Page:An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798).djvu/354

 be an increase of the funds for the maintenance of labour, and consequently will always tend to ameliorate the condition of the labouring poor; though an increase of wealth, according to Dr. Adam Smith's definition, will by no means invariably have the same tendency. And yet it may not follow from this consideration that Dr. Adam Smith's definition is not just. It seems in many respects improper, to exclude the clothing and lodging of a whole people from any part of their revenue. Much of it may, indeed, be of very trivial and unimportant value, in comparison with the food of the country; yet still it may be fairly considered as a part of its revenue: and, therefore, the only point in which I should differ from Dr. Adam Smith is where he seems to consider every increase of the revenue or stock of a society, as an increase of the funds