204 
Of the Influence of Capital 
[July, 
offered for the productive employment of additional capital, was it not then, and 
there, that they were most speedily filled ? Was it not then also a matter of com- 
parative indifference to the society, how rapidly national capital was destroyed; 
because fresh accumulations were already prepared, and courting employment, to 
supply any deficiency which might occur ? 
From this generally received opinion, that the rate of profits must continually 
sink, till profits are lost altogether, or till they are so trifling, that the motive to 
accumulation ceases to act, we are led to conclude, that the agency of capital in 
production is a self-acting principle, which hurries its unfortunate possessors to their 
inevitable ruin; a power which propels itself forward, in despite of the wishes of 
those who happen to be proprietors and employers of so unruly an auxiliary 
But capital, it must be recollected, is inert per se t and possesses no inherent powers 
of yielding increase or revenue ; and it can effect nothing, in as far as the periodical 
reproduction of wealth is concerned, without the cooperation of the reproductive 
principle, and of the labour of man, guiding its energies in the particular direction 
he desires. This agent, powerful as it is, is under complete controul; why then 
should its proprietors voluntarily permit it to work their ruin ? and this it will 
most unquestionably do, if agricultural capitalists persevere in adding to their pro* 
ductive outlay, after they cease to obtain increasing aggregate sums of net produce 
from their lands ; and if manufacturers continue to increase the production of their 
wares, after their income, in the aggregate, has experienced its greatest increase. 
It has been my endeavour to prove, that the progress of -wealth does not depend 
on the progress of increasing accumulations of capital ; but upon increases of the 
power of employing capital, in a manner which shall secure to its employers 
increasing aggregates of profit ; and because of the intense interest all classes 
must feel in keeping production closed up as nearly as possible, to that point which 
man s piesent numbers, and present knowledg-e of productive arts, permit. I likewise 
conceive, that there will he a continual pressure of production against the means of 
employing capital ; precisely as there must ever he a constant pressure of mankind 
against the means of subsistence. These, too, indeed, are in fact, convertible pro- 
positions ; for what does increasing the means of subsistence mean? It must be 
answered, that increasing what I have denominated the primary description of wealth, 
constitutes an increase of these means and if it be asked, what are the means of 
employing increased capital in production ? it must be answered, that these means 
exist only when more of the means of subsistence can be obtained as a recompense 
for the employers of increasing quantities of capital. 
From the way in which I have treated progressive enrichment, after the general 
employment of capital has been introduced, it may seem, that if my doctrines he 
correct, profits must occasionally rise much higher in their rates than experience 
warrants us m admitting : that in a country, for instance, which in a short period 
doubles or trebles its productively employed capital, the profits of stock wiU^ 
sometimes found, during the interval, at 200 or 300 per cent. But even when new 
investments are most eagerly seeking new capital, we must keep in mind, that in 
manufactures the openings for the employment of capital, consequent on imple- 
ments, may follow, with much more rapidity than suffices for thegrowthof additional 
labours to meet the new demand for bands ; because capital can be accumulated 
m a much shorter period than population can spring into being. The wages ot 
abourer must therefore rise, and capitalists must compete with each other 
o tain workmen, even on terms less advantageous than before ; the object the) 
eagerly pursue being to increase the aggregate amount of their receipts, without 
lenceto the oscillations in the rate which, during the interval, may be occurriu 3 
