partments of operative industry. For this labor, the desire is incessant and universal. Every one in the community needs, at every hour of his life, the results of that labor which produces food, clothing, fuel and shelter. Unless these can be procured, the human being will die; and, as these articles perish with the using, the demand is not only imperative, but unremitting.

Now, such being the fact, he who possesses capital, knows that, if he can transform it into such products, he can always reasonably anticipate a profit. But he cannot transform it into such products, without labor. Hence, as incessant and imperative as is the demand for the necessaries of life, so incessant and imperative must be the demand of the capitalist for that labor, by means of which alone they are produced. If a community need clothing, and a capitalist have all the means for making clothing; and want nothing but workman to create the product; just in proportion to the demand for clothing, will be his demand for the workman, by whose agency alone this demand can be supplied, and his capital rendered profitable.

Such being the fact, there must always be a demand for such labor; hence, when there is any capital, such labor will always bring something. The rate at which it will be paid at different times, and in different countries, is next to be considered.

We have already stated, that wages are the result of a partnership, formed between the laborer and the capitalist, in which the one receives a portion of the value created, in return for his labor; and the other, the remainder, in return for the use of his capital. Both of these parties are equally necessary to each other. If the laborer could not procure work, or could not exchange his labor for some value which he created, he must starve. If the capitalist could not create value from the employment of his capital, he must starve also. He could neither eat, nor drink, nor wear his looms, spinning-jennies, ships, iron, or

cotton. Both, therefore, come into the market on equal terms; each needs the product of the other; and, under these circumstances, they will each receive either less or more, in consequence of the conditions under which the exchange is made.

Every capitalist wishes to have all his capital united with labor; since, that which is not thus united, will be useless to him; nay, it will generally diminish in actual value. On the other hand, in a given state of the arts, the labor of a single man can be applied to but a given amount of capital. Hence, the number of laborers whom any single capitalist will require, will be in proportion to the amount of his capital. If a capitalist of ten thousand dollars require ten laborers, one of one hundred thousand dollars will require one hundred laborers. And so, in general, the greater the amount of capital employed in a country, the greater, of course, will be the number of laborers employed.

As now, every capitalist will wish to employ all his capital, if the number of laborers be insufficient to supply the demand, there will be a competition among capitalists for laborers, and they will offer higher wages; that is, rather than have any portion of their capital useless, they will offer a larger share of the profits to the laborer. The first class of workmen will be all employed at a high price, and a portion of the second class will be raised one grade, in order to supply the demand. The second class will, then, be still more insufficient to supply the demand for their description of labor, and their wages will rise, and the increased deficiency be supplied from the third class. And, at last, those who were before employed only at simple labor, will be taught and employed in educated labor; and thus, the whole class of workmen will be raised one grade in labor and in wages.

And the reverse will take place in the opposite case. Suppose the number of laborers be too great to be employed by the existing amount of capital. A cap

italist whose capital will occupy but one hundred, cannot employ one hundred and fifty laborers. Hence, there will be a competition among laborers for work. After as many of the first class have been employed as are needed, there will remain a portion of them out of work. These must fall into the second class, and receive the second rate of wages. This will cause an excess still greater in the second class; their wages will fall, and a greater number will fall into the third class. The lowest class will thus be supplied from the classes above it, and it must betake itself to simple labor, or labor of the cheapest kind, while many of those whose only support is derived from simple labor, must be out of employment, either wholly or in part; that is, the whole class of laborers will fall one grade, and their wages will depreciate in proportion. Hence, we see, that, at any given time and place, the demand for labor, and the wages of labor will be in the proportion to the ratio that the active capital of a country bears, to the number of laborers in that country.

But provision has been made, in our physical constitution, for the rapid increase of the human race. It is capable of doubling, once in twenty-five years, as it is seen to be the case in the United States. And provision is also made for the rapid accumulation of capital. The earth, every year, if it be properly tilled, and if capital be properly employed, produces more than its inhabitants consume. This surplus may be turned into fixed capital, and may thus give employment to a larger number of laborers. Hence the average rate of wages in any country for a number of years taken together, must depend upon the ratio which the annual accumulation of capital in any country, bears to the annual increase of human beings. If wages be high, and capital increase as fast as the human species increases, wages will for any period that may be contemplated, continue as they are at present. If wages be low, and capital does not increase faster

than the human race, they will continue low. If the increase of capital be more rapid than the natural increase of the human race, wages, however high, will rise, until they be so high that the production can yield no profit. The deficiency would then be supplied by foreigners, who would immigrate to the more favored country. If the increase of capital be less rapid than that of the human race, the price of wages will fall, distress in the working classes will ensue, and they must either emigrate or starve.

If this be so, it will be evident that the laws regulating wages depend upon circumstances beyond the power of capitalists or laborers. The rich cannot refuse to employ laborers without loss, and the workman cannot refuse to labor without loss. And the competition which naturally exists, in a free country, is all that is necessary to bring wages to their proper level; that is to all that can be reasonably paid for them. Hence combinations among capitalists or laborers are not only useless, but expensive, and unjust. They attempt to change the laws by which remuneration is governed and they must, by consequence, thus be useless. They expose capital and labor to long periods of idleness, and thus are expensive. They assume the power of depriving the capitalist of his right to employ laborers, and the laborer of his right to dispose of his labor to whomsoever and on what terms soever he pleases, and hence they are unjust. And combinations of this kind are as unjust when undertaken by the rich as by the poor.

Hence we see, that the prosperity of a nation does not depend simply upon the absolute amount of its capital, but upon the ratio which its capital bears to its population, and the ratio which is maintained. between the increase of both. If the increase of capital be so rapid as to allow the simple laborer sufficient wages to support and rear as many children as, under ordinary circumstances, form a hu

man family, there will be no distress in any class; all will be well supported; there will be no beggars from necessity; and every one will have the additional advantage arising from his skill and his education. If the increase of capital be more rapid than this, every one will have, besides support and maintenance, many of the conveniences of life; and a large proportion will be continually rising from a lower to a higher grade of employment. When the increase of capital is less rapid than the ordinary increase of the human race, there will be, in the lowest class, continual distress; children will die in great numbers; the average duration of human life. will be shortened; and many persons will be sinking from the higher into the lower grades of employment and comfort.

The former seems to be the condition of this country. Here distressing poverty, or poverty which shortens life, except it arise from intemperance, or from some form of vice or indolence, is very rare. The common laborer, if industrious, virtuous, and frugal, may not only support himself, but in a few years, accumulate a valuable little capital. And notwithstanding the great immigration of foreigners, the wages of labor are annually rising. Hence, it is evident, that the increase of capital more than keeps pace with the natural and imported increase of the human race.

In Ireland, the case is reversed. There, the lowest classes are, and have been for a long period, in the most abject poverty. Multitudes of them are said to die, annually of famine. He is considered in tolerable circumstances, who is able to furnish his family with a hovel, with one full meal of potatoes a day, and with a sufficient supply of straw to be spread upon the earthy floor for bedding. The reason I suppose to be, that, in addition to the deplorable ignorance of the people, the land is owned in England; and the rents, collected by_rapacious underlings, is annually carried away and spent in Eng