Page:An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798).djvu/322

 considered as their enemy, and as adding to the weight of their oppressions; and if the miser is for this reason, to be preferred to the man who spends his income, it follows, that any number of men who now spend their incomes, might, to the advantage of society, be converted into misers. Suppose then, that a hundred thousand persons who now employ ten men each were to lock up their wealth from general use, it is evident, that a million of working men of different kinds would be completely thrown out of all employment. The extensive misery that such an event would produce in the present state of society, Mr. Godwin himself could hardly refuse to acknowledge; and I question whether he might not find some difficulty in proving; that a conduct of this kind tended more than the conduct of those who spend their incomes to "place human