646 



VALUE. 



there are no traces of former barriers in any of those localities where 

 alone we can assume them to have existed, to produce the required 

 embaying of the waters. The hypothesis of successive " sea-margins,' 

 or sea-levels, is stated to be overthrown by the now well-established 

 deduction from the recent measurements of Professor Rogers himself, 

 that none of the several shelves, or " roads " of Glen Roy correspond 

 in level with any of those seen in the adjacent valley, Glen Gluoi, a 

 marked discrepancy separating the two groups of terraces into two 

 independently produced systems. 



After adducing further objections, both of fact and reasoning, to 

 former hypotheses on the origin of the parallel roads, Professor Rogers 

 concludes by sketching, in the following terms, the action to which he 

 ascribes their formation : " He supposes the several terraces to have 

 been cut or grooved in the sides of the hills by a great inundation from 

 the Atlantic, engendered by some wide earthquake disturbance of the 

 ocean's bed, and forced against the western slope of Scotland. The 

 features of the country indicate that, while a portion of such a vast 

 sea-tide entering the Frith of Liunhe rushed straight across the island 

 through the deep natural trench, Glen Mor or the great Caledonian 

 valley, a branch current was deflected from this, and turned by the 

 Spean valley and its tributary glens, Glen Roy and Glen Gluoi, into 

 the valley of the Spey, and so across to the German Ocean. In this 

 transit, the deflected waters first embayed in these glens, and then 

 filling and pouring through them, would, upon rising to the levels of 

 the successive water-sheds, or low passes, which open away to the 

 eastern slope of the island, take on a swift current through each notch, 

 and as long as the outpour nearly balanced the influx, this current, 

 temporarily stationary in height, would carve or groove the soft 

 " drift " of the hill-side. But the influx increasing, the stationary level 

 and grooving power of the surface-stream would cease, and would only 

 recommence when the flood rising to the brim of another natural dam, 

 a new equilibrium would be established, a new horizontal superficial 

 current set in motion, and a second shelf or terrace begin to be eroded 

 at the higher level. So each of the parallel roads is conceived to have 

 been produced in the successive stages of the rising of one vast steady 

 incursion of the sea. The lapsing back of the waters, unaccompanied 

 by any sharp localised surface-currents through the passes, could 

 imprint no such defined marks on the surface, uor accomplish more 

 than a faint and partial obliteration of the terraces just previously 

 excavated during their incursion." 



A succinct view of the controversy respecting the formation of the 

 parallel roads, showing the position of the subject prior to Professor 

 Rogers'* investigation, will be found in Sir C. Lyell's ' Manual of 

 Elementary Geology,' 5th ed.,1855, pp. 86-89. 



VALUE signifies, in political economy, the quantity of labour, or of 

 the product of labour, which will exchange for a given quantity of 

 labour or of some other product thereof. It is necessary in the outset 

 to distinguish utility from value, or, as Adam Smith expresses the 

 distinction, " value in uie " from " value in exchange." The utility of 

 an article causes it to be an object of demand ; and without some real 

 or imaginary utility an article will not have value ; or, in other words, 

 no one will give other articles hi exchange for it : but utility alone 

 does not constitute value, except when there is a limited and exclusive 

 possession, which enables one man to refuse to others the enjoyment 

 of any natural product without the payment of an equivalent or price. 

 It is the labour of man alone which in ordinary circumstances creates 

 value. What all may enjoy alike without labour may indeed be most 

 useful and necessary, but cannot be an object of exchange, and there- 

 fore is destitute of value. "The real price of every tiling," says 

 Adam Smith, " what everything really costs to the man who wants to 

 acquire it, is the toil and trouble of acquiring it. What everything is 

 really worth to the man who has acquired it, and who wants to dis- 

 pose of it or exchange it for something else, is the toil and trouble 

 which it can save to himself, and which it can impose upon other 

 people." Hence the labour of man becomes the real measure of the 

 exchangeable value of all commodities. 



To illustrate the distinctive character of utility, and the effects of 

 labour and of exclusive possession respectively upon value, suppose a 

 Irty of settlers to occupy a tract of laud, and to divide it amongst 

 them in equal portions by lot. Suppose also that each settler has upon 

 IH.H own land timber, lime, and stone. They all need houses, and have 

 the materials to build them with ; but the unaided labour of each 

 man is unable to appropriate and apply the materials in the manner he 

 .-. One man calls in the assistance of his neighbour, and by 

 their joint labour a house is built; and this service ho repays by 

 h'lping his neighbour also to build a house. He can only repay him 

 l.y labour, because the materials, though of the highest utility, are 

 <>u to both, but need labour to make them available. It is clear 

 that the timber, the lime, and the stone are in this case without value, 

 and could not be offered by one man in exchange for the labour of 

 .mother. But suppose it should happen that all the timber, lime, and 

 stone in the whole district should -be found in the portion of land 

 allotted to one of the party. Here the materials would not only be 

 objects of utility, but the limited and exclusive possession of them 

 would endow them with value. The fortunate owner of them might 

 ay to his neighbours, " You shall not have any of my materials 

 until you have first built me a house; but whjn you have each 

 worked for me a day, instead of repaying each of you with a day's 



ABIS ASD SCI. DIV. VOL. VIII. 



VALUE. BIO 



labour myself, I will permit you to take the materials for building 

 from my estate." Here the power of withholding the products of nature 

 from others is productive of value, being equivalent to a certain 

 quantity of labour. But even in this case it is labour which creates 

 the value, and is the measure of exchange between the parties. 



The great mass of commodities which are made the subject of 

 exchange amongst men are produced by labour only, and are not 

 affected by any exclusive possession whatever. With these therefore 

 the quantity of labour used in their production is the measure of their 

 real value. They will ordinarily exchange for other commodities upon 

 which an equal quantity of labour has been expended ; but there are 

 circumstances which may affect their exchangeable value, while their 

 real value or cost of production may remain the same. If a larger 

 quantity of any article has been produced than there is an effective 

 demand for, its exchangeable value is reduced ; if on the contrary, its 

 supply is unequal to the demand, its value is raised. But these varia- 

 tions cannot be of long duration. Articles which do not repay tho 

 cost of production will soon cease to be produced, until the diminished 

 supply has again raised their value ; and when articles bear a market 

 value much higher than their cost, production will be encouraged until 

 the supply is not very wide of the demand. Any permanent altera- 

 tion, therefore, in the exchangeable value of one commodity an com- 

 pared with another, cannot be referred to these fluctuating and 

 accidental causes, but must be the result of a change in the real value 

 of one or the other, that is to say, in the quantity of labour required 

 to produce it. The value of labour is always the same, but the value 

 of the products of labour changes with circumstances. 



The real value of a commodity having been shown to be dependent 

 solely upon the quantity of labour necessary for its production, and 

 the exchangeable value, for the causes stated, never varying materially 

 either above or below the real value, it follows that the price paid for 

 labour does not affect the exchangeable value of articles produced 

 under similar circumstances. If the labourer gains a larger share, the 

 profits of his employer are proportionately diminished; and if his 

 share is less, then profits are increased : while both are generally 

 preserved by competition from any great disproportion. 



Equal quantities of labour however are not always equivalent ; tho 

 skill of one labourer, or the severity of his employment, may render 

 the time for which he is engaged more than equivalent to the same 

 time occupied in labour by another. But this circumstance, though it 

 originally affects the comparative value of commodities produced by 

 different descriptions of labour, is no cause of subsequent variation in 

 their relative value. The relations of different qualities of labour aro 

 soon practically adjusted, and are not afterwards liable to much 

 variation. 



Every reduction in the quantity of labour required to produce a 

 commodity diminishes its real value, and therefore, for the causes 

 already explained, its value in exchange. Improvements in tools and 

 machinery, by saving the labour of man, reduce the value of com- 

 modities; but in estimating their influence, we must not omit to 

 calculate the quantity of labour bestowed upon the article, directly and 

 indirectly from the growth of the raw material to its finished state 

 throughout the whole process of manufacture upon the tools, 

 machinery, buildings, and other appliances by which labour is assisted. 

 Upon the same principles every increase in the quantity of labour 

 dire ;tly or indirectly applied adds to the value of a commodity. 



Thj amount of capital employed also enters into the computation of 

 value. Capital is only accumulated labour. Where it is abundant a 

 small interest is accepted, but where it is scarce a larger portion of 

 interest has to be added. Labour can hardly ever be profitably 

 exerted without the intervention of capital, as the labourer must be 

 provided with subsistence until his labour has realised a profit. All 

 improvident attacks, therefore, of the labourer upon the labour fund by 

 lessening the amount of capital to be advanced for his support in view 

 of prospective realisation, must inevitably react upon himself to his 

 own disadvantage. 



The effects of labour upon price become further complicated by tho 

 durability of the machinery employed to assist it. If two commodi- 

 ;ies are produced by machinery at an equal cost of labour, and if the 

 same quantity of labour has also been bestowed, in each case, upon the 

 machinery the value of such commodities would appear to be tho 

 same ; but if one machine wears out in two years or needs much 

 abour to keep it in repair, while the other lasts for ten years requiring 

 jut little repair the relative quantities of labour expended indirectly 

 upon the two commodities become so unequal, that a considerable 

 disproportion must be found in their respective degrees of value. 



Disturbances of the relative value of different commodities 

 pparently produced by the same amount of labour, are also caused by 

 ,he comparative quantities of fixed and circulating capital employed, 

 and by the length of time over which the labour is spread, and before 

 ,he products are brought to market. Under these varying circum- 

 stances in the production of articles, the price of labour becomes an 

 element in their relative value, which is not the case when com- 

 modities are produced under precisely similar circumstances. If all 

 commodities were produced by an equal proportion of fixed and 

 circulating capital, any rise or fall of wages would affect them all 

 equally, and would not therefore disturb their relations to each other. 

 If a yard of woollen, cloth, for instance, exchanged for a yard of silk, 



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