Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

them both to the same equal tax? And yet the amount of their rents is the only criterion to which recourse could be had in fixing the amount of the tax-for all the tax-collectors in the world could not separate between what was really rent, in the scientific sense of the term, and what was interest on capital. Such a tax would oppose the most. effectual obstacle to improvements. Instead of carrying capital from other employments to the land, it would henceforth be carried from the land to them. The object would not then be to have an estate look well, but to have it look ill. And it may be said of estates as of individuals,

"Pauper videri vult Cinna, et est pauper."

The effects formerly produced by the taille, and those now produced by the contribution foncière in France, and the fluctuating land taxes imposed in other countries, abundantly confirm the truth of this statement; their influence having been most disastrous.

Before closing this chapter, we may observe that the author of the "Critical Dissertation on Value," contends that, because the value of the corn raised on lands paying rent is not, after inferior lands are taken into cultivation, proportioned to the cost of its production, it is incorrect to represent the value of the aggregate produce raised in countries where cultivation is extended over inferior lands, as depending on that principle. But those who contend that the value of raw and other products, the quantities of which admit of indefinite increase, is determined by the cost of their production, invariably refer to the labour required to produce that portion of raw produce, or of any required article which is raised under the most unfavourable circumstances. "The exchangeable value of all commodities," says Mr Ricardo, "whether they be manufactured, or the produce of the mines, or the produce of land, is always regulated, not by the less quantity of labour that will suffice.

1 P. 194.

for their production under circumstances highly favourable, and exclusively enjoyed by those who have peculiar facilities of production, but by the greater quantity of labour necessarily bestowed on their production by those who have no such facilities; by those who continue to produce them under the most unfavourable circumstances-meaning, by the most unfavourable circumstances, the most unfavourable under which the quantity of produce required renders it necessary to carry on the production." 1

This is the sense in which we are always to understand the proposition, that the value of commodities depends on the cost of their production, or on the quantity of labour required to produce them and bring them to market. It is not meant to affirm, that the value of every particular hat or bushel of corn offered for sale is determined by the quantity of labour actually expended on its production. What is really meant is, that the value of all the hats, as of all the corn required for the supply of the market, is determined by the quantity of labour required to produce that hat, or that bushel of corn, which has been produced with the greatest difficulty.

It is obvious that no error can arise in estimating the value of raw produce, from supposing it to have been wholly raised under the same circumstances as that portion which is raised by means of the capital last applied to the soil; for though portions of it may have been raised under very different circumstances, it is certain that their value must, notwithstanding, be exclusively determined by, and identical with, the value of that which is raised by this last applied capital. And hence, when corn is employed as capital in any industrious undertaking, we are to consider it as being, in fact, either the actual product, or the equivalent of the product, of some quantity of the labour of those who raise corn on the worst lands under tillage; and the quantity of

1 "Principles of Political Economy," 3d edit. p. 60.

labour so wrought up in this capital, or represented by it, must plainly determine the cost of the commodities produced by its agency. This principle holds in the case of all commodities, the supply of which admits of being indefinitely extended. On tracing the cost of any article of this description, we shall find that it is determined, in all ordinary states of the market, by the quantity of labour actually expended on its production, if it be produced under the most unfavourable circumstances, or that is actually expended on a similar article produced under these circumstances.

CHAPTER VI.

Influence of Improvements-Slowness with which they spread-Beneficial to all Classes-Different methods of Letting Lands-Remarks upon those Methods-Increase and Reduction of Rents-Regulations as to Management-Size of Farms-Influence of the granting of the Electire Franchise to Tenants over Agriculture-Profits of Farmers.

A GOOD deal of misconception has been entertained with respect to the influence of improvements over rent. It has been already seen that rent depends on the extent to which tillage has been carried; but the most common effect of improvements being to enable the same quantity of produce to be obtained from a less extent of land, it would seem, on a superficial view, that they are injurious to the landlord. But there is no such opposition between his interests and those of the rest of the community; and it will be found, when rightly examined, that improvements are no less advantageous to the owners and occupiers of land than to others.

1. To have a distinct idea of the operation and influence of improvements, it may be proper to consider them both as applying generally to all sorts of land, and to some particular sorts only. In the first case, then, let it be supposed to illustrate the principle, that the following quantities of produce are obtained from the different qualities of land under cultivation, and the following rents paid, viz. A B C D E Qualities of Land.

100 90 80 70 60

Quantities of produce obtained with equal capitals.

40 30 20 10 0 Rent.

Now, suppose an improvement is made which enables

ten per cent more produce to be obtained with the same outlay, and that this improvement extends to all qualities of land, the quantities produced, and the rent, would

then be

110 99 88 77 66 Quantities of produce.
44 33 22 11 0 Rent.

In this case it is plain, that if the demand for corn were increased so as to take off the greater quantity brought to market, the landlord would not sustain any inconvenience whatever from the improvement, but would be immediately as well as permanently benefited by it. He would obtain a greater quantity of corn as rent; and notwithstanding the reduction of its price, it would exchange for the same quantity of other things that the smaller quantity did before. If, however, there were no increase of demand, ten per cent of the capital at present employed in agriculture would be withdrawn from that business, so that the quantity of produce would be the same as before the improvements; the corn rent would also be the same; though, as corn would, under the circumstances supposed, be ten per cent cheaper, money rents would fall in that proportion. But it is abundantly obvious, that though the demand might not be immediately increased, so as to take off the whole additional quantity brought to market in consequence of the improvement, it would not remain stationary. It is impossible, indeed, that such should be the case. The consumption of the lower classes, and the quantity of corn given to the horses employed in industrious undertakings, or kept for pleasure, is invariably increased when prices fall; at the same time that the stimulus which the fall gives to population, would, in the end, increase the demand, so as to absorb not only the increased quantity of corn, but to occasion the cultivation of fresh soils.

2. Let it now be supposed that the improvement is partial; that it affects the superior qualities of land only; and

« AnteriorContinuar »