||XII-580b| The proposition that corn produces its own demand etc.[a] casually advanced by Adam Smith, later repeated by Malthus with considerable pomposity in his theory of rent and partly used as the basis of his theory of population, is very concisely expressed in the following passage: Hence Rodbertus s fantasy that seeds etc. do not enter as an item of capital (into the farmer s calculations],[b] is refuted by the hundreds of treatises, some written by farmers themselves, that appeared in the eighteenth century (particularly since the 60s of that century). But on the contrary, it would be correct to say that rent is an item of expenditure for the farmer. He[c] reckons rent among the costs of production (and it does belong to his costs of production). As soon as capital takes possession of agriculture, the farming-capitalist himself regards rent only as a deduction from profit and the whole of surplus-value is for him essentially profit: ||XIII-670a| The landed and trading interests are eternally jarring, and jealous of each other s advantages ([Nathaniel Forster], An Enquiry into the Causes of the Present High Price of Provisions, London, 1767, p. 22, note). |XIII-670a|| ||XIII-669b| Hopkins (passage to be looked up)[d] naively [describes] rent of land as the original form of surplus-value, and profit as derived from this. He writes: Even those improvements in agriculture which bring about reduced costs of production and eventually a fall in prices, but which first so long as prices have not yet fallen [call forth] a temporary rise of agricultural profit, almost never fail, Similar ideas were expressed by Anderson even earlier.[g] |XIII-670a|| ||XIII-670a| Calculated on the total capital the [rate of] profit of the larger capital, which employs more constant capital (machinery, raw material) and relatively less living labour, will be lower than that of the smaller [amount of] profit yielded by the smaller capital employing more living labour in proportion to the total capital. The [relative] decrease in variable capital and the relative increase in constant capital, although both parts are growing, is only another expression for the increased productivity of labour. |XIII-670a|| [a] See this volume, p. 354 et seqq. Ed. [b] See this volume, pp. 45-55. Ed. [c] Arbuthnot, the author of the anonymous pamphlet. Ed. [d] See this volume, p. 55 and Note 20. Ed. [e] The reference is to the land which has been worked and improved. Ed. [f] Carey wrote: from its use . Ed. [g] See this volume, pp. 144-45. Ed.
Economic Manuscripts: Theories of Surplus-Value, Addenda to Part 2