250 
POLITICAL ECONOMY 
sheep from herds of deer, and the notion that 
labour has a supply price for each purpose 
may seemingly stand exposed as a pure 
fabrication ; and, watching the course of a 
labour dispute, after the most patient and 
microscopic scrutiny, he may detect not the 
faintest reference to the marginal worth of 
labour, but, on the contrary, be rudely forced 
against his armchair convictions to adopt the 
view that the success of the men depends 
upon the financial resources of their union, 
the astuteness and vigour of their chief officials 
and the pliability of employers. All that 
may thus be seen is real—fact which is not to 
be blinked—but to wipe out the refinements of 
theory when we admit this is like refusing to 
believe in radio-activity because we cannot 
observe it with the naked eye. The most 
highly endowed and best trained scientific 
mind will accept every theory to which reason 
compels assent, however dilatory and minute 
the tendencies covered by it, and at the same 
time reject no facts, however individual and 
exceptional, because they seem to be outside 
accepted theories. A complete Economic 
Science may be imaged as a weird pyramid 
with an extensive base (of the earth earthy), 
made up of tangible facts just theorised 
enough to hold together, but an apex (rarefied