If it would last only one year, when profits were 10 per cent.
| the goods would sell for | £22,000 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| at | 5 per cent. | 21,000 | |
| 4 per cent. | 20,800 | ||
| 3 per cent. | 20,600 |
therefore when profits fell from 10 to 3 per cent. the goods, which were produced with equal capitals, would fall
| 68 per cent. if the machine would last | 100 years. |
|---|---|
| 28 per cent. if the machine would last | 10 years. |
| 13 per cent. if the machine would last | 3 years. |
| And little more than 6 per cent. if it would last only | 1 year. |
These results are of such importance to the science of political economy, yet accord so little with some of its received doctrines, which maintain that every rise in wages is necessarily transferred to the price of commodities, that it may not be superfluous to elucidate the subject still further.
A manufacturer of hats employs a hundred men at an annual expense of 50 l. each, who produce him commodities of the value of 8000 l. A machine calculated to last precisely a year, and to do equally well the same work as the 100 men, is offered to him for 5000 l. , the sum, exactly, that he is expending on wages. It will be a matter of indifference to the manufacturer, whether he purchase the machine, or continue to employ the men. Now if the wages of labour rise 10 per cent. and an additional capital of 500 l. be consequently required to enable him to employ the same labour, whilst his commodities continue to sell for 8000 l. , he will no longer hesitate, but will at once purchase the machine, and will do the same annually, while wages continue above the original 5000 l. But will he be able now to purchase the machine at the former price? will not its