should it be in the societary world. Whence, however, comes the heat to which its motion and its force are due ? The answer to this question is found in the important principle, recently so well established, that motion is the cause of heat, as heat, in turn, is the cause of motion. The more the motion, the greater is the heat; and the greater the heat, the greater is the tendency towards acceleration of motion and of force. Desiring, now, to see the application of this simple principle to social science, the reader will do well to refer once more to the foregoing diagram. Doing this, he finds, on the left, a total absence of societary motion, of heat, and of force. Passing thence, gradually, towards the right, he finds a steady increase of all, until, at length, reaching the New England States, he finds more motion, and more heat, than in any other portion of the Western continent, and a larger amount of force. Throughout the world, human energy is developed in the ratio of the existence of differences among the people of whom the society is composed. "The more perfect a being, the more dissimilar," says Goëthe, "are the parts." In Ireland, India, Turkey, Portugal, Jamaica, and Carolina, all the parts are alike; and hence it is, that the potential energy of their people remains latent, that the circulation is sluggish, and that their men remain enslaved. In France, Germany, and Massachusetts, differences are numerous; and hence it is, that the powers of their people become more developed from day to day, that the circulation becomes more rapid, and that men become more free. The more rapid the circulation throughout the physical body, the more perfect is the distribution of force among its various parts, the higher is the health, and the greater is the force exerted. So, too, as we shall have occasion to see, is it in the social body-the distribution of the proceeds of labor becoming more equitable, and societary action more healthy, in the precise ratio of increase in the circulation. Look where we may, we find evidence of the universality of those great laws instituted for the government of matter in all its forms-heat, motion, and force, being everywhere found in the precise ratio of the development of individuality, and of the power of association and combination. Turning, however, to Messrs. Malthus and Ricardo we find the reverse of this, man becoming more and more the slave of nature, as he grows in the power of combination with his fellow-men, and the distribution becoming more unequal and unjust as communities more abound in wealth. CHAPTER XXXIV. OF DISTRIBUTION. I.-Of Wages, Profits, and Interest. 1. Of wages, profits, and interest. Large proportion, in the early stages of society, as signed to capital. 2. Capitalist's proportion diminishes as the cost of reproduction declines. 3. General law of distribution. Laborer's share increases in both its proportion and amount. That of the capitalist increases in amount, while diminishing in its proportion. Tendency of this law to produce equality in the condition of mankind. Its harmony and beauty. 4. Universal application of the law that is here propounded. 5. Labor's proportion increases as the prices of rude products and those of finished commodities tend to approximate to each other. That tendency found in all the countries in which employments become more diversified. The reverse of this found in all the countries that adopt the doctrines of the British school. 26. Erroneous views of Adam Smith in regard to the natural law regulating the charge for the use of money. Absence of consistency in the doctrines of the Ricardo-Malthusian school. The value of man rises as the rate of profit, interest, and rent, declines. § 1. CAPITAL, the instrument by means of which man acquires power over the forces of nature, is a result of the accumulated mental and physical efforts of the past. The fibre of the wood which Crusoe required for his bow had been at all times equally capable of rendering him service; but without an exercise of mental effort the bow would have remained unmade. Once made, its value was great, having been obtained at the cost of serious labor; but its utility was small, for it was capable of little work. Friday had no canoe. Had he desired to borrow that of Crusoe, the latter might have said: "Fish abound at a little distance from the shore. Without the help of my machine you will scarcely obtain food enough for yourself; whereas with it you will, in little time, take enough to supply us both. Give me three-fourths of all you take, and the remainder shall be your own." Hard as this might seem, Friday would have accepted the offer, profiting of Crusoe's capital though paying dearly for its use. Reflecting, however, that if he can become owner of a boat he will then retain the entire product, he next makes terms with Crusoe for the use of his knife, and by its aid succeeds in making one. Both being now capitalists their conditions have much approximated, notwithstanding the advances that Crusoe may himself have made. At first his wealth stood at 10, while that of Friday was at 0. The former has now reached 40, but the latter has attained to 10. Tendency towards equality is thus the certain result of that growth of wealth by means of which man is enabled to substitute mental for merely physical force. Every increase in his power over nature is but the preparation for greater progress in the same direction; therefore, here as everywhere, it is the first step which is the most costly yet the least productive. Look where we may we find man passing from the weaker to the more powerful instruments of production, the poor settler using wood in the production of iron, though surrounded by mineral coal capable of performing thrice the service with half the labor. The more the capability of rendering service the greater is the resistance to be overcome, whether we desire to command the aid of things or of men. The laws of nature are thus, as we see, of universal truth. § 2. The bow and the canoe enabling Friday to economize time, he gives his leisure to the construction of a knife and a sail; and all combine to give him power to construct a house, the quantity of labor required for reproducing and increasing capital diminishing with every stage of progress. The first stone-knife had been the fruit of far more effort than is now required for making one of bronze, and yet the latter is by very far the more efficient instrument. The axe of stone has now no value, though its services had at first been held as equal to three-fourths of those of the man who used it. The still more efficient axes of iron and steel coming into use, the bronze axe, in turn, declines in value. Mind obtaining command over matter the great natural forces become centred in man, who now discards the earlier instruments, preserving specimens only as curious evidences of the inferiority of his predecessors. Measuring himself against his products, man attributes to himself every increase of utility in the materials by which he is everywhere surrounded. The greater that utility the higher is his own value, and the less that of the things he The cost of reproduction steadily declining, he himself as steadily rises, every reduction in the value of existing capital being so much added to the value of the MAN. § 3. Little as was the work that could be done with the axe of stone its value to the owner was very great; and its use. therefore the man to whom he lent it should pay largely for The latter, cutting with it more wood in a day than without it he could have done in a month, though paying three-fourths of his product, finds his wages largely increased notwithstanding the large proportion claimed by its proprietor, his neighbor capitalist. The bronze axe being next obtained and proving far more useful, its owner, being asked to grant its use, is required to recollect that not only has the productiveness of labor greatly increased, but the quantity required to be given for the production of an axe has greatly decreased. He therefore demands but two-thirds of the product of the far more useful instrument. The distribution may now thus be stated : Total product. Laborer's share. Axe of stone............................................4.................. 1 Axe of bronze................ 8.................................................... 2.66...... Capitalist's share. The reward of labor has more than doubled; being an increased proportion of an increased quantity. The capitalist's share has not quite doubled, he receiving a diminished proportion of the same increased quantity. The position of the laborer which had been, at first, as 1 to 3, is now as 1 to 2, with great increase of power to become himself a capitalist. The axe of iron coming next, the cost of reproduction again diminishes while labor again increases in its proportion as compared with capital. The new instrument cuts twice as much as had done that of bronze, yet is its owner compelled to be content with claiming half the product. The new distribution will be as follows: ..2.66..... Capitalist. .........5.33 Axe of stone................. 4............ .......1 The axe of steel now coming, the product is again doubled, with further diminution in the cost of reproduction; and now the capitalist must content himself with a less proportion, the distribution being as follows: Total. Laborer. Capitalist. Axe of steel..............................................32.................19.20.................12.80 The laborer's share has increased; and, the product having largely increased, the augmentation of his quantity is very great. That of the capitalist has diminished in proportion; but, the product having so much increased, this reduction of proportion has been accompanied by a large increase in quantity, both thus profiting by the improvements that have been effected. Such is the great law governing the distribution of labor's products. Of all recorded in the book of science it is perhaps the most beautiful, being that one in virtue of which there is established a perfect harmony of real and true interests among the various classes of mankind. Still further, it establishes the fact that, however great may have been the oppressions of the many at the hands of the few, however large the accumulations resulting from the exercise of the power of appropriation, however striking the existing distinctions among men, all that is required for establishing everywhere perfect equality before the law, and for promoting a general equality of social condition, is the pursuit of a system tending to establish in the highest degree the power of association and the development of individuality, thereby maintaining peace and promoting the growth of wealth and population both at home and abroad. § 4. The law here given is true in reference to all descriptions of capital. The house, long since built, cost much more labor than now suffices to reproduce a very superior one, but it has so fallen in value as not to command in price, or rent, one half of what it did at first, and will ultimately be destroyed as wholly worthless. So, too, with money. Brutus charged almost one half for its yearly use, and in the days of Henry VIII. the legal interest was 10 per cent. It has now so much declined, that 4 per cent. is the established British rate. A decline like this furnishes the surest evidence that the labors of the present are becoming daily more productive, that the value of all commodities as measured by labor is steadily declining, that the laborer is rising towards equality with the capitalist, and that the real MAN is becoming more and more developed. Interest is always high in agricultural countries, money tending thence outwards. The few who possess this most powerful instrument expect a large remuneration for its use. The trader, too, must have large profits, being compelled to forego the high interest he might receive from lending out his money, even when not himself obliged to pay interest for the use of that of others. Large, however, as are the |