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Show 442 ON THE 1 1\IMEDI..ATE CAUSES [ CH. VII. on. It is out of this increase that the merchants concerned are paid ; and if some London goods are not more valued in Glasgo\V than in London, and some G lasgo\v goods 1nore valued in London than in Glasgow, the 1nerchants who exchange the articles in \Vhich these to\vns trade, \vould neither be doing thetnsel ves any good, nor any one else. It is a mere futile proce~ to exchange one set of co1nmodities for another, if the parties, after this ne\v distribution of goods has taken place, are not better off than they' were before. The giving one article for another has nothing to do with effectual 1 dernand, unless the commodity received so far exceeds in value the labour etnployed on the comnlodity parted \Vith, as to yield adequate profits to the capitalists concerned, and to give then1 both the po\ver and the will to set fresh labour to work in the same trade. It has been said that the industry of a country is 1neasured by the extent of its capital, and that the n1anner in vvhich this capital is employed, though it may n1ake some difference to the enjoyInent of the inhabitants, makes very little in the value of the national revenue. This would be true on one supposition, and on one supposition only; nan1ely, that the inhabitants could be persuaded to estirnate their confined productions just as highly, to be as eager to obtain and consun1e them, and as \villing to \Vork hard for them, and to make great sacrifices for them, as for the con11nodities 'vhich they obtain from a distance. But are we. at liberty to Inake such a supposition? It is speetfi-sEC. VIII.] OF THE PROGRESS OF WEALTH. 443 cally to overcome the want of eagerness to purchase domestic commodities that the merchant exchanges them for others n1ore in request. Could we but so alter the wants and tastes of the people of Glasgow as to make them estimate as highly the profusion of cotton goods which they produce, as any articles 'vhich they could receive in return for them under a prosperous trade, we should hear no more of their distresses. It may be allowed that the quantity of productive industry tnaintained in a country is nearly proportioned to the quantity of capital employed; but the value of the revenue will be greater or less, according to the market prices of the commodities produced. These market prices must obviously depend upon the interchange of goods; and consequently the value of the revenue, and the po\ver and will to increase it, must depend upon that distribution of conlmodities which best adapts then1 to the vvants and tastes of the society. The \Vhole produce of a nation n1ay be said to have a market price in tnoney and labour. When this market price is high, that is, when the prices of cotnmodities rise so as to cotnmand a greater excess of labour above what they had cost in production than before, while the same capital and number of people had been employed upon them, it is evident that more fresh labour will be set in 1notion every year, and the increase of \Vealth will be certain and rapid. On the other hand, when the market prices of commodities are such as to be able to command very little n1ore |