Til E W I'. A L T11 O F X AT10NS.

71

When in any country the demand for those who live bywages, labourers, journeymen, servants of every kind, is con-tinually increasing; when every year furnishes employmentfor a greater number than had been employed the year before,the workmen have no occasion to combine in order to raisetheir wages. The scarcity of hands occasions a competitionamong masters, who bid against one another, in order to getworkmen, and thus voluntarily break through the naturalcombination of masters not to raise wages.

The demand for those who live by wages, it is evident,cannot increase but in proportion to the increase of the fundswhich are destined to the payment of wages. These fundsare of two kinds: first, the revenue which is over and abovewhat is necessary for the maintenance; and, secondly, thestock which is over and above what is necessary for the em-ployment of their masters.

When the landlord, annuitant, or monied man, has agreater revenue than what he judges sufficient to maintainhis own family, he employs either the whole or a part of thesurplus in maintaining one or more menial servants. Increasethis surplus, and he will naturally increase the number ofthose servants.

When an independent workman, such as a weaver or shoe-maker, has got more stock than what is sufficient to purchasethe materials of his own work, and to maintain himself till hecan dispose of it, he naturally employs one or more journey-men with the surplus, in order to make a profit by their work.Increase this surplus, and he will naturally increase the num-ber of his journeymen.

The demand for those who live by wages therefore, neces-sarily increases with the increase of the revenue and stock ofevery country, and cannot possibly increase without it. Theincrease of revenue and stock is the increase of nationalwealth. The demand for those who live by wages, therefore,naturally increases with the increase ol national wealth, anilcannot possibly increase without it.

It is not the actual greatness of national wealth, but itscontinual increase, which occasions a rise in the wages of la-bour. It is not, accordingly, in the richest countries, but inthe most thriving, or in those which are growing rich thefastest, that the wages of labour arc. highest. England is cer-tainly, in the present times, a much richer country than anypart of North America . The wages of labour, however, are