8oo AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



the cost and the utility theories of value are true. Cost seems to be 

 the cause of value, but is in reality a measure rather than a cause. 

 The rate of wages may be expressed in terms either of marginal 

 productivity or of the standard of life, but the positive force is pro- 

 ductivity. 



The standard of life, however, is of exceedingly great importance. 

 It often serves as a dyke to prevent for a time at least the inundation 

 of the field. With ordinary commodities, a newcomer who can produce 

 the same goods at lower cost will reduce the price. To the ordinary 

 producer low cost of product means high gains; to the laborer low 

 cost of the product, that is, low wages, means low gains. It is only 

 where the newcomers are habituated to a lower standard and where 

 the exigencies of the situation force them to accept the smallest sum 

 the employers will give, that the realdifficulty arises. Thus women's 

 wages are frequently lower than men's, not only because in some 

 occupations women produce less than men, but also because, even 

 where the product is the same, the woman's standard of life is lower 

 in that she is generally not the support of the family and is often 

 not entirely dependent on her earnings. In the same way the immi- 

 grant receives lower wages than the native workman, not only because 

 his contribution to the product is frequently less through ignorance 

 or lack of skill, but because his standard of life is so much lower that 

 he will be willing to work for less at least until he becomes educated 

 up to the new standard of life. 



255. THE LABORER'S SHARE IN DISTRIBUTION 1 

 BY A. W. FLUX 



We have now to consider the application of the principles devel- 

 oped in the general discussion of value to the special case of labor, that 

 is to say, to study the problem of wages. In doing so, we have, as in 

 the preceding chapters, to give our attention to the demand and supply 

 sides of the problem in turn. We take up first the demand side. 

 What can an employer afford to pay for labor? The obvious and 

 direct answer is, As much as the labor is worth and no more. This, 

 however, requires closer examination. 



Labor is generally associated with capital and land in production, 

 and we need to form a conception of the value of the contribution to 



1 Adapted from Economic Principles, pp. 118-30, 134. (Used by permission 

 of the publishers, E. P. Dutton & Co.) 



