ON PROFITS.

6:3

wages have risen, we mean, whether a definite
portion of labour exchanges for a greater quantity
 of other things than before; but when we
ask whether profits have risen, we do 70f mean
whether a definite portion of some article
called profits will exchange for a greater quantity
 of other things than before, but whether
the gain of the capitalist bears a higher ratio
to the capital employed.
Mr. Ricardo appears to have considered
wages, or the value of labour, and profits as
equally shares or proportions of the commodity
produced, and hence his doctrine, that as
wages rise, or, in other words, the value of labour
 rises, profits must fall. « Whatever,” he
says, ‘increases wages, necessarily reduces
profits ;” and again, “ nothing can affect profits
but a rise in wages.”
It has been shown, however, in the last

chapter, that wages, or the value of labour,
and profits may both rise together, because the
value of labour does not entirely depend on
the proportion of the whole produce, which is
given to the labourers in exchange for their