AND ON THE CONTINENT.

17

to A. Young, corresponds to an older, that of the newer nationaleconomists to an advanced stage of development. Could we stillbe doubtful about such a solution of the divergence, it is made acertainty by the fact that one of the most decided adherents tothe newer theory himself denies its applicability for India (42). InIndia, says Brassey, one has observed, contrary to experience inEngland, that a higher wage lessened the capacity-

If, otherwise, the change in the teaching depends on a change ofcircumstances, this latter must extend back to that economicalreversal encircling everything which distinguishes the economicallife of the present from that of the foregoing century. 'Whereindid it consist? From a system of independent economicalunits regulated by privilege and birth was evolved, with the im-provement of competition, an international establishment rivetedinto an independent whole by division of labour and by barter. Thischange caused, on the one hand, a change in the method of pro-duction. In place of hand-labour appeared modern CentralisedIndustry (43), and further, a certain psychological reversal. Therearose new ways of thinking and, therewith, new men—new typesof employers, and of workers.

To the degree that this alteration develops itself the changedtheory corresponds. In purely customary circumstances, the oldteaching obtains everywhere; to the extent that the conditionsglide away from the ordinary average character and are drawninto the world’s economy, the theory begins to waver. In thesame degree that the reversal has developed with the triumph ofCentralised Industry over the older forms of production, the newteaching becomes acknowledged, first by the theorists, then bypractical men, of nations in which the economical reversal com-pletely exists. In countries on the point of changing, many prac-tical men cling to the old teaching.

This development should be followed closely in the most im-portant branches of trade. It should be shown how this economi-cal development on the one hand means technical, then social pro-gress, and how the elevation of the working class necessarily moveshand in hand with it. Nothing should be more fitting to combatthat social pessimism which supposes that modem development of

42 “ Work and Wages,” 2nd edition (London, 1872), p 88,

43. The factory system,— Translator.

C