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APPENDIX. 



I. ECONOMISTS AND DR. SMITH. 



THE two leading opinions which divide political inquirers 

 upon the sources of national wealth, are those of the Econo- 

 mists and of Dr. Smith. We purpose here to exhibit a 

 concise view of the objections to which both of these doc- 

 trines are eminently liable. As the general principle of a 

 distinction between productive and unproductive labour is 

 recognized by Dr. Smith, as we conceive his theory to be 

 extremely inconsistent with itself, and consider it to be an 

 imperfect approximation to that of the Economists, we shall 

 begin with a short examination of the principle on which it 

 depends. That eminent writer divides labourers into two 

 classes; those who, by adding to the value of some raw 

 material, or by assisting in the increase of their quantity, 

 realize or fix in a vendible commodity the effects of their 

 exertions ; and those whose labour leaves nothing in existence 

 after the moment of exertion, but perishes in the act of per- 

 formance. The former he denominates productive, the latter 

 unproductive labourers ; not meaning thereby to undervalue 

 the exertions of many useful kinds of work performed 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 employing a number of the 

 former; he ruins himself by keeping a multitude of the 

 latter. 



To begin with this illustration. The case of the menial 



