future. If she would keep her capital in existence she must likewise labour; for, as we have seen, the great bulk of capital is made up of the food and clothing of labourers, and the process of consumption and reproduction must be constantly going on. Otherwise her capital will rapidly diminish. It will be consumed without being reproduced. A large proportion of the inhabitants, eating the bread of idleness, will be unproductive consumers, instead of replacing by their labour all that they consume, with an increase superadded. It is true, the lowest description of food and the smallest quantity thereof that will sustain life may be reached, and thus a miserable existence may be indefinitely prolonged; but, let a bad harvest or other general calamity supervene, and the result is fearful to contemplate. There is no reserve fund on which to fall back; there is none of that energy to repair losses by which prosperous communities are enabled to pass through similar ordeals comparatively unscathed; famine and pestilence stalk through the land, even though nature may have liberally endowed it with the requisites of production; and thus are realized scenes of utter helplessness and human suffering, such as, in our days, have made Irish misery, la misère en Irlande,' a by-word among the nations a scandal and a reproach to our vaunted British institutions. CAPITAL THE RESULT OF SAVING. 169 CHAPTER XLII. CAPITAL THE RESULT OF SAVING-THE THREE CLASSES BY WHOM SAVING MAY BE EFFECTED-SAVINGS OF THE LABOURING CLASSES NOT AS MUCHI AS THEY MIGHT BE-SAVINGS BANKS IN ENGLAND AND WALES, SCOTLAND, AND IRELAND RESPECTIVELY, IN 1867; AMOUNTS RESPECTIVELY RECEIVED AND PAID OUT; DEPOSITS FOR THE YEAR, AND TOTAL DEPOSITS, TO EACH HEAD OF THE POPULATION IN EACH COUNTRY-POST OFFICE SAVINGS BANKS IN THE THREE COUNTRIES; GREAT ADVANTAGES THEREOF-SAVINGS OF LANDOWNERS; VERY LARGE IN GREAT BRITAIN; IN IRELAND VERY SMALL-SAVINGS CHIEFLY EFFECTED BY CAPITALISTS-THE PROFIT OF THE CAPITALIST HIS INDUCEMENT TO SAVE, AS IT IS TO EMPLOY HIS SAVINGS PRODUCTIVELY; COMPLETE SECURITY AN ESSENTIAL CONDITION TO HIS DOING SO. FROM what has been already said, it is evident that capital is the result of saving. We have seen that saving may be effected by three classes; the landowner out of his rent, the labourer out of his wages, and the capitalist out of his profit. Sometimes the landowner and capitalist are combined in one, as, for instance, when the landlord himself carries on farming operations, and thus, as a capitalist, dispenses the wages of labour. Sometimes again, as in countries of peasant proprietors, the farmer, tilling his own little plot, combines landowner, capitalist and labourer all in his own person. Again, the small farmer in Ireland commonly unites the functions of capitalist and labourer, but in his case production is necessarily very short, as the condition of security is wanting, and therefore his labour and capital are not invested in the land as freely as in the other two cases. The savings of the labouring classes in these countries are not as much as they might be; so much is expended, or rather wasted by them, in the excess of individual enjoyment. The fact is, they have not the inducement to save, the opportunities of profit, which a considerable proportion of the corresponding class have in other countries, where the land, nature's great savings bank, is available to the masses, who are thus, as it were, educated to habits of saving by the circumstances of their every day life. The greater part of the savings of our labouring classes are deposited in the several savings banks of the United Kingdom. The following figures give the particulars of these deposits in the year 1867 : No. of Amount due to Taking the Board of Trade estimate of the population of the three countries in 1867 as our basis, we find the average amount of deposits received that year to each head of the population to have been : The total amount of deposits lying in the banks in 1867 was to each head of the population: In these figures we have striking evidence of the relative poverty and low productive industry of Ireland. 1 In these are included 2,570,3577. deposited by Penny Banks, Charitable Institutions and Friendly Societies. The Friendly Societies have also 1,799,6487. deposited direct with the National Debt Commissioners, not included in the above. THREE CLASSES BY WHOM SAVING MAY BE EFFECTED. 171 The Post Office Savings Banks, which are exclusive of the above, are a great public benefit, being already nearly seven times as numerous as the ordinary savings banks, and bringing the institution home to the poor man's door.1 They were first established in 1861,2 and are steadily progressing, as will be seen by the following figures :— Year No. of Deposits No. of Received £ Total Deposits £ No. of Accounts open 1862 2,535 639,216. Average amount at credit of each Account £ 8. d. 639,216. 2,114,669. 178,495. 9 10 3 1867. 3,629. 2,232,347. 1,592,344. 4,643,906. 854,983. 11 8 0 In England and Wales, in 1867, there was one depositor to every eleven persons; in Scotland one depositor to every sixteen persons; and in Ireland one to every sixty-nine persons. The total amount of deposits in Post Office Savings Banks in Ireland on June 30, 1867, was 220,6371. The landowners of Great Britain have certainly effected and continue annually to effect very large savings in the aggregate, and have of late years sunk an enormous amount of capital in their land. In Ireland the corresponding class are able to save but very little indeed. Consequently their land, generally speaking, either remains in a state of nature, or, if partially improved, the improvements, such as they are, are mainly effected by the tenant, and even his saved labour is thus but sparingly invested in the absence of that security which is an essential condition of such an outlay being made. But it is by capitalists that saving is chiefly effected-that middle class which is the main stay of a nation; a class at all times lamentably small in Ireland. The capitalist uses not only his own savings, but those of the landowner and labourer, 1 A depositor in any one of the Post Office Savings Banks can deposit his money in any other of such banks without change of book, and can withdraw his money at any post office in the United Kingdom. Depositors have direct Government security. The rate of interest allowed is 27. 10s. per cent., that allowed by the ordinary Savings Banks being 31. Os. 10d. 2 September 16, 1861. to whom he gives a portion of his profit in the shape of interest. The profit of the capitalist is the inducement to save, as it is the inducement to employ his savings productively; that is, to use them as capital. Complete security is an essential condition of his doing so; for, without this security, he will not invest his capital, as in the case of the Irish tenant-at-will, at the risk of losing not only his profit, but his capital itself. CHAPTER XLIII. SUPPLY OF THE NECESSARIES OF LIFE TO THE BRITISH METROPOLIS—THE BREAKFAST TABLE OF THE WEALTHY LONDONER-MAN'S INBORN LOVE OF GAIN; THE EFFECTIVE DESIRE OF ACCUMULATION; THE HEALTHY DEVELOPMENT OF THIS PRINCIPLE VERY FEEBLE IN IRELAND; THIS, NOT THE FAULT OF THE MASSES OF THE PEOPLE; IRISHMEN PLACED IN A FAIR POSITION MOST INDUSTRIOUS-MIGRATION TO ENGLAND OF CONNAUGHT LABOURERS FOR HARVEST WORK; MUCH DIMINISHED OF LATE-THE IRISHMAN HAS FOUND FOR HIMSELF A NEW HABITATION ACROSS THE ATLANTIC; HIS ACCUMULATIONS THERE HIS SYMPATHY WITH FRIENDS AT HOME-PROPORTION OF PASSAGES PREPAID IN AMERICA-REMITTANCES OF IRISH EMIGRANTS TO THEIR FRIENDS IN IRELAND-INTERESTING CASE IN POINT. In the British metropolis are congregated over three millions of human beings. We are enabled by the aid of certain statistical returns and calculations, to approximate the enormous daily consumption of the necessaries and luxuries of life by this vast population, occupying so limited a space. This is a simple matter, but wonderful indeed and complex is the problem of the steady, regular, unfailing supply, to meet this consumption -a supply ever sufficient, but never in excess. Food, clothing, every convenience, every luxury, whatever can minister to man's wants or gratify his tastes, are all there to be found in abundance, but never in wasteful profusion. The wealthy Londoner rises in the morning and finds on his breakfast table tea brought |