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THE NATURE AND CAUSES OE

Whatever part of his stock a man employs as a capital, healways expects it to be replaced to him with a profit. Heemploys it, therefore, in maintaining productive hands only;and after having served in the function of a capital to him, itconstitutes a revenue to them. Whenever he employs anypart of it in maintaining unproductive hands of any kind,that part is, from that moment, withdrawn from his capital,and placed in his stock reserved for immediate consumption.

Unproductive labourers, and those who do not labour at all,are all maintained by revenue: either, first, by that part ofthe annual produce which is originally destined for consti-tuting a revenue to some particular persons, either as the rentof land or as the profits of stock ; or, secondly, by that partwhich, though originally destined for replacing a capital andfor maintaining productive labourers only, yet when it comesinto their hands, whatever part of it is over and above then-necessary subsistence, may be employed in maintaining in-differently either productive or unproductive lands. Thus,not only the great landlord or the rich merchant, but even thecommon workman, if his wages are considerable, may main-tain a menial servant; or he may sometimes go to a play ora puppet-show, and so contribute his share towards main-taining one set of unproductive labourers; or he may paysome taxes, and thus help to maintain another set, more ho-nourable and useful, indeed, but equally unproductive. Nopart of the annual produce, however, which had been origi-nally destined to replace a capital, is ever directed towardsmaintaining unproductive hands, till after it has put into mo-tion its full complement of productive labour, or all that itcould put into motion in the way in which it was employed,The workman must have earned his wages by work done be-fore he can employ any part of them in this manner. Thatpart too is generally but a small one. It is his spare revenueonly, of which productive labourers have seldom a great deal.They generally have some, however; and in the payment oftaxes the greatness of their number may compensate, in somemeasure, the smallness of their contribution. The rent of landand the profits of stock are everywhere, therefore, the prin-pal sources from which unproductive hands derive their sub-sistence. These are the two sorts of revenue of which theowners have generally most to spare. They might both ,maintain indifferently either productiveor unproductive hands.They seem, however, to have some predilection for the latter.