Pagina 136 van 2651

The commodity is then sold precisely for what it is worth, or for

what it really costs the person who brings it to market; for

though, in common language, what is called the prime cost of any

commodity does not comprehend the profit of the person who is to

sell it again, yet, if he sells it at a price which does not

allow him the ordinary rate of profit in his neighbourhood, he is

evidently a loser by the trade; since, by employing his stock in

some other way, he might have made that profit. His profit,

besides, is his revenue, the proper fund of his subsistence. As,

while he is preparing and bringing the goods to market, he

advances to his workmen their wages, or their subsistence; so he

advances to himself, in the same manner, his own subsistence,

which is generally suitable to the profit which he may reasonably

expect from the sale of his goods. Unless they yield him this

profit, therefore, they do not repay him what they may very

properly be said to have really cost him.