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Show U'MMARY. SEC'r. JII.-Of Prqfits as affected by the Causes practical!!) in operati~n. PAGE tn the actual ~tate of things, the two causes already noticed will act in. conjunction, and will be further mod.ified b y 0 tl1 eI · s • • • • • • . . . . . . . . . . 313 If, at the same ti1ne that poorer land is succes ively c~ltivated, agricultural improvements are taking place, the Influence of the latter cau e in raising profits may more than counterbalance that of the former in lo-wering the1n . . . . ib. The' same effect in checking the natural tendency to a fall of profits will be produced by ~n increase of personal exertions among the labouring classes . . . . . . ·. . . · · · 314 The two circumstances just noticed tend to dunnn h the expense of produetion; but profits vary also with prices, as well as co ts . . . · 315 A considerable effect on profits therefore may be occa ioned by a 1:ise in the price of corn, "vithout a proportionate rise in the costs of production . . , . ib. These three circu19stances have all a tendency to counteract the effects of culti~ating poorer land; and it is not easy to say to what extent they may balance or overcon1c them . 316 The reason why agricultural profits are chiefly dwelt upon is, that the whole stress of the question depends upon them. . . . . . . ib. But fully allowing the final operation of that cause of the fall of profits, which dep~nd~ upon the state of the land, yet from its slow progress, and the counteraction of otl1er causes, ample play is left for the principle of competition . . · 317 This may be illustrated by facts which have occurred in our own country . In the early part of the last century, the interest of money, and the profits of stock, were much lower than at the beg~nning of the present, notwithstanding great quantities of fresh l~nd had been taken into cultivation in the in-ib. terval . . . . . . . . . . . . 318 The different rates of interest and profits at these two periods are diametrically opposed to the theory of profits found~d on the natural quality of the last land taken into cultl-vat ion . . 320 llilJ.l\11\1ARY. 565 The circu1nstances under which these facts look place sh w I,AG£ that they were connected with redundancy d fi · f . . . . or e c1eucy o capital; and the questwn Is, whether this principle could operate so freely as to overcome the effect of taking poorer land into cultivation . 320 In the first period, apparent!~ a .peliod. of ;.ed~ndan; ca~it~l, ~0~ fell, , and wages rather rose, which would account at once for low profits of stock . . . . . . . 321 In the second period, a period when capital was in great demand, all those causes seemed to be in operation which tend to counteract the effects of taking poorer land into cultivation . . 322 The increased rate of agricultural profits frorn 1793 to 1813 arose 1nore fron1 the increased amount of agricultural produce, obtained by the same number of families, than fron1 a diininution of corn wages . 323 Though son1e of the causes noticed were in part accidental, yet in contemplating a future period, we may lay our account to their operation, in a considerable degree, when the occa-sion calls for them . 324 The profits of stock will probably be higher at the beginning of the 20th century than during the next twenty years, if the more distant rera should be a period of war with a great demal1d for capital, and the nearer one a period of peace 'vith a redundant capital In dwelling exclusively upon the relative abundance and cOinpetition of capital, as the cause of falling profits, Adan1 Smith is practically nearer the truth, than those who dwell almost exclusively on the quality of the last land taken into cultivation . SEcT. IV.-Rernarks on ltli·. Ricardds Tlteory qf Prqfits. 325 ih. Mr. Ricardo's Theory of Profits depends upon the position, that wages and profits always form together the same value, under any variations of money wages; but this position being unfounded, the money wages of labour cannot rcgu:.. late the rate of profits 326 This conclusion will appear still more strikingly true, if we ~uppose the precious tnetals to be obtained by a uniform oo3 |
