l reward of the
labourer will not alter. Money wages will rise, but they will only
enable him to furnish himself with the same quantity of necessaries as
before. Those who dispute this principle, are bound to shew why an
increase of money should not have the same effect in raising the price
of labour, the quantity of which has not been increased, as they
acknowledge it would have on the price of shoes, of hats, and of corn,
if the quantity of those commodities were not increased. The relative
market value of hats and shoes is regulated by the demand and supply of
hats, compared with the demand and supply of shoes, and money is but the
medium in which their value is expressed. If shoes be doubled in price,
hats will also be doubled in price, and they will retain the same
comparative value. So if corn and all the necessaries of the labourer be
doubled in price, labour will be doubled in price also, and while there
is no interruption to the usual demand and supply of necessaries and of
labour, there can be no reason why they should not preserve their
relative value.

Neither a fall in the value of money, nor a tax on raw produce, though
each will raise the price, will _necessarily_ interfere with the
quantity of raw produce; or with the number of people, who are both able
to purchase, and willing to consume it. It is very easy to perceive why,
when the capital of a country increases irregularly, wages should rise,
whilst the price of corn remains stationary, or rises in a less
proportion; and why, when the capital of a country diminishes, wages
should fall whilst corn remains stationary, or falls in a much less
proportion, and this too for a considerable time; the reason is, because
labour is a commodity which cannot be increased and diminished at
pleasure. If there are too few hats in the market for the demand, the
price will rise, but only for a short time; for in the course of one
year, by employing more capital in that trade, any reasonable addition
may be made to the quantity of hats, and therefore their market price
cannot long very much exceed their natural price; but it is not so with
men; you cannot increase their number in one or two years when there is
an increase of capital, nor can you rapidly diminish their number when
capital is in a retrograde state; and therefore, the number of hands
increasing or diminishing slowly, whilst the funds for the maintenance
of labour increase or diminish rapidly, there must be