OCR Text |
Show OF THE "'AGES OF LABOUR. [ CH. 1Y .. On the other hand, if, by the gradual introduction of a greater quantity of fixed capital, \Ve could culti.vate and dress our soil and carry the produce to market at a much less expense, we might increase our produce very greatly by the cultivation and improvement of all our waste lands; and if the substitution of this fixed capital were to take place in the only way in which we can suppose it practically to take place, that is, gradually, there is no reason to doubt that the value of raw produce 'vould keep up nearly to its former level; and its greatly increased quantity, combined with the greater proportion of the people which might be employed in n1anufactures and cotnmerce, would unquestionably occasion a very great increase in the exchangeable value of the general produce, and thus cause a great demand for labour and a great addition to the population. In general, therefore, there is little to fear that the introduction of fixed capital, as it is likely to take place in practice, 'vill diminish the effective demand for labour; indeed it is to this source that we are to look for the tnain cause of its future in-supposing however that the use of the spade might, on some soils1 so improve the land, as to make the crop. more than pay the additional expense of the labour, taken s<"parately; yet, as horses must be kept to carry out dressing to a distance and to convey the produce of the soil to'· market, it could hardly answer to the cultivator to employ men in digging his fields, while his horses were standing idle in his stables. As far as experience has yet gone, I should certainly say, that it is commerce, price and skill which will cui- . ' bvate the wastes of large and poor territories-not th~ spade. s.tc. 111.] OF THE 'VAGES Olt LABOUR. ~65 crease. At the same time, it is certainly true, as will be more fully stated in a subsequent part of this volume, that if the substitution of fixed capital were to take place very rapidly rand before an adequate market could be found for the more abundant supplies derived from it and for the new products of the labour that had been thrown out of employment, a slac.k demand for labour and great distress among 'the labouring classes of society would be universally felt. But in this case, the general produce, or the capital and revenue of the country taken together, 'vould certainly fall in value, o'ving. to a temporary excess of supply compared with the demand, and would shew that the variations in this value, compared with the previous value paid in wages, are the n1ain regulators of the power and will to employ labour. In the formation of the value of the '"hole produce of a country, a part depends upon price, and a part upon quantity. That part which depends merely upon price is in its nature less durable and less effective than that \vhich depends upon quantity. An increase of price, with little or no increase of quantity, must be followed very soon by a nearly proportionate increase of wages; while the coJnmand of these increased money wages over the necessaries of life going on diminishing, the population must co1ne to a stop, and no further rise of prices can occasion an effective demand for labour. On the other hand, if the quantity of produce be increased so fast that the value of the whole |