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Show 5GO SUMl\f ARY. PAGE have raise<l the corn price of labour, notwithstanding the increasing money price of corn · · · · · . . 287 If the price of labour fron1 1793 to 1814 had not been kept down by artificial means, it would have ri en quite in pro~ ' portion to the price of corn . . ib. In estimating corn wages it has not been possible to make a distinction between a fall of corn and a ri e of labour, although they have a different effect on the demand for labour, and the increase of population . . . 288 Wheat has been taken, as the u ual grain consumed in this country, but wherever or whenever that is not the case, ,vheat wages are not the proper criterion of the encouragement given to population . . . . . . . . . : . 290 The quantity of the custon1ary food which a labouring family can actually earn throughout the year, is at once the measure of the encouragen1ent to population, and of the condi-tion of the labourer . ib. The prudential habits of the poor can alone give them the con1mand over a fair proportion of the necessaries and conveniences of life, from the em·lie t stage of society to the latest . . 291 Mr. Ricardo's measure of the value of labour relates rather to the rate of profits tha'n the condition of the labourer, and will be considered in the next chapter . • . · ib. CHAPTER V. OF THE I>ROFITS OF CAPITAL. SECT. I.-Of Profits as affected by tlw increasing Difficulty ~f proc~ ring tlte ll:Ieans of Subsistence. Capital ought, properly speaking, to be distinguished from stock. Definition of each . . . . . · 293 Profits are the difference between the value of the advances necessary to produce a commodity, and the value of the commodity when produced . . · · ib. The rate of profits is the proportion which this difference bears to the value of the advances, and it varies with all the UMl\IAltY. 561 causes which alter the proportions between the value of the PAGE advances and of the produce Th · . . ·· · · · · · · 294 e main advances necessary to production consist of lab . .. d th I. our' . an e two c l.ICf causes which influence the expense of !~hour are the ddficulty·of procuring food, and the quantity given to each labourer Each of these causes is aion~ s~ffi~ic;t to occasion all the ib. variations of which profits are susceptible . . . . . . 295 If the first . cause operated alone, and the wages of labour were always the same, profits would regularly fall as poorer land was taken into cultivation In th~s. case, profits would b~ 1~ea;·ly .in. pr~po.rti~n .to .the ib. fertility of the last land taken into cultivation . . . . 296 .But uniform corn wages during the regular progress of culti-vation and population involve a contradiction . . 297 We may suppose, ho\vever, an uninterrupted progress of capital and population; and then, as poorer land was cultivated, less and less must be divided between labour and profits . . . . . . . ib. If the labourer could dim.inish his physical wants in proportion to the difficulty of production, the rate of profits m~gbt remain the same; but as he cannot, labour will absorb a larger proportion of the produce, and profits must fall 298 . Profits and rea.l wages would be highest at first, and would . gradually diminish together, till they both came to a stand at the same time . . 299 Profits in manufactures and commerce would also fall, owing to the high . value of . corn and labour compared with other commodities, and the consequent increased expense of producing these con1moditi.es, compared with their value when produced . 300 In t4is progress, the rate of profits is limited .by the powers of the last land taken into cultivation; but limitation is essen~ tially different from reg~1lation ib. SEcT .• ll.~Of PrQ/its as riffected by the Proportion which Capital bears to Labour. The second main cause which, by increasing the amount of 0 0 |