Page:Manual of Political Economy.djvu/134

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CHAPTER VIII.

ON THE INCREASE OF CAPITAL.

Increased production of wealth implies an increase of capital.IN the preceding chapter we have remarked upon some of the more prominent conditions which determine the increased production of wealth, as far as it depends upon an increase of the cultivated land, and upon an increase in the number of the labouring population. But larger production also requires an increase of capital. It must be evident from the remarks we have made upon capital, that an increase of capital is as essential to a larger production of wealth as an increase of land and labour. If land, for instance, is more highly cultivated, additional capital must be applied to it: and new land cannot be brought under cultivation without the application of capital to it. If more labourers are employed, a larger fund, in the form of circulating capital, must be devoted to pay their wages. Improvements in the various processes of industry cannot be introduced without the expenditure of capital. Machinery, warehouses, manufactories, railroads, ships, all such industrial appliances as these, exhibit the various modes in which the fixed capital of a nation assists her industry.

and, therefore, increased saving.It has been previously asserted as a fundamental proposition, that capital, whether fixed or circulating, is the result of saving. Increased capital, therefore, implies increased saving; and hence the laws may be determined which regulate the increase of capital by considering the causes upon which depends the increased saving or accumulation of wealth. There are two principal motives which induce men to save; and these are, first, a prudent foresight with regard to the future; and, secondly, a desire to make wealth by an advantageous investment.