The citizen and the state; industrial and social life and the empire . ving capital out ofthe trade. But driving capital out of a trade is thevery last thing which the men want to do. It meansdriving away that which increases the jDrice oflabour. 6. Increase of Price.—If the men have come tothe conclusion that an increase of wages cannot be gotout of the money paid to capital, they must next con-sider whether it can be paid by an increase in theprice of the manufactured article. Take the case of aboot factory, at which the boots have hitherto beensold at 5 s. a pair. Will it be possible for th
The citizen and the state; industrial and social life and the empire . ving capital out ofthe trade. But driving capital out of a trade is thevery last thing which the men want to do. It meansdriving away that which increases the jDrice oflabour. 6. Increase of Price.—If the men have come tothe conclusion that an increase of wages cannot be gotout of the money paid to capital, they must next con-sider whether it can be paid by an increase in theprice of the manufactured article. Take the case of aboot factory, at which the boots have hitherto beensold at 5 s. a pair. Will it be possible for theboot manufacturer to raise the price, say to 6 pay the increase in his wages bill out of the extrashilling ? The answer depends upon many he will not, if other factories go on sellingthe same class of boots at 5s. per pair. Suppose,however, that the rise in wages would affect allthe English factories equally, and that, therefore, if theprice of boots was raised it would affect all that case the thing might be done, except for one. 42 INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIAL LIFE AND DUTIES CH. ix or both of two tilings. In the first place foreignboots might come in at 5 s. per pair. In thatcase it would be impossible for the price of Englishboots of the same quality to be raised. They wouldsimply cease to be sold if their price were raised to6s. The leaders of the men have, then, to con-sider what is the lowest price at which imported bootscan be sold in England, and to remember that theprice cannot be raised above that without killing theEnglish boot trade. But even when this has beenconsidered and settled there is yet another matter tobe taken into account. Will the raising of the priceof boots, even if kept below the price of the foreignboots, make people use fewer boots in the year, andso injure the manufacturers and cause less work forthe workmen ? 7. Increase in Price means Decrease in Demand.—There is no doubt that a marked rise in price at oncecauses
Size: 1304px × 1915px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectgreatbr, bookyear1913
