[Footnote 153-1: To be met with in this form even in _Adam Smith_, Wealth of Nations, I, ch. 11, pr. _John Stuart Mill_, Principles II, ch. 16, § 6, thus states the matter: "Whoever cultivates land, paying a rent for it, gets in return for his rent an instrument of superior power to other instruments of the same kind for which no rent is paid. The superiority of the instrument is in exact proportion to the rent paid for it." According to _v. Jacob_, Grundsätze der Nat. Oek., I, 187, rent constitutes a much larger portion of the price of commodities than is generally supposed, in as much as wages depend so largely on the price of the means of subsistence. Per contra, _Baudrillart_, Manuel, 391 ff., who maintains that rent is practically insignificant.] [Footnote 153-2: Similarly _Buchanan_, loc. cit., and _Sismondi_, Richesse commerciale, I, 49. Compare contra, _Malthus_, Inquiry into the Nature and Progress of Rent, 15. I would call attention _en passant_ to the absurdity that there may be an increase in the value in exchange of a nation's entire resources without any increase in its value in use. (_Supra_, § 8.)] [Footnote 153-3: Thus _Adam Smith_ remarks that corn fields and rice fields pay very different rents, because it is not always possible to convert one into the other. (Wealth of Nat., I, ch. 11, 1.) Compare the tabular statistical view of the rent of land used for vineyards, gardens, meadows, pasturages, wood and farming purposes, in _Rau_, Lehrbuch, I, § 218. For a general theory of the rent of wooded land, see _Hermann_, Staatsw. Unters., 177 ff.; of vineyards, 181 seq.] [Footnote 153-4: _Adam Smith_, Wealth of Nat., I, ch. 11, 3.] [Footnote 153-5: It is hereby rendered akin to those low stages of civilization in which no rent is paid.] SECTION CLIV. THEORY OF RENT. (CONTINUED.) As the purchase of a piece of land[154-1] is no more and no less than its exchange against a portion of capital in the shape of money,[154-2] its purchase price depends generally on the amount it will rent for as compared with the interest on the capital to be given in exchange for it. The rate of interest remaining the same, it rises and falls with its rent. And _vice versa_, the rent remaining the same it rises and falls inversely as the rate of interest.[154-3] A rise in the price of land is not always a proof of the growing wealth of a people. It may proceed from a depreciation of the value of money, or from a decrease of the rate of interest caused by a decline in the number of loans which can be advantageously placed.