ded,
does not produce the effect of raising price, but has a great effect in
lowering profits. In the one case, no greater proportion of the annual
labour of the country is devoted to the support of the labourers, in the
other case, a larger portion is so devoted.

It is according to the division of the whole produce of the land and
labour of the country, between the three classes of landlords,
capitalists, and labourers, that we are to judge of rent, profit, and
wages, and not according to the value at which that produce may be
estimated in a medium which is confessedly variable.

It is not by the absolute quantity of produce obtained by either class,
that we can correctly judge of the rate of profit, rent, and wages, but
by the quantity of labour required to obtain that produce. By
improvements in machinery and agriculture, the whole produce may be
doubled; but if wages, rent, and profit, be also doubled, these three
will bear the same proportions to one another, and neither could be said
to have relatively varied. But if wages partook not of the whole of this
increase; if they, instead of being doubled, were only increased one
half, if rent, instead of being doubled, were only increased
three-fourths, and the remaining increase went to profit, it would, I
apprehend, be correct for me to say, that rent and wages had fallen,
while profits had risen; for if we had an invariable standard, by which
to measure the value of this produce, we should find that a less value
had fallen to the class of labourers and landlords, and a greater to the
class of capitalists, than had been given before. We might find for
example, that though the absolute quantity of commodities had been
doubled, they were the produce of precisely the former quantity of
labour. Of every hundred hats, coats, and quarters of corn produced,

if the labourers had 25
The landlords 25
And the capitalists 50
---
100

And if, after these commodities were doubled in quantity, of every 100

The labourers had only 22
The landlords 22
And the capitalists 56
---
100

In that case I should say, that wages and rent had fallen, and profits
risen; though in consequence of the abundance of commodities, the
quantity paid to the labourer and landlord would have increased in the
proportion of 25 to 44. Wages are to be estimated by t