ABSTRACT
Wages are subject to rise or fall from two causes: the supply and demand of labourers, and the price of the commodities on which the wages of labour are expended. The productive powers of labour are generally greatest when there is an abundance of fertile land: at such periods accumulation is often so rapid that labourers cannot be supplied with the same rapidity as capital. It has been calculated that under favourable circumstances population may be doubled in twenty-five years. In the one case, the evil proceeds from bad government, from the insecurity of property, and from a want of education in all ranks of the people. In the other case, the population increases faster than the funds required for its support. With a population pressing against the means of subsistence, the only remedies are either a reduction of people or a more rapid accumulation of capital.
