142 ON THE MEASURE OF VALUE

fore the measure proposed cannot be used. 1
may find, it is true, the prices of labour, corn,
and cloth : I then may proceed to calculate the
value of a yard of cloth and a bushel of corn
in labour; and their separate relations to labour
will show their relation to each other: but
this I have already learned from their prices or
separate relations to money. Their value in
labour, therefore, is perfectly superfluous towards
ascertaining their mutual relation, consequently
labour in this case is perfectly useless as a measure
 of value.

The way in which Mr. Malthus attempts to
establish the invariable value of labour is remarkable
 enough, and his table, drawn up with
that view, is certainly one of the most curious
productions in the whole range of political
economy *.

In the first column he supposes certain
quantities of corn to be produced by ten men,

* As the subsequent remarks could scarcely be understood
 without a reference to this table, a copy of it is presented
 to the reader at the end of the present chapter.