We have remarked that in consequence of manufactures and of thecommerce connected with them, the value of land of equal naturalfertility in England is ten to twenty times greater than in Poland.
If we now compare the total produce of the English manufacturingproduction and of the English manufacturing capital with the totalproduce of the English agricultural production and of the Englishagricultural capital, we shall find that the greatest part of thewealth of the nation shows itself in the thus increased value oflanded property.
MacQueen(1*) has prepared the following estimate of thenational wealth and national income of England:
I.NATIONAL CAPITAL.
1.In agriculture, lands, mines, and fisheries....2,604 mill.
Working capital in cattle, implements, stocks, and money....655 "Household furniture and utensils of the agriculturists....52 "3,311 "
2.Invested in manufactures and commerce:
Manufactures, and home trade in manufacturedgoods.....1781/2 "Trade in colonial goods...11 "Foreign trade in manufactured goods.....16 1/2 "206
"To this add increase since 1835 (in which year thisestimate was made)...... 12 "218mill.
Then in town buildings of all kinds, and in manu-facturing buildings605 "In ships........331/2 "In bridges, canals, and railways...118 "In horses which are not used in agriculture...20 "7761/2 mill.
Amount of the whole national capital (exclusive ofthe capital invested in the colonies, in foreign loans,and in the English public funds)......4,3051/2 mill.
II.GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCTION.
1.Of agriculture, mines, and fisheries....539mill.
2.Manufacturing production....... 2591/2 "798
1/2 "
From this estimate it may be seen:
1.That the value of the land devoted to agriculture amounts to26/43 of the whole English national, property, and is about twelvetimes more than the value of the whole capital invested inmanufactures and in commerce.
2.That the whole capital invested in agriculture amounts toover three-fourths of the English national capital.
3.That the value of the whole fixed property in England,namely:
Of the land, &c.2,604mill.
Of houses in towns, and manufacturing buildings...605 "Of canals and railways.....118 "3,327"is therefore equal to more than three-fourths of the whole Englishnational capital.
4.That the manufacturing and commercial capital, inclusive ofships, does not altogether amount to more than 241 1/2 millions,and therefore to only about 1/18 of the English national wealth.
5.That the whole English agricultural capital, with 3,311millions, yields a gross income of 539 millions, consequently about16 per cent; while manufacturing and commercial capital, amountingto 218 millions, gives a gross annual production of 259 1/2millions or of 120 per cent.
It must here, above all things, be noted that the 218 millionsmanufacturing capital, with an annual production of 259 1/2millions, constitute the chief reason why the English agriculturalcapital could have attained to the enormous amount of 3,311millions, and its annual produce to the sum of 539 millions.By farthe greatest part of the agricultural capital consists in the valueof land and cattle.Manufactures, by doubling and trebling thepopulation of the country, by furnishing the means for an immenseforeign commerce, for the acquisition and exploration of a numberof colonies, and for a large mercantile marine, have increased inthe same proportion the demand for means of subsistence and rawmaterials, have afforded to the agriculturist at once the means andthe motive for satisfying this increased demand, have increased theexchangeable value of these products, and thus caused theproportionate increase in the amount and the selling value of therent of land, consequently of the land itself.Were these 218millions of manufacturing and commercial capital destroyed, weshould see not merely the 259 1/2 millions manufacturingproduction, but also the greatest part of the 3,311 millionsagricultural capital, and consequently of the 539 millionsagricultural production, disappear.The English national productionwould not merely lose 259 1/2 millions (the value of itsmanufacturing production), but the value of land would decline tothe value which it has in Poland, i.e.to the tenth or twentiethpart of its present value.
From this it follows that all capital which is devoted by theagricultural nation in a profitable manner to manufactures,increases in the course of time the value of the land tenfold.
Experience and statistics everywhere confirm this statement.
Everywhere it has been seen that in consequence of theestablishment of manufactures the value of land and also that ofthe stock of capital rapidly increases.Let anyone compare thesevalues in France (in 1789 and in 1840), in North America (in 1820and in 1830), or in Germany (in 1830 and in 1840), how they havecorresponded with a less developed or a more fully developedcondition of manufactures, and he will find our observationeverywhere confirmed.
The reason for this appearance lies in the increased power ofproduction in the nation, which emanates from the regular divisionof labour and from the strengthened confederation of the nationalpowers, also from a better use of the mental and natural powersplaced at the disposal of the nation, and from foreign commerce.
