Let us first examine the question as to food.One portion of the food of the people is BREAD,which is never prepared till within a few hours of the time when it is eaten.The corn of which the bread is made must,of course,have been grown,or one part of the whole operation,and that the longest part --that between saving the seed and harvesting the ripe grain,which is necessary to the complete preparation of the food,has been performed;but the corn has afterward to be thrashed,ground,sifted,brought to market and made into bread.For the cotton-spinner to be able to attend only to his peculiar species of industry,it is indispensable that other men should be constantly engaged in completing this complicated process,every part of it being as necessary as the part performed by the agriculturist.The produce of several of the labourers particularly of the baker,cannot be stored up.In no case can the material of bread,whether it exist as corn or flour,be preserved without continual labour.The employer of the working cotton-spinner can have no bread stored up,for there is none prepared;the labouring cotton-spinner himself knows nothing of any stock of corn being in existence from which his bread can be made;he knows that he has always been able to get bread when he had wherewithal to buy it,and further he does not require to know.But even if he did know of such a stock,he would probably give up cotton-spinning and take to preparing food,if he did not also know that while he is making cotton other labourers will till the ground,and prepare him food,which he will be able to procure by making cotton.His conviction that he will obtain bread when he requires it,and his master's conviction that the money he pays will enable him to obtain it,arise simply from the fact that the bread has always been obtained when required.

Another article of the labourer's food is milk,and milk is manufactured,not to speak irreverently of the operations of nature,twice a day.If it be said that the cattle to supply it are already there --why,the answer is,they require constant attention and constant labour,and their food,through the greater part of the year,is of daily growth.The fields in which they pasture require the hand of man;and,though some herds be drilled into the habits of obedience more perfect and certainly more pleasing to see than the obedience of soldiers,yet even they require perpetual attention,and their milk must be drawn from them twice a day.The meat,also,which the labourer eats is not ready,even for cooking,till it is on the shambles,and it cannot be stored up,for it begins instantly to deteriorate after it is brought to market.The cattle which are to be slaughtered require the same sort of care and attention as cows;and not one particle of meat could the cotton-spinner ever procure were not the farmer,the grazier and the drover continually at work,preparing meat while he is preparing cotton.But after the meat is brought to market,it is not even then ready for consumption.

We are not cannibals;and either our wives,or some labourer who makes this his business,completes the preparation of the meat only a few hours,or even minutes,before it is eaten.Of the drink of the labourer,that which is supplied by nature never ceases to flow.His beer is prepared only so long before it is drunk as is necessary to have it good,and,while the existing stock is disposing of,the brewer is busy creating a fresh supply.There may probably be as much tea imported at one time as serves for a few months,and,while this stock is consuming,ships are continually arriving with more.

Now as to clothing.Some labourers buy ready-made clothes;others order them to be made for them.There is,it may be admitted,a small stock of clothing on hand;but considering what enemies moths are to the materials of which it is made,only a very small stock is ever prepared.The materials for women's garments may be prepared a few weeks before they are made up,but the garments are rarely formed till they are actually put on.

Other examples might be brought from every branch of industry,if it were necessary to examine each on in detail,for in this respect every labourer is similarly situated.The farmer knows he will be able to get clothes when he requires them,and the tailor knows he will be able to get food;but the former knows nothing of any stored-up stock of clothes,and the latter nothing of any stored-up stock of provisions.The labourer knows that when he is able to pay for bread,for meat and for drink he can procure them,but he knows nothing further;and I have shown that these are not prepared till he needs them.As far as food,drink and clothing are concerned,it is quite plain,then,that no species of labourer depends on any previously prepared stock,for in fact no such stock exists;but every species of labourer does constantly,and at all times,depend for his supplies on the co-existing labour of some other labourers.