CHAPTER IV.

ON PROFITS.

In the last chapter I endeavoured to explain
the true meaning of the value of labour, and
to show, that a rise or fall of labour implies an
increase or decrease in the quantity of the
commodity given in exchange for it.
A rise or fall of profits is sometimes spoken
of as analogous to a rise or fall of labour or of
wages. But profits cannot be regarded as
analogous to wages. Labour is an exchangeable
 thing, or one which commands other
things in exchange; but the term profits denotes
 only a share or proportion of commodities,
 not an article which can be exchanged
against other articles. When we ask whether