WAGES AND EMPIRE 



PART I— WAGES 



CHAPTER I 



The circumstances which govern wages have hitherto 

 not been determined. The popular view for the 

 moment is that wages are related to profits, that when 

 profits are good wages can be high, and when profits 

 are bad wages must be low. If this is so, then the 

 investigation ought to be carried further, and the 

 circumstances that determine profits should be ascer- 

 tained. As it is, the belief that wages depend upon 

 profits does not solve the problem of wages, but 

 merely removes it one stage further away and leaves 

 it unsolved. 



No enlightenment as to the causes which determine 

 wages is to be had from the political economy books. 

 Each one goes its own way and gives its own account 

 of the matter. The first view of political economy 

 was that wages are determined by the amount necessary 

 to keep the workmen alive. This view was based on 

 the state of Europe, which then had a population too 

 great to be supported by its resources, men therefore 

 being glad to labour in order to obtain sufficient just 

 to keep them alive. A rate of wages based on mere 

 subsistence obtains to this day in countries that possess 

 populations greater than their resources. It is true 



