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Show 166 OF THE RENT OF LAND. IcH. III duction in necessaries,* unlike facility of production in all other con1modities, is never attended vvith a pern1anent fall of price. They are the only comn1odities of 'vhich it can be said that their permanent value in the con11nand of labour is nearly proportioned to their quantity. And consequently, in the actual state of things, all savings in the cost of producing then1 will permanently increase the surplus 'v hich goes to rent. The fourth cause which tends to raise rents, is such an increase in the price of agricultural produce from vvhatever source arising, as ,vill increase the difference between the price of produce, and the costs of production. . We have already adverted to a rise in the price of ra'v produce, which may take place in consequence of a regular jncrease of capital and population \\!hile money ren1ains nearly of the same value. But this sort of rise is confined within narrow litnits, and has litt!e share in those great variations in the price of corn, \Vhich are most frequently the subject of observation. The kind of increased price, the effects of 'vhich I wish no'v more particularly to .consider, is a rise of price fron1 increased demand, terminating in an alteration in the value of the precious metals. * Properly speaking, facility of production in necessaries can only be temporary, where there are gradations of land as far as barrenness, except when capital is prevented from increasing by the want of will to save. It may then be 'permanent. But though corn will, in that case, cost but little labour, its exchangeable value will be high, that is, it will command a great deat . , SEC. III.] OF THE RENT OF LAND. 167 If a great and continued den1and should arise atnong surrounding nations for the raw produce of a particular country, the price of this produce would of course rise considerably; and the expenses of cultivation rising only slowly and gradually to the satne proportion, the price of produce might for a long tiine keep so 111 uch a head . as to give a prodigious stimulus to improvetnent, and encourage the employmen~ of n1uch capital in bringing fresh land under cultivation, and rendering the old n1uch more productive. If ho,vever the demand c~ntin~ed,_ the price of labour would ultimately r~se to 1ts ~ormer level, compared vvith corn; a deClded fall In the value of money supported by the abundant exportation of raw produce tnight <Yenerally tai:e p~ace; labour would become extr:mely p~·~ducttve In the purchase of all foreign cornmoditles; and rents n1ight rise \\7ithout a fall of profits or wages. . The state_ of. n1o_ney prices, and the rapid prog• e.ss of cultivation 1n North America, tend stronglv . to Il~us_trate the case here supposed. The price ;f ~~ellt m the eastern states is nearly as high as in lJ ance and Flanrlers; and O\ving to the continued ?,etnand for hands, the money price of day-labour Is. nearl~ double 'vhat it is in England. But this h.1 o~· h })riCe of coI· n anc1 1 a b our 11 as O·'l Ven oTeat faci.- lities t th .c. 5 5 o. e 1arrners and labourers in the purchase of clotl~tng and all sorts of foreign necessaries and c~~veniences. And it is certain that if the 1noney pi tees ~f c~rn and labour had been both lo,ver, yet had ll1alntatned the Saine proportion. to each_ other, M4 |
