Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1876-09-07
The Labor Price.


any commodity, as expressed in money.
Thus we say that the price of a bushel of
wheat is two dollars, or that the price of
pound of butter is fifty cents. The mean
ing is that in the one case two dollars will
buy the wheat, and that in hesother case
fifty cents will buy the butter. Those who
have the articles to sell will exchange them
for money upon these terms. This mon
etary value is the nominal value-value
thus expressed or value in the nomenclat-
ure of money. 1t is, moreover, the value
of which men usually think, because
money is that one commodity which ex-
changes for all others, and, hence has
universal purchasing power. AZ .r,x
What, then, is the cost, to. the man who
pays the sum, of the two dollars which he
pays for the bushel of wheat? If we can
answer this question we shall find what is
the real price of the wheat to him. s Let
US suppose that, in order to get the money,
he gave a days labor; and then the price
of the wheat, as measured by his labor, is
one day Of such labor. He worked day
for the money, and then gave the money
for the wheat. That is to say, he really
bought the wheat with days labor, SIM
ply using money as the medium Of ex-
changing his services for the commodity.
The real price to him is the tabor price
namely, the amount of toll which he must
undergo to procure the thing he wants.
And what is true in this case is universal
ly true. Money itself is the product of
labor. The labor which Intakes to get it
is the measure of its value If it cost
nothing, there is nothing for which it
would be exchangeable. . -r-rr-fzT
Adam Smith, in his $ Wealth of Ma
TONS Book 1, Chap. 81, gives, the fol
lowing lucid statement of this great eco
nomical principle: --- to s1naaa
The real price of everything what every
thing really costs to the man who wants to
acquire it's the toll and trouble of acquir-
ing it. What everything is really worth to
the man who has acquired it, and who wants
to dispose of it or exchange it for some
thing else, is the toll and trouble which it
can save to himself, and which it can i'm
pose upon other people. What is bought
with money or with goods is purchased bS
labor, as much as what we acquire by tho
toll of our own body. That money or those
goods, indeed, save us this toll. They con-
tain the value of certain quantity oflabor
which we exchange for what is supposed at
the time to contain the value of an equal
quantity. Labor was the first price, the
original purchase-money, that was paid for
all things. 1t was not by gold or silver, but
by labor that all the wealth of the world
was originally purchased; and its value to
| those who possess it, and who want TO ex-
| change it for some new productions, is pre-
cisely equal to the quantity of labor which
it can enable them to purchase or command.
The elementary conditions of produc-
ing wealth are supplied by Nature; but
the wealth itself is always the product of
labor, either of the man who has it, or of
some one else from whom he has derived
it. All exchanges, when traced to their
final analysis, are really exchanges Of la
Dor in its products. Men buy and sell la
Dor in this concrete form. 1t hence fol-
lows that the real price which is paid for
everything is, after all, the labor-price
If we suppose bushel of wheat to be
worth two dollars to-day and next year
worth but one dollar, and that at tile form
er period labor brings two dollars day
and but one dollar at the latter period,
then, although the nominal price of both
wheat and labor has greatly changed, there
is no real change in the price of either,
considered relatively to the other. AT both
periods the SAM amount of labor will
buy the same quantity Of wheat and
the same quantity of wheat will buy
the same amount of labor The only
change that has occurred is in the none
tary expression of value. The real price
remains the same .'-A N5'- ~ f+
If, on the other hand, the nominal or
monetary price of wheat were to- change,
without any corresponding change in the
nominal price of labor, so that it would
take more or less than days labor to buy
bushel of wheat, then the relations be-
tween the labor and the wheat would be
altered. If the money price of the. wheat
went up, it would require more labor to
buy it; and if it went down, less labor
would suffice for the purchase. a rise in
commodity prices, as reckoned inImoney,
without corresponding rise in wages, is
always an oppressive burden to those who
work for wages. 1t costs them more to
live, with no increase of means. When
this rise is due to the character Of the
money in use, the laborer is sure to be one
of the chief sufferers. Of all, classes in
the community, those who work for wages
suffer most from the use of bad money
It disturbs the natural relation between
labor anti commodities between the
means of payment and the things to be
paid for.-N. Y. Independent.
-as ~ Sc bes1 Cd %
THE Long Branch belle talks of d
'jolly and rollicking good time, the
Newport belle of an adorable oeea-
sion,'' while the Saratoga article comes
bouncing home with the declaration
that the ''fun was too booming. for
anything" and that she believes she is