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    586 THE liEADJB. {gA^fr^ I

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    ^ "" " POPULATION AND CAPITAL Population...

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    R Nursing Sisterhoods. Sisters Of Charit...

    We agree with this author in the following remarks : — But while we admire the institution of Sisters of Charity , and venerate the amiable and excellent women composing it , we acknowledge at once the impossibility of estab- _lishing any similar religious order in connexion with our Protestant churches . Still we do not despair of one day seeing enlisted in the service of the sick , countrywomen of our own equal in every respect to this admirable sisterhood . Miss Nightingale and her band of heroines have shown that this is no Utopian _idea-they have demonstrated * £ _^ 2 _^ _MJ _?* % _Zr _^^^^^ T _^ r _^^ _Sl conquered the applause of the public . They have broken through the trammels of conventional prudery , and achieved for themselves the esteem of all right-thinking people . Having overcome the scruples of a false delicacy , they have roused a noble rage for their philanthropic labours , and excited thousands of their countrywomen to emulate their heroic deeds . Henceforth , ' we venture to affirm , the nursing of the sick will be added to the list of female accomplishments . We cannot believe that the spirit which has animated these noble women will decline with the exigencies of the present war . We feel assured that the war has but kindled a spark which long lay smouldering in many a female bosom , and which will henceforth burn with a steady and useful _** am _^ , * _a _^ j . _-l . _j- c XT . . ... , ,. .. t _^ st _^ Y _^^ war broke out , we see that a lar _^ e number of women must necessarily for ever remain unmated ; for these no conjugal joys—ot sorrows—are in store , no husband shall ever engross their love , no little ones shall ever lisp to them the name of mother . Many of these can make themselves useful to their friends and relations ; many can chalk out for themselves other spheres of usefulness ; some are endowed with talents for the arts and sciences fitting them to shine in society , or to instruct the world . But how many have no such career of utility or amusement before them . Are they destined to fritter away their lives in wearisome aud profitless occupation ?—to yawn away the day over a novel?—to weave Penelope webs of Berlin wool representing unnatural flowers and monstrous animals ? -to draw unartistic landscapes and repulsive portraits ? -to write feeble verses , devoid of poetry ?—to strum long hours on the piano in hopes _df acquiring an ear for music r—to practice for months together m the expectation of getting _avrice ? Are they to be for ever debarred from employing their native talents in the most suitable manner , for ever condemned to labour in vain for the acquisition of accomplishments they never can excel in , and which can never be of the slightest use to themselves or their neighbours ? How many of them possess all those qualities which go to make the best of nurses ? How many have the cheerful patience , the exquisite sensibility and tenderness , the undefinable womanly tact that soothes , more than opiates , the feverish irritability of patients , and helps to banish the tedium of the sick-bed ? And are all these medicinal powers to be lost to the sick . because in England . alone , of all Christian countries ; society thinks it unproper for ladies to perform the Christian duty of visiting the sick in the way most advantageous for these sick ( ° Protestant Nursing Sisterhoods composed of volunteers might contain women of the lower classes as well as ladies ; but , probably , trained and paid nurses cannot for a long time be dispensed with advantageously in . our military hospitals . Mr . S . G . Osborne is emphatic in his praise of Miss Nig htingale and her associates—but a few words of qualification deserve to be quoted here , because , though to a certain extent prejudiced where ladies are concerned , Mr . Osborne is much less so than the generality of English gentlemen , and he has been to Scutari and seen the actual working of the Lady Nurses there . He says : — England , and the English army , will ever owe a deep debt of gratitude to the ladies who have devoted themselves to this first attempt to introduce the zeal and tender care of well-bred women into the economy of a military-hospital . When the war is over , and they return to us , from their experience may be gained the valuable information , how far all the work they had to do in this crisis was work that , in the sober moment of calm consideration at home , they would recommend as a field for the charitable exertion of English ladies . Mr . Osborne bears testimony to the high character and unsectarian spirit of those ladies of Miss Sellon ' s _sisterhood with whom he had to do , when * i u i _» j j . it . i -i . i t > i ii j . _~ l j taking chaplain s duty m the hospitals . There is really no rational ground of objection to a Nursing Sisterhood , any more than to a Dorcas Society , or a Ladies Committee of a Ladies College .

    586 The Lieadjb. {Ga^Fr^ I

    586 THE liEADJB . { gA _^ _fr _^ I

    ^ "" " Population And Capital Population...

    _^ "" " POPULATION AND CAPITAL Population and Capital . By George K . Rickards , M . A . Longman and Co . We are pleased with this book for two . reasons : because it is a good book , _„ j u ... _^ 11 1 !• _„• ii , /» , , . and because it is a wanted book—conditions seldom to be found together in these d » ys of literary fecundity . Perhaps another recommendation lies in the "fact that its contents have already been submitted , in the form of lectures , to the criticism of a critical audience : for Mr . Rickards is _Tro- _„ p t > !• * ¦ _i _t- > t . . j . viv _. _ivu . 1 ua » a aiu lessor ot J . _olitical Ji , oonoiny at the University of Oxford , and this book contains nothing but a course of leotures dolivered by him in that capacity . Widening the sphere of his influence , the lecturer now offers the fruit of his Studies to all who feel an interest in the momentous subject of which he treats , and it is possible that in doing so he may accomplish some more solid good than cramming a class of students with sufficient Political Economy to ° . . . ° . _«« j _»» _u x _uiib _^ _ui _x-couwuiy lo enable . them to pass an examination . Although by far the larger portion of the volume _ie taken up with the subject'of population , we prefer to confine the few remarks which we are about to make chiefly to the subject of Capital , that beinor the topic upon which , as wo conceive , more popular errors exist , and as to which it is more , _» _,.,. . ' . . ill -i wi _. i n * ¦» «• , i o »« _w _* v . needful that correct opinions should prevail . Whether Mr . Malthus was or waainot logical when he produced ; his famous dogma tliat " population has a constant tendency to increase _bejondtho medns of subsistence _^ " it is quite certain that no _au _^ h _tendonqy is oporatiog to the disadvantage of this country . at the present day , nor seems likely to do for some time , _tor « _ome . _J ** - _W" _^ _outartpping Subsi » tOneo , H mu . t bo _-toWrf . _** _^ this _^ _resent moment , in apite of a depressed trade , no branch of industry is overgtookod with labour , whilst . the _diftittulty . of _obtaining xooruits . for _tho

    naval and military arm prove to demonstration that the Queen has to f I rather than too many subjects upon her dominions . Those who feel W I interest in pursuing this question , and who wish to mingle a little I _^ I reasoning with the pleasant speculations upon the Census -which have _lntf 6 I appeared in Bluckwood , will do well to go carefully _through Mr _p- i _? I ards . s BUCCessful refutation of the Malthusian fallacy . Givin ° Maltiin « 2 " I f n dife f honest of purpose , ancl admitting that that well-abused _r ! v I _1-tl-pist is not reaTly to P _be _5 h « K _* with folly _S j impiety , as _hets _^ I _} lr- R _^ kards hi s , as we conceive , the exact truth when he e xplains that E increase ot population must be taken , not indeed as an absolute proof , but H as an indication of the prosperity of a nation . _ As the produce of a country H increases , as its commerce spreads , as its industrial arts demand fresh El supplies of labour , marriage ( the sure consequence of prosperity ) supplies if the demand , and proves the wealth which has called it into activit y . One H great excuse for Malthus's error lies in the fact that he never saw the fetters iff of protection removed from the food of the people , and it must be admitted m tlmt the spectacle of the law of population acting with natural freedom on H the one hand , and that of the provision of food actinor under unnarnrnl ES restraints on the other , was likel _£ to alarm a philosophical mind , _fief I existing conditions , however , we must avow our belief m the converse of If the Malthusian dogma , and discarding alike all faith in the efficacy of _M physical checks and moral checks upon the great law of nature , accept it for a §§ truth that the productive power of a community tends to increase more rapidl y M _tlian the number of the consumers . M The solitary lecture on Capital opens with a very intelligible definition of » -what Capital really is ; all the more necessary when we find such men as H Mr . Butt , and Sir Robert Kane , blundering upon the point : the former M speaking of waste lands , and the latter of labour , as Capital . Capital savs M _jftr _ Ri ( f kards is any thing whatever , the result of previous labour , which is I d _j h > k f _ioduc fcion » , In t ' bese words { t £ defined as the _^ J 3 I ,, _, , i _ ' . . . _, " _^ wuuwj i _^ i ot past labour saved from immediate consumption , and employed for the | purpose of producing something else . It is the reproductive power which i makes it Capital . This definition once clearly understood , there can be no f difficulty in at once determining what is Capital and what is not . The use 9 i alone makes Capital ; as the corn , which may be consumed as food , becomes 1 Capital by being laid by for seed . In quoting this instance of the corn , Mr . | Rickards draws a curious and ingenious analogy applicable to a great pro- 1 portion of what may be strictly called Capital ; namely , that in the process 3 of reproduction , the original Capital becomes depreciated before it yields 3 & a in _^ rease > This is f _> o with almost all raw materials , with the food % _i j . i _ _^ _xi . i i _ i • _i i , L \ and other necessaries otthe labourer , and is a curious gloss upon the text , j | "That which thou sowest is not quickened except it die . " M In drawing a very just distinction between productive and unproductive ffl consumption , Mr . llickards demolishes that revolting and dangerous fallacy , M that " private vices are public _benedts ; " a fallacy which has had some illus- M trious supporters , and which is the foundation of the popular favour with m which those who _" spend their money freely" are regarded . A modern French p writer , M . de Saint Chaumens , has succeeded , unintentionally , in reducing p this argument ad absurdum , by not only advocating luxurious living on | economical grounds , but maintaining that war and even great conflagrations | are advantageous , " on account of the extensive employment to which they | give rise . " Very little reflection will convince us that the man who accumu- | lates capital ( i . e . a fund for the employment of labour } is a greater public : | benefactor than he who spends a fortune upon luxury and self-indulgence ; I but this is not the popular belief , as the feeling towards spenthriita too i surely proves . The example by which M . Rickards illustrates his distinction ! is so good , that we cannot forbear quoting it : — f . , _. . .. . , . . _„ ... ? A expends a given sum of money , n a costly entertainment , B expends the same | sum in converting a piece of undramed morass into a potato-garden , linen gives * emplovment by _fhat One act of expenditure , to a certain amount of labour , and con- | tribute 3 to the maintenance of a certain number of families—belonging , indeed , in the 4 two ca 3 ea to a different class , but we will assume the benefit conferred in this respect i _£ to be equal . The value thus expended is in both instances consumed , but with how I different a result ! In the fonher case the viands are eaten , the music ceases , the ;| garlands fade , the guests have enjoyed their revel . Nothing beyond the pleasure of | the hour has been the result of that profitless expenditure . No fund survives for cm- ; : ploying a new series of wine-growers , serving-men , confectioners , and musicians . So _^ muoh valuo nas been irrevocably sunk and lost . To that extent A has become a j poorer man than he was before . On tlie other hand , 13 , the improver of the sou , u ! _jg not only a 3 rich aa he Wrt 9 before hia expenditure commenced , but richer . Ilia | potato-ground has returned a produce which not only replaces all that he has paid to | his la _^ _ourera in wages , together with the tithes and taxes , and a per-centage on his , | lix _f _« a _PJ ta 1 ' _^ _ovf _and _above _thefl _« - a P rofit on his outlay . The money which ho | sank in the soil has been replaced with usury . He has the . same fund in hand to . a expend over again in maintaining labourers and their families ; year after year the pro- j ccss _«> f reproductive consumption _maj' go on ; the same capital may be again and again | cm P loycd 7 consumed , and replaced , furnishing in each successive cycle maintenance i t 0 th _° ° UrCr nnd inC ° mC to th _° P itftll 8 t - . . ! Out of . this tlcfillition ° / productive Capital , a wider and even more im- | P ° ttant VIe T- _^^ f' ? f / ' U J ttt , umcver P rone the human mind _> _™/ _^ to become sordid and grovelling in the pursuit of wealth , the actual accuinuwtioilj production , and employment of wealth can act in no other way Unui to | J the benefit of society . Lot this be thoroughly understood , and the _fallacious Ivj doctrine of antagonism between Capital and Labour , which ag _itatoivi have I , so lon S *» kon as the text for their pernicious harangues , is at once demo- | _. _V _^ _S' _^^/^ ' f mi _^ bo ft hui ; d nia " ' _^ _i _" , he ma _V ? " ™« fy _^ " _^ _ffi ( 1 but Capital follows fixed laws , and must cither work to the benefit or _tm > || _workman , or it must disappear . I We cannot help thinking that if Mr . Rickards would reprint the locture If upon Capital in so cheap a form _« s to ronder it available for distribution H ' _« *« ong . the working-classes , ho would eflect a public service . There can II h ? n ? ° uht that _, _it _^ _011141 thoroughly bo understood and warmly appro- i _^ io _^^ _M _^ l _^^ J _^ C _^^^^" _^ . thousand dogmatic . pamphlets asserting , not proving , that the operativcifl l [ iavariably in the -wrong . 1

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 16, 1855, page 10, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/scld_16061855/page/10/