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tear of his ship, and the labor, skill and subsistence of his officers and crew. His return cargo, if the voyage have been successful, replaces his cargo exported, pays the expense of transportation, and affords him a compensation for his labor and skill.

And thus, in all the operations of industry, the process of consumption, or the destruction of particular values for the sake of producing other and greater values, is continually going on. And men consume values in this manner cheerfully, because they are aware that increase of value is to be effected in no other way.

2. The gratification of desire. In this case, the value of a product is commonly destroyed, without the anticipation of the creation of any other product by which it is to be replaced. The purposes

for which values are consumed in this manner are various.

1. For the gratification of those desires which are necessary to the preservation of life and health. In this manner, we consume food, clothing, and shelter. In this case, there is combined with the gratification of desire, a substantial benefit, in the health and vigor which we derive from suitable nourishment.

2. The gratifications of the senses and the tastes. We consume values in the gratifications of sense, when we expend money for shows, for mere delicacies of the table, for luxuries of dress and for any thing of which the only result is, the gratification of a physical appetite. In this case, our only recompense consists in the pleasure experienced in the organ of sense. The pleasures of taste, are enjoyed in painting, statuary, architecture, music, &c. In this case, besides the gratification of the taste, there is also an additional result, in the mental cultivation and refinement, which such pleasures promote.

3. Intellectual gratifications. We consume money, for this purpose, in the purchase of books and philosophical instruments, and we consume time in the study and use of them. We here enjoy the pleas

ure of intellectual exercise, and also obtain that knowledge, by which we are enabled to perform the duties of life with greater success.

4. Social pleasures. We gratify our social instincts, by hospitality to our friends; and thus strengthen the ties which bind us to the human race.

5. Moral pleasures. In benevolence for instance we expend money for the good of others. In this case, we receive gratification in the act itself, and also cultivate in ourselves those dispositions, which make us more worthy of the regard of our fellows, and more well-pleasing to our Father who is in heaven.

We have said that, by consumption, value is destroyed; but it is destroyed with the expectation of realizing a more valuable result. Hence, we see that the character of this consumption, is to be decided by ascertaining how far this expectation has been realized. If a product of more value than the time and labor consumed, be created by the consumption, such consumption is called productive. Such is the case when a farmer consumes labor and capital, worth one hundred dollars, and realizes a harvest worth two hundred dollars. If the product be not equal to the consumption, such consumption is called unproductive. If no product at all be realized, the consumption is then a total loss.

And, the same principles apply when consumption is effected for the purpose of gratifying a desire. If no such result be realized, it is a total loss. If the gratification be of less worth than the value consumed; or if we have obtained a less amount, or less excellent gratification than we could have procured by some other mode of expenditure, there is always a loss, although it may not be total, and the consumption is unwise.

From what has been said, we may easily see the rules by which expenditure of all kinds should be governed.

1. Inasmuch as consumption is a destruction of value, and annihilates forever the particular value

which we consume, our consumption for the purpose of producing a given result, should be as small as possible. Whatever is consumed beyond what is necessary to accomplish our purpose, is so much absolute loss.

2. The consumption being given, it should be our object, to derive from it as large a product or as valuable a gratification as possible. Whatever is consumed, that does not conduce to this result, in every way of which it is capable, is so much utility thrown away.

When these rules are perfectly obeyed, we enjoy as much as our circumstances allow; and we also enjoy it, with as little expense to the means of happiness of others as the nature of the present constitution permits.

Consumption is of two kinds, Individual and Public. Individual consumption, is what the individual consumes for his own personal profit or gratification. Public consumption, is what is consumed by the society, for the benefit of the whole.

CHAPTER SECOND.

OF INDIVIDUAL CONSUMPTION.

THE Consumption of the individual, is the amount of value which each individual destroys either for his own personal profit or for the gratification of his desires.

Individual consumption is then of two kinds; first what he consumes for the sake of reproduction, and secondly what he consumes for the gratification of desire; or in other words, what he consumes in personal and domestic expenditures. We shall consider these subjects separately.

SECTION I.

OF INDIVIDUAL CONSUMPTION FOR THE SAKE OF RE

PRODUCTION.

This is the consumption, which every individual effects, who carries on the operations of production. The farmer, the mechanic, the manufacturer, the merchant are all consumers, and are such in a greater or less degree, according to the extent of their production.

Productive consumption requires both skill and labor, while consumption for the sake of gratification requires neither. It requires labor and skill, so to consume seed and manure, &c., as to produce a loaf of bread, but it requires neither skill nor labor, to eat it after it has been produced. It requires la

bor and skill so to consume wool and dye stuffs as to produce cloth; and so to consume that cloth as to produce a suit of clothes, but it requires no skill or labor to wear them out after they have been produced.

On the other hand, productive consumption, is commonly attended with no immediate gratification. The farmer may prefer agriculture to manufactures, but he would not commonly labor for the mere pleasure of the operation. Could he secure his crop with half the present labor, or with no labor at all, he would doubtless do so. The case is the same with the manufacturer, or any other producer.

We can rarely use the same value for these two distinct and opposite purposes. If a man consume one hundred dollars in amusement, or in ostentation, he cannot have it also as capital, to be employed in his trade. And, not only can he not have it now, but he can never have it again. If it be invested in reproduction this year, it may, by the next year, amount to one hundred and fifty dollars, and the year after, to two hundred dollars, and in twenty years it may become five thousand dollars. If it be spent on an entertainment, or a journey of pleasure, it is lost, and all that it might have subsequently become, is lost forever. This should be borne in mind by every man who wishes to rise to independence. Every dollar which is spent in self-gratification, is so much capital placed forever out of his power. And, on the contrary, every dollar which he invests in reproductive employment, may at any future time minister to gratification, or it may provide the means of much more valuable gratification in subsequent life.

Consumption is either of capital, or of labor.
I. Consumption of Capital.

The principles which we have already endeavored to illustrate would suggest the following rules, respecting this part of consumption.

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