6o WAGES AND EMPIRE 



bringing them in more than the cultivation of inferior 

 land ; while when manufactures are depressed the 

 cultivation of inferior soils at home may afford a better 

 recompense. Country wages in the United Kindom, 

 therefore, take their scale from the demand for labour 

 in the manufactures ; but as the pay in the manufactures 

 is decided by the Continent, in the end continental 

 competition sets the wages of the United Kingdom in 

 agriculture as well. 



Probability of improvement of wages in the United 

 Kingdom. — The condition of the people of the British 

 Islands being determined by that of the populations 

 of the adjacent countries, it becomes a matter of vital 

 interest for them to inquire what the course of events 

 among their neighbours is likely to be. Europe suffers 

 from a lack of land and consequent depression of wages, 

 but progress in science tends to raise the living of the 

 people. On the other hand, expansion in numbers 

 tends to decrease it, and upon the respective strength 

 of the pull of these two forces will depend the state of 

 the popular well-being. Which of these two forces has 

 hitherto prevailed can be ascertained only by a com- 

 parison of the state of Europe at different periods. Such 

 a comparison is set out in Table No. XIV. 



From this table it appears that though the European 

 numbers have greatly increased, the wages of labour 

 have risen. It is impossible to draw from this circum- 

 stance any other conclusion than that the advance of 

 science has not been overwhelmed by the addition to 

 population ; on the contrary, the pace of science must 

 have been greater than that of population, since it has 

 effected an improvement in the condition of the people. 

 There is reason to believe that this state of things will 

 continue. The European rate of increase in numbers 

 is at present not rising ; the evidence points to its 

 diminishing. Science, on the other hand, moves with 



