ut they are differently distributed. This is however supposing
rather a monopoly of water than a scarcity of it. If it should be
scarce, then the riches of the country and of individuals would be
actually diminished, inasmuch as it would be deprived of a portion of
one of its enjoyments. The farmer would not only have less corn to
exchange for the other commodities which might be necessary or desirable
to him, but he and every other individual would be abridged in the
enjoyment of one of the most essential of their comforts. Not only
would there be a different distribution of riches, but an actual loss of
wealth.

It may be said then of two countries possessing precisely the same
quantity of all the necessaries and comforts of life, that they are
equally rich, but the value of their respective riches would depend on
the comparative facility or difficulty with which they were produced.
For if an improved piece of machinery should enable us to make two pair
of stockings, instead of one, without additional labour, double the
quantity would be given in exchange for a yard of cloth. If a similar
improvement be made in the manufacture of cloth, stockings and cloth
will exchange in the same proportions as before, but they will both have
fallen in value; for in exchanging them for hats, for gold, or other
commodities in general, twice the former quantity must be given. Extend
the improvement to the production of gold, and every other commodity;
and they will all regain their former proportions. There will be double
the quantity of commodities annually produced in the country, and
therefore the wealth of the country will be doubled, but this wealth
will not have increased in value.

Although Adam Smith has given the correct description of riches, which I
have more than once noticed, he afterwards explains them differently,
and says, "that a man must be rich or poor according to the quantity of
labour which he can afford to purchase." Now this description differs
essentially from the other, and is certainly incorrect; for suppose the
mines were to become more productive, so that gold and silver fell in
value, from the greater facility of their production; or that velvets
were to be manufactured with so much less labour than before, that they
fell to half their former value; the riches of all those who purchased
those commodities would be increased: one man might increase the
quantity of his plate, another might buy double the qu