2d.When again, luxuries, the produce of foreign art, present themselves to a society, whence they had before been strangers, their value cannot be ascertained by comparing them with commodities of domestic formation, for it is not the relative useful qualities of commodities, that fit them more or less perfectly to gratify the passion of vanity, but solely the difficulty of procuring them.Were a quantity of the article used for hemp in New Zealand, shown to a person in England, who had never before seen it, and was totally ignorant of its price, on being made accurately acquainted with its strength, durability, weight, absorbing qualities, and pliancy, as compared with real hemp, he would be able, knowing the value of the latter, to state pretty nearly what it actually sold for.But were a person, in the same country, perfectly ignorant of the value of pearls, and never having seen any, to be shown a string of them, and made acquainted with their qualities in relation to artificial pearls, and glass beads of various sorts, though knowing well the price of the latter, he would certainly be unable to assign the sum to be got for the former.Were a variety of alcoholic liquors to be presented to an individual quite ignorant of them, and of their value, and were he, changing from one to another, to partake, occasionally, freely of them all for months and years together, were all other circumstances concerning them but their sensible qualities and effects concealed from him, he would certainly be unable to fix their relative value.Were, in like manner, specimens of all the different fabrics used for female attire for the last ten years, with their relative durabilities ticketed on them, presented to a person of good taste, but perfectly ignorant of these matters, he would certainly also be quite incapable of coming near their actual relative cost.The same observation will apply to all other luxuries.As they compare with each other, not by their inherent qualities, but by the difficulty in procuring them, unless the comparative labor necessary to procure them be known, there is no means of fixing their relative price.It affords a rule too by which we may test what are, or are not, luxuries.Thus, I apprehend, that were a silver spoon, or sauce-pan, or vase, shown, for the first time, to any person in the middle ranks of life, though ignorant of its value, yet seeing its beauty and susceptibility of receiving the most delicate impressions of the workman, and being informed of its durability, safety, and the saving of labor attending its use, on a fair estimate of these qualities, he would place it not very far below its present relative value to copper.He might, it seems to me, considering merely the qualities inherent in it, be willing to give for it twenty or thirty times what he would for the same article wrought in copper.He would, however, I should apprehend, be far from estimating similar articles fabricated of gold, at sixteen times the price of the same in silver.Supposing him possessed of real taste and accurate judgment, the difference between his estimate, and the actual comparative value of these metals would mark how far they were, or were not luxuries, to people of his fortune.
The only rule, then, which people desirous of possessing luxuries can adopt for measuring what they will give for them, is the degree of difficulty of procuring them, the amount of labor which must be given for them.When they are satisfied that any particular article of the sort they are in quest of is used by other people, and that it cannot be had for less, they will pay the price demanded.They do not seek for the grounds of their determination in the utility of the commodity, but in its scarcity.Let a farmer go to lay out three pounds on lace for his wife, if he is assured that the dealer in that article to whom he applies will not charge him more than others, and that Mr.A's wife and Mr.B's wife wear the same sort, he will care little whether he gets for his money six or twelve yards, or whether it be two or three inches broad.All that he is concerned about is that he should get as much as other people.Let the same farmer think of purchasing some new manure for his land, he will conceive it necessary to ascertain both the effects of the article upon the soil he farms, in comparison with other manures, and its cost also compared with them.If he find that, compared with them, the cost is no greater, he will be inclined to purchase; if he find it less, he will conceive it so much gain; while it lasts it will be equivalent to a marle pit discovered on his own farm.
If a dealer imports a commodity having a shade of distinction scarcely perceptible considered in relation to the degree of enjoyment it gives, but sufficiently marked to distinguish it from other commodities of the sort, and if half a dozen people of rank adopt the use of the article as a sign of their superiority, it has all chances to enter into the consumption of every individual in the community who can afford it.In such cases, the price of the commodity depends altogether on the renders of it.But, as each of these wishes to sell as much as possible, and as he can do so most readily by underselling his neighbors, the price gradually falls under a free Competition, until the dealers in it receive only the profits that the effective desire of accumulation, and the progress of improvement in the society measures out to them.At the end of the process the whole difference observable, if the article be completely a luxury, is a change of fashion.
The principle of accumulation has not been led to grasp a greater compass of materials, nor has any addition been made to the general stock of the society, a new set of marks of distinction has merely been introduced.
