40 PROCEEDINGS OP THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



2. Given a certain product, what quantity will go to the landowner^ 

 tiie capitalist, and the labourer 1 This is the question to be solved 

 that we may determine wages. 



Ultimate analysis will show that the division of the product is 

 either for land or for labour. 



To determine the distribution of the product we must have regard 

 to the following considerations : 



1. Competition of labourers amongst themselves. Labourers are 

 moveable, hence within areas in which competition is eflfective, wages 

 are equal among labourers of the same class. 



2. Competition of landowners amongst themselves. Land is in- 

 movable, hence the values differ enormously, all the way from nothing 

 in rural districts to fifty or one hundred thousand dollars per acre 

 per annum in cities. 



3. Competition of labourers against landowners. Labourex's in- 

 crease, land does not. Increase of labourers increases their competi- 

 tion, rents rise at the expense of wages. 



4. Relative power of landower and labourer in determining a bar- 

 gain. Labourers must have access to land or die ; this dependence is 

 absolute. The dependence of the landowner is determined only by 

 the necessity of maintaining the labourer alive. Hence unskilled 

 labour has ever had to be content to accept a bare subsistence. The 

 fulcrum is placed so that the advantage is altogether with the land- 

 owner. Strikes, as at present conducted, do nothing to remove that 

 fulcrum in favour of the labourer. 



Mr. Murray criticized the principles advanced by Mr. 

 Douglas, contending that rent had not increased but dimin- 

 ished ; that wages had not diminished this century, and that 

 the rich are not becoming richer and the poor poorer. He 

 declared that wages must be a matter of free agreement be- 

 tween employer and employ^. 



Dr. Bryce questioned the statement that the amount of 

 wages earned, when land produces no rent, is the measure of 

 the wage-fund. 



Mr. Browning controverted the position that wages diminish 

 as wealth and population increase, and that the statistics show 

 the contrary. 



