84  the  problem  of  the  unemployed

Similarly  in  manufacture  it  is  often  to  the  interest  of  a
capitalist  to  set  up  and  to  work  new  spinning-mills  oi
iron-works,  although  there  may  already  exist  enough  mills
and  works  to  supply  every  possible  demand,  provided  he
sees  a  fair  prospect  of  getting  away  from  his  competitors
a  sufficient  proportion  of  the  trade.  Nor  is  it  an  adequate ­
  reply  to  say  that  the  new-comer  can  only  get  the
trade  by  producing  a  better  or  a  cheaper  article,  and  that
in  this  way  the  community,  as  a  body  of  consumers,  is
advantaged  by  his  action.  In  the  first  place,  this  statement ­
  is  not  true  ;  it  is  commonly  by  superiority  in  the
arts  of  competition,  which  do  not  necessarily  involve
superiority  of  production,  that  the  modern  business  firm
is  able  to  get  business.  Secondly,  even  supposing  that
the  new  capital  is  made  effective  by  some  trifling  economy
in  methods  of  production,  it  by  no  means  follows  that  the
consuming  public  gains  by  the  lowering  of  prices,  or  gains
to  a  corresponding  extent.  For  we  have  already  seen
that  the  constant  cutting  of  prices  in  manufacturing  trades
has  been  a  chief  operative  cause  of  the  multiplication  of
middle-men  and  retailers,  whose  maintenance  prevents  a
fall  of  retail  prices  equivalent  to  the  fall  of  wholesale
prices.  Lastly,  the  fall  of  retail  prices  to  the  consuming
public  must  not  be  taken  as  the  just  and  final  test  and
measure  of  a  net  industrial  gain  to  the  community.  The
gain  may  be  bought  too  dearly  if  it  involves,  as  it  often
does,  a  large  and  unforeseen  displacement  of  capital  and
labour  in  earlier  use,  the  vested  interests  of  which  receive
neither  compensation  nor  [consideration  under  the  stern  rule
of  competitive  trade.  This  is  no  plea  for  conservatism  in
industry,  or  for  the  rejection  of  new  and  improved  forms
of  machinery  and  method.  It  is  only  designed  as  a