太子爷小说网 > 英语电子书 > wealbk02 >

第17节

wealbk02-第17节

小说: wealbk02 字数: 每页4000字

按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!



go to a play or a puppetshow; and so contribute his share towards

maintaining one set of unproductive labourers; or he may pay some

taxes; and thus help to maintain another set; more honourable and

useful indeed; but equally unproductive。 No part of the annual

produce; however; which had been originally destined to replace a

capital; is ever directed towards maintaining unproductive hands

till after it has put into motion its full complement of

productive labour; or all that it could put into motion in the

way in which it was employed。 The workman must have earned his

wages by work done before he can employ any part of them in this

manner。 That part; too; is generally but a small one。 It is his

spare revenue only; of which productive labourers have seldom a

great deal。 They generally have some; however; and in the payment

of taxes the greatness of their number may compensate; in some

measure; the smallness of their contribution。 The rent of land

and the profits of stock are everywhere; therefore; the principal

sources from which unproductive hands derive their subsistence。

These are the two sorts of revenue of which the owners have

generally most to spare。 They might both maintain indifferently

either productive or unproductive hands。 They seem; however; to

have some predilection for the latter。 The expense of a great

lord feeds generally more idle than industrious people。 The rich

merchant; though with his capital he maintains industrious people

only; yet by his expense; that is; by the employment of his

revenue; he feeds commonly the very same sort as the great lord。

     The proportion; therefore; between the productive and

unproductive hands; depends very much in every country upon the

proportion between that part of the annual produce; which; as

soon as it comes either from the ground or from the hands of the

productive labourers; is destined for replacing a capital; and

that which is destined for constituting a revenue; either as rent

or as profit。 This proportion is very different in rich from what

it is in poor countries。

     Thus; at present; in the opulent countries of Europe; a very

large; frequently the largest portion of the produce of the land

is destined for replacing the capital of the rich and independent

farmer; the other for paying his profits and the rent of the

landlord。 But anciently; during the prevalency of the feudal

government; a very small portion of the produce was sufficient to

replace the capital employed in cultivation。 It consisted

commonly in a few wretched cattle; maintained altogether by the

spontaneous produce of uncultivated land; and which might;

therefore; be considered as a part of that spontaneous produce。

It generally; too; belonged to the landlord; and was by him

advanced to the occupiers of the land。 All the rest of the

produce properly belonged to him too; either as rent for his

land; or as profit upon this paltry capital。 The occupiers of

land were generally bondmen; whose persons and effects were

equally his property。 Those who were not bondmen were tenants at

will; and though the rent which they paid was often nominally

little more than a quit…rent; it really amounted to the whole

produce of the land。 Their lord could at all times command their

labour in peace and their service in war。 Though they lived at a

distance from his house; they were equally dependent upon him as

his retainers who lived in it。 But the whole produce of the land

undoubtedly belongs to him who can dispose of the labour and

service of all those whom it maintains。 In the present state of

Europe; the share of the landlord seldom exceeds a third;

sometimes not a fourth part of the whole produce of the land。 The

rent of land; however; in all the improved parts of the country;

has been tripled and quadrupled since those ancient times; and

this third or fourth part of the annual produce is; it seems;

three or four times greater than the whole had been before。 In

the progress of improvement; rent; though it increases in

proportion to the extent; diminishes in proportion to the produce

of the land。

     In the opulent countries of Europe; great capitals are at

present employed in trade and manufactures。 In the ancient state;

the little trade that was stirring; and the few homely and coarse

manufactures that were carried on; required but very small

capitals。 These; however; must have yielded very large profits。

The rate of interest was nowhere less than ten per cent; and

their profits must have been sufficient to afford this great

interest。 At present the rate of interest; in the improved parts

of Europe; is nowhere higher than six per cent; and in some of

the most improved it is so low as four; three; and two per cent。

Though that part of the revenue of the inhabitants which is

derived from the profits of stock is always much greater in rich

than in poor countries; it is because the stock is much greater:

in proportion to the stock the profits are generally much less。

     That part of the annual produce; therefore; which; as soon

as it comes either from the ground or from the hands of the

productive labourers; is destined for replacing a capital; is not

only much greater in rich than in poor countries; but bears a

much greater proportion to that which is immediately destined for

constituting a revenue either as rent or as profit。 The funds

destined for the maintenance of productive labour are not only

much greater in the former than in the latter; but bear a much

greater proportion to those which; though they may be employed to

maintain either productive or unproductive hands; have generally

a predilection for the latter。

     The proportion between those different funds necessarily

determines in every country the general character of the

inhabitants as to industry or idleness。 We are more industrious

than our forefathers; because in the present times the funds

destined for the maintenance of industry are much greater in

proportion to those which are likely to be employed in the

maintenance of idleness than they were two or three centuries

ago。 Our ancestors were idle for want of a sufficient

encouragement to industry。 It is better; says the proverb; to

play for nothing than to work for nothing。 In mercantile and

manufacturing towns; where the inferior ranks of people are

chiefly maintained by the employment of capital; they are in

general industrious; sober; and thriving; as in many English; and

in most Dutch towns。 In those towns which are principally

supported by the constant or occasional residence of a court; and

in which the inferior ranks of people are chiefly maintained by

the spending of revenue; they are in general idle; dissolute; and

poor; as at Rome; Versailles; Compiegne; and Fontainebleu。 If you

except Rouen and Bordeaux; there is little trade or industry in

any of the parliament towns of France; and the inferior ranks of

people; being elderly maintained by the expense of the members of

the courts of justice; and of those who come to plead before

them; are in general idle and poor。 The great trade of Rouen and

Bordeaux seems to be altogether the effect of their situation。

Rouen is necessarily the entrepot of almost all the goods which

are brought either from foreign countries; or from the maritime

provinces of France; for the consumption of the great city of

Paris。 Bordeaux is in the same manner the entrepot of the wines

which grow upon the banks of the Garonne; and of the rivers which

run into it; one of the richest wine countries in the world; and

which seems to produce the wine fittest for exportation; or best

suited to the taste of foreign nations。 Such advantageous

situations necessarily attract a great capital by the great

employment which they afford it; and the employment of this

capital is the cause of the industry of those two cities。 In the

other parliament towns of France; very little more capital seems

to be employed than what is necessary for supplying their own

consumption; that is; little more than the smallest capital which

can be employed in them。 The same thing may be said of Paris;

Madrid; and Vienna。 Of those three cities; Paris is by far the

most industrious; but Paris itself is the principal market of all

the manufactures established at Paris; and its own consumption is

the principal object of all the trade which it carries on。

London; Lisbon; and Copenhagen; are; perhaps; the only three

cities in Europe which are both the constant residence of a

court; and can at the same time be considered as trading cities;

or as cities which trade not only for their own consumption; but

for that of other cities and countries。 The situation of all the

three is extremely advantageous; and naturally fits them to be

the entrepots of a great part of the goods destined for the

consumption of distant places。 In a city where a great revenue is

spent; to employ with advantage a capital for any other purpose

than for supplying the consumption of that city is probably more

difficult than in one in which the inferior ranks of peop

返回目录 上一页 下一页 回到顶部 0 0

你可能喜欢的