Note I — THE MEASURE OF VALUE.

Mr. Ricardo, by supposing gold to be produced always by a certain quantity of labour and capital, is compelled to acknowledge that his standard “would be a perfect measure of value for all things produced under the same circumstances precisely as itself, but for no others.” p. 43. This concession appears to me quite fatal. We want to measure the value of commodities under all circumstances, and it is only gold obtained exclusively by labour, or labour itself, which can do this. See Principles of Political Economy considered with a View to their Practical Application, pp. 111 and 118.