CHAPTER IV. ON PROFITS. In the last chapter I endeavoured to explain the true meaning of the value of labour, and to show, that a rise or fall of labour implies an increase or decrease in the quantity of the commodity given in exchange for it. A rise or fall of profits is sometimes spoken of as analogous to a rise or fall of labour or of wages. But profits cannot be regarded as analogous to wages. Labour is an exchange- able thing, or one which commands other things in exchange; but the term profits de- notes only a share or proportion of commodi- ties, not an article which can be exchanged against other articles. When we ask whether