David Ricardo：On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 307

But these natural agents, though they add greatly to _value in use_, never add exchangeable value, of which M. Say is speaking, to a commodity: as soon as by the aid of machinery, or by the knowledge of natural philosophy, you oblige natural agents to do the work which was before done by man, the exchangeable value of such work falls accordingly. If ten men turned a corn mill, and it be discovered that by the assistance of wind, or of water, the labour of these ten men may be spared, the flour, which is the produce of the work performed by the mill, would immediately fall in value, in proportion to the quantity of labour saved; and the society would be richer by the commodities which the labour of the ten men could produce, the funds destined for their maintenance being in no degree impaired.

Source： https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33310
Locator：Excerpt 307 · Verified：2026-10-19 · Verification：Short excerpt

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