INFLUENCE  OF  TASTE  AND  FASHION

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compete  with  a  larger  number  of  unknown  competitors
in  a  market  with  a  wider  space-area,  but  a  corresponding
expansion  is  taking  place  in  the  time-area.  Manufacture
is  less  and  less  to  supply  present  known  wants,  more  and
more  to  provide  against  future  expected  wants,  and  to
assist  in  those  auxiliary  branches  of  the  machinery  of
capitalist  production  which  are  always  becoming  more
and  more  complex.  A  less  and  less  proportion  of  work
is  done  to  supply  definite  orders,  more  and  more  is  done
for  the  chance  of  an  unknown  sale.  In  other  words  a
larger  proportion  of  trade  is  taking  on  the  character  of
“speculation.”  Miscalculation  and  misdirection  of  industrial
energy  belong  essentially  to  speculative  trade  and  impress
irregularity  on  employment.
In  dealing  directly  with  causes  of  unemployment  we
shall  see  how  closely  this  irregularity  is  connected  with
the  application  of  modern  machinery  and  power.  Although
the  co-operation  of  large  fixed  capital  in  plant  and
machinery  in  itself  tends  to  enforce  continuity  of  work
upon  each  business,  since  the  loss  incurred  by  stoppage
or  contraction  is  greater  the  individual  finds  that  the
matter  is  less  and  less  dependent  upon  his  own  will
and  energy,  and  more  and  more  upon  the  wider  trade
forces  beyond  his  control,  which,  operating  by  upward
and  downward  pressure  of  prices,  oblige  him  to  an
oscillating  policy  of  expansion  and  contraction  which
involves  a  waste  in  the  use  of  capital  and  labour.
§  4.  Influence  of  Taste  and  Fashion.
The  increased  influence  of  taste  and  fashion  makes
in  the  same  direction.  A  larger  proportion  of  labour  is
constantly  engaged  in  the  production  and  distribution  of