transported to so great a distance as those of
clothing, and do not so readily become an object
of foreign commerce. When they are
superabundant in the country which produces
them, it frequently happens, even in the present
commercial state of the world, that they
are of no value to the landlord. A good stone
quarry in the neighbourhood of London would
afford a considerable rent. In many parts of
Scotland and Wales it affords none. Barren
timber for building is of great value in a populous
and well-cultivated country, and the
land which produces it affords a considerable
rent. But in many parts of North America,
the landlord would be much obliged to any
body who would carry away the greater part
of his large trees. In some parts of the Highlands
of Scotland, the bark is the only part of
the wood which, for want of roads and water-carriage,
can be sent to market; the timber is
left to rot upon the ground. When the materials
of lodging are so superabundant, the
part made use of is worth only the labour and
expense of fitting it for that use. It affords
no rent to the landlord, who generally grants
the use of it to whoever takes the trouble of
asking it. The demand of wealthier nations,
however, sometimes enables him to get a rent
for it. The paving of the streets of London
has enabled the owners of some barren rocks
on the coast of Scotland to draw a rent from
what never afforded any before. The woods
of Norway, and of the coasts of the Baltic,
find a market in many parts of Great Britain,
which they could not find at home, and thereby
afford some rent to their proprietors.
Countries are populous, not in proportion
to the number of people whom their produce
can clothe and lodge, but in proportion to that
of those whom it can feed. When food is
provided, it is easy to find the necessary clothing
and lodging. But though these are at
hand, it may often be difficult to find food.
In some parts of the British dominions, what
is called a house may be built by one day's
labour of one man. The simplest species of
clothing, the skins of animals, require somewhat
more labour to dress and prepare them
for use. They do not, however, require a
great deal. Among savage or barbarous nations,
a hundredth, or little more than a hundredth
part of the labour of the whole year,
will be sufficient to provide them with such
clothing and lodging as satisfy the greater
part of the people. All the other ninety-nine
parts are frequently no more than enough to
provide them with food.
But when, by the improvement and cultivation
of land, the labour of one family can
provide food for two, the labour of half the
society becomes sufficient to provide food for
the whole. The other half, therefore, or at
least the greater part of them, can be employed
in providing other things, or in satisfying
the other wants and fancies of mankind.
Clothing and lodging, household furniture,
and what is called equipage, are the principal
objects of the greater part of those wants and
fancies. The rich man consumes no more
food than his poor neighbour. In quality it
may be very different, and to select and prepare
it may require more labour and art;
but in quantity it is very nearly the same.
But compare the spacious palace and great
wardrobe of the one, with the hovel and the
few rags of the other, and you will be sensible
that the difference between their clothing,
lodging, and household furniture, is almost as
great in quantity as it is in quality. The desire
of food is limited in every man by the
narrow capacity of the human stomach; but
the desire of the conveniencies and ornaments
of building, dress, equipage, and household
furniture, seems to have no limit or certain
boundary. Those, therefore, who have the
command of more food than they themselves
can consume, are always willing to exchange
the surplus, or, what is the same thing, the
price of it, for gratifications of this other kind.
What is over and above satisfying the limited
desire, is given for the amusement of those
desires which cannot be satisfied, but seem to
be altogether endless. The poor, in order to
obtain food, exert themselves to gratify those
fancies of the rich; and to obtain it more certainly,
they vie with one another in the cheapness
and perfection of their work. The number
of workmen increases with the increasing
quantity of food, or with the growing improvement
and cultivation of the lands; and as the
nature of their business admits of the utmost
subdivisions of labour, the quantity of materials
which they can work up, increases in a
much greater proportion than their numbers.
Hence arises a demand for every sort of material
which human invention can employ,
either usefully or ornamentally, in building,
dress, equipage, or household furniture; for
the fossils and minerals contained in the bowels
of the earth, the precious metals, and the
precious stones.
Food is, in this manner, not only the original
source of rent, but every other part of the
produce of land which afterwards affords rent,
derives that part of its value from the improvement
of the powers of labour in producing
food, by means of the improvement
and cultivation of land.
Those other parts of the produce of land,
however, which afterwards afford rent, do not
afford it always. Even in improved and cultivated
countries, the demand for them is not
always such as to afford a greater price than
what is sufficient to pay the labour, and replace,
together with its ordinary profits, the
stock which must be employed in bringing
them to market. Whether it is or is not such,
depends upon different circumstances.