OCR Text |
Show ON THE NAT.URE AND [ CH. II. contradict the terms in 'vhich the proposition is expressed; and in whatever way rent .m~y b,e re~u~ lated, it is obviously necessary t~ re~ain It as an In gredient in the costs of pro?~ctlon m r~ference .t~ the o-reat n1ass of con1n1odittes ; nor will the pi_o . prie~y of thus retaining it be affected by ~h~ circumstance, that the rent paid on co~modlties of the san1e description is variable, and 111 soine few cases little or none. . Under the full adn1ission, therefore, Just m~de, that the price of the main ve~et~ble food of an 1111- proving agricultural country Is, In referen~e to the whole quantity produced, a necessary pnce, and coincides with 'vhat is required to repay the labour and capital which is en1ployed under th~ most unfavourable circutnstances, and pays httle or no rent, \Ve still do not seem justified in altering the old Ianguao·e respecting the component parts of · price, or what I should be more disposed to call the necessary conditions of supply. . But there are some parts of the land and of Its products ,vhich have n1uch more tl1e c~aracte~ of a monopoly than the main food of an nnprovrng country; and it is universally ackno:vledg~d that the exchano·eable value of commodities whtch are ~ 1. subjected either to strict or partial monopo 1es can-not be determined by the labour en1ployed upon them. The exchangeable value of that vast tnass of property in this country which consists of the houses in all its to,vns, is greatly affected by the strict n1onopoly of ground rents; and the necessity of paying these rents must affect the prices of al 'SEC. IV.] MEASURES OF VALUE. 99 most all the goods fabricated in towns. And though with regard to the n1ain food of the people it is true that, if rents were given up, an equal quantity of c.orn could not be produced at a less price; yet the san1e cannot be said of the cattle of the country. Of no portion of this species of food is the price resolvable into labour and capital alone. All cattle pay rent, and in proportion to their value not very fax frotn an equal rent. In this respect they are essential1y different from corn. By tneans ·of labour and dressing, a good crop of corn n1ay be obtained fron1 a poor soil, ~nd the rent paid n11ay be quite trifling con1parecl 'vith the value of the crop; but in uncultivated land the rent 1nust be proportioned to the value of the crop, and, whether great or s1nall per acre, n1ust be a main ingredient in the price of the commodity produced. It may require more than an hundred acres in the highlands of Scotland to rear the same wei()'ht of b mutton as might have been reared on five acres of g·ood pasture; and son1ething no doubt n1ust be allowed for the greater labour of attendance and the greater risk on a poor soil and in an exposed situation; but independently of this deduction, 'vhich would probably be inconsiderable, the rent paid for the san1e quantity of mutton 'vould be nearly the same. If this rent were oTeatly diminished, there cannot be a doubt th~t the same quantity of cattle might be produced in the n1arket at Inuch lovver prices without any diminution of the profits or wages of any of the persons concerned; and consequently it is in1possible to esti- II2 |