public d'une manière qui ne restraigne ni la propriété ni la liberté, et qui par conséquent ne soit pas destructive.
"Proportion essentielle et nécessaire de l'impôt direct avec le produit net, telle qu'elle donne à la société le plus grand revenu public qui soit possible, et par conséquent le plus grand dégré possible de sûreté, sans que le sort des propriétaires fonciers cesse d'être le meilleur sort dont on puisse jouir la société.
"Monarchie héréditaire, pour que tous les intérêts présens et futurs du dépositaire du l'autorité souveraine, soient intimement liés avec ceux de la société par le partage proportionnel du produit net.”
Mr Barton, in an ingenious pamphlet, published in 1817, entitled, "Observations on the Circumstances which influence the Condition of the Labouring Classes," has contended, in opposition to the principles laid down in this work, that the introduction of machinery most commonly occasions a decline in the demand for labour. Mr Barton has illustrated his argument by the following statement, which we shall take the liberty briefly to examine:
"As the doctrine, that the progress of population is measured by the increase of wealth, does not appear to be true in fact, so, on the other hand, it seems to me not consistent with sound reasoning. It does not seem that every accession of capital necessarily sets in motion an additional quantity of labour. Let us suppose a case: a manufacturer possesses a capital of £1000, which he employs in maintaining twenty weavers, paying them £50 per annum each. His capital is suddenly increased to £2000. With double means he does not, however, hire double the number of workmen, but lays out £1500 in erecting machinery, by the help of which five men are enabled to perform the same quantity of work that twenty did before. Are there not, then, fifteen men discharged in consequence of the manufacturer having increased his capital?
"But does not the construction and repair of the machinery employ a number of hands? Undoubtedly. As in this case a sum of £1500 was expended, it may be supposed to have given employment to thirty men for a year at £50 each; if calculated to last fifteen years (and machinery seldom wears out sooner,) then thirty workmen might always supply fifteen manufacturers with these machines: therefore, each manufacturer may be said constantly to employ two. Imagine, also, that one man is employed
in the necessary repairs; we have then five weavers and three machine-makers where there were before twenty weavers.
"But the increased revenue of the manufacturer will enable him to maintain more domestic servants. Let us see, then, how many. His yearly revenue, being supposed equal to 10 per cent on his capital, was before £100, now £200: supposing, then, that his servants are paid at the same rate as his workmen, he is able to hire just two more. We have, then, with a capital of £2000, and a revenue of £200 per annum,
5 weavers,
3 machine-makers,
2 domestic servants.
10 persons in all employed.
"With half the capital, and half the income, just double the number of hands were set in motion."-Pp. 15, 16.
But plausible as this statement may at first sight appear, it will not, we apprehend, be very difficult to show, that the conclusions at which Mr Barton has arrived, are not fairly deduced from the premises he has laid down, and that, in the case supposed, there would not be a diminution, but an increase of the demand for labour.
In the first place, supposing, with Mr Barton, profits to be 10 per cent, the goods produced by the capital which the manufacturer laid out upon the twenty weavers must have sold for £1100, viz. £1000 to replace the capital, and £100 as profits.
In the second of the supposed cases, the manufacturer employs a capital of £1500 in the construction of a machine: now, as this machine is fitted to last fifteen years, the goods produced by it must sell (exclusive of the wages of the men employed to attend to it) for £197; for a part of this annuity (£47) being accumulated for fifteen years, at the rate of 10 per cent, will replace the capital of £1500 at the expiration of that period, while the other part (£150) will pay the profits of the proprietor; and, adding to the annuity of £197 the wages of the five weavers, and of the person employed to repair the machine, at the rate of £50 a-year each, and profits on them at 10 per cent, the total cost of the goods will be
But, previously to the introduction of the machine, the same quantity of goods cost £1100: the consumers will consequently have the difference, or £573 to lay out on other things; the production of which will afford immediate employment for between eleven and twelve men. But this is not all. According to the principle explained at p. 209, a portion of this saving—perhaps £250 of the £593-will, in future, be employed as a capital in carrying on industrious undertakings; and in this way a fresh fund will be provided that will furnish wages, or the means of subsistence, for a number of individuals, (most probably five,) at the end of the first year, more than would otherwise have been employed; and supposing, as we ought, that this sum goes on increasing at the rate of 10, or even that it increases only at the rate of 5 per cent compound interest, it would very soon afford the means of employing a vast number of individuals.
There is also another fund, of the existence of which Mr Barton appears to have been as completely unaware as of the latter. It has been seen that of the £197 produced directly by the machine, £150 only are profits; the surplus £47 being the annuity which is to replace the capital of the machine when it is worn out; but as this annuity is to be accumulated at the rate of 10 per cent, it. will afford employment, in the first year, for one individual; in the second for two; in the third for more than three; in the fifth for nearly six; and in the fifteenth year for upwards of eight-andtwenty individuals !
It will be observed, too, that in the second case supposed by Mr Barton, there is £200 not employed at all; and which, if employed, would afford wages for four individuals. Instead, therefore, of a single labourer being turned out of employment, in the case supposed, or in any similar case, it admits of demonstration, that the demand for labour would be much more than doubled.
ABLE-BODIED POOR. See Poor. ABSENTEEISM-not detrimental to a country
as regards the expenditure of absen- tees, 158-non-residence may retard or prevent the improvement of estates and the refinement of society, ib. note. ABSOLUTE MONARCHY. See Monarchy. ACCIDENTS-measures expedient for their prevention, 304. "ACCOUNT OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE," (Thornton's) cited, 85 note ACCUMULATION-man's desire to better his
condition, impels him to accumulate, 14, 53, 575-but for the passion for accumulation. man could never have emerged from the savage state, 18-all improvements in all ages and nations to be ascribed to the force of the accumu- lating principle, ib.-the passion for, infinitely stronger and more universal than the passion for expense, ib. 115, 206, 430-1-economy in the public ex- penditure so conducive to the accumu lation of national wealth, not the exclu- sive attribute of any form of government, 57-accumulation and employment of capital essential to the production of labour, and the progress of society, 79, 115-security of property as indispen- sable to accumulation as to production, 82-83-division and combination of em- ployments cannot be carried to any considerable extent, without previous ac- cumulation of capital, 103-accumula- tion of capital and division of labour act and re-act on each other, ib.-various considerations, illustrative of the im- portance of the accumulation and em- ployment of capital, ib. 108-high profits add force to the parsimonious principle, 110-Adam Smith quoted as to the force and prevalence of this principle. 115-this spirit happily compared by Smith to the unknown principle of ani- mal life, 116-supposition erroneous that in all cases the operations of the principle are promoted by a large public expendi- ture, ib. no limits to the passion for, 206-tendency of life-annuities to weaken the principle of, 257-tendency of life- insurance to strengthen habits of, 260- whatever tends to promote accumula- tion, contributes to advance the interests of labour, 399-influence of Savings' Banks in encouraging accumulation
among the poor, 479-480-tendency of a taste for luxuries to promote accumula- tion, 575.
ACTS OF PARLIAMENT. See Legislature. ADDISON the establishment of a Foundling Hospital in London, recommended by him, 247.
ADULTERATION of food should be most severely punished, 293. AGITATION. See Ireland. AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS. See Labourers. AGRICULTURAL SURVEY OF THE WEST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE, (Brown's)cited, 459 note.
AGRICULTURE-as an occupation, viewed more favourably by the ancient Greeks and Romans, than manufactures or commerce, 10, 11-some of the most distinguished characters in Roman his- tory actively engaged in rural affairs, 11 -in the flourishing period of the Roman republic, and under the Emperors, the soil was mostly cultivated by the slaves of the landlord, ib.-preference given to, by Quesnay, over manufactures and com- merce, 4 labour employed in manu- factures and commerce, as creative of utility and wealth as that employed in agriculture, 49, 173-error of Smith and others in considering it the most produc- tive. 55, 171, 175-definition of agri- cultural labour, as distinguished from commercial and manufacturing, 73-no certain conclusion as to the prosperity of a country can be drawn from its agricul- ture, 113, 114-Mr Young quoted, to the effect that husbandry is never good where rent is low, 118, 516-17-the non- residence of landlords may retard or prevent agricultural improvements, 158 note the transition from the pastoral to the agricultural mode of life, the most important step in the progress of society, 172-173-advantages derived from the employment of capital in agri- culture, ib.Cicero's panegyric on, quoted, 173-no real distinction between agricultural and manufacturing industry, 175, 179-Nature more favourable to manufactures than to agriculture, 176— agricultural, manufacturing, and com- mercial industry inseparably connected, 179-Edinburgh Review quoted as to their mutual dependence, 180-181-re- vulsions in, instanced, to prove that
peculiar prosperity in any one branch of industry is almost invariably the har- binger of mischief, 222-3-the equalisa- tion of the market price of its produce, and the cost of production, gradual but certain, 331-a provision for able-bodied poor, may not be necessary in agricul- tural countries, 447-important distinc- tion between agricultural and commer- cial, and manufacturing industry, 494-6 -influence of agricultural improvements on prices and rents, 495-503-improve- ments are so blended with the soil, that the gross rental of a country cannot be accurately divided into rent proper, and profits on capital expended, 499-con- sequent inequality and mischievous ope- ration of taxes on rent, ib. 500-miscon- ception entertained as to the influence of improvements over rent, 503-im- provements in, as advantageous to owners and occupiers of land as to others, 503-illustrations of the influence of improvements over corn and money rents, 503-6-nature and causes of ordi- nary agricultural improvements, 506— the slow progress of improvements ac- counted for, 507-8-Rigby's Preface to Chateauvieux on the Agriculture of Italy quoted on this head, 507-Kennedy and Grainger quoted on the same subject, 507-8-importance and advantage of im- provements in, ib--influence of the va- rious modes of letting land on the pros- perity of, 510-523-advantages derived from leases, 511-A tenant at will, from the precarious nature of his tenure,cannot expend money on improvements, 511-13 -Mr Loudon quoted on this subject, 512-beneficial effects of leases on Scotch agriculture, 513-different methods of determining the rents of farms, and the advantages or disadvantages of each pointed out, 513-16-evils attending the under or over renting of land, 516-19- impossible to lay down any rule as to the proper size of farms, 520-expediency of inserting in leases conditions as to management, 519-520-objections to small farms stated, 521-3-conferring the elective franchise on farmers most inju- rious to agriculture, 523-5-consideration of the circumstances which determine agricultural profits, 531-542-necessity of resorting to inferior soils for food, one of the real causes of the reduction of profits in populous countries, 537-in- fluence of the decreasing productiveness of the soil in checking the progress of po- pulation, 537-540-effect of improve- ments in counteracting the influence of increasing sterility of soil, 541-2-the fall of profits consequent on resorting to in- ferior soils sooner felt in an improving country which excludes foreign corn, 542-3 signal benefits conferred on agri- culture by the introduction of steam communication, bone manure, furrow draining, &c., 545-inmense increase of the produce of, since 1770, ib. 546- wretched system of husbandry in Ireland, and its great capacities for farther pro- duction, ib.-advantages that may result there from the act against sub-letting, the adjustment of its tithes, and its new poor- laws, 546-7-still great room for im-
provement in the agriculture of Great Britain, 547-agriculture not likely to be injured by the corn-trade measures of 1846. 547-550-prices of agricultural produce in 1767, 1768, and 1770 com- pared with those of 1810 and 1811, 554-5. AGRICULTURISTS-during the middle ages they had not the comparative security enjoyed in cities and towns, 33-sue- cessfully contested by Quesnay, that their interests, and those of all other classes, are best promoted by a system of perfect freedom, 47-advantages resulting to, from the formation of a separate mer- cantile class, 142-manufacturing popu- lation more intelligent than agricultu- rists, 186-188-the patriotism of those engaged in commerce not less ardent than that of agriculturists, 196-agricul- tural improvements as advantageous to owners and occupiers of land as to others, 503-cause of the agricultural class being the least disposed to innovation, 507- qualities essential to the successful agri- culturist,526-Mr Loudon and Mr Burke quoted as to the smallness of their pro- fits, 526-7.
AIR (ATMOSPHERIC), instanced as a product necessary and agreeable to man, but possessing no exchangeable value, 3, 5, 6. ALCOCK'S " Observations on the Effects of the Poor Laws" cited, 459 note. AMBITION-effect of, in strengthening man's
progressive nature, 77-want and ambi- tion continually prompt man to new un- dertakings, 239-240-when it is praise- worthy, and when censurable, 574-5- quotation from Lucretius on this subject, 575.
AMERICA-high rate of profit in, and its bene- ficial effects, 111-evil effects of the vi- cious state of banking in the United States, 219-effects of the wanton over- issue of paper money in the United States during 1835 and 1836 instanced as an example, ib., 220-rapid increase of population in, accounted for, 233-4- advantages of the system of voluntary enlistment for the American navy, 385-6 AMUSEMENTS-influence of the taste for, in stimulating industry, 588.
ANALYSIS of the Statistical Account of Scotland" cited, 118 note. ANCIENTS-rules and inferences drawn from the contemplation of society in antiquity, wholly inapplicable for our guidance at present, 191-cause of the hostility felt by ancient philosophers to commercial pursuits, 195-196-prevalence of infan- ticide among them, 244.
ANDERSON (Dr James)-the true theory of
rent first unfolded by him, 483-histori- cal notice of this gentleman, and list of his works, 483-4 notes-his profound and important disquisitions neglected by the public, 483 note-his exposition of the origin and nature of rent quoted, 486-7. ANNUITIES, LIFE. (See Life Annuities)—Mr Milne's work on, cited, 259 note. APPRENTICESHIP-influence of, on the rate of
wages, 387-injurious effects of unneces sarily long terms of, to employers and workmen, 388-the statute of appren ticeship not repealed till 1814, despite the
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