ESTIMATING VALUE. 159 
estimated in any article we please. If any ar- 
ticles still require the same labour, and we esti- 
mate the rest in these, then the aggregate value 
will remain the same. 
In the sequel of the passage above cited, 
Mr. Ricardo maintains, that when the labour of 
a certain number of men, formerly capable of 
producing 1000 pair of stockings, becomes by 
inventions in machinery productive of 2000 pair, 
the value of the general mass of commodi- 
ties will be diminished, because the stockings 
manufactured before the improvement must 
fall to the level of the new goods. This again 
depends on the mode of estimation. Estimated 
in stockings, the aggregate value of the ge- 
neral mass of commodities would rise; esti- 
mated in any thing else it would fall: and al- 
though it may seem ludicrous to talk of esti- 
mating the value of all commodities in stockings, 
the principle is still the same as if gold or 
any other commodity happened to be the me- 
dium of valuation. 
Hence it appears, that these propositions,