8: Wallace
The author gives passing reference to a "Mr. Wallace" (EN: who, strangely, is not mentioned again in a chapter whose title is his name) as one of a number of historians who give little attention to the problem of population - even though it is evident from the historical record that distress for want of food is a constant concern on all of mankind, and for all of history, that is as much or more the reason for the rise and fall of civilizations than any of the various causes historians generally cite.
Malthus then turns his attention to an unfinished work written by Concordet, that was not published in his lifetime. (EN: a bit of history ... Concordet died a political prisoner and wrote "Sketch for a Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Spirit" while he was in hiding).
Concordet also proposes the use of wealth as a means to sustain the non-productive members of society (widows, orphans, and the aged) by the establishment of a capital fund: credit is extended to those who can make productive use of capital (thus society is not dependent on a few "great capitalists" to sponsor industry) and the interest earned can provide for those who are unable to provide for themselves.
It's a fine idea,on paper, but the problem is that capital alone does not create any tangible good. That is, money saved in the past is used to purchase items in the present; but this presumes those items exist to be purchased; and to exist, they must be produced by someone.
In the last part of the work, Concordet arrives at the conclusion that it is impossible for a society to preserve its population and prosperity without having a number of individuals whose only means of subsistence is their own industry - that is, not all may lead lives of leisure, artistic, or academic pursuits, and at least some must work to produce food and other necessities to support those involved in pursuits that yield no such product.
Concordet then arrives at the heart of the problem: if men amass wealth by productive pursuits, then seek later to sustain themselves with there amassed financial resources, there will inevitably come a time when the number who seek to feed from their wealth exceed the number who remain productively employed to produce goods that they are willing to sell. This results in a scarcity of goods, and a diminution of happiness and population until wealth is consumed and a sufficient proportion of men return to productive work - a cycle of "periodical misery" that prevents the utopian vision of a leisure society from ever being achieved.
In this regard, Concordet is on the mark, as it describes the very cycle about which Malthus has written, though in somewhat different terms. There can be much argument over the details - what proportion of men must be productive to sustain an unproductive population, and the length of the cycle given the productivity and wealth of a given society - but the fundamental principle is the same: capital resources (wealth) are largely irrelevant to the happiness and survival of a society, which is more accurately determined by its present ability to provide for its present needs.