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Show 190 OF THE RENT OF LAND. tured and tnercantile comtnodities were to retnain the same notwithstanding the fall of labour, profits would certainly be raised; but they would not remain the san1e, as was shewn in the preceding chapter. The new prices of commodities and the newr profits of stock would be detern1ined upon principles of competition; and whatever the rate was, as so detennined, capital would be taken fron1 the land till this rate 'vas attained. The profits of capital employed in the 'vay just described tnust always follO\\t'", and can never lead or regulate. It should be added, that in the regular progress of a country tovvards general cultivation and inlprovement, and in a natural state of things, it n1ay fairly be presutned, that if the last land taken into cultivation be rich, capital i~ scarce, and profits will then certainly be high; but if land be thrn\vn out of cultivation on account of means being found of obtaining corn cheaper else\vhere, no suc.h inference is justifiable. On the contrary, capital n1ay be abundant, compared with the den1and for corn and con1modities, in \Vhich case and durin<Y b the time that such abundance lasts, whatever may be the state of the land, profits n1ust be lo'\v. This is a distinction of the greatest practical in1- portance, which it appears to 1ne has been quite overlooked by Mr. Ricardo. It will be observed, that the rents paid for what the land 'vill produce in its natural state thouo·h . ' b t~1ey make a most essential difference i~ the ques-tions. rel~ting to profits and the component parts of pnce, 111 no respect invalidate the in1portant doc .. SEC. v.J OF THE RltN'r OF LAND:· 191 trine that, in progressive countries in their usual state vvi_th gradations of soil, corn is sold at its natural or necessary price, that is, at the price neces .. sary to bring the actual quantity· to ll1arket. rfhis price must on an average be at the least equal to the costs of its production on the vvorst land actually cultivated, together 'vith the rent of such land in its natural state : ~ecause, if it falls in any degree belo\v this, the cultivator of such land ,vill not be able to pay· the landlord so high a rent as he could obtain fron1 the land vvithout cultivation and consequently the land will be left unculti-' vated, and the produce '¥ill be di1ninished. 1"'he rent of land in its natural state is therefore obviously so necessary a part of the price of all cultivated products, that, if it be not paid they will not con1e to tnarket, and the real price actually paid for corn is, on an average, absolutely necessary to the producti~n of the san1e quantity, or, in the words before stated, corn, in reference to the ,vhole quantity produced, is sold at its necessary price. I hope to be excused for presentino· to the reader in various forn1s the doctrine, tha~ corn, in referen?e to the quantity actually produced, is sold at 1ts necessary price, like n1an ufactures; because I consider it as a truth of hio·h importance 'v?ich has been entirely overlookedb by the Econo~ mists, by Adam Srnith, and all those \V"riters ,vho have represented raw produce as sellin()" always at 1 . b a monopo y prtce. · |