CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY.

In what relation does economical progress stand to the ad-vancement of the working classes! What value has a higher orlower standard of living for the economical power developmentof a nation ? These questions have long been subjects of controversy.There is certainly a development noticeable in the arguing ofdifferent opinions. One view was originally only opposed by few;as time went on this was universally vetoed by science, and theopposite opinion almost generally accepted, whilst the formerview was still adhered to and defended only by a minority, especi-ally by practical men in countries and in industries which havelagged behind in economics.

The discussion takes different phases at different periods. Solong as wages maintained a normal fixed position the variationin the price of wheat was the deciding element for the standardof living of the working classes. It was therefore asked whetherhigh or low prices of food were essential for the economicaldevelopment of a nation. To which in England was added thefurther query, whether the State by means of legislative measures,and especially by bounties on the export of wheat, should orshould not keep the prices of human necessaries high (1). Butsince, in this century, the fixing of wages by custom and law hasdisappeared, the question has been amended to whether low orhigh wages have to be viewed as an economical advantage for acountry; whether economical progress—and in this connectionwe think at the present time principally about the developmentof the centralised industrial system (2)—means the elevation orretrogression of the classes in its service.

1. K. Faber: “ Die Entstehung des Agrarschutzes in England ” (Strassburg ,1888), pp. 112—114.

2. That is, the factory system.— Translator,