82

THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF

this purpose, the deficiency of hands would soon raise it; andif it should at any time be more, their excessive multiplica-tion would soon lower it to this necessary rate. "’he marketwould be so much under-stocked w ith labour in the one case, andso much over-stocked in the other, as would soon force backits price to that proper rate which the circumstances of thesociety required. It is in this manner that the demand formen, like that for any other commodity, necessarily regulatesthe production of men; quickens it when it goes on too slowly,and stops it when it advances too fast. It is this demandwhich regulates and determines the state of propagation inall the different countries of the world, in North America ,in Europe, and in China ; which renders it rapidly progres-sive in the first, slow and gradual in the second, and alto-gether stationary in the last.

The wear and tear of a slave, it has been said, is at the ex-pense of his master; but that of a free servant is at his ownexpense. The wear and tear of the latter, however, is, inreality, as much at the expense of his master as that of theformer. The wages paid to journeymen and servants of everyhind must be such as may enable them, one with another, to,continue the race of journeymen and servants, according asthe increasing, diminishing, or stationary demand of thesociety may happen to require. But though the wear andtear of a free servant be equally at the expense of his master,it generally costs him much less than that of a slave. Thefund destined for replacing or repairing, if I may say so, thewear and tear of the slave is commonly managed by a negli-gent master or careless overseer. That destined for perform-ing the same office with regard to the free man is managed bythe free man himself. The disorders which generally pre-vail in the economy of the rich naturally introduce themselvesinto the management of the former: the strict frugality andparsimonious attention of the poor as naturally establishthemselves in that of the latter. Under such different ma-nagement, the same purpose must require very different de-grees of expense to execute it. It appears, accordingly,from the experience of all ages and nations, I believe, that thework done by freemen comes cheaper in the end than thatperformed by slaves. It is found to do so even at Boston ,New York, and Philadelphia , where the wages of commonlabour are so very high.

The liberal reward of labour, therefore, as it is the effect