An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of

139

Adam Smith

After food, clothing and lodging are the two great wants of man-

kind.

Land, in its original rude state, can afford the materials of cloth-

ing and lodging to a much greater number of people than it can

feed. In its improved state, it can sometimes feed a greater number

of people than it can supply with those materials; at least in the

way in which they require them, and are willing to pay for them.

In the one state, therefore, there is always a superabundance of

these materials, which are frequently, upon that account, of little

or no value. In the other, there is often a scarcity, which necessar-

ily augments their value. In the one state, a great part of them is

thrown away as useless and the price of what is used is considered

as equal only to the labour and expense of fitting it for use, and

can, therefore, afford no rent to the landlord. In the other, they

are all made use of, and there is frequently a demand for more

than can be had. Somebody is always willing to give more for

every part of them, than what is sufficient to pay the expense of

bringing them to market. Their price, therefore, can always afford

some rent to the landlord.

The skins of the larger animals were the original materials of

clothing. Among nations of hunters and shepherds, therefore,

whose food consists chiefly in the flesh of those animals, everyman,

by providing himself with food, provides himself with the materi-

als of more clothing than he can wear. If there was no foreign

commerce, the greater part of them would be thrown away as

things of no value. This was probably the case among the hunting

nations of North America, before their country was discovered by

the Europeans, with whom they now exchange their surplus peltry,

for blankets, fire-arms, and brandy, which gives it some value. In

the present commercial state of the known world, the most barba-

rous nations, I believe, among whom land property is established,

have some foreign commerce of this kind, and find among their

wealthier neighbours such a demand for all the materials of cloth-

ing, which their land produces, and which can neither be wrought

up nor consumed at home, as raises their price above what it costs

to send them to those wealthier neighbours. It affords, therefore,

some rent to the landlord. When the greater part of the Highland

cattle were consumed on their own hills, the exportation of their

hides made the most considerable article of the commerce of that

country, and what they were exchanged for afforded some addi-

tion to the rent of the Highland estates. The wool of England,

which in old times, could neither be consumed nor wrought up at

home, found a market in the then wealthier and more industrious

country of Flanders, and its price afforded something to the rent

of the land which produced it. In countries not better cultivated

than England was then, or than the Highlands of Scotland are

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140

The Wealth of Nations

now, and which had no foreign commerce, the materials of cloth-

ing would evidently be so superabundant, that a great part of them

would be thrown away as useless, and no part could afford any

rent to the landlord.

The materials of lodging cannot always be transported to so

great a distance as those of clothing, and do not so readily become

an object of foreign commerce. When they are superabundant in

the country which produces them, it frequently happens, even in

the present commercial state of the world, that they are of no

value to the landlord. A good stone quarry in the neighbourhood

of London would afford a considerable rent. In many parts of

Scotland and Wales it affords none. Barren timber for building is

of great value in a populous and well-cultivated country, and the

land which produces it affords a considerable rent. But in many

parts of North America, the landlord would be much obliged to

any body who would carry away the greater part of his large trees.

In some parts of the Highlands of Scotland, the bark is the only

part of the wood which, for want of roads and water-carriage, can

be sent to market; the timber is left to rot upon the ground. When

the materials of lodging are so superabundant, the part made use

of is worth only the labour and expense of fitting it for that use. It

affords no rent to the landlord, who generally grants the use of it

to whoever takes the trouble of asking it. The demand of wealthier

nations, however, sometimes enables him to get a rent for it. The

paving of the streets of London has enabled the owners of some

barren rocks on the coast of Scotland to draw a rent from what

never afforded any before. The woods of Norway, and of the coasts

of the Baltic, find a market in many parts of Great Britain, which

they could not find at home, and thereby afford some rent to their

proprietors.

Countries are populous, not in proportion to the number of

people whom their produce can clothe and lodge, but in propor-

tion to that of those whom it can feed. When food is provided, it

is easy to find the necessary clothing and lodging. But though

these are at hand, it may often be difficult to find food. In some

parts of the British dominions, what is called a house may be built

by one day’s labour of one man. The simplest species of clothing,

the skins of animals, require somewhat more labour to dress and

prepare them for use. They do not, however, require a great deal.

Among savage or barbarous nations, a hundredth, or little more

than a hundredth part of the labour of the whole year, will be

sufficient to provide them with such clothing and lodging as sat-

isfy the greater part of the people. All the other ninety-nine parts

are frequently no more than enough to provide them with food.

But when, by the improvement and cultivation of land, the

labour of one family can provide food for two, the labour of half

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