Adam Smith：The Wealth of Nations, Book I, Chapter VIII, Paragraph 226

In years of scarcity, the difficulty and uncertainty of subsistence make all such people eager to return to service. But the high price of provisions, by diminishing the funds destined for the maintenance of servants, disposes masters rather to diminish than to increase the number of those they have. In dear years, too, poor independent workmen frequently consume the little stock with which they had used to supply themselves with the materials of their work, and are obliged to become journeymen for subsistence. More people want employment than easily get it; many are willing to take it upon lower terms than ordinary; and the wages of both servants and journeymen frequently sink in dear years.

Source： https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3300
Locator：Book I, Chapter VIII, paragraph 226 · Verified：2026-10-19 · Verification：Exact match

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