it, as upon those which may aftect itself; and of value so understood, it is perfectly obvious that there can be no standard, since there is no one object which can at all times purchase or exchange for an uniform quantity of all others; and if there were any such object, it would not be a better measure of others, than they would be of it.
But value in its popular signification, and in the sense in which it has been for the most part used by Adam Smith, expresses a very different sort of relation, namely, that which subsists between commodities and their cost, (including profit) or the sacrifice that must be made in order to procure them;[1] and if the quantity of labour which they are worth, or which must be given in exchange for them, be the proper measure of that sacrifice, it becomes the very standard sought for.
So thought latterly Mr. Malthus, and his co-incidence with Adam Smith, on so important a point, founded as it appears to have been upon entirely distinct grounds, was first made known by him in a pamphlet, entitled The Measure of Value, stated and illustrated with an application of it to the alterations in the value of the English
- ↑ That this is what is commonly meant by value, every practical man perfectly well knows. If, for instance, the question is asked what is the value of corn, no one ever supposes it to mean, what is the relation or proportion which it bears to oil, or wine, or hides, or cloth, or linen, or to other commodities generally, but what will it cost to any one desirous of purchasing it, or giving an equivalent for it. Now of this, the quantity of other commodities which it will exchange for, can give no idea, unless their cost happens to be previously known; but the cost of obtaining money, or its value, is always known, or at least easily ascertained, being clearly indicated by the money price of labour in each country! It is on this account, that the object of the question is, in almost every instance, sufficiently answered by a reference to the money price of the article concerning which the inquiry is made, (See three lectures on the cost of obtaining money, by N. W. Senior, Esq.)
