Principles of Social Science

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858, by

H. C. CAREY,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of

Pennsylvania.

CONTENTS ·

VOL. III.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

OF PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION.

1. Every act of consumption also an act of production-

therefore, the measure of the other

PAGE

the one being,

2. Production consists in the direction of the forces of nature to the service

of man. For obtaining command of nature, man must qualify himself by

first obtaining command over his own latent powers. Identity of the physi-

cal and social laws.......................................................................................

23. Man the ultimate object of all production. Demand, the cause of supply.

The more numerous the men, and the greater the power of combination, the

greater the demand

4. Production grows as the power of the trader and transporter declines.

That decline a consequence of diversification in the demand for human

powers

25. Labor-power the most perishable of all commodities. Perishes, unless the

demand follows instantly upon its production

26. Waste of labor one of the conditions of early society and scattered popula-

tion. Errors of Mr. Malthus and his disciples............

..... 31

27. Wages and productive power of England, at various periods.

28. Wages and production of the people of Scotland, of the past and present, 37

29. The more continuous and steady the societary motion, the more instant

the demand for, and the economy of, labor. That continuity the test of real

civilization. Diversity of employments indispensable to its existence. Waste

of power in, and consequent poverty of, all purely agricultural countries..... 38

10. Continuity in the demand for labor, with growing commerce, to be found

in those countries in which raw materials and finished commodities most ap-

proximate in prices

VOL. III.-1

(i)

11. The more that matter tends to take upon itself its highest form, the more
continuous and steady must be the societary motion, and the greater the eco-

12. Errors of modern economists in regard to productive and unproductive

labor. All labor productive which tends to enable man more thoroughly to

direct the forces of nature to his service-wealth consisting in the existence

of that power of direction. The greater the power of man over nature, the

more rapid the progress of accumulation

CHAPTER XXXIX.

OF ACCUMULATION.

21. Power of accumulation, in both the natural and social world, in the ratio

of the circulation

22. Capital, the instrument by means of which man is enabled to direct the

natural forces to his service. Power of association grows, as he obtains in-

creased command over the instrument. Declines, as it obtains command

over him

23. Movable capital declines in its proportions, as compared with that which

is fixed that decline being an evidence of advancing civilization. Com-

merce grows with this change of proportions

§ 4. Centralization increases the proportion of movable capital — that change

being an evidence of declining civilization. Historic illustrations. Increase

of movable capital in all the present free-trade countries

5. Fixed capital increases in its proportions, as the prices of raw materials
and finished commodities more and more approximate-declining as they
recede from each other

...................................................................................................

6. Errors of modern economists in regarding saving as the cause of the

growth of capital

7. That growth due to the economy of human effort. That economy a conse-

quence of diversification of employments, and consequent combination of

action. Waste of human power in all the countries which follow in the train

of Britain. Resistance to the British system, and its effects

8. Errors of Adam Smith in regard to the origin of capital ....

9. Inconsistencies of British economists

10. Capital grows with the growth of local centres, with constant increase in

the power of production, and in the rapidity of circulation. Summary of the

definitions thus far given in the present work.

CHAPTER XL.

OF CIRCULATION.

1. Division of land a consequence of increase in the power of combination

22. Little circulation of either land or man, in the earlier stages of society.

Large proportion then borne by movable to fixed capital

..... 78

23. Circulation increases in its rapidity, in the direct ratio of the tendency of

capital to become fixed and immovable. Historic illustrations ..................

24. The more rapid the circulation, the greater the tendency towards the cre-

ation of local centres, towards the development of individuality, and towards

having society assume its natural form

5. Circulation diminishes in its rapidity as land becomes consolidated, and

movable capital increases in its proportions. Phenomena presented for exa-

mination by Greece, Italy, and Spain.

26. Circulation becomes more rapid as employments become diversified, and

land becomes divided.....

27. The more perfect the security of property, the greater is the tendency

towards having it become fixed, land then becoming divided. Social pheno-

mena exhibited by France

28. Tendency of British policy to promote increase in the proportions of mova-

ble capital, at the expense of that which is fixed. Consequent sluggishness

of circulation, in all the countries subject to it.........................................................................................................

29. Circulation becomes more rapid in the ratio of the tendency towards ap-

proximation in the prices of rude products and finished commodities. That

tendency grows in all the countries that follow in the lead of Colbert and of

France, while declining in all of those that follow in the train of the Ricardo-

Malthusian school......

10. Tendency of the British colonial system to produce stoppage of the cir-

culation. Its effects, as exhibited in the past and present of the United

States

11. Increase in the proportion borne, in the United States, by movable capi-

tal, and consequent sluggishness of circulation. Their growing dependence

on the movements of the trader.....

101

12. The more rapid the circulation, the greater the force exerted. Force in-
creases in all the countries that follow in the train of Colbert, while declining
in those which adopt the doctrines of the British school ...........

102

13. Difference between Adam Smith and the modern British economists.

The one regarded commerce as the handmaid of agriculture. The other looks

to trade as master of the societary movement..................

103

14. The more rapid the circulation, the more equitable the distribution.

Identity of the physical and social laws ............................................................................................................................................... 105

CHAPTER XLI.

OF DISTRIBUTION.

1. Of wages, profits, and interest. Large proportion assigned to capital, in

the early stages of society

109