Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

OF

PRINCIPLES

OF

POLITICAL ECONOMY.

PART II.

PRODUCTION OF WEALTH.

SECTION I.

Definition of Production-Labour the only Source of Wealth.

ALL the operations of nature and of art are reducible to, and really consist of_transmutations,—of changes of form and of place. By production, in the science of Political Economy, we are not to understand the production of matter, for that is the exclusive attribute of Omnipotence, but the production of utility, and consequently of exchangeable value, by appropriating and modifying matter already in existence, so as to fit it to satisfy our wants, and to contribute to our enjoyments. The labour which is thus employed is the only source of wealth.* Na

r

* This point has been strongly and ably stated by M. Destutt Tracy Non-seulement," says he, "nous ne créons jamais rien, mais il nous est même impossible de concevoir ce que

ture spontaneously furnishes the matter of which all commodities are made; but, until labour has been expended in appropriating matter, or in adapting it to our use, it is wholly destitute of value, and is not, nor ever has been, considered as forming wealth.* Place us on the banks of a river, or in an orchard, and we shall infallibly perish, either of thirst or hunger, if we do not, by an effort of industry, raise the water to our lips, or pluck the fruit from its parent tree. It is seldom, however, that the mere appropriation of mat

c'est que créer ou anneantir, si nous entendons rigoureusement par ces mots, faire quelque chose de rien, ou reduire quelque chose à rien; car nous n'avons jamais vu un étre quelconque sortir du néant ni y rentrer. De là cet axiome admis par toute l'antiquite: rien ne vient de rien, et ne peut redevenir rien. Que faisons-nous donc par notre travail, par notre action sur tous les etres qui nous entourent? Jamais rien, qu'opérer dans ces ctres des changements de forme ou de lieu qui les approprient à notre usage, qui les rendent utiles à la satisfaction de nos besoins. Voila ce que nous devons entendre par produire ; c'est donner aux choses une utilité qu'elles n'avoient pas. Quel que soit notre travail, s'il n'en resulte point d'utilité, il est infructeux; s'il en resulte, il est productif."(Elemens d'Ideologie, Tom III. p. 162.)

* The writer of an article in the Quarterly Review, (No. 60, Art. 1.) contends that the earth is a source of wealth, because it supplies us with the matter of commodities. But this, it is obvious, is just the old error of the Economists reproduced in a somewhat modified shape. It would, in truth, be just as correct to say, that the earth is a source of pictures and statues, because it supplies the matérials made use of by painters and statuaries, as to say, that it is a source of wealth, because it supplies the matter of commodities.

ter is sufficient. In the vast majority of cases, labour is required not only to appropriate it, but also to convey it from place to place, and to give it that peculiar figure and shape, without which it may be totally useless, and incapable of either ministering to our necessities or our comforts. The coal used in our fires is buried deep in the bowels of the earth, and is absolutely worthless until the labour of the miner has extracted it from the mine, and brought it into a situation where it can be made use of. The stones and mortar of which our houses are built, and the rugged and shapeless materials from which the various articles of convenience and ornament with which they are furnished have been prepared, were, in their original state, alike destitute of value and utility. And of the innumerable variety of animal, vegetable, and mineral products which form the materials of our food and clothes, none were originally serviceable, while many were extremely noxious to man. It is his labour that has given them utility, that has subdued their bad qualities, and made them satisfy his wants, and minister to his comforts and enjoyments. "Labour was the first price, the original purchase-money that was paid for all things. It was not by gold or by silver, but by labour, that all the wealth of the world was originally purchased.*

If we observe the progress, and trace the history of the human race in different countries and states of society, we shall find that their comfort and hap

* Wealth of Nations, Vol. I. p. 44, 8vo. edit.

piness have been always very nearly proportioned to the power which they possessed of rendering their labour effective in appropriating the raw products of nature, and in fitting and adapting them to their use. The savage, whose labour is confined to the gathering of wild fruits, or to the picking up of shellfish on the sea coast, is placed at the very bottom of the scale of civilization, and is, in point of comfort, decidedly inferior to many of the lower animals. The first step in the progress of society is made when man learns to hunt wild animals, to feed him. self with their flesh, and to clothe himself with their skins. But labour, when confined to the chace, is extremely barren and unproductive. Tribes of hunters, like beasts of prey, whom they are justly said to resemble closely in their habits and modes of subsistence, are but thinly scattered over the surface of the countries which they occupy; and notwithstanding the fewness of their numbers, any unusual deficiency in the supply of game never fails to reduce them to the extremity of want. The second step in the progress of society is made when the tribes of hunters and fishers learn to apply their labour, like the ancient Scythians and modern Tartars, to the domestication of wild animals and the rearing of flocks. The subsistence of herdsmen and shepherds is much less precarious than that of hunters, but they are almost entirely destitute of all those comforts and elegancies which give to civilized life its chief value. The third and most decisive step in the progress of civilization-in

the great art of producing the necessaries and conveniences of life-is made when the wandering tribes of hunters and shepherds renounce their migratory habits, and become agriculturists and manufacturers. It is then, properly speaking, that man, shaking off that indolence which is natural to him, begins fully to avail himself of his productive powers. He then becomes laborious, and, by a necessary consequence, his wants are then, for the first time, fully supplied, and he acquires an extensive command over the articles necessary for his comfort as well as his subsistence.

The importance of labour in the production of wealth was very clearly perceived both by Hobbes and Locke. At the commencement of the 24th chapter of the Leviathan, published in 1651, Hobbes says, "The nutrition of a commonwealth consisteth in the plenty and distribution of materials conducing to life.

"As for the plenty of matter, it is a thing limited by nature to those commodities which, from (the two breasts of our common mother) land and sea, God usually either freely giveth, or for labour selleth to mankind.

"For the matter of this nutriment, consisting in animals, vegetables, minerals, God hath freely laid them before us, in or near to the face of the earth; so as there needeth no more but the labour and in

dustry of receiving them. Insomuch that plenty

* Of the Nutrition and Procreation of a Commonwealth.

E

« AnteriorContinuar »