STATE PAPERS. 



285 



tfenrls (as it always must tend) to 

 employ the portion it distributes 

 less profitably than it would have 

 been, if left to the interested su- 

 perintendence of its owners, it 

 cannot fail, by thus diniinibhing 

 the funds which would otherwise 

 have been applicable to the main- 

 tenance of labour, to place the 

 whole body of labourers in a worse 

 situation than that in which they 

 Avould otherwise have been placed. 



2dly. The effects of hoUling out 

 to the labouring conununity, tliat 

 all who require it shall be provid- 

 ed with work at adecjuate wages, 

 is such as to lead them to foim 

 false vievvs of the circumstances 

 in which they are likely to be 

 placed. As the demand for lab(mr 

 depends alsolutely on the amount 

 of the wealth which constitutes its 

 sup])ort, so tiie rate of wages can 

 only be adjusted by the proportion 

 that demand bears to the supply. 

 Now it is on the greater or less 

 degree of nicety in which that 

 supply is adjusted to the demand, 

 that the happiness of the labour- 

 ing classes absolutely depends. 



If the demand for labour in- 

 creases faster than the supply, 

 high wages are the natural result ; 

 labourers are enabled to provide 

 better for their children ; a larger 

 proportion of those born are rear- 

 ed ; the burthen, too, of a large 

 family is rendered lighter ; and in 

 this manner the marriage and 

 niultiplicaticm of labourers are 

 encouraged, and an increasing 

 supply is enabled to follow an in- 

 creased demand. Jf, on the con- 

 trary, the wa>ite or diminution of 

 wealth should reduce the demand 

 for labour, wages must inevitably 

 fall, and the comforts of the la- 

 bourer will be diminisheil, the 



marriage and multiplication dis- 

 couraged until the supply is gra- 

 dually adapted to the lechiced de- 

 mand. It is obvious, that the 

 condition of a country, whilst 

 this latter course is in progiess, 

 must be jjainful ; but it is more or 

 less so according to tiie degree in 

 wliich the foresight of the indus- 

 trious classes might have prepared 

 them for such a re\erse. The 

 habits and customs of the labour- 

 ing classes in different countries 

 must in a great degree depend 

 on the circumstances which, by 

 affecting the demand for la- 

 bour, regulate the condition in 

 which they are content to exist. 

 Hut where prudent habits are 

 established, they avail themselves 

 of a high rate of wages, to better 

 their condition, rather than great- 

 ly to increase their number?. In 

 England a laboiuer would not, 

 fornurly, have thought himself 

 justified in marrying unless he 

 had the means of providing him- 

 self with many things which in 

 other countries wovild have been 

 deemed unnecessary luxuries. In 

 a state similar to this, if the la- 

 bouring classes are met by a fall 

 in wages, they will always have 

 something to spare, which will 

 assist in mitigating any difiiculties 

 to which they may be exposed. 



Though it is by contemplating 

 the possibility of a reverse that 

 they can alone be stimulated to 

 prepare for it, it is, unfortunately, 

 far less difficult to induce men to 

 neglect all such pieparation : by 

 holding out to the labouring 

 classes, tliat they shall at all times 

 be provided with adequate em- 

 ployment, they are led to believe 

 they have nothing to dread while 

 they are willing to labour. The 



supply 



