226 Mi'olution of tlie Wages System. 



stipulated it becomes less contingent and accidental. To 

 the extent th^t this ocfcurs, material substance becomes 

 more certain and less precarious, which is the first step 

 towards social and intellectual development. So long as 

 the laborer's living is uncertain, he is in a more or less con- 

 stant state of anxiety and suspense which tends to make 

 progress in the higher phases of social life impossible. 

 Certainty of a living is the first condition to social ad- 

 vancement. 



Another feature of the wages system is that it concen- 

 trates laborers and specializes their occupations. This is 

 regarded as gne of the worst features of the wages system, 

 whereas it is in truth one of the best. By concentrating 

 the laborers, it forces them into closer and more frequent 

 intercourse with each other, which is indispensable to any 

 appreciable degree of social development. Nothing can 

 develop man's intelligence, character and freedom but con- 

 tact with his fellow-man. It was because the free cities 

 supplied this element that they were the nurseries of 

 progress. It is true that in subdividing and specializing 

 industry, the laborers become more and more a fractional 

 part of the productive process. But instead of this being 

 a disadvantage it is a positive advantage. With the 

 specialization of labor, laborers become more and more 

 interdependent upon each other, as for instance, in the 

 ordinary factory to-day one laborer cannot work unless 

 they all work. The effect of this is to make the laborers 

 all have a common interest. The prosperity of one is the 

 prosperity of all. 



Whatever welds people into a class, socializes them; 

 and whatever socializes man expands and develops him. In 

 proportion as men become interdependent with their fellow- 

 men they become interested in them. In proportion as this 

 process of social differentiation increases, our interests 

 and sympathies broaden, our altruism is developed and the 

 welfare of our neighbor becomes identical with our own. 

 So long as man can succeed without the aid of his fellow- 

 men he will remain indifferent to his neighbor's welfare. 

 The only way to insure that man Avill help his neighbor is to 

 make his neighbor's well-being necessary to his own. Tliis 

 is precisely what the wages system does. It takes tlie 

 laborer from his isolated hand-loom or cobbler's bench, or 



