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
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

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.

    607/634 (page 583)
    —tlieir produotivnnpss, an'l therefore tlie price oi'fooil. have remained pr(>tly nearly tlit- a-.tmc. The iiuprovoments in iiiiumfiictures in slicirt have hecn tiurountenic'c//, wliile those in agriculture have \kx'u couider- actnl h} the iaw of iliiiiinishini: producliveness. liefore quiftintr the siihjeet of Viiliio, I nmy ;uli] thefollowinj, short Suniuiary of its tiieory, which is coiuleiised from tliat given liy Mi: Mill. Tiie Value of a thing nic.ins the quantity of some other thine:, oi of things in general, for which it exchanges. Value is tlierefore a relative ter'u. Wlien one thing rises in value, something else must fall. There cannot be a (jene.ral rise or lliil of values. The two necessary conditions of value are Utility and IJifficulty of Attainment. The market value of all things, and the natural value of some, de- pends on Demand and Supply. The value always adjusts itself so that the demand is equal to the suppl}'. The things whose natural value depends on demand and supply, are tlie scarci/i/ articles; among which are included all things whose supply cannot be increased at all, or not sufficiently to satisfy the demand that would exist for them at their cost value. A monopoly value is a scarcity value. Tlie natural value of all things which can be indefinitely increased by labor and capital, depends on tlieir Cost of Production, if it be uniform; or, if it be manifold, on their Cost of Production in the worst circum- stances. The universal elements of cost of production arc the wages of tiie labor and the profits of the capital: tlie occasional elements are taxes, and any extra co.'^t caused by a scarcity value of some of the requisites. Agricultural rent is not an element of cost of pro- duction. Talue is not aiTected by the ahsolu/.e. but only bv the coM/.iarative amount of wages and profits; except in this respect tiiat every fall of profits lowers (though only in a slight degree; the value of things made by much or durable machin(;rj', and raises that of things made by hand: and every rise of profits does the reverse. The comparative amount of wages depends partly on the comparative quantity of labor employed, and partly on the comparative rate of its remuneration. The comparative rate of profits depends partly on the comparative length of time for which profit is due^ and partly on the comparative rate of profit in different employments. Into the subject of Price, I shall not enter further than by stating that the laws which determine the price of commodities, that is, their value in relation to money, are just the same as the laws v. hich deter- mine their value in relation to other commodities. In otlie; words the price of commodities depends eitlier on Demand and Supply: the Cost of Production : or on Cost of Production in the worst circum- stances. The ordinary laws of value are unaffected by the introduc- tion of money, which itself, as an exchangeable commodity, necea* «arily comes under their operation. The exchange value or pur- chasing power of money, like that of other mineral products, depends temporarily on demand and supply, and, permanently and on the s.verage, on cost of production in the worst circumstances. The in- tr'>fluction of money, says Mr. Mill, does not interfere with ths;