With regard to the demand for labor, it certainly was no greater than
formerly. THERE WERE, TO BE SURE, FIVE TIMES AS MANY FIELDS TO
CULTIVATE, BUT THEY WERE FIVE TIMES SMALLER. If coal was mined, there
was also less wheat; and because there were no more oranges bought,
neither was there any more rye sold. Besides, the farmer could not
spend in wages more than his capital, and his capital, instead of
increasing, was now constantly diminishing. A great part of it was
necessarily devoted to numerous buildings and utensils, indispensable
to a person who determines to undertake everything. In short, the
supply of labor continued the same, but the means of paying became
less.

The result is precisely similar when a nation isolates itself by the
prohibitive system. Its number of industrial pursuits is certainly
multiplied, but their importance is diminished. In proportion to their
number, they become less productive, for the same capital and the same
skill are obliged to meet a greater number of difficulties. The fixed
capital absorbs a greater part of the circulating capital; that is to
say, a greater part of the funds destined to the payment of wages.
What remains, ramifies itself in vain; the quantity cannot be
augmented. It is like the water of a deep pond, which, distributed
among a multitude of small reservoirs, appears to be more abundant,
because it covers a greater quantity of soil, and presents a larger
surface to the sun, while we hardly perceive that, precisely on this
account, it absorbs, evaporates, and loses itself the quicker.

Capital and labor being given, the result is, a sum of production,
always the less great in proportion as obstacles are numerous. There
can be no doubt that international barriers, by forcing capital and