The Ordeal Of Virtue Is

Man Cannot Live In The Midst Of Plenty.

The Employment Of The Poor In Roads And Public Works, And A Tendency Among Landlords And Persons Of Property To Build, To Improve And Beautify Their Grounds, And To Employ Workmen And Menial Servants, Are The Means Most Within Our Power And Most Directly Calculated To Remedy The Evils Arising From That Disturbance In The Balance Of Produce And Consumption.

Where There Are Few People, And A Great Quantity Of Fertile Land, The Power Of The Earth To Afford A Yearly Increase Of Food May Be Compared To A Great Reservoir Of Water, Supplied By A Moderate Stream. The Faster Population Increases, The More Help Will Be Got To Draw Off The Water, And Consequently An Increasing Quantity Will Be Taken Every Year. But The Sooner, Undoubtedly, Will The Reservoir Be Exhausted, And The Streams Only Remain.

The Transfer Of Three Shillings And Sixpence A Day To Every Labourer Would Not Increase The Quantity Of Meat In The Country. There Is Not At Present Enough For All To Have A Decent Share. What Would Then Be The Consequence?

The Perpetual Tendency Of The Race Of Man To Increase Beyond The Means Of Subsistence Is One Of The General Laws Of Animated Nature, Which We Can Have No Reason To Expect To Change.