The morning times., 1896-08-23
THE LAW OF WAGES.

The LAW OF WAGES...- 4i.r
We have shown that workers produce
their wages and that the function OF
capital is to facilitate theiro-exchange.
Capital is often represented as the tool
OF labor, and as such 1t Is worn out and
parted with in exchange fol, other products
OF labor, even when no CO. operation, by
means OF trade, takes place between man
and man. ,.f.... d 7....a,.....i. ,...
But In the elaborate forms of modern
production CAPITAL becomes more and m ore
tool OF exchange, .,e
In the construction OF great railroad,
for example, everyone recognizes the
importance of capital; but it can be readily
seen that the mere money in the posses
sion OF the capitalist undertakers could
mot be IL ade available for this PURPOSE
without the cooperation OF other indus
:! tries previously developed without ANY
| reference to this particular enterprise.
| What capital effects I'm such an enter
| prise is the bringing into Geo operation OF
all the various industries and modes of
labor upon which the enterprise depends
| In other words, capital enables abGr inn
| mediately employed in constructing the
| road to exchange the value OF its product.
| embodied in the read with other producers
SO as to satisfy natural wants arising dur
Ing the progress of the work.
When this work is Completed we have,
animme nse apparatus known as fixed cap
itaI,"' received lin exchange for money
known as circulating capital.- But the
road and its equipments are merely means
| to an end. THE capital involved in the
road is still destined to be exchanged for.
| kar
be devoted to replacement OF paris worn
out, and some to the supply OF '.coIl-
sumption goods to the capitalists, while
the road itself will have for its chief
function the exchange of wealth between
distant producers.
This form OF capital can be termed
fixed" only because il is constantly re-
placed as 1t is worn out, by exchanging
| capital in other forms for that replaced.
| This constant interchange OF capital il one
form for capital in another, and for goods
necessary to life, is sufficient to justify
| tine remark in our last articie to the effect
that rhc merchant Is typical OF all capital
! lists, his function being that of facilitating
the exchange OF goods.
THE PROBLEM OF WAGES.
Wedo not ordinarily say thattlc me reliant
employs the farmer by the purchase of his
wheat, but considered apart from the
farmers interest in land and capital Cf
his own. the merchant employs the farmer
in this way and pays hiua-his wages us
cffcc,ually from an economic poinr Of View
as il the farmer W ere idresIIo produce the
wheat.
Now since the money lrafrto 4 hired man
tS hn rIg II a d.
labor, II fellows that tx e-pseblcm of wages
is involved in the proLie4n-uf prices De-@
fining wages as the rev I'd esiiunan IL energy
devoted TO production, or as human energy
devo,.ta-%o-ecunurrfc ,enls. 1t follows tuat
all whose energies add fo,eeallb are E.lge..s "a
earners-
Considered thus. thc-viGw mac HHits-
wage-workcrs 10 hired-ssn is.Iaai,
fes;iy too narrow to take IN tie situation
in al its magnitude. - u
But, when VIC see that ultimately ,meH.
are employed by land, and-tha sec ontar-
lily capital simply aids them 10 ernrroy
each other through the exchange Of prod
ucts, the wage question becomes the entire
industrial question. -
Superficial critics constantly make the
mistake OF supposiDG that Henry Georges |
theory OF wages involves only hired men,
and more particularly the poorest of them.
Properly understood. hisla Of wages M
c,udes the reward of all industry distp-
Suished from incomes derived from various
forms or monopoly made possible and pro-
fitable by law.
While Mr.. George in I'll his economic
writings shows Il profound sympathy for
the most humble OF workinsmen, he has
never demanded more than justice for any
class, high or low.
John Stuart Mill practically discovered
the law of wages when lie said:
The value. therefore. of any article |
tmeann. its natural. which il the same |
with its average value) ls determined by |
the cost OF that portion OF the supply which |
is produced and brought to market a the |
greatest expense"
So long as our minds were confused by |
the theory OF the waGe-fund and wages |
We're limited to the incomes Of hired men, |
the law OF wages as now understood, could |
not be seen But when we broadened our !
conception Of wages so as to include within |
that term the heat produced by n farmer |
on no-rent land, with tools no more elab-
oratc or costly than those of carpenter
or blacksmith, We began to see that the
same law that Ultimately determines the
price OF wheat so produced is effective in
the wages OF hired men as |
we'll as those OF wheat growers
What Mill meant by ''tne cost OF that |
portion OF the supply produced ana brought
to market ut the greatest expense" is the |
part produced from the least productive
land to which any, of the. people find it
necessary to resort for the production of
the article in question. For example, il
it be necessary in order to satisfy the de-
mand for wheat for any portion OF the pro-
ducers to resort to land yielt!iny to given
a application. only ten bushels uf wheat per
acre, the price OF this wheat will be no
higher in the sa me market than wheatcost-
ing only half as much effort
The truth OF this proposition can be made
clearly manifest only through an intimate
of Ricardo's law OF rent. which
We hope to make the subject OF our next
article. or the" truth Of this law, Gen.
Francis A. Walker has thisto say:
I'm word Ricardoss AOctrine can no
more be- impugDed than the sun in heaven,
and those who mouth ht ut simply show
that they do not know what it was that
Ricardo taught" SO
We shall cDdeavor to present the subject
OF rent in a way to he easily understood |
by uDprofessional readers, and its i'm
portaBce in the theory OF the single tax is
such that without knowledge OF it no une
can be assured that there MAY not be scme
flaw in the logic of the Single takers.
II Ricard0's theory of retst be not SUBJ
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