2651ページ中296ページ

Thirty or forty pounds a year cannot be considered as too great a

recompence for the labour of a person so accomplished. Deduct

this from the seemingly great profits of his capital, and little

more will remain, perhaps, than the ordinary profits of stock.

The greater part of the apparent profit is, in this case too,

real wages.

The difference between the apparent profit of the retail and that

of the wholesale trade, is much less in the capital than in small

towns and country villages. Where ten thousand pounds can be

employed in the grocery trade, the wages of the grocer's labour

must be a very trifling addition to the real profits of so great

a stock. The apparent profits of the wealthy retailer, therefore,

are there more nearly upon a level with those of the wholesale

merchant. It is upon this account that goods sold by retail are

generally as cheap, and frequently much cheaper, in the capital

than in small towns and country villages. Grocery goods, for

example, are generally much cheaper; bread and butchers' meat

frequently as cheap. It costs no more to bring grocery goods to

the great town than to the country village; but it costs a great

deal more to bring corn and cattle, as the greater part of them

must be brought from a much greater distance.