ABSTRACT
This chapter presents some observations of a general nature about the distinctive way that prices in America are determined, something that so often astonishes the nonspecialist. In the first place, the colonial character of the country is responsible for the high price of labour, a fact that has been just established. On the other hand, the colonial character of the country gives a cheap price to land, so that all commodities in which the price of the ground-rent amounts to a substantial proportion are relatively cheap. If one compares items of approximately equal quality, one will find that footwear in America is rather cheaper than in Germany. If one is willing to take as typical the data in and to contrast America and Germany on the basis of these data, one will find that even clothing costs the American worker no more, or only infinitesimally more, than it does his German counterpart.
