list2-第22部分
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which exists; or can be obtained; is unemployed; the various
mineral products which the manufacturers so well understand how to
utilise profitably; lie dead; various sorts of fuel are wasted or
regarded (as; for instance; peat turf) as a mere hindrance to
cultivation; stone; sand; and lime are used but little as building
materials; the rivers; instead of being means of freight and
transport for man; or of fertilising the neighbouring fields; are
allowed to devastate the country by floods; warmer climates and the
sea yield to the agricultural country but few of their products。
In fact; in the agricultural State; that power of nature on
which production especially depends; the natural fertility of the
soil; can only be utilised to a smaller extent so long as
agriculture is not supported by manufacturing industry。
Every district in the agricultural State must itself produce as
much of the things necessary to it as it requires to use; for it
can neither effect considerable sales of that which it has in
excess to other districts; nor procure that which it requires from
other districts。 A district may be ever so fertile and adapted for
the culture of plants yielding oil; dyeing materials; and fodder;
yet it must plant forests for fuel; because to procure fuel from
distant mountain districts; over wretched country roads; would be
too expensive。 Land which if utilised for the cultivation of the
vine and for garden produce could be made to yield three to four
times more returns must be used for cultivating corn and fodder。 He
who could most profitably devote himself solely to the breeding of
cattle must also fatten them: on the other hand; he who could most
profitably devote himself merely to fattening stock; must also
carry on cattle breeding。 How advantageous it would be to make use
of mineral manures (gypsum; lime; marl); or to burn peat; coal; &c。
instead of wood; and to bring the forest lands under cultivation;
but in such a State there exists no means of transport by means of
which these articles can be conveyed with advantage for more than
very short distances。 What rich returns would the meadows in the
valleys yield; if irrigation works on a large scale were
established the rivers now merely serve to wash down and carry
away the fertile soil。
Through the establishment of manufacturing power in an
agricultural State; roads are made; railways constructed; canals
excavated; rivers rendered navigable; and lines of steamers
established。 By these not merely is the surplus produce of the
agricultural land converted into machinery for yielding income; not
merely are the powers of labour of those who are employed by it
brought into activity; not only is the agricultural population
enabled to obtain from the natural resources which it possesses an
infinitely greater return than before; but all minerals; all
metals; which heretofore were lying idle in the earth are now
rendered useful and valuable。 Articles which could formerly only
bear a freight of a few miles; such as salt; coals; stone; marble;
slate; gypsum; lime; timber; bark; &c。; can now be distributed over
the surface of an entire kingdom。 Hence such articles; formerly
quite valueless; can now assume a degree of importance in the
statistical returns of the national produce; which far surpasses
the total of the entire agricultural production in previous times。
Not a cubic foot of water…fall will then exist which is not made to
perform some service; even in the most distant districts of a
manufacturing country; timber and fuel will now become valuable; of
which previously no one knew how to make any use。
Through the introduction of manufactures; a demand for a
quantity of articles of food and raw materials is created; to the
production of which certain districts can be far more profitably
devoted than to the growth of corn (the usual staple article of
rude agricultural countries)。 The demand which now springs up for
milk; butter; and meat adds a higher value to the existing pasture
land; and leads to the breaking up of fallows and the erection of
works of irrigation。 The demand for fruit and garden produce
converts the former bare agricultural land into vegetable gardens
and orchards。
The loss which the mere agricultural State sustains by not
making use of these natural powers; is so much the greater the more
it is fitted by nature for carrying on manufactures; and the more
its territory is adapted for the production of raw materials and
natural powers which manufacturers specially require; that loss
will therefore be the greatest in mountainous and hilly countries
less suitable for agriculture on the whole; but which offer to
manufactures plenty of water power; of minerals; timber; and stone;
and to the farmer the opportunity of cultivating the products which
are specially required by the manufacturer。
Countries with a temperate climate are (almost without
exception) adapted for factories and manufacturing industry。 The
moderate temperature of the air promotes the development and
exertion of power far more than a hot temperature。 But the severe
season of the year; which appears to the superficial observer as an
unfavourable effect of nature; is the most powerful promoter of
habits of energetic activity; of forethought; order; and economy。
A man who has the prospect before him of six months in which he is
not merely unable to obtain any fruits from the earth; but also
requires special provisions and clothing materials for the
sustenance of himself and his cattle; and for protection against
the effects of cold; must necessarily become far more industrious
and economical than the one who merely requires protection from the
rain; and into whose mouth the fruits are ready to drop during the
whole year。 Diligence; economy; order; and forethought are at first
produced by necessity afterwards by habit; and by the steady
cultivation of those virtues。 Morality goes hand in hand with the
exertion of one's powers and economy; and immorality with idleness
and extravagance: each are reciprocally fertile sources; the one of
power; the other of weakness。
An agricultural nation; which inhabits a country of temperate
climate; leaves therefore the richest part of its natural resources
unutilised。
The school; inasmuch as; in judging the influences of climate
on the production of wealth; it has not distinguished between
agriculture and manufacturing industry; has fallen into the gravest
errors in respect to the advantages and disadvantages of protective
regulations; which we cannot here omit thoroughly to expose;
although we have already made mention of them in general terms
elsewhere。
In order to prove that it is foolish to seek to produce
everything in one and the same country; the school asks the
question: whether it would be reasonable if we sought to produce
wine by growing grapes in Scottish and English greenhouses? It is
of course possible to produce wine in this manner; only lt would be
of much worse quality and more expensive than that which England
and Scotland could procure in exchange for their manufactured
goods。 To anyone who either is unwilling or unable to penetrate
more deeply into the nature of things; this argument is a striking
one; and the school is indebted to it for a large portion of its
popularity; at any rate among the French vine growers and silk
manufacturers; and among the North American cotton planters and
cotton merchants。 Regarded in the light of day; however; it is
fundamentally false; since restrictions on commercial intercourse
operate quite differently on the productive power of agriculture
than they do on the productive power of manufacturing industry。
Let us first see how they operate on agriculture。
If France rejects from her frontiers German fat cattle; or
corn; what will she effect thereby? In the first place; Germany
will thereby be unable to buy French wines。 France will therefore
have to use those portions of her soil which are fitted for the
cultivation of the vine less profitably in proportion as this
destruction of commercial interchange lessens her exportation of
wines。 So many fewer persons will be exclusively occupied with the
cultivation of the vine; and therefore so much less native
agricultural products will be required; which these persons would
have consumed; who would have otherwise devoted themselves
exclusively to vine culture。 This will be the case in the
production of oil as well as in that of wine。 France will therefore
always lose in her agricultural power on other points much more
than she gains on one single point; because by her exclusion of the
German cattle she protects a trade in the rearing and fattening of
cattle which had not been spontaneously developed; and for which;
therefore; probably the agriculture of those districts where this
branch of industry has had to be artificially developed is not
adapted。 Thus will it be if we consider France merely as an
agricultural State opposed to Germany as a merely agricultural
State; and if we also assume that Germany will not retaliate on
that policy by a similar one。 This policy; however; appears still
more injurious if we assume that Germany; as she will be compelled
to out of regard to her own interests; adopts similarly restrictive
meas