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Show 540 SUMl\IARY. PAGE a day's labour in the prevailing food, whatever it. may be, n1ust be sub tituted for a peck of wheat; and the differences in the money values of such commodities as are of the same real values iu exchange thu e timated, will express the different values of silver_, in different periods and coun-tries . . . · N 0 measure can take into account the effects of capital and skill; and they may be neglected without Inuch error, when the main object is value in exchange . . . . . ib. Mr. Ricardo ask , why should corn, or labour, or the mass of commodities, be preferred as a measure to coals or iron, all being liable to fluctuation ? But ome one or more comInodities mu t be taken to express e ·changeable value; be- 130 cause they include every thing that can be given in cx-change . We must choo e between an jrnperfect mea ure, and one which is fundamentally erroneous, such as a measure of 131 cost . . . . . . . . . . . · · · · · · 132 Value, a used by Mr. Ricardo, must mean exchangeable value; and the rca ons are obviou for preferring corn or labour, or a mean between the two_, as a measure of cxchanO'eable value to coals or iron, or any such commo- (l 1. t1. eso . ' . . . 1'b • CI-IAPTER III. OF TilE RENT OF LAND, SECT. I.-OJ the Nature and Causes of Rent. Rent is that portion of the value of the whole produce of land which remains after all the expenses of cultivation have been paid, including the usual agricultural profits . · . · 134 The fir t object of inquiry is the cause or causes of this exce s . . . . . . . . · · . . Most writers have considered rent as too nearly resembling, in its nature and the la,vs by which it is governed, that ib . excess of pn.c e above the cost of prod uc t'w n, which j"~ the characteristic of a common monopoly . · · · · · . 135 1 j Rent has some affinity to a natural monopo~y! hut it is stl 13 g es entially diftetcnt, and is governed by d1flerent laws · · Ul\11\fARY. 541 Three causes combine to form rent :-1. The fertility of the PAGE soil ;-2. The power of food to create jts own d 1nand ;- and 3. The comparative scarcity of fertile land . 139 The first of these causes is so necessary to rent that; without it_, no exce-Js of price above the expenses of cultivation could possibly exist 140 The phwer of land to yield rent is e~actly proportioned to its fertility, though the actual rent may be very dHlerent ib. Still the surplus, which is the re ult of this power, might remain of little use without the tendency of food to create its own dcm and 14 1 The machine which produces the necessaries of life is diffe-rent from every other machine known to man, and the u e of it is attended with peculiar effects 142 A family wh:lch has land that will produce nece saries for five ether families, may be sure to have effective dernander for them; but if the same family had a machine which would make fifty hats or coats_, no efforts could secure their being all wanted ib. These peculiar qualities of the soil_, and of its product , have been strongly noticed by the Econmnist , and often by Adam Smith, as a source of rent ; but modern writer have been apt to consider it as regulated upon the principles of a cmnmon n1onopoly, though the distinction is important and striking 144 If the fertility of the 1nines were to be diminished one half_, they Inight still yield the same rents_, wages, and profits; but if the fertility of the soil in this country were to be diminished one half, tillage would be nearly destroyed, and rents_, profits, wages, and population, would be reduced in proportion . ib. The produce of certain vineyards in France might ri e to almost any value frmn external demand 3 but no external demand can ever make a bushel of corn permanently worth more than the quantity of labour which it will support 146 In the production of necessaries, the demand being dependent on the production itself, it is impossible that the demanders should increase, while the quantity of produce diminishes . • . 147 In common monopolies the excess of price above the co t of |
