[230-3] J. B. Say, Traité, II, 4; Sismondi, N. P., IV, ch. 4. As early a writer as Lauderdale, Inquiry, 358 ff., thought the social leveling of modern times would promote English industry. In the East Indies, on the other hand, only the most expensive watches, rifles, candelabras[TN 52] etc. were sold, because the nabobs were the only persons who created any demand for European commodities (312 ff.). Adam Smith, Wealth of Nat., II, ch. 3, draws a very correct distinction between the luxury of durable goods and that of those which perish rapidly; the former is less calculated to impoverish an individual or a whole nation; and hence it is much more closely allied to frugality. Similarly even Isocrates, ad Niccol., 19; Livy, XXIV, 7; Plin., H. N., XIII, 4; Mariana, 1598, De Rege et Regis Institutione, III, 10; Sir W. Temple, Works, I, 140 seq., who found this better kind of luxury in Holland: Berkeley, Querist, No. 296 ff.
[230-4] Schmoller, loc. cit., considers it no favorable symptom, that in Prussia, between 1802 and 1867, the per capita consumption of milk decreased and that of wool increased. According to L. Levi, the consumption of brandy in England decreased from 1854 and 1870, from 1.13 to 1.01 gallons per capita; but, on the other hand, the consumption of malt increased from 1.45 to 1.84 bushels, and the consumption of wine from 0.23 to 0.45 gallons. The number of licenses to retail spirituous liquors was, in 1830, 6.30 per thousand of the population; in 1860-69, only 5.57. (Statist. Journal, 1872, 32 ff.)
[230-5] Compare Cicero, pro Murena, 36. The Athenians under Pericles, in times of peace, spent more than one-third of their state-income on plastic and architectural works of art. The annual state-income amounted to 1,000 talents (Xenoph., Exp. Cyri, VII, 1, 27), while the propylea alone cost, within 5 years, 2,012 talents. (Böckh, Staatsh., I, 283.) On the other hand, Demosthenes complains of the shabbiness of public buildings, and the magnificence of private ones in his time. (adv. Aristocr., 689, Syntax., 174 seq.)
Demetrius Phalereus blames even Pericles, on account of his extravagance on the propylea, although Lycurgus had been, not long before, addicted to luxury after the manner of Pericles. (Cicero, De Off., II, 17.)
THE ADVANTAGES OF LUXURY.
The favorable results which many writers ascribe to luxury in general are true evidently only of this period. And thus luxury, inasmuch as it is a spur to emulation, promotes production in general; just as the awarding of prizes in a school, although they can be carried away only by a few, excites the activity of all its attendants. A nation which begins to consume sugar will, as a rule, unless it surrenders some previous enjoyment, increase its production.[231-1] In countries where there is little or no legal security, in which, therefore, people must keep shy of making public the good condition they are in, this praise-worthy side of luxury is for the most part wanting.[231-2]
All rational luxury constitutes a species of reserve fund for a future day of need. This is especially true of these luxuries which take the form of capital in use (Nutzkapitalien.) Where it is customary for every peasant girl to wear a gold head-dress,[231-3] and every apprentice a medal, a penny for a rainy day is always laid by among the lower classes. The luxury which is rapidly consumed has a tendency in the same direction. Where the majority of the population live on potatoes, as in Ireland, where, therefore, they are reduced to the smallest allowance of the means of subsistence, there is no refuge in case of a bad harvest. A people on the other hand, who live on wheat bread may go over to rye bread, and a people who live on rye bread to potatoes. The corn that in good years is consumed in the making of brandy may, in bad years, be baked into bread.[231-4] And the oats consumed by horses kept as luxuries may serve as food for man. Pleasure-gardens (Lustgärten) may be considered as a kind of last resort for a whole people in case of want of land.[231-5] [231-6]
[231-1] Compare Benjamin Franklin's charming story, Works I, 134 ff.; ed. Robinson. Colbert recommended luxury chiefly on account[TN 53] of its service to production.
[231-2] Turkish magnates who keep several magnificent equipages ride to the sultan's in a very bad one. Risa Pascha, when at the height of his power, had his house near a villa of the sultan painted in the plainest and most unsightly manner possible. The walls of a park in Constantinople painted half in red and half in blue, to give it the appearance of being two gardens. (Alg. Zeitung, 16 Juli, 1849.) In Saxony, between 1847 and 1850, the number of luxury horses diminished from 6.11 to 5.64 per cent. of the total number of horses in the kingdom. (Engel, Jahrbuch, I, 305.) In the same country there were coined in 1848 over 64,000 silver marks, derived from other sources than the mines. (Engel, Statis. Zeitschr. I, 85.) In England, on the other hand, the number of four-wheeled carriages increased more than 60 per cent. between 1821 and 1841, while the population increased only 30 per cent. (Porter, Progress, V, 3, 540.)