RODBER TUS-J A GE TZOIV. 
17 
Other two-thirds will go to capital. The hands thrown out of 
work by the introduction of the machine will find employment 
" elsewhere, and as consumers they will in part profit by the 
lowering in price of the products, consequent on the employ 
ment of mechanical contrivances. It cannot be denied that 
the working man is better fed, better lodged, and better clothed 
to-day than formerly. If, then, it is true that the aggregate of 
wages bears a less proportion to the national produce, because 
fixed capital, the source of the increased production, engrosses 
an increasing share, the position of the labourer is, on the other 
hand, improved, because competition, by bringing down the 
selling-price of commodities to a level with the cost of pro 
duction, causes all consumers to profit by the progress of 
manufacture. ^ 
Rodbertus criticises in a very specious way the theory of 
Ricardo that rent arises from the necessity of bringing into 
cultivation more and more refractory land. According to him, 
rent arises ^simply from the increased productivity of labour, 
and there would be rent even if all lands were equally fertile. 
If a man by cultivating the soil can draw from it more than 
is necessary for his subsistence, he can give up the surplus 
to somebody else, and, if he does not own the land himself, 
he will be obliged to give it to the owner. The landlord will 
ask all he can get ; the amount which the tenant can pay will 
depend on the quantity of produce, the price of this produce, 
and the necessary cost of its production. Rent will increase 
accordingly, if more is produced per acre, if the produce is 
sold at a higher price, or if it is produced more economically. 
Once more, it follows from this that the more productive 
agricultural labour becomes, the more the landlord’s share 
increases, while that of the labourer, remaining the same, 
will bear a less proportion to the total produce. 
These deductions contain a portion of the truth. In fact, 
in order that there should be rent, it is enough that land 
should be the subject of a monopoly and should produce 
more than suffices for the maintenance of him who cultivates 
it. But Rodbertus has not paid attention to the fact that 
if agricultural labour, by becoming more productive, brings. 
c