Excerpt from Practical Hints on the Comparative Cost and Productiveness of the Culture of Cotton, and the Cost and Productiveness of Its Manufacture: Addressed to the Cotton Planters and Capitalists of the South

The elements of wealth, I take to be, all that is com bined for its production. They are labor, skill, and ma terials. Wealth is the direct product of this indispensa ble combination, while the circulating medium, whether gold and silver or any thing else, is a convenient adjunct, to facilitate the operation. Money is not wealth, except merely as a house of delegates are the people - by repre sentation. The moneyed man, is a man of wealth only by implication. Having nothing but money, he has no aotual wealth, yet he possesses the talisman that can, not cre ate, but command it. All the market value of money is absolutely dependent on the combined operation of labor, skill, and materials. These again are valueless in them selves, each by itself; and their value is enstamped on them by means of their combined operation and product; and the latter being valuable only as calculated to supply the wants of mankind, to satisfy their appetites, and to cancel their wishes. The metals are valueless, as truly as the refuse of their ores, Without labor and skill to re duce them to desired forms. So would be the labor and skill without the material. So also would be the product of the combination, unless adapted to the wants or de sires of man. This is all the value of any thing, in a commercial sense. From these plain and simple facts, we learn: First - that labor, skill, and materials, are the elements of wealth, and which latter consists of the com bined product of the three former: Second - that that only can assume the character of wealth, which can be applied to some definite purpose for the use of mankind Third - that money is valuable only as the representative of wealth - as the medium of exchange by which busi ness transactions are facilitated, and the creation and ac cumulation of wealth accelerated. In these senses alone is it useful or valuable.

For instance - A. Has materials for a hat, but he can not work them into the desired form. To remain in his hands, they would be valueless. But B. Purchases the materials, for which he pays four dollars; and thus ena bles A. To purchase a pair of boots. B. Fashions the ma terials into a hat, which he does not want. C. However wants it, and pays B. Six dollars for it. Here then is wealth created to the amount of six dollars, by the labor.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.