30 would obviously be rent, by
whomsoever received.

It happens, indeed, sometimes, that from bad government, extravagant
habits, and a faulty constitution of society, the accumulation of
capital is stopped, while fertile land is in considerable plenty, in
which case profits may continue permanently very high; but even in this
case wages must necessarily fall, which by reducing the expenses
of cultivation must occasion rents. There is nothing so absolutely
unavoidable in the progress of society as the fall of wages, that is
such a fall as, combined with the habits of the labouring classes,
will regulate the progress of population according to the means of
subsistence. And when, from the want of an increase of capital, the
increase of produce is checked, and the means of subsistence come to a
stand, the wages of labour must necessarily fall so low, as only just to
maintain the existing population, and to prevent any increase.

We observe in consequence, that in all those countries, such as Poland,
where, from the want of accumulation, the profits of stock remain very
high, and the progress of cultivation either proceeds very slowly, or
is entirely stopped, the wages of labour are extremely low. And this
cheapness of labour, by diminishing the expenses of cultivation, as far
as labour is concerned, counteracts the effects of the high profits of
stock, and generally leaves a larger rent to the landlord than in those
countries, such as America, where, by a rapid accumulation of stock,
which can still find advantageous employment, and a great demand for
labour, which is accompanied by an adequate increase of produce and
population, profits cannot be low, and labour for some considerable time
remains very high.

It may be laid down, therefore, as an incontrovertible truth, that as a
nation reaches any considerable degree of wealth, and any considerable
fullness of population, which of course cannot take place without a
great fall both in the profits of stock and the wages of labour, the
separation of rents, as a kind of fixture upon lands of a certain
quality, is a law as invariable as the action of the principle of
gravity. And that rents are neither a mere nominal value, nor a value
unnecessarily and injuriously transferred from one set of people to
another; but a most real and essential part of the whole value of the
national property, and placed by the laws of nature where they are, on
the land, by whomsoever possesse