[68] Compare the same unconscious shifting of ground in the discussion of skilled labor. [69] P. 5. _Principles._ [70] See also Ricardo, himself: “The value of almost all commodities is made up of labor and profits.” _Letters to Malthus_, p. 225. [71] _i. e._, wages. [72] P. 34. [73] _Letters to McCulloch_, p. 71. [74] _Das Kapital_, 1st ed., pp. 285, 286, 508, n. See Böhm-Bawerk, _Karl Marx and the Close of his System_, p. 24. [75] Böhm-Bawerk, _op. cit._, p. 26. [76] The writings herein referred to are his _Principles of Political Economy_, 4th ed., Edinb., 1849, and his extensive notes on Adam Smith’s text in the McCulloch edition of the _Wealth of Nations_, 4 vols., Edinb., 1828. [77] In his _Capital and Interest_, pp. 97-102, Böhm-Bawerk devotes a few pages to McCulloch’s theory of interest, which is interwoven with his theory of value. Böhm-Bawerk concludes: “McCulloch’s utterances on the subject are one great collection of incompleteness, irrationality and inconsistency.” The examples of McCulloch’s reasonings cited by Böhm-Bawerk show the above judgment to be scrupulously just. [78] _Letters of Ricardo to McCulloch_ (_Pub. Am. Econ. Assn._, Vol. 10), pp. 131-2. [79] See passage from a letter to McCulloch, quoted _ante_, p. 42. [80] McCulloch’s edition of the _Wealth of Nations_, vol. iv, note 1, p. 75. [81] _Ibid._, p. 77. [82] Malthus, _Definitions_, pp. 100-101. [83] McCulloch ed. _Wealth of Nations_, vol. iv, pp. 77-78. [84] _Principles_, 4th ed., pp. 371-3. [85] We omit the qualification regarding “socially necessary” labor, and the theory of skilled labor as “condensed labor,” as not required for our present point. [86] If one granted, for the sake of argument, both the labor-cost law of value and the iron law of wages, we should still lack the slightest justification for deriving the latter as a corollary from the former. The only theoretical basis of the iron law of wages is a rigid Malthusian law of population, or labor supply, the alleged law so greatly abhorred by Marx and all socialists. [87] The elaborate special terminology developed by Marx for the problem (not followed here) will be found explained in full in Böhm-Bawerk’s excellent essay previously cited. This little book presents Marx’s theory of value, the “contradiction” and the outcome, in the clearest possible form. It would be useless to infringe on the territory covered by this work, but Dr. v. Böhm-Bawerk did not mention the existence of the same “contradiction” in classical English theory. [88] _Das Kapital_, v. iii, p. 131; quoted by Böhm-Bawerk, _op. cit._, p. 49. [89] “Die organische Zusammensetzung des Kapitals,” _Das Kapital_, vol. iii, p. 124.