is privation equally, and to prevent the
labourer from consuming subsistence so freely as before, the price
rises. It must therefore be conceded to Mr. Buchanan, that any rise in
the price of provisions, occasioned by a deficient supply, will not
necessarily raise the money wages of labour; as the consumption must be
retarded; which can only be effected by diminishing the power of the
consumers to purchase. But, because the price of provisions is raised by
a deficient supply, we are by no means warranted in concluding, as Mr.
Buchanan appears to do, that there may not be an abundant supply, with a
high price; not a high price with regard to money only, but with regard
to all other things.

The natural price of commodities, which always ultimately governs their
market price, depends on the facility of production; but the quantity
produced is not in proportion to that facility. Although the lands,
which are now taken into cultivation, are much inferior to the lands in
cultivation three centuries ago, and therefore the difficulty of
production is increased, who can entertain any doubt, but that the
quantity produced now, very far exceeds the quantity then produced? Not
only is a high price compatible with an increased supply, but it rarely
fails to accompany it. If, then, in consequence of taxation, or of
difficulty of production, the price of provisions be raised, and the
quantity be not diminished, the money wages of labour will rise; for as
Mr. Buchanan has justly observed, "The wages of labour consist not in
money, but in what money purchases, namely, provisions and other
necessaries; and the allowance of the labourer out of the common stock,
will always be in proportion to the supply."

With respect to the second point, whether a tax on the wages of labour
would raise the price of labour, Mr. Buchanan says, "After the labourer
has received the fair recompense of his labour, how can he have recourse
on his employer, for what he is afterwards compelled to pay away in
taxes? There is no law or principle in human affairs to warrant such a
conclusion. After the labourer has received his wages, they are in his
own keeping, and he must, as far as he is able, bear the burthen of
whatever exactions he may ever afterwards be exposed to: for he has
clearly no way of compelling those to reimburse him, who have already
paid him the fair price of his work." Mr. Buchanan has quoted with great
approbation, the following able passage