THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF

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order to leave him such free wages after paying such a tax,the price of labour must in that place soon rise, not to twelveshillings a week only, but to twelve and sixpence; that is, inorder to enable him to pay a tax of one-fifth, his wages mustnecessarily soon rise, not one-fifth part only, but one-fourth.Whatever was the proportion of the tax, the wages of labourmust in all cases rise, not only in that proportion, but in ahigher proportion. If the tax, for example, was one-tenth,the wages of labour must necessarily soon rise, not one-tenth part only, but one-eighth.

A direct tax upon the wages of labour, therefore, thoughthe labourer might perhaps pay it out of his hand, could notproperly be said to be even advanced by him ; at least if the de-mand for labour and the average price of provisions remainedthe same after the tax as before it. In all such cases, not onlythe tax, but something more than the tax, would in realitybe advanced by the person who immediately employed him.The final payment would in different cases fall upon differentpersons. The rise which such a tax might occasion in thewages of manufacturing labour would be advanced by themaster manufacturer, who w'ould both be entitled and obligedto charge it, with a profit, upon the price of his goods. Thefinal payment of this rise of wages, therefore, together withthe additional profit of the master manufacturer, would fallupon the consumer. The rise which such a tax might occa-sion in the wages of country labour would be advanced bythe farmer, who, in order to maintain the same number oflabourers as before, would be obliged to employ a greatercapital. In order to get back this greater capital, togetherwith the ordinary profits of stock, it would be necessary thathe should retain a larger portion, or, what comes to the samething, the price of a larger portion, of the produce of theland, and consequently that he should pay less rent to thelandlord. The final payment of this rise of wages, therefore,would in this case fall upon the landlord, together with theadditional profit of the farmer who had advanced it. In allcases a direct tax upon the wages of labour must, in the long-run, occasion both a greater reduction in the rent of land,and a greater rise in the price of manufactured goods, thanwould have followed from the proper assessment of a sumequal to the produce of the tax, partly upon the rent of land,and partly upon consumable commodities.

If direct taxes upon the wages of labour have not always