Pagina 879 di 2651

There is one sort of labour which adds to the value of the

subject upon which it is bestowed; there is another which has no

such effect. The former as it produces a value, may be called

productive, the latter, unproductive labour. {Some French authors

of great learning and ingenuity have used those words in a

different sense. In the last chapter of the fourth book, I shall

endeavour to shew that their sense is an improper one.} Thus the

labour of a manufacturer adds generally to the value of the

materials which he works upon, that of his own maintenance, and

of his master's profit. The labour of a menial servant, on the

contrary, adds to the value of nothing. Though the manufacturer

has his wages advanced to him by his master, he in reality costs

him no expense, the value of those wages being generally

restored, together with a profit, in the improved value of the

subject upon which his labour is bestowed. But the maintenance of

a menial servant never is restored.