pHoceedings of section g. 475 



take place in the selling price of commodities, generally, and the 

 purchasing power of the wage-earner or consumer would, in this 

 way, be 210 greater than at first. 



The barren result referred to must inevitably happen unless 

 such increase in cost of labour services be accompanied by a corre- 

 sponding increase in the effectiveness of the producers, and a cor- 

 responding increase in the volume of products. 



The general "standard of living" of the people, as a whole, 

 can only be raised by cheapening the cost of commodities by still 

 further improvements in labour-saving machinery, and allied 

 natural forces. It cannot be too strongly asserted that the much 

 higher " standard of living " which all classes of labour enjoy 

 at the present time, as compared Avith the labourer of 60 years 

 ago, is mainly due to the increasing command, which, during the 

 last century, man has obtained over the forces of nature. Within 

 the period referred to, steam, electricity, and other inventions and 

 improvements in man's auxiliary labour-saving machinery, which 

 has multiplied man's muscular forces in the production, transport, 

 and manufacture of necessaries and satisfactions, from ten to 

 twelve times the force, and in some cases many hundred fold. In 

 proportion as these auxiliaries have increased in the production ol 

 any one product or service, the amount of physical labour engaged 

 in its production has decreased individually. Within the wonder- 

 ful reign of Queen Victoria the day's labour-time, per se, in Eng- 

 land, has been reduced about 25 per cent., while the wages of 

 labour has, on the average, increased by 50 per cent. It is to 

 the liberation of labour, formerly necessary to produce the barest 

 essentials of life, that we are now indebted for the vast category of 

 new comforts and satisfactions, the attainment of which was utterly 

 impossible to the mass of human beings when the production of 

 food alone — the great primary industry — absorbed nearly the whole 

 force of man's muscular efforts, and his time. 



Notwithstanding any former reference to the difficulty which 

 confronts the raising of either "the standard of living" or of 

 increasing ' ' the purchasing power ' ' of the wage-earner by the 

 arbitrary raising of "nominal wages" alone, I am quite ready 

 to admit that an arbitrary increase to nominal wages, if restricted 

 to a few industries, might increase both the nominal and the 

 real wages (i.e., the purchasing power) of wage-earners belonging 

 to these trades; but in all such cases it would be obtained by a 

 proportionate decrease of the purchasing power, or real wages, of 

 every other class in the community who were obliged to pur- 

 chase the products, so enhanced in price, of the various indus- 

 tries which succeeded in having the nominal wages so raised. 



I am also not only ready to admit that if the arbitrary in- 

 crease of the " minimum wage " be restricted to the more poorly- 

 paid industrial w^orkers, it would have my fullest sympathy and 

 support, and I am also of opinion that, in raising their standard 

 of living thereby, it would not only be practicable but, ultimately, 



