登陆注册
15424600000072

第72章 Chapter III(13)

Meanwhile a wider problem has to be considered.Unless some remedy can be found for the existing evils,he says,the industrial system of this country --the dependence,that is,of the whole labouring class upon the wages of hard labour --though regarded by many writers as the ne plus ultra of civilisation,must be 'irrevocably condemned.'(73)The agricultural labourer can be taken out of that position.By making him a proprietor he can be brought --within the range of new motives.The independent peasant has in visible form before his eyes the base from which he and his family must draw supplies.It requires no abstract reasoning to show him that,if he brings more mouths into existence,his fields will not therefore bear double crops.

But for the artisan who is a minute part of a vast organisation,whose wages come out of an indefinite,unexplored reservoir which may be affected by changes in commerce of the origin and exact nature of which he is completely ignorant,there is no such palpable limit.The springs from which his subsistence flows may,for anything he sees,be inexhaustible.He is a unit in a large multitude,which,taken as a whole,must undoubtedly be somehow dependent upon the general resources of the nation.But how to explain the intricate relations of the different classes is a problem puzzling to the best economists,and capable of all manner of fallacious solutions.As an individual,the artisan might learn like other people to be prudent;but to know what is prudent he must understand his position.Can the labourer rightfully demand or reasonably expect to get a larger share of the wealth which he produces,or must he confine himself to limiting his numbers,and trusting to supply and demand to bring his right share?Here the workman was misled by all manner of false lights;and it became incumbent upon Mill to explain the position.

A population entirely dependent on wages never,says Mill,(74)refrains from over-population unless from 'actual legal restraint,'or some 'custom'which 'insensibly moulds their conduct.'The English agricultural labourer seems to multiply just as far as he can.(75)All 'checks'have gone or are going.

If the artisan is better off,it is due to the rapid expansion of our trade.Should the market for our manufactures --not actually fall off but cease to expand as rapidly as it has done for fifty years,we may fall into the state of Ireland before 1846.He hopes,indeed,that the factory population may be intelligent enough to adapt itself to circumstances.The fact that so large a part of our population is composed of middle classes or skilled artisans is the only security for some restraint.Yet Mill's opinion even of the artisan was low.English experience confirms the evidence of Escher of Zich.(76)The head of the English artisan is turned by the idea of equality.'When he ceases to be servile,he becomes insolent.'(77)There is nowhere,he says elsewhere,(78)any friendly sentiment between labourers and employers.The artisan,swamped by the growing multiplication of unskilled labour,will too probably,we may infer,take a false view of the situation,and ascribe his poverty not to his own neglect of Malthus,but to the greed and hard-heartedness of the capitalist.Such an anticipation was likely enough to be realised.

This leads to the great problem of the true relation between capital and labour.The distinctive peculiarity of England was the dependence of the masses upon wages.How,as Mill has asked,is this state of things reconcilable with improvement?He will assume,as his predecessors had substantially done,that the capitalist and labourers are separate classes,and that the labourer derives his whole support from the capitalist.Though this is not everywhere true,it is for him the really important case.Moreover,he seems to think that the rule derived from considering the classes separately will not be altered when the two characters are united in individuals.The labourer,so far as he has 'funds in hand,'is also a capitalist;and that part of his income is still decided by the general law of profits.(79)The assumption of a complete separation,made for convenience of argument,might no doubt be confounded with a statement of fact.

At any rate,it is merely an explicit avowal of the tacit assumption of the orthodox economists.

Here,then,we pass from Malthus to Ricardo.Mill adopts the Ricardian scheme,though trying to make it more elastic.

Ricardo's doctrine of a 'minimum'rate of wages to which the 'general rate'constantly approximates has enough truth for the 'purposes of abstract science.'(80)The rate indeed varies with the standard of living,and that,as we have seen,is a critical point.Yet the main outlines of the theory remain.As population presses upon the land,the landlord gets the benefit of his 'monopoly of the better soil,'and capitalist and labourer divide the remainder.Profits and wages,as Ricardo had said,vary inversely;a 'rise of general wages falls on profits;there is no possible alternative.'(81)Here,indeed,an important modification must be made in Ricardo's words,in order to state what Ricardo 'really meant.'(82)Profit depends,not upon wages simply,but upon the 'cost of labour.'The labourer is not a fixed quantity,representing so many 'foot-pounds'of energy;his efficiency,as Mill argued,may vary indefinitely with his moral and intellectual qualities;(83)it may be profitable to pay for the effective labour double the wages of the ineffective;and,in point of fact,'the cost of labour is frequently at its highest where wages are lowest.'(84)Thus interpreted,Ricardo,like Malthus,admits of progress.

同类推荐
  • 南诏图传

    南诏图传

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • A Journey in Other Worlds

    A Journey in Other Worlds

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • Sky Pilot

    Sky Pilot

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 三秦记

    三秦记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 水战兵法辑佚

    水战兵法辑佚

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 识破厚黑术

    识破厚黑术

    厚黑术无疑就是巧于辞令、善于献媚、心黑手辣、蛇蝎心肠、陷害忠良、排挤人才等等,这些都是厚黑者的共同特点,本书就这些现代厚黑术,教你如何洞悉人性、察言观色,用最好的办法去做有意义的事,识破在人际交往中的种种黑洞和陷阱,从而在工作和生活中能得心应手。
  • 爆笑囧穿:萌傻逆天妃

    爆笑囧穿:萌傻逆天妃

    一朝穿越,倾梦雪从二十一世纪的特工变成了最不受宠的倾四小姐。然后,又嫁给了三王爷,白捡了一个“三王妃”的称号。但称号并没有什么卵用。姐妹该欺负的欺负,该鄙视的鄙视,该找茬的找茬。倾梦雪领教到了什么叫做吃饱了撑的。你说倾梦雪就是个没用的花瓶?那就多送你几个花瓶砸死你!让你看看花瓶的怒火!此文绝无虐点,美男众多。三王爷美男,叶云离美男,就连“疯子”也是美男,配角中还有美男。菇凉确定不来一发?(??????)??
  • 仙家学校

    仙家学校

    张东。生活在五行昌盛年代,天生五行齐缺的他,偷得一本魔族功法……修习禁忌的张东,被清幽老道流放到凡尘世间……人非人,魔非魔,满腔热血唱哀歌!魔族至,人间乱,乱世陈述悲与欢!闯南天,成魔仙,爆发一场仙魔战!新书求收藏、点击、推荐……你们的支持,是我最大的动力!
  • EXO之雨还在下不是吗

    EXO之雨还在下不是吗

    谢谢他,是他帮我走出的困境,也是他才让我懂得了珍惜自己眼前所拥有的。
  • 武少年之武道回归

    武少年之武道回归

    高中少年欧阳天,有着不平凡的过往,身为华夏第一大家族的少爷却甘于平淡。原本已经放下一切如废人的他在青梅竹马回来那天再一次挥起拳头,随之而来的是消失了近百年的华夏古武,一切的恩恩怨怨也将浮现......
  • 花自飘陵

    花自飘陵

    他为她而死,只因那日涂山上的回眸一笑。她自毁千年道行,守孤坟万年,只是换与他一世的情缘。他宁负她一人,也不愿负这天下众生。她在昆仑山上空望桃花,因为他的放弃,她只有这无尽的落寞。他心系天下,她随他戎马一生,奔赴沙场,他欲统一中原,却牺牲了他们的女儿,爱与恨,她已不再去想,只有那桃花纷飞之时,看那落英之处,花自飘零水自流。
  • 正义审判军

    正义审判军

    看主角如何从懵懂无知,到感悟人生的真理,引领正义战胜邪恶!!!!!
  • 重生之相府千金

    重生之相府千金

    因为爱,前世她选择了离开,因为爱今世她选择了相守,相府的千金又如何?太子妃的位置又如何?皇室的后位又如何?在她的眼睛不过是过眼的云烟。前世因为她的离开让他悔恨不已,今世因为她的出现生活从此与众不同,什么当朝的公主,什么世子的位置都比不上她的一颦一笑,可是为何她还要决绝的离开……
  • 浴火凤凰之帝尊的傲娇后

    浴火凤凰之帝尊的傲娇后

    现代普通的不能再普通的高中生穿越到了古代,还穿越成了一只鸡?后来浴火重生坐撩高冷腹黑帝尊。起先千洛染最大的爱好就是吃吃吃,吃尽天下美食,其次便是睡睡睡,睡倒腹黑帝尊。如今千洛染最大的爱好是吃吃吃,吃尽天下美食,逃逃逃,逃出帝尊魔爪
  • 花洛谁佳

    花洛谁佳

    一世风华,她遇见了最爱的人,却也因他而死。“花洛佳,我诅咒你,得不到所爱之人,爱你之人因你而死!”君临渊怒视着她,写下血誓,“我要你生生世世孤独终老。”花洛佳面无表情的看着落到陨生池中的男人说:“我不介意。”我爱的人早就已经不爱我了,还甚至要致我于死地不是吗?君临渊,恭喜你梦想成真了。红衣猎猎,血染上了那一头白发。“我若成魔,必要你死。“我若成神,必要你毁。“我若成妖,必要你现元神本相。“我若成鬼,必要闹得地府鸡犬不宁。”“我不再是心软的花洛佳,本帝,华络绝。”华裳尽退,断情绝爱。