second assumption is utterly monstrous and inconceivable. As we have before shown at p. 3, "all the wealth obtained or produced by human exertions is actually distributed and used."

Machinery (using the term generically for all labour-saving processes) is then a powerful coefficient to wealth-creation. All honour to those true benefactors of mankind whose scientific discoveries and mechanical inventions have supplemented man's physical weakness, and have added immensely to his power over the material world -who have pressed nature into the service of man, and have placed her forces as instruments in his hands!

CHAPTER IV.

Facilities of Inter-communication Promote the Creation of WealthScientific Discoveries Lessen the Expenditure of Human Labour on the Production of Given Results, and Largely Increase the Ultimate Demand for Labour.

A 5. FACILITIES OF INTER-COMMUNICATION.— Until the progress of navigation had led to the discovery of America, the inhabitants of the Eastern and Western Hemispheres were as much cut off from all knowledge of and intercourse with each other as though they existed in two different planets. If it be admitted that Columbus has by his achievement benefited the world (though at the cost of partial cruelty and injustice), the admission is tantamount to asserting that the isolation of one part of the globe from the other is an

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evil. The opinion of mankind (excepting, perhaps, of the Chinese and, until recently, the Japanese) has been in conformity with that conclusion, and the general principle may, without further discussion, be taken as conceded.

Our business here, however, is specially to point out in what ways the creation of wealth is promoted by "facilities of inter-communication." One of the most efficient modes in which these facilities act towards that end is by fostering, assisting, and extending the operations of that great contributor to wealth-creation, the division of labour. The full beneficial effects of those operations cannot be realised if the means of conveying the cheaper and better productions of one country to be bartered for the cheaper and better productions of another country, be slow, cumbrous, and expensive. There will be nothing gained if the advantages of such barter be absorbed and neutralised by the difficulties or dearness of intercommunication. Were it not for rapid transit and low freights, cotton from America or wool from Australia could never have come to England to be wrought into fabrics by English labour and machinery, and to be re-exported in that shape to all parts of the world. The superior cheapness of the manufacture would be overborne and outweighed by the extra cost of dear conveyance. In countries where there are no roads, or few and bad roads, intercourse is restricted, the benefits of division of labour are hardly felt, and general poverty prevails. The principle (subdivision of labour) works at its maximum rate in densely populated

and freely accessible districts, and in large cities. It is there that the classification of labour into distinct tasks is carried farthest, that its organisation is most complete, that competition most pressingly sharpens invention, that capital obtaining quick returns is satisfied with the smallest profits, and that copiously supplied markets furnish commodities in every possible variety, and at prices nearest to cost of production.

On the other hand, among a sparse and scattered population, with scanty means of inter-communication, the very contrary takes place. Labour instead of being subdivided is cumulated, and one man works clumsily at several trades; there are no opportunities for organisation, so that each hamlet or family moves in its own little orbit; there is very little competition and no invention, for who could utilise the invention, and where is the incentive? In short, the working of division of labour is at its minimum. But introduce among this loose and isolated population facilities of intercommunication, and it will be like breathing life into so many marble statues. Give them the use of roads, canals, railways, ships, telegraphs, and telephones, and this torpid population will gradually develop into action and vigour. The movement, slow at first, will acquire momentum. Emulation will be aroused, and will beget competition, which is the mother of energy and invention, skilled and special will be substituted for rude and miscellaneous labour; or, in other words, the division of labour will again be at its beneficent work, and the whole aspect of things will be changed.

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What the inertness of solid ice is to running water, such is the quiescence of stagnant isolation to the activity of easy and rapid intercourse.

In another and a more direct way do "facilities of inter-communication " also promote the creation of wealth-they make those productions useful, and therefore of value, which, being otherwise out of the reach of consumers, would be unused, and therefore of no value. Let us, for an exemplification of this, take the case of Minnesota, one of the United States of America, in contrast with Tamboff, one of the most fertile provinces of Russia in Europe. Both are blessed with a soil and a climate exceptionally favourable to wheatcultivation, viz., a deep alluvial mould and a clear sunny sky. In no other part of the world are cereals raised in greater luxuriance, and with a smaller expenditure of capital and labour. Both produce wheat in very great excess of home consumption ; and both are, unfortunately, situated at a very great distance from a shipping port on the seaboard, through which their surplus produce might find a vent in the outer world.

But here the parallelism between the two ceases. The surplus produce of Minnesota is all utilised abroad, and therefore constitutes wealth. The surplus produce of Tamboff is not utilised abroad, but is wasted, and rots unconsumed at home, and therefore becomes not wealth, but "simply matter in the wrong place." The reasons of this contrast are not far to seek. The paternal and autocratic Government of Russia discourages private enterprise; the fraternal and democratic Government of

the United States gives it full scope. The energy and enterprise of free American citizens have extended their railway system to every part of their vast country where there are either passengers or goods to carry. By this time (1881) the total mileage over which their locomotives run is not far short of one hundred thousand miles. By means of these great "facilities of communication" the large surplus over home consumption of wheat grown in Minnesota is conveyed, rapidly and at a moderate cost, to a distant shipping port, and thus finds a remunerative market in Europe.

Now let us look at the other side. The distance between Minnesota and the Atlantic sea-board is five times greater than that between Tamboff and the Sea of Azov; but, nevertheless, the large surplus over home consumption of wheat grown in Tamboff is debarred from all access to a shipping port from want of communication, and can therefore find no market whatever. There are not only no railroads, but even no common roads that can be used for the conveyance of the grain; and what would be a mass of wealth if it could be transported to Taganrog, or any other port on the Sea of Azov, remains at home to be shovelled into a mound in the open field, for it is not worth even the expense of a shed. There the grain sprouts and decays, the upper stratum germinates into a sickly and ephemeral vitality, and the whole soon decomposes into a mere heap of manure. We have referred this waste at p. 3 as an exceptional instance of distributed wealth. And the reason of its nontribution is the absence of "facilities for inter