56 Capital and Labour. Work and Wages 



It is a well-known fact that in every trade there are 

 different rates of wages for different kinds of work; 

 indeed two men may be paid different rates for the 

 same kind of work. Thus a carpenter is paid more than 

 a farm labourer, although the latter may work longer 

 hours than the former; and it often happens that of 

 two mechanics working on the same job, one will 

 receive higher wages than the other. 



Now to understand why these things happen we 

 have to bear in mind that work will be paid for only 

 when there is a demand for it. Then work which can 

 be done only by a few people will be paid for at a higher 

 rate than work which can be done equally well by a 

 large number of people. These two rules about work 

 are of the utmost importance for all who have to settle 

 the way in which they are to get their living. It is 

 not enough to work hard and to work well in order to 

 earn a living; a man must consider whether what he 

 is learning to do is what somebody else wants done. 

 If that class of labour is not wanted, then the worker 

 will never get his living by it. 



Nearly every one can do easy work, but only a few 

 can do work that is difficult, or disagreeable, or danger- 

 ous. And so it comes about that the more difficult, 

 or disagreeable, or dangerous the work may be, the 

 higher will be the wages. This is because the work can 

 be done only by a few people, and so they are better paid 

 for this work than those who do work which can be 

 done by a great number of people. 



A little thought about these rules will help us to 

 understand the low wages earned by agricultural 

 labourers. Hand- work is generally paid for at a lower 

 rate than head-work, because there are more people 



