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for the base purpose of ministering to schemes of political intrigue ?

So far as I am able to discover, such are the most important conditions on which the productiveness of any society depends. They are briefly these: Industry and Frugality, Virtue and Intelligence. Possessed of these, no nation, with the ordinary blessing of God, can long be poor. Destitute of either of them, whatever be its natural advantages, no nation can ever long be rich. Patriotism, no less than religion, would, therefore, teach us to cultivate these habits in ourselves and in others; and he is the purest patriot who cultivates them most assiduously.

BOOK SECOND.

EXCHANGE.

EXCHANGE, is a transaction, in which two individuals mutually and voluntarily transfer to each other the right of property, to a given amount, either in capital or labor.

This transfer must be both mutual and voluntary by both parties, or else it is robbery by the one party. If property, without the right of possession, be given in exchange, it is fraud. If I give a horse in exchange, which does not belong to me, I confer no right of property; for I have none to confer; since the real owner may reclaim him, at any moment. The exchange may be either of capital by both parties, as if A and B exchange wheat for corn; or of capital for labor, as when A gives B a bushel of wheat for a day's labor; or of labor for labor as when A agrees to work for B to-day, on condition that B shall work for him to-morrow. Exchange is of three kinds, viz. :

I. Barter in general or exchange in kind.

II. Exchange by means of a metallic currency. III. Exchange by means of a paper currency.

CHAPTER FIRST.

OF BARTER OR EXCHANGE IN KIND.

SECTION I.

OF THE PRINCIPLES IN THE PRESENT CONSTITUTION, WHICH GIVE RISE TO EXCHANGE.

1. Ir has been already shown, that human labor, of some kind, is necessary to production; that is, to the creation of whatever has the power of gratifying human desire. Hence, without labor, no desire would be gratified; that is, the race would speedily perish. As we have said before, the law of our being, imposed upon every individual, enacts that, by the sweat of our face we shall eat our bread.

2. But by labor exerted upon any substance, in such manner as to give it value, we establish over that value, either in whole or in part, the right of property. If the original capital were our own, we possess that original capital, together with all the additional value, which the change that we have effected has created. If, by labor upon the capital of another, we have raised its value, we establish a right to a portion of it, to be estimated by the respective values of the labor and capital employed. Nay, this capital is nothing but the result of pre-exerted labor. So that the capitalist contributes his past, and the laborer his present labor, and they share the product between them.

3. Hence, from the very conditions of our being, the act of creating a value appropriates it to a possessor. This holds true of every thing not the spontaneous gift of God. Hence, every thing created by

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PRINCIPLES WHICH GIVE RISE TO EXCHANGE.

man, belongs to some man; that is, he possesses over it the right of property. And this right of property is exclusive; that is, he has the right to use it as he will, to the exclusion of every man and of all men. And, provided he do not interfere with the rights of others, no man can interfere with his use of whatever product he has created, without a violation of moral law.

4. Different men are constituted by the Creator with different aptitudes for different pursuits, and with different dispositions towards those pursuits. One man is adapted to investigate, and another to apply to practice, the laws of nature, and another to perform the operation by which those laws are made to create value. And these aptitudes are still further subdivided.. One man is better adapted to investigate physical, another intellectual, and another moral laws. Thus, also, in the various pursuits of operative industry, one man prefers agriculture, another manufactures, and another navigation. it is found, as might be expected, that the disposition towards a particular operation, severally corresponds with a man's aptitude for it; that is, that, in general, a man is most strongly disposed to devote himself to that particular occupation, for which God has given him the greatest aptitude. Indeed, the disposition, in most cases, will do very much to create the aptitude. A man always labors more successfully in an occupation which he likes, than in one which he dislikes.

And

5. Hence, a great public, as well as private advantage, arises from every one's devoting himself to that occupation which he prefers, and for which he is specially fitted. Inasmuch as he likes it best, he is thus happier than he would be in the pursuit of any other. Every one thus being able to do that which he likes best, every one will derive from this source, all the happiness which it is able to confer. And, inasmuch as he is better fitted for it, he will, with the same labor, create a greater amount of va

PRINCIPLES WHICH GIVE RISE TO EXCHANGE. 163

lue than he will by labor in any other employment. He will also create the value much more perfectly. The annual amount of value, created in a community, will thus be greatly increased, with the same amount of labor, and, with a much greater amount of happiness. If every man labored at that employment in which he could create an amount of value equal to twenty, there would be, by the whole society, just twice as much created, as if, by changing occupations, each one labored at that for which he could create a value equal only to ten. If all the different classes of laborers were, for a year, to be obliged to exchange work with each other, every one can perceive that, for that year, production would almost absolutely cease.

6. Were this all, though every man created his own particular value with the greatest possible success, yet each man would, manifestly, possess but one value. The wheat grower would have nothing but granaries full of wheat; the carpenter, nothing but ranges of houses; the stone cutter, nothing but piles of stone; and the shoemaker, nothing but thousands of shoes. But while there exists in every man, both the aptitude and the disposition for the creation of a particular value, there exists equally in every man, a desire to enjoy every value that can be created. A man may like to create a value of which he desires to use but very little himself; nay, for which, in itself, he perhaps has even less desire than most other men. The man who is the fondest of fishing, may be, by no means, a great lover of fish. He who is the fondest of hunting, may be, by no means, the fondest of game. No man supposes, because a man is fond of fox-hunting, that he is fond of fox-eating. Thus, we see, that the desire for the creation of value, is one thing, and the desire for using the value created, is another. The one is limited to single objects, and the other is as widely extended as the objects to which it can be directed. And it is evident, that the one form of desire is as

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