CHAPTER XV 
SOME EFFECTS OF MODERN INDUSTRY UPON I'HE WORKERS 
AS CONSUMERS. 
SI. How far the different Working Classes gain from the 
Fall of Prices. 
S 2. Fart of the Economy of Machine-production compensated 
by the growing Work of Distribution. 
S 3. Zhe Lowest Class of Workers gains least from Machine- 
production. 
§ 1. In considering the effect of machine-production upon 
a body of workers engaged in some particular industry we 
are not confined to tracing the effects of improvements in 
the arts and methods of that single branch of production. 
As consumers they share in the improvements introduced 
into other industries reflected in a fall of retail prices. 
Insomuch as all English workers consume bread they are 
benefited by the establishment of a new American railway 
or the invention of new milling machinery which lowers the 
price of bread; as all consume boots the advantage which 
the introduction of boot-making machinery confers upon 
the workers is not confined to the higher wages which may 
be paid to some operatives in the boot factory, but is 
extended to all the workers who can buy cheaper boots. 
How far do methods of modern capitalist production 
tend to benefit the labourer in his capacity as consumer ? 
Economic theory is in tolerably close accord with experi- 
ence in the answer it gives to this question. Each portion 
of the working classes gains in its capacity of consumer 
from improved methods ef production in proportion to the 
amount by which its income exceeds the bare subsistence 
wage of unskilled workers. The highly-paid mechanic gains 
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