Strona 244 z 2651

In a country which had acquired that full complement of riches

which the nature of its soil and climate, and its situation with

respect to other countries, allowed it to acquire, which could,

therefore, advance no further, and which was not going backwards,

both the wages of labour and the profits of stock would probably

be very low. In a country fully peopled in proportion to what

either its territory could maintain, or its stock employ, the

competition for employment would necessarily be so great as to

reduce the wages of labour to what was barely sufficient to keep

up the number of labourers, and the country being already fully

peopled, that number could never be augmented. In a country fully

stocked in proportion to all the business it had to transact, as

great a quantity of stock would be employed in every particular

branch as the nature and extent of the trade would admit.