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Show 5.50 SUl\11\lAnY. PAGE were suddenly to take place in a c untry, the rents of land would for a ti1ne be lowered . 206 But it is of no use to dwell upon extravagant suppositions ; what we want to know is, whether, in the existing and probable ::;tate of things, the intere ts of the landlord and of ociety are at variance , ib. No improvements in agriculture wh~ch we have ever seen or heard of equal in any degree the power of population to increase up to the additional means of subsistence ib. Practically, iluprovements in agriculture, by cheapening the instruments of production, instead of throwing land out of cultivation generally cause n1ore to be cultivated . 206 Improvements in a~riculture have hitherto been, and may be expected in future to be, the 1uain source of the increase of rents . 207 Although rents rise wlten cultivation i pushed to poorer lands, the connection between rent and fertility is still shewn by its being the rich lands which yield the rents, not the poor ones . ib. The difficulty of production on the best land used has little connection with rent, e_ cept as it is a consequence of an increase of capital and population, and of a fall of profits and wages .. . . 208 The increase of rent, which takes place from the increased price, occasioned by difficulty of production, is much more limited than has been supposed; and very much inferior to the increase fron1 irnproven1ents in agriculture . ib. This position may be illustrated by the state of England, , Scotland, Ireland, Poland, India, and South America . . ib. In all these countries the future increase of rents will depend n1ainly upon an improved system of agriculture . 209 The United States of America seem to be the only country which would ad1uit of any considerable rise of rents by a mere transfer from profits and ,vages . 210 In old states, an operose and ignorant system of cultivation Inay keep the profits of stock and the wages of labour low with much good land remaining uncultivated ; and this seems to be a very frequent case . ib. But if, independently of importation,. every ~hing which SUAl,;\lARY. ~ 51 d · PAGE ten s to ennch a country increases rents and very thino· • • ' <:> whtch tends to Impoverish it, diminishes them; it mu t be allowed that the interests of the landlord and of the state are closely united . . . . . . . . . . 2 I 1 Mr. Ricardo takes only one simple view of rent, which em-braces but a small part of the subject . . . . . . ib. The peculiar language of Mr. Ricardo separates his conclusions still further from the truth, in appearance, than in reality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 l-Ie estimates rents, wages, and profits, by the proportions which they severally bear to the whole, and not by the ac-tual quantity of produce which goes to each . ib. This mode of estimating rents and wages is quite unusua], and would lead to perpetual confusion and error 213 Into this unusual .language Mr. Ricardo has been b trayed by confounding value and cost, and considering corn in the same light as manufactures 2 15 The exchangeable value of the corn wl1ich falls to tl1e share cf the landlord will increase w itb its quantity; and rents and wages must always be practically estimated by their real value in exchange ib. In speaking of the interests of the landlord, his real command of wealth, or the real value in exchange of his rents, is always referred to in this work 216 SECT. IX.-On the Connection of the Interests of the Landlord and if the State, in Countries whiclt import Cor11. The only doubt respecting the strictest union of interests between the landlord and the state relates to hnportation ; and here his interests cannot be more opposed to those of the state, than the interests of others under similar cir-cumstances 2 I 7 Adam Sn1ith was of opinion that the landlords were not injured by foreign competition, though he allowed that ma-nufacturers were ib. The statement of Aclan1 Stnith is too strong ; but it i. certainly true that the producers of corn and cattle are le~ injured by foreign dompetition than the producers of par-tkular manufactures 218 NN4 |