PROBLEMS  OF  DISTRIBUTION  235

at  which  the  man  just  left  in  employment  has
a  worth  equal  to  his  wage.
It  is  very  difficult  to  imagine  how  organised
labour  could  secure  the  employment  of  all  employable ­
  people,  when  such  a  breach  between
marginal  worth  and  wages  had  been  created,
without  interfering  to  such  an  extent  with  the
arrangements 1  in  works  that  the  employer  as
industrial  organiser  would  in  effect  be  displaced.
In  a  limited  degree,  of  course,  the  kind  of
interference  with  the  demand  for  labour  which
we  have  in  mind  can  be  brought  about  by
regulations  relating,  for  example,  to  the
quantity  of  labour  to  machinery  (the  wisdom
or  folly  of  which  when  their  intention  goes
beyond  stopping  overwork,  we  shall  not
enter  into  here)  ;  but,  in  order  to  carry  out
on  a  large  scale  the  sort  of  policy  which  we
have  been  discussing,  the  interference  with
the  demand  for  labour,  instead  of  being  limited
and  piecemeal,  would  have  to  be  massive  and
thorough-going.
Paradoxical  as  it  may  appear,  given  a
social  system  like  that  which  we  have  now  in
general  operation,  a  brighter  future  for
labour  is  bound  up,  not  with  action  which
would  reduce  the  proportion  of  employing
capacity  active  in  producing,  but,  on  the
contrary,  with  action  which  will  augment