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Show ( g40 ) I~ CI-IAPTER IV. OF 'l'HE 'VAGES OF LABOUR. SECTION I. Of the Dependance of the ff!ages of Labou1· upon Supply and Demand. THE wa<Yes of labour are the ren1uneration to the b labourer for his personal exertions. They n1ay be divided, . like the prices of con1moclities, into real and nominal. 1.,he real vvao·es ~f labour consist of their value, b estin1ated in the necessaries, con venienccs, and luxuries of life. The nominal wages of labour consist in their value, estin1ated in money. As the value of labour, as well as of con1tnodities, is n1ost frequently con1pared with n1oney, it will be advisable in general to adopt this n1ode of con1parison, with a frequent refeTence, hovvever, 'vhere it is necessary, to the money's 'vorth, or the real wages of labour. The money \Vages of labour are detern1ined by the de1nancl and supply of money, corn pared with the den1and and supply of labour: and, during periods when n1oney 1nay be supposed to n1aintajn nearly the satne value, the variations in the wages SEC. I.] OF THE WAGES OF LABOUR. 241 of labour, n1ay be said to be regulated by the variations in the demand compared vvrith the supply of labour. The princ~ple of den1and and supply is the paramount regulator of the prices of labour as well as of cotnmodities, not only temporarily but permanently; and the eosts of production affect these prices only as they are the necessary condition of the permanent supply of labour, or of cotntnodities. It is as the condition of the supply, that the prices of the necessaries of life have so in1portant an influence on the price of labour. A certain portion of thes~ n.ecessaries is required to enable the labourer to n1aintain a stationary population, a greater portion to n1aintain an increasing one; and consequently, whatever may be the prices of the necessaries of life, the money wages of the labourer n1ust be such as to enable him to purchase these portions, or the supply cannot possibly take place in the quantity required. To she\v that what 1nay be called the cost of producing labour only influences \tvages as it regu-, lates the supply of labour, it is sufficient to turn our attention to those cases, vv he.re, under tenlporary circunistances, the cost of production does not regulate the supply; and here \\te shall ai \tvays find that this cost immediately ceases to regulate prices. vVhen, from a course of abundant seasons, or any cause 'vhich does not impair the capitals of the farn1ers, the price of corn falls for some thne toR |