210 HISTORY OF THE WHEEL AND ALLIANCE. 



recognized as a form of labor, and labor as the source and 

 creator of capital. As it is, however, growing divergence 

 and conflict characterize the relations of these two forces. 

 A few words can outline the cause of this disturbance. In 

 the course of two decades the wealth of the country has 

 increased to such an extent as to become the marvel of the 

 world. But not only has this accumulation of wealth not 

 been accompanied by a corresponding improvement in the 

 condition of the toilers, but during the past five or six 

 years, wages in many instances have fallen. This reduc- 

 tion has forced women and children from their homes to 

 take part in the struggle for existence, thus still further 

 intensifying the strife of competition. 



"It must be remembered that labor is hired by capital ; 

 that apart from organization it has no governing power 

 over its wages, no vgice in the control and management of 

 business; no ownership in the means of production; it is 

 simply hired by capital, and its abundance or scarcity 

 determines its market value. Now this is the condition of 

 labor. Let us see what are the industrial conditions. 

 During the past twenty-five years machinery has multiplied 

 until its productive power here and in England is equal to 

 the working power of a thousand million men. This new 

 force that has been thrown into industrial life if owned 

 wholly by capital, and acting under the law of demand and 

 supply is in direct opposition to the interests of labor. For 

 whenever the supply of labor exceeds to any great extent 

 the demand and men compete for work, wages must fall. 



* ' This is what political economists call the ' ' iron law 

 of wages. " They saw that the natural increase of popu- 

 lation would under the competitive system make the 

 supply of labor greater than the demand and that the re- 

 sult would be increasing concentration of wealth, and the 

 keeping of wages down to the mere point of subsist- 

 ence. That this is the tendency of the present wage 



