WADAI 



6120 



WAGES 



Waco is well provided with educational insti- 

 tutions. Its schools include Baylor University 

 (Baptist), Paul Quinn College (African Meth- 

 odist Episcopal), the Academy of the Sa. 

 Heart (Roman Catholic) and the Texas Chris- 

 tian University. Other prominent features are 

 a city natatorium, a Federal building, a county 

 courthouse and a Carnegie Library. The me- 

 dicinal character of the water obtained from 

 numerous artesian wells has made the city a 

 health resort. Cotton growing, general farm- 

 ing and sheep and cattle raising are the indus- 

 tries of the surrounding territory. The city has 

 woolen and cottonseed-oil mills, bottling works, 

 cotton compresses, foundries and machine 

 shops, and manufactories of lumber and iron 

 products, saddles and harness, clothing, tents 

 and awnings and packing-house products. 

 Waco was organized in 1849, and was incorpo- 

 rated the following year. 



WADAI, wah'di, a territory of North-Central 

 Africa, annexed to the French Congo in 1909. 

 The total area is about 170,000 square miles, 

 and the population is estimated at 2,000,000. 

 It lies between Lake Chad, Kamerun and Ni- 

 geria on the west and Anglo-Egyptian Sudan 

 on the east. The inhabitants are chiefly Arabs 

 and half-castes, dominated by a race of Mabas, 

 noted for pride, cruelty, drunkenness and love 

 of barbaric display. The prevailing religion is 

 Mohammedanism. 



The surface is principally desert, but there 

 are many fertile oases (see OASIS) and some 

 large forests. The country suffers greatly from 

 drought, and in the dry season drinking water 

 can only be obtained from wells dug to a depth 

 of 200 to 300 feet. Large herds of elephants 

 roam the forests, and ostriches abound on the 

 northern plain; quantities of ivory and ostrich 

 feathers are exported. The natives raise horses, 

 cattle, sheep and goats. The chief products of 

 the arable land are maize, millet, cotton and 

 indigo. The capital is Abeshr, whence desert 

 caravan routes cross the Sahara to Bengazi 

 and Khartum. 



WAGER, iva'jer, from a Latin word vadium. 

 meaning pledge, is a term applied to money 

 staked on the uncertain outcome of some ques- 

 tion or event. This money goes to the person 

 who most nearly foretells the result. In many 

 countries, including the United States, contracts 

 and agreements of the sort are not legal, and 

 money lost or won by such terms cannot be 

 secured by law; this makes a wager a debt oj 

 honor, its fulfillment depending entirely on the 

 honesty of the persons involved. A wager is 



a bet; wagering on the outcome of baseball 

 games, elections and other events of national 

 interest seems to increase in popularity. 



WAGES, wa 1 jez, in the study of economics, 

 is the share of labor in the distribution of the 

 products of industry. Modern production in- 

 volves land, capital and labor ; the payment for 

 the first is rent; for the second, interest; for 

 the third, wages. In everyday language wages 

 usually means the money which one man re- 

 ceives for working for another. Economics, 

 however, considers that all men are working to- 

 gether to make things for each other. If cer- 

 tain men make furniture, their wages consist, 

 not merely in the money which they are paid, 

 but in what they can buy with that money of 

 the food, clothing and other necessities and 

 comforts which other men produce. A man 

 does not have to be employed by another to 

 earn wages; if he works in a business of his 

 own, part of the return it brings him is wages. 

 Importance of Subject. The study of wages 

 is important to the world because it will help 

 to remedy whatever injustice may exist in the 

 distribution of the world's wealth. If those 

 who attempt to better the position of the 

 poorly-paid classes do so without a knowledge 

 of the economics of wages, their efforts may 

 result in confusion. 



What Regulates Wages. The value of any 

 article and in economics labor is considered an 

 article depends upon how much it is wanted 

 in comparison with other articles. The value 

 of labor depends on its supply as compared 

 with the supply of land and capital. In a war 

 men and capital are destroyed; after the war 

 land is less valuable because there are fewer 

 men to want it and they have less capital with 

 which to exploit it ; labor, on the other hand, is 

 more valuable because there are fewer men to 

 do the work of the nation, and capital is more 

 .valuable because there is less of it to use. To 

 illustrate further, it may be supposed that a 

 farmer has money to use in increasing the out- 

 put of his farm ; he can buy more land or more 

 machinery (which is capital), or he can hire 

 more men. If the supply of labor is plentiful, 

 he will probably hire more men, but if labor is 

 scarce, he will invest in land or machinery. 



Under natural conditions a man's wages will 

 in the long run equal the product which he 

 adds to the world by his presence. This does 

 not mean that he will get all that he produces. 

 If the number of men in the world is doubled, 

 the product of labor will not be doubled unless 

 land and capital are also increased, so the 



