第92章

Even instruments that they do not own, but of which they pay for the use, as dwelling-houses, rented by them, are in a great measure, reduced to the same order as those which they would themselves form.In the rank of society above them, improvidence is long before it show on the dwelling;it attacks first other funds; but, as they have not these other funds, it necessarily shows itself in the funds they have.Thus, if a family of improvident habits get the use of the best finished dwelling, they soon so damage it, as to deprive it of its efficiency.Some manifestation of what we call careless habits, want, that is, of taking thought of the consequences of what one is doing, breaks, we shall say, a pane or two of glass, in some of the windows, To get these replaced is present expense, and trouble;demands, perhaps, the doing without a pot or two of liquor, or some other immediate enjoyment, and requires the trouble of going for the glazier, or acting for him.An old hat or two, or some bundles of rags, stuffed into the holes, shifts off this denial of present pleasure, or ease, to some other time, a time which, similar habits, while they render the arrival of it more needful, indefinitely postpone, and the window that had been formed to exclude wind and wet, and admit light, serves, at last, to let in the wet and wind, and shut out the light.Pursue the effects of these habits, this absorption in the present, and heedlessness of the future, as they show themselves upon the plaster, the floor, the ceiling, and we shall find them soon doing away with the efficiency of the whole dwelling, for procuring enjoyment, or saving toil, and reducing it, as far as it.

is a provision for the future wants of its inmates, to a condition little superior to that of the miserable mud hut.

The presence of this evil, to a greater or less extent, is marked, by the high rates of interest given, for the petty sums borrowed by individuals of this class.The increase that is said to have taken place in the number of pawn-brokers' shops in England, and the high rate of interest there demanded, and given, by mechanics, for small loans afforded to one another, would seem to indicate its presence, to a degree sufficient to alarm a lover of his country.(61)When we come to treat of the causes that seem the great agents in diminishing the stock owned by a community, the mode in which the strength of the accumulative principle is weakened, and extravagance introduced among the lower classes, and the effects arising from these circumstances, will present themselves to our notice.It will then appear, that this diversity of the orders of instruments owned throughout a community, can never exceed certain limits.

On this account, and because the stock belonging to the lower classes, when the accumulative principle is much lower with them than with the higher ranks, is always inconsiderable, the orders to which instruments belong in the same society, and the returns they make, or the ordinary profits of stock, may be said to be nearly equal throughout every community.

This uniformity in the orders of instruments, and in the returns made by them, in conjunction with the system of calculation, by which, as we have seen, transactions relating to the transfer and accumulation of capital are regulated, produces effects on the conceptions of the individuals concerned, worthy of being noticed.

The rules by which all persons regulate their proceedings in the construction of instruments, are drawn from the returns made by them, that is, the profits yielded by them.If an instrument, or a series of instruments, which it is proposed to construct, promise to yield the usual profits, the enterprise is undertaken, and, if it make the anticipated returns, it is considered a profitable, or gaining business; if it do not promise to yield, and do not yield the usual profits, it is considered an unprofitable, or losing business.Probably, too, it is not considered, that this mode of expression is correct, only as relative to a particular society, and not absolutely, to all societies, and that what in one country or time, may be an unprofitable undertaking, will, without any change of returns, be profitable in another country or time, and vice versa.

Thus, suppose an English land-holder, whose income fir exceeded his outgoings, to be asked why he does not apply his means to enclosing and draining some sea marsh, his answer probably would be, it would not pay.

It would only yield me two per cent when finished, and landed property ought to yield four, I can always find estates to purchase, which will produce that.Ask him, why, instead of stone fences round his fields, which decay, or hedges, which require constant trimming and dressing, he does not put iron railings, he will give the same answer, "it would not pay."Ask the house-builder, why this is not cut stone, instead of brick, that oak instead of pine, this again iron, instead of oak, or that copper instead of iron, and consequently the whole fabric doubly durable, he also will reply "it will not pay." In all these cases, and a thousand others that might be put, the answer is abundantly sufficient as regards the individual, but is no answer at all as regard~ the society.The only answer that can be given in old countries at least, for such or similar neglect of materials, is, that there, the effective desire of accumulation is not sufficiently strong, to reach them, in the present state of science and art.Were there fewer prodigal land-holders, in England, estates could not be so easily got, and part of the funds of those who buy estates, would be laid out in improving land at present unproductive, and the salt marsh might be drained.In the same way, houses and other instruments would become more substantial, and better finished, were the strength of the accumulative principle throughout the whole society to advance.