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non-agricultural classes-On the identity (common to all classes of
peasant rents) of the interests of the landlords with those of their
tenantry and the community-On the causes of the long duration of
the systems of primary or peasant rents-Division of such rents accord-
ing to their different tendencies to change, into four portions-Diffi-
culty in producing motion in the last and largest portion-Cause of
this actual penury of the cultivators, and reluctance or inability of
landlords to make a direct sacrifice of income-Observations on cer-
tain notions as to rent which are inconsistent with those brought to
light by the review of peasant rents...................................................................................... 156

CHAPTER VII.

FARMERS RENTS.

SECTION 1.

Introduction.....................

Origin of Farmers Rents.........

Severance of the connexion between Rent and Wages.

SECTION 2. Three Different modes in which farmer's rents may increase. On the progress and effects of a rise of rents from an increase of produce caused by the use of MORE CAPITAL in cultivation......

Statement of the ordinary course of such rise-Examination of the law of
Messrs. Ricardo and Mill, that every portion of additional produce must
be obtained by the expenditure of a greater proportion of capital-
Examination of the position of Mr. Ricardo that "if capital could be
indefinitely employed without a diminished return on the old land,
there could be no rise of rent"-Examination of the opinion that in-
creased produce so obtained must lower rents-Proof that increased
produce from the outlay of increased capital ordinarily raises rent,
when it is obtained without a diminished return......

Different effect of capital employed in different shapes.
Distinction between auxiliary capital and capital used in maintaining laborers
-Different progress of human power indicated by the accumulation of
capital in one or in the other shape-Difference between the annual
return necessary to make the employment of equal quantities of each
kind of capital profitable-Effects produced by the employment of
increasing quantities of auxiliary capital on rents and on the relative
incomes of capitalists and landlords...
Effects of the accumulation of auxiliary capital in agriculture on the relative
numbers and influence of the different classes of the community.

185

186

188

189

190

217

217

227

The employment of auxiliary capital augments the relative numbers of the non-agricultural classes...

228

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The increase of auxiliary capital increases the revenue of the intermediate

classes

231

SECTION 3. On the second source of the increase of farmers rents, or on THE INCREASING EFFICIENCY of the capital employed................. 236 The effects of this source of increase are less in amount than the effects of the employment of additional capital on the same. But those effects are accompanied by a power of cultivating poorer soils and a consequent spread of tillage, and also by a power gradually to accumulate more capital on the old soils, and a second rise of rents from this source....... 238 SECTION 4. On the third source of the increase of farmers rents, namely, a DECREASE IN THE SHARE of the producing classes, the produce remaining the same.

The increase of produce rents from this cause is measured by the decreasing fertility of the soils governing price.........................

244 The decreasing fertility of the soil may (as it affects wages and profits) be balanced by the increased efficiency of manufacturing labor.

Should the efficiency of agriculture begin to decrease, a community of which the manufacturing industry is improving, may, in spite of the decrease, produce both more corn and more of every other commoddity than it did before the decrease began...................

248

SECTION 5. On the fallaciousness of some supposed indications of the decreasing efficiency of agricultural labor.........

255

A fall of profits is no proof of the decreasing efficiency of agricultural industry.....

257

An increasing relative value of raw produce is no proof of the decreasing efficiency of agricultural industry.

264

An increasing money value of raw produce compared with the prices of other countries is no proof of the decreasing efficiency of agricultural industry 266 SECTION 6. On some indications of the real sources of increasing rents which are to be obtained in particular instances, by observing, FIRST, the variations which take place in the COMPARATIVE NUMBERS of the agricultural and non-agricultural classes, and SECONDLY, the alterations which shew themselves in the landlord's PROPORTION of the produce.....

Proof, from these indications, that in the case of England, the rise which has taken place in rents has originated in better farming, and not in the cause assumed by Mr. Ricardo and others, namely, "the employment of an additional quantity of labor with a proportional less return".....

SECTION 7. The interests of the landlords are not in opposition to those of the other classes.

The landlords may have a temporary and limited interest in the depression of other classes. This circumstance is not peculiar to them. The

277

282

revenue of every class may be increased by an invasion of the revenue of others but the revenue of none can thus increase securely and progressively in the progress of nations. Proof as to wages-Proof as to

profits-Proof as to rents..............................

SECTION 8. Summary of Farmer's Rents.......

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286

305

Position of the Land-owners in the advance of Society to Farmer's Rents..... 306 Observations on some circumstances in the Actual Position of England........ 308 Strict connexion between the interests of the Non-agriculturists and the Agriculturists-Corn Laws-Tithes-Poor Laws desirable alterations ib.

Conclusion.

Peasants Rents are properly considered as Rents.................................. 324 Interests of the Proprietors always identical with those of the Cultivators.... 328 Permanent and progressive prosperity of each class of the community dependent on the common advance of all.....

329

(1)

Ir has been mentioned to me, that I have given no regular definition of the word Rent. The omission was not undesigned. On a subject like this, to attempt to draw conclusions from definitions, is almost a sure step towards error. A dissertation, however, on the use and abuse of definitions, would be out of its place here. I have pointed out the origin of payments made to the owners of the soil. I have tracked their progress. If any reader, during this enquiry, is really puzzled to know what we are observing together, I shall be sorry: but I am quite sure that I should do him no real service, by presenting him in the outset with a definition to reason from.