240 
POLITICAL ECONOMY 
to the needs of the community, and is pro 
jected on such a scale that the whole of the 
employable population tends to be employed. 
By the right wage I mean the wage which 
accurately represents the equilibrium which 
would be brought about by the forces des 
cribed if they worked in a frictionless medium, 
which society is not. Can we be sure that 
in the pleading of a case before an arbitrator 
it would be possible to make these forces 
explicit and adequately to express them ? 
Moreover, can we be sure that the arbitrator 
would always, or commonly, be possessed of 
that insight which would enable him properly 
to appreciate and duly to balance the testi 
mony laid before him ? 
Arbitration over small points and the inter 
pretation of existing contracts is quite another 
matter. In this matter it is folly not to use 
to the full the judicial referee. But the 
industrialised western world has hitherto 
shown itself distrustful, and not without 
reason, of the method of the law-courts 
in its application to labour disagreements 
which do not arise out of the reading of 
existing undertakings. It seems to feel 
instinctively that the forces expressed in 
demand and supply must be left by their 
interplay to bring about their own position