166 ON THE DISTINCTION 
sesses riches who is the owner of commodities 
which themselves possess value*; and, fur- 
ther, he is rich in proportion to the value of 
the objects possessed. Mr. Ricardo, indeed, 
denies that value is the measure of riches; but 
a slight consideration will show, that it is the 
only criterion by which we can determine whe- 
ther one man or one community is richer than 
another, If the wealth of two men consisted 
in one single commodity, then, without entering 
into the question of exchange or value, we 
might determine that one was richer than the 
other, from mere excess of quantity. Even, 
however, in the simplest imaginable case of 
* Colonel Torrens is of opinion, that value is not essen- 
tial to the idea of riches: it may be questioned, however, 
whether it is not always implied, and whether the latter 
term would have been invented in a state of society in 
which there was no interchange of commodities. It is a 
point, at all events, of little importance ; as, in those cases 
which come under the notice of the political economist, 
value in exchange is a constant adjunct of wealth. Vide 
Essay on the Production of Wealth, chap. i.