Page:Reflections on the Formation and the Distribution of Riches by Anne Turgot.djvu/109

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S85
Money invested in land is bound to bring the least.

The man who invests his money in the purchase of an estate which is leased to an entirely solvent Farmer procures himself a revenue which gives him very little trouble to receive, and which he can spend in the most agreeable manner by giving free play to all his tastes. There is the additional advantage that land is of all forms of property that whereof the possession is most secured against every kind of accident.

S86
Money placed on loan is bound to bring rather more than the revenue of landed estates acquired with an equal capital. He who lends his money on interest has an even more peaceable and free enjoyment of it than the possessor of land; but the insolvency of his debtor may cause him to lose his capital. He will not, therefore, content himself with an interest equal to the revenue of the land which he might buy with the same capital. The interest of money placed on loan must, consequently, be larger than the revenue of an estate purchased with the same capital; for if the lender found an estate for sale with a revenue equal to the interest, he would prefer that way of using it.