Labor and Wealth
Cantillon calculates that the labor of 25 persons is sufficient to sustain 100 with all the necessities of life according to the European standard. It is also figured that a third of the population is too old or too young to work and another six consist of those who are landowners, overseers, and the like who do not work but facilitate or oversee what others do.
There remains 25% of the population who are capable of work, but have nothing to do. This portion of the population do not rest idle, but are involved in the production of conveniences and luxuries - fine linen, jewelry, and works of art contribute nothing to the subsistence and maintenance of man, but are deemed to contribute to the pleasures and amusements, adding quality to life.
Even some portion of those who labor for necessities impart pleasure and amusement: a "nicely wrought" spoon requires more work than one that his hastily and poorly made, though the latter is no more efficient at its task, and it matters not if clothing is made of fine or coarse linen.
It is generally observed that people who use well-wrought goods are richer and more esteemed than those whose trappings and implements are cruder, as are those who enjoy more of the pleasures and amusements of life.
There is also some note of the wealth that is created by the durability of well-made goods. A plate made of pewter will long outlast one made of earthenware, such that in the balance the greater labor of its fabrication results in an extended duration of use, and people will have more things for less labor if the things be durable.
Money, particularly in gold or silver, represent the potential to consume, as precious metals can always be traded for items of use, and it is therefore rightly reckoned that a people who have more of it have wealth.
Foreign trade is considered to be a balancing effect on production and consumption: where domestic labor produces more than the population can consume, the excess is traded abroad; and where domestic labor produces less, the shortage can be restored by the import of foreign goods. Here, too, precious metals facilitate trade just as in any marketplace.
To the earlier point, given that 25% of the population is capable of working, but their work is not needed to provide the necessities of life, there can be found no objection to their employment in trades that provide only ornament or amusement. It is unhealthy for a person to pursue diversions and neglect his responsibilities, but there is no objection to his pursuit of diversion after his responsibilities have been met - and the same can be said of a nation.
Indeed, once need has been satisfied, even needful work is wasteful: to sow more wheat than can be consumed or traded may have the appearance of meaningful work, but results in no benefit to anyone.
There is some defense of the excesses and idleness of the wealthy nobles, whose possession of fifty or so horses seems wasteful in time of peace, but the nation will be thankful of it in time of war. And even if the consumption of the rich is truly wasteful and self-indulgent, those who provide the goods and services thus wasted make practical use of their wages.
Some seem inclined to praise austerity in life, eschewing consumption for pleasure, and would rather seem to prefer that the population of a nation live an ascetic life such as that of monks - but monks are not a happy lot by their nature, and are of no useful or ornamental purpose to anyone. And in many instances, the religious orders that live in poverty, depending on the charity of others, are a nonproductive drain on national resources. Religion may elevate the soul of man and offer great rewards in the afterlife, but it is a wasteful luxury "on this side of heaven" for a nation to sustain.