When more capital is employed in agriculture, new land is tilled, a further outlay is made on land already tilled; and thus also rent arises from increase of capital. When capital is withdrawn from agriculture, inferior, _i. e._ the most expensive soils, are let out of cultivation; and thus rent falls. A rise of rent is, therefore, a symptom, and not a cause, of wealth. The tendency of rent is, therefore, to rise for ever in an improving country. But there are counteracting causes. Art increases production beyond the usual returns to capital laid out: prices fall in proportion to the abundance of the supply, and rent declines. Improved facilities for bringing produce to market, by increasing the supply, cause prices to fall and rent to decline. COMMODITIES, being produced by capital and labour, are the joint property of the capitalist and labourer. The capitalist pays in advance to the labourers their share of the commodity, and thus becomes its sole owner. The portion thus paid is WAGES. REAL WAGES are the articles of use and consumption that the labourer receives in return for his labour. NOMINAL WAGES are the portion he receives of these things reckoned in money. The fund from which wages are paid in any country consists of the articles required for the use and consumption of labourers which that country contains. THE PROPORTION OF THIS FUND RECEIVED BY INDIVIDUALS MUST MAINLY DEPEND ON THE NUMBER AMONG WHOM THE FUND IS DIVIDED. The rate of wages in any country depends, therefore, not on the wealth which that country contains, but on the proportion between its capital and its population. As population has a tendency to increase faster than capital, wages can be prevented from falling to the lowest point only by adjusting the proportion of population to capital. The lowest point to which wages can be permanently reduced, is that which affords a bare subsistence to the labourer. The highest point to which wages can be permanently raised is that which leaves to the capitalist just profit enough to make it worth his while to invest capital. The variations of the rate of wages between these extreme points depending mainly on the supply of labour offered to the capitalist, the rate of wages is mainly determined by the sellers, not the buyers of labour. The produce of labour and capital, after rent has been paid, is divided between the labourer and the capitalist, under the name of wages and profits. Where there are two shares, each determines the other, provided they press equally upon one another. The increase of the supply of labour, claiming reward, makes the pressure in the present case unequal, and renders wages the regulator of profits. The restriction of the supply of food causes the fall of both profits and wages.