FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102  
103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   >>  
supplies of it which they have; they do not want more, or at least do not want it so urgently. It follows that they are unwilling to give much wealth for it. Thus the labour spent upon producing a commodity does not affect the value of that commodity, unless it alters the quantity of it which people can get, and thus makes a further supply of the commodity more or less useful than before. #75. Why Pearls are valuable#. To make this still more plain, let us endeavour to answer this difficult question, "Do men dive for pearls because pearls fetch a high price, or do pearls fetch a high price because men must dive in order to get them?" Pearl-diving is a very dangerous and laborious kind of work. The divers have to jump into the deep sea with heavy weights to carry them down, and they must hold their breath a long time while they are engaged in collecting the oyster shells at the bottom. The number of good pearls which they generally get is small compared with the great toil of getting them. It follows that, on the average, they must receive a high price for what they do find, otherwise they would not have adequate wages for such work. But this alone is not a sufficient reason for the pearls being so valuable, otherwise the mother of pearl shells, in which the pearls are found, and brought up, would be as valuable as the pearls. But mother of pearl is a very cheap substance. Again, if it were merely a question of labour, a diver might go down anywhere, and, bringing up the first stone or shell he found, insist on selling it for a high price, because he had dived for it. The truth is, that pearls are valuable because there are many ladies who have not got pearl necklaces, and who would like to have them; and those who have some pearls would like to get more and finer ones. In short, then, pearls are valuable because they are useful to ladies who want more pearl ornaments: they are thus useful because the ladies have not hitherto been able to get as many as they would like; and they have not been able to get many, because it is so difficult to fish them up from the bottom of the sea. Here we have the whole theory of value and labour. #The labour which is required to get more of a commodity governs the supply of it; the supply determines whether people do or do not want more of it eagerly; and this eagerness of want or demand governs value.# CHAPTER XII. MONEY. #76. Barter.# When exchanges are made by giving o
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102  
103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   >>  



Top keywords:
pearls
 

valuable

 

commodity

 

labour

 

supply

 
ladies
 
question
 

difficult

 
governs
 

people


bottom

 

shells

 
mother
 

insist

 
reason
 

selling

 
brought
 
bringing
 

substance

 

demand


CHAPTER

 

eagerness

 

eagerly

 

required

 

determines

 

giving

 

exchanges

 

Barter

 

theory

 

sufficient


necklaces

 
hitherto
 

ornaments

 

Pearls

 

answer

 
endeavour
 

wealth

 
unwilling
 

urgently

 
supplies

alters
 

quantity

 
affect
 
producing
 

diving

 

compared

 
generally
 

oyster

 
number
 

adequate