ADAM SMITH. 265 



exertions ; and those whose labour leaves nothing in exis- 

 tence after the moment of exertion, but perishes in the act 

 of performance. The former he denominates productive, the 

 latter unproductive labourers ; not meaning thereby to un- 

 dervalue the exertions of many useful kinds of work per- 

 formed by the unproductive order, but merely asserting 

 that they do not augment the wealth of the community. 

 Thus, the work of the farm-servant, or manufacturing 

 labourer, is fixed in a useful commodity ; the work of a 

 menial servant perishes with the motion of his hands, and 

 adds to the value of nothing. A man grows rich by em- 

 ploying a number of the former ; he ruins himself by keep- 

 ing a multitude of the latter. 



To begin with this illustration. The case of the menial 

 servant must not be compared with that of the labourer em- 

 ployed in farming or manufactures. The menial is em- 

 ployed by the consumer, and for his own use exclusively; 

 the farm-servant and journeyman are employed by another 

 party, by whom the consumer is supplied. The former is, 

 properly speaking, in the predicament of a commodity 

 bought or hired for consumption or use ; the latter rather 

 resembles a tool bought or hired for working withal. But, 

 at any rate, there is no such difference as Dr. Smith sup- 

 poses between the effects of maintaining a multitude of 

 these several kinds of workmen. It is the extravagant 

 quantity, not the peculiar quality of the labour thus paid 

 for, that brings on ruin. A man is ruined if he keeps more 

 servants than he can afford or employ, and does not let 

 them out for hire, exactly as he is ruined by purchasing 

 more food than he can consume, or by employing more 

 workmen in any branch of manufactures than his business 

 requires, or his profits will pay. 



But it may be observed, in general, that there is no solid 

 distinction between the effective powers of the two classes 

 whom Dr. Smith denominates productive and unproductive 

 labourers. The end of all labour is to augment the wealth 

 of the community ; that is to say, the fund from which the 

 members of that community derive their subsistence, their 

 comforts and enjoyments. To confine the definition of 

 wealth to mere subsistence is absurd. Those who argue 

 thus admit butcher's meat and manufactured liquors to be 



