trious, frugal, and consequently rich, and raise them from a savage to a civilized state. Just in proportion as a nation is thus transformed, are its products increased; the riches of the whole world are augmented; the portion of wealth, which falls to the share of each man, is rendered greater; and the ratio of capital to labor is higher. Just as a nation becomes intelligent and rich, its wants are multiplied, and the means for supplying them are provided. Hence, it becomes a better customer to other nations; it gives an additional impulse to their industry; and it repays them for their products, with whatever God has bestowed upon it, which will add to the happiness of others. Can any one doubt that Great Britain and France reap incomparably greater advantages from each other, in their present condition of advanced civilization, than either of them would, if the other were in the condition in which it was found by Julius Cæsar? What demand would Great Britain make upon the productions of France, if she were, at this moment, inhabited by half-naked savages? Or again: How much greater benefits does North America confer upon the world, than it would if it were peopled by its aboriginal inhabitants? How great a stimulus would be given to the industry of the world, at this time; and how greatly would the comforts and luxuries of men be increased, if Africa were peopled by civilized and christianized men? Now, if these things be so; and that they are so, I see not that any one can dispute; it seems to me, that civilized nations could in no way so successfully promote their own interests, as by the universal dissemination of the means of education and the principles of religion.

SECTION VI.

ON THE EFFECTS OF DIRECT LEGISLATION, AS A MEANS OF INCREASING PRODUCTION.

I have thus far said nothing upon the effect of legislative enactments, by means of bounties and protecting duties, as a means of increasing production. The reason is, that I have not yet been able to discover in what manner they produce this effect. Nevertheless, since many persons suppose them to be of great importance, it might seem that a discussion of this subject was incomplete, if they were passed over in silence. I shall devote this section to a consideration of their effects.

1. Duties of this sort are to be considered apart from those levied for the support of government, because they are either not necessary for this purpose, or else they are levied for a different object. Thus, if five per cent. on an import be necessary to the support of government, and ten per cent. be levied, in order to favor, or, as it is said, to protect one branch of industry, the additional five per cent. is levied for a distinct object, aside from that of the support of government. It is only this latter part of the duty which we propose to consider; that is, so much of the duty as is levied for the purpose of favoring one particular product.

2. Now, if such a duty have any effect upon the productiveness of a nation, it must be in one of these ways. It must either first increase the capital of a country; or, secondly, increase its number of laborers; or, third, create a greater stimulus to labor. I think it evident, from what has already been shown, that every condition which affects production, must exert its influence in one of these three methods.

3. I think it evident, that legislation of this sort

cannot increase the capital of a country. The capital of a country, at any moment, is its present amount of annual and fixed capital. Now, a law cannot create capital; since, if it could, there would be no necessity for any other labor than that of legislation; and, in order to grow rich, a nation would have nothing to do but meet in public assembly, and spend its whole time in making and hearing speeches, and enacting laws. I believe, however, that this mode of growing rich, has never been found remarkably successful.

If it be said that, in this manner, we shall attract foreign capital to our own country, I answer: this depends not upon legislation, but upon the rate of interest, and the security of property. If these conditions be more favorable here than in another country, capital will flow hither. If they be more favorable in another country than here, it will flow thither. The system of Great Britain has been exclusive, but capital does not go from this country to be invested there.

4. Legislation of this kind cannot increase the actual number of laborers. The number of laborers is as the number of inhabitants. Legislation has never been supposed to have any power to create men. It is true, population is found always to increase with the increase of the means of living; that is, with the increase of the productiveness of labor. Population will increase or diminish, just in proportion as a laborer is able to procure greater or less wages for a day's labor; that is, as every thing is cheaper or dearer. Whether the tendency of duties is to render productions cheap, remains to be considered. It must, however, be evident to all, that laws do not create human beings; of course, they add nothing to the number of laborers, that is, of human beings in a country.

It may be said, we may thus induce laborers to come from other countries. To this it may be answered; this will depend upon the wages of labor. If labor

ers be better paid here than elsewhere, they will come here, and not otherwise. Besides, what is called protection changes only the mode of labor; that is, it takes men from one mode of labor, to employ them upon another. Suppose, then, that it attracts foreign laborers to one branch of industry; it deters those in another branch of industry from immigrating. If, for instance, manufacturers are protected, this will tend to encourage manufacturers to immigrate; but it will, in a correspondent proportion, discourage agriculturists. ho

5. If, then, discriminating duties produce any effect upon production, it must be by stimulating industry; that is, while the amount of capital and the number of laborers remain the same, by stimulating men to labor more industriously, and thus to create a greater amount of production than they would under other circumstances. This, I believe, is supposed to be the way in which the system produces its effect. This is the point of view in which we shall now proceed to consider it.

:

The manner in which this is done is the following Suppose a country to be under a free system, and that every one is devoting himself to agriculture, commerce, or manufactures, as he finds it the most for his interest; under these circumstances, there will be a certain average of productiveness, both of labor and of capital. Woollen cloth can be procured, by exchange, for five dollars a yard; but it cannot, in the present state of the country, be manufactured for less than ten dollars a yard; that is, capital and labor are, in every thing else, so productive, that they could not be abstracted from other employments at the same rate of profit, unless the manufacturer could receive ten dollars a yard for his cloth. Now suppose, that, in order to enable him to do this, a duty of five dollars a yard is levied on imported cloth, by which the price of all cloth is raised to ten dollars a yard, that it may be in the power of the manufacturer, to em

ploy his capital and labor in this manner.

There is

no doubt that thus the manufacture of cloth might be established.

Now I think it evident, upon inspection, that the productiveness of labor is not, by this operation, increased. The reason why cloth was not manufactured before, was, that the productiveness of labor and capital, in this mode of investment, was lower than the average productiveness of labor and capital in other modes of investment. All that has been effected is, to raise the productiveness here to the general average elsewhere. There has been nothing done to render it any greater, either in this or in any other employment; for I presume that no one will contend, that one kind of industry should be really more highly paid than another; nor that, if it were desired, it could be effected without the aid of a direct monopoly.

But the manufacturer now gets ten dollars for that which before would bring only five. Let us inquire whence this additional five dollars comes.

It is evident that government possesses nothing. All that it possesses is precisely so much taken from the annual revenue of individuals. In this case, therefore, it really bestows nothing, but only causes a transfer of annual revenues, from one party to another. The case is, therefore, the same as it would be if, while there had been no duty imposed, every man had been allowed to buy cloth for five dollars a yard, but had been obliged, for every yard that he bought, to pay five dollars to the manufacturer. It would be the same thing to both parties as at present. The consumer would then, as now, pay ten dollars a yard for cloth, and the manufacturer might sell it for five, if he received five more as a gratuity. The five dollars that have been added to the revenue of the one, are precisely five dollars taken from the revenue of the other.

Now if this be the fact, inasmuch as what is added to the productiveness of the industry of the one class,