172 Of Corn-Laws. Bk iii. 



has had respectable followers ; and some of those 

 who have agreed with him in his opinion that 

 corn regulates the prices of labour, and of all 

 other commodities, still insist on the injury done 

 to the labouring classes of society by a rise in the 

 price of corn, and the benefit they would derive 

 from a fall. 



The main argument however which Adam Smith 

 adduces against the bounty is, that as the money 

 price of corn regulates that of all other home- 

 made commodities, the advantage to the pro- 

 prietor from the increase of money price is merely 

 apparent, and not real ; since what he gains in his 

 sales he must lose in his purchases. 



This position, though true to a certain extent, 

 is by no means true to the extent of preventing 

 the movement of capital to or from the land, 

 which is the precise point in question. The 

 money price of corn in a particular country is 

 undoubtedly by far the most powerful ingredient 

 in regulating the price of labour, and of all other 

 commodities ; but it is not enough for Adam 

 Smith's position that it should be the most pow- 

 erful ingredient; it must be shewn that, other 

 causes remaining the same, the price of every 

 article will rise and fall exactly in proportion to 

 the price of corn, and this is very far from being 

 the case. Adam Smith himself excepts all foreign 

 commodities ; but when we reflect upon the vast 

 amount of our imports, and the quantity of foreign 

 articles used in our manufactures, this exception 

 alone is of the greatest importance. Wool and 



