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4
THE ELEMENTS OF BANKING.
silver.' 1
-"Since it lias been proved
that hwiMtorial property Mich
as talents and acquired personal abilities, form an integral part
of social Wealth."
Senior also says:" If the question whether personal qualiti?*
are articles of Wealth had been proposed
in classical limes it
would have been too clear for dwcussioii. . - .
Thoy perish
indeed by his death, and may be impaired or destroyed by
disease, or rendered valueless by any changes in the custom of
the country which shall destroy the demand for lib nwviwa;
but subject to these
contingencies, they are Wealth, awl \Vi*alth
of the most valuable kind. The amount of revcmw! derived
from their exercise in England far exceeds the mital of all thr
lands in Great Britain,"
So also:
" Even in our present state of civilisation, whic.h
high as it appears by comparison, is far short of what may b
easily conceived, or even of what may be conf'utantly cxprctct!,
the INTELLECTUAL and MORAL CAPITAL of Grvat Britain far
exceeds all the Material Capital, not only in importance** but in
productiveness.
The families that receive men* wa^ proluibly
do not form a fourth of the community; and tin',
companttiv!y
larger amount o the wages even of these is principally owing to
the capital and skill with which their eiforte urn asHtsta! iiiitl
directed by the more educated members of the wctoiy. ThoHO
who receive mere rent, even using that word in it
lnrgt mmm\
are still fewer; and the amount of rent, like that of wngw,
principally depends on the knowledge by which th giftn of
nature are directed and employed. The bulk of the national
revenue is profit, and of that profit the portion which is moroly
interest on Material Capital, probably doea not amount to turnthird.
The rest is the result of PERSONAL CAPITAL, or, in other
words, of education."
So Mill says
: The skill and the energy, and the perwverance
of the artisans of a country are reckoned part, of it*
Wealth no less than their tools and machinery,*' And why not
the skill and energy and the perseverance of other
an wi*ll
as artisans? He also
says:" Acquired capacity which exit*
only as a means, and have been called into existence by labour,
fall exactly as it seems to me within that designation."