, agriculture does not permit a permanent occupation in any one thing: a man cannot always be ploughing, digging, sowing seed, or reaping, for each of these things have their separate seasons. Neither will land allow itself to be permanently used in the production of a particular

and the land itself finally become worthless.

Commercial Industry.-Commodities which are the subjects of commercial industry, depending as they do upon the varieties of soil and climate, are as diversified in their character as in their locality, and they are only abun dant in those situations which nature has best adapted to their production. The transfer of commodities from one place where they are less, to another where they are more useful, is commercial industry.

Commerce is of three kinds, external, wholesale and retail; external, where the home market is supplied with foreign products or vice versa; wholesale, where larger quantities of merchandise are purchased for the purpose of vending them to inferior dealers, and retail where those inferior dealers resell to consumers. And here is a subtle division: all products bought for the purposes of sale are entitled merchandise; those for consumption, commodities.

Commerce is conducted by various persons, as the commerce of money in specie, whether in silver and gold or paper, as well as dealings in credit, is by the bankers; while the broker brings buyers and sellers in conjunction. No matter how small or how large may be the agency of persons employed in commerce, each one possesses an equal degree of importance, for, though the merchant may import a cargo of tea from China, the retailer who sells his customer a single pound, is quite as indispensable to him. The only reason why this office both of wholsaleing and retailing is not performed by one is because it can be better and more efficaciously done by two.

Transportation increases the value of an article, but only so far as the cost of that transportation extends; as, for instance, where an article is sold in Philadelphia at ten cents per pound, and it costs one cent to transport it to New York, the transportation increases its value to eleven cents. But the transportation of products cannot be effected without the employment of a variety of means and persons, all of which have a value depending upon their extent and their services. For instance, there are two establishments, the one to forward, the other to receive goods, without any mention of the cost of package and warehousing; besides agents, insurers, brokers, carters, &c., to be recompensed. All of these occupations are, of course, productive, for without their agency, the consumer could never reach the products. Whatever, of course, lessens the power and increases the facilities of transportation lessens the price of a product, as when steam is used instead of horse-power by means of a railroad, or a canal in place of a wagon. These principles apply equally to external or internal commerce. The internal commerce of a country is always more considerable than the external; this proposition may be doubted, it is nevertheless true. Take, for instance, any large entertainment, examine the articles consumed, and those of foreign growth will be found few and unimportant in comparison with those produced at home. It is, however, not more advantageous than the external, for were it so, the capital employed in one would be drawn to the other, and we should soon have no foreign commerce at all.

A still greater branch of commerce remains to be considered, that entitled the trade of speculation, which is purchasing goods at one time and re-selling them at another when a sale will be more advantageous. Even this trade produces, for it employs capital, warehouses, and care in preserving the goods or articles, and human ingenuity in taking a superabundance from a market where their value is depressed, to use it again when that value shall have increased. This branch of commerce, when it is employed in the purchase of the whole of an article, is entitled, forestalling. The carrying trade is another branch of commerce, and is the purchase of commodities in one country for re-sale in another, but it is only suited to

nations of large capital and redundant population; for where a nation is small and its capital limited, the whole of that capital should be employed in cultivating not its external but its internal resources.

OF THE CHANGES OF CAPITAL.

OF UNPRODUCTIVE CAPITAL.

Unproductive capital has already been described; it is, of course, the converse of productive. The non-employ ment of capital, by keeping it in an unproductive position, is a great evil, since it can do no good either to the pos sessor or those around him. Whether the amount he buried or concealed, or employed in the decoration of buildings, or in the mere ornament of the person, its unproductive ness is alike injurious, for it deprives not only the individual, but the nation of an increase of revenue, in itself an additional capital, which might of course produce again and again.

OF IMMATERIAL PRODUCTS.

Our next consideration is the various transformations undergone by capital during the progress of production. The amount or extent of these transformations is of very little importance: they may be carried on ad infinitum, provided, however, that each transformation effects a proportionate increase in the value of the article operated upon: in other words, the change must pay for the labour given to effect it. An immense addition of value may An immaterial product is one where the value is conbe given to an object by a proper application of industry. sumed at the precise moment of production, as in the Take, for example, check-springs, used in arresting the case of a physician in attendance on the sick. He ex balance-wheels of watches. They are made of steel. amines the character of the disease, prescribes a remedy, This steel, however, was originally iron. Let us make a and takes his leave without depositing any thing which calculation. A pound of iron costs five cents. The is capable of transfer to any other person. His industry, manufacturer works it up into steel, of which the springs however, has not been unproductive; he has possibly suc are composed. "Each of these springs," says Ala-ceeded in preserving his patient's life. A product like grotti, "weigh the tenth part of a grain, and are some- this is certainly an object of exchange; the physician's times sold as high as three dollars." A pound of iron, advice was given for his fee, while the act of rendering that allowing for loss of metal occurring in the progress of advice was its production, and the hearing it, its consump manufacture, will make 80,000. Multiply that amount tion; both consumption and production were simultaneous. by 3, and you have a capital originally but five cents, inOF THE RIGHT OF PROPERTY. creased to one of $240,000. The same principle applies Property, in the first place, was undoubtedly acquired equally to agriculture, manufactures, and commerce. Let us look at an every-day change undergone in the latter by labour; indeed it could not have been acquired in any branch of industry. A shipping merchant of London, whoever first occupied it undoubtedly possessed the right way. Originally held in common by all mankind, possessing a surplus of specie, is desirous of rendering it to do with it what he chose. On his leaving it, his right productive. He invests it in flour, and ships that flour to Rio Janeiro. During the voyage, however, a portion of ceased, and it again became common and susceptible of occupation, while the next comer, no matter whom he his capital passes into the form of wages for his crew. On his arrival there he sells his cargo, and immediately of the land as any other person in the world. This state might be, could as readily enter on and possess himself invests the proceeds in hides and coffee, which are again of affairs, however, was incapable of long continuance. converted into money at Charleston, and immediately As the world became more populous-men are always re-invested in cotton, which forms the return cargo. tan is extensively used in manufacturing, and commands gregarious in their natures-each one, who had entered a ready sale; so at last the merchant, after all these trans-upon land, felled the trees and otherwise improved it, formations, receives his capital again, most probably with a very large increase, in its original form of specie.

OF THE MULTIPLICATION OF CAPITAL.

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insisted on his right to continue that ownership which was undoubtedly, first, the product of his occupation, and afterward of his labour.

Wherever property exists, whether it consists of land or goods, the laws should protect the individual in his

any one that his rights may not be invaded and he dispos sessed of what it has cost him so much labour to acquire. Wherever a man is not protected in his property, as is the case in despotic governments, he has no incentive to labour. Why should he have? For any one, nay, even the government itself, might have watched him during his task, and the moment it had arrived at a state of completion, stepped in and possessed himself, or itself, of the fruits of his toil. Such governments and such countries are universally poor; while, on the other hand, those which cover the meanest individual with the same measure of protection that they extend to the noblestcountries like England, and our own beloved Ame rica-are ever the most wealthy; for protection of production always increases its growth. The right of pro

Productive capital, no matter how employed, notwith-possession of it, for where they do not, what security has standing its frequent changes, is always the same. It may, however, be equal; or inferior as well as superior in amount; equal, when the capital has merely resumed its former position; inferior, where the capital has been encroached upon, and superior, where it has steadily increased in the progress of its transmutations. This increase, of course, enables the holder to multiply his operations, for it is, in fact, so much additional capital; that is to say, his capital has increased as much as the surplus may be. This surplus may again and again be multiplied in the same way and to any extent, and it is the only proper process of augmentation, for were this surplus spent in riotous living, it would be destroyed in a single week, or perhaps month, as the case might be. But this destruction must be not understood as affecting the capital itself; it does not; it only affects value-perty, however, may be as much invaded by obstructing which has gone out of existence without re-production. The re-employment of capital in the production of additional products is the proper and only way of increasing individual wealth, as well as of increasing the wealth of a community. But more products must always be created than have been consumed in their creation, otherwise there can be no saving, and as this saving or increase forms the ground-work of a perpetual annual profit, not only to the person saving, but to all whose industry is set in motion, it ought always to be practised | and encouraged, and, indeed, hailed as progression toward national prosperity.

the possessor in his enjoyment of it, as by actually dispossessing him of the property itself. Landed property, for instance, may be interfered with, by government prescribing certain modes of tilling; property in money, by prohibiting certain ways of employing it; and property in their own industry, where the free exercise of a people's particular faculties and talents are restrained or prevented from having their full force and effect. Taxation, where it transcends proper limits, produces the same result, for value can only be levied upon such things as are produc tive and are valuable themselves. The right of property therefore, should always remain inviolate.

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ON THE DEMAND FOR PRODUCTS.

it may be laid down, and that, too, as a general principle, that the greater the number of producers and the more various the productions of a country, the more -prompt is the demand, and the more numerous and extensive are the markets for its productions, while, at the same time, they are more profitable to all concerned, for price increases in proportion with demand.

Each individual in a community is interested in the prosperity of the rest of its members, for the success of one branch of labour tends to promote that of all the others, for, no matter what line of business a man may be in, he finds employment more easily and is better paid for his labour when every one else is thriving around him. The same principle applies as wel to external as to internal traffic, for where a country occupies a position contiguous to rich and industrious neighbours, it is no injury to its internal industry to purchase productions from them; for nothing can be bought from them except by exchanging what it itself produces for what its neighbours produce. Even where foreign produce is purchased with specie, that specie is almost always first obtained in exchange for our native productions somewhere else, for silver and gold are not always national products. But the mere consumption is not always beneficial to commerce, for the difficulty lies not in exciting the desire for consumption, but in supplying the means, which can only be furnished by production. A good government invariably stimulates labour, for labour increases production as the demand for products is proportioned to the activity with which they are produced.

OF BENEFITS ARISING FROM THE RAPID CIRCULATION OF MONEY AND COMMODITIES.

"Values engaged in actual production," says Saye, "cannot be realized and employed in production again, until they have arrived at the last stage of completion and been sold to the consumer." This is true. The sooner, therefore, an article is completed and sold, the sooner can the capital invested in. that product be applied to the formation of a similar production. The rapidity with which this is done is productive of substantial benefit. Capital is always employed in production. It is here engaged but a short period, thereby causing a saving of interest to the capitalist as well as a saving in the charges of production.

There is no difference between the circulation of money and goods: the same principles apply to both. Money lying idle in a miser's chest is as inactive as the goods slumbering on a dry-good merchant's shelves: both should be circulated as soon as possible, and the latter, when of a perishable character, should be got rid of even at a partial loss, for it has always been considered wiser rather to lose a part than the whole.

OF THE EFFECT OF GOVERNMENT RELATIONS WHEN

INTENDED TO INFLUENCE PRODUCTION.

Government, in the abstract, can do no act but what in some way or other affects production: nevertheless, it sometimes aims at a direct influence. The object in such an aim is twofold; either to prescribe the creation of certain particular kinds of produce, or to direct particular modes of production.

Those kinds of products most demanded by society pay better than others that are less cared for; the profits are consequently larger. When government at such a time intervenes and directs the attention of the producers to another production which is less desired and pays a less profit, it undoubtedly calls the producers of the country from a source of great to one of less profit. Such a course, when adopted, is always the result of ignorance, for that which produces most is the most beneficial to a governrient and its people. The same

rules apply as well to agriculture as to commerce, for the agriculturist and the manufacturer, possessing a daily acquaintance with the details of their business, must know better what is to their advantage than the government, which can only arrive at a knowledge second hand, and, besides, is liable to misinformation. But, what, it will be asked, is the cause of the interference of government? By the way, governments throughout the world have interfered oftener with the external commerce than the agricultural interests of their several countries. The cause of the interference of government is a system entitled the exclusive or mercantile system, which always, but erroneously, attributes the pro fits of a country to what is generally called its

BALANCE OF TRADE.

The balance of trade, says the English translator of Saye, is the comparison a nation makes between the value of its exports to, and that of its imports from, foreign countries. When it has exported more merchandise than it has taken in, the country receives the difference between the amounts in money; then the balance of trade is in its favour, but with the converse, it is against it.

OF THE EFFECT OF REGULATIONS, FIXING THE MAN

NER OF PRODUCTION.

Whenever public authority interferes in the details of agricultural productions, that interference is generally beneficial. But it is only so where government confines itself to the granting premiums and offering encouragements, or to the diffusion of useful knowledge on the subject. On the other hand, no branch of industry has suffered so materially from interference, as has that of manufactures, governments generally limiting the number of labourers in each branch, either by directing them to remain in one trade, or by exacting certain particular terms on which they can alone carry on their business. Such a course of conduct gives rise to chartered companies and incorporated traders. The effect of this is easily seen. A monopoly is at once created, which tends to the benefit of the privileged few while the consumer pays for it. The whole system is a bad one. Labour, to be productive, should always remain untrammelled, for, after all, self-interest is the profoundest of instructors, while every restraint imposed by legislation upon the freedom of human action inevitably extinguishes a portion of the energies of a community, while it never fails to abridge its yearly product.

PRIVILEGED TRADING COMPANIES.

Companies of this kind do not exist in America, neither is it right that they should, for possessing, as they generally do, exclusive privileges, either in buying or selling certain particular articles, or in holding the monopoly of trade with some particular country, they would wield the power they hold of elevating the prices of their goods far beyond what they possibly could arrive at under the present state of aflairs, where trade is free to all of our countrymen who choose to embark in it. The operation of such companies is to compel the consumer to pay more for an article than it is actually worth. It is supposed by some that a company, having the exclusive privilege of manufacturing a certain article, or of importing a certain kind of produce, may purchase either its materials or its merchandise at a less price. But, even this is to be taken with some considerable allowance, for the rule can only apply against the people of the companies' own government, and not those of others, who have the right to, and do compete with such associations, whenever it is their interest to do so. It will be seen, therefore, that the above supposition is fallacious, and that while a privileged company does not possess the power of affixing a specific price on any article of foreign growth or ma

nufacture, in buying, it does possess both power and lence; to protect every one in the enjoyment of thoss right to say what that article shall sell for at home, rights which he most reverentially regards; to allow him for no one is allowed to interfere with its peculiar the free disposition of person and property, and of speak. branch of trade. Companies, therefore, always fix exor-ing, reading, and writing his sentiments in the most perbitant prices upon every thing they have to sell. This, fect security. too, another evil feature, is no gain to the nation, for the price of every article is taken, not from strangers, but from the nation itself. Such companies, therefore, should always be discouraged.

OF THE EFFECTS ON NATIONAL WEALTH, ARISING
FROM EFFORTS MADE AT PRODUCTION BY PUBLIC

AUTHORITY.

It may be taken as a general principle, that there never can be any production of new value, therefore no increase of wealth, where the product of a productive concern does not exceed the cost of production. Whether government or individuals be the adventurers in a losing concern, at the same time that it ruins the nation, it leaves proportionably a less amount of value in the country. When the concern does not support itself, the receipt of course is less than the outlay, while the difference between the two, falls always on those who supply the expenditure of the government-the tax payers. Whether the state does business with its own private funds, or with the produce of the national lands, the result remains the same, for whatever is thus wasted, might have lessened the amount of the public burdens.

MONEY.

In society no one produces all those things which are necessary to supply the total of his wants. Indeed, it is rare that we find one able to create a single product. He must necessarily, therefore, procure whatever else he requires through the medium of exchange. He must first, however, create a sufficiency for his own use. This he always does, for individuals keep but a small portion of what they grow or create themselves; the rest they exchange.

the basis of wealth; they are, however, at best but se Exchange and transfer have been erroneously thought condary and accessory circumstances, for were each per tion, as is the case in some of the remote western sei son to raise for himself all the objects of his consump tlements, society might exist for ever, without a single instance of either. Both, however, are indispensable

where civilization is at all advanced.

difficulties must arise if every one was compelled to exInsisting, then, on the necessity of exchange, what change his products specifically, for instance, the bootmaker his boots for bread, the cutler his knives for cloth, the manufacturer his cloths for wheat, and so on ad infi nitum. One might not want the articles the other was willing to exchange, but something else, and so on as before. There must then, of course, arise some commodity for which all will exchange under any circumvalue, and one, too, not liable to any great degree of stances which is always the representative of a fixed fluctuation. Money is exactly hat commodity.

It is in constant demand of account of its inherent

utility. It is always readily received in exchange, and it is capable of infinite subdivisions. Besides, it has two particular qualities which give it a general prefer ence in value to the same amount of value in any other

The manufacture of the Gobelin tapestry in France, owned and carried on as it is by the government, is an instance of a losing concern. Independent of the loss that almost always occurs to a government that embarks directly in trade or manufacture, and of course to the nation, such a course is always productive of greater evils. We instance one: the productive efforts of a government always counteract, if they do not destroy individual industry. A government is always a dangerous rival, for while it has unlimited means at command, it possesses but little care for its own interests. Whatever a government consumes, had always better be obtained from individuals, who can ever undersell, and of course supply cheape: nan the government itself can manufac-shape: First, its aptitude as an intermedial object of ture. There are some exceptions, however, to this proposition, the building of national vessels or arms, for example, with other things of like character, which a state of necessity keeps in its own hands. Arms, however, are generally purchased from individuals, and always with benefit to the state, which is compelled to act by deputy, or by the agency of a set of men whose interests directly oppose its own. In consequence it is invariably cheated.

OF EMIGRATION.

Emigration to a nation, whether temporary or permanent, ought always to be encouraged, for it invariably assists to increase the aggregate of its wealth. Not, however, to the total amount brought by the traveller into a country, for cf course he receives value which he consumes in exchange for what he brings with him, but only as far as the per centage of profit on the principal may extend. A stranger, whether he be rich or poor, is a valuable acquisition to a nation. If rich, he brings with him both industry and capital, valuable auxiliaries, and if poor, industry alone, which, properly employed, will be advantageous not only to himself, and those around him, but to the nation itself, for as we have shown again and again, industry must necessarily produce, and production is almost always the production of value.

Emigration from a country, on the other hand, is as much a total loss to the one left as it is a gain to the one chosen. It is so much industry and capital gone for

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chase to make toward the particular object of request; exchange to assist all who have any exchange or pur and secondly, its capability of subdivision and precise apportionment to the exact amount of the intended purrecommendation to every member of the community. chase or exchange, which capability is the strongest Money becomes the more requisite the more a nation advances in civilization and the further it carries its division of labour, for, as has been seen, individuals rarely produce more than a part of one article; as, for instance, where a man makes not the whole of a watch, but a part of it only, its springs. These he is compelled to exchange or barter to supply himself with the necessaries of life, as bread, meat, clothes, &c.

The choice of the particular article that is to act as money, depends upon custom; it may be any thing, as shells, &c.; but in civilized communities it is generally gold and silver. It passes current like any other article, and people are at liberty to barter their goods for it, or in kind, as may please themselves. The single reason why it is preferred, is because it is more readily disposed of in the same way than any other. Dollars derive their circulation as money from no other authority than this preference, and if there were the slightest ground for any one's imagining any thing else would pass more currently, that other article, whatever it might be, would usurp its place the moment the fact was discovered. Custom, therefore, and not authority, prescribes what shall pass exclusively as money, let the latter be of what commodity may. The frequent interchange of money for commodities has attached special terms to the transac tion, as where oneceives it in exchange, the act is

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