| “ | The land belongs to the owners but would be useless to them if it were not cultivated. The more labor is expended on it, other things being equal, the more it produces; and the more its products are refined, other things being equal, the more value they have as goods. Therefore, the owners need the inhabitants as they need the owners. However, in this econonomy, it is the property owners who have the control and direction of the landed capital, to give the most advantageous turn and movement to the whole. Also, everything in a state depends mainly on the moods, modes and ways of life of the property owners, as I will try to clearly show in the remainder of this essay.
Thus, need and necessity enable farmers, artisans of every kind, merchants, officers, soldiers, sailors, domestic servants and all the other classes who work or are employed in the state, to exist. All these working people server not only the prince and the property owners, but each other as well. Many of them do not work directly for the property owners, and so it is not seen that they subsist on the capital of these proprietors and live at their expense. As for those whose professions are not essential, like dancers, actors, painters, musicians, etc., they are only supported in the state for pleasure or ornamentation, and their number is always very small compared to the population. |
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| — Richard Cantillon (1680 – 1734) Essay on the Nature of Trade in General , 1755 |
