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Show 192 OF THE H.ENT OF LAND. [ CH. Illo SEC'fiON VI. Of the Connexion betu,een great comparati'l.'e fVcalth, and a ltigh comparative Price of 1·aw Produce. Adatn Sn1ith has very clearly explained in \Vhat n1anner the progress of \Vealth and in1proven1ent tends to raise the price of cattle, poultry, the n1ate-· rials of clothing and lodging, the n1ost useful n1inerals, &c. compared \Vith corn; but he has not entered into the explanation of the natural causes \vhich tend to detern1ine the price of corn. He has left the reader indeed to conclude, that he considers the price of corn as detern1ined only by the state of the tnines, \vhich at the tin1e supply the circulating 1nediun1 of the con1n1ercial \Vorld. But this is a cause, \Vhich, though it n1ay account fo1· the high or low price of corn positively, cannot account for the relative differences in its price, in different countries, or con1pared \Vi th certain classes of commqdit~es in the sa1ne country. I entirely agree with Adam Smith, that it is of great use to inquire into the causes of high price, as fron1 the result of such inquiries it tnay turn out, that the very circutnstance of which -vve con1- plain, n1ay be the necessary consequence ~nd the tnost certain sign of increasing \Vealth and prosperity. But of all· inquiries of this kind, none surely can be so irnportant, or so generally interesting, as an inquiry into the causes which affect SEC. VI.] the price of corn, and occasion the qifferenccs in this price so observable in difl'erent countries. These causes, in reference to the main effects· observed, seem to be tvvo : 1. A difference in the value of the precious n1eta1s, in different countries under different circurnstances. . 2. A difference in the quantity of labour and capital necessary to produce corn. The first cause undoubtedly occasions th.e gteatest portion of that inequality in the price of corn, \vhich is the most striki'ng and pro1ninent, particularly in countries at a considerable distanc·e from each othe.r. More than three-fourths of the prodigious difference between the price of corn in Bengal and England is probably occasioned by the difference in the value of money in the two countries; and far the greater part of the high price of corn in this country, con1pared with n1ost of the states in Europe, is occasioned in the same way. The n1ain causes which affect the precious n1etals in different countries, are the greater or sn1aller de1nand for corn and labour, and the abundance or deficiency of exportable con11nodities. With <>Teat facility of production in particular branch~s of industry, or, in other \vords, an abundance of exportable COl111TIOditics, corn and labour may be n1aintained at a very high con1parati ve p~·ice ; and in fact it is this high price specifically, vvhich prevents the natural advantage attached to facility of production fron1 being in ~. great degree lost by domestic con1petition, and practically ren ... 0 |