The elements of social science, or, Physical, sexual, and natural religion : an exposition of the true cause and only cure of the three primary social evils: poverty, prostitution and celibacy / by a doctor of medicine.

Drysdale, George R., 1825-1904.

Date:: 1889

Credit: The elements of social science, or, Physical, sexual, and natural religion : an exposition of the true cause and only cure of the three primary social evils: poverty, prostitution and celibacy / by a doctor of medicine. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$the fiiiishe'd pfoads, or of tlie ihmr. But the chipf (]UL>stion is, wlnUhrr Of/ricuiiui-iil ivut outers into cost of production, and uiicLlier Llic price of corn is raised by it? Aiiatn Sinitli (wlio, it may here be mentioned, was born at Ivirkaldy in 1723, and died in 1790, and whose ^ireat woi k ou the Wcaltii of Nations, wliich laid tlie foundation of the nidder.i science of political economy, was publislied in 1766) and most of tht early political economists answered this in the altirinati\-e. The\ lliought that agricultural produce is always at a monopol3' i)ricu, be- cause, they said, it not only yields the ordinary rate of profit to the farmer, but also yields something for rent. But it was clearly ghovrn by Mr. Ixicardo, that this opinion is erroneous; for the price of corn is de- termined b}' the cost of its production on the worst land under cul tiva- tion, and this land pays no rent. It is only the better lands which yield a rent, and it is not by them that the price of corn is regulated. The existence of rent is therefore an ej/'ect, and not a cause, of the high price of corn; in other words, corn is not high because rent is paid, but rent is paid because corn is high. Even if the landlords were to forego their rents, and give them over to the frtrniers or to the state, it v-ould have no effect on the price of corn; for this price is a condition in- dispensable to the production of the required supply. If the price were less, an equal quantity of corn could not, in the existing stato of agricultural sldll, be profitably grown, and the cultivation of some of the inferior lands would be abandoned. Rent therefore, says Mr. Mill, unless artificially increased by restrictive laws, is no bur- then on the consumer; it does not raise the price of corn, and is no otherwise a detriment to the public, than inasmuch as if the state had retained it, or imposed an equivalent in the shape of a land-tax, it would then have been a fund applicable to general, instead of private advantage. A natural agent, even when appropriated, cannot, any more than other things, possess value, unless it be difficult of attainment, or in other words, unless the supply of it be limited. Now it is only the better qualities of laud whose supply is limited, and accordingly they alone can yield a rent. The inferior lands are, practically speaking, unlnuited; that is to say, the supply of them is far more than suffi- cient to satisfy the existing demand. There are millions of acres, lying witliin the boundaries of farms, which are capable of cultivation, and yet are not cultivated. The reason is, that they would not, at the existing price of agricultural produce, repay the expenses of the farmer and yield him the ordinary rate of profit. The farmer might cultivate them if he chose, but he does not find it profitable to do so. It is evident that these lauds yield no rent; and it is not less certain on further considering the matter, that the worst land which the larmer does find it profitable to cultivate, aho yields no rent; for there 18 nothing to prevent him from cultivating his farm to as great an ex- tent as will afford him the ordinary profit, and he will naturally ^ ao. Ihe price of agricultural produce is the cause which determinea the quantity of land wliich may be profitably cultivated, and also the amount of rent vvhicli the farmer can aiford to pay to the landlord$