The Manufacturing Power and the Natural Productive Powers of theNation.
The more that man and the community perfect themselves, themore are they enabled to make use of the natural powers which arewithin their reach for the accomplishment of their objects, and themore does the sphere of what is within their reach extend itself.
The hunter does not employ the thousandth part, the shepherdnot the hundredth part, of those natural advantages which surroundhim.The sea, foreign climates and countries, yield him eithernone, or at least only an inconsiderable amount of enjoyment,assistance, or stimulants to exertion.
In the case of a people in a primitive agricultural condition,a large portion of the existing natural resources lies yetunutilised, and man still continues limited to his nearestsurroundings.The greater part of the water power and wind powerwhich exists, or can be obtained, is unemployed; the variousmineral products which the manufacturers so well understand how toutilise profitably, lie dead; various sorts of fuel are wasted orregarded (as, for instance, peat turf) as a mere hindrance tocultivation; stone, sand, and lime are used but little as buildingmaterials; the rivers, instead of being means of freight andtransport for man, or of fertilising the neighbouring fields, areallowed to devastate the country by floods; warmer climates and thesea yield to the agricultural country but few of their products.
In fact, in the agricultural State, that power of nature onwhich production especially depends, the natural fertility of thesoil, can only be utilised to a smaller extent so long asagriculture is not supported by manufacturing industry.
Every district in the agricultural State must itself produce asmuch of the things necessary to it as it requires to use, for itcan neither effect considerable sales of that which it has inexcess to other districts, nor procure that which it requires fromother districts.A district may be ever so fertile and adapted forthe culture of plants yielding oil, dyeing materials, and fodder,yet it must plant forests for fuel, because to procure fuel fromdistant mountain districts, over wretched country roads, would betoo expensive.Land which if utilised for the cultivation of thevine and for garden produce could be made to yield three to fourtimes more returns must be used for cultivating corn and fodder.Hewho could most profitably devote himself solely to the breeding ofcattle must also fatten them: on the other hand, he who could mostprofitably devote himself merely to fattening stock, must alsocarry on cattle breeding.How advantageous it would be to make useof 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 ofwhich these articles can be conveyed with advantage for more thanvery short distances.What rich returns would the meadows in thevalleys yield, if irrigation works on a large scale wereestablished -- the rivers now merely serve to wash down and carryaway the fertile soil.
Through the establishment of manufacturing power in anagricultural State, roads are made, railways constructed, canalsexcavated, rivers rendered navigable, and lines of steamersestablished.By these not merely is the surplus produce of theagricultural land converted into machinery for yielding income, notmerely are the powers of labour of those who are employed by itbrought into activity, not only is the agricultural populationenabled to obtain from the natural resources which it possesses aninfinitely greater return than before, but all minerals, allmetals, which heretofore were lying idle in the earth are nowrendered useful and valuable.Articles which could formerly onlybear a freight of a few miles, such as salt, coals, stone, marble,slate, gypsum, lime, timber, bark, &c., can now be distributed overthe surface of an entire kingdom.Hence such articles, formerlyquite valueless, can now assume a degree of importance in thestatistical returns of the national produce, which far surpassesthe total of the entire agricultural production in previous times.
Not a cubic foot of water-fall will then exist which is not made toperform some service; even in the most distant districts of amanufacturing country, timber and fuel will now become valuable, ofwhich previously no one knew how to make any use.
Through the introduction of manufactures, a demand for aquantity of articles of food and raw materials is created, to theproduction of which certain districts can be far more profitablydevoted than to the growth of corn (the usual staple article ofrude agricultural countries).The demand which now springs up formilk, butter, and meat adds a higher value to the existing pastureland, and leads to the breaking up of fallows and the erection ofworks of irrigation.The demand for fruit and garden produceconverts the former bare agricultural land into vegetable gardensand orchards.
The loss which the mere agricultural State sustains by notmaking use of these natural powers, is so much the greater the moreit is fitted by nature for carrying on manufactures, and the moreits territory is adapted for the production of raw materials andnatural powers which manufacturers specially require; that losswill therefore be the greatest in mountainous and hilly countriesless suitable for agriculture on the whole, but which offer tomanufactures plenty of water power, of minerals, timber, and stone,and to the farmer the opportunity of cultivating the products whichare specially required by the manufacturer.
