I. Enrichers, or those who are employed in producing utilities fixed and embodied in material things, that is to say, in producing exchangeable commodities or riches.
II. Auxiliaries, or those who are employed in aiding the production of exchangeable commodities.
III. Benefactors, or those who are employed in producing utilities fixed and embodied in human beings, that is to say, in conferring upon them some permanent good.
IV. Servitors, or those who are employed in rendering some service, that is to say, in conferring some temporary good upon another.
Class 1 is engaged in investing material objects with qualities which render them serviceable to others.
Class 2 is engaged in aiding the operations of Class 1.
Class 3 is engaged in conferring on human beings qualities which render them serviceable to themselves or others.
Class 4 is engaged in giving a pleasure, averting a pain (during a longer or shorter period), or preventing an inconvenience, by performing some office for others that they would find irksome to do for themselves.
Hence it appears that the operations of the first and third of the above classes, or the Enrichers and Benefactors of Society, tend to leave some permanent acquisition in the improved qualities of either persons or things,—whereas the operations of the second and fourth classes, or the Auxiliaries and Servitors, are limited merely to promoting either the labours or the pleasures of the other members of the community.
Such, then, are the several classes of Workers; and here it should be stated that, I apply the title Worker to all those who do anything for their living, who perform any act whatsoever that is considered worthy of being paid for by others, without regard to the question whether such labourers tend to add to or decrease the aggregate wealth of the community. I consider all persons doing or giving something for the comforts they obtain, as self-supporting individuals. Whether that something be really an equivalent for the emoluments they receive, it is not my vocation here to inquire. Suffice it some real or imaginary benefit is conferred upon society, or a particular individual, and what is thought a fair and proper reward is given in return for it. Hence I look upon soldiers, sailors, Government and parochial officers, capitalists, clergymen, lawyers, wives, &c., &c., as self-supporting—a certain amount of labour, or a certain desirable commodity, being given by each and all in exchange for other commodities, which are considered less desirable to the individuals parting with them, and more desirable to those receiving them.