t increase almost
indefinitely, while the produce itself was decreasing; and its price,
therefore, would have no other limit than the numbers, powers, and
caprices, of the competitors for it.

In the production of the necessaries of life, on the contrary, the
demand is dependent upon the produce itself; and the effects are, in
consequence, widely different. In this case, it is physically impossible
that the number of demanders should increase, while the quantity
of produce diminishes, as the demanders only exist by means of this
produce. The fertility of soil, and consequent abundance of produce from
a certain quantity of land, which, in the former case, diminished the
excess of price above the cost of production, is, in the present case,
the specific cause of such excess; and the diminished fertility, which
in the former case might increase the price to almost any excess above
the cost of production, may be safely asserted to be the sole cause
which could permanently maintain the necessaries of life at a price not
exceeding the cost of production.

Is it, then, possible to consider the price of the necessaries of life
as regulated upon the principle of a common monopoly? Is it possible,
with M. de Sismondi, to regard rent as the sole produce of labour, which
has a value purely nominal, and the mere result of that augmentation of
price which a seller obtains in consequence of a peculiar privilege; or,
with Mr Buchanan, to consider it as no addition to the national wealth,
but merely as a transfer of value, advantageous only to the landlords,
and proportionately injurious to the consumers?

Is it not, on the contrary, a clear indication of a most inestimable
quality in the soil, which God has bestowed on man--the quality of being
able to maintain more persons than are necessary to work it? Is it not
a part, and we shall see further on that it is an absolutely necessary
part, of that surplus produce from the land, [9] which has been justly
stated to be the source of all power and enjoyment; and without which,
in fact, there would be no cities, no military or naval force, no arts,
no learning, none of the finer manufactures, none of the conveniences
and luxuries of foreign countries, and none of that cultivated and
polished society, which not only elevates and dignifies individuals,
but which extends its beneficial influence through the whole mass of the
people?

In the early periods of society, or more remarkably perh