even of the ultimate success of the principles of co-operation, if they should be found practically to work for the increase of the happiness of mankind; which would not be effected by equalizing the distribution of wealth, if, at the same time, its production were materially checked. This view of the subject goes to show that no sudden or violent change is necessary. In many things society has always acted on the principles of co-operation. As civilization extends, the number of instances has hitherto increased; and if there is no natural maximum to the adoption of these principles (which remains to be seen), men may gradually slide more and more into them, and realize all sane expectations, without any reconstruction of their social system,--any pulling down and building up again of their morals or their houses.* It is this union of forces which, whether it prevail in a single manufactory, in a manufacturing town viewed in connection with that manufactory, in an agricultural district viewed in connection with a manufacturing town, in a capital viewed in connection with both, in a kingdom viewed in connection with all its parts, and in the whole world viewed in connection with particular kingdoms;—it is this union of forces which connects the humblest with the highest in the production of utility. The poor lad who tends sheep upon the downs, and the capitalist who spends thousands of pounds for carrying forward a process to make the wool of these sheep into cloth, though at different extremities of the scale, are each united for the production of utility. The differences of power and enjoyment (and the differences of enjoyment are much less than appear upon the surface) between the shepherd boy and the great cloth manufacturer, are apparently necessary for the end of enabling both the shepherd boy and the capitalist to be fed, and clothed, and lodged, by exchanges with other producers. They are also necessary for keeping alive that universal, and, therefore, as it would appear, natural desire for the *The subject is examined more fully in Chapters XXV. and XXVI, improvement of our condition, which, independently of the necessity for the satisfaction of immediate wants, more or less influences the industry of every civilized being as to the hopes of the future. It is this union which constitutes the real dignity of all useful employments, and may make the poorest labourer feel that he is advancing the welfare of mankind as well as the richest capitalist; and that, standing upon the solid foundation of free exchange, the rights of the one are as paramount as the rights of the other, and that the rights of each have no control but the duties of each. We believe that the interests of each are also inseparably united, and that the causes which advance or retard the prosperity of each are one and the same. 1 QUESTIONS UPON CHAPTER XXII. 1. What is the effect of science on manual labour? 2. Give an instance of false reasoning on the question of scientific application to labour. 3. Why is such reasoning false? 4. What is the first great object of every improvement? 5. How does the working man stand in a double character ? 6. How does this affect the question of cheapness or dearness of production? 7. What is the cause of the increase in population? 8. What is the effect on employment of an increase in the population? 10. Are these evils increased or diminished by the advance of improvement? 11. Why so? 12. What is the occupation of human power in a highly advanced state? 13. What other principle besides science has produced a change in the condition of labour? 14. Mention a regulation entirely opposed to the principle of a division of labour. 15. What are the evils of such a regulation? 16. What is the great principle which keeps the division of labour in full activity? 17. What are the two great principles against which it is impossible for the working man to contend? 18. How do these principles benefit the working man both as a producer and as a consumer? 19. Give an instance of the evil of a division of labour without freedom of industry, 20. What quality in the labourer is required to regulate the division of labour? 21. Instance this in the higher occupations of industry. 22. By what principle is the division of labour perfected? 23. What are the effects on society of the union of forces? CHAPTER XXIII. Accumulation—Productive and unproductive consumption—Use of capital— Credit Security of property-Production applied to the satisfaction of common wants-Increase of comforts-Relations of capitalist and labourer. DR. WILLIAM BULLEYN, who lived three centuries ago, first gave currency to the saying, that great riches were like muckhills, a burthen to the land, and offensive to the inhabitants thereof, till their heaps are cast abroad, to the profit of many." The worthy physician belonged to an age when the class called misers extensively prevailed; and when those who lent out money upon interest were denominated usurers. They were generally objects of public obloquy, and their function was not understood. There are plenty of men still amongst us who, in Dr. Bulleyn's view of the matter, are impersonations of the muck that is not spread. The muck-spreaders, according to the old notion, were those whose consumption was always endeavouring to outstrip the production that was going forward around them. The latter is by far the larger class at the present day; the former, the more powerful. Let us endeavour, somewhat more with reference to practical results than we have already attempted, to look at some of the general principles existing in modern society which determine the existence, and regulate the employment, of capital. Whatever is saved and accumulated is a saving and accumulation of commodities which have been produced. The value of the accumulation is most conveniently expressed by an equivalent in money; but only a very small part of the accumulation is actually money. A few millions of bullion are sufficient to carry on the transactions of this country. Its accumulations, or capital, which were a few years ago considered to amount to twenty-two hundred million pounds sterling, could not be purchased by several times the amount of all the bullion that exists in the world. A great part of what is saved, therefore, is an accumulation of products suitable for consumption. The moment that they are applied to the encouragement of production, they begin to be consumed. They encourage production only as far as they enable the producers to consume while they are in the act of producing. Accumulation, therefore, is no hindrance to consumption. It encourages consumption as much as expenditure of revenue unaccompanied by accumulation. It enables the things consumed to be replaced, instead of being utterly destroyed. Whatever is consumed by those who are carrying forward the business of production has been called productive consumption. Whatever, on the other hand, is consumed by those who are not engaged in reproducing, has been called unproductive consumption. The difference may be thus illustrated :-A shoemaker, we will say, rents a shop, works up leather and other materials, uses various tools, burns out candles, and is himself fed and clothed while in the act of producing a pair of shoes. This is productive consumption; -for the pair of shoes represents the value of the materials employed in them, the commodities consumed by the shoemaker during their production, and the wear and tear of the tools applied in making them. If the shoes represent a higher value than what has been consumed, in consequence of the productiveness of the labour of the shoemaker, the difference is net produce, which may be saved, and, with other savings, become capital. But further :-The shoemaker, we will suppose, accumulates profits sufficient to enable him to live without making shoes, or applying himself to any other branch of industry. He now uses no |