176 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XI. No. 271 



rich, certainly not of certain products. But here, again, Mr. Gun- 

 ton asks, "Why?" The obvious answer is, "Because they have 

 not the means." But will any one claim that the workmg-classes 

 consume all they would if they had the means ? Surely not. There 

 may be some so lowthat they could make no use of any thing more 

 than they have, but this is hardly conceivable. With scarcely an 

 exception, they want much which they cannot have because they have 

 not the means to purchase it. But their means consist wholly in 

 their wages. To increase their wages is to supply their wants. 

 This is all they think of. But the employer is apt to look at the 

 question as though all money paid for labor beyond the minimum 

 possible would be hoarded in the cellar and lost to industry. This 

 view, tacitly shared by the economists, is obviously false. What is 

 supplying wants to the laborer is furnishing a market to the manu- 

 facturer or the farmer. The vast number of laborers, and the certain- 

 ty that all increase of wages will be expended and not hoarded, 

 make even the smallest general rise in wages an important stimulus 

 to production. It expands the market for all classes of products. 

 Statistics show that periods of high wages have uniformly been 

 periods of increased production, and increased production means 

 prosperity to the manufacturer; i.e., profits rise as wages rise. 



Time fails me to elaborate this important principle as it has been 

 done in Mr. Gunton's book, and I can only recommend those inter- 

 ested to read his argument for themselves. From this, however, as 

 the fundamental theorem, a large number of new and striking 

 truths, most of them in the nature of paradoxes, arise. Only a few 

 of them can be considered here. One of them is that prices fall as 

 wages rise. This is maintained by Mr. Gunton, in face of his gen- 

 eral law that the price is determined by the cost of production. 

 Surely one would suppose that the cost of production would be 

 greater if the cost of lab(5r were increased. Just here lies the para- 

 dox. Doubtless this would be true for an isolated case, but it 

 would not where the rise of wages was on a large scale. The 

 reason is, that, with the increase of wages, the market is increased 

 and production is increased. As the production was at the mini- 

 mum for existing methods before, the increased production must 

 now be brought about by an improvement in the methods ; i.e., by 

 introduction of improved machinery. This always lessens the cost 

 of production ; and this, according to the law above stated, will 

 sooner or later compel a reduction in the prices of commodities thus 

 more cheaply produced. 



Another of these statements which Mr. Gunton claims to estab- 

 lish by statistics is, that rents rise with wages. 



One would naturally suppose that rent, as the price paid for 

 lodgings or business-offices, or space to build or work upon, or for 

 agricultural purposes, would follow the law of prices, and fall as 

 wages rose. Mr. George virtually asserted this in maintaining that 

 the rent was taken out of wages, so that the higher the rent the 

 lower the wages. But Mr. Gunton shows, that, as rents have risen, 

 wages have risen ; that the highest wages are paid where the high- 

 est rents are charged, i.e., in cities ; and that the lowest of all wages 

 are received by those who pay no rent, but occupy the soil without 

 let or hindrance. The argument is scarcely fair, and the truth seems 

 to be, that, as wages rise higher, rents will be paid, but better tene- 

 ments will be occupied ; so that the case is on a par with the last, 

 that increase of wages increases consumption, which is seen in bet- 

 ter habitations, the same as in better clothes and furniture. 



But perhaps the most important of Mr. Gunton's conclusions 

 are those relating to the hours of labor. Two of these may be 

 briefly considered. One of these is that a reduction of hours tends 

 to increase production. 



This, perhaps, sounds more paradoxical than any of the preced- 

 ing propositions. Surely one would naturally suppose that there 

 would be more produced in ten hours than in eight. Not so. The 

 laborer remains a consumer the same after as before the reduction. 

 Unless new machinery is introduced, the sarne amount of labor will 

 be required after the reduction as before : hence a larger number 

 of laborers must be employed. These, in the present condition of 

 society, are always to be had. The number of able-bodied persons 

 constantly seeking or out of employment is equal to one-fifth of 

 the whole. These unemployed persons would at once find employ- 

 ment. While unemployed, the amount consumed by them is at an 

 absolute minimum. As soon as they begin to receive wages, they 



begin to consume more, and thus the demand for various kinds 

 of commodities is increased. This demand is sure to be supplied 

 by increased production, which will be secured by the introduction 

 of improved machinery if it cannot be done otherwise. 



But this is not the only way in which a reduction of the hours of 

 labor works the increase of production. By affording a little leisure 

 to the workingman, it gives him a taste, or rather an opportunity 

 to indulge taste already possessed, for certain elements of culture 

 and social refinements, which he will then begin to demand, and 

 which will be accordingly supplied by the general law of demand 

 and supply, which supply consists in increased production. But, 

 assuming that all his earnings were previously expended on neces- 

 sities, this would be impossible, and hence arises a final paradox 

 that the reduction of hours tends to increase wages. 



But for the foregoing explanations this would be strange enough. 

 Whenever there is a demand for a reduction of hours, it is always 

 met by the reply, that, in the state of business, it can only be granted 

 on condition that wages be correspondingly reduced. And this 

 would doubtless be necessary with many isolated industries, at least 

 at the outset. A reduction of hours is considered equivalent to an 

 increase of wages. But a general reduction of hours, continued 

 long enough to have its natural and final effect upon society and 

 upon industry, will create an increased demand for all classes of 

 comm.odities requiring the introduction of improved machinery for 

 their production, thus cheapening the cost of production, increasing 

 the profits of the manufacturer, and enabling him to pay higher 

 wages and still enjoy greater profits. This, under free competition, 

 he will be compelled to do, and will do in harmony with the eco- 

 nomic laws of society. 



Without further argument of these several propositions, I will 

 close this paper with a single comment. If any considerable part 

 of what is claimed is true, it proves in a most conclusive manner 

 what I have so often insisted upon, — that to the power of produc- 

 tion there is practically no limit, and that all that is needed to place in 

 the possession of every member of society every object of his most 

 cherished desire is the power to purchase it. \'ery few indeed are 

 there who possess, or can possess, every purchasable object of de- 

 sire. The present production of industrial society would not be 

 equal to a tenth, probably not a hundredth, of what would be con- 

 sumed if every one could supply at will eveiy proper and legitimate 

 want of his nature. It is therefore useless to talk of increasing pro- 

 duction except by the increase of the power to consume. This is 

 demand in its true economic sense, — the demand which will be 

 supplied by the natural operation of industrial laws. We have 

 therefore narrowed down the great economic problem to the one 

 single point of how to enable the members of society to secure for 

 an equivalent the objects which they desire to consume. Mr. Gun- 

 ton has sounded the keynote of the solution of this problem in de- 

 manding increased wages and reduced hours of labor for the great 

 consuming class of workingmen, — in popular phrase, the ' toiling 

 millions.' It remains for other economic philosophers to show how 

 this principle can be extended to include all mankind. 



ELECTRICAL SCIENCE. 



Electric Tramways in Great Britain. 



The paper on the Bessbrook and Newry tramway, read by Dr. 

 Hopkinson before the Institute of Civil Engineers, has brought for- 

 ward some valuable information as to the status of electric tram- 

 ways in Great Britain. Last year there were eight tramways oper- 

 ated by electricity in Great Britain. The longest is 6 miles ; the 

 shortest, J of a mile ; the average being 2j miles. The power for 

 the two shortest of these is from gas ; for two of the longest, from 

 water; for the rest, from steam. The electricity is transmitted by 

 rails, — in some cases specially insulated central or side rails, — or 

 accumulators are carried on the cars ; the overhead system so gen- 

 erally adopted in this country and in Germany being in no case 

 used. 



The Bessbrook and Newry line is 3} miles long, with an average 

 gradient of i in 86, a maximum gradient of i in 50. The condi- 

 tions are, that ten trains run in each direction per day for a daily 

 traffic of TOO tons each way, and a maximum capacity of 200 tons 

 per day, in addition to the passenger traffic. The electrical loco- 



