REGULATE THE INTERCHANGE OF COMMODITIES. 187 



of the country. Our inquiry may then be confined to the questions. 

 Whether a greater amount of home labour is really permanently em- 

 ployed ? Whether our money going out of the country is really the 

 evil supposed ? And whether the advantage gained, if any, is worth 

 the sacrifice required ? The employment of labour necessarily depends 

 on there being work which wants doing, and the means of paying for 

 it. In most countries, and above all in new countries, there is plenty 

 of work which wants doing ; its execution only awaits there being 

 means of paying for it. It is work which would be profitable, but 

 means in advance must be first acquired. The amount of labour era- 

 ployed depends, then, on the amount of capital that exists in the 

 country, or can be drawn in from other countries. Some occupations, 

 indeed, can only be carried on advantageously with very cheap labour ; 

 and where the rate of wages is ordinarily high, can hardly exist. Bu,t 

 a higher rate of wages is on the whole a public benefit ; it is an ad- 

 vantage to the great body of society, and shows progress, because it 

 could not possibly be sustained without demand for labour. Where 

 the employment of capital is attended with such profit that the re- 

 turns for it are usually high, it is manifest that the present capital of 

 the country is not equal to the means of advantageously employing 

 it, and consequently that new employments for it are not urgently 

 wanted. Where the rate of -^ages is on the average, and, as com- 

 pared with many countries, high, new demands for labour tend to 

 raise it yet higher, — thus increasing the cost of every product ; and it 

 must be cheaper to import than to make many things that are wanted, 

 in all countries not greatly advanced in their career, even independ- 

 ently of natural facilities for particular pursuits enjoyed by other 

 nations. Where they can be advantageously conducted, manufactures 

 rise of themselves, or with that degree of fostering which consists in 

 giving information. First come those which are required in the 

 neighbourhood, and are sufficiently occupied in supplying its wants ; 

 then those which diffuse their products over a wider field ; and last of 

 all, and only under peculiarly favourable circumstances, those great 

 enterprises which aim at supplying the markets of the world. The 

 latter require for success cheap capital, cheap labour, the most perfect 

 machinery, the best power on the best terms, and easy access to the 

 best markets. They grow ; but they are not hot-house plants, and 

 cannot be forced. Profitable manufactures are a general benefit, in- 

 creasing national wealth. But if a very rich man resolved to have 



