PROBLEMS  OF  DISTRIBUTION  245

or  requires  merely  a  dexterity  which  can
easily  be  acquired  by  anybody,  so  that  it  is
the  common  resort  of  persons  brought  up
to  nothing  who  suddenly  find  it  necessary  to
do  something  at  home  to  make  or  add  to  an
income.  Consequently  there  is  apt  to  be  an
over-supply  of  out-workers.  Moreover  much
that  they  do  competes  with  production  by
machinery  or  semi-domestic  work.  In  so  far
as  there  is  competition  with  machinery,  the
rate  of  remuneration  of  out-workers  must  be
comparatively  paltry  if  they  are  to  secure
employment  at  all.  And  so  must  their  rate
of  pay  be  also  when,  in  the  case  of  simple
sewing  work  for  domestic  needs,  they  come
sharply  into  competition  with  consumers
who  ordinarily  sew  for  themselves  and
reckon  the  cost  very  low  because  the  work
is  to  a  large  extent  occupation  for  idle
moments.
Furthermore,  there  are  good  reasons  for
believing  that  the  pay  of  out-workers  is
disposed  to  settle  below  rather  than  at  their
marginal  worth.  Their  strategic  position  is
weak.  They  are  mostly  poor  and  ignorant  and
they  are  always  unorganised,  so  that  they
cannot  effectively  resist  what  seems  to  them
unreasonable  in  the  individual  bargains  by
which  they  are  bound  ;  and  they  may  not