| OCR Text |
Show .?3R SUl\11\lAllY. PAGE hour; but still the 1noney prices of c01umodities would not measure the quantity of labour be towed on then1 . . 118 SEcT. VI.-Of the Labour wlticlt a Commodity will command, considered as a 1l!easure qf 1·eal Value in Excltange. The labour which a c01nmodity will con1n1and unite ·, more nearly than any one commodity, the qualities of a real and nominal measure of exchangeable value . . 118 t. In looking for a general mea nrc of exchangeable value, we should naturally direct our attention to that object which is n1ost extensively the ubjcct of exchange, and this i certainly labour 119 2. 'rhe value of comn1oditie in exchange for labour can alone express generally the degree in which they arc suited to the wants of the ocicty . ib. 3. The efficiency of capital in the increa e of \Vcalth depends entirely upon the power of etting labour to work, or, in other ·words, of con1manding labour 120 Labour, understood in the sen e propo ed, is, like the precious metals, an accurate mea ure of relative value at the 1\amc time and place 121 All other commodities are subject to greater and more sudden variations While labour is thu ahnost an accurate measure of value at the same time and place, it approaches the nearest of any one con1modjty to such a n1easure in different places, and at distant period. of tin1e Adam Smith ha taken corn as the be t Ineasure of labour, from century to century, which i the arne as considering labour as the best measure of the necessaries of life, at dis- 122 123 tant ti1nes and in different countries . · ib. The conveniences of life depend nwre upon labouT than corn; and, all otlter things being equal, the quantity of labour which .a commodity will command wi~l be in proportion to the quantity it has cost . . . . . · · · · The labour which a com1nodity will command takes in all the circmnstances which influence exchangeable value ; the labour which it ha. cost only one, although the most con- !:liderablc one 124 ib. 'Ul\11\IAPY. 539 PAGE No commodity can be a good mea ure of real value in ex-change at different times and places, which j not a good measure of exchangeable value at the arne ti1ne and place In the progress of improvement, when labour will command the greatest quantity of corn, it will generally command the sn1allest quantity of the conveniences of life, and vice versa 1 On the whole, it approaches the nearest of any one object to a measure of real value in exchange, but still, as labour is subject to variations from demand and supply, like all other things, it cannot be considered as a standard 124 125 ib. SECT. VII.-Oj' a llfcan between Corn and Labour considered as a 111easure if real Value in Exchange. Two objects might in some cases be a better Ineasure of real value in exchange than one alone, and yet be sufficiently manageable for practical application 126 A certain quantity of corn, of a given quality, has a definite value in use; but its value in exchange, both non1inal and real, is found to be subject to conside-rable variations, both from year to year, and fr01n century to century ib. Labour, in the same manner, is found at difFerent periods to • command very different quantities of the fir ·t necessary of life, corn . 128 Though neither of these two objects, taken singly, can be considered as a satisfactory 1neasure of value, by com-bining the two we Inay approach to greater accuracy ib. When corn, compared with labour, is dear, labour, compared with corn, must be cheap ; ~nd if we take a mean between the two, we shall have a 1neasure corrected by the con-temporary variation of each in opposite directions ib. For this purpose we rnnst fix upon some specific quantity of corn, 'vhich, on a large average, is equivalent to a day's common labour, such as a peck of wheat, which would suit this country ; and any commodities which, at different periods, will purchase the sarne number of days' labour, and of pecks of wheat, may be considered as of the same real value in exchange . 129 In comparing different countries, the average earnings of |
