202 ADAM SMITH. 



facturers of every civilized community. The produce of the 

 labour is, in all these cases, calculated to supply either the 

 necessities, the comforts, or the luxuries of society ; and that 

 nation has more real wealth than another, which possesses 

 more of all those commodities. If this is not admitted, then 

 we can compare the two countries only in respect of their 

 relative shares of articles indispensably requisite, and produced 

 in greatest abundance, considering the soil and climate of 

 each : and, as nothing which is not necessary is to be reckoned 

 valuable, a nation wallowing in all manner of comforts and 

 enjoyments is to be deemed no richer than a horde fed upon 

 the smallest portion of the cheapest grain, or roots and water, 

 which is sufficient to support human life. 



But it is maintained that, admitting the wealth of a com- 

 munity to be augmented by the labour of those whom 

 Dr. Smith denominates unproductive, still they are in a 

 different predicament from the productive class, inasmuch as 

 they do not augment the exchangeable value of any separate 

 portions of the society's stock neither increasing the quan- 

 tity of that stock, nor adding to the value of what formerly 

 existed. To this, however, it may be replied, that it appears 

 of very little consequence whether the wants of the com- 

 munity are supplied directly by men, or mediately by men 

 with the intervention of matter whether we receive certain 

 benefits and conveniences from those men at once, or only in 

 the form of inanimate and disposable substances. Dr. Smith 

 would admit that labour to be productive which realized 

 itself in a stock, though that stock were destined to perish 

 the next instant. If a player or musician, instead of charming 

 our ears, were to produce something which, when applied to 

 our senses, would give us pleasure for a single moment of 

 time, their labour would be called productive, although the 

 produce were to perish in the very act of employment. 

 Wherein, then, lies the difference ? Merely in this that we 

 must consume the one produce at a certain time and place, 

 and may use the other in a latitude somewhat, though but 

 little, more extensive. This difference, however, disappears 

 altogether, when we reflect that the labour would still be 

 reckoned productive which should give us a tangible equi- 



