Page:Sir William Petty - A Study in English Economic Literature - 1894.djvu/52

423]

[Note.—The following abstract was made before the publication of Dr. Cunningham's second edition of his History and also before I had seen Ricca Salerno's essay on "Idee finanziarie del Inghilterra" in the Giornale degli Economisti, 1884. Pages are quoted from collected edition of Petty's works, Dublin, 1769. ]

In the "Treatise on taxes and contributions" Petty says that labor is the father of wealth, and land the mother (31). This expression offers us a convenient division. We will first of all gather together his statements on land itself as a factor in national wealth.

The destiny of a country is decided by the territory which it occupies. The richness of the soil enables it to support a large population; to use his own words, "A thousand acres that can feed a thousand souls is better than ten thousand acres of no more effect" (219). In a limited territory all government charges are smaller. There is greater division of labor, hence greater opportunity for acquiring wealth (219). Certain countries have natural advantages in manufactures and in trade (220). Holland is flat. It is naturally adapted for windmills (220). The fact, too, that it is placed at the mouth of three large rivers all flowing through rich countries, keeps in its hands the lucrative navigation of those streams (221). Proximity to navigable waters, by diminishing the cost of carriage, gives one country an advantage over another not so placed. Again, if a country can be easily defended against foreign enemies, it saves on this head much