Principles of Political Economy: Abridged with Critical, Bibliographical, and Explanatory Notes, and a Sketch of the History of Political Economy
John Stuart Mill · en
The greater the produce of labor after supporting the laborers, the more
there is which _can_ be saved. The same thing also partly contributes to
determine how much _will_ be saved. A part of the motive to saving
consists in the prospect of deriving an income from savings; in the fact
that capital, employed in production, is capable of not only reproducing
itself but yielding an increase. The greater the profit that can be made
from capital, the stronger is the motive to its accumulation.
§ 2. Motive for Saving in the Surplus above Necessaries.
But the disposition to save does not wholly depend on the external
inducement to it; on the amount of profit to be made from savings. With
the same pecuniary inducement, the inclination is very different, in
different persons, and in different communities.
(2.) All accumulation involves the sacrifice of a present, for the sake of
a future good.
This is the fundamental motive underlying the effective desire of
accumulation, and is far more important than any other. It is, in
short, the test of civilization. In order to induce the
laboring-classes to improve their condition and save capital, it
is absolutely necessary to excite in them (by education or
religion) a belief in a future gain greater than the present
sacrifice. It is, to be sure, the whole problem of creating
character, and belongs to sociology and ethics rather than to
political economy.
In weighing the future against the present, the uncertainty of all things
future is a leading element; and that uncertainty is of very different
degrees. “All circumstances,” therefore, “increasing the probability of
the provision we make for futurity being enjoyed by ourselves or others,
tend” justly and reasonably “to give strength to the effective desire of
accumulation. Thus a healthy climate or occupation, by increasing the
probability of life, has a tendency to add to this desire. When engaged in
safe occupations and living in healthy countries, men are much more apt to
be frugal, than in unhealthy or hazardous occupations and in climates
pernicious to human life. Sailors and soldiers are prodigals. In the West
Indies, New Orleans, the East Indies, the expenditure of the inhabitants
is profuse. The same people, coming to reside in the healthy parts of
Europe, and not getting into the vortex of extravagant fashion, live
economically. War and pestilence have always waste and luxury among the
other evils that follow in their train. For similar reasons, whatever
gives security to the affairs of the community is favorable to the
strength of this principle. In this respect the general prevalence of law
and order and the prospect of the continuance of peace and tranquillity
have considerable influence.”(128)