selves of steam, and Fulton, from whom we learned to make it available for the purposes of transportation, were unproductive; but the man who makes steam-engines and steam-ships is próductive. The more missionaries, the more Fourcroys, Chaptals, Watts, or Fultons, a nation maintains, "the less," as we are here assured, "it will have to expend on other things;" whereas, the more it converts its people into mere agriculturists and manufacturers, "the more it will have for every other purpose"! Such is the strange result to which the grossly material character of the doctrines of the Ricardo-Malthusian school, has led a writer so deservedly occupying one of the highest positions among the economists of Europe.

That labor is productive, which tends to enable man more thoroughly to direct the forces of nature to his service - the power so to do constituting wealth. Such is the effect of the efforts of the missionary, whether abroad or at home of those of the man who saved his neighbor's life—of those of Fulton and Watt, Fourcroy and Berzelius; and the more such men a nation maintains, the more it will certainly have "to expend on other things"-the more rapidly will consumption follow production—and the greater will be the power of accumulation.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

OF ACCUMULATION.

§ 1. CONSUMPTION and production being always equal, how, it may be asked, can there be accumulation? It being, however, demand that stimulates supply, the greater the stimulus applied, the greater must be the development of the human faculties — the greater the power to devote time and mind to the construction of machinery required for subjecting to man's use the inexhaustible natural forces by which he is everywhere surrounded — waiting demand for their services. The bow and the canoe gave Crusoe command over certain of those forces, and in that command he found wealth. The machines by help of which it was obtained constituted portions of his CAPITAL.

In the early period of his sojourn on the island, food was scarce, and, even when obtained, he could with difficulty fit it for consumption. He had, therefore, but little leisure for the preparation of bows, arrows, canoes, or other of the machinery required for enabling him to call nature to his aid. The first step was then, as it ever is, the one of greatest difficulty. That, however, once made the bow and canoe being obtained each successive one becomes more easy. Food costing him now less effort, its value declines when compared with labor, while labor rises when compared with it; and the greater the value of the latter, the greater is the proportion that may be given to constructing the machinery required for obtaining further command over nature's services. Being better clothed, and his dwelling being better, the drain upon his physical powers is diminished, while the supply of food has so much increased that he could now meet that drain, even had it been increased.

The necessities of man, and his powers, are thus always in the inverse ratio of each other moving, too, always in opposite directions. The two combined are a constant quantity-the one

representing the power of nature over man, and the other, the power of man to control and direct the forces of nature. The more the momentum acquired by either, the less must be the resistance of the other; and hence it is, that the motion of society is always a constantly accelerated one whether advancing towards civilization, as is the case in Northern Europe generally; or declining in the opposite direction, as in Great Britain and the United States.

The improvement in his dwelling now enabling Crusoe to labor more continuously, his power of accumulation is again increased. When it had rained, or when the heat had been too great, he had, at first, been compelled to seek refuge in a cave, deprived of light; now, he can pursue his avocations within doors, how great soever the heat, or however heavy the rain, without. Thus on and on he goeseach addition to his capital proving to have been but preparation for a new and greater one; with steady decline in the value of all previous accumulations, and as steady increase in the proportion of his time and mind appropriated to the construction of machinery, by means of which his powers may be yet extended.

Looking now to the physical world, we see that the power of accumulation is in the direct ratio of the rapidity of circulation. To have motion there must be heat, and that being found in its greatest force within the tropics, there it is we find the most abundant life, vegetable and animal accompanying the most rapid processes of composition and decomposition, production and consumption, known in the material world. Passing thence towards the frozen zone, heat, motion, and force steadily diminish, until, at length, the lichen stands almost alone in the vegetable world, and the bear in the animal one. With the growth

of population and of wealth, society exhibits a steady increase of motion and of force, with constant increase in the rapidity with which consumption follows production, and in the power of accumulation; with corresponding decline in the value of all the capital that had been accumulated. With every movement in a contrary direction, we witness a decline of motion and of force diminished power of accumulation and an increase in the value of all previous accumulations; as is shown in Turkey, Persia, and India, and all other declining communities of the world.

VOL. III.- 4

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§ 2. What, however, is capital? Seeking an answer to this question, the reader will do well to turn again to the chapter he has just now read, and study anew the never-ending round of production and consumption-finding there that the food is consumed in producing the man - the man in producing the bow and the canoe the bow and the canoe in the production of food — and the food again in maintaining and developing the mental and physical powers of the man. That the mens sana may exist, there must be, first, the corpus sanum. The wretched Esquimaux, always occupied in the search for food, gives but little time to the development of the faculties by which he is distinguished from the brute beast, whose services he would command-remaining, therefore, little better than the brute.

The food consumed by Crusoe was capital, the result of physical and mental effort. Did it then cease to be capital? Certainly not. On the contrary, it had assumed a higher form - that of mental and physical force. Next, it reappeared in the form of a bow, to whose construction force had been applied. Reappearing once again, in the form of increased supplies and higher quality of food, and thus enabling him to devote more time and mind to the study of nature and her powers, it promotes the further accumulation of capital in the form of that higher intelligence by means of which he compels the water and the wind to do his work; thus obtaining that mastery over nature which constitutes wealth. Capital is the instrument by means of which that mastery is acquired existing at one moment in the form of food; at another, in that of physical and mental force; and, at a third, in that of bows, arrows, canoes, ships, lands, houses, furnaces, and mills. Every increase of command over the instrument is attended by corresponding increase in the power of association, in the development of his individual faculties, and in his power of further progress. Every increase in the power of the instrument over him is attended with directly opposite effects-the power of association then declining, with constant diminution in the rapidity of motion, in the development of individuality, and in the power of further accumulation.

§ 3. The savage wanders over extensive surfaces, seeking almost in vain a supply of food, even though assisted by the bow

and the canoe.

In another stage of society, the ox is tamed, and the cow is employed in the conversion of grass into food fitted for man's consumption. Like the savage, however, the shepherd is a wanderer-changing his place, and that of his flocks, whenever the supply of food diminishes. His capital consists in tents, oxen, sheep, and other movable commodities, among the most important of which are weapons for self-defence. At length, however acquiring power to compel nature to do his work — he becomes a tiller of the earth; and now he finds more continuous demand for his faculties than had before existed. Compelled, however, to cultivate the poorer soils, and to be always on his guard against the attacks of others like himself, we find him universally occupying the higher lands, and obtaining but small return to all his efforts. In time, however - acquiring more and better machinery — he is enabled to subject to cultivation richer soils yielding larger returns to labor. The demand upon his powers for the means of present support constantly diminishes, with corresponding increase in the proportion of his labors that may be applied to preparing his land for future use, and in the rapidity with which his capital augments.

The proportion borne by movable to fixed capital tends now steadily to decline. The power of combination increasing, and person and property becoming more secure, he finds less use for swords and spears. The richer soils producing largely, he is less dependent on his flocks. Exchanges at home increasing, by reason of the greater proximity of the tailor and the shoemaker, his need for horses is diminished. The spinner, the weaver, the miner, and the smelter of ores, coming nearer to him, he is less dependent on ships and wagons. Becoming now enabled to command the services of nature, he is less dependent on the chances and changes of the weather; and less required to preserve large stocks of grain as provision against deficient crops. Each such change involving a new demand upon his mental faculties, the supply is constantly increased, with constant increase of force, and of the steadiness with which that force may be applied. The circulation becoming more continuous, the limestone and the granite are now quarried, and the coal and ore are mined. The house of stone replaces the early one of wood the iron road,