perpetuate the poverty and backwardness of India than the want of good roads. There, it frequently happens that one district can scarcely lend any assistance to another; an interchange of commodities, which would be advantagous to all concerned, is often prevented by the want of a road. During the terrible famine which ravaged the North- West Provinces, in the year 1860, rice which was in one district at the famine price of four rupees per maund of 83 lbs., was selling in adjoining districts at less than two rupees per maund. As long as such occurrences can take place, India must continue poor, her resources must remain imperfectly developed, and her labour must be comparatively inefficient. A village community virtually isolated from the rest of India cannot now raise that produce for which their land is best adapted, but must cultivate it with a view of supplying themselves with the first necessaries of life.[1] Manchester would, no doubt, annually purchase of India many million pounds' worth of cotton; but cotton will not be produced on any large scale until the people of India feel that if they grow cotton they will be able to exchange it for food and other necessaries.
The various functions of capital illustrate the same principle.The remarks which have been made to illustrate the functions of capital, afford striking examples of the complex cooperation of labour. An individual may save the fund which forms his capital from a great variety of sources. The wealth which he has thus saved, he will probably embark in a great number of different investments, and in this way assist the labour of those engaged in the production of various kinds of wealth. Part of his capital will probably be devoted to the trade in which he is engaged; and he will perhaps deposit the remainder with his banker, by whom it would be lent to numerous traders to support them in their business. All commerce, in fact, forcibly exemplifies the cooperation of labour, not only between different employments, but between different countries. England gathers wealth from every- ↑ [Since this was written the export of cotton from India has reached very large proportions. If raw and manufactured cotton are taken together they form by far the highest value of any article in her export table. In the year ending March 31, 1904, the value of cotton exported from India was in rupees: raw cotton, Rs. 17,43,46,372; manufactured cotton, Rs.ll,64,31,908.]
