Ch. viii. Of the Agricultural System. 125 



have decidedly the advantage ; and altogether, 

 perhaps, the United States may be produced as 

 an instance of the agricultural system in which 

 the condition of the labouring classes is the best 

 of any that we know. 



The instances where, under the agricultural 

 system, the condition of the lower classes of so- 

 ciety is very wretched, are more frequent. When 

 the accumulation of capital stops, whatever may 

 be the cause, the population, before it comes to a 

 stand, will always be pressed on as near to the 

 limits of the actual means of subsistence, as the 

 habits of the lower classes of the society will 

 allow; that is, the real wages of labour will sink, 

 till they are only just sufficient to maintain a sta- 

 tionary population. Should this happen, as it 

 frequently does, while land is still in abundance 

 and capital scarce, the profits of stock will natu- 

 rally be high ; but corn will be very cheap, owing 

 to the goodness and plenty of the land, and the 

 stationary demand for it, notwithstanding the high 

 profits of stock ; while these high profits, together 

 with the want of skill and proper division of labour, 

 which usually attend a scanty capital, will render 

 all domestic manufactured commodities compa- 

 ratively very dear. This state of things will na- 

 turally be unfavourable to the generation of those 

 habits of prudential restraint which most fre- 

 quently arise from the custom of enjoying conve- 

 niences and comforts, and it is to be expected 

 that the population will not stop till the wages of 

 labour, estimated even in food, are very low. But 



