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Show 160 OF THE RENT OF LA~.D. (CH. III. interchange of capital bet\veen trade and agriculture, and their profits might in consequenc~ be very unequal. · . . It is probable however, as tn the case of Chtna and India above mentioned, that profits would not be excessively high. This would depend indeed mainly upon the supply of capital in manufactures and commerce; if capital were scarce, comp~red ,vith. the demand for the products of these kinds_ of industry, profits \Vould certainly be high ; and all that can be said safely is, that we cannot infer that they \Vere very high, from the very high rates of interest occasionally tnentioned. Rent then has been traced to the same cotnmon nature ,vith that general surplus frotn the land, ,vhich is the result of certain qualities of the soil and its produce; and it has been found to commence its separation from profits and :vages, as soon as they begin to fall from the scarcity of fertile land whether occasioned by the natural progress of a country towards 'vealth and population, or by any premature and unnecessary 1nonopoly of the soil. SECTION III. Of the Causes which tend to Taise Rents in the ordinary l'rogress of Societg. In tracing more particularly the la-\VS which govern the rise and fall of rents, the main causes SEC. fii..J .. OF THE REN'r OF LAND. 161 ~hich din1inish the expenses of cultivation, or reduce the costs of the instruments of production coi11pared ~ith thv price of produce, require to b; n1ore specifically enun1eratecl. The principal of these seetn to be four :-lst, Such an accumulation of capita! as will lovver the profits of stock; 2dly, such an 1ncrease of population as \¥ill lower the ''vages of labour; Sdly, such agricultural itnprovenlents, or such increase of exertions as \vill din1inish. the nu1nber of labourers necessary to produce a g1ven effect; and 4thly, such an increase in the price of agricultural produce, from increased den1and, as, without nominally lo\iVering the expense of production, will increase the differe1ice between. thi~ expense and the price of produce. If cap1tal Increases so as to become redundant in tbose deparhnents \vhere it has been usually en1- ployed 'vith a certain rate of profits, it \viii not retnain idle, but will seek en1ployment either in the su~ne .or o.ther departn1ents of industry, although \Vtth 1nfenor r~turns, and this will tend to push it upon less fertile soils. In the san1e n1anner, if population increases faster than "the detnand for it, the labourers ~1ust content ~hetnselves \Vith a sn1aller quantt: y of ?ecessanes ; and, the expense of labour in kin~ being thus ditninished, land 1nay be cultivated \Vh1cb cou!d not have been cultivated before. Th~ two first causes, however, here n1entioned som~ttmes act so as to counterbalance one another. An Increase of capital raises the wages of labour and a fall of wages raises the profits of stock~ bu~ 1\I |