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Show SUl\lMAH.Y. ECT. IV.-Of tlze Labour wlticlt lws been employe(] on a Commodity considered as a ll!easure q~· its E,r:clzangeable Value, PAGE Adan1 Smith, in propo ing labour a a measure of value) has not applied it alway in the anlC pn e . 85 Labour_, applied in the ense of the quantity of labour employed in the production of a comn1odityJ is radically de-fective as a mea ure of exchangeable value . iL. . In this sen e it cannot be applied po itivelyJ becau eJ ' if all commoditie were at the sa1ne thne to require more labour in their production) their exchangeable values would remain the same 86 Understood relatively) it is not true that in the earlie t stage of society a the proportion betvveen the quantities of labour necessary for acquiring different object;s i the only circum-stance which can afford a rule for e changing them'' 87 At a very early period of ociety, advances are necessary to some products, and the time during which the e advances are employed, form a necessary. element of price quite unconnected with labour 88 It follows, that the rule which declare (( that commodities never vary in value) unle more or le labour be employed on them, cauqot apply even in the early stages of society" . 90 In improved countries, the a1ne causes of variation, independently of the quantity of labour employed, mU;st prevail, as in the early stages of society, with the addition of some others ib. Mr. Ricardo's proposition, that the prices of orne commodities fall when labour rises, is txue, and it would not have appeared paradoxical if it had been stated xnore naturally . 91 The fall of price is occasioned by the fall of profits in those commodities, the prices of which had before consisted chiefly of the necessary remuneration for a large capital . ib. Generally, when labour rises and })rofits are lowered, some commodities will rise, some will fall, and a very few remain stationary, according to the varying proportions of capital applied to set in motion the same quantity of labour . · 92 The prices of all commodities on which the same quantity of 1-.U.L\11\lARY. 53 .. • I' AGE labour bas been employed, vary when the }Jriee of labour varies, with a very small number of exception· . . . . '9.> In improved countries, the importation of for ign commodities, the prevalence of tru es, and the payment of rent, occasion furthet· variation of prices, iiidepcndently of the labour employed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ib. The circum tance of the cost of the main food of a country being resolvable almost entirely into wage and profits, does not prevent rent from forming a cornponcnt part of the price of the great mas of commodities . . . · . . . . . 97 Other products of land have more the character of a monopoly than the main food of the country, and their prices cannot be resolved into wages and profits 98 All cattle pay a rent, and in proportion to their qualities nearly an equal rent . 99 It may be sa~cl that, though the price of cattle is not regulated directly by the quantity of labour and capital employed in their production, yet that it is, indirectly, through a chain of dependences on the cost of producing corn 100 But one of the links of this chain will not hold, as the rents, both of arable and pasture land) may rise without a rise in the price of corn ib. Many other important cornmodities, beside animal food) wHl be affected as to their pric s by a rise of rents, without a rise of corn or 1abonr I <11 We cannot then get riel of rent nnd r the most lax intcrpr ta-tion of the term labour, and Adam Sntith's component parts of price must be admitted . . 102 If one term only were u eel, it would be better to refer to capital, which generally pays both rent and labour; bnt the three terms are preferable, as more correct, and conveying more information . . 1 03 But if we cannot get rid of rent on the 1nass of comnwdities, it mu t greatly affect the amount of capital, and aggravate all the variations of price occasioned by the variations in the quantity of capital) and the time during which it is employed 4 ib. Under all the variations therefore occasioned by other causes, it cannot be the quantity of labour employed which deter. liiM4 |
