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Show OF 'fHE DISTINC'l'ION BET,VEEN ( Cll. Vf. tioned to the wants and powers of the society as to o·i ve them their proper value. The n1ost useful · co1~1nodity, in respect of its qualities, if it be absolutely in excess, not only los~s its exchangeable value, but its power of supplytng_ the wants of tl:e society to the extent of its quanttty, and part of It therefore loses its quality of ,;vealth. If the roads and canals of England \Vere suddenly broken up and destroyed, so as to prevent all passage and interchange of goods, there would at first be no diminution of commodities, but there would be imn1ediately a tnost alarming ditninution both of value and wealth. A great quantity of goods \Vould at 011ce lose their value Ly becoming utterly useless; and though others would rise in particular places, yet from the general 'vant of po,;ver to purchase, the rise would by no means con1pensate for the fall. The whole exchangeable value of the produce estitnate'd in labour, corn, or n1oney, would be greatly din1inished; and it is quite obvious _that the wealth of the society would be most essentially i1npaired; that is, its \Vants would not be in any degree so 'vell supplied as before. · It appears then that the wealth of a country de· pends partly upon the quantity of produce obtai1:eu by its labour, and partly upon such an adaptatiOn of it to the wants and po\vers of the existing population as is calculated to give it value. . But where wealth and value are perhaps the n1ost nearly connected, is in the constant necessity of the latter to the production of the fo rn1cr. In cu. vr.] WEALTH AND VALUE. 341 the actual state of things, no considerable quantity of wealth can be obtained except by considerable exertions; and unless the value wpich an individual or the society places on the object when obtained fully cotnpensates the sacrifice which has been made to obtain it, such wealth will not be produced in future. If labour alone be concer~ed in its production, as in shrimping, in the collect1on of hirts and wild strawberries, and some other exertions of 1nere n1anual labour, it is obvious that this 'vealth will not be collected, will not be used to supply any of the wants of the society, unless 1ts value when collected \Vill, at the least, command as nr~ch labour as the collection of it cost . • If the nature of the object to be obtained re-quires advances in the shape of capital, as in the vast majority of instances, then by whomsoever this capital is furnished, whether by the labourers themselves or by others, the con1rnodity will not be produced, unless the estimation iu vvhich it is held by the society or its value in exchange be such, as not only to replace all the advances of labour and other articles \vhich have been tnade for its attainn1ent, but to pay the usual profits of capital. It is obviously therefore the value of colnmodi-.ties, or the sacrifice of labour and of other aFticles which people are willing to make in order to obtain thetn, that in the actual state of things n1ay be said to be the sole cause of the existence of weq.lth ; and this value .is founded on the wants of z s |
