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PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 553 
abscissa O b than I lay below it, the length of day most advantageous to the 
operative would be greater than O b. 
If normal hours are O n, the operative who lives for the day, and is aware 
that more work, measured by results, means proportionally more pay, may 
be expected to desire hours longer than O n for the following reasons. The 
product attributable to the O nth increment of working time is greater than 
dn, since d n represents the gain resulting from the O nth increment of 
working time, less the loss occasioned by the reduction which will ultimately 
take place in the productivity of the operative’s earlier hours in conse- 
quence of the addition of the O nth increment of time to the working day. 
For similar reasons the short-period or immediate value of leisure may be 
less than dm. Again, the money measure of the disutility of the O nth 
increment of working time is less than nl, because nl measures the dis- 
utility of the last fraction of time worked, together with the disutility 
which results from the fact that the Onth increment of working time 
diminishes capacity in earlier hours to enjoy labour or sustain fatigue. It 
is, therefore, practically certain that the operative will experience a balance 
of gain from the working of the O nth unit of time, when wages, the value of 
leisure and the feeling involved in the work, are all taken into account, 
while effects on the gain or loss associated with the rest of the working day 
are ignored ; and, further, it is practically certain that a balance of gain 
will continue to result directly from the work of the O nth unit of time if 
the working day be slightly increased, though this balance might be expected 
‘to contract. Hence we must conclude that operatives who are not alive to the 
reactions of long hours on efficiency and capacity to enjoy life and work will 
tend to choose a longer working day than is wise from their point of view. 
However, to repeat, they will not approve such long hours as employers who 
are equally blind to future reactions, because the latter, if purely self- 
interested, make no allowance for the disutility of labour to the operative or 
the utility to him of leisure. 
In the event of progress in methods of production the new position of P 
would be such that the area enclosed between it and the co-ordinate axes 
would be increased. P in its new position might cut O X at 6, but in all 
probability the new intersection with O X would be to the left of b. It is” 
not likely to fall to the right of b, since improvements in the mechanical 
aids of labour seldom mean that work is rendered less exhausting. Even if 
the new curve P passed through b, the new position of I would practically 
mean its intersection with O X to the left of 7 because of the enhanced value 
of leisure. Further, L, though it might rise higher than before would 
probably descend sooner and at least as steeply. It is to be observed in ad- 
dition that but for interest, rent, and heavy depreciation charges, industrial 
progress would bring about movements of P involving more considerable 
augmentation of the area contained between P and the co-ordinate axes. 
Improved education, apart from its effect on efficiency, would bring about 
a subsidence of the curve I, so that in its new position it would cut O X to 
the left of i. The effect wrought by progress on short-period forces need not 
be worked out in detail. The general conclusion is manifest that progress 
may be expected to be accompanied by a progressive curtailment of the 
working day. 
The following Paper was then read :— 
1. The Influence of the Development of Urban Conditions on Public 
Welfare. By A. H. Sreen-Marrnanp. 
In the introductory paragraph the limitations of the paper were defined. 
In Section II. a short description was given of the structure of a great 
English city of the present day, and the nature of the evalution from a 
