"  When  the  price  of  any  commodity  is  neither  more  nor
less  than  what  is  sufficient  to  pay  the  rent  of  the  land,  the
wages  of  the  labour,  and  the  profits  of  the  stock  employed  in
raising,  preparing,  and  bringing  it  to  market,  according  to


CHAP.  IV.  THE  PRICE  OF  COMMODITIES.  233

their  natural  rates,  the  commodity  is  then  sold  for  what  may
be  called  its  natural  price.
"  The  commodity  is  then  sold  precisely  for  what  it  is  worth,
or  for  what  it  really  costs  the  person  who  brings  it  to  market ;
for  though  in  common  language  what  is  called  the  prime  cost
of  any  commodity  does  not  comprehend  the  profit  of  the  per-
son who  is  to  sell  it  again,  yet  if  he  sells  it  at  a  price  which
does  not  allow  him  the  ordinary  rate  of  profit  in  his  neigh-
bourhood, he  is  evidently  a  loser  by  the  trade  ;  since,  by  em-
ploying his  stock  in  some  other  way,  he  might  have  made  that
profit.  His  profit,  besides,  is  his  revenue,  the  proper  fund  of
his  subsistence.  As,  while  he  is  preparing  and  bringing  the
goods  to  market,  he  advances  to  his  workmen  their  wages,  or
their  subsistence  ;  so  he  advances  to  himself,  in  the  same
manner,  his  own  subsistence,  which  is  generally  suitable  to
the  profit  which  he  may  reasonably  expect  from  the  sale  of
his  goods.  Unless  they  yield  him  this  profit,  therefore,  they
do  not  repay  him  what  they  may  very  properly  be  said  to
have  really  cost  him.
