PROBLEMS  OF  DISTRIBUTION  223

wages  and  the  general  well-being  of  the  wageearning ­
  classes.
We  may  take  it  as  commonly  allowed  in
these  days  that  the  workers  have  generally
benefited  in  income  from  the  capitalisation  of
industry  ;  but  it  is  not  always  recognised  how
exactly  the  benefit  has  come  about.  The
correct  view  of  the  relation  between  wages
and  capital  is  certainly  this,  that  as  capital
increases  wages  must  tend  to  rise.  One  might
at  first,  perhaps,  hesitate  about  subscribing
to  this  doctrine,  because  one  might  feel  disposed ­
  to  contend  that  the  introduction  of
more  capital  displaces  labour—that  is  to  say
that  satisfying  the  demand  for  productive
agents  with  capital  weakens  the  demand  for
labour,  capital  and  labour  being  largely  alternatives. ­
  Such  an  argument  would  be  sound
were  it  a  fact  that  the  quantity  of  things
demanded,  tangible  and  intangible,  was  absolutely ­
  fixed  in  amount.  In  that  case,  the
advent  of  labour-saving  appliances  would
throw  men  out  of  work,  and  the  out-of-works,
by  competing  with  those  left  in  employment,
would  bring  down  the  rate  of  wages.  But
this  effect  could  never  be  met  with  in  the  long
run,  because,  when  the  price  of  a  thing  is
reduced  in  consequence  of  an  improvement  in
the  method  of  making  it,  more  of  the  thing  is