BY B. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S. 



221 



assumption on my part, the truth of which may afterwards 

 be discussed on its own merits.* 



X— Well, let us for the present admit this important 

 assumption on your part, it still remains to be proved that no 

 benefits would accrue to wage-earners if the nominal incomes 

 of all the services of breadwinners, were equally increased. 



B.—Yes, that is the point I desire to prove. But you must 

 also bear in mind that it is the mere raising of the nominal 

 rates of wages or incomes I refer to ; for if by raising the rate 

 of wages we could also correspondingly increase the number 

 or actual quantity of products, my argument would completely 

 fall to the ground. 



^i.—Yes, I perceive this, but I cannot myself see any indi- 

 cation of increased energy on the part _ of the great body of 

 workmen who have had their wages raised. 



B.—l am glad you admit this, for I can assure that so far 

 as my business is concerned the amount of work performed 

 per hour per man upon the whole remains unchanged. 



J..— May not, however, the indirect effects of the improved 

 condition of your workmen— giving them greater opportunities 

 for self - improvement and greater power to improve the 

 education of their children— result indirectly in promoting the 

 spread of a higher culture and intelligence, and by this means 

 increase the agencies at work which promote invention and 

 discovery, and so multiply man's power over natural forces. 

 For if this should be the outcome, our experience in the past 

 shows that the satisfactions of life might be increased 

 indefinitely without an additional tax upon the labourer s 

 physical efforts or time, and without a very much larger 

 expenditure of his income towards labour-saving instruments. 



B.—l do not deny that something of this may be expected, 

 Providing the rise in wages is not general ; but under any 

 circumstances it must be infinitesimal ; for invention and 

 discovery spring from the individual mind, and have very 

 little to do with the material condition of the individual, 

 or a more comfortable state of life. The phrase, " Necessity 

 is the mother of invention," has not come to be quoted as 

 a world-wide phrase without some broad show of' reason 

 and truth; and this certainly does not encourage us in 

 expecting a larger crop of inventors or discoverers from those 

 whose condition has become more comfortable. 



A. — This may be true, but surely you must admit that a 

 greater spread of intelligence must broaden the sources from 

 "which inventive genius springs. 



B.~ Again, I repeat that I do not deny that this may have 

 some influence ; but I fear the mere attainment of a more 



*See Monopoly of the Gifts of Nature (" Boot Matters "—First series, pp. 31, 32). 



