LAW IN POLITICS. 391 



Will. The competition between the possessors 

 of capital was a competition not confined to our 

 own country. It was also an international com- 

 petition. In Belgium especially, and in other 

 countries, there was the same rush along the new 

 paths of industry. If the children's hours of labour 

 were curtailed, it would involve of necessity a cur- 

 tailment also of the adult labour, which would not 

 be available when left alone. This would be a 

 curtailment of the working time of the whole mill ; 

 and this would involve a corresponding reduction 

 of the produce. No similar reduction of produce 

 would arise in Foreign mills. In competition with 

 them the margin of profit was already small. 

 The diminution of produce from restricted labour 

 would destroy that margin. Capital would be 

 Hiiven to countries where labour was still free from 

 such restrictions, and the result would be more 

 fatal to the interest of the working classes of the 

 English towns than any of the results arising from 

 the existing hours of work. All these conse- 

 quences were represented as inevitable. They 

 must arise out of the operation of invariable 

 laws. 



