[10] The reader is desired to bear in mind, that for the purpose of making the subject more clear, I consider money to be invariable in value, and therefore every variation of price to be referable to an alteration in the value of the commodity.
[11] The reader is aware, that we are leaving out of our consideration the accidental variations arising from bad and good seasons, or from the demand increasing or diminishing by any sudden effect on the state of population. We are speaking of the natural and constant, not of the accidental and fluctuating price of corn.
[12] The 180 quarters of corn would be divided in the followng proportions between landlords, farmers, and labourers, with the above-named variations in the value of corn.
| Price per qr. | Rent. | Profit. | Wages. | Total. |
| £. s. d. | In Wheat. | In Wheat. | In Wheat. | |
| 4 0 0 | None. | 120 qrs. | 60 qrs. | 180 |
| 4 4 8 | 10 qrs | 111.7 | 58.3 | |
| 4 10 0 | 20 qrs | 103.4 | 56.6 | |
| 4 16 0 | 30 | 95 | 55 | |
| 5 2 10 | 40 | 86.7 | 53.5 |
and, under the same circumstances, money rent, wages, and profit, would be as follows:
| Price per qr. | Rent. | Profit. | Wages. | Total. | ||||||||||
| £. | s. | d. | £. | s. | d. | £. | s. | d. | £. | s. | d. | £. | s. | d. |
| 4 | 0 | 0 | None. | 480 | 0 | 0 | 240 | 0 | 0 | 720 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 4 | 4 | 8 | 42 | 7 | 8 | 473 | 0 | 0 | 247 | 0 | 0 | 762 | 7 | 6 |
| 4 | 10 | 0 | 90 | 0 | 0 | 465 | 0 | 0 | 255 | 0 | 0 | 810 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | 16 | 0 | 144 | 0 | 0 | 456 | 0 | 0 | 264 | 0 | 0 | 864 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | 2 | 10 | 205 | 13 | 4 | 445 | 15 | 0 | 274 | 5 | 0 | 925 | 13 | 4 |
[13] See Adam Smith, book i. chap. 9.
[14] It will appear then, that a country possessing very considerable advantages in machinery and skill, and which may therefore be enabled to manufacture commodities with much less labour than her neighbours, may in return for such commodities, import a portion of the corn required for its consumption, even if its land were more fertile, and corn could be grown with less labour than in the country from which it was imported. Two men can both make shoes and hats, and one is superior to the other in both employments; but in making hats, he can only exceed his competitor by one-fifth or 20 per cent., and in making shoes he can excel him by one-third or 33 per cent.;—will it not be for the interest of both, that the superior man should employ himself exclusively in making shoes, and the inferior man in making hats?
[15] Book V. ch. ii.
[16] M. Say appears to have imbibed the general opinion on this subject. Speaking of corn, he says, "thence it results, that its price influences the price of all other commodities. A farmer, a manufacturer, or a merchant, employs a certain number of workmen, who all have occasion to consume a certain quantity of corn. If the price of corn rises, he is obliged to raise, in an equal proportion, the price of his productions." Vol. i. p. 255.