CONSUMPTION. 



427 



it is not always deteriorated by use : on the contrary, 

 if skilfully cultivated, its value is increased. In re- 

 spect to the products, too, there is a difference ; 

 some are destroyed, or, in other words, reduced to 

 their elements, by use, as provisions. Others, as 

 the precious stones, are not necessarily destroyed by 

 time or use. The metals, ordinarily, pass through 

 various forms, in a variety of manufactures, before 

 they are wasted and lost in rust ; and some products, 

 being destroyed in one form, are converted into 

 materials for use in another. The remnants of linen 

 and cotton fabrics, for instance, supply materials for 

 paper ; and so the wood and iron of a ship, on ceas- 

 ing to be useful, in their combination, for the pur- 

 poses of navigation, still supply, the one fuel, the other 

 materials for the founderies of iron. The greater 

 the advancement of the arts, the more extensively 

 will the remnants of consumption of-one kind supply 

 the materials for the production of articles of another 

 form. The arts will even convert the destruction 

 of war into the materials for new production. The 

 bones left on the field of Waterloo have been care- 

 fully collected, and transported to Britain, to 

 manure the lands. The increase of population, and 

 the progress of the arts, introduce a thousand ways 

 of gleaning the relics of one kind of consumption to 

 supply the materials of another. This is one of the 

 absolute gains of resources consequent upon the ad- 

 vance of civilization. 



In regard to consumption, the remarks and reason- 

 ing of Adam Smith have led to some erroneous pre- 

 judices, though his positions are, in some respects, 

 just. He assumes, for instance, that all the stock 

 of society, including the improvements on the lands, 

 are the result of savings, or the excess of the results 

 of labour over the demands for immediate consump- 

 tion ; and this is, no doubt, true ; but the inference 

 which is, and too often, made, that the great object 

 of a nation should be to save the fruits of its labour, 

 as the surest means of wealth and prosperity, is by 

 no means true in its full extent. If, for instance, a 

 community has saved the products of its labour to 

 the amount of 100, for which sum it imports from 

 abroad, and introduces into use, a more perfect kind 

 of plough, and the art of making it, or the art of 

 making a better hat, or screw, or saw, with the same 

 labour, the amount saved being expended for this 

 purpose, the numerical possessions, or the computed 

 capital stock, of that community, is thereby diminish- 

 ed ; and yet the aggregate productive capacity is 

 increased. 



This lets us into a principle of national economy, 

 which is too frequently overlooked, namely, that the 

 means of prosperity the national wealth consists 

 more in the capacity for production than in actual 

 possessions. As far as the capital, or nominal 

 wealth, consists in the implements of production, and 

 the accommodations for the shelter of the inhabit- 

 ants, they are both a part of the individual wealth 

 and national resources. But a vast proportion of 

 the productive faculties of a people do not exist in 

 the form of property, and are not marketable articles. 

 Of this description are the arts, and those character- 

 istics of a community which enable the people to 

 maintain good laws, and perpetuate their political 

 institutions. All the consumption, directed to the 

 promotion of these, is, in the strictest sense, econo- 

 mical, and all the saving of stock, which might be 

 devoted to these objects, by a consumption for that 

 purpose, is a wasteful and short-sighted economy. 

 The great business of society, in an economical view, 

 is production and consumption ; and a great produc- 

 tion without a corresponding consumption of pro- 

 ducts cannot for a long time be continued. The 

 notions about the destructive tendency of luxury are, 



therefore, preposterous, as a general proposition, for 

 it proposes thrift and saving for no purpose. Sup- 

 pose a whole nation to act fully up to the notions in- 

 culcated by doctor Franklin, what would be the re- 

 sult but universal idleness ? for, all being intent on 

 saving, that is, on not consuming, there would, of 

 course, cease to be any encouragement or demand 

 for production. This is the condition of savage life, 

 imposed by necessity resulting from ignorance, im- 

 providence, and indolence. 



To keep the streams of production in active flow, 

 consumption is necessary; and the consumption 

 which directly and steadily promotes production is, 

 in fact, promotive of public wealth. We do not 

 mean to deny, that the expenditures of a man who 

 exceeds his means of payment will be injurious, not 

 only to himself, but also to the community ; for he 

 may annihilate the capital of those who give him 

 credit, and, since their industry may dependon their 

 capital, which supplies them with tools to work with, 

 materials to work upon, and a stock of clothing, 

 food, and accommodations, until they can obtain the 

 returns of their industry by a sale of its products, 

 the loss of this capital, by trusting it to one who 

 never pays them, is a destruction of their industry. 

 Hoarding, on the other hand, though not so injurious, 

 yet, if too generally prevalent, may have the effect 

 of paralyzing production, and stifling and enfeebling 

 the economical energies of a people, by diminishing 

 the motives to industry. In a healthy state of the 

 national industry, therefore, the consumption of pro- 

 ducts should bear a just proportion to production. 

 As long as enough is saved to supply all the increase 

 of demand for a stock of implements and materials, 

 and make all the improvements, of a permanent 

 nature, of which the country is susceptible, such as 

 canals, roads, bridges, &c., which are, indeed, all 

 of them, only different modes of present consump- 

 tion of the fruits of labour of various kinds to repro- 

 duce others, it is much better, as a general rule, 

 that the remainder of the products of industry should 

 be expended in luxuries, than that they should not 

 be produced at all. In regard to luxuries includ- 

 ing in this term all the expenditures made for the 

 gratification of appetite, taste, or vanity the disposi- 

 tions of men, in general, will sufficiently incline 

 them to these. There is no necessity for inculcating 

 the utility of such expenditures as encouragements 

 to industry. Against the importunity of the appe- 

 tites and desires of men, and against improvidence and 

 thoughtlessness of the future, doctor Franklin's les- 

 sons of economy are of great utility. But, looking 

 at the whole mass of society as a great engine of 

 production and consumption, we sliall inculcate a 

 different set of maxims, based on more comprehen- 

 sive principles. The example of doctor Franklin 

 himself would be a practical lesson, in this respect ; 

 for he was not illiberal of his time, or labour, or 

 money, in promoting those expenditures which had 

 the advancement of society for their object. These 

 are often such as gratify no immediate appetite or 

 taste. They look to the future. Their greatest en- 

 couragement is the honour which is paid to them by 

 the public opinion ; for if a man gains more distinc- 

 tion by encouraging a useful or ornamental art, 

 founding a school, or contributing to the construction 

 of a public work, than by riding in a coach, a gen- 

 erous motive is held out to him to turn a part of the 

 general consumption, of which his resources give 

 him the control, into these channels. The tastes 

 and habits of thinking of a people determine the di- 

 rection of a vast proportion of the general consump- 

 tion ; and the direction and amount of this consump- 

 tion again determine, in a great degree, those of 

 production. 



