248 LAND AND LABOR. 



those manufacturers would build better than they 

 knew. 



Let that principle be applied in all pursuits, and 

 the result would be that at once there would be 

 double the number of persons earning wages that 

 there is now. For it would require just twice the 

 number, working six hours a day, to supply the 

 present demands of society than it does now when 

 working twelve. There being twice the number earn- 

 ing wages, there would be double the number with 

 incomes to invest in products for consumption. It is 

 certain that wages would be increased, because the 

 competition among workmen for employment would 

 be destroyed, and instead there would at once be a 

 competition among employers for workmen, compel- 

 ling an increase in wages. Prices of commodities 

 would also rise, and everything would advance in 

 unison. 



The great result would be that the doubling of the 

 number of wage earning working men and women 

 would at least double the number of consumers ; 

 whilst the advance in wages would have the effect of 

 more than doubling the volume of trade and trans- 

 portation and the profits arising therefrom. 



We would no longer be compelled to seek foreign 

 markets for our products, because our increased home 

 consumption would require all that could be produced. 

 The empty stomachs would be filled ; the half naked 

 backs would be warmly clothed ; the barren, naked, 

 cheerless dwellings, through the operations of trade, 

 would be comfortably furnished ; the naked floors 

 would be covered ; the wide staring windows would 



