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Show 554 $ U~ll\lAR Y'. PAGE in general be nearly in proportion to natural or ' acquired fertility . 232 If this i land had been doubly fertile, it would probably at this time have been doubly rich and populou , and the rents xnore than double what they arc at present, and the reverse would have happened if it had been only half as fertile . 233 But "though high rents and fertiljty generally go together, they cannot bear a similar proportion to each other, in countries so differently circun1stanced as England and South An1crica . ib. The fertility of the land, either natural or acquired, is the only source of pennanently high returns for capital ; because the high profit of conunerce and n1anufac turcs must necessarily be destroyed by con1petition . 234 The taxable income derived from the capital laid out upon land in this country was above three tin1 s as great as that derived from commerce and 1nanufacturc . ib. The prosperity of a fertile territory does not, like that of a manufacturing state, depend upon low wages ; and while prudential habits among the poor, in a country mainly depending on n1anufactures, n1ight ruin it; they would, in an agricultural state, be the greatest blessings . 235 It is not the least advantage of the surplus produce from the land that, under a system of private property, it affords a security against the whole of the society being employetl in procuring necessaries . . . . . . . . . 237 Profits and wages may so diminish as to a.tlord comparatively fe,v means of enjoy1nent; but rents will always increase, and furnish funds for arts, sciences, and leisure, so as to leaven the whole n1ass ib. Rents are attached to the soil, not to particular proprietors; they are the reward of present, as well as of past exertions, and as they increase will be divided among greater num-bers . . . 238 The importance of the surplus produce which tenninates in · rent, can only be underrated by those who labour under .so~e mistake as to its nature and its effects on society · 239 ~ Ul\11\JA.n.y. 55 '"' CI-IAPTER IV. OF THE WAGES OF LABOUR. --.. SEcT. I.-On the Dependance o+ the "fVa . if I b . :~ ~es o .Ja ou1 upon Supply and Demand. PAGE The wa~es of labour are the remuneration to the labourer for .his personal services, and may be distinguished into nominal and real Nominal ~ages are the ~o~ey. ea;·ned b.y t~e iab.ou .' ' R 1 ' 240 , 1er. ea wages ar~ the necessaries and conveniences which that money Will cominand . . . . . . . w d ib. ages arc et~rmined by the demand and supply of labour, compared wrth the ddnand and supply of what is paid for labour The principle of demand a~d ~up~ly. de~er~i~es ~he. w~ge~ 0 { ih. labour, not only temporarily but pern1anently . . . . The J?l·ices of the necessaries of life only affect wages as tl1ey affect the supply of labour, by affecting the cost of producing it . . . . . . . . . . . . In all cases, where the cost of production does not .afl'~ct .th~ supply of labour, wages are not affected . . . . . . Adam Smith's position, that the money price of labour is regulated by the demand for labour, and the price of necessaries_, is practically quite true; but it is of importance to keep constantly in view the mode in which the price of ne-cessaries affects the price of labour . . . . . In all the cases of different prices of labour iu different employments, which Adam Smith has illustrated, the effect obviously depends upon causes which affect the supply of labour . . . . . . . . . . . . . Adam Smith has, in general, referred to the principie ~f s~p~ ply and demand, in cases of this kind, but he has occasionally forgot it 241 ib. ib 243 ib. 245 SEcT. !I.-Of the Causes which principally qffect the Habits of the lahfJuring Classes. Mr. Ricardo's definition of the natural price of labour implies an unusual and unnatural state of things . . . . . . 247 The natural or necessary price of labour is that price which, |