"The skill of a tailor, and the implements he employs, contribute in the same way to the convenience of him who wears thecoat, namely, a remote way: it is the coat itself which contributes immediately.The skill of Madame Pasta, and the buildingand decorations which aid the effect of her performance, contribute in the same way to the enjoyment of the audience,namely, an immediate way, without any intermediate instrumentality.The building and decorations are consumedunproductively, and Madame Pasta labours and consumes unproductively; for the building is used and worn out, andMadame Pasta performs, immediately for the spectator's enjoyment, and without leaving, as a consequence of theperformance, any permanent result possessing exchangeable value: consequently the epithet unproductive must be equallyapplied to the gradual wearing out of the bricks and mortar, the nightly consumption of the more perishable `properties' ofthe theatre, the labours of Madame Pasta in acting, and of the orchestra in playing.But notwithstanding this, the architectwho built the theatre was a productive labourer; so were the producers of the perishable articles; so were.those whoconstructed the musical instruments; and so, we must be permitted to add, were those who instructed the musicians, and allpersons who, by the instructions which they may have given to Madame Pasta, contributed to the formation of her talent.Allthese persons contributed to the enjoyment of the audience in the same way, viz, in the production of a permanent source ofenjoyment.
"The difference between this case, and the case of the cotton-spinner already adverted to, is this.The spinning-jenny, and theskill of the cotton~spinner, are not only the result of productive labour, but are themselves productively consumed.Themusical instrument and the skill of the musician are equally the result of productive labour, but are themselvesunproductively consumed."Miss Martineau, in her Tale, Life in the Wilds , one of her Tales entitled Illustrations of Political Economy , describes a partyof persons who, in a settlement near the Cape of Good Hope, arc deprived of all their possessions by an onslaught ofCaffres, and have to begin life afresh, without tools, capital, or social organization.There is an instructive account given ofthe manner in which tools and capital are gradually acquired: and of the manner in which the wages of labour are paid.Andin this case, besides the productive labourers, there is found a need for a minister of religion and a governor, and these arealso paid, though unproductive labourers; productive meaning, as Miss Martineau says, productive of wealth.
There is nothing unusual in this arbitrary limitation of the meaning of a phrase.`The Quarterly' means the Quarterly Review.
With us in Cambridge `the Long' means the Long Vacation.In architecture, the `Decorated style' means that in which thewindows are decorated with tracery.The tenacity with which some writers have urged that that labour cannot be properlycalled unproductive which produces enjoyment, involves a rejection of the ordinary usages of language.
Nor is it true that because all the kinds of labour tend to the same end they need to be classed together, though Dr Twissurges this argument.He says:
"The first link of a chain-cable is just as instrumental as the last link in holding a ship by its anchor; and so each individual,who forms a link in the great chain of operations of human labour, however far remote his place may be from that of theperson out of whose hands the product issues, in its finished state of preparation for the consumer, as he has in his placecontributed a share of that general result, seems justly entitled to be considered a productive labourer equally with the lastworkman."But to this we reply, that a cable may be of different materials and have different properties in one part and another.If thecable be half an iron chain and half a hempen rope, shall we be forbidden to examine the different properties of iron chainand hempen rope because the first link of one and the last fathom of the other are equally instrumental in holding a ship to itsanchor?
I conceive therefore, that, as I have said, Dr Twiss's argument is of no force, and the distinction of productive andunproductive labour remains a fundamental point in Political Economy.
