An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations by Smith Adam 1723-1790 & Bax Ernest Belfort 1854-

Author:Smith, Adam, 1723-1790 & Bax, Ernest Belfort, 1854- [from old catalog] ed
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Economics
Publisher: London, G. Bell and sons
Published: 1901-03-25T05:00:00+00:00

Though in the progress of improvement and population, the price of the whole beast necessarily rises, yet the price of the carcase is likely to be much more affected by this rise than that of the wool and the hide. The market for the carcase, being in the rude state of society confined always to the country which produces it, must necessarily be extended in proportion to the improvement and population of that country. But the market for the wool and the hides even of a barbarous country often extending to

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the whole commercial world, it can very seldom be enlarged in the same proportion. The state of the whole commercial world can seldom be much affected by the improvement of any particular country; and the market for such commodities may remain the saine, or very nearly the same, after such improvements, as before. It should, however, in the natural course of things rather upon the whole be somewhat extended in consequence of them. If the manu-facttires, especially, of whicn those commodities are the materials, should ever come to flourish in the country, the market, though it might not be much enlarged, would at least be brought much nearer to the place of growth than before; and the price of those materials might at least be increased by what had usually been the expence of transporting them to distant countries. Though it might not rise therefore in the same proportion as tlmt of butcher's-meat, it ought naturally to rise somewhat, and it ought certainly not to fall.

In England, however, notwithstanding the flourishing state of its woollen manufacture, the price of English wool has fallen very considerably since the time of Edward III. There are many authentic records which demonstrate that during the reign of that prince (towards the middle of the fourteenth century, or about 1339) what was reckoned the moderate and reasonable price of the tod or twenty-eight pounds of English wool was not less than ten shillings of the money of those times,^ containing, at the rate of twenty-pence the ounce, six ounces of silver Tower-weight, equal to about thirty shillings of otir present money. In the present times, one-and-twenty shillings the tod may be reckoned a good price for very good English wool. The money-price of wool, therefore, in the time of Edward m., was to its money-price in the present times as ten to seven. The superiority of its real price was still greater. At the rate of six shillings and eightpence the quarter, ten shillings was in those ancient times the price of twelve bushels of wheat. At the rate of twenty-eight shillings the quarter, one-and-twenty shillings is in the present times the price of six bushels only. The proportion be-

* See Smith's Memoirs of Wool, vol. i. o. 5, 6, and 7} also, vol. it c. 176.

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tween the real prices of ancient and modem times, therefore, is as twelve to six, or as two to one. In those ancient times a tod of

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