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Show 256 OF THE WAGE$ OF LABOUR. [ CH. IV. terfere \Vith their proper distribution; but the ordinary price of oats was supposed to be about ·12s. the quarter, and consequently the litnit of 13s. 4d. would be very frequently exceeded,* and obstacles would be continually thro-vvn in the way of their transport from the districts of their gro\vth to the -districts \Vhere they n1ight be wanted. But if~ from the causes here described, the labouring classes of ' the South of England \Vere partly induced, and partly obliged, to adopt wheat as their n1ain food, instead of the cheaper kinds of grain, the rise of wages would at once be accounted for, consistently with the fall in the price of wheat; an event which, under an apparently slack dernand for labour at the time, has been considered as so improbable by some \vriters, that the accuracy of the accounts has been doubted. It is evidently, however, possible, either on supposition of a voluntary detertnination on the part of the labouring classes to adopt a superior description of food, or a sort of obligation to do it, on account of the introduction of a new system of cultivation adapted to a more in1- proved soil : and, in either case, the effects observable from 1720 to 17 50 would appear; namely, an , increased po,ver of commanding the necessaries of life, without a proportionate increase of population. It is probable that both causes contributed their share to the change in question. When once the fashion of eating wheaten bread had become general" IU son1e countries, it would be ·likely to • 'Tracts on the Corn Trade, p. 50. SXC. I~I.] OF THE WAGES OF LABOUR. spread into others, even at the expense of comforts of a different description ; and in all cases where particular modes of subsistence, fro1n whatever causes arising, have been for any time established, though such modes always remain susceptible of change, the change must be a work of time and difficulty. A country, which for many years had principally supported its peasantry on one sort of grain, 1nust alter its 'vhole system of agriculture before it can produce another sort in sufficient abundance; and the obstinacy with which habits are adhered to by all classes of people, as in some countries it would prevent high wages from improving the quality of the food, so in others it would prevent lovv wages frorn suddenly deteriorating it; and such high or low wages 'vould be felt almost exclusively in the great stimulus or the great check which they \Voulcl give to population. SECTION III. Of tlte Causes which principally ir!ftuence the Demand for Labour, and the Increase of the 'Population. There is another cause, besides a change in the habits of the people, which prevents the population of a country from keeping pace with the apparent command of the labourer over the means of subsistence. It sometimes happens that urages are for s |