Colonial products, so far as they do not consist of rawmaterials for manufacturing purposes, evidently act more asstimulants than necessary means of subsistence.No one will denythat barley coffee without sugar is as nutritious as mocha coffeewith sugar; and admitting also that these products contain somenutritious matter, their value in this respect is nevertheless sounimportant that they can scarcely be considered as substitutes fornative provisions.With regard to spices and tobacco, they arecertainly mere stimulants, i.e.they chiefly produce a usefuleffect on society only so far as they augment the enjoyments of themasses, and incite them to mental and bodily labour.
In many countries very erroneous notions prevail among thosewho live by salaries or rents, respecting what they are accustomedto call the luxurious habits of the lower classes; such persons areshocked to observe that labourers drink coffee with sugar, andregret the times when they were satisfied with gruel; they deplorethat the peasant has exchanged his poor clothing of coarse homespunfor woollen cloth; they express fears that the maid-servant willsoon not be distinguishable from the lady of the house; they praisethe legal restrictions on dress of previous centuries.But if wecompare the result of the labour of the workman in countries wherehe is clad and nourished like the well-to-do man with the result ofhis labour where he has to be satisfied with the coarsest food andclothing, we shall find that the increase of his comfort in theformer case has been attained not at the expense of the generalwelfare, but to the advantage of the productive powers of thecommunity.The day's work of the workman is double or three timesgreater in the former case than in the latter.Attempts to regulatedress and restrictions on luxury have destroyed wholesome emulationin the large masses of society, and have merely tended to theincrease of mental and bodily idleness.
In any case products must be created before they can beconsumed, and thus production must necessarily generally precedeconsumption.In popular and national practice, however, consumptionfrequently precedes production.Manufacturing nations, supported bylarge capital and less restricted in their production than mereagricultural nations, make, as a rule, advances to the latter onthe yield of future crops; the latter thus consume before theyproduce -- they produce later on because they have previouslyconsumed.The same thing manifests itself in a much greater degreein the relation between town and country: the closer themanufacturer is to the agriculturist, the more will the formeroffer to the latter both an inducement to consume and means forconsumption, the more also will the latter feel himself stimulatedto greater production.
Among the most potent stimulants are those afforded by thecivil and political institutions of the country.Where it is notpossible to raise oneself by honest exertions and by prosperityfrom one class of society to another, from the lowest to thehighest; where the possessor necessarily hesitates to show hisproperty publicly or to enjoy the fruits of it because it wouldexpose his property to risk, or lest he should be accused ofarrogance or impropriety; where persons engaged in trade areexcluded from public honour, from taking part in administration,legislation, and juries; where distinguished achievements inagriculture, industry, and commerce do not lead also to publicesteem and to social and civil distinction, there the mostimportant motives for consumption as well as for production arewanting.
Every law, every public regulation, has a strengthening orweakening effect on production or on consumption or on theproductive forces.
The granting of patent privileges offers a prize to inventiveminds.The hope of obtaining the prize arouses the mental powers,and gives them a direction towards industrial improvements.Itbrings honour to the inventive mind in society, and roots out theprejudice for old customs and modes of operation so injurious amonguneducated nations.It provides the man who merely possesses mentalfaculties for new inventions with the material means which herequires, inasmuch as capitalists are thus incited to support theinventor, by being assured of participation in the anticipatedprofits.
Protective duties act as stimulants on all those branches ofinternal industry the produce of which foreign countries canprovide better than the home country but of the production of whichthe home country is capable.They guarantee a reward to the man ofenterprise and to the workman for acquiring new knowledge andskill, and offer to the inland and foreign capitalist means forinvesting his capital for a definite and certain time in aspecially remunerative manner.