24 Aug. 1801

C2

Polit. Economy

Method

III Non Agenda.

Encouragement

71

6

10

productive, individuals that have unengaged pecuniary capital to employ are

already as compleatly disposed to engage /employ/ it in this most profitable

branch as any thing that can be done /be employ'd/ by government can make

them.b. (a) {Encouragement afforded by government to this or that particular

branch is therefore either useless or mischievous or useless: useless if it be

more productive than any other, mischievous, if it be not. /in the opposite

case./

Inclination, power, knowledge: inclination to apply himself to the most

profitable of all branches is what the individual never can be in want of: power

depends principally /generally/ upon money, which can not be given to one

individual without being taken from others : knowledge as to what branch of

industry would be most profitable to him is what in general each individual is

apt to be possessed of in a greater degree than government: though if government

through the industry or /and/ sagacity of any of its agents happens in this or

that particular case to have more knowledge about the matter than the

individuals who have the choice to make, there can be no harm in the

communication /diffusion/ of it at the expense of government, because by even

the mere advance of a minute /an impalpable/ portion of money well applied, an

infinite stock /an infinity/ of useful knowledge may be diffused.}

[(a)] See Note next page