But there are two kinds of towns, one of which we may term theproductive, the other the consuming kind.There are towns whichwork up raw materials, and pay the country districts for these, aswell as for the means of subsistence which they require, by meansof manufactured goods.These are the manufacturing towns, theproductive ones.The more that these prosper, the more theagriculture of the country prospers, and the more powers thatagriculture unfolds, so much the greater do those manufacturingtowns become.But there are also towns where those live who simplyconsume the rents of the land.In all countries which are civilisedto some extent, a large portion of the national income is consumedas rent in the towns.It would be false, however, were we tomaintain as a general principle that this consumption is injuriousto production, or does not tend to promote it.For the possibilityof securing to oneself an independent life by the acquisition ofrents, is a powerful stimulus to economy and to the utilisation ofsavings in agriculture and in agricultural improvements.Moreoverthe man who lives on rents, stimulated by the inclination todistinguish himself before his fellow-citizens, supported by hiseducation and his independent position, will promote civilisation,the efficiency of public institutions, of State administration,science and art.But the degree in which rent influences in thismanner the industry, prosperity, and civilisation of the nationwill always depend on the degree of liberty which that nation hasalready obtained.That inclination to become useful to thecommonwealth by voluntary activity, and to distinguish oneselfbefore one's fellow-citizens, will only develop itself in countrieswhere this activity leads to public recognition, to public esteem,and to offices of honour, but not in countries where every attemptto gain public esteem and every manifestation of independence isregarded by the ruling power with a jealous eye.In such countriesthe man of independent income will give himself up to debaucheryand idleness, and because in this manner he brings useful industryinto contempt, and injures the morality as well as the industriousimpulse of the nation, he will radically imperil the nation'sproductive power.Even if under such conditions the manufactures oftowns are to some extent promoted by the consumption of therentier, such manufactures are nevertheless to be regarded asbarren and unsound fruits, and especially they will aid very littlein promoting the civilisation, prosperity, and liberty of thenation.Inasmuch as a sound manufacturing industry especially tendsto produce liberty and civilisation, it may also be said thatthrough it rent itself is redeemed from forming a fund foridleness, debauchery, and immorality, and is converted into a fundfor promoting mental culture, and consequently that through it themerely consuming towns are changed into productive towns.Anotherelement by which the consuming towns are supported is, theconsumption of the public servants and of the State administration.
These also may occasion some apparent prosperity in a town; butwhether such consumption especially promotes or is injurious to theproductive power, prosperity and institutions of the nation,depends altogether on the question how far the functions of theconsumers tend to promote or to injure those powers.
From this the reason is evident why in mere agricultural Stateslarge towns can exist, which, although they contain a large numberof wealthy inhabitants and manifold trades, exercise only a veryinconsiderable influence on the civilisation, liberty, andproductive power of the nation.The persons engaged in those tradesnecessarily participate in the views of their customers; they areto be regarded in a great measure as mere domestic servants of therentiers and public employees.In contrast to great luxury in thosetowns, poverty, misery, narrow-mindedness, and a slavishdisposition are found among the inhabitants of the surroundingcountry districts.A prosperous effect of manufactures on thecivilisation, the improvement of public institutions, and theliberty of the nation, is only perceptible if in a country amanufacturing power is established which, quite independently ofthe rentiers and public servants, works for the large mass of theagricultural population or for export trade, and consumes theproducts of that population in large quantities for working up inmanufacture and for subsistence.The more such a sound and healthymanufacturing power increases in strength, the more will it draw toits side the manufacturing power which originated in theconsumption above named, and also the rentiers and public servants,and the more also will the public institutions be regulated with aview to the interest of the commonwealth.
