GU 
ON THE VALUE 
the paradoxes into which he falls, has not 
failed to drive this doctrine of the value of la- 
bour to an extravagant result. “ Wages,” says 
he, “are at a high real value, when it requires 
much labour to produce wages; and at a low 
real value, when it requires little labour to 
produce wages: and it is perfectly consistent 
with the high real value—that the labourer 
should be almost starving; and perfectly con- 
sistent with the low real value—that the la- 
bourer should be living in great ease and com- 
fort *.” 
Well might the author’s friend Philoebus 
exclaim at this extraordinary passage, “ this 
may be true: but you must allow, that it 
sounds extravagant.” 
Let us examine it by the test before given: 
let us ask, value in what? If the labourer is 
starving, in relation to what is his labour of 
high value? In relation to corn? If so, he 
would obtain a large quantity of corn in ex- 
London Magazine for May 1824, p. 557.