of capital renders mills scarce, and the mill owner has it in his power to fix his own price, as was done by the landlords* in former times. The cause then, as now, was the unproductiveness of labour and consequent scarcity of all those aids to labour, termed capital.

The system of emigration, as it is now attempted to be forced, is little better than wholesale murder. Instead of relieving industry from its shackles, and lightening the load of taxation, it is deemed best to transport the most valuable portions of the labouring community, and export capital for their employment, when, under a proper system, it would yield larger profits and higher wages at home. Having arrived at the conclusion that the people must go abroad, they are not permitted to go to the United States, or to Canada, where they would have, in every settlement they might make, advantages arising out of the labours of the settlers of the previous years, in the making of roads and other improvements, but they are sent to

colony is 95, of whom only one third find even occasional employment at their trades, and the remainder either obtain a little land to commence farming, or work as general labourers, or, as the last resort, go out as fishermen. This class appears to be the least likely to accumulate property,' on account of their dependence on irregular and merely accidental engagements. It must be obvious that they could earn vastly more at home.

more.

What is there in this colony, even now, after the first years of extreme distress have been passed, that should lead any man, either with or without capital, to go to it? He can earn more at home, and if he will endure the same inconveniences and privations that he must do there, he will lay up There is certainly nothing that should induce the cultivator of the worst soil in the United States, or the owner of any capital, so to do. The fertile lands first occupied do not yield high profits, or high wages, but as population and capital increase, and cultivation is extended over inferior soils, or those more distant, but fertile, wages and profits will rise, and after a time the return to labour and capital may possibly be nearly as high as in England.

Among the many rights enjoyed by the feudal lords, was that of ban-mills: 'that is, of mills at which the vassals were obliged to grind their corn, for 'which they paid toll in kind. The oldest mention of these occurs in the eleventh century. "We must not, however," says Beckman "attribute the 'exercise of this right wholly to oppression: the building of mills was always 'considered expensive, and was then considered as an undertaking of such mag'nitude that those who erected them stipulated with the neighbourhood for 'the exclusive privilege of grinding, as an indemnification; but it cannot be de'nied that it was often unjustly exacted, and it is to this day a subject of grievance on many parts of the continent."'-Domestic Life in England, p. 196.

the Cape of Good Hope, Van Dieman's Land, Swan River, or the Eastern coast of South America, where every thing must be created for them. What is the consequence? misery, distress and privation of every kind! Fertile land is abundant, but cabbages are sold at 2s. 6d. (60 cents) each! potatoes 1s. 8d. (40 cents) per lb. Peas 2s. (48 cents) per quart, unshelled! Watermelons 10s. 6d. ($2 52) each! Cucumbers 1s. (24 cents) fresh meat 1s. 6d. to 2s. (36 to 48 cents) per lb.! and occasionally the scarcity of meat is so great that" condemned salt beef which had been buried as unfit for food," is disinterred and sold for 1s. (24 cents) per lb. Flour, too, is at times so scarce as to sell for 1s. (24 cents) per lb. !* Such have been the results of the Colony of Western Australia, and such must be the result of every similar enterprise, where men are sent forth to depend upon a supply of fertile land, without the advantage of previous expenditure of capital.

In the United States, emigration from the east to the west is very great, but it is not forced. High wages give to every man the means of accumulation, and he changes his place of residence when his means warrant him in so doing. He goes to new lands that have the benefit of roads and canals made through those previously settled, enabling him to send his produce cheaply to the cities and towns, and receive thence, at sinall cost, the articles. required for his consumption. He has the aid of steamboats and rail roads, and the capital thus invested for the advantage of the land that he purchases, enables him to improve his condition rapidly. Emigration thus carried on is a natural and healthful operation, but if the government were to undertake to transport thousands and tens of thousands of persons without capital; and if, instead of taking them to Indiana and Illinois, which are sufficiently near to benefit by the roads and canals of New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, and by the steamboats of the Mississippi, they were taken to the neighbourhood of the Rocky Mountains, far from all settlements, what would be the consequence? Could it be other than poverty, distress, wretchedness, waste of labour and of capital? We think the reader will agree with us that it could not.

* These were the prices of the early years of the settlement.

Of all the absurdities that now obtain, we know of none equal to the present system of colonization. Men are sent, at enormous cost, to places where they are comparatively unproductive, in order to prevent them from going where they would be productive. Capital is wasted, that men may be sent to starve upon fertile lands, when, if they must go, they could be sent, at comparatively trifling cost, to a country where they would thrive upon the inferior soils.

Each man who emigrates to the United States is more advantageous to Great Britain than any five men who go to Australia, yet all the cost of establishing a colony is undergone, notwithstanding the experience already acquired that all colonies cost more than they are worth.

It is to be hoped that in time common sense will prevail, and that the lives and property of thousands will not thus be wasted, with a view to establish the theory that profits are large and wages high when only the most fertile lands are cultivated, while all experience proves the reverse.

We think that the time is not distant when it will be admitted that the true policy is to make men comfortable at home, and when it will be discovered that their productive powers are greater there, aided by capital, than they can be in the wilds of Australia, where a grist mill is an undertaking of such magnitude,' that the owner can demand one third of the wheat for grinding the remainder, and where all aids to labour are obtained with extreme difficulty.

If it be asked why wages are high in the United States, where, as yet, population is limited, the answer is readily given. Security, peace, and light taxation, have, at all times, tended to render labour productive, and to cause a rapid growth of capital. While all other nations have expended, in war, a large portion of their production, the United States have preferred to employ their means in adding to the machinery by which labour is rendered productive, the result of which is that, at this time, the agriculturist, the manufacturer, and the sailor are aided in their operations by better machinery than exists in any other part of the world.

CHAPTER VI.

EFFECT OF THE EXTENSION OF CULTIVATION UPON THE PROFITS OF CAPITAL.

We have traced the gradual progress of cultivation, and have shown that as it is extended, and as production increases, the proportion of the landlord diminishes, and will now proceed to inquire what effect this diminution of proportion has upon the profits of capital, or interest.

When the labour of three years would produce only a farm capable of yielding 200 bushels, one fourth of which was absorbed by the owner, its value was 450 bushels, and the income therefrom, 50 bushels, or more than eleven per cent. upon that

amount.*

When a similar farm could be produced in 27 months, or when the labour of three years would give one yielding 242 bushels, the owner could claim only 56, leaving 186 as the wages of a year's labour. The value of the labour of three years being 558 bushels, and the rent being 56, the owner would have 10 per cent. upon his capital.

When the labour of three years would produce one capable of yielding 300 bushels, the proprietor's share would rise to 63 bushels, leaving 237 to the labourer. The value of the farm

The values here given, are the same that were assumed in treating of the rate of wages, (Chapter IV.) Other values, and other proportions in the distribution, might equally well have been taken for the purpose of showing the ef fect of increased production upon both wages and profits. If we suppose that in the first period, ten years were necessary to produce a farm, or machine, capable of yielding 200 bushels, or the equivalent thereof in some other com. modity, and that the owner took one half, as is usual in countries in which capital is scarce, the labourer would have 100 bushels for his year's wages, and the farm, or machine, being worth 10 years' labour, its price, in wheat, would be 1,000 bushels. The owner would have 100 bushels as rent, giving him interest at the rate of 10 per cent. for his capital. If, at another period in the progress of the community, the same quantity of labour should give a farm, or machine, capable of yielding 400 bushels, the owner of which required one third, wages would be 266 bushels. The price of the farm would be 2,667 bushels, and the owner would have 133 as rent, being five per cent. interest upon his investment.

would then be 711 bushels, yielding as rent 63 bushels, or nearly 9 per cent.

When land No. 4 was brought into cultivation, the same labour produced a farın yielding 320 bushels, of which the owner claimed 64. Wages having risen to 256 bushels, the value was 768, yielding 64, or 83 per cent. upon the capital.

If we continue the scale until we find that the same time applied will yield a farm producing to a year's labour 600 bushels, of which the owner claims 15 per cent., or 90 bushels, we shall find its value to be 1530, yielding nearly 6 per cent. in

terest.*

* An examination of the simple and beautiful laws of nature, by which the distribution of the proceeds of labour between the workman and the capitalist is regulated, cannot fail to satisfy the reader of the absurdity of attempting, by usury laws, and other restrictions, to alter the relative positions of the parties who possess, and those who desire to obtain the use of capital.

Having shown the manner in which nature acts in fixing their respective proportions, where the growth of capital is permitted to keep pace with that of population, and where there are no restraints upon its employment, we shall here state some of the effects produced by regulations and other interferences. It is seen above that where the ratio of capital to population is small, the share of product claimed by its owner is large, and that it diminishes with the growth of capital. It is therefore obvious, that any cause preventing its growth must tend to prevent the increase in the proportion of the labourer. Such is the effect of war. That recently waged between Great Britain and France, was attended by an unparalleled waste of capital, preventing it from keeping pace with population, and causing a diminution in the ratio of production to population, and an increase in the capitalist's share.

It is possible, however, by regulation, to produce the opposite effect of diminishing the share of the capitalist to a point below the natural rate, as we shall now show.

If capital were to increase so much more rapidly than population, that it could not all be used, the owners thereof would find themselves in the situation of the labourers first described in the text. They would find it as difficult to induce men to use their machines, as those labourers found it to obtain machines to use. The latter were obliged to give to the owners a very large proportion of their produce, and in the case now supposed, the capitalist would be compelled to do the same by the labourer, retaining for himself a very small proportion of the product, and the rate of interest would be very low. A part of the machines would be occasionally idle, tending to diminish still further the amount of income to be divided among the proprietors. Thus, if when the labouring population of the settlement amounted to only ten persons, A. and B. had accumulated twelve axes, two thereof would be always out of use. Both parties would be anxious to induce the labourers to use their instruments, and would be willing to take a very small share of the product, rather than let them remain idle. Notwithstanding this there still must