than it ever did in England, and in
France, where it has undergone still greater
than it ever did in Scotland, some ancient
rents, originally of considerable value, have,
in this manner, been reduced almost to nothing.
Equal quantities of labour will, at distant
times, be purchased more nearly with equal
quantities of corn, the subsistence of the labourer,
than with equal quantities of gold and
silver, or, perhaps, of any other commodity.
Equal quantities of corn, therefore, will, at
distant times, be more nearly of the same real
value, or enable the possessor to purchase or
command more nearly the same quantity of
the labour of other people. They will do
this, I say, more nearly than equal quantities
of almost any other commodity; for even
equal quantities of corn will not do it exactly.
The subsistence of the labourer, or the real
price of labour, as I shall endeavour to shew
hereafter, is very different upon different occasions;
more liberal in a society advancing to
opulence, than in one that is standing still,
and in one that is standing still, than in one
that is going backwards. Every other commodity,
however, will, at any particular time,
purchase a greater or smaller quantity of labour,
in proportion to the quantity of subsistence
which it can purchase at that time. A
rent, therefore, reserved in corn, is liable only
to the variations in the quantity of labour
which a certain quantity of corn can purchase.
But a rent reserved in any other commodity
is liable, not only to the variations in the
quantity of labour which any particular quantity
of corn can purchase, but to the variations
in the quantity of corn which can be purchased
by any particular quantity of that commodity.
Though the real value of a corn rent, it is
to be observed, however, varies much less
from century to century than that of a money
rent, it varies much more from year to year.
The money price of labour, as I shall endeavour
to shew hereafter, does not fluctuate
from year to year with the money price of
corn, but seems to be everywhere accommodated,
not to the temporary or occasional, but
to the average or ordinary price of that necessary
of life. The average or ordinary price
of corn, again is regulated, as I shall likewise
endeavour to shew hereafter, by the value of
silver, by the richness or barrenness of the
mines which supply the market with that
metal, or by the quantity of labour which
must be employed, and consequently of corn
which must be consumed, in order to bring
any particular quantity of silver from the
mine to the market. But the value of silver,
though it sometimes varies greatly from century
to century, seldom varies much from year
to year, but frequently continues the same, or
very nearly the same, for half a century or a
century together. The ordinary or average
money price of corn, therefore, may, during
so long a period, continue the same, or very
nearly the same, too, and along with it the
money price of labour, provided, at least, the
society continues, in other respects, in the
same, or nearly in the same, condition. In
the mean time, the temporary and occasional
price of corn may frequently be double one
year of what it had been the year before, or
fluctuate, for example, from five-and-twenty
to fifty shillings the quarter. But when corn
is at the latter price, not only the nominal,
but the real value of a corn rent, will be
double of what it is when at the former, or
will command double the quantity either of
labour, or of the greater part of other commodities;
the money price of labour, and along
with it that of most other things, continuing
the same during all these fluctuations.
Labour, therefore, it appears evidently, is
the only universal, as well as the only accurate,
measure of value, or the only standard
by which we can compare the values of different
commodities, at all times, and at all
places. We cannot estimate, it is allowed,
the real value of different commodities from
century to century by the quantities of silver
which were given for them. We cannot estimate
it from year to year by the quantities
of corn. By the quantities of labour, we can,
with the greatest accuracy, estimate it, both
from century to century, and from year to
year. From century to century, corn is a
better measure than silver, because, from century
to century, equal quantities of corn will
command the same quantity of labour more
nearly than equal quantities of silver. From
year to year, on the contrary, silver is a better
measure than corn, because equal quantities
of it will more nearly command the same
quantity of labour.
But though, in establishing perpetual rents,
or even in letting very long leases, it may be
of use to distinguish between real and nominal
price; it is of none in buying and selling,
the more common and ordinary transactions
of human life.
At the same time and place, the real and
the nominal price of all commodities are exactly
in proportion to one another. The more
or less money you get for any commodity, in
the London market, for example, the more or
less labour it will at that time and place enable
you to purchase or command. At the
same time and place, therefore, money is the
exact measure of the real exchangeable value
of all commodities. It is so, however, at the
same time and place only.
Though at distant places there is no regular
proportion between the real and the money
price of commodities, yet the merchant who
carries goods from the one to the other, has
nothing to consider but the money price, or
the difference between the quantity of silver
for which he buys them, and that for which