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Show 16~ OF THE RENT OF LAND. [el-I. III. these are only temporary effects. In the natural an d I.e gL. l lar proooT ess of a country to\vards t1h e · ac-cumulation of stock and the increase of,popu ation, tlle nite of profits and the real wages of labour per-n1anen tly . .1c; all tooo ·e· ther · . This n.1 ay b..e effected by a permanent rise in the money pnce o~ corn, a~cor~1- panied by a rise, but not a pr?portl.on~te nse, ~~ the 111oney ,,vages of labour. I he 11se In the rn . ney price of corn is counterba~anced to the cultivator by the diminished quantit~ of produce obtained by the same capital; and his p_ro~t~, as well as those of all other capitalists, are diminished, by having to pay out of the same n1oney returns higher 1110ney \vages ; \V bile th~ c?:tn:1and of the labourer over the necessaries of hfe 1s of course contracted by the inadequate rise of the price of labour con1pared with the price of corn. But this exact and regular rise in the n1oney price of corn and labour is not necessary :o the fall of profits; indeed it will only take place 1n the regular \vay her~ described, when money, under all the changes to which a country is subjected, r~n1ains of the same value, according to the supposition of Mr. Ricardo,* a case which may be said never to ' happen. Proiits may undoubtedly fall, and rent be separated, under any variations of the value of money. All that is necessary to the n1ost re()"ular and permanent fall of profits (and in this b . Mr. Ricardo would agree with me) is, that an Ill-creased proportion of the value of the whole produce obtained by a given quantity of capital, should be absorbed by labour. On the land, this * Prine. of Polit. Econ. ch. i. p. 24. 2d ed. SEC. rrr.] OF THE RENT OF LAND. 163 is effected by a ditninution of the produce, obtained by _the san1e capital \Vithout a proportionate diminution of the part absorbed by labour, .,vhich leaves less for profits, at the same time that the real '\Vages of the labourer are diminished. But it is o_bvious that if a s1naller quantjty of the necessanes of life derived fron1 a given capital en1ployed on_the land, be sufficient to supply both the capita! Ist and the labourer,* the expenses of cultivation '~' Ill be din1inished, poorer land n1ay be cultivated ut:dei~ the ne'v rates of \vages and profits, and rent Will rise on that 'vhich vvas before in cultivation. The third cause enun1erated as tendino· to raise rents by lo\vering the expenses of culti\:ation coinpared with the price of the produce is such ao'ri- 1 1 . ' b -CU tura 1111prove1nents or such increase of exertions as will diminiS? the number of labourers necessar; to produce a g1ven effect. In itnproving and industrious countries not deficient in .st~mulants, this is a cause of g1:eat efficacy. If the 1111provements introduced vvere of such a nature as considerably to diminish the costs of • Mr. Ricardo has observed (p. 516.) in reference to the second cause which I have here stated, as tending to raise rents, " that no ~all of wages can raise rents; for it will neither diminish the portion, nor the value of the portion of the produce which will be allottc~ to the farmer and labourer together.'' But where, I would ask, Will the hioh real . fA · ? o wages o menca finally go ? to profits ? or to rent· If labourers were permanently to receive the value of a bushel of wheat a d ay, none b ut t h e n.c hest lands could pay the · expense of workina th A · . o em. n Increase of populatiOn and a fall of such wages would be absolutely necessary to the cultivation of poor land How th · b · f · en can It e said that a fall of waoes is not one 0 the causes of a rise of rents? o M2 |