THE TIME-LABOUR SYSTEM 129 



than another and yet be quite undecided what price you will 

 give for either. 



Again, this question may be looked at from a purely practical 

 point of view. Let us try to imagine a competition in excel- 

 lence used to settle wages in a case where men of equal merit 

 will not undersell one another. A man shall come forward and 

 say, ' I am worth a shilling a week more than you are giving the 

 hands generally ; give it me or I leave.' Let us suppose that 

 the master admits it and grants his advance, then comes the 

 effect on the mind of his mates. If the man is really, obviously 

 better, and the men are just, they acquiesce ; but then he will 

 have done absolutely nothing towards changing the rate of 

 wages for men of other degrees of merit. If a hundred or a 

 thousand men so improve themselves as to get this advance, they 

 would not have changed the wages of the workmen who possess 

 the former degree of merit. If in sufficient numbers, they might 

 diminish the demand for the other class of labour, and so, 

 indirectly, lower the wages of men of the old average quality, 

 but their demands have done nothing to ascertain by any ten- 

 tative process whether the market is rising or falling. It may 

 indeed be said that masters would be more willing to allow the 

 claim when trade was brisk and less willing when trade was 

 slack, so that by watching how many men got their advance and 

 how many were allowed to leave, the necessary information 

 could be got. When trade was brisk numerous individuals 

 would make their claim and get it allowed and so a market 

 price would be obtained tentatively, but this would be no com- 

 petition in excellence, this would really be a competition 

 between equals, some being willing to remain at the old wages, 

 others not, and this would be the true underselling competition. 

 Moreover, the merit of artisans differs little from a general 

 average, except in a few exceptional cases, and employers know 

 well enough that when the form of payment by wages is 

 adhered to very few men can claim more than the average pay, 

 and very few are employed who are not worth their wages. 

 The better workman makes a better average throughout his life 

 by being employed more constantly, the inferior workman is 

 continually thrown out of work, but this is quite beside our 

 present point. 



VOL. II. K 



