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wealbk04-第84章

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year of his occupancy; or till he can receive some return from

the land。 The annual expenses consist in the seed; in the wear

and tear of the instruments of husbandry; and in the annual

maintenance of the farmer's servants and cattle; and of his

family too; so far as any part of them can be considered as

servants employed in cultivation。 That part of the produce of the

land which remains to him after paying the rent ought to be

sufficient; first; to replace to him within a reasonable time; at

least during the term of his occupancy; the whole of his original

expenses; together with the ordinary profits of stock; and;

secondly; to replace to him annually the whole of his annual

expenses; together likewise with the ordering profits of stock。

Those two sorts of expenses are two capitals which the farmer

employs in cultivation; and unless they are regularly restored to

him; together with a reasonable profit; he cannot carry on his

employment upon a level with other employments; but; from a

regard to his own interest; must desert it as soon as possible

and seek some other。 That part of the produce of the land which

is thus necessary for enabling the farmer to continue his

business ought to be considered as a fund sacred to cultivation;

which; if the landlord violates; he necessarily reduces the

produce of his own land; and in a few years not only disables the

farmer from paying this racked rent; but from paying the

reasonable rent which he might otherwise have got for his land。

The rent which properly belongs to the landlord is no more than

the net produce which remains after paying in the completest

manner all the necessary expenses which must be previously laid

out in order to raise the gross or the whole produce。 It is

because the labour of the cultivators; over and above paying

completely all those necessary expenses; affords a net produce of

this kind that this class of people are in this system peculiarly

distinguished by the honourable appellation of the productive

class。 Their original and annual expenses are for the same reason

called; in this system; productive expenses; because; over and

above replacing their own value; they occasion the annual

reproduction of this net produce。

     The ground expenses; as they are called; or what the

landlord lays out upon the improvement of his land; are in this

system; too; honoured with the appellation of productive

expenses。 Till the whole of those expenses; together with the

ordinary profits of stock; have been completely repaid to him by

the advanced rent which he gets from his land; that advanced rent

ought to be regarded as sacred and inviolable; both by the church

and by the king; ought to be subject neither to tithe nor to

taxation。 If it is otherwise; by discouraging the improvement of

land the church discourages the future increase of her own

tithes; and the king the future increase of his own taxes。 As in

a well…ordered state of things; therefore; those ground expenses;

over and above reproducing in the completest manner their own

value; occasion likewise after a certain time a reproduction of a

net produce; they are in this system considered as productive

expenses。

     The ground expenses of the landlord; however; together with

the original and the annual expenses of the farmer; are the only

three sorts of expenses which in this system are considered as

productive。 All other expenses and all other orders of people;

even those who in the common apprehensions of men are regarded as

the most productive; are in this account of things represented as

altogether barren and unproductive。

     Artificers and manufacturers in particular; whose industry;

in the common apprehensions of men; increases so much the value

of the rude produce of land; are in this system represented as a

class of people altogether barren and unproductive。 Their labour;

it is said; replaces only the stock which employs them; together

with its ordinary profits。 That stock consists in the materials;

tools; and wages advanced to them by their employer; and is the

fund destined for their employment and maintenance。 Its profits

are the fund destined for the maintenance of their employer。

Their employer; as he advances to them the stock of materials;

tools; and wages necessary for their employment; so he advances

to himself what is necessary for his own maintenance; and this

maintenance he generally proportions to the profit which he

expects to make by the price of their work。 Unless its price

repays to him the maintenance which he advances to himself; as

well as the materials; tools; and wages which he advances to his

workmen; it evidently does not repay to him the whole expense

which he lays out upon it。 The profits of manufacturing stock

therefore are not; like the rent of land; a net produce which

remains after completely repaying the whole expense which must be

laid out in order to obtain them。 The stock of the farmer yields

him a profit as well as that of the master manufacturer; and it

yields a rent likewise to another person; which that of the

master manufacturer does not。 The expense; therefore; laid out in

employing and maintaining artificers and manufacturers does no

more than continue; if one may say so; the existence of its own

value; and does not produce any new value。 It is therefore

altogether a barren and unproductive expense。 The expense; on the

contrary; laid out in employing farmers and country labourers;

over and above continuing the existence of its own value;

produces a new value; the rent of the landlord。 It is therefore a

productive expense。

     Mercantile stock is equally barren and unproductive with

manufacturing stock。 It only continues the existence of its own

value; without producing any new value。 Its profits are only the

repayment of the maintenance which its employer advances to

himself during the time that he employs it; or till he receives

the returns of it。 They are only the repayment of a part of the

expense which must be laid out in employing it。

     The labour of artificers and manufacturers never adds

anything to the value of the whole annual amount of the rude

produce of the land。 It adds; indeed; greatly to the value of

some particular parts of it。 But the consumption which in the

meantime it occasions of other parts is precisely equal to the

value which it adds to those parts; so that the value of the

whole amount is not; at any one moment of time; in the least

augmented by it。 The person who works the lace of a pair of fine

ruffles; for example; will sometimes raise the value of perhaps a

pennyworth of flax to thirty pounds sterling。 But though at first

sight he appears thereby to multiply the value of a part of the

rude produce about seven thousand and two hundred times; he in

reality adds nothing to the value of the whole annual amount of

the rude produce。 The working of that lace costs him perhaps two

years' labour。 The thirty pounds which he gets for it when it is

finished is no more than the repayment of the subsistence which

he advances to him
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