308 
Of the Evolution of Rent, fyc. 
[Oct, 
The rent of land then proceeds from these circumstances; that man necessarily 
springing up wherever a subsistence is obtainable, can be supported by the proceeds 
of reproduction in larger numbers than are necessary for actual co-operation with 
the principle of reproduction. Now, had the Almighty acted differently towards 
his creatures ; had he seen fit to ordain, that under the most favourable circum- 
stances, a mere sufficiency for the support of the requisite labour should be given 
off in agriculture, then it is clear, that rent never could have existed ; and that 
however eagerly men might have desired to be possessed of food, it could never 
have more than repaid the labour actually necessary in its production. 
In this case there could have been no secondary wealth whatever ; the labour 
necessary for producing the food which supported the agriculturists being just sup- 
plied from the whole produce, there could have existed, not only no separate class 
of landlords, but no means even of supporting the labourer while engaged in pro- 
ducing any items of secondary wealth. It is impossible then, that after agriculture 
is understood at all, there ever should exist a time when the produce of equal labour 
in agriculture and manufactures would be exchanged on equal terms ; the produce of 
agriculture must have been the result of less labour than it could support, while 
the produce of manufactures must merely have served to maintain the labour 
bestowed; and the difference between the two must have formed the elements 
of rent, as well as the means of furnishing support to the class of manufacturers: 
without rent then, or rather without the rudiments of rent, there could have been 
no wealth in existence, except food : and wherever wealth of a secondary nature 
is found, there the price of food must have been comparatively high as contrasted 
with wrought wares. 
I have deemed it necessary to shew in different points of view, and to dwell 
thus long upon what appears to me the true nature of the source of rent ; for the 
theories now in vogue trace it to a very different origin. They attribute its ex- 
istence only to the later periods of production, and to the increasing intensity of 
desire alone, on the part of a dense and increasing population, for the possession 
of food; as if its superior value had not always existed : and not adverting to 
this most important circumstance, that the difference between the proceeds of 
equal labour in agriculture and in manufactures, which they reckon the high 
price of food, as contrasted with other products, proceeds from the law of po- 
pulation, which must ever have been in force, coupled with the peculiar pro- 
ductiveness of food, from man’s inevitably springing into being wherever nourish- 
ment is to be bad, although less than man’s utmost labour suffices to raise this nou- 
rishment ; while every other product, which may be offered for this sufficiency of 
food, must be the result of a man’s unremitting labour, for the time tlie food ho 
obtains in exchange is calculated to yield him support. It is very true, that but 
for the existence of men in needy circumstances, and not connected with agriculture, 
such an interchange as this could never be effected ; and therefore, the high 
price of food, estimated in other products, is certainly attributable in part to in- 
tensity of demand. But they overlook the most important part of the subject, that 
hut for the peculiar productiveness of that which constitutes food, this differ* 
ence in the relative prices of food and other products could never have existed, 
even if the demand for food were more intense than it has ever been known to be 
in the most populous countries ; and having made this one false assumption they 
proceed, erroneously of course, in all their subsequent reasonings. If demand 
alone suffice to raise the price of food in one instance, it must effect the same 
object ever after ; and thus they argue, that as population becomes more and 
more dense, the demand for food becoming more and more intense in conse- 
