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Show oN THE I l\11\1 ED I ATE CAUSES ( C H. VII. cliately be increased, al \Vays occasions that den1and for labour, \vhich so po,verfnlly encourages the exertions of those who \¥ere before perhaps only half paid and half e1nployed ; an~ is at once .the su1~est si<rn and n1ost effective stimulus of Increastng w~alth. It is the natural consequence of the value of the produce estimated in labour increasing faster than the population, and forms the true and healthy encouragen1ent to the further increase of nutnbers. With regard to n1oney, this most useful me~su.re of value \iVould perform its functions very Inchfferently, if it could in no respect acco1:1modate itself to cases of this kind ; and if the Importation of a valuable con1n1odity always proportionably reduced the price of the other parts. of the national produce. But this is far from b.e1ng the case, even if \iVe do not suppose any fresh 1n1porta.., tion of the precious metals. The occurrence of such an event is precisely the period, when a greater velocity is given to the circulation of the money actually in use, and when fresh paper t~ay be issued \Vithout a fall in the rate of fore1gn exchanges, or a rise in the price of bu Ilion and of goods. One or other, or both of these resources will be applied, except in the most barbarous countries· and thou<>'h undoubtedly, in the ' b .. case of the . in1portation of foreign commochttes which con1e directly into con1petition vvith do~ lnestic goods, such goods \vill fall in price, and the producers of then1 be for a tirne rendered _poorer, yet it will very rarely indeed happen that ( SEC .. VIII.] OF THE PROGRESS OF WEALTH. ·5~ other goods not affected by such competition will fall in tnoney value ; and altogether no fall will take place in particular commodities sufficient to prevent a rise in the n1oney price of the whole produce. It tnay naturally be expected however that more money will be imported; and, in fact, a successful extension of foreign trade is exactly that state of things which most directly leads to the in1portation of bullion. For \Vhat is it that the merchant exporter specifically considers as a successful extension of foreign con1merce in dealing with civilized nations? Undoubtedly the po\ver of selling his exports abroad for a greater value than usual, esti ... 1nated in bullion ; and of course, if the goods which he would in1port in return will not sell at home so 111 uch higher as to \Van·an t their inlportation,. a part or the vvhole of the returns vvill be imported in n1oney. But if only such an amount be imported as shall bear the san1e proportion to the returns in goods as the \Vhole of the currency of the country does to the whole of its produce, it is obvious that no difficulty whatever can occur in the circulation of the comn1odities of the country at their form.er prices, \Vith the single exception of those articles vvith which the foreign goods n1ight directly ente1: into competition, which in this c~se would never be sufficient to prevent a general Increase of value in the whole produce, I distinctly therefore differ from Mr. Ricardo in the conclusion in1plied in the following passage. Js In all cases the demand for foreign and home GGS |