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[XVI.
1.]
Ground rent disappears entirely for the small landowner;
at the most, there remains to him the interest on his capital and the
wages of his labour, for ground rent can be forced so low by competition
that it becomes nothing more than the interest on capital not invested
by the owner himself.
....(b) Furthermore, we have already seen
that given equal fertility and equally effective exploitation of lands,
mines, and fisheries, the produce is in proportion to the extent of capital
employed. Hence, the victory of the large landowner. Similarly, where
equal amounts of capital are invested, the produce is in proportion to
the degree of fertility. That is to say, where capitals are equal, victory
goes to the owner of the more fertile land.
...."(c)
A mine of any kind may be said to be either fertile or barren, according
as the quantity of mineral which can be brought from it by a certain quantity
of labour is greater or less than what can be brought by an equal quantity
from the greater part of other mines of the same kind." [Smith, I,
p. 151 ]
...."The
most fertile coalmine, too, regulates the price of coals at all the other
mines in its neighborhood. Both the proprietor and the undertaker of the
work find, the one that he can get a greater rent, the other that he can
get a greater profit by somewhat underselling all their neighbors. Their
neighbors are soon obliged to sell at the same price, though they cannot
so well afford it, and though it always diminishes, and sometimes takes
away altogether both their rent and their profit. Some works are abandoned
altogether; others can afford no rent, and can be wrought only by the
proprietor." [Smith, I, pp. 152-3 ]
...."After
the discover of the mines of Peru, the silver-mines of Europe were, the
greater part of them, abandoned.... This was the case, too, with the ancient
mines of Peru, after the discovery of those of Potosi." [Smith, I,
p. 154 ]
....What
Smith says here of mines is more-or-less true of landed property in general.
...."(d)
The ordinary market price of land, it is to be observed, depends everywhere
upon the ordinary market rate of interest... if the rent of land should
fall short of the interest of money by a greater difference, nobody would
buy the land, which would soon reduce its ordinary price. On the contrary,
if the advantages should much more than compensate the difference, everybody
would buy the land, which would soon raise its ordinary price." [Smith,
I, p. 320 ]
....It follows from
this relation between ground rent and interest on money that ground rent
must continue to fall until eventually only the wealthiest people can
afford to live from it. This means an increase in competition between
those landowners who do not lease out their land. Some of them are ruined.
There is once again an accumulation of large landed property.
[I. 1.]
[XVII.
1.]
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[XVI.
2.]
and the conflict
between agricultural, industrial, and commercial interests begins to fade
away. But the greater ease with which capital can be employed fruitfully
in the most varied fields inevitably increases the conflict between the
propertied and the propertyless classes." [Schulz, pp. 241-2]
....The
enormous profit which the landlords make out of misery. The greater the
misery caused by industry, the higher the rent.
....It is the same with the rate of interest
on the vices of the proletariat. (Prostitution, drinking, the pawnbroker.)
....The accumulation of capitals increases
and the competition between them diminishes, as capital and landed property
are united together in one hand and capital is enabled, because of its
size, to combine different branches of production.
....Indifference towards men. Smith's 20
lottery tickets. [Smith, I, p. 94]
....Say's net and gross revenue.
[I. 2.]
[XVII.
2.]
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