laborers are so protected, than when a share of it is subject to the depredations of thieves and robbers, and the earnings of each one is diminished thereby.

Again, they save labor by relieving the population to a large extent of the necessity of providing security against fraud and violence. A "safe" that is burglar proof, if such a thing can be produced, costs thousands of dollars. A police administration that would protect the property, would render this expense unnecessary.

CHAPTER IV.

OF THE FORCES OF NATURE IN RELATION TO

WEALTH.

Reduction of prices-Limit to the decrease-The use of tools and machinery-Their relation to the forces of nature-The forces of nature defined-The forces of nature gratuitous-They are inexhaustible-Conditions of their use-Extent of their usefulness-Man's position in nature-Effect of machinery on price -Why not uniform in its influence-Recapitulation and summary-Elements of the labor of production—Land both a tool and a force-Ricardo's theory of rent-Criticisms on the theory -Land never costs more than the average cost of reproduction -How far Ricardo's theory correct-Effect of a limit to the supply of land-What makes the price of land-Land rises in price with cultivation-New intrinsic values with increased population-Increased value of human labor-Exchangeable value referred to its elements-Taxes and insurance-Commodities become cheaper.

52. Reduction of prices.

There are several considerations that tend to reduce the average cost of reproduction with the advance of civilization.

(1) The utilization of new materials. The application of iron where only brass had been used before the introduction of maize or Indian corn, and potatoes, as articles of food, after the discovery of America-the use of cotton as a material for clothing-are all examples of the fact that the addition of any new material to those already in use for the supply of articles in its kind—as corn and potatoes for food-cotton for clothing-reduces the cost of a supply of the articles of that class to the consumers.

The

(2) The second, and by far the greatest, is the utilization of any force of nature by which the amount of human labor needed for the production of commodities of any class, is made less. application of machinery, propelled by water or steam, to the manufacture of cloth, is an example. Many articles cost less than one-fourth as much now, as articles of the same quality did before this improvement in the process of manufacture.

53. Limit to the decrease.

In case, however, there is a limit to the supply of raw material which man can not overcome, we shall have a reversal of this law.

Thus in England the supply of coal is limited, and as the point of exhaustion approaches, the

amount of labor necessary to mine it and get it to market, must increase. And so if the quantity is not actually limited beyond the power of man to reproduce it, as in the case of all forms of minerals, there may be a limitation of another kind which will increase the labor of reproduction. Take for example, the case of whale-oil-and again those vegetable products which require many years to replace them when once exhausted-as pine lumber, and the average cost of reproduction will be an increasing one.

54. The use of tools and machinery.

Man as a laborer can do but little without the aid of strength other than his own. Hence we find him, even in the rudest and lowest state, making and using "tools."

Tools are but implements for utilizing the forces of nature.

Both words, "tools" and "machinery," are in use. But for the purposes of Political Economy there is no difference between them. In common use, however, we call that a "machine" in which there is a combination of parts, changing relation in reference to each other. While that which consists of parts so united that they do not work upon one another, as in the case of the axe and its helve-the adze

and its handle the scythe and its snathe,—we call each of these simply a "tool."

55.

Their relation to the forces of nature.

Tools and machines are not forces, but only means for utilizing forces; the real forces of nature, which man has utilized are animals, the wind, streams of water, steam, etc.

A tool is not usually considered as using up this force, nor even of the muscular force of man himself. When a man throws a stone, he uses a force of nature. In pounding and driving with a hammer or sledge, he uses the same force. The savage who

hunts with his bow and arrows, and the watchmaker who cuts his main-springs to propel the wheels of the watch, alike use the forces of nature.

A "machine," on the other hand, running as it always does, with more or less of friction, uses up a part of the force that propels it. It takes some part of the force, as in case of water-wheels and steamengines, to propel the machinery itself.

56. The forces of nature defined.

The real forces in all these cases, and in fact, the only real forces any where, are substantial objects— water, wind, the earth, and the visible and tangi