ESTIMATING VALUE. 157
dity in relation to which it has thus varied, or,
at all events, the commodity should be clearly
indicated by the tenour of the language em-
ployed. Otherwise, two disputants in Political
Economy may share the fate of the two
knights, who fell sacrifices to their obstinacy in
maintaining, the one that a shield was of gold,
the other that it was of silver, both being
equally correct in their assertions, and their
difference arising, as a thousand differences
arise, from the simple circumstance of having
looked at opposite sides of the same object.
The present subject may be further elucidated
by citing a passage from Mr. Ricardo. « The
labour of a million of men in manufactures,”
says he, ¢ will always produce the same value,
but will not always produce the same’ riches.
By the invention of machinery, by improve-
ments in skill, by a better division of labour,
or by the discovery of new markets, where
more advantageous exchanges may be made, a
million of men may produce double or treble
the amount of riches, of necessaries, conve-