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Show 456 ON THE 11\'IMEDIATE CAUSES (CH. VII. the money price of provisions; but these t'vo events, though apparently similar in their effects, may be, and in general are, 1nost essentially dif- · ferent. An increase in the 'vages of labour, both nominal and real, invariably in1plies such a distribution of the actual wealth as to give it an increasing value, to ensure full e1nployn1ent to all the labouring classes, and to create a demand for further produce, and for the capital 'vhich is to obtain it. In short, it is the infallible sign of health and prosperity. Whereas a general fall in the n1oney price of necessaries often arises fron1 so defective a distribution of the produce of the country, that the general an1ount of its value cannot be kept up·; in which case, under the tnost favourable circun1- stances, a te1nporary period of 'vant of e1nployn1ent and distress is una voidable; and in many cases, as n1ay be too frequently observed in surveying the different countries of the globe, this fall in the money price of r1ecessaries is the accompaniment of a permanent '\Vant of e1nployment, and the n1ost abject poverty, in consequence of retrograde and pern1anently din1inished 'vealth. The reader vvill be fully a'vare that a great fall in the price of particular con1n1odities, either fro1n in1proved n1achinery or foreio·n con1n1erce, is per-b . fectly compatible with a continued and great In-crease, not only in the exchangeable value of the whole produce of the country, but even in the exchangeable value of the whole produce of these particular articles themselves. It has been repeatedly stated that the 'vhole value of the cotton~ !EC. VIII.] OF THE PROGRESS OF \VEALTH. 457 produced in this country has been prodigiously in ... creased, not\vithstanding the great fall in their price. The san1e may be said of the teas, although when they were first in1portecl, the price per pound was greatly higher than at present; and there can be little doubt, that if \Ve were to atternpt to make our own wines by means of hot-houses, they would altogether be \Vorth n1uch less Inoney, and \Vould give encourage1nent to much less industry than at present. . Even when the co1nn1odity is of such a nature as not to admit of an extension of the rnarket for it from reduced price, vv hich very rarely happens, yet the capital and labour, "'rbich in this case ,,viH be thrown out of en1ploy1nent, \viii generally, in enterprising and COlllll1ercial countries, find other Ghannels into 'vhich they may be directed, \Vith such profit as to keep up, and often n1ore than keep up, the value of the national income. At the satne time it sho~ld be observed, and it is a point of great in1portan~e, that it is precisely arnong cases of this description, 'vhere the fevv exceptions occur to the general and powerful tendency of foreign con1merce, to raise the value of the national incotne·; and whenever these exceptions do take place, that is, whenever the value of the national income is dinTinished, estin1ated even in n1oney, a temporary distress fron1 a defective distribution of the produce cannot fail to take place. If this diminished value be estimated in labour, the distress a1nong the labouring classes, and check to the progress of \Vealth, ~viii continue as long a5 the |