jkJS^..^rfc^'- 
 
 Kature Pr ogres '^^ 
 
 Rent 
 
 By 
 Thomas Robert Malthua
 
 BMi 
 
 •\ta
 
 A Reprint of Economic Tracts 
 
 Edited by 
 JACOB H. HOLLANDER, Ph. D. 
 
 Associate Professor of Political Economy 
 Johns Hopkins University 
 
 Thomas Robert Malthus 
 
 on 
 
 The Nature and Progress of Rent 
 1815
 
 CorVRKMl IKLl 1!)0:?, BY 
 
 THE .lOHNS IIOI'KINS PRESS 
 
 Setoiid impression ; reprinted by the Planograph Method, December, 1934. 
 
 FrINTEP in rNlTED StATBS OF AMERICA
 
 CD 
 
 
 INTEODUCTION 
 
 The date of original publication of the tract here reprinted 
 can be assigned with some certainty to the latter part of January, 
 1815. Before January 13 of that year, Malthus was " busy writ- 
 ing with a view to immediate publication," ^ and by February 6 
 
 fry Ricardo had read the printed tract with care and had begun to 
 
 ^ draft a reply.' 
 
 .r-. Much greater difficulty attends an attempt to determine the 
 
 rQ date of composition. The " advertisement " (p. 9, below) states 
 
 that the tract contains the substance of some notes on rent which, 
 with others on different subjects relating to political economy, 
 Malthus had collected in the course of his professional duties at 
 the East India College. Malthus went to Haileybury in 1807,' 
 and the notes in question may have been prepared at any time 
 within the seven following years. It is possible that they formed 
 the nucleus of the lecture course on Adam Smith, which Malthus — 
 whose economic system, like Ricardo's started from the " Wealth 
 of Nations " — continued to give for many years thereafter,* but 
 which at this particular time he was preparing for publication 
 in book form." Certainly no one can compare " The Nature and 
 Progress of Rent " with Malthus' " Observations on the Effects 
 of the Corn Laws " published immediately before, and his 
 " Grounds of an Opinion on the Policy of Restricting the Impor- 
 tation of Foreign Corn " issued immediately thereafter, without 
 realizing that the essay on rent, unlike the two corn-law pamph- 
 lets, was in content and tone no mere tract of the times, but a 
 deliberate academic study, brought by special circumstance to 
 earlier and unexpected publication. 
 
 The hastened issue of the essay on rent, it is now easy to see, 
 was due more than to any other single factor to Malthus' concern 
 at the growth of public sentiment in England that the landlord 
 
 ^ " Letters of David Ricardo to Thomas Robert Malthus, 1810- 
 1823" (ed. Bonar. Oxford: 1887), p. 56. 
 
 ^ Ibid., p. 58; cf. Cannan, "A History of the Theories of Pro- 
 duction and Distribution in English Political Economy from 
 1776 to 1848" (London, 1893), p. 161 n. 
 
 'Bonar, "Malthus and His Work" (London, 1885), p. 417; the 
 date given 'on p. 222 is doubtless a misprint. 
 
 * " Dictionary of Political Economy " (ed. Palgrave. London 
 and New York: 1891-1899), *m& "Malthus," Vol. II, p. 677. 
 
 '"Letters of Ricardo to Malthus" (ed. Bonar), p. 56. 
 
 '31^ ^^ 
 
 67418
 
 4 Introduction 
 
 was at bottom responsible for the high price of corn. In the 
 " Observations on the Effects of the Com Laws " Malthus had 
 asserted positively (p. 20) that " It is a great mistake to suppose 
 that the effects of a fall in the price of corn on cultivation, may 
 be fully compensated by a diminution of rents." In the subse- 
 quent argument, and indeed throughout the " Observations " a 
 differential theory of rent was intimated.^ 
 
 But a more direct challenge came in David Buchanan's edition 
 of the " Wealth of Nations," published at the end of 1814,' with 
 prominent place given to the view that the landlord was the real 
 beneficiary of agricultural improvements and that rent itself was 
 due to the monopoly character of land ownership. Similar ex- 
 pressions in Adam Smith, Say, Sismondi, and other " more mod- 
 ern writers " (page 12, below) had been merely noted by Malthus. 
 But Buchanan's definite assertions, coming at a time when hos- 
 tility to landlords and to high rents was in the air, seemed to 
 Malthus important enough to warrant a detailed " inquiry into 
 the nature and progress of rent." 
 
 If the tract on rent thus owes its form and publication, rather 
 than its conception and essence, to the corn-law controversy of 
 1814, the question at once recurs to what earlier influence, if any, 
 is the genesis of the law of diminishing returns, as stated therein, 
 referable. The general answer is, of course, to that extraordinary 
 condition of British agriculture in the preceding decade, the con- 
 spicuous features of which — extension of cultivation and appli- 
 cation of capital to land — were familiar to Malthus long before 
 parliamentary blue-books gave them wide publicity. 
 
 It is perhaps not fanciful to add to this major force an appre- 
 ciable influence from one special circumstance. Recent critical 
 study has made clear that James Anderson, often urged as the 
 real author of the Ricardian law of rent, strenuously insisted that 
 a law of increasing, not of diminishing returns prevailed in In- 
 tensive cultivation.' The first edition of Malthus' " Essay on the 
 Principle of Population" (London, 1798) contained no explicit 
 statement of a law of diminishing returns. But before the sec- 
 ond edition of the " Essay " appeared in 1803, Malthus had read 
 Anderson's " A Calm Investigation of the Circumstances that 
 
 'See in particular p. 21 et acq. 
 
 'The "Introduction" to Vol. IV ("Observations on the Sub- 
 jects Treated in Dr Smith's Inquiry into the Nature and Causes 
 of the Wealth of Nations") is dated September 14, 1814. 
 
 • Cf. Cannan, " History of Theories of Production and Distribu- 
 tion," pp. 145-146, 220-221, 372 n.; also a paper by the present 
 writer on " The Concept of Marginal Rent " in Quarterly Journal 
 of Economics, Vol. IX, pp. 175-187 (January, 1895).
 
 Introduction 5 
 
 have led to the Present Scarcity of Grain in Britain " (London, 
 1801), if no other of his writings, and had noted its characteristic 
 assertion that increased population will always result in increased 
 relative production.' A criticism so fundamental of Malthus' 
 own theory that population tended to outrun subsistence could 
 not be neglected, and the second edition of the " Essay " con- 
 tained (p. 473) a long note in reply to Anderson,'" while the text 
 of the " Essay " thenceforth intimated a law of diminishing re- 
 turns in unmistakable terms." 
 
 We have no means of knowing whether Malthus was familiar 
 with other of Anderson's writings in which rent was clearly ex- 
 plained as a consequence of differential costs in extensive cultiva- 
 tion, nor of the extent to which any such acquaintance may have 
 influenced Malthus' thinking. Even more, the nature of the 
 Haileybury lectures and their precise relation to the published 
 essay on rent are uncertain. The most that can be hazarded is a 
 reasonable likelihood that some part of the clear statement of the 
 law of diminishing costs and of the co-ordination of extensive 
 and intensive cultivation, which appeared in the tract on rent, 
 figured in the Haileybury lectures, and that James Anderson is 
 to be counted among the influences which may have affected 
 Malthus' academic exposition. 
 
 In the present edition an attempt has been made to reproduce 
 the general appearance of the title page and the " advertisement " 
 of the tract, and a few annotations have been appended. 
 
 Baltimore, March, 1903. 
 
 "Cf. pp. 35-38, 41, 55, 70-71. 
 
 "The full text of the note is appended below (v. note 1, p. 49). 
 
 "Cf. "Essay" (2d ed.), p. 7.
 
 AN 
 
 INQUIRY 
 
 THE NATURE AND PROGRESS 
 
 RENT, 
 
 PRINCIPLES BY WHICH IT IS REGULATED. 
 
 BY 
 
 THE REV. T. R. MALTHUS, 
 
 Professor of History and Political Economy in the East India College, 
 Hertfordshire. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 
 
 1815.
 
 Printed by J. F. Dove, St. John's Square.
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 The following Tract contains the substance 
 of some notes on Rent, which, with others on 
 different subjects relating to political economy, I 
 have collected in the course of my professional 
 duties at the East India College. It has been 
 my intention, at some time or other, to put them 
 in a form for publication ; and the very near 
 connextion of the subject of the present inquiry, 
 with the topics immediately under discussion, 
 has induced me to hasten its appearance at the 
 present moment. It is the duty of those who 
 have any means of contributing to the public 
 stock of knowledge, not only to do so, but to do it 
 at the time when it is most likely to be useful. 
 If the nature of the disquisition should appear to 
 the reader hardly to suit the form of a pamphlet, 
 my apology must be, that it was not originally 
 intended for so ephemeral a shape.
 
 RENT, &c. 
 
 THE rent of land is a portion of the national revenue, which 
 has always been considered as of very high importance. 
 
 According to Adam Smith/ it is one of the three original 
 sources of wealth, on which the three great divisions of 
 society are supported. 
 
 By the Economists it is so pre-eminently distinguished, 
 that it is considered as exclusively entitled to the name of 
 riches, and the sole fund which is capable of supporting the 
 taxes of the state, and on which they ultimately fall. 
 
 And it has, perhaps, a particular claim to our attention at 
 the present moment, on account of the discussions which 
 are going on respecting the Corn Laws, and the effects of 
 rent on the price of raw produce, and the progress of agri- 
 cultural improvement. 
 
 The rent of land may be defined to be that portion of the 
 value of the whole produce || which remains to the owner of 
 the land, after all the outgoings belonging to its cultivation, 
 of whatever kind, have been paid, including the profits of 
 the capital employed, estimated according to the usual and 
 ordinary rate of the profits of agricultural stock at the time 
 being. 
 
 It sometimes happens, that from accidental and tempor- 
 ary circumstances, the farmer pays more,x)r less, than this; 
 but this is the point towards which the actual rents paid 
 are constantly gravitating, and which is therefore always 
 referred to when the term is used in a general sense.
 
 12 Thomas Robert Malthus 
 
 The immediate cause of rent is obviously the excess of 
 price above the cost of production at which raw produce 
 sells in the market. 
 
 The first object therefore which presents itself for in- 
 quiry, is the cause or causes of the high price of raw produce. 
 
 After very careful and repeated revisions of the subject, 
 I do not find myself able to agree entirely in the view taken 
 of it, either by Adam Smith, or the Economists; and still 
 less, by some more modem writers. 
 
 Almost all these writers appear to me to consider rent 
 as too nearly resembling in its nature, and the laws by which 
 it is governed, the excess of price above the cost of produc- 
 
 3 tion, which is the characteristic of a monopoly. || 
 
 x\dam Smith, though in some parts of the eleventh 
 chapter of his first book he contemplates rent quite in its 
 true light,* and has interspersed through his work more 
 just observations on the subject than any other writer, has 
 not explained the most essential cause of the high price of 
 raw produce with sufficient distinctness, though he often 
 touches on it ; and by applying occasionally the term monop- 
 oly to the rent of land,' without stopping to mark its more 
 radical peculiarities, he leaves the reader without a definite 
 impression of the real difference between the cause of the 
 high price of the necessaries of life, and of monopolized com- 
 modities. 
 
 Some of the views which the Economists have taken of the 
 nature of rent appeai; to me, in like manner, to be quite just ; 
 but they have mixed them with so much error, and have 
 drawn such preposterous and contradictory conclusions from 
 
 4 them, that what is true in || their doctrines, has been ob- 
 
 * I cannot, however, agree with him in thinking that all land 
 which yields food must necessarily yield rent. The land which 
 is successively taken into cultivation in improving countries, may 
 only pay profits and labour. A fair profit on the stock employed, 
 including, of course, the payment of labour, will always be a 
 sufficient inducement to cultivate.
 
 The Nature and Progress of Eent 13 
 
 Bcured and lost in the mass of superincumbent error, and 
 has in consequence produced little effect. Their great prac- 
 tical conclusion, namely, the propriety of taxing exclusively 
 the neat rents of the landlords, evidently depends upon their 
 considering these rents as completely disposeable, like that 
 excess of price above the cost of production which distin- 
 guishes a common monopoly. 
 
 Mr. Say, in his valuable Treatise on Political Economy,* in 
 v^hich he has explained with great clearness many points 
 which have not been sufficiently developed by Adam Smith, 
 has not treated the subject of rent in a manner entirely 
 satisfactory. In speaking of the different natural agents 
 which, as well as the land, co-operate with the labours of 
 man, he observes : " Heureusement personne n'a pu dire le 
 vent et le soleil m'appartiennent, et le service qu'ils rendent 
 doit m'etre pay6." * And, though he acknowledges that, 
 for obvious reasons, property in land is necessary, yet he 
 evidently considers rent as almost exclusively owing | to 
 such appropriation, and to external demand. 
 
 In the excellent work of M. de Sismondi, De la Richesse 
 Commerciale^ he says in a note on the subject of rent: " Cette 
 partie de la rente fonci^re est celle que les Economietes 
 ont decoree du nom du produit net comme etant le seul fruit 
 du travail qui ajoutat quelquechose ' a la richesse nationale. 
 On pourroit au contraire soutenir contre eux, que c'est la 
 seule partie du produit du travail, dont la valeur soit pure- 
 ment nominale, et n'ait rien de reelle : c'est en eff et le resul- 
 tat de I'augmentation de prix qu'obtient im vendeur en v6rtu 
 de son privilege, sans que la chose vendue en vaille reeUe- 
 ment d'avantage.'' f 
 
 The prevailing opinions among the more modem writers 
 in our own country, have appeared to me to incline towards 
 
 * Vol. II. p. 124. Of this work a new and much improved 
 edition has lately been published, which is highly worthy the 
 attention of all those who take an interest in these subjects. 
 
 tVol. I. p. 49.
 
 14 Thomas Robeet Malthus 
 
 a similar view of the subject; and, not to multiply citations, 
 I shall only add, that in a very respectable edition of the 
 Wealth of Nations, lately published by Mr. Buchanan, of 
 Edinburgh,' the idea of monopoly is pushed still farther. 
 And while former writers, though they considered rent as 
 governed by the laws of monopoly, were still of opinion that 
 6 this monopoly in the case of || land was necessary and useful, 
 Mr. Buchanan sometimes speaks of it even as prejudicial, 
 and as depriving the consumer of what it gives to the land- 
 lord. 
 
 In treating of productive and unproductive labour in the 
 last volume, he observes,* that, " The neat surplus by which 
 the Economists estimate the utility of agriculture, plainly 
 arises from the high price of its produce, which, however 
 advantageous to the landlord who receives it, is surely no 
 advantage to the consumer who pays it. Were the produce 
 of agriculture to be sold for a lower price, the same neat 
 surplus would not remain, after defraying the expenses of 
 cultivation; but agriculture would be still equally produc- 
 tive to the general stock; and the only difference would be, 
 that as the landlord was formerly enriched by the high 
 price, at the expense of the community, the community would 
 now profit by the low price at the expense of the landlord. 
 The high price in which the rent or neat surplus originates, 
 while it enriches the landlord who has the produce of agri- 
 culture to sell, diminishes in the same proportion the wealth 
 of those who are its purchasers; and on this account it is 
 V 7 quite inaccurate to consider the landlord's rent as a clear || 
 addition to the national wealth." In other parts of his 
 work he uses the same, or even stronger language, and in 
 a note on the subject of taxes, he speaks of the high price 
 of the produce of land as advantageous to those who receive 
 it, but proportionably injurious to those who pay it. " In 
 this view," he adds, " it can form no general addition to the 
 stock of the community, as the neat surplus in question is 
 
 * Vol. IV. p. 134.
 
 The Nature and Progress of Kent 15 
 
 nothing more than a revenue transferred from one class to 
 another, and from the mere circumstance of its thus chang- 
 ing hands, it is clear that no fund can arise out of which to 
 pay taxes. The revenue which pays for the produce of land 
 exists already in the hands of those who purchase that pro- 
 duce; and, if the price of subsistence were lower, it would 
 still remain in their hands, where it would be just as availa- 
 * ble for taxation, as when by a higher price it is transferred 
 to the landed proprietor." * 
 
 That there are some circumstances connected with rent, 
 which have an affinity to a natural monopoly, will be ' readily 
 allowed. The extent of the earth itself is limited, and can- 
 not be enlarged by human demand. And the inequality of 
 soils occasions, even at an early || period of society, a com- 
 parative scarcity of the best lands ; and so far is undoubtedly 
 one of the causes of rent properly so called. On this ac- 
 count, perhaps, the term partial monopoly might be fairly 
 applicable. But the scarcity of land, thus implied, is by no 
 means alone sufficient to produce the effects observed. And 
 a more accurate investigation of the subject will shew us 
 how essentially different the high price of raw produce is, 
 both in its nature and origin, and the laws by which it is 
 governed, from the high price of a common monopoly. 
 
 The causes of the high price of raw produce may be stated 
 to be three. 
 
 First, and mainly, That quality of the earth, by which it 
 can be made to yield a greater portion of the necessaries of 
 life than is required for the maintenance of the persons em- 
 ployed on the land. 
 
 2dly, That quality peculiar to the necessaries of life of 
 being able to create their own demand, or to raise up a num- 
 ber of demanders in proportion to the quantity of neces- 
 saries produced. 
 
 And, 3dly, The comparative scarcity of the most fertile 
 land. 
 
 *Vol. III. p. 272.»
 
 16 Thomas Robeet Malthus 
 
 The qualities of the soil and of its products, here noticed 
 as the primary causes of the high price of raw produce, are 
 9 the ^fts of II nature to man. They are quite unconnected 
 with monopoly, and yet are so absolutely essential to the 
 existence of rent, that without them, no degree of scarcity 
 or monopoly could have occasioned that excess of the price 
 ., of raw produce, above the cost of production, which shews 
 itself in this form. 
 
 If, for instance, the soil of the earth had been such, that, 
 however well directed might have been the industry of man, 
 he could not have produced from it more than was barely 
 sufficient to maintain those, whose labour and attention were 
 necessary to its products; though, in this case, food and 
 raw materials would have been evidently scarcer than at pres- 
 ent, and the land might have been, in the same manner, 
 monopolized by particular owners ; yet it is quite clear, that 
 neither rent, nor any essential surplus produce of the land 
 in the form of high profits, could have existed. 
 
 It is equally clear, that if the necessaries of life — the 
 most important products of land, had not the property of 
 creating an increase of demand proportioned to their in- 
 creased quantity, such increased quantity would occasion a fall 
 in their exchangeable value. However abundant might be 
 the produce of a country, its population might remain sta- 
 tionary. And this abundance, without a proportionate de- 
 10 mand, || and with a very high corn-price of labour, which 
 would naturally take place under these circumstances, might 
 reduce the price of raw produce, like the price of manufac- 
 tures, to the cost of production. 
 
 It has been sometimes argued, that it is mistaking the 
 principle of population, to imagine, that the increase of food, 
 or of raw produce alone, can occasion a proportionate in- 
 crease of population. This is no doubt true; but it must be 
 allowed, as has been justly observed by Adam Smith, that 
 "when food is provided, it is comparatively easy to find the 
 necessary clothing and lodging." " And it should always 
 be recollected, that land does not produce one commodity
 
 The Nature and Progress of Rent 17 
 
 alone, but in addition to that most indispensable of all 
 commodities — food, it produces also the materials for the 
 other necessaries of life; and the labour required to work up 
 these materials is of course never excluded from the consider- 
 ation.* II 11 
 
 It is, therefore, strictly true, that land produces the neces- 
 saries of life, — produces food, materials, and labour, — pro- >^- 
 duces the means by which, and by which alone, an increase \ 
 of people may be brought into being, and supported. In 
 this respect it is fundamentally different from every other 
 kind of machine known to man; and it is natural to sup- 
 pose, that it should be attended with some peculiar effects. __ 
 
 If the cotton machinery, in this country, were to go on 
 increasing at its present rate, or even much faster; but in- 
 stead of producing one particular sort of substance which 
 may be used for some parts of dress and furniture, &c. had 
 the qualities of land, and could yield what, with the assist- 
 ance of a little labour, economy, and skill, could furnish 
 food, clothing, and lodging, in such proportions as to create 
 an increase of population equal to the increased supply of 
 these necessaries; the demand for the products of such im- 
 proved machinery would continue in excess above the cost of 
 production, and this excess would no || longer exclusively be- 12 
 long to the machinery of the land.f 
 
 * It is, however, certain, that if either these materials be want- 
 ing, or the skill and capital necessary to work them up be pre- 
 vented from forming, owing to the insecurity of property, or 
 any other cause, the cultivators will soon slacken in their exer- 
 tions, and the motives to accumulate and to increase their produce, 
 will greatly diminish. But in this case there will be a very slack 
 demand for labour; and, whatever may be the nominal cheapness 
 of provisions, the labourer will not really be able to command 
 such a portion of the necessaries of life, including, of course^ 
 clothing, lodging, &c. as will occasion an Increase of population. 
 
 t I have supposed some check to the supply of the cotton 
 machinery in this case. If there was no check whatever, the 
 effects would shew themselves in excessive profits and excessive 
 wages, without an excess above the cost of production.
 
 18 Thomas Egbert Maltbtus 
 
 There is a radical difference in the cause of a demand 
 for those objects which are strictly necessary to the support 
 of human life, and a demand for all other commodities. 
 In all other commodities the demand is exterior to, and 
 independent of, the production itself; and in the case of a 
 monopoly, whether natural or artificial, the excess of price 
 is in proportion to the smallness of the supply compared with 
 the demand, while this demand is comparatively unlimited. 
 In the case of strict necessaries, the existence and increase 
 of the demand, or of the number of demanders, must depend 
 upon the existence and increase of these necessaries them- 
 selves; and the excess of their price above the cost of their 
 production must depend upon, and is permanently limited by, 
 the excess of their quantity above the quantity necessary to 
 maintain the labour required to produce them ; without which 
 13 excess of quantity no demand could have existed, || according 
 to the laws of nature, for more than was necessary to support 
 the producers. 
 
 It has been stated, in the new edition of the " Wealth of 
 Nations," that the cause of the high price of raw produce is, 
 that such price is required to proportion the consumption 
 to the supply.* This is also true, but it affords no solution 
 of the point in question. We still want to know why the 
 consumption and supply are such as to make the price so 
 greatly exceed the cost of production, and the main cause is 
 evidently the fertility of the earth in producing the neces- 
 saries of life. Diminish this plenty, diminish the fertility 
 of the soil, and the excess will diminish; diminish it still 
 further, and it will disappear. The cause of the high price 
 of the necessaries of life above the cost of productioji, is to 
 be found in their abimdance, rather than their scarcity; 
 and is not only essentially different from the high price oc- 
 casioned by artificial monopolies, but from the high price 
 of those peculiar products of the earth, not connected with 
 food, which may be called natural and necessary monopolies. 
 
 ♦Vol. Iv. p. 35.
 
 The Nature and Progress of Rent 19 
 
 The produce of certain vineyards in France, which, from 
 the peculiarity of their soil and || situation, exclusively yield 14 
 wine of a certain flavour, is sold of course at a price very far 
 exceeding the cost of production. And this is owing to the 
 greatness of the competition for such wine, compared with 
 the scantiness of its supply; which confines the use of it to 
 so small a number of persons, that they are able, and rather 
 than go without it, willing, to give an excessively high price. 
 But if the fertility of these lands were increased, so as very 
 considerably to increase the produce, this produce might so 
 fall in value as lo diminish most essentially the excess of its 
 price above the cost of production. While, on the other 
 hand, if the vineyards were to become less productive, this 
 excess might increase to almost any extent. 
 
 The obvious cause of these effects is, that in all monopolies, 
 properly so called, whether natural or artificial, the demand 
 is exterior to, and independent of, the production itself. 
 The nimiber of persons who might have a taste for scarce 
 wines, and would be desirous of entering into a competition 
 for the purchase of them, might increase almost indefinitely, 
 while the produce itself was decreasing; and its price, there- 
 fore, would have no other limit than the niunbers, powers, 
 and caprices, of the competitors for it. || 15 
 
 In the production of the necessaries of life, on the con- 
 trary, the demand is dependent upon the produce itself; 
 and the effects are, in consequence, widely different. In 
 this case, it is physically impossible that the number of 
 demanders should increase, while the quantity of produce 
 diminishes, as the demanders only exist by means of this 
 produce. The fertility of soil, and consequent abundance 
 of produce from a certain quantity of land, which, in the 
 former case, diminished the excess of price above the cost 
 of production, is, in the present case, the specific cause of 
 such excess; and the diminished fertility, which in the 
 former case might increase the price to almost any excess 
 above the cost of production, may be safely asserted to be 
 the sole cause which could permanently maintain the neces-
 
 20 Thomas Egbert Malthus 
 
 saries of life at a price not exceeding the cost of produc- 
 tion, 
 
 Is it, then, possible to consider the price of the neces- 
 saries of life as regulated upon the principle of a common 
 monopoly? Is it possible, with M. de Sismondi, to regard 
 rent as the sole produce of labour, which has a value purely 
 nominal, and the mere result of that augmentation of price 
 which a seller obtains in consequence of a peculiar privilege : 
 or, with Mr, Buchanan, to consider it as no addition to the 
 
 16 national wealth, but merely as a trans- || fer of value, advan- 
 tageous only to the landlords, and proportionably injurious 
 to the consumers? 
 
 Is it not, on the contrary, a clear indication of a most in- 
 estimable quality in the soil, which God has bestowed on 
 man — the quality of being able to maintain more persons 
 than are necessary to work it. Is it not a part, and we 
 shall see further on that it is an absolutely necessary part, 
 of that surplus produce from the land,* which has been 
 justly stated to be the source of all power and enjoyment; 
 and without which, in fact, there would be no cities, no 
 military or naval force, no arts, no learning, none of the 
 finer manufactures, none of the conveniences and luxuries 
 of foreign cou'ntries, and none of that cultivated and pol- 
 ished society, which not only elevates and dignifies individ- 
 
 17 uals, but which extends its || beneficial influence through the 
 whole mass of the people ? 
 
 In the early periods of society, or more remarkably per- 
 haps, when the knowledge and capital of an old society are 
 
 * The more general surplus here alluded to is meant to include 
 the profits of the farmer, as well as the rents of the landlord; 
 and, therefore, includes the whole fund for the support of those 
 who are not directly employed upon the land. Profits are, in 
 reality, a surplus, as they are in no respect proportioned (as inti- 
 mated by the Economists) to the wants and necessities of the 
 owners of capital. But they take a different course in the pro- 
 gress of society from rents, and it is necessary, in general, to 
 keep them quite separate.
 
 The Nature and Progress of Bent 21 
 
 employed upon fresh and fertile land, this surplus produce, 
 this bountiful gift of Providence, shews itself chiefly in extra- 
 ordinary high profits, and extraordinary high wages, and 
 appears but little in the shape of rent. While fertile land 
 is in abundance, and may be had by whoever asks for it, 
 nobody of course will pay a rent to a landlord. But it is 
 not consistent with the laws of nature, and the limits and 
 quality of the earth, that this state of things should continue. 
 Diversities of soil and situation must necessarily exist in all 
 countries. All land cannot be the most fertile: all situa- 
 tions cannot be the nearest to navigable rivers and markets. 
 But the accumulation of capital beyond the means of em- 
 ploying it on land of the greatest natural fertility, and the 
 greatest advantage of situation, must necessarily lower pro- 
 fits; while the tendency of population to increase beyond the 
 means of subsistence must, after a certain time, lower the 
 wages of labour. 
 
 The expense of production will thus be diminished, but 
 the value of the produce, that is, the quantity of labour, and 
 of the other pro- || ducts of labour besides corn, which it 18 
 can command, instead of diminishing, will be increased. 
 There will be an increasing number of people demanding 
 subsistence, and ready to offer their services in any way in 
 which they can be useful. The exchangeable value of food 
 will, therefore, be in excess above the cost of production, 
 including in this cost the full profits of the stock employed 
 upon the land, according to the actual rate of profits, at the 
 time being. And this excess is rent. 
 
 Nor is it possible that these rents should permanently 
 remain as parts of the profits of stock, or of the wages of 
 labour. If such an accumulation were to take place, as de- 
 cidedly to lower the general profits of stock, and, conse- 
 quently, the expenses of cultivation, so as to make it answer 
 to cultivate poorer land; the cultivators of the richer land, 
 if they paid no rent, would cease to be mere farmers, or per- 
 sons living upon the profits of agricultural stock. They 
 would unite the characters of farmers and landlords, — a
 
 22 Thomas Robert Malthus 
 
 union by no means uncommon; but which does not alter, in 
 any degree, the nature of rent, or its essential separation 
 from profits. If the general profits of stock were 20 per 
 cent, and particular portions of land would yield 30 per cent. 
 
 19 on the capital employed, 10 per cent, of the 30 || would ob- 
 viously be rent, by whomsoever received. 
 
 It happens, indeed, sometimes, that from bad govern- 
 ment, extravagant habits, and a faulty constitution of so- 
 ciety, the accumulation of capital is stopped, while fertile 
 land is in considerable plenty, in which case profits may con- 
 tinue permanently very high; but even in this case wages 
 must necessarily faU, which by reducing the expenses of cul- 
 tivation must occasion rents. There is nothing so absolutely 
 imavoidable in the progress of society as the fall of wages, 
 that is such a fall as, combined with the habits of the labour- 
 ing classes, will regulate the progress of population accord- 
 ing to the means of subsistence. And when, from the 
 want of an increase of capital, the increase of produce is 
 checked, and the means of subsistence come to a stand, the 
 wages of labour must necessarily fall so low, as only just to 
 maintain the existing population, and to prevent any in- 
 crease. 
 
 We observe in consequence, that in all those countries, 
 such as Poland, where, from the want of accumulation, the 
 profits of stock remain very high, and the progress of culti- 
 vation either proceeds very slowly, or is entirely stopped, the 
 wages of labour are extremely low. And this cheapness of 
 
 20 labour, by di- 1| minishing the expenses of cultivation, as 
 far as labour is concerned, counteracts the effects of the 
 high profits of stock, and generally leaves a larger rent to 
 the landlord than in those countries, such as America, where, 
 by a rapid accumulation of stock, which can still find ad- 
 vantageous employment, and a great demand for labour, 
 which is accompanied by an adequate increase of produce 
 and population, profits cannot be low, and labour for some 
 considerable time remains very high. 
 
 It may be laid down, therefore, as an incontrovertible
 
 The Nature and Progress of Eent 23 
 
 truth, that as a nation reaches any considerable degree of 
 wealth, and any considerable fullness of population, which of 
 course cannot take place without a great fall both in the 
 profits of stock and the wages of labour, the separation of 
 rents, as a kind of fixture upon lands of a certain quality, is 
 a law as invariable as the action of the principle of gravity. 
 And that rents are neither a mere nominal value, nor a value 
 unnecessarily and injuriously transferred from one set of 
 people to another; but a most real and essential part of the 
 whole value of the national property, and placed by the 
 laws of nature where they are, on the land, by whomsover 
 possessed, whether the landlord, the crown, or the actual 
 cultivator. 
 
 Kent then has been traced to the same com- || mon nature 21 
 with that general surplus from the land, which is the result 
 of certain qualities of the soil and its products; and it has 
 been found to commence its separation from profits, as soon 
 as profits and wages fall, owing to the comparative scarcity 
 of fertile land in the natural progress of a country towards 
 wealth and population. 
 
 Having examined the nature and origin of rent, it remains 
 for us to consider the laws by which it is governed, and 
 by which its increase or decrease is regulated. 
 
 When capital has accumulated, and labour fallen on the 
 most eligible lands of a country, other lands less favourably 
 circumstanced with respect to fertility or situation, may be 
 occupied with advantage. The expenses of cultivation, in- 
 cluding profits, having fallen, poorer land, or land more 
 distant from markets, though yielding at first no rent, may 
 fully repay these expenses, and fully answer to the cultivator. 
 And again, when either the profits of stock or the wages of 
 labour, or both, have still further fallen, land still poorer, 
 or still less favourably situated, may be t^ken into cultiva- 
 tion. And, at every step, it is clear, that if the price of 
 produce does not fall, the rents of land will rise. And the 
 price of produce will not fall, as long as the industry and in- 
 genuity of the labouring classes, assisted by the capitals of || 22
 
 24 Thomas Robert Malthus 
 
 those not employed upon the land, can find something to 
 give in exchange to the cultivators and landlords, which 
 will stimulate them to continue undiminished their agricul- 
 tural exertions, and maintain their increasing excess of pro- 
 duce. 
 
 In tracing more particularly the laws which govern the 
 rise and fall of rents, the main causes which diminish the ex- 
 penses of cultivation, or reduce the cost of the instruments 
 of production, compared with the price of produce, require 
 to be more specifically enumerated. The principal of these 
 seem to be four: — Ist, Such an accumulation of capital as 
 will lower the profits of stock; 2dly, such an increase of pop- 
 ulation as will lower the wages of labour; 3dly, such agricul- 
 tural improvements, or such increase of exertions, as will 
 diminish the number of labourers necessary to produce a 
 given effect ; and 4thly, such an increase in the price of agri- 
 cultural produce, from increased demand, as without nomin- 
 ally lowering the expense of production, will increase the 
 difference between this expense and the price of produce. 
 
 The operation of the three first causes in lowering the 
 expenses of cultivation, compared with the price of produce, 
 are quite obvious; the fourth requires a few further obser- 
 23 vations. || 
 
 If a great and continued demand should arise among sur- 
 rounding nations for the raw produce of a particular coun- 
 try, the price of this produce would of course rise consider- 
 ably; and the expenses of cultivation, rising only slowly and 
 gradually to the same proportion, the price of produce might 
 for a long time keep so much a head, as to give a prodigious 
 stimulus to improvement, and encourage the emplo3Tnent of 
 much capital in bringing fresh land under cultivation, and 
 rendering the old much more productive. 
 
 Nor would the effect be essentially different in a country 
 which continued to feed its own people, if instead of a de- 
 mand for its raw produce, there was the same increasing de- 
 mand for its manufactures. These manufactures, if from 
 such a demand the value of their amount in foreign countries
 
 The Nature and Progress of Eent 25 
 
 was greatly to increase, would bring back a great increase of 
 value in return, which increase of value could not fail to in- 
 crease the value of the raw produce. The demand for agri- »-. 
 cultural as well as manufactured produce would be aug- ^ ^ 
 mented ; and a considerable stimulus, though not perhaps to 
 the same extent as in the last case, would be given to every 
 kind of improvement on the land. 
 
 A similar effect would be produced by the || introduction 34 
 of new machinery, and a more judicious division of labour 
 in manufactures. It almost always happens in this case 
 not only that the quantity of manufactures is very greatly 
 increased, but that the value of the whole mass is aug- 
 mented, from the great extension of the demand for them, 
 occasioned by their cheapness. We see, in consequence, that 
 in all rich manufacturing and commercial countries, the 
 value of manufactured and conmiercial products bears a very 
 high proportion to the raw products;* whereas, in compara- 
 tively poor countries, without much internal trade and for- 
 eign commerce, the value of their raw produce constitutes 
 almost the whole of their wealth. If we suppose the wages 
 of labour so to rise with the rise of produce, as to give the 
 labourer the same command of the means of subsistence as 
 before, yet if he is able to purchase a greater quantity of 
 other necessaries and conveniencies, both foreign and do- || 25 
 mestic, with the price of a given quantity of corn, he may 
 be equally well fed, clothed, and lodged, and population may 
 be equally encouraged, although the wages of labour may 
 not rise so high in proportion as the price of produce. 
 
 And even when the price of labour does really rise in 
 
 ♦ According to the calculations of Mr. Colquhoun, the value of 
 our trade, foreign and domestic, and of our manufactures, ex- 
 clusive of raw materials, is nearly equal to the gross value 
 derived from the land. In no other large country probably is 
 this the case. — Treatise on the Wealth, Power, and Resources of 
 the British Empire, p. 96." The whole annual produce is esti- 
 mated at about 430 millions, and the products of agriculture at 
 about 216 millions.
 
 26 Thomas Eobekt Malthus 
 
 proportion to the price of produce, which is a very rare case, 
 and can only happen when the demand for labour precedes, 
 or is at least quite contemporary with the demand for pro- 
 dufce; it is so impossible that all the other outgoings in which 
 capital is expended, should rise precisely in the same propor- 
 tion, and at the same time, such as compositions for tithes, 
 parish rates, taxes, manure, and the fixed capital accumu- 
 lated under the former low prices, that a period of some con- 
 tinuance can scarcely fail to occur, when the difference be- 
 tween the price of produce and the cost of production is 
 increased. 
 
 In some of these cases, the increase in the price of agri- 
 cultural produce, compared with the cost of the instruments 
 of production, appears from what has been said to be only 
 temporary; and in these instances it will often give a con- 
 siderable stimulus to cultivation, by an increase of agricul- 
 tural profits, without shewing itself much in the shape of rent. 
 26 It II hardly ever fails, however, to increase rent ultimately. 
 The increased capital, which is employed in consequence of 
 the opportunity of making great temporary profits, can sel- 
 dom or ever be entirely removed from the land, at the ex- 
 piration of the current leases; and, on the renewal of these 
 leases, the landlord feels the benefit of it in the increase of 
 his rents. 
 
 Whenever then, by the operation of the four causes above 
 mentioned, the difference between the price of produce and 
 the cost of the instruments of production increases, the rents 
 of land will rise. 
 
 It is, however, not necessary that all these four causes 
 should operate at the same time ; it is only necessary that the 
 difference here mentioned should increase. If, for instance, 
 the price of produce were to rise, while the wages of labour, 
 and the price of the other branches of capital did not rise 
 in proportion, and at the same time improved modes of agri- 
 culture were coming into general use, it is evident that this 
 difference might be increased, although the profits of agri- 
 
 /f
 
 I 
 
 The Nature and Progress of Eent 27 
 
 cultural stock were not only undiminished, but were to rise 
 decidedly higher. 
 
 Of the great additional quantity of capital employed upon 
 the land in this country, during || the last twenty years, by 27 
 far the greater part is supposed to have been generated on 
 the soil, and not to have been brought from commerce or 
 manufactures." And it was unquestionably the high profits 
 of agricultural stock, occasioned by improvements in the 
 modes of agriculture, and by the constant rise of prices, fol- 
 lowed only slowly by a proportionate rise in the different 
 branches of capital, that afforded the means of so rapid and 
 so advantageous an accumulation. 
 
 In this case cultivation has been extended, and rents have 
 risen, although one of the instruments of production, capital, 
 has been dearer. 
 
 In the same manner a fall of profits and improvements in 
 agriculture, or even one of them separately, might raise 
 rents, notwithstanding a rise of wages. 
 
 ( It may be laid down then as a general truth, that rents 
 naturally rise as the difference between the price of produce 
 and the cost of the instruments of production increases. 
 It is further evident, that no fresh land can be taken into 
 
 ^ cultivation till rents have risen, or would allow of a rise upon 
 what is already cultivated. 
 
 Land of an inferior quality requires a great quantity of 
 capital to make it yield a given || produce ; and, if the actual 38 
 price of this produce be not such as fully to compensate the 
 cost of production, including the existing rate of profits, 
 the land must remain uncultivated. It matters not whether 
 this compensation is effected by an increase in the money 
 price of raw produce, without a proportionate increase in 
 the money price of the instruments of production, or by a 
 decrease in the price of the instruments of production, with- 
 out a proportionate decrease in the pricfe of produce. What 
 is absolutely necessary, is a greater relative cheapness of the 
 
 ^ instruments of production, to make up for the quantity of 
 them required to obtain a given produce from poor land.
 
 28 Thomas Robert Malthus 
 
 But whenever, by the operation of one or more of the 
 causes before mentioiled, the instruments of production be- 
 come cheaper, and the difference between the price of pro- 
 duce and the expenses of cultivation increases, rents, naturally 
 rise. It follows therefore as a direct and necessary conse- 
 quence, that it can never answer to take fresh land of a 
 \ poorer quality into cultivation, till rents have risen or would 
 allow of a rise, on what is already cultivated. 
 
 It is equally true, that without the same tendency to a 
 rise of rents, occasioned by the operation of the same causes, 
 
 29 it cannot answer || to lay out fresh capital in the improve- 
 ment of old land, — at least upon the supposition, that each 
 farm is already furnished with as much capital as can be 
 laid out to advantage, according to the actual rate of profits. 
 
 It is only necessary to state this proposition to make 
 its truth appear. It certainly may happen, and I fear it 
 happens frequently, that farmers are not provided with 
 all the capital which could be employed upon their farms, 
 at the actual rate of agricultural profits. But supposing 
 they are so provided, it implies distinctly, that more could 
 not be applied without loss, till, by the operation of one or 
 more of the causes above enumerated, rents had tended to 
 rise. 
 
 It appears then, that the power of extending cultivation 
 and increasing produce, both by the cultivation of fresh 
 land and the improvement of the old, depends entirely upon 
 the existence of such prices, compared with the expense of 
 production, as would raise rents in the actual state of culti- 
 vation. 
 
 But though cultivation cannot be extended, and the pro- 
 duce of the country increased, but in such a state of things 
 as would allow of a rise of rents, yet it is of importance to 
 remark, that this rise of rents will be by no means in pro- 
 
 30 portion to the extension of cultivation, or || the increase of 
 produce. Every relative fall in the price of the instruments 
 of production, may allow of the employment of a considerable 
 quantity of additional capital; and when either new land is
 
 The Nature and Progress of Rent 29 
 
 taken into cultivation, or the old improved, the increase of 
 produce may be considerable, though the increase of rents 
 be trifling. We see, in consequence, that in the progress 
 of a country towards a high state of cultivation, the quantity 
 of capital employed upon the land, and the quantity of 
 produce yielded by it, bears a constantly increasing pro- 
 portion to the amount of rents, unless counterbalanced by 
 extraordinary improvements in the modes of cultivation.* 
 
 x^ccording to the returns lately made to the Board of 
 Agriculture, the average proportion which rent bears to the 
 value of the whole || produce, seems not to exceed one fifth; f 31 
 whereas formerly, when there was less capital employed, and 
 less value produced, the proportion amounted to one fourth, 
 one third, or even two fifths. Still, however, the numerical 
 difference between the price of produce and the expenses of 
 cultivation, increases with the progress of improvement; and 
 though the landlord has a less share of the whole produce, yet 
 this less share, from the very great increase of the produce, 
 yields a larger quantity, and gives him a greater conmiand of 
 com and labour. If the produce of land be represented by the 
 number six, and the landlord has one-fourth of it, his share 
 will be represented by one and a half. If the produce of land 
 be as ten, and the landlord has one-fifth of it, his share will be 
 represented by two. In the latter case, therefore, though 
 the proportion of the landlord's share to the whole produce 
 
 • To the honour of Scotch cultivators, it should be observed, 
 that they have applied their capitals so very skilfully and eco- 
 nomically, that at the same time that they have prodigiously 
 increased the produce, they have increased the landlord's pro- 
 portion of it. The difference between the landlord's share of the 
 produce in Scotland and in England is quite extraordinary — much 
 greater than can be accounted for, either by the natural soil or 
 the absence of tithes and poor " rates. — See Sir John Sinclair's 
 valuable Account of the Husbandry of Scotland;" and the General 
 Report" not long since published — works replete with the most 
 useful and interesting information on agricultural subjects. 
 
 t See Evidence before the House of Lords, given in by Arthur 
 Young, p. 66."
 
 30 Thomas Egbert Malthus 
 
 is greatly diminished, his real rent, independently of nominal 
 price, will be increased in the proportion of from three to 
 fo\ir. And in general, in all cases of increasing produce, if 
 the landlord's share of this produce do not diminish in the 
 
 33 same proportion, which though it often || happens during the 
 currency of leases, rarely or never happens on the renewal 
 of them, the real rents of land must rise. 
 
 We see then, that a progressive rise of rents seems to be 
 necessarily connected with the progressive cultivation of 
 new land, and the progressive improvement of the old: and 
 that this rise is the natural and necessary consequence of 
 the operation of four causes, which are the most certain in- 
 dications of increasing prosperity and wealth — namely, the 
 accumulation of capital, the increase of population, improve- 
 ments in agriculture, and the high price of raw produce, 
 occasioned by the extension of our manufactures and com- 
 merce. 
 
 On the other hand, it will appear, that a fall of rents is 
 
 as necessarily connected with the throwing of inferior land 
 
 , out of cultivation, and the continued deterioration of the 
 
 |j land of a superior quality; and that it is the natural and 
 necessary consequence of causes, which are the certain in- 
 dications of poverty and decline, namely, diminished capital, 
 diminished population, a bad system of cultivation, and the 
 low price of raw produce. 
 
 If it be true, that cultivation cannot be extended but under 
 such a state of prices, compared with the expenses of produc- 
 
 33 tion, as will allow of an increase of rents, it follows natu- || 
 rally that under such a state of relative prices as will occa- 
 sion a fall of rents, cultivation must decline. If the insfru- 
 ments of production become dearer, compared with the price 
 of produce, it is a certain sign that they are relatively scarce ; 
 y, and in all those cases where a large quantity of them is re- 
 quired, as in the cultivation of poor land, the means of pro- 
 curing them will be deficient, and the land will be thrown 
 out of employment. 
 
 It appeared, that in the progress of cultivation and of
 
 The Nature and Progress or Eent 31 
 
 increasing rents, it was not necessary that all the instruments 
 of production should fall in price at the same time; and that 
 the difference between the price of produce and the expense 
 of cultivation might increase, although either the profits of 
 stock or the wages of labour might be higher, instead of 
 lower. 
 
 In the same manner, when the produce of a country is 
 declining, and rents are falling, it is not necessary that all 
 the instruments of production should be dearer. In a de- 
 clining or stationary country, one most important instrument 
 of production is always cheap, namely, labour; but this cheap- 
 ness of labour does not counterbalance the disadvantages 
 arising from the deamess of capital ; a bad system of culture ; 
 and, above all, a fall in the price of raw produce, greater than 
 in the price of the other || branches of expenditure, which, 34 
 in addition to labour, are necessary to cultivation. 
 
 It has appeared also, that in the progress of cultivation 
 and of increasing rents, rent, though greater in positive 
 amount, bears a less, and lesser proportion to the quantity of 
 capital employed upon the land, and the quantity of produce 
 derived from it. According to the same principle, when pro- 
 duce diminishes and rents fall, though the amount of rent 
 will always be less, the proportion which it bears to capital 
 and produce will always be greater. And, as in the former 
 case, the diminished proportion of rent was owing to the 
 necessity of yearly taking fresh land of an inferior quality 
 into cultivation, and proceeding in the improvement of old 
 land, when it would return only the common profits of stock, 
 with little or no rent; so, in the latter case, the high propor- 
 tion of rent is owing to the impossibility of obtaining pro- 
 duce, whenever a great expenditure is required, and the 
 necessity of employing the reduced capital of the country 
 in the exclusive cultivation of its richest lands. 
 
 In proportion, therefore, as the relative state of prices is 
 such as to occasion a progressive fall of rents, more and more 
 lands will be gradually thrown out of cultivation, the re- 
 mainder will be worse cultivated, and the diminution of || 35
 
 32 Thomas Egbert Malthus 
 
 produce will proceed still faster than the diminution of 
 rents. 
 
 If the doctrine here laid down, respecting the laws which 
 govern the rise and fall of rents, be near the truth, the 
 doctrine which maintains that, if the produce of agriculture 
 were sold at such a price as to yield less neat surplus, agri- 
 culture would be equally productive to the general stock, 
 must be very far from the truth. 
 
 With regard to my own conviction, indeed, I feel no sort 
 of doubt that if, under the impression that the high price 
 of raw produce, which occasions rent, is as injurious to the 
 consumer as it is advantageous to the landlord, a rich and 
 improved nation were determined by law, to lower the price 
 of produce, till no surplus in the shape of rent any where 
 remained; it would inevitably throw not only all the poor 
 land, but all, except the very best land, out of cultivation, 
 and probably reduce its produce and population to less than 
 one-tenth of their former amount. 
 
 From the preceding account of the progress of rent, it 
 follows, that the actual state of the natural rent of land is 
 necessary to the actual produce; and that the price of pro- 
 duce, in every progressive country, must be just about equal 
 36 to the cost of production on land of the I poorest quality 
 actually in use; or to the cost of raising additional produce 
 on old land, which yields only the usual returns of agricul- 
 tural stock with little or no rent. 
 
 It is quite obvious that the price cannot be less; or such 
 land would not be cultivated, nor such capital employed. 
 Nor can it ever much exceed this price, because the poor 
 land progressively taken into cultivation, yields at first little 
 or no rent; and because it will always answer to any farmer 
 who can command capital, to lay it out on his land, if the 
 additional produce resulting from it will fully repay the 
 profits of his stock, although it yields nothing to his land- 
 lord. 
 
 It follows then, that the price of raw produce, in refer- 
 ence to the ivhole quantity raised, is sold at the natural or
 
 The Nature and Progress of Eent 33 
 
 necessary price, that is, at the price necessary to obtain the 
 actual amount of produce, although by far the largest part 
 is sold at a price very much above that which is necessary to 
 its production, owing to this part being produced at less ex- 
 pense, while its exchangeable value remains undiminished. 
 
 The difference between the price of com and the price 
 of manufactures, with regard to natural or necessary price, 
 is this ; that if the price of any manufacture were essentially 
 depressed, the whole manufacture would be || entirely de- 37 
 stroyed; whereas, if the price of corn were essentially de- 
 pressed, the quantity of it only would be diminished. There 
 would be some machinery in the country still capable of 
 sending the commodity to market at the reduced price. 
 
 The earth has been sometimes compared to a vast ma- 
 chine, presented by nature to man for the production of food 
 and raw materials; but, to make the resemblance more just, 
 as far as they admit of comparison, we should consider the 
 soil as a present to man of a great number of machines, all 
 susceptible of continued improvement by the application of 
 capital to them, but yet of very different original qualities 
 and powers. 
 
 This great inequality in the powers of the machinery em- 
 ployed in procuring raw produce, forms one of the most re- 
 markable features which distinguishes the machinery of the 
 land from the machinery employed in manufactures. 
 
 When a machine in manufactures is invented, which will 
 produce more finished work with less labour and capital 
 than before, if there be no patent, or as soon as the patent 
 is over, a sufficient number of such machines may be made to 
 supply the whole demand, and to supersede entirely the 
 use of all the old ma- || chinery. The natural consequence 38 
 is, that the price is reduced to the price of production from 
 the best machinery, and if the price were to be depressed 
 lower, the whole of the commodity would be withdrawn from 
 the market. 
 
 The machines which produce corn and raw materials on 
 the contrary, are the gifts of nature, not the works of
 
 34 Thomas Egbert Malthus 
 
 man; and we find, by experience, that these gifts have very 
 different qualities and powers. The most fertile lands of a 
 coimtry, those which, like the best machinery in manufac- 
 tures, yield the greatest products with the least labour and cap- 
 ital, are never found sufficient to supply the effective de- 
 mand of an increasing population. The price of raw pro- 
 duce, therefore, naturally rises tUl it becomes sufficiently 
 high to pay the cost of raising it with inferior machines, and 
 by a more expensive process; and, as there cannot be two 
 prices for corn of the same quality, all the other machines, 
 the working of which requires less capital compared with the 
 produce, must yield rents in proportion to their goodness. 
 
 Every extensive country may thus be considered as possess- 
 ing a gradation of machines for the production of corn and 
 raw materials, including in this gradation not only all the 
 various qualities of poor land, of which every large territory 
 89 has generally an abundance, || but the inferior machinery 
 which may be said to be employed when good land is further 
 and further forced for additional produce. As the price of 
 raw produce continues to rise, these inferior machines are 
 successively called into action; and, as the price of raw pro- 
 duce continues to fall, they are successively thrown out of 
 action. The illustration here used serves to shew at once the 
 necessity of the actual price of corn to the actual produce, 
 .and the different effect which would attend a great reduction 
 in the price of any particular manufacture, and a great re- 
 duction in the price of raw produce. 
 
 I hope to be excused for dwelling a little, and presenting 
 to the reader in various forms the doctrine, that com in ref- 
 erence to the quantity actually produced is sold at its neces- 
 sary price like manufactures, because I consider it as a 
 truth of the highest importance, which has been entirely 
 overlooked by the Economists, by Adam Smith, and all those 
 writers who have represented raw produce as selling always 
 at a monopoly price. 
 
 Adam Smith has very clearly explained in what manner 
 the progress of wealth and improvement tends to raise the
 
 The Nature and Progress of Eent 35 
 
 price of cattle, poultry, the materials of clothiag and lodg- 
 ing, the most useful minerals, &c. &c. compared || with corn ; " 40 
 but he has not entered into the explanation of the natural 
 causes which tend to determine the price of corn. He has 
 left the reader, indeed, to conclude, that he considers the 
 price of corn as determined only by the state of the mines 
 which at the time supply the circulating medium of the com- 
 mercial world. But this is a cause obviously inadequate to 
 account for the actual differences in the price of grain, 
 observable in countries at no great distance from each other, 
 and at nearly the same distance from the mines. 
 
 I entirely agree with him, that it is of great use to en- 
 quire into the causes of high price; as, from the result of 
 such inquiry, it may turn out, that the very circumstance 
 of which we complain, may be the necessary consequence 
 and the most certain sign of increasing wealth and pros- 
 perity. But, of all inquiries of this kind, none surely can be 
 so important, or so generally interesting, as an inquiry into 
 the causes which affect the price of corn, and which occasion 
 the differences in this price, so observable in different coun- 
 tries. 
 
 I have no hesitation in stating that, independently of 
 irregularities in the currency of a country,* and other tem- 
 porary and accidental || circumstances, the cause of the high 41 
 comparative money price of com is its high compar- 
 ative real price, or the greater quantity of capital and labour 
 which must be employed to produce it: and that the reason 
 why the real price of corn is higher and continually rising 
 in countries which are already rich, and still advancing in 
 prosperity and population, io to be found in the necessity of 
 resorting constantly to poorer land — to machines which re- 
 
 * In all our discussions we should endeavour, as well as we can, 
 to separate that part of high price, which arises from excess of 
 currency, from that part, which is natural, and arises from per- 
 manent causes. In the whole course of this argument, it is par- 
 ticularly necessary to do this.
 
 36 Thomas Egbert Malthus 
 
 quire a greater expenditure to work them — and which conse- 
 quently occasion each fresh addition to the raw produce of 
 the country to be purchased at a greater cost — in short, it 
 is to be found in the important truth that com, in a pro- 
 gressive country, is sold at the price necessary to yield the 
 actual supply; and that, as this supply becomes more and 
 
 43 more difficult, the price rises in proportion.* || 
 
 The price of corn, as determined by these causes, will of 
 course be greatly modified by other circumstances; by direct 
 and indirect taxation; by improvements in the modes of 
 cultivation; by the saving of labour on the land; and par- 
 ticulariy by the importations of foreign corn. The latter 
 cause, indeed, may do away, in a considerable degree, the 
 usual effects of great wealth on the price of corn; and this 
 wealth will then shew itself in a different form. 
 
 Let us suppose seven or eight large countries not very 
 distant from each other, and not very differently situated 
 with regard to the mines. Let us suppose further, that 
 neither their soils nor their skill in agriculture are essentially 
 unlike; that their currencies are in a natural state; their 
 taxes nothing; and that every trade is free, except the trade 
 
 43 in com. || Let us now suppose one of them very greatly 
 to increase in capital and manufacturing skill above the rest, 
 and to become in consequence much more rich and populous. 
 I should say, that this great comparative increase of riches 
 
 • It will be observed, tbat I have said in a progressive country; 
 that is, in a country which requires yearly the employment of a 
 greater capital on the land, to support an increasing population. 
 If there were no question about fresh capital, or an increase of 
 people, and all the land were good, it would not then be true that 
 corn must be sold at its necessary price. The actual price might 
 be diminished; and if the rents of land were diminished in propor- 
 tion, the cultivation might go on as before, and the same quan- 
 tity be produced. It very rarely happens, however, that all the 
 lands of a country actually occupied are good, and yield a good 
 neat rent. And in all cases, a fall of prices must destroy agri- 
 cultural capital during the currency of leases; and on their 
 renewal there would not be the same power of production.
 
 The Nature and Progress of Kent 37 
 
 could not possibly take place, without a great comparative 
 advance in the price of raw produce; and that such advance 
 of price would, under the circumstances supposed-, be the 
 natural sign and absolutely necessary consequence, of the 
 increased wealth and population of the country in question. 
 
 Let us now suppose the same countries to have the most 
 perfect freedom of intercourse in com, and the expenses of 
 freight, &c. to be quite inconsiderable. And let us still sup- 
 pose one of them to increase very greatly above the rest, in 
 manufacturing capital and skill, in wealth and population. 
 I should then say, that as the importation of corn would pre- 
 vent any great difference in the price of raw produce, it 
 would prevent any great difference in the quantity of capital 
 laid out upon the land, and the quantity of com obtained 
 from it ; that, consequently, the great increase of wealth could 
 not take place without a great dependence on the other 
 nations for com; and that this dependence, under the cir- 
 cumstances supposed, would be the natural sign, and abso- 
 lutely II necessary consequence of the increased wealth and 44 
 population of the country in question. 
 
 These I consider as the two alternatives necessarily be- 
 longing to a great comparative increase of wealth; and the 
 supposition here made will, with proper restrictions, apply 
 to the state of Europe. 
 
 In Europe, the expenses attending the carriage of corn 
 are often considerable. They form a natural barrier to im- 
 portation; and even the country which habitually depends 
 upon foreign com, must have the price of its raw produce 
 considerably higher than the general level. Practically, also, 
 the prices of raw produce, in the different countries of 
 Europe, will be. variously modified by very different soils, 
 very different degrees of taxation, and very different degrees 
 of improvement in the science of agricultiure. Heavy taxa- 
 tion, and a poor soil, may occasion a high comparative price 
 of raw produce, or a considerable dependance on other 
 countries, without great wealth and population; while great 
 improvements in agriculture and a good soil may keep the 
 
 ^67418
 
 38 Thomas Eobeet Malthus 
 
 price of produce low, and the country independent of foreign 
 com, in spite of considerable wealth. But the principles 
 laid down are the general principles on the subject; and in 
 applying them to any particular case, the particular circum- 
 
 45 stances of || such case must always be taken into the con- 
 sideration. 
 
 With regard to improvements in agriculture, which in 
 similar soils is the great cause which retards the advance 
 of price compared with the advance of produce; although 
 they are sometimes very powerful, they are rarely found suf- 
 ficient to balance the necessity of applying to poorer land, 
 or inferior machines. In this respect, raw produce is es- 
 sentially different from manufactures. 
 
 The real price of manufactures, the quantity of labour 
 and capital necessary to produce a given quantity of them, 
 is almost constantly diminishing; while the quantity of 
 labour and capital, necessary to procure the last addition 
 that has been made to the raw produce of a rich and advanc- 
 ing country, is almost constantly increasing. We see in 
 consequence, that in spite of continued improvements in 
 agriculture, the money price of corn is cceteris paribus the 
 highest in the richest countries, while in spite of this high 
 price of com, and consequent high price of labour, the money 
 price of manufactures still continues lower than in poorer 
 countries. 
 
 I cannot then agree with Adam Smith," in thinking that 
 the low value of gold and silver is no proof of the wealth and 
 
 46 flourishing state || of the country, where it takes place. 
 Nothing of course can be inferred from it, taken absolutely, 
 except the abundance of the mines; but taken relatively, or 
 in comparison with the state of other countries, much may 
 be inferred from it. If we are to measure the value of the 
 precious metals in different countries, and at different 
 periods in the same country, by the price of corn and labour, 
 which appears to me to be the nearest practical approxima- 
 tion that can be adopted (and in fact com is the measure 
 used by Adam Smith himself), it appears to me to follow.
 
 The Nature and Progress of Rent 39 
 
 that in countries which have a frequent commercial inter- 
 course with each other, which are nearly at the same distance 
 from the mines, and are not essentially different in soil; there 
 is no more certain sign, or more necessary consequence of 
 superiority of wealth, than the low value of the precious 
 metals, or the high price of raw produce.* || 47 
 
 It is of importance to ascertain this point; that we may 
 •not complain of one of the most certain proofs of the pros- 
 perous condition of a country. 
 
 It is not of course meant to be asserted, that the high 
 price of raw produce is, separately taken, advantageous to 
 the consumer; but that it is the necessary concomitant of 
 superior and increasing wealth, and that one of them cannot 
 be had without the other, f 
 
 With regard to the labouring classes of society, whose in- 
 terests as consumers may be supposed to be most nearly 
 concerned, it is a very short-sighted view of the subject, 
 which contemplates, with alarm, the high price of corn as 
 
 • This conclusion may appear to contradict the doctrine of the 
 level of the precious metals. And so it does, if by level be meant 
 level of value estimated in the usual way. I consider the doc- 
 trine, indeed, as quite unsupported by facts, and the comparison 
 of the precious metals to water perfectly inaccurate. The pre- 
 cious metals are always tending to a state of rest, or such a state 
 of things as to make their movement unnecessary. But when 
 this state of rest has been nearly attained, and the exchanges of 
 all countries are nearly at par, the value of the precious metals 
 in different countries, estimated in corn and labour, or the 
 mass of commodities, is very far indeed from being the same. 
 To be convinced of this, it is only necessary to look at England, 
 France, Poland, Russia, and India, when the exchanges are at 
 par. That Adam Smith, who proposes labour as the true measure 
 of value at all times and in all places, could look around him, 
 and yet say that the precious metals were always the highest in 
 value in the richest countries, has always appeared to me most 
 unlike his usual attention to found his theories on facts. 
 
 t Even upon the system of importation, in the actual state and 
 situation of the countries of Europe, higher prices must accom- 
 pany superior and increasing wealth.
 
 40 Thomas Egbert Malthus 
 
 certainly iBJurious to them. The essentials to their well 
 
 48 heing are their own prudential ha- || bits, and the increasing 
 demand for labour. And I do not " scruple distinctly to affirm, 
 that under similar habits, and a similar demand for labour, 
 the high price of corn, when it has had time to produce its 
 natural effects, so far from being a disadvantage to them, 
 is a positive and unquestionable advantage. To supply the 
 same demand for labour, the necessary price of production 
 must be paid, and they must be able to command the same 
 quantities of the necessaries of life, whether they are high 
 
 49 or low in price.* But if they are able to com- || mand the 
 
 * We must not be so far deceived by the evidence before Parlia- 
 ment, relating to the want of connexion between the prices of 
 corn and of labour, as to suppose that they are really independent 
 of each other. The price of the necessaries of life is, in fact, 
 the cost of producing labour. The supply cannot proceed, if it 
 be not paid; and though there will always be a little latitude, 
 owing to some variations of industry and habits, and the distance 
 of time between the encouragement to population and the period 
 of the results appearing in the markets: yet it is a still greater 
 error, to suppose the price of labour unconnected with the price 
 of corn, than to suppose that the price of corn immediately and 
 completely regulates it. Corn and labour rarely march quite 
 abreast; but there is an obvious limit, beyond which they cannot 
 be separated. With regard to the unusual exertions made by 
 the labouring classes in periods of deamess, which produce the 
 fall of wages noticed in the evidence, they are most meritorious 
 in the individuals, and certainly favour the growth of capital. 
 But no man of humanity could wish to see them constant and 
 unremitted. They are most admirable as a temporary relief; 
 but if they were constantly in action, effects of a similar kind 
 would result from them, as from the population of a country 
 being pushed to the very extreme limits of its food. There 
 would be no resources in a scarcity. I own I do not see, with 
 pleasure, the great extension of the practice of task work. To 
 work really hard during twelve or fourteen hours in the day, for 
 any length of time, is too much for a human being. Some inter- 
 vals of ease are necessary to health and happiness: and the 
 occasional abuse of such intervals is no valid argument against 
 their use.
 
 The Nature and Progress of Kent 41 
 
 same quantity of necessaries, and receive a money price for 
 their labour, proportioned to their advanced price, there is 
 no doubt that, with regard to all the objects of convenience 
 and comfort, which do not rise in proportion to com, (and 
 there are many such consumed by the poor) their condition 
 will be most decidedly improved. 
 
 The reader will observe in what manner I have guarded 
 the proposition. I am well aware, and indeed have myself 
 stated in another place, that the price of provisions often 
 rises, without a proportionate rise of labour: but this can- 
 not possibly happen for any length of time, if the demand 
 for labour continues increasing at the same rate, and the 
 habits of the labourer are not altered, either with regard to |1 50 
 prudence, or the quantity of work which he is disposed to 
 perform. 
 
 The peculiar evil to be apprehended is, that the high 
 money price of labour may diminish the demand for it ; and 
 that it has this tendency will be readily allowed, particularly 
 as it tends to increase the prices of exportable commodities. 
 But repeated experience has shewn us that such tendencies 
 are continually counter balanced, and more than counter 
 balanced by other circumstances. And we have witnessed, 
 in our own country, a greater and more rapid extension of 
 foreign commerce, than perhaps was ever known, under the 
 apparent disadvantage of a very great increase in the price 
 of corn and labour, compared with the prices of surround- 
 ing countries. 
 
 On the other hand, instances every where abound of a very 
 low money price of labour, totally failing to produce an 
 increasing demand for it. And among the labouring classes 
 of different countries, none certainly are so wretched as 
 those, where the demand for labour, and the population 
 are stationary, and yet the prices of provisions extremely 
 low, compared with manufactures and foreign commodities. 
 However low they may be, it is certain, that under such cir- 
 cumstances, no more will fall to the share of the labourer 
 than is ne- || cessary just to maintain the actual population; 51
 
 42 Thomas Robert Malthus 
 
 and his conditioii will be depressed, not only by the stationary 
 demand for labour, but by the additional evil of being able 
 to command but a small portion of manufactures or foreign 
 commodities, with the little surplus which he may possess. 
 If, for instance, under a stationary population, we suppose, 
 that in average families two-thirds of the wages estimated 
 in com are spent in necessary provisions, it will make a 
 great difference in the condition of the poor, whether the 
 remaining one-third will command few or many convenien- 
 cies and comforts; and almost invariably, the higher is the 
 price of corn, the more indulgences will a given surplus pur- 
 chase. 
 
 The high or low price of provisions, therefore, in any 
 country is evidently a most uncertain criterion of the state 
 of the poor in that country. Their condition obviously de- 
 pends upon other more powerful causes; and it is probably 
 true, that it is as frequently good, or perhaps more frequently 
 so, in countries where com is high, than where it is low. 
 
 At the same time it should be observed, that the high price 
 of com, occasioned by the difficulty of procuring it, may be 
 considered as the ultimate check to the indefinite progress 
 52 of a II country in wealth and population. And, although the 
 actual progress of countries be subject to great variations 
 in their rate of movement, both from external and internal 
 causes, and it would be rash to say that a state which is well 
 peopled and proceeding rather slowly at present, may not 
 proceed rapidly forty years hence; yet it must be owned, 
 that the chances of a future rapid progress are diminished 
 by the high prices of com and labour, compared with other 
 countries. 
 
 It is, therefore, of great importance, that these prices 
 should be increased as little as possible artificially, that is, 
 by taxation. But every tax which falls upon agricultural 
 capital tends to check the application of such capital, to the 
 bringing of fresh land under cultivation, and the improve- 
 ment of the old. It was shewn, in a former part of this in- 
 quiry, that before such application of capital could take
 
 The Nature and Progress of Kent 43 
 
 place, the price of produce, compared with the instruments 
 of production, must rise sufficiently to pay the farmer. But, 
 if the increasing difficulties to be overcome are aggravated 
 by taxation, it is necessary, that before the proposed improve- 
 ments are undertaken, the price should rise sufficiently, not 
 only to pay the farmer, but also the government. And 
 every tax, which || falls on agricultural capital, either pre- 53 
 vents a proposed improvement, or causes it to be purchased 
 at a higher price. 
 
 When new leases are let, these taxes are generally thrown 
 off upon the landlord. The farmer so makes his bargain, 
 or ought so to make it, as to leave himself, after every 
 expense has been paid, the average profits of agricultural 
 stock in the actual circumstances of the country, whatever 
 they may be, and in whatever manner they may have been 
 affected by taxes, particularly by so general a one as the pro- 
 perty tax. The farmer, therefore, by paying a less rent to 
 his landlord on the renewal of his lease, is relieved from any 
 peculiar pressure, and may go on in the common routine of 
 cultivation with the common profits. But his encourage- 
 ment to lay out fresh capital in improvements is by no means 
 restored by his new bargain. This encouragement must 
 depend, both with regard to the farmer and the landlord 
 himself, exclusively on the price of produce, compared with 
 the price of the instruments of production; and, if the price 
 of these instruments have been raised by taxation, no dimin- 
 ution of rent can give relief. It is, in fact, a question, in 
 which rent is not concerned. And, with a view to progressive 
 improvements, it may be safely asserted, that the total || abol- 54 
 ition of rents would be less effectual than the removal of 
 taxes which fall upon agricultural capital. 
 
 I believe it to be the prevailing opinion, that the great 
 expense of growing com in this country is almost exclusively 
 owing to the weight of taxation. Of the tendency of many 
 of our taxes to increase the expenses of cultivation and the 
 price of com, I feel no doubt; but the reader will see from 
 the course of argument pursued in this inquiry, that I think
 
 44 Thomas Kobert Malthus 
 
 a part of this price, and perhaps no inconsiderable part, arises 
 from a cause which lies deeper, and is in fact the necessary 
 result of the great superiority of our wealth and population, 
 compared with the quality of our natural soil and the extent 
 of our territory. 
 
 This is a cause which can only be essentially mitigated by 
 the habitual importation of foreign corn, and a diminished 
 cultivation of it at home. The policy of such a system has 
 been discussed in another place; but, of course, every relief 
 from taxation must tend, under any system, to make the 
 price of com less high, and importation less necessary. 
 
 In the progress of a country towards a high state of im- 
 provement, the positive wealth of the landlord ought, upon 
 the principles which have been laid down, gradually to in- 
 55 crease; although || his relative condition and influence in 
 society will probably rather diminish, owing to the increasing 
 number and wealth of those who live upon a still more im- 
 portant surplus* — the profits of stock. 
 
 The progressive fall, with few exceptions, in the value of 
 the precious metals throughout Europe ; the still greater fall, 
 which has occurred in the richest countries, together with 
 the increase of produce which has been obtained from the 
 soil, must all conduce to make the landlord expect an in- 
 crease of rents on the renewal of his leases. But, in re-let- 
 ting his farms, he is liable to fall into two errors, which are 
 almost equally prejudicial to his own interests, and to those 
 of his country. 
 
 In the first place, he may be induced, by the immediate 
 prospect of an exorbitant rent, offered by farmers bidding 
 against each other, to let his land to a tenant without suffi- 
 cient capital to cultivate it in the best way, and make the 
 necessary improvements upon it. This is undoubtedly a 
 
 * I have hinted before, in a note, that profits may, without 
 impropriety, be called a surplus. But, whether surplus or not, 
 they are the most important source of wealth, as they are, beyond 
 all question, the main source of accumulation.
 
 The Nature and Progress of Kent 45 
 
 most short-sighted policy, the bad effects of which have been 
 strongly noticed || by the most intelligent land surveyors 56 
 in the evidence lately brought before Parliament"; and 
 have been particularly remarkable in Ireland, where the 
 imprudence of the landlords in this respect, combined, per- 
 haps, with some real difficulty of finding substantial tenants, 
 has aggravated the discontents of the country, and thrown 
 the most serious obstacles in the way of an improved system 
 of cultivation. The consequence of this error is the certain 
 loss of all that future source of rent to the landlord, and 
 wealth to the country, which arises from increase of produce. 
 
 The second error to which the landlord is liable, is that of 
 mistaking a mere temporary rise of prices, for a rise of 
 sufficient duration to warrant an increase of rents. It 
 frequently happens, that a scarcity of one or two years, 
 or an unusual demand arising from any other cause, may 
 raise the price of raw produce to a height, at which it can- 
 not be maintained. And the farmers, who take land under 
 the influence of such prices, will, in the return of a mere 
 natural state of things, probably break, and leave their farms 
 in a ruined and exhausted state. These short periods of 
 high price are of great importance in generating capital upon 
 the land, if the farmers are allowed to have the advantage 
 of them; but, if they are || grasped at prematurely by the 57 
 landlord, capital is destroyed, instead of being accumulated; 
 and both the landlord and the country incur a loss, instead 
 of gaining a benefit. 
 
 A similar caution is necessary in raising rents, even when 
 the rise of prices seems as if it would be permanent. In 
 the progress of prices and rents, rent ought always to be a 
 little behind; not only to afford the means of ascertaining 
 whether the rise be temporary or permanent, but even in 
 the latter case, to give a little time for the accumulation of 
 capital on the land, of which the landholder is sure to feel 
 the full benefit in the end. 
 
 There is no just reason to believe, that if the lands were 
 to give the whole of their rents to their tenants, com would
 
 46 Thomas Egbert Malthus 
 
 be more plentiful and cheaper. If the view of the subject, 
 taken in the preceding inquiry, be correct, the last additions 
 made to our home produce are sold at the cost of production 
 and the same quantity could not be produced from our own 
 soil at a less price, even without rent. The effect of trans- 
 ferring all rents to tenants, would be merely the turning 
 them into gentlemen, and tempting them to cultivate their 
 farms under the superintendance of careless and uninter- 
 ested bailiffs, instead of the vigilant eye of a master, who is 
 
 58 deterred from carelessness by the fear || of ruin, and stim- 
 ulated to exertion by the hope of a competence. The most 
 numerous instances of successful industry, and well directed 
 knowledge, have been found among those who have paid a 
 fair rent for their lands; who have embarked the whole of 
 their capital in their undertaking; and who feel it their duty 
 to watch over it with unceasing care, and add to it whenever it 
 is possible. But when this laudable spirit prevails among a 
 tenantry, it is of the very utmost importance to the progress 
 of riches, and the permanent increase of rents, that it should 
 have the power as well as the will to accumulate ; and an in- 
 terval of advancing prices, not immediately followed by a pro- 
 portionate rise of rents, furnishes the most effective powers of 
 this kind. These intervals of advancing prices, when not 
 succeeded by retrograde movements, most powerfully contri- 
 bute to the progress of national wealth. And practically 
 I should say, that when once a character of industry and 
 economy has been established, temporary high profits are a 
 more frequent and powerful source of accumulation, than 
 either an increased spirit of saving, or any other cause that 
 
 59 can be named.* It is the || only cause which seems capable 
 of accounting for the prodigious accumulation among indi- 
 
 * Adam Smith notices the bad effects of high profits on the 
 habits of the capitalist." They may perhaps sometimes occasion 
 extravagance; but generally, I should say, that extravagant habits 
 were a more frequent cause of a scarcity of capital and high 
 profits, than high profits of extravagant habits.
 
 The Nature and Progress of Rent 47 
 
 viduals, which must have taken place in this country during 
 the last twenty years, and which has left us with a greatly 
 increased capital, notwithstanding our vast annual destruc- 
 tion of stock, for so long a period. 
 
 Among the temporary causes of high price, which may 
 sometimes mislead the landlord, it is necessary to notice 
 irregidarities in the currency. When they are likely to be 
 of short duration, they must be treated by the landlord in 
 the same manner as years of unusual demand. But when 
 they continue so long as they have done in this country, it is 
 impossible for the landlord to do otherwise than proportion 
 his rent accordingly, and take the chance of being obliged 
 to lessen it again, on the return of the currency to its nat- 
 ural state. 
 
 The present fall in the price of bullion, and the improved 
 state of our exchanges, proves, in my opinion, that a much 
 greater part of the difference between gold and paper was 
 owing to commercial causes, and a peculiar demand || for 60 
 bullion than was supposed by many persons; but they By no 
 means prove that the issue of paper did not allow of a higher 
 rise of prices than could be permanently maintained. Al- 
 ready a retrograde movement, not exclusively occasioned by 
 the importations of corn, has been sensibly felt; and it must 
 go somewhat further before we can return to payments in 
 specie. Those who let their lands during the period of' the 
 greatest difference between notes and bullion, must probably 
 lower them, whichever system may be adopted with regard to 
 the trade in corn. These retrograde movements are always 
 unfortunate; and high rents, partly occasioned by causes of 
 this kind, greatly embarrass the regular march of prices, and 
 confound the calculations both of the farmer and landlord. 
 
 With the cautions here noticed in letting farms, the land- 
 lord may fairly look forward to a gradual and permanent in- 
 crease of rents; and, in general, not only to an increase pro- 
 portioned to the rise in the price of produce, but to a still 
 further increase, arising from an increase in the quantity of 
 produce.
 
 48 Thomas Robert Malthus 
 
 If in taking rents, which are equally fair for the landlord 
 and tenant, it is found that in successive lettings they do not 
 61 rise rather more than in proportion to the price of pro- || 
 duce, it will generally be owing to heavy taxation. 
 
 Though it is by no means true, as stated by the Econom- 
 ists, that all taxes fall on the neat rents of the landlords, 
 yet it is certainly true that they are more frequently taxed 
 both indirectly as well as directly, and have less power of 
 relieving themselves, than any other order of the state. And 
 as they pay, as they certainly do, many of the taxes which fall 
 on the capital of the farmer and the wages of the labourer, 
 as well as those directly imposed on themselves; they must 
 necessarily feel it in the diminution of that portion of the 
 whole produce, which under other circumstances would have 
 fallen to their share. But the degree in which the different 
 classes of society are affected by taxes, is in itself a copious 
 subject, belonging to the general principles of taxation, 
 and deserves a separate inquiry. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 Printed by DOVE, 32, St. John's Square.
 
 NOTES 
 
 *(page 5) "Among others, I allude more particularly to Mr. 
 Anderson, who, in a Calm Investigation of the Circumstances 
 which have led to the present Scarcity of Orain in Britain, (pub- 
 lished in 1801,) has laboured, with extraordinary earnestness, and 
 I believe with the best intentions possible, to impress this curious 
 truth on the minds of his countrymen. The particular position 
 which he attempts to prove is, that an increase of population in 
 any state whose fields have not been made to attain their highest 
 possible degree of productiveness, (o thing that probably has 
 never yet been seen on this globe,) will necessarily have its means 
 of subsistence rather augmented, than diminished, by that aug- 
 mentation of its population ; and the reverse. The proposition is, 
 to be sure, expressed rather obscurely; but, from the context, his 
 meaning evidently is, that every increase of population tends to 
 increase relative plenty, and vice versa. He concludes his proofs 
 by observing, that, if the facts which he has thus brought for- 
 ward and connected, do not serve to remove the fears_of those 
 who doubt the possibility of this country producing abundance 
 to sustain its Increasing population, were it to augment in a 
 ratio greatly more progressive than it has yet done, he should 
 doubt, whether they could be convinced of it, were one even to 
 rise from the dead to tell them so. Mr. A. is, perhaps, Justified in 
 this doubt, from the known incredulity of the age, which might 
 cause people to remain unconvinced in both cases. I agree with 
 Mr. A. however, entirely, respecting the importance of directing 
 a greater part of the national Industry to agriculture; but from 
 the circumstances of its being possible for a country with a cer- 
 tain direction of its industry, always to export com, although it 
 may be very populous, he has been led into the strange error of 
 supposing, that an agricultural country could support an un- 
 checked population." 
 
 See "An Essay on the Principle of Population; or, a view of 
 its past and present effects on human happiness; with an inquiry 
 into our prospects respecting the future removal or mitigation of 
 the evils which it occasions " (a new edition, very much enlarged. 
 London: 1803), p. 473 n. 
 
 '(page 11) "Wealth of Nations," bk. I, ch. vi; in Thorold 
 Rogers' edition, vol. I, pp. 54-55. 
 
 '(page 12) "Wealth of Nations," bk. I, ch. xi; in Thorold 
 Rogers' edition, vol. I, pp. 153, 156-157. 
 
 *(page 13) " Traite d'Economie Politique, ou simple exposition 
 de la maniere dont se forment, se distribuent et se consomment 
 les richesses; seconde edition entierement refondue et augmentee 
 d'un epitome des principes fondamentaux de I'economie politique: 
 par Jean-Baptiste Say, ex-membre du Tribunat " (2 vols. Paris: 
 1814). The first edition was published in 1803. The passage as 
 quoted by Malthus contains minor typographical inaccuracies. 
 
 / 
 
 <
 
 60 Notes 
 
 "(page 13) " De la Richesse Commerciale, ou principes d'econ- 
 omie politique, appliques a la legislation du commerce. Par J. C. 
 L. Simonde, Membre du Conseil de Commerce, Arts et Agriculture 
 du Leman, de I'Academie Royale des Georgofiles de Florence, et 
 de la Societe d'Agriculture de Geneve" (2 vols. Geneva, 1803). 
 The. passage as quoted by Malthus contains minor typographical 
 inaccuracies. On this page, as elsewhere (cf. pp. 17, 29, 39, 
 above), consecutive marks have been used where two foot-notes, 
 occurring upon different pages in Malthus' text, have fallen upon 
 a single page as reprinted. 
 
 '(page 13) By a typographical error in Malthus' text, " quel- 
 quechore." 
 
 Mpage 14) "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the 
 Wealth of Nations; by Adam Smith, LL. D. and F. R. S. of London 
 and Edinburgh: one of the commissioners of his majesty's cus- 
 toms in Scotland; and formerly professor of moral philosophy in 
 the University of Glasgow. In three volumes. With notes and 
 an additional volume, by David Buchanan" (Edinburgh, 1814). 
 
 *(page 15) By a typographical error in Malthus' text, "he." 
 
 •(page 15) By a typographical error in Malthus' text, "212." 
 
 *'(page 16) "Wealth of Nations," bk. I, ch. xi; in Thorold 
 Rogers' edition, vol. I. p. 174. In addition to slight typographical 
 differences, the sentence in Adam Smith's text does not contain 
 the word " comparatively." 
 
 "(page 25) "A Treatise on the Wealth, Power and Resources, 
 of the British Empire, in every quarter of the world, including 
 the East Indies: the rise and progress of the funding system ex- 
 plained; with observations on the national resources for the bene- 
 ficial employment of a redundant population, and for rewarding 
 the military and naval oflBcers, soldiers, and seamen, for their 
 services to their country during the late war. Illustrated by 
 copious statistical tables, constructed on a new plan, and exhibit- 
 ing a collected view of the different subjects discussed in this 
 work. By P. Colquhoun, LL. D." (London, 1814). In the follow- 
 ing year (1815) appeared "the second edition, with additions 
 and corrections." 
 
 "(page 27) A year later Malthus sought confirmatory evi- 
 dence upon this point. Under date of February 6, 1816, he wrote 
 from Haileybury to Arthur Young: " You would very much oblige 
 me if you would give me your opinion on the following point. 
 Whether the agricultural capital which has so much increased 
 the produce of the country during the last 20 years, and raised 
 the rent of land, independently of any change in the value of 
 the currency, has been furnished chiefly by tenants or landlords? 
 I wish much to ascertain this point, and know no person to whom 
 I can apply with so fair a prospect of getting the information I 
 want, as to you." Under date of May 26, Malthus acknowledged 
 Young's reply: "Though I had obtained some information on 
 the subject on which I wrote to you, yet I am happy to have
 
 Notes 51 
 
 it sanctioned by your opinion and superior authority. What you 
 state agrees with the result of the conversations I have occa- 
 sionally had with persons who have attended to the progress of 
 agricultural improvements of late years and I believe there can be 
 no doubt that much the greater part of the capital that has been 
 employed in these improvements has been generated on the land, 
 and been occasioned in no inconsiderable degree by the high 
 prices." 
 
 Malthus' letters to Young, which are not without interest in 
 other particulars, are in the British Museum: A.dd. MSS. 35,132, 
 f. 421; 35,133, ff. 187-188, 318-319, 456-457. 
 
 "(page 29) By a typographical error in Malthus text, " ppors." 
 
 "(page 29) " An Account of the Systems of Husbandry adopted 
 in the more improved districts of Scotland; with some observa- 
 tions on the improvements of which they are susceptible. Drawn 
 up for the consideration of the Board of Agriculture, with a view 
 of explaining how far those systems are applicable to the less 
 cultivated parts in England, and Scotland. By the Right Honour- 
 able Sir John Sinclair, Bart., M. P., President of the Board of 
 Agriculture" (Edinburgh, 1812). 
 
 "(page 29) "General Report of the Agricultural State, and 
 Political Circumstances, of Scotland. Drawn up for the consid- 
 eration of the Board of Agriculture and Internal Improvement, 
 under the directions of The Right Hon. Sir John Sinclair, Bart. 
 The President " (3 vols. Edinburgh, 1814). An " Appendix to the 
 General Report" (2 vols. Edinburgh, 1814) was also published. 
 
 '"(page 29) "Reports respecting Grain, and the Corn Laws: 
 viz: first and second reports from the Lords Committees, ap- 
 pointed to enquire into the state of the growth, commerce, and 
 consumption of grain, and all laws relating thereto; to whom 
 were referred the several petitions, presented to the House this 
 Session, respecting the Corn Laws. — 25 July, 1814. Communi- 
 cated by The Lords, 23d November, 1814. Ordered, by the House 
 of Commons, to be printed, 23 November 1814" (London, 1814). 
 
 "(page 35) "Wealth of Nations," bk. I, ch. xi; in Thorold 
 Rogers' edition, vol. I, pp. 185-186, 227. 
 
 "(page 38) "Wealth of Nations," bk. I, ch. xi; in Thorold 
 Rogers' edition, vol. I, p. 252. 
 
 "(page 40) By a typographical error in Malthus' text, "no." 
 
 **(page 45) Cf. "Reports of the Lords Committees" {v. note 
 16, above), pp. 20, 59, 80-81, 89-92. 
 
 ^(page 46) "Wealth of Nations," bk. IV, ch. vii; in Thorold 
 Rogers' edition, vol. II, pp. 194-195.
 
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