PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION G. 



4©9 



pensive families (a) who furnish a necessary part of the sup- 

 ply of labour in that country, class, or industry, as shown in 

 the following diagram." 



(a) By the most expensive families it is not meant the 

 most expensive single family, but the most ex- 

 pensive ten or twenty per cent, of the class whose 

 labor is required. 



Illustration of Gunton's Diagram (siigktiy modified). 



Individual Bieadwinncr 

 of Class. 



(A) maximum 



(B) 



(C) 



(D) 



(E) 



(F) least expensive 



Standard Xominal 



Wages. 



(Dollars.) 



Surplus (Equivalent 

 to Economit 

 Wage -rent). 

 (Cents.) 



Nil 

 5 

 10 

 15 

 20 

 25 



In support of this conception of the true Economic Law of 

 Wages, Mr. Gunton makes the following observations: — 



" The reason wages in any class or industry are thus 

 adjusted to the standard of living of the most expensive 

 families is exactly the same as that which causes the price 

 of commodities to be adjusted to the cost of producing the 

 most expensive portion of the supply . . . ." If two dol- 

 lars per day is the minimum amount upon which a certain 

 portion of a given class of labourers can or will consent 

 peaceably to live, then that amount must be paid them in 

 order to obtain their labour. What the most expensive por- 

 tion of a given class must receive (adults) the others may 

 and will receive. We know that the general rate of wages 

 in the same industry and locality is nearly uniform. 



We know, for instance, that spinners, shoemakers, car- 

 penters, bricklayers, &c., working in the same shop or fac- 

 tory, or the same job, get the same rate of wages for work 

 at their respective trades, whether they are single or mar- 

 ried, have large or small families, or live more or less econo- 

 mically than their fellow labourers. We also know, for 

 reasons already given, that the most expensive among them 

 must" obtain for his services what will supply his family with 

 what they regard as necessities. What will be sufficient to 

 supply the urgent necessities of the most expensive portion 

 of any class of labourers, to induce them to continue work, 



