To purchasing more of any value than is wanted. The articles ordinarily consumed in a family, are rapidly destructible. If more be purchased than is wanted, it is liable to become useless, and, in this case, the loss of this excess, is total. By having a superabundance of any thing consumable, it becomes, in the eyes of those who use it, less valuable, and is used less carefully. And, if neither of these results be experienced, if an article be purchased a year before it is wanted, the purchaser loses the interest, for a year, of the money expended. Hence, it is generally as economical to purchase at retail, as at wholesale.

Hence it is commonly wasteful to purchase any thing because it is cheap. If a man need any thing, its cheapness is a reason why he should buy it. But, if he do not want it, its cheapness is no reason at all. A man may buy stones very cheap, but it is doubtful whether he would be either enriched or made happier by the purchase. Many a garret is filled with great bargains; which were purchased because they were cheap, and then laid away to rot.

2. The consumption should be as perfect as possible. When we have possessed ourselves of a substance, it should not be thrown away, until every utility which it posesses has been exhausted.

Thus, an article of clothing which will not answer any longer for one purpose, may answer very well for another. An article of food, which may not be used in one form, may be used in some other form. And hence, in general, nothing should come into a house, unless it be wanted, nor in a larger amount than it is wanted; and nothing should leave it, until all its utility is exhausted.

3. All the means should be provided for the most perfect production and consumption of values. Hence, every useful utensil should be furnished, and should be the most perfect of its kind. It is cheaper to buy a coal hod, than to carry coal in a basket, and by saving a dollar in a utensil, ruin a carpet

worth fifty dollars. It is cheaper to have every description of culinary vessel that may be needed, than to have food spoiled by being cooked in an unsuitable instrument. It is cheaper to have a bad fire place altered, at an expense of fifteen dollars, than to consume annually ten dollars more worth of wood than is necessary.

Hence, it is also important, that every article purchased, be of such a nature as will admit of the most profitable consumption. If a man buy fuel which gives off very little heat, because it is at a low price, it is by no means certain that he has made a successful purchase. It should always be remembered, that we want a given amount of utility, and not the mere form in which it seems to reside. It is cheaper to purchase a dollar's worth of utility for a dollar, than half a dollar's worth for seventy-five cents. Hence, the lowest priced products, are by no means always the cheapest.

The same principles apply to labor.

Economy directs, that in a household, we should purchase as much labor as we need, and of the kind that we need, but no more than we need. When we pay for useless labor, we throw money away ourselves. When we employ incompetent labor, we pay others to throw it away for us.

These, I suppose to be the principal circumstances, which should govern our expenditures. And, it will be seen, that they apply to all the conditions of men. Whether our expenditure be large or small, it should be conducted with economy. The object to be attained is, to secure as large an amount of gratification, at as small an expenditure as possible. To the man who has but two hundred dollars per year to spend, it is certainly important to spend it economically. To the man who has ten thousand dollars per year, it will generally be found convenient.

Hence, it will be seen, that, in order to enjoy the comforts or the luxuries of life, at the least expense, care and superintendence, and knowledge of the

various operations performed in a household, are absolutely necessary. And as this department of consumption, in general, devolves upon the mistress of a family, we see how important to the execution of it with success, must be vigilance, care, intelligence and industry. The husband, by the employment of capital, labor, and skill, in productive consumption, secures an annual revenue, for the purpose of consumption in the various means of gratification, whether necessary or superfluous. The expenditure of this annual revenue, or the making of those arrangements which govern the expenditure, generally devolves upon the wife. If that expenditure be made without economy, either the gratifications which it might procure are never enjoyed, and by all the consumption, neither comfort nor pleasure is obtained; or else, if the gratification sought for be obtained, it is obtained at an expense absolutely ruinous. Hence, it will be seen, that the physical comfort, as well as the means of happiness of both parties, depends more on the domestic education of the female sex than is ordinarily supposed. Affection will rarely exist in the atmosphere of self-inflicted poverty. No man can respect a woman, by whose caprice and ignorance of her appropriate duties, he is plunged into disgraceful bankruptcy, and wedded to hopeless penury. Nor let it be supposed, that no talent is requisite skillfully to superintend a household. It requires at least as much ability to direct, with skill and on principle, the affairs of a domestic establishment, as to select a ribbon or dance a minuet, to finger a piano or to embroider a fire screen.

II. Consumption considered in respect to the relative value of the desire.

The various objects of desire, by the possession of which our happiness may be promoted, may, with sufficient accuracy for our present purpose, be divided into moral, intellectual, social, and sensual.

The attainment of happiness from either of these, commonly involves some expenditure of time, or of

property, or of both. Thus, we cannot by reflection improve our own hearts, without the consumption of time, nor cultivate our benevolent sentiments, without the consumption of property. The improvement of our minds by reading and study, demands both time and books. We cannot enjoy the society of our friends, without the consumption of both time and property. And every one knows, that the gratification of our senses, whether intellectual or corporeal, consumes a large portion of the income of every individual.

It belongs to the teacher of ethics, to show in which mode of expenditure a man may best secure his future happiness, and act most worthily of the moral nature with which he is endowed. The political economist looks upon the various modes of expenditure, simply as they affect the wealth of the individual, and of the public. Yet, even in this view, it may not be inappropriate to offer a single suggestion. Inasmuch as we have been created with aptitudes for all these different modes of happiness, it is manifestly the intention of the Creator, that we should enjoy, not merely one but all of them. As we are not merely sensual, but also moral and intellectual beings, it is as reasonable that we should expend a part of our time and property, in the pursuit of moral and intellectual, as that we should spend a part of it, in the pursuit of sensual gratifications. He who argued from the superior dignity of our nature over that of brutes, might perhaps urge that the former was the more reasonable mode of expenditure. But the dignity of the race not belonging to the province of the political economist, we shall not consider the subject in this point of view.

The principles upon which political economy would teach us to select our modes of gratification, are, I suppose, the following. First. Where the amount of gratification in two cases in equal, it is wise to choose that which is the least expensive. The reason for this is too obvious to need much il

lustration. If a particular gratification can be procured for one hundred dollars, and another, which will afford an equal amount of happiness, can be procured for ten dollars, the cheaper is to be preferred; because, while, in this case, we obtain an equal gratification, we have ninety dollars remaining with which to purchase other objects of desire. Secondly. When two modes of gratification are, in themselves, equally productive of happiness, but of which, one tends to the wealth, and the other to the poverty, both of the individual and of society, the former is to be preferred. Thus, if it cost the same sum to spend an evening in intellectual improvement, that it would cost to spend it in a drunken frolic, and the pleasure in the two cases were the same; inasmuch as intellectual cultivation tends to knowledge, which is a valuable consideration to every producer, and a drunken frolic has no such tendency, economy would teach us to spend the evening in intellectual cultivation..

If, now, we compare the various modes of expenditure most common among men, I think that we shall find, that the economy of the moral and intellectual pleasures is somewhat overlooked.·

The expenditures for all the real wants and conveniences of a human being, may, by industry and frugality, without great difficulty, be supplied. It does not cost much, to provide all that we need for wholesome and palatable food, for comfortable clothing and shelter, and for all the furniture demanded for convenient domestic arrangements. Our greatest expenses are for those objects, which yield no other utility than the mere gratification of the senses, or, which are rendered necessary, by command of fashion, or the love of ostentation. Thus, in the purchase of a garment, or of an article of furniture, a part of the price is paid for the real utility which it possesses, and the remainder for that particular form, or color, or workmanship, which is designated by fashion. Now, it frequently happens, that this lat