130 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 



dition a, but not to condition ji. In the first case equilibrium is 

 thoroughly indeterminate (op. cit. p. 46). In the second case the 

 employers competing against each other can beat down profits to a 

 determinate point (the point rj^ in fig. 1 on p. 28, the point T in fig. 5 

 on p. 114 op. cit.). But when a start is made at a point more favour- 

 able than that to the men, the competition of the men against each other 

 (owing to condition a) being imperfect, there does not exist a deter- 

 minate position towards which the higgling of the market will tend. It 

 may be presumed that this conclusion remains true of the concrete 

 labour market in which condition a is almost universally fulfilled. 



10. par. 2. On the utilitarian principle of distribution, in the absence 

 of perfect competition, I may refer toi what I have said in the Economic 

 Journal, 1897, p. 552, and to my lectui'e on ' The Eelations of Political 

 Economy to War,' p. 15 et seq. 



11. PlatO' hardly commits himself ('Eepublic,' 455d) to the state- 

 ment too roundly attributed to him by Grote ' that women were inferior ■ 

 toi men in weaving no less than in other things.' But no doubt he 

 considered them tO' be generally less efficient : tnl noLai Ss iadzviarepo^ 

 yuVY) 6cvScO(;. 



11 (bis). Professor Cannan, in his important contribution tO' our 

 subject (' Wealth,' p. 202 et seq.), realises the difficulty of comparing 

 the earnings of a children's nurse with those oi her brother in his 

 occupation of, say, carting coal. Professor Cannan appears to regard 

 as possible what I have described as probable, that even if all restrictions 

 on entry into occupations and on education were removed, the field 

 within which women show themselves superior to men would continue 

 to be smaller than that in which men show themselves superior tOj 

 women (loc. cit. p. 205 — the smaller capacity implied in this statement 

 may be ' in part the explanation ' of the present lower wages of 

 women). 



12. With respect to the presumption that, even if all restrictions! 

 were removed, the (time-) earnings of women would no^rmally be lesal 

 than those of men, some specific evidence is forthcoming in the casql 

 of the cotton-weaving industiy — a strong case if women are particularlyj 

 well qualified for that work. Yet even in that industry, ' though the 

 earnings are computed on the same table of piece-work prices, the men 

 average more per week than the women ' (Mrs. Sidney Webb, Newi 

 Statesman, August 1914, p. 525). This statement is borne out by the 

 ' Eeport on Earnings and Hours ' [Cmd. 45451 , 1906, where the 

 average weekly earnings for men are stated to be "29s., for womer 

 18s. 8d. (p. xxxv). 



14. With reference to ' secondary ' differences between the sexes, 

 Mr. J. H. Jones's observations on the ' potentiality ' of the worker! 

 (' Eeport on Women in Industry ' [Cmd. 167] , p. 185, col. 1) arel 

 instractive. Tliey show that ' equal pay [in our sense] would mearl 

 to the employer a higher piece-rate for the man than the woman forj 

 precisely the same job . . . economic value is not always fully repre- 

 sented in the actual product from week to week.' 



14 (bis). With respect to the two systems whereby secondaiy" 

 differences can be allowed for, either two separate rates for men and 



