The morning times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1897, 1896-09-06
9inQle47a7x CgLymn


i In our last article we took Tor iHustra-
ton new community In the process OF
deveiopinent and extension on free home
steads In the West.
We supposed each OF the first settlers
to have the option OF appropriating to his
| private use 16O acres from any one OF four
| grades OF agricultural land capable, respect
lively, OF yielding 20 the application OF equal
economic effort, -, 22. 20 and 8 bushels
Of wheat per acre. Since lands in actual
use differ in prqdifsivcness to this exteut,
these numbers. While rot representing all
the infinitessimalgra dations from the high
| est TO the lowestsdeErees OF productiyeness,
serve for illus,IaetSh rs web as an In
| finite series of huiiiBers would.
Ricardo and iftst ;aof his followers illus.
trate the law of fsnat by surprising a capt.
taiist farmer to iptafvene between the land
owner and the }sbper. This was partly
| due, no doubt, tn Ahe habit OF the earlier
and even seine 9ate5 economists, of trent
| ing capital AZ thu c&use Of industry and the
source OF wages:
We think 1t u3bre Up the order of nature,
and, therefore sim3re scientific to treat
wages as the sourgp. Of capital. Hence we
AVOID the cumbersome method OF mixing
up three parssesfso aong as one will serve
for Illustration. ~ - "
-, ne e'n'e'n ooStn'e ~ .he s"sie- ta.
ph'ps'PH5' man cap t9i' iai'iS ea'neo'
. d patb OF ms pefsenai -equiitneDs' JUST
as his clothes are. Hence, for the purpose
W illustrating tine onsin Oh fe"l' IL IL 20
moro necessary 70 inquire Wnethef one 'n'
u'Viduai mas more capaSai IMAM anotnef
IMAM IL 's 70 inquire whetner tneJ ara
equally well clothed
Lee US assume then. foe ehe SAKE Of SIM
pfefty' mat each Immigrant arriving In our
community 10 sufftcientiy well -equip<ed
70 go into business on his own account In
iree competition with all OILERS possess
ing no advantages 10 the use OF natural re-
sources. Avoiding thus the complications
arising from surprising LANDOWNER, capt.
ta!tst and IaDorer TO consist OF three diff
ferent pc rsons In the first instance. we can
begin by treating all incomes as the wages
OF INDUSTRY.
WHAT EoyraI wopV vIrJDs
Chdef these conditions we found That SO
iong as any or The best grade OF land was
unappropriated, equal work would yield
equal wages to the several landowners.
That is to say. none of the land thus far In
use yielded any rent. aud wages consisted
OF the whole produce. To use the language
of Ricardo at this stage. surprising his cap
i,alist-employer TO be the cultivator:
Where, therefore,. 1t Is only necessary
10 cultivate No, /, the whole net produce
VIII belong to the cultiyator, and will he
The profits ofthe stock which he advances"
We found. however, after the whole Of
our best tract OF land had been appropriated,
that newcomers, TO certain extent might
have an option between resorling to the
twenty-t wo-bushel tract and employing
themselves, and working as hired men for
the owners OF the twenty-four-bushelt tract.
Since two men, by combining their labor
and capital. can generally produce more
than twice as much AS one, itInight be posi-
bic for two men to produce, by combined
effort, 90 bushels OF wheat from farm
of 100 acres, for every "a bushels that the
owner could produce by working alone.
10 theeNteht spatlhis was possiDh' wages
OF newcomers would be between twenty
two Dusheis, whicn they could produce by a
gwen eItortDy worRineaione on the q enty-
two-hushei tract ana twenty-five bushels,
wnich theS conid produce by combined ef-
,or. Win 'he owners OF the ..wehtyiour-
oushei tfact: ].
.a"e hu"' iehSInnef' sthae II more
'hah one newcomer were 20 arrive, they
"euio nave theaaoption OF combining on
tue ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS tract' ana allowing
tae same pioporfiopai increase from. TINS
cause hen, thit We a!ow ed Tor the twenty
errnrt ,wa rauo..s,s ,u ,',a LA. 49,, ~ e"naneu
two and eleventwrlfths bushels apiece,
where, by workingsinsle handed, they could
produce but twenty-five bushels apiece
Hence, the under limit of wages NJ this
stage cannot be below twenty-five and
eleven-twelfths bushels for a given amount
Of Combined effort. We have already as
suned that the upper limit Of wages ut
bushels; this being half the amount that
two men can produce by combined effort
fIom the land on which the owner, work
ing single handed, could produce but TWEEN
ty-four bushels.
We make this assumption because OF the
natural tendency OF men to make equita-
BILE contracts under conditions OF equal
freedom in the use OF Ia nd. So long as the
owners OF the twcnty-four- bushel tract
cannot produce more than twenty-five.
bushels apiece per acre, by combining with
each other, and the demand Tor wheat
makes it profitable to extend production,
for labor between owners Of
the highest grade OF land, will tend to keep
wages up to the amount they would have to
pay each other to secure the advantages
resulting from combined effort.
MAxIMJIM OF WAGES
mat is TO say so long as each owner OF
the best grade OF land can obtain through
m