The education of the people can only be secured by a compulsory

system-The defects of the Education Act of 1870, so far as it deals

with compulsion-The principle of the Factory Acts is that education

is enforced on children who are at work; there are much stronger

reasons why it should be enforced upon children who are not at work

-Compulsory education does not even temporarily injure those parents

whose children are not at work-The difficulty suggested by the poverty

of the parents considered, if compulsory education were enforced upon

the children of agricultural labourers-This difficulty not so great as

at first sight appears, because our worst-paid labourers only receive

minimum wages-The difference between the ultimate effects of a

poor-rate and an education rate explained-The advantages resulting

from the allotment system may in future greatly increase-The en-

closure of commons has often inflicted great injury not only on the

poor but also on the general public-These enclosures ought generally

in future to be resisted-The test of the efficiency of any means of

raising the condition of the poor is this: Will it tend to make the

poor ultimately rely more upon self-help?..
..PAGES 221-239

CHAPTER IX. Trades'-Unions and Strikes.

An explanation of the functions of a trades' union-Trades' unions pro-

duce their greatest effect upon wages if they restrict the number of

workmen employed in a trade-This is attempted to be done by limit-

ing the number of apprentices-Such restrictions, if carried into effect,

inflict great injustice on the labouring class; they also raise the price

of commodities, and may jeopardise the existence of an industry—

As an example of this, the effects of the trades' unions at Birmingham

and Sheffield may be quoted-Trades' unions not necessarily connected

with strikes-Workmen have a right to combine and to join a strike

if they use neither intimidation nor violence in support of their com-

bination-The majority of intelligent artisans are in favour of trades'

unions-Their effect on wages described-They could exert no in-

fluence on wages if the effect of competition were instantaneous-But

competition acts slowly, and in some cases, as with the wages of some

agricultural labourers, it is neutralised for an indefinitely long period

-Wages are fixed in the same way as a bargain carried on by the

buyer and seller of a commodity-In order to improve their position

in adjusting this bargain, employers and employed form combinations

with others of their class-They are thus placed in a position of equality

-Bargaining implies antagonism of interest-As long as wages are

fixed by a bargain, strikes will continue to occur, because in settling

the terms of a bargain it must often happen that one party will refuse

to accept the price offered by the other-Conciliation and arbitration

are not effectual remedies for strikes, because they do not remove the

antagonism of interest between employers and employed-This is

effected by copartnerships-The principle of copartnership defined—

Its benefits extend both to employers and employed-There are many

collateral advantages connected with copartnership-It has been adopted

with great success by M. Leclaire and others-It is well suited to

agriculture-The experiment of Lord George Manners at Newmarket—

The progress of the movement will be greatly assisted by national

education
240-255

CHAPTER X. On Cooperative Institutions.

Cooperation exists in its complete form, when labourers supply the capital

which their industry requires-Many of the so-called cooperative stores

are not truly cooperative, because they distribute the profits between

the shareholders and the customers, and give no portion of them to

labour-The origin of the cooperative movement in England-The

history of the Rochdale Pioneers' store-In the Rochdale store the

ordinary retail prices are charged, and the profits are distributed

among the customers in proportion to the amount of their purchases

at the end of each quarter-In the Civil Service stores the customers

receive their share of the profits by being charged a reduced price for

goods-Cooperative stores give no credit-Great advantages result

from this-The Wholesale Society was established to supply goods to

cooperative stores-This society manufactures many of the goods it

sells-Cooperative production-The progress of cooperative cotton

mills-The question of the right of labour to a share in the profits of

cooperative societies is still unsettled-It is much easier to apply co-

operation to distribution than to production-Examples of successful

cooperative production in Paris-The cooperative masons and the

cooperative piano-forte makers-Advantages of applying cooperation

to agriculture-The late Mr Gurdon's cooperative farms at Assington-

Mr Brand's proposal to allow agricultural labourers to invest their

savings in the farm on which they are employed-Cooperative bank-

ing-A description of the cooperative banks in Germany founded by

M. Schulze-Delitzsch-The legislative enactments which have impeded

cooperation in England-A description of some undertakings which

are partly cooperative in their character, such as building so-

cieties
PAGES 256-282

CHAPTER XI. The Nationalisation of the Land.

Two schools of social reformers represented in Germany by Lassalle and

Schulze-Delitzsch; from the former of these has originated the modern

socialism represented by the programme of the International; foremost

in this programme is placed the Nationalisation of the Land-The

meaning attached to this expression is that the land now held by

individuals should be purchased by the State-Estimated cost of car-

rying out such a policy; even under favourable circumstances it would

involve an annual deficit of £50,000,000, besides encouraging endless

jobbery and corruption on the part of the Government-Ă considera-

tion of the difficulties caused by the distribution among various appli-

cants of land of different degrees of productiveness-Would the land

be let at an uniform rent, or would the rent be proportioned to its pro-

ductiveness? The former plan would involve national bankruptcy, the

latter would revive all the much-complained-of hardships caused by

competition-Advocates of nationalisation should remember that the

scheme would deprive building and cooperative societies of their land—

The weakening of individual responsibility and reliance on State inter-

ference are prominent characteristics of modern socialism-Socialists

usually evade the discussion of the main obstacle to their schemes,

viz. the increase of population-How this would affect the nationalisa-

tion of the land
283-303

F. M.

b

CHAPTER XII. On the Economic Aspects of Slavery.

Owing to the termination of the American war many remarks made in

this chapter are no longer pertinent to the present time. It has however

for various reasons been thought desirable not to omit the chapter.

Slaves are a portion of the cultivator's capital; hence, in slave cultiva-

tion, the produce is distributed between rent and profits-The ultimate

abolition of slavery chiefly turns upon economic considerations-The

late Professor Cairnes, in his work entitled "The Slave Power," affirms

that slave-labour has the three following defects: it is given reluctantly;

it is unskilful; it is wanting in versatility-The consequences of these

defects traced-Slave-labour can only be profitably employed when

labour can be concentrated-No skilled labour can be carried on by

slaves-Mr Olmstead's testimony-No parallel between the condition

of slaves in Greece and the slaves of the present day-Slave-labour

impoverishes the soil, hence fertile virgin soils are required-The

acquisition of new territory is therefore indispensable to slavery-

Slavery will gradually cease to be profitable, and therefore will be ulti-

mately exterminated if restricted to a definite area......PAGES 304-311

BOOK III.

EXCHANGE.

CHAPTER I. On Value and Price.

Why it is advantageous to discuss the production and distribution of

wealth, before considering the exchange of wealth-Value and price

defined-Value is a relative expression, and implies comparison-

Price is the value of a commodity estimated in money-There cannot

be a general rise in values, but there can be a general rise in prices-

When the value of one commodity is compared with that of another, it

is always done by comparing their prices-Hence we depart from the

method usually pursued, and proceed at once to consider the laws which

determine the price, and not the value, of commodities-The assump-

tion is in the first instance made, that any alteration in the price of a

commodity is not produced by a change in the value of the precious

metals

315-318

CHAPTER II. On the Causes which Regulate the Price of

Commodities.

Commodities, when their price is investigated, are divided into three
classes: the first class comprises those commodities whose supply is
absolutely limited; the second class comprises those commodities which
become more expensive as their supply is increased; the third class
embraces those commodities whose supply can be increased without
their becoming more expensive-Articles of virtù, agricultural produce,

and manufactured produce, are representatives of these three classes-

The laws of price which apply to the first class, illustrated by con-

sidering how the price of one of Turner's pictures is determined; it

would be usually said that the price of such a picture is regulated by a

ratio between the demand and the supply-This is erroneous; the price

must be such as to equalise the demand to the supply-Effectual

Demand' defined-Value is composed of two elements; represented

by value in use, and by the difficulty of obtaining an article-These

elements symbolised by letters U and D-No article can have an ex-

change value unless U and D are both present-The price of almost

every commodity depends upon D, the element U being only partially

operative U exerts its full influence with regard to those commodities

which are comprised in the first class above enumerated

PAGES 319-325

CHAPTER III. On the Price of Agricultural and Mineral

Produce.

The price of agricultural produce must be such as to give the farmer the

ordinary profit for his capital and for his labour of superintendence-

If, therefore, the rent of land increases without a diminution in the

farmer's other expenses, the price of agricultural produce must rise in

order that the farmer may be compensated-Ricardo's theory proves

that rents must rise if, as population increases, worse land has to be

cultivated; but if rents rise, the price of agricultural produce must

rise The land which is on the margin of cultivation only pays a

nominal rent; and the price of agricultural produce must be always

such as to give the ordinary rate of profit for cultivating this land—

From this last proposition it follows that the price of agricultural pro-

duce is not affected by the payment of rent, but by the demand for

agricultural produce, since the demand determines how far the margin

of cultivation must descend-The rise in the price of agricultural pro-

duce consequent on an increase in population may be counteracted

either by agricultural improvements or by the importation of corn-

The price of mineral produce is regulated by laws similar to those

which determine the price of agricultural produce-A commodity is

said to be at its natural price, when its price is such as to equalise the

supply to the demand-The natural price denotes a position of equili-

brium-A parallel drawn between this position and the elliptic planetary

orbits-An increase or decrease in the demand does not necessarily

produce a proportionate increase or decrease in price-Under certain

circumstances an increase in the demand, say of 10 per cent., may pro-

duce a rise in price of 50 per cent.-This circumstance explains the

recent great rise in the price of coal-The extremely heavy burden cast

upon the community by this rise in the price of coal-The proprietors

and lessees of coal mines probably gained not less than £40,000,000

a year at the expense of the general consumer-Increased economy in

the use of coal is the only compensation which the nation can derive

from this rise in the price of coal-The great rise in the price of coal

was succeeded by a fall-The causes of this fall examined-The fall

was partly due to a general depression of trade, and partly to the in-

creased production of coal, stimulated by exceptionally high profits

and wages......
326-336

CHAPTER IV. On the Price of Manufactured

Commodities.

Why the laws of price which apply to agricultural produce do not apply

to manufactured produce-An increased demand for a manufactured

commodity may economise some of the processes of manufacture and

thus diminish the price of a commodity-This illustrated by Mr

Thompson's invention for boatbuilding-The competition of capital

causes a certain average rate of profit to belong to each branch of in-

dustry-Hence the price of a commodity must have a constant tend-

ency to be such as to give this particular rate of profit-Consequently

the price of a manufactured commodity constantly approximates to its

cost of production-Cost of production includes the profits of the pro-

ducer-Sudden fluctuations in the demand or supply may cause the

price of a commodity to vary greatly from its cost of production-These

variations in price, though great, are, however, only temporary, since

the competition of capital is constantly tending to make the price again

equivalent to the cost of production--This illustrated by an example of

a sudden demand for rifles-There is a constant tendency in operation

to equalise the demand for a commodity to its supply, both when the

price of the commodity is regulated by its cost of production, and

when its price is disturbed by sudden fluctuations in the demand and

supply
PAGES 337-348

CHAPTER V. On Money.

Why we discussed the price of commodities before we considered the sub-

ject of money-Money provides a medium of exchange, thus obviating

barter, and money also serves as a general standard of value-It is not

necessary, but it is most convenient, that money should be made of the

precious metals-Any substance may be chosen as a general measure

or standard of value; if wheat was thus selected, the price of all com-

modities must be estimated in wheat-The substance which is chosen

as money ought, as far as possible, to possess the following qualities:

its value should be uniform; it should possess an intrinsic value of its

own; it should contain a great value in small bulk-Gold and silver

do not vary much in value, because the cost of obtaining these metals

is not liable to any great changes, and, except on rare occasions, the

supply of these metals is not subject to sudden fluctuations-The

quantity of gold and silver which is used for other purposes besides

being coined into money is comparatively small, and therefore the

quantity of gold required for such purposes does not vary greatly--Gold

and silver have always possessed an intrinsic value of their own, since

no other substances are so well qualified for ornaments; the brightness

of these metals gives them beauty; they can be long preserved, and

their malleability makes them easily worked into artistic forms-These

metals have always been scarce--Hence they possess the third requisite

for money, since they contain great value in small bulk-Copper money

is used for the convenience of making small payments-The incon-

venience of a double standard-If gold and silver are both made a

standard of value, then this standard is subject to increased varia-

tions-The arrangements adopted by our own Mint explained-Gold is

in our own country the only standard of value, since silver and copper

money are merely made subsidiary coins

..349-360