Page:Thoughts on the Corn laws, addressed to the working classes of the county of Gloucester.djvu/16

12 for. The five shillings of the price paid for the stuff out of which the article is made remains unchanged—the five shilling's profit remains the same—the five shilling's wages are reduced one-fifth, that is, one shilling, so that goods that were worth fifteen shillings are now worth fourteen: their price has just fallen one-fifteenth, while the wages of the labourer have fallen one-fifth. He saves on the average one shilling out of fifteen in the purchase of foreign and manufactured articles, while his wages are reduced two shillings out of ten.

We have assumed, for the sake of argument, that wages form one-third of the price of the various articles purchased by the labourer: probably this is very much overstating it. The foreign articles, tea, tobacco, sugar, which he may purchase, can hardly be said to have any English labour in them at all: and of the cotton and other manufactured articles, the profits upon the capital constitute a very large portion of the price,—the rate of profits having a greater influence over their price than the rate of wages. In the production of any article, the wages of labour have to be paid only once; but as most commodities pass through several hands before they reach the consumer, profits have often to be paid several times. Thus there may be the dealer in the raw material, the merchant, the wholesale and the retail dealer, all