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Price, based upon the following considerations, which it may 

 be profitable to discuss : — 



First, it is admitted generally as an axiom in economics, 

 that in the same market there can only he one price for specific 

 articles of the same quality. 



(1) Seeing that the same area of good land may yield 



A double the quantity of produce grown by B on 

 poor land without any difference in the actual 

 cost of production. How, in the face of " one 

 price for the specific articles of the same quality," 

 can this effect be reconciled with the doctrine that 

 Cost of Production is the Law of Price ? 



(2) A similar objection applies to cotton cloth and 



other manufactures. A, e.g., by the use of superior 

 appliances, may produce four yards of similar 

 cotton at the same cost as it would take B to pro- 

 duce three yards. 



(3) Similarly in respect of cost of labour services : Two 

 carpenters of equal skill working at the same bench 

 receive the same daily wages. The maintenance of 

 A with a family to support involves, perhaps, three 

 times the cost of B, a single man, even with the 

 same standard of living. 



All these examples would have great force as bearing 

 against the Primary Law of Price were it not that the word 

 ""Primary" does not exclude the conception of minor 

 influences which qualify and modify to some extent the 

 operation of the Primary Law. But even the examples given 

 are perfectly reconcilable with the doctrine when stated 

 more completely. For Cost of Production, i.e., economic 

 cost, ignores the variations of actual cost among different 

 producers of the same class of articles as the individuals of 

 the same class working under the greatest disadvantages are 

 the sole determinants of the uniform market price of the 

 common product. 



Thus, as regards the price of agricultural products, the 

 normal rate of wages for each class of occupation, as well as 

 the price of manufactured products, are all alike really 

 governed by the same economic law, namely, " the cost of 

 producing the most expensive portion of the supply necessary to 

 satisfy the same market." 



The difference of actual cost of production between 

 those in the same occupation, who are working at a greater 

 advantage and those at the greatest disadvantage, is absorbed 

 by the former as an extra reward for services. In the case 



