Page 699 of 2651

His employers constitute the third order, that of those who live

by profit. It is the stock that is employed for the sake of

profit, which puts into motion the greater part of the useful

labour of every society. The plans and projects of the employers

of stock regulate and direct all the most important operation of

labour, and profit is the end proposed by all those plans and

projects. But the rate of profit does not, like rent and wages,

rise with the prosperity, and fall with the declension of the

society. On the contrary, it is naturally low in rich, and high

in poor countries, and it is always highest in the countries

which are going fastest to ruin. The interest of this third

order, therefore, has not the same connexion with the general

interest of the society, as that of the other two.