12

INTRODUCTION.

land, and the same in England as in the United States.
The sun shines and the wind blows in all three countries
alike. It is quite true that an effect must stand in a
constant relation to its cause, whether it be termed a
natural law or a phenomenon ; in fact the mind cannot
disconnect the one from the other. For example, gravitation
 causes the fall of a stone to the ground. The fall
of the stone measures the gravitation, to which it has a
specific relation. The fall of the stone without a cause
is an idea which the reasonable mind would decline to
accept. In the example given to us, the causes vary, and
of course the effects must vary in correspondence. Why
do the causes vary ? Because they are not natural.
But, again—*The various forms which wealth assumes
in the process of distribution, such as wages, profits. rent,
interest and so forth.”
We do not see how wages can be classed as phenomena
of wealth, for wealth transferred as wages does not differ
from other wealth : it may be any one or more of the various
 kinds of wealth, but it does not present any exceptional
or peculiar features. We opine wages are phenomena
related to labour or industry, if they must be called
phenomena ; we should prefer, however, to class them as
the exchangeable value of labour: but this again would
be only correct as a definition of the sense in which the
expression is commonly understood. For a more strictly
correct definition we would say : the expression ‘wages’
means the conventional price paid by agreement for
labour. But to pass this over,. How can there be a
natural law of wages, of rent, or of profits? What has
aature to do with these things? Neither the wind nor