WAGES 51 



more than a bare livelihood. In each case the state 

 of the town or skilled worker is determined by that of 

 the agricultural labourer, and the state of the latter 

 by the plenty or scarcity of land. Clearly therefore 

 whether, and how far, agriculture has descended 

 governs the living of the workers in the centres of 

 industry. 



The foregoing argument may be summarised as 

 follows : In countries of an abundance of land the 

 workman, as an alternative to the acceptance of un- 

 satisfactory wages, has the opportunity of going to 

 work for himself on land of good quality ; therefore his 

 wages must equal the amount which he could make 

 for himself on good land. 



In congested countries labour dissatisfied with its 

 wages cannot take up good land but must take what is 

 left over. Such land will be of an inferiority propor- 

 tioned to the degree in which population has pressed on 

 the land resources and cultivation has descended. The 

 alternative constrains the workman to accept wages 

 according with what he could make upon land of this 

 sort. On the degree to which cultivation has been 

 pressed down will depend the extent to which the 

 workman's wages are decreased from what they would 

 be if there was no lack of land. 



This manner of nscertaining wages, although it seems 

 to be applicable on'y to the workmen of the land, applies 

 equahy to all classes of labour. It is to production 

 from land that the labour of all men, even of those in 

 the towns, is directed, and it is the product which this 

 joint labour yields that fixes the extent of their Uving. 

 The town worker, can demand no better living than 

 the country worker, and vice versa ; each body reacts 

 upon the other and maintains an equilibrium of pro- 

 portionate rewards for services. When a superiority 

 in any employment temporarily discloses itself the re- 



