568 



wanted by another, and that other, ten fold more of what is wanted by 

 the first, giving rise to an exchange, mutually and highly beneficial to, 

 and increasing ten-fold, the aggregate production of all, and binding those 

 of every profession, every trade, every branch of industry, in one com- 

 mon brotherhood, each equally benefitted by the labors, and interested 

 iti the prosperity of all. So long as all departments of labor are left 

 equally and entirely free, to keep up a generous rivalry with each oth- 

 er, for the common benefit, there is no more cause for envy, hatred or 

 jealousy, than between the different organs or members of the same 

 human body ; but if one be fostered and encouraged by the laws, or by 

 a vitiated or public opinion, treated as more honorable, while another is 

 discouraged by the laws, loaded with burdens, or treated by society as 

 dishonorable, the effect cannot be otherwise than disastrous to the com- 

 munity at large. The like principle applies to all commerce between 

 different or distant parts of the earth. The tropics, for instance, sup- 

 ply spontaneously, or with little labor, many of the articles, which, however 

 necessary, cannot be produced in the temperate zones at all, or only at 

 a ruinous expense ; while, with the productions of the temperate zones, 

 the case is precisely reversed. Some countries are better adapted to ag- 

 riculture, others to manufactures. Commerce, navigation, transporta- 

 tion, effect the exchange, and give to all the advantages of each. Why 

 should governments, by a selfish but mistaken policy, throwing burdens 

 upon one branch, and encouraging another, diminish the benefits of 

 this mutual exchange ! They do so, however, under the pretence of 

 regulating commerce ; as well might they attempt to regulate the sea- 

 sons, to regulate the winds, to regulate the wants or the fancies of men. 

 Commerce can only be regulated for the common interest, by the con- 

 stantly changing interest of the people — by the supply and de- 

 mand. Legislation cannot regulate, but it may injure or destroy 

 it 



All departments of labor, whose object and tendency is to increase 

 the aggregate of human happiness, are necessary; all are equally hon- 

 orable. That these views are correct as to the various branches of 

 physical labor, few would deny. Its effects are immediate and obvious 

 to every comprehension — but the man of physical labor often conceives 

 a prejudice against the man of mentiil labor ; because the beneficial re- 

 sults of the latter are not so immediately visible. A very little refuse- 



