OF VALUE.

137

tion, but it will not of itself throw any light on
the food, clothing, and comfort, which the la-
bourers are able to procure ; and he must there-
fore search in the proper registers for the
prices of such commodities as constitute these
necessaries and conveniences. He can ascer-
tain nothing but what is shown by the histori-
cal documents which he consults. When he
has found the price of labour, the price of
corn, of cloth, of hats, of stockings, of fuel, of
house-room, he will be able to tell how much
of each of these commodities a weeks or a
year’s labour could command : in other words,
the condition of the labouring class of society
in these respects will become manifest.

But these are all separate particulars, to be
separately ascertained: one will not disclose
another ; each must be individually established
by independent evidence. There can be no
commodity, by a reference to which the power
of a given income over any or all other com-
modities may be shown.