It would be a strange catalogue of things, that
industry provided and made use of, about every loaf of bread,
before it came to our use, if we could trace them; iron, wood,
leather, bark, timber, stone, bricks, coals, lime, cloth, dying
drugs, pitch, tar, masts, ropes, and all the materials made use
of in the ship, that brought any of the commodities made use of
by any of the workmen, to any part of the work; all which it
would be almost impossible, at least too long, to reckon up.
Sec. 44. From all which it is evident, that though the
things of nature are given in common, yet man, by being master of
himself, and proprietor of his own person, and the actions or
labour of it, had still in himself the great foundation of
property; and that, which made up the great part of what he
applied to the support or comfort of his being, when invention
and arts had improved the conveniencies of life, was perfectly
his own, and did not belong in common to others.
Sec. 45. Thus labour, in the beginning, gave a right of
property, wherever any one was pleased to employ it upon what
was common, which remained a long while the far greater part, and
is yet more than mankind makes use of. Men, at first, for the
most part, contented themselves with what unassisted nature
offered to their necessities: and though afterwards, in some
parts of the world, (where the increase of people and stock, with
the use of money, had made land scarce, and so of some value)
the several communities settled the bounds of their distinct
territories, and by laws within themselves regulated the
properties of the private men of their society, and so, by
compact and agreement, settled the property which labour and
industry began; and the leagues that have been made between
several states and kingdoms, either expresly or tacitly disowning
all claim and right to the land in the others possession, have,
by common consent, given up their pretences to their natural
common right, which originally they had to those countries, and
so have, by positive agreement, settled a property amongst
themselves, in distinct parts and parcels of the earth; yet there
are still great tracts of ground to be found, which (the
inhabitants thereof not having joined with the rest of mankind,
in the consent of the use of their common money) lie waste, and
are more than the people who dwell on it do, or can make use of,
and so still lie in common; tho' this can scarce happen amongst
that part of mankind that have consented to the use of money.
Pages:
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50