GU

ON THE VALUE

the paradoxes into which he falls, has not
failed to drive this doctrine of the value of labour
 to an extravagant result. “ Wages,” says
he, “are at a high real value, when it requires
much labour to produce wages; and at a low
real value, when it requires little labour to
produce wages: and it is perfectly consistent
with the high real value—that the labourer
should be almost starving; and perfectly consistent
 with the low real value—that the labourer
 should be living in great ease and comfort
 *.”

Well might the author’s friend Philoebus
exclaim at this extraordinary passage, “ this
may be true: but you must allow, that it
sounds extravagant.”
Let us examine it by the test before given:
let us ask, value in what? If the labourer is
starving, in relation to what is his labour of
high value? In relation to corn? If so, he
would obtain a large quantity of corn in ex-London

 Magazine for May 1824, p. 557.