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.It clearly demonstrates that the stock andpopulation of the country did not bear the same proportion to theextent of its territory which they commonly do in civilisedcountries, and that society was at that time, and in that country,but in its infancy.From the high or low money price either of goods in general, orof corn in particular, we can infer only that the mines which atthat time happened to supply the commercial world with gold andsilver were fertile or barren, not that the country was rich or poor.But from the high or low money price of some sorts of goods inproportion to that of others, we can infer, with a degree ofprobability that approaches almost to certainty, that it was rich orpoor, that the greater part of its lands were improved orunimproved, and that it was either in a more or less barbarousstate, or in a more or less civilised one.Any rise in the money price of goods which proceededaltogether from the degradation of the value of silver would affectall sorts of goods equally, and raise their price universally a third,or a fourth, or a fifth part higher, according as silver happened tolose a third, or a fourth, or a fifth part of its former value.But therise in the price of provisions, which has been the subject of somuch reasoning and conversation, does not affect all sorts ofprovisions equally.Taking the course of the present century at anAdam Smith ElecBook Classics The Wealth of Nations: Book 1 334average, the price of corn, it is acknowledged, even by those whoaccount for this rise by the degradation of the value of silver, hasrisen much less than that of some other sorts of provisions.Therise in the price of those other sorts of provisions, therefore,cannot be owing altogether to the degradation of the value ofsilver.Some other causes must be taken into the account, andthose which have been above assigned will, perhaps, withouthaving recourse to the supposed degradation of the value of silver,sufficiently explain this rise in those particular sorts of provisionsof which the price has actually risen in proportion to that of corn.As to the price of corn itself, it has, during the sixty-four firstyears of the present century, and before the late extraordinarycourse of bad seasons, been somewhat lower than it was duringthe sixty-four last years of the preceding century.This fact isattested, not only by the accounts of Windsor market, but by thepublic fiars of all the different counties of Scotland, and by theaccounts of several different markets in France, which have beencollected with great diligence and fidelity by Mr.Messance and byMr.Dupré de St.Maur.The evidence is more complete than couldwell have been expected in a matter which is naturally so verydifficult to be ascertained.As to the high price of corn during these last ten or twelveyears, it can be sufficiently accounted for from the badness of theseasons, without supposing any degradation in the value of silver.The opinion, therefore, that silver is continually sinking in itsvalue, seems not to be founded upon any good observations, eitherupon the prices of corn, or upon those of other provisions.The same quantity of silver, it may, perhaps, be said, will in thepresent times, even according to the account which has been hereAdam Smith ElecBook Classics The Wealth of Nations: Book 1 335given, purchase a much smaller quantity of several sorts ofprovisions than it would have done during some part of the lastcentury; and to ascertain whether this change be owing to a rise inthe value of those goods, or to a fall in the value of silver, is only toestablish a vain and useless distinction, which can be of no sort ofservice to the man who has only a certain quantity of silver to go tomarket with, or a certain fixed revenue in money.I certainly donot pretend that the knowledge of this distinction will enable himto buy cheaper.It may not, however, upon that account bealtogether useless.It may be of some use to the public by affording an easy proof ofthe prosperous condition of the country.If the rise in the price ofsome sorts of provisions be owing altogether to a fall in the valueof silver, it is owing to a circumstance from which nothing can beinferred but the fertility of the American mines.The real wealth ofthe country, the annual produce of its land and labour, may,notwithstanding this circumstance, be either gradually declining,as in Portugal and Poland; or gradually advancing, as in mostother parts of Europe.But if this rise in the price of some sorts ofprovisions be owing to a rise in the real value of the land whichproduces them, to its increased fertility, or, in consequence ofmore extended improvement and good cultivation, to its havingbeen rendered fit for producing corn; it is owing to a circumstancewhich indicates in the clearest manner the prosperous andadvancing state of the country.The land constitutes by far thegreatest, the most important, and the most durable part of thewealth of every extensive country.It may surely be of some use,or, at least, it may give some satisfaction to the public, to have sodecisive a proof of the increasing value of by far the greatest, theAdam Smith ElecBook Classics The Wealth of Nations: Book 1 336most important, and the most durable part of its wealth
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