Page:Two Lectures on the Checks to Population.pdf/79

73 not exceeding that which the food of the country can well maintain, be greater than those of the remainder, then, amongst those families, the competition would be sufficiently limited, and they might all live in comfort and comparative affluence, notwithstanding inequalities in their conditions, and although their numbers might approach to the utmost amount which the food of the country could maintain upon a liberal allowance. Supposing, for example, the income derivable from the sale of the labour of a family to be fifty pounds per annum, then, were as many, or nearly as many families as the food of the country could well maintain, but not a greater number, to possess, in addition to their labour, other sources of income, derived either from capital or from land, these families, in the competition for food, would drive all other families out of the market, and a due proportion would be preserved between the population and the food.