Factors

NOT LONG AGO I POSTED AN EXCERPT FROM THE MARC BLOCH BOOK FEUDAL SOCIETY.. IT DIDN'T WORK.. I COULDN'T READ IT, MYSELF.. ON PAPER, IT WAS GREAT.. AND TYPING IT ALL IN HELPED ME SEE EVEN MORE IN HIS WORDS.. BUT ON THE COMPUTER SCREEN, IT JUST DIDN'T WORK.

I HAVE TO POST AN EXCERPT HERE FROM ADAM SMITH.. IT IS UNQUESTIONABLY ONE OF THE BEST PARTS OF THE WEALTH OF NATIONS.. BUT I WILL TWEAK IT AS NEEDED, TO TRY TO MAKE IT READABLE.. (FORGIVE ME.)

I change spelling (LABOUR) and punctuation, and paragraph breaks.
I hesitate to change the words of Adam Smith. I omit some words, and change an occasional word.
When you see the words "the profits of stock" think: The profits of capital.

IF ALL ELSE FAILS, AND YOU DON'T HAVE A COPY OF THE BOOK, YOU CAN (1) CLICK THE POST TITLE TO GET THE POST ON A PAGE BY ITSELF, AND (2) PRINT THE THING OUT.

We live in a fast-paced world. I recommend reading Adam Smith slowly, and savoring his words. If it helps, remember that he lived at the peak of the cycle of civilization, and we live amid accelerating decline.

The Wealth of Nations

by Adam Smith
(1776)
Book One, Chapter VI

Of the Component Parts of the Price of Commodities

In that early and rude state of society which precedes both the accumulation of stock and the appropriation of land, the proportion between quantities of labor necessary for acquiring different objects seems to be the only circumstance which can afford any rule for exchanging them.

If among a nation of hunters, for example, it usually costs twice the labor to kill a beaver which it does to kill a deer, one beaver should naturally exchange for, or be worth two deer.

In this state of things, the whole produce of labor belongs to the laborer; and the quantity of labor commonly employed in acquiring or producing a commodity is the only circumstance which can regulate the quantity of labor which it ought commonly to exchange for.

As soon as stock has accumulated in the hands of particular persons, some of them will naturally employ it in setting to work industrious people, whom they will supply with materials and subsistence, in order to make a profit by the sale of their work, or by what their labor adds to the value of the materials.

In exchanging the complete manufacture, over and above what may be sufficient to pay the price of the materials, and the wages of the workmen, something must be given for the profits of the undertaker of the work who hazards his stock in this venture. The value which the workmen add to the materials, therefore, resolves itself in this case into two parts, one of which pays their wages, the other the profits of their employer...

In this state of things, the whole produce of labor does not always belong to the laborer. He must in most cases share it with the owner of the stock which employs him.

As soon as the land of any country has all become private property, the landlords, like all other men, love to reap where they never sowed, and demand a rent even for its natural produce. The wood of the forest, the grass of the field, and all the natural fruits of the earth, which, when land was in common, cost the laborer only the trouble of gathering them, come to have an additional price fixed upon them.

This portion, or the price of this portion, constitutes the rent of land, and in the price of the greater part of commodities makes a third component part.

In every society the price of every commodity finally resolves itself into some one or other, or all of these three parts; and in every improved society, all the three enter more or less, as component parts, into the price of the far greater part of commodities.

The revenue derived from from labor is called wages. That derived from stock, by the person who manages or employs it, is called profit. The revenue which proceeds altogether from land is called rent, and belongs to the landlord. All taxes, and all the revenue which is founded upon them, all salaries, pensions, and annuities of every kind, are ultimately derived from some one or other of those three original sources of revenue.


A brief summary of a very important concept. And a great pleasure to read.