\"Theconverseofallthiswouldhavehappened，if，insteadof800times17yards，wehadsupposedthatEngland，attherateof10for17，wouldhavetaken1200times17yardsoflinen。Inthiscase，itisEnglandwhosedemandisnotfullysupplied;itisEnglandwho，bybiddingformorelinen，willaltertherateofinterchangetoherowndisadvantage;and10yardsofclothwillfall，inbothcountries，belowthevalueof17yardsoflinen。Bythisfallofcloth，orwhatisthesamething，thisriseoflinen，thedemandofGermanyforclothwillincrease，andthedemandofEnglandforlinenwilldiminish，tilltherateofinterchangehassoadjusteditselfthattheclothandthelinenwillexactlypayforoneanother;andwhenoncethispointisattained，valueswillremainwithoutfurtheralteration。\"Itmayheconsidered，therefore，asestablished，thatwhentwocountriestradetogetherintwocommodities，theexchangevalueofthesecommoditiesrelativelytoeachotherwilladjustitselftotheinclinationsandcircumstancesoftheconsumersonbothsides，insuchmannerthatthequantitiesrequiredbyeachcountry，ofthearticleswhichitimportsfromitsneighbour，shallbeexactlysufficienttopayforoneanother。Astheinclinationsandcircumstancesofconsumerscannotbereducedtoanyrule，soneithercantheproportionsinwhichthetwocommoditieswillbeinterchanged。Weknowthatthelimitswithinwhichthevariationisconfined，aretheratiobetweentheircostsofproductionintheonecountry，andtheratiobetweentheircostsofproductionintheother。Tenyardsofclothcannotexchangeformorethan20yardsoflinen，norforlessthan15。
Buttheymayexchangeforanyintermediatenumber。Theratios，therefore，inwhichtheadvantageofthetrademaybedividedbetweenthetwonations，arevarious。Thecircumstancesonwhichtheproportionateshareofeachcountrymoreremotelydepends，admitonlyofaverygeneralindication。
\"Itisevenpossibletoconceiveanextremecase，inwhichthewholeoftheadvantageresultingfromtheinterchangewouldbereapedbyoneparty，theothercountrygainingnothingatall。
Thereisnoabsurdityinthehypothesisthat，ofsomegivencommodity，acertainquantityisallthatiswantedatanyprice;
andthat，whenthatquantityisobtained，nofallintheexchangevaluewouldinduceotherconsumerstocomeforward，orthosewhoarealreadysupplied，totakemore。LetussupposethatthisisthecaseinGermanywithcloth。BeforehertradewithEnglandcommenced，when10yardsofclothcostherasmuchlabouras20