WAGES AND PRICES IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES 39 
of both, and with permanent maintenance of the divergences 
in wages. The reasoning is simple enough. Stripped to the 
essentials, as it here has been, it can be followed with ease; and 
in the sequel it will be shown to be no less convincing when elab- 
orated, qualified, illustrated, and verified from manifold facts in 
the world of affairs. Yet to most persons it seems perplexing and 
anomalous, and remains so even tho the main lines are followed and 
accepted on the first summary presentation. In the field of eco- 
nomics, as in every intellectual field, fundamental principles, how- 
ever simple, are not really understood until they are applied, 
repeated, turned over, gradually worked into the full intellectual 
equipment of the recipient. Elaboration, manifold testing, verifica- 
tion, are necessary not only for the refinement and accuracy of the 
principles themselves, but also for their assimilation. 
Another notion, equally erroneous, relates to international 
differences in commodity wages. With the belief that unfettered 
trade between nations must lead to an equalization of money wages 
goes naturally the belief that it will lead to an equalization of “the 
standard of living” ;#and more particularly will bring a lowering 
of the standard of the prosperous countries to that of the less 
prosperous. People do not often distinguish with any care between 
money wages and commodity wages; they are apt to apply the 
same impressions and fears to both without discrimination. So 
far as they do distinguish, they fear equalization and lowering 
quite as much with respect to the standard of living in terms of 
commodities as to wages in terms of money. After what has been 
said of domestic prices and commodity incomes, it is superfluous 
to dwell on the point. Differences in commodity incomes as well 
as differences in money incomes may persist under complete 
freedom of trade. The causes of the possible persistence of the 
differences, even with free exchange between countries, are no less 
clear than they are with regard to money wages. 
In general, then, we may say that high wages and incomes on 
the one hand, and high prices of goods on the other, do not go 
together. They do not go together as regards international 
goods: those are the same in price between countries, while money