But what are their capitals? They are, as Adam Smith states, the tools to work with, the materials to work upon, and the means of commanding the necessary quantity of labour. Colonel Torrens, therefore, is quite right, when he says, “that an increased production of those articles which do not form component parts of capital, cannot create an increased effectual demand, either for such articles themselves, or for those other articles which do form component parts of capital.”[21] And, perhaps, he may be considered as making some approaches towards the truth, when he says, that “effectual demand consists in the power and inclination, on the part of consumers, to give for commodities, either by immediate or circuitous barter, some greater proportion of all the ingredients of capital than their production costs.”[22] But in this latter position, he is still very far from representing what actually takes place. When we consider how much labour is directly employed in the production of the great mass of commodities, and recollect further, that raw materials and machinery, the other two branches of capital, are mainly produced by labour, it is obvious that the power of replacing capitals will mainly depend on the power of commanding labour: but a given quantity of what Colonel Torrens calls the ingredients of capital, can never represent a given quantity of labour; and consequently, if a given quantity of labour be necessary in any production, a very different quantity of the ingredients of capital would be required at different times, to occasion the same effectual demand for it. It is far, therefore, from being true, that if the ingredients of capital, represented by a hundred and ten quarters of corn, and a hundred and ten suits of clothing, were increased to “two hundred and twenty quarters of corn, and two hundred and twenty suits of clothing, the effectual demand for the article would be doubled.”[23] It is still further from the truth, “that increased supply is the one and only cause of increased effectual demand;”[24] and most happy is it for mankind that this is not true. If it were, how difficult would it be for a society to recover itself, under a temporary diminution of food and clothing! But by a kind provision of nature, this diminution, within certain limits, instead of diminishing, will increase effectual demand. The theory of demand and supply, shows that the food and clothing thus diminished in quantity, will rise in value; and universal experience tells us, that, as a matter of fact, the money-price of the remaining food and clothing will for a time rise in a greater degree than in proportion to the diminution of its quantity, while the money-price of labour may remain the same. The necessary consequence will be, the power of setting in motion a greater quantity of productive industry than before.[25]