102 POLITICAL ECONOMY 



there were openings for a thousand more doctors to-morrow the 

 funds for their education would be found next day ; and again, 

 if the social position of doctors were to fall so that much smaller 

 fees were expected, the profession would be far more numerous 

 than at present. 



It appears, then, that our third law, rigid as it is, only 

 brings us to a point at which once more the feelings of men 

 are the true arbiters of price. The cost of production of labour 

 determines wages, but is itself determined by men's expectation 

 of comfort. 



Are we then to conclude that by simply asking for higher 

 pay men can always obtain it ? By no means. 



The alternative presented to each man is, or might be, work 

 at the present rate or starve. However serious his discontent 

 at his present pay, he may well falter at the alternative ; but 

 if his dissatisfaction be real, he will, at least, refrain from pro- 

 ducing more labour, and thus his discontent will tend to raise 

 the wages as he wished. This is not the old doctrine of simply 

 limiting the number of human beings in order to raise wages, 

 but contains the truth partly taught by the old doctrine. The 

 ultimate effect of the limitation of labour can only be to limit the 

 production of wealth, and the bargain between labour and capital 

 will always, in time, result in driving the labourer back to the 

 lowest standard of comfort at which he will marry ; but if we 

 begin by raising the standard of comfort which our labourer 

 desires, we shall both limit the population and raise the wages. 

 The limitation of population is the intermediate machinery by 

 which the desired end is to be effected, but the motive-power 

 must be sought in individual self-interest or discontent. 



Every action which tends to make the labourer put up with 

 less comfort, or less security, tends to lower his wages. Teach 

 him nothing, so that he wants no books nor other pleasures of 

 the mind. Abolish bodily amusements, so that he expects no 

 pleasures of the body. Accustom him to live like a beast in a 

 hovel ; remove all fear of absolute starvation by a poor-law ; use 

 the same machinery to persuade him that he may, with a good 

 conscience, desert helpless children or old parents ; give him little 

 doles at every pinch, lest he be tempted to rebel ; do all this, 

 and your dull aimless wretch will plod from day to day, expect- 



