CAPITAL AND ENTERPRISE. 493 



CAPITAL AND ENTERPRISE. 



THE INFLUENCES BY WHICH THEY ARE TRANSFERRED FROM PLACB TO PI.ACB. 



In a late number, reflectiug on the tendoricy of enterprise and capi'.al to ttee fiom tho 

 country to cities, and thence inferring tliat facilities exist in the towns in the vvay of Ciii)itiil 

 and encounigemcnt in various ways, not to be enjoyed in the country, wo itivoked light on 

 the subject, and took the liberty of referring to particuliu" genllenK^n, publici.'^ts and autborH, 

 whose minds had been led, by their studios and professions, to such subjects. 



From one of them we received tlie following, in a very few days after that number waa 

 published, but yet not in time for the April issue. 



We shall give, as soon as possible, the form of the general laws und(!r which associations 

 of capitalists are so easily formed, believing, with our correspondent, that the use of money 

 should be left as free as possible, and that wherever the trade in it shall be least hampered 

 by legislative restrictions, there will it most abound, and there will it attract and rcvvai^d 

 labor and entcrpi'ise of every sort. We have not room for these laws in tiiis number. la 

 fact, thero will be in it too little vaiiety, perhaps, " any way w-e can fix it ;" but we rely on 

 the solid value and wholesomeness to make uj> for the want of variety in our bill of fare for 

 this month. The Letters on Sheep Husbandry necessarily exclude lighter articles, but havo 

 they not their inti-insic and amply remunerating value for all who have, or are likely ever 

 to have, any concern in that very important branch of husbandly ? 



We shall look. too. mto the subject of Inspection Laws, about which our Mainland friends 

 are moving, as we apprehend, with not the longest-sighted views of the subject ; but wo 

 don't yet exactly see our own way clear. In fact, we want time for investigation. Here, 

 too, we hope for the aid of a gentleman who has the elegant leisure and the benevolent dis- 

 position to give us the assistance of his powerful pen, which illustrates whatever it touches. 



Dear Sir : You appear to be at a loss to understand the causes of the apparent 

 deterioration of houses and farms in Western New- York ; of the transfer of cap- 

 ital from the country to the cities ; and of the absence of value in the lands of 

 Virginia and South Carolina: and somewhat disposed to think that all are con- 

 nected with the state of the laws regulating the rate of interest. 



Ail the facts are, as I think, easily explained by aid of a very simple law, that 

 is universally true, as all laws must be, and which, nevertheless, is opposed to 

 the very prevalent doctrines of Ricardo and Malthus. Being so, I shall not now 

 insist upon it as regards Europe, but you can readily satisfy yourself by a com- 

 parison of Massachusetts, New- York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana, on one 

 hand, with Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and South Carolina on the otlier, that 

 it is universally true in these United States. It will be found equally true in 

 comparing one part of the same State with another part — as, for instance, Lowell 

 and its vicinity with the neighborhood of Cape Cod ; Schuylkill county, Pa., with 

 Bucks, or Delaware, or Adams, whose progress is comparatively slow ; or Ham- 

 ilton county, Ohio, with some of those not yet possessed of the facilities afford- 

 ed by railroads or canals ; and equally so in comparing the several parts of New- 

 York, Philadelphia or Baltimore with each other. It is as follows : 



Wherever population tends to increase, there exists a tendency to a still more 

 rapid increase of wealth, which manifests itself in an increased demand for labor, 

 increased wages, increased tendency to the division of land into smaller farms 

 and into building lots, increase in the number of houses, and improvement in. 

 their character and appearance, as v/ell as in those of the people by whom they 

 are occupied. Whenever, on the contrary, in any country or place, population 

 becomes stationary, or tends to decrease, there arises a tendency to a diminution 

 of wealth more rapid than that of population, accompanied by a state of things 

 directlv the reverse of that above described. Such is the law, and I will now 

 (1013; 



