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THE  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL.
real  is  it,  especially  in  economic  matters,  that  a  purely  local
occurrence  may  have  far-reaching  results  in  both  hemispheres.
Germany  adopts  a  gold  currency,  for  example,  and  immediately
the  miner  in  the  Rocky  Mountains  finds  the  value  of  his  produce
diminished  ;  the  English  officer,  quartered  near  the  Himalayas,
can  no  longer  remit  his  savings  to  London  without  suffering  an
enormous  loss  ;  and  the  trade  of  England  with  India  and  South
America  is  profoundly  disturbed.  Again,  the  spirit  of  enterprise
awakes  in  America,  and  instantly,  in  spite  of  a  bad  harvest,
European  trade  revives,  prices  mount  up,  factories,  which  had
long  stood  idle,  recommence  work,  and  the  crisis,  which  for  five
years  had  paralyzed  production,  gives  place  to  a  new  era  of
activity  and  prosperity.  As  different  nations  tend  to  become
one  single  family,  all  forms  of  social  activity  must  consequently
take  an  international  character.
The  International  owed  its  origin  to  the  following  series  of
facts  and  inferences.  Owing  to  the  cheapness  of  transport  and
the  lowering  of  custom-duties,  the  western  countries  form  only
one  single  market,  in  which,  through  the  action  of  competition,
prices  are  maintained  nearly  on  a  level.  Production  takes  place
on  similar  conditions  :  the  same  processes,  the  same  machines
the  same  raw  materials.  It  is,  then,  only  by  reducing  the  rate  of
wages  that  the  cost  price  can  be  diminished.  The  manufacturer
is  naturally  led  to  this,  in  order  to  gain  a  foreign  outlet  for  his
goods.  But  then,  other  manufacturers,  menaced  by  the  importation ­
  of  foreign  merchandise,  are  obliged,  in  their  turn  to
lower  the  price  of  labour,  in  order  to  avoid  loss  of  custom  Ind
having  to  cease  working.  In  vain  the  workmen  try  to  resist  by
coalitions  and  strikes.  The  manufacturer  can  present  to  them
this  incontrovertible  argument:  “If  I  do  not  reduce  your
wages,  one  of  two  things  will  happen  :  I  may  either  keep  up  the
selling-price  of  my  goods,  in  which  case  there  will  be  no  sale
for  them,  as  my  competitors,  who  pay  lower  wages,  can  offer
their  goods  cheaper;  or  I  may  lower  my  prices,  and  then  I
shall  be  selling  at  a  loss,  my  capital  will  gradually  be  eaten  up,
and  I  shall  be  ruined  and  have  to  close  the  factory.  Where
then  will  you  find  work  ?  I  am  therefore  forced,  in  spite  of
^tiyse  ,  to  reduce  wages  to  the  rate  paid  by  my  competitors.”