224

POLITICAL  ECONOMY

wanted  and  more  has  to  be  produced,  and
because,  were  some  labour  left  unoccupied
nevertheless,  this  labour  would  be  needed
to  produce  other  things  (including  leisure)
which  people  had  not  been  in  a  position  to  buy
when  they  had  been  forced  to  pay  so  much  for
the  thing  that  was  afterwards  cheapened.
We  may  therefore  conclude  that,  in  consequence ­
  of  the  introduction  of  machinery,  in
the  long  run  as  much  labour  will  be  wanted
as  before,  and  will  even  be  wanted  more
intensively  (as  will  be  argued  later),  despite
the  fact  that  some  labour  may  occasionally
lose  work  for  a  time  and  possibly  suffer
permanently  through  having  been  narrowly
specialised  to  a  task  which  machinery  assumes.
The  impossibility  of  there  ever  being  insufficient ­
  work  for  a  community  normally  becomes
evident  when  we  bear  in  mind  that  the  demand
for  labour  is  simply  a  reflection  of  the  community’s ­
  demand  for  things  which  may  be
regarded  as  practically  insatiable.  So  Mr.
Midshipman  Easy  was  uttering  an  outrageous
fallacy  when  he  gave  expression  in  this  way  to
the  wisdom  which  he  is  supposed  to  have
learnt  in  the  Navy  :—“  The  luxury,  the
pampered  state,  the  idleness—if  you  please,
the  wickedness—of  the  rich,  all  contribute  to
the  support,  the  comfort,  and  employment  of