ELASTICITY OF SUPPLY AS A DETERMINANT OF DISTRIBUTION 101 
higher and because the practice of demanding bonuses for over- 
time work becomes more and more firmly established as the 
unions increase in power. 
There are two qualifications which should be thoroughly appre- 
ciated. The first is that if the strike should prove difficult to win 
the union members might well lower their rate below the level B;. 
This would cause those from B; to Bs to lower their section of the 
curve and would lead to a lowering in absolute units of the 
curve between B; and Bs with or without change in the elasticity 
for these points. Secondly, such a supply curve would tend to be 
much more of a short-time than a long-time curve. The long- 
time supply would be greatly modified by the rate of population 
growth which any change in wages would induce. If the relative 
strength of organization persisted without a corresponding 
increase in that of the rival factors, this alteration in the supply 
curve would still persist although in a somewhat mitigated form. 
The effects on the supply curves of the factors of properly 
enforced legislation dealing with wages, hours, and interest rates 
are even more apparent. 
When through state action a minimum wage ruling is passed 
forbidding employers to hire labor for less than a given sum, 
say 40 cents an hour, the supply curve of labor is immediately 
given a point of origin which is above and to the left of the 
former supply curve. Even though those who would originally 
have offered themselves for only 40 cents an hour do not increase 
their sticking-points, then the new supply curve will be higher 
than the old for a portion at least of the supply. The quantity 
of labor which would previously have been forthcoming at less 
than 40 cents an hour will not now be supplied unless this amount 
is paid. If, because of the higher curve in the lower reaches of 
the labor supply, those in the upper reaches were also to ask for 
more, the supply curve here would shift to the left also. Such 
a situation can be shown by Figure 16 when A A, represents the 
original supply curve and BB, B, the curve resulting from 
minimum wage fixation by the state. 
The effect of shortening the hours of work, were it not accom- 
panied by a corresponding increase in the intensity of labor, 
would, of course, be tantamount to a decrease in the supply of 
labor. 
For purposes of analysis we can then represent an improvement