100 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 
principle which governs them—namely, that all men must be paid a © 
living wage. The former is easy to understand and works automati- 
cally, though not always satisfactorily. It is important to remember, 
however, that if the law of supply and demand works badly the fault 
lies not with political economy but with ourselves. The fact that 
wages postulate a willing buyer and a willing seller of labour does not 
justify the employer in driving the hardest bargain he can. The inter- 
pretation of this law must be consistent with the higher moral law 
of our duty towards our neighbour, and the many shortcomings in our 
industrial life may, in my opinion, be attributed entirely to the fact 
that we have failed to apply the moral law. It is not the system 
which is wrong, but those who work it—employers, employed, and 
consumers alike; it is the hearts of men that must be changed, 
not the forms of industrial organisation, if we are to cure industrial 
unrest. 
But, if the law of supply and demand is easily intelligible, the 
principle of the living wage has given rise to many controversies. It 
is obvious that a man must be paid at least enough to keep body and 
soul together, otherwise the human race would cease to exist. But 
we mean by a living wage something more than a bare pittance 
sufficient to maintain a man’s physical health at a proper standard. 
This is the criterion for an ox or an ass, not a human being. We 
mean a wage suitable to the development of the physical, moral, and 
intellectual attributes of mankind. This is what Mr. Clynes, one of 
the clearest thinkers in the labour world to-day, means by a living 
wage. He defines it as one which should ensure to the human being 
a condition of life ‘ equal to the expectations and tastes of a civilised © 
population of this age.’ This is an ideal which we should all, I think, 
readily accept. But I must emphasise the point that it is an :deal, 
and that therefore it may not be capable of realisation in all times 
and in all places. Wages, as I have pointed out above, depend on | 
the accumulated wealth of a community, which is obviously greater © 
in times of progress and development than during a period of stagnation 
or retrogression. Clearly, therefore, wages must vary from time to 
time, and it is idle to pretend that any country can guarantee per- 
manently a wage equal to the expectations and tastes of a civilised 
population. We are now living in a period of industrial stagnation, 
following upon one of intense activity. It is inevitable, therefore, that — 
wages should fall. It is inevitable, too, that the wages in one indus- — 
trial country should approximate to those of others where competition — 
for foreign markets is concerned. Unless we have greater natural 
advantages than our foreign rivals, or are more industrious, or have | 
superior mechanical contrivances, we cannot pay higher wages here 
than there, for if we do they wili underquote us and take away our 
foreign trade, which is essential to our existence. And this is just 
what is happening to-day. It is clear, therefore, that a lowered 
standard of civilisation in one country will react disastrously on — 
others, and that if the more fortunate are not willing to lend a helping 
hand to their poorer neighbours they will themselves be dragged down — 
to the same level. Instead of trying to keep Germany under, we ought, 
