FERDINAND  LASSALLE.

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seeking  work.  The  supply  of  labourers  being  diminished,  their
wages  would  be  raised  by  competition  among  employers,  and
in  this  way  would  soon  be  brought  up  again  to  the  normal
rate.  Periods  of  prosperity  and  of  commercial  crisis,  which
constantly  occur  in  trade,  produce  these  oscillations  ;  but  the
“  iron  law  ”  always  brings  the  labourer’s  recompense  down  to
the  minimum  upon  which  it  is  possible  for  him  to  live.  This
minimum  may,  indeed,  be  modified  in  consequence  of  the
progress  of  industry.  The  standard  of  life  of  a  working  man,
and  the  wants  which  he  deems  absolutely  necessary,  have
certainly  changed.  Thus,  in  the  Middle  Ages,  he  wore  no
underclothes  and  went  barefoot,  while  to-day  a  shirt  and  a  pair
of  shoes  are  deemed  indispensable.  He  uses  more  manufactured ­
  articles,  but  eats  less  animal  food.  It  is  a  question,  then,
of  the  minimum  of  any  given  epoch,  which  will  be  that  below
which  the  labourer  would  cease  to  marry  and  have  children,  or
be  able  to  rear  them.
“  The  iron  law  ”  of  wages  is  simply  a  particular  application
of  the  general  law  which  governs  the  prices  of  goods,  and
which  is  one  of  the  commonplaces  of  Political  Economy.  In
this  connection  a  distinction  must  be  made  as  to  three  classes
of  objects.  In  the  first  place,  there  are  certain  articles  which
cannot  be  reproduced  at  will,  such  as  antique  statues,  the  pictures ­
  of  the  old  masters,  and  natural  curiosities.  The  price  of
these  articles  is  determined,  not  by  the  cost  of  production
because  they  cannot  be  reproduced,  but  by  what  amateurs
choose  to  give  for  them.  Other  articles,  again,  may  be  multiplied ­
  within  certain  limits,  but  with  increasing  difficulty.  In
this  case  it  is  the  cost  of  production  of  those  obtained  under
the  most  difficult  conditions  which  determines  the  general  price.
Such,  for  example,  are  agricultural  products.  Finally,  there  is
a  third  kind  of  article  which  may  be  multiplied  almost  at  will,
such  as  manufactured  articles.  The  price  of  these  will  be
governed  by  the  cost  of  producing  them  under  the  most  favourable ­
  circumstances,  that  is,  with  the  least  outlay.  Labour,
viewed  as  an  article  of  merchandise,  belongs  clearly  to  this
t  ird  category,  for  the  number  of  hands  increases  generally  in
proportion  to  the  demand.  The  price  of  labour,  that  is  to  say,