140 ECONOMIC PRINCIPLES

Increase of product and increase of income go on together,
without necessary enlargement of the fund of capital, though
it is true that capital is increasing, and that its increase
permits such reorganisation of productive processes as to
add substantially to the general income of society, of which
wages form part. Increase of this income from such a cause
may inure to the benefit of the wage-receiver, apart from
any increase of his efforts, and thus the increase of capital
remains an important consideration in the wages question.
In correspondence with the capitalist view of a wagesfund,
 we find a labour doctrine of a definite amount of work
to be done, without reference to how many shall be engaged
at it or on what terms they consent to work. This is the
distinct implication of the theory, that an effective way to
provide for the unemployed is for every man at work to
decrease the amount of work he does, or the number of
hours he works. If the decrease of the number of hours in
a day's work do not diminish the work done, the grounds
for increased employment as a result are difficult to determine.
 If we suppose shorter hours to mean equal work
done, there will be some economy in operation, such as
economy of motive power, unless this be offset by the consumption
 of greater power in securing greater speed for the
shorter working day. Unless some more important source
of economy than this be developed, the shorter working day
will not mean any important cheapening of labour, with
consequent increase of demand as the outcome of cheapened
product. A shortened working day with equal work done
would leave practically undisturbed the value of the labour
and the demand for its product. Were the work done in
the shorter day greater than that in the longer, it is possible
that the product might be cheapened sufficiently to maintain,
or even increase, the demand for labour. But such compensation
 of shorter hours by increased vigour of work is
not contemplated by those who advocate shorter hours as a
means of finding work for the unemployed. They regard
their case as based on the need of society for a certain
amount of work. Now, if the same product is turned out by
more men, apart from the probable resultant increase of cost