CAPITAL AND ABSTINENCE. 53] 



fall into the Iiands of one class, the storing it to another, the 

 distributing it to a third, and so on, each making its living 

 by so doing ; and each, therefore, in pursuit of its regular 

 business would produce as much food as possible, store it as 

 carefully and distribute it as opportunely merely as a matter 

 of business, that is, merely in order to earn from day to 

 day as much as it could in order to spend it from day to 



The acquiring impulse, as distinguished from the savin o- 

 impulse, would always ensure the existence of an excess 

 supply available whenever wanted ; and even if by some 

 accident this supply appeared likely to fall short of its 

 required amount, or to be in danger of destruction, the desire 

 of immediate gain, apart from any prudential considerations, 

 would set an increased number of people to work at once to 

 produce more food before the crisis came. 



As knowledge increases, as laws become more just, as the 

 distribution of wealth becomes more equitable, and income 

 comes to represent work, accumulations will become so 

 abundant, and the morrow's return to labour so certain, that 

 abstinence will become less and less incumbent on anvone, 

 and labour will come to be looked on in its proper light as a 

 means of satisfying human wants, not for the piling up of 

 needless wealth, often in the hands of persons who, doing- 

 nothing to earn it, have yet so much that they do not know 

 how to spend it. 



But as to the general proposition I go further still, and 

 while admitting that here and there abstinence of the self- 

 denying sort has added to accumulations, yet, taking it on 

 the whole and in the manner in which it is habitually 

 practised, I submit that abstinence, so far from addin^- to 

 accumulations, actually restricts them, because it checks 

 production. 



Suppose a number of people suddenly determine to save 

 to the extent of a quarter of their income ; and let bread, 

 boots, and tobacco (representing food, clothing, and enjoy- 

 ments) be the articles they have been habitually consuming, 

 and in which they now propose to save. If they continue 

 their customary purchases, putting by a quarter of them in a 

 strong-room for future use, the result will be that the bread 

 will certainly s|>oil, the boots and the tobacco deteriorate, and 

 so many useful articles not only lie uselessly idle, but actually 

 go to waste. But we need not dwell upon this, because we 

 all know that the saving will not be effected in this way. 



