THE WAR AND WEALTH. 1(J9 



consumption gave life and activity to every industry 

 in the work of reproduction. Upon this point Adam 

 Smith is very clear. He says : 



" Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production ; 

 and the interest of the producer ought to be attended to only so 

 far as it may be necessary for promoting that of the consumer. 

 The maxim is so perfectly self evident that it would be absurd 



to attempt to prove it. But the mercantile system 



seems to consider production and not consumption, as the ulti- 

 mate end and object of all industry and commerce." Wealth 

 of Nations. 



He further says : 



" The goods of the merchant yield him no revenue or profit 

 till he sells them for money, and the money yields him as little 

 till it is again exchanged for goods. His capital continually 

 going from him in one shape, and returning to him in another; 

 and it is only by means of such circulation, or successive 

 changes, that it can yield him any profit." Ibid. 



There can be no misunderstanding Adam Smith on 

 the point of the relations of production and consump- 

 tion. The "large industries that ministered to the 

 work of destruction " called into activity the dormant 

 energies of our people, and through their employment 

 increased the volume of business and trade to a degree 

 that enabled all, during the short period of that war, 

 to live well and comfortably, to erect monuments of 

 prosperity that will last for ages, and come out of the 

 contest, in 1865, as Secretary McCulloch truly said, 

 almost wholly out of debt. Had these large industries 

 produced only that " additional wealth " which should 

 remain unconsumed, they would simply have added to 

 the great burden of unmarketed, unconsumed products 



