WAGES, PROFITS AND INTEREST 171 
business equalled what he had to pay for it. 
In short in organising his business he 
would act according to the law of equi 
marginal returns which is fully expounded 
in Chapter II. 
In the above example the nature of the 
demand for one of the agents in production 
is made fully explicit. Let us next consider 
how demand works in relation to supply, still 
concentrating our attention on the reward 
of labour. Suppose that this happens to have 
settled at £2 a week as a result of the forces 
previously operative and that each employer 
has 101 workpeople, when all workpeople are 
employed, though the marginal worth of 
labour to each of them is £2 3s. a week, as 
stated in the table. Then each employer 
will strive to get more labour because to 
succeed in getting it would be to augment his 
profit. But ex hypothesi there is no more 
labour to be had : we imagined that all the 
labour was occupied when each employer had 
101 hands. The effect of the employers’ 
action, therefore, cannot be to enlarge their 
businesses but will probably be to lever up 
the rate of wages until it approximates roughly 
to £2 3s. a week. Exactly the same can be 
said with reference to the payment for other 
factors.