_Def. 59._ The only productive consumption, properly so called, is the consumption or destruction of wealth by capitalists with a view to reproduction. This is the only marked line of distinction which can be drawn between productive and unproductive consumption. The workman whom the capitalist employs certainly consumes that part of his wages which he does not save, as revenue, with a view to subsistence and enjoyment; and not as capital, with a view to production. He is a productive consumer to the person who employs him, and to the state, but not, strictly speaking, to himself. Consumption is the great purpose and end of all production. The consumption of wealth, as revenue, with a view to support and enjoyment, is even more necessary and important than the consumption of wealth as capital; but their effects are essentially different in regard to the direct production of wealth, and they ought therefore to be distinguished. I am far from meaning to present the foregoing definitions to the notice of the reader as in any degree complete; either in regard to extent, or correctness. In extent, they have been purposely limited, and in regard to correctness, I am too well aware of the difficulty of the subject to think that I have succeeded in making my definitions embrace all I wish, and exclude all I wish. I am strongly, indeed, disposed to believe, that in the sciences of morals, politics, and political economy, which will not admit of a change in the principal terms already in use, the full attainment of this object is impossible; yet a nearer approach to it is always something gained. I should not indeed have been justified in offering these definitions to the public, if I had not thought that they were, on the whole, less objectionable, and would be more useful in explaining the causes of the wealth of nations than any which I had seen. But I am conscious of some anomalies, and probably there are some more of which I am not conscious. Knowing, however, that the attempt to remove them might destroy useful classifications, I shall not consider a few individual cases, of little importance, as valid objections. It is known that Adam Smith gave few regular definitions; but the meanings in which he used his terms may be collected from the context, and to these I have, in a considerable degree, adhered. For some I have been indebted to M. Say; others are my own; and in all, I have endeavoured to follow the rules for the definition and use of terms laid down at the beginning of this treatise. I shall consider my object as fully answered, if what I have done, should succeed in drawing that degree of attention to the subject which may lead to the production of something of the same kind, more correct and more useful, and so convincing as to be generally adopted. FINIS. ----- Footnote 1: