OCR Text |
Show OF TilE PROFITS OF CAPITAL. [cH. v. 1nost decisive proof that can \Vell be irnagined of an increase in the profits of capital employed upon land. The different rates of interest and profits in the two periods here noticed are dian1~trically opposed to the theory of profits founded on the natural quality of the last land taken i.nto cultivation. The facts which are incontrovertible, not only cannot ' . be accounted for upon this theory; but 111 re-ference to it, either exclusively or n1ainly, they ought to be directly the reverse of \V hat they are found to be in reality. The nature of these facts, and the state of things under \vhich they took place, (in the one case, in a state of peace with a slack den1and for agricultural products, and in the other, a state of \Var \\7ith an unusual den1and for these products,) obviously and clearly point to the relative redundancy or de~ciency of capital, as, according to every prob~b1- . 1itv, connected \Vith thenL And the questiOn 'vl;ich now ren1ain.s to be considered, is, ·whether the circumstances which have been stated in this section are sufficient to account theoretically for such a free operation of this principle, notwithstanding the progressive accu1nulation of capital, and the progressive cultivation of fresh land, ~s to allo\lv of lo\v profits at an earlier period of this progress and high profits at a later period. At all events, the facts must be accounted for, as they are years purchase given for land has nothing to do with prices, ~ut mainly expresses the abundance or scarcity of movable capital compared with the means of ~mploying it. " SEC~ III.] · OF THE 'PROFITS OF CAPITAL. so broad and glaring, and others of the same kind are in reality of such frequent recurrence, that I cannot but consider them as at once decisive against any theory of profits which is inconsistent \Vith then1. In the first period of the two vvhich have been noticed, it is kno\vn that the price of corn had fallen, but that the wages of labout had not only not fallen in proportion, but luul heen considered . by some authorities as having rjsen. Ada1n Smith states the fall of corn and the rise of labour during the first sixty-four yeats of the last century as a sort of established fact;~~ but Arthur Young, in his . very useful inquiries in to the prices of corn and labour published in his Annals of Agriculture, seems to think with sotne reason, that the fact is not well authenticated, and is besides a little in- . consistent 'vith the apparently slack de1nand for labour and produce and con1paratively slo\v progress of population, which took' place dnring the period in question. 1- Allowing, however, even a stationary price of labour, vvith a falling price of corn, and the fall of agricultural profits is at once accounted for. Such a state of prices might alone be much more than sufficient to counteract the effects arising from the circutnstance of pretty goodland being yet uncultivated. When vve add, that the other outgoings belonging to the fanners' capital, such as leather, iron, timber, &c. &c., are • Wealth of Nations, Book I. ch. xi. p. 309. 313. 6th ~dit. t Al\nals of Agriculture, No. 270. p. 89. y |