The elements of social science, or, Physical, sexual, and natural religion : an exposition of the true cause and only cure of the three primary social evils: poverty, prostitution and celibacy / by a doctor of medicine.

  • Drysdale, George R., 1825-1904.
Date:
1889
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The elements of social science, or, Physical, sexual, and natural religion : an exposition of the true cause and only cure of the three primary social evils: poverty, prostitution and celibacy / by a doctor of medicine. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    of .mlefnite incrcnse, the v;i,luc a/imi/s ilopcnrls on tlih l.iw. Tlie principal ol' llk'st' are I,ab(jr, and llic JCxports and Imports ol Inter- Tiatiunul Trade. Why tiic value of exports and imports dejx'nds on demand and supply, and not on cost of pi oduclion, is a question of In- ternational I'lxelianHe, into whose theory I shall iHjt enter. The reason vhy this is the case willi labor, is obvious. Human beings are not, like the oilier commodities wliicli form the snlijeets of exchange, pro- ducts of industry, nor is it witli a view to ^'dn that Ihey are called into existence. The value of labor is determined by the law of demand and supply exactly in the same way as tiiat of other conmiodities. If the demand for labor exceed the supply, wages (which word expresses the value of hihor) rise; if the sujiply exceed the demand, wages fall. In all cases, where competition is fiee and active, the value of labor will settle at the point where the demand and supply are made equal: that is to say, the rate of wages will be such as to distribute the whole wage- fund among the wliole of the laborers. The greater She demand and the less the supply of labor, the higher will be the rate of wages. The same projjosition—namely, that the greater the demand and the less the supply, tlie higher will be the market value—apjilies to all commodities whatsoever; and in the case of all exce/it l/tl/or, it is uni- versall}' admitted to be true. Every producer and dealer is familiar with tl-.o fact, and liabitually acts upon it. If the supply of any article threatens to be deficient, tradesmen hasten to lay in a stock of it, knowing well that if their surmise be correct, a rise of price is certain to lollow. On the same principle the monopolist limits the supply of his goods, in order to raise their value. If we ask any business man what it is that causes a rise in the market price of a commodity, he will at once answer, a short supply and a large de- mand. In the case of labor alone is this great truth, with the most fl.igrant inconsistency, ignored or denied. Nay, we sometimes see ap])reliensions expressed, even in liberal journals, lest tliere sliould be a scarcity of labor; as if there were any possible or conceivable manner in which wages could be permanently raised except by labor being scarce, or in other words, by the laborers bearing a small proportion to the wage-fund A market overstocked with laborej-s, and an ample remuneration for each laborer, says Mr. Malthus, are matters perfectly incompatible. In the annals of the world the}' never existed together; and to couple them even in imagination betrays an ig- norance of the simplest principles of political economy. Let us next examine the law of Cost of Production. This law de- termines the average value of all things, the supplj' of which can be indejiriitehj increased. These things, as already mentioned, are divisible into two great classes, between which there is a marked distinction; the first class being susceptible of indefinite increase at a uniform ex- pense; the second (if the facilities of production remain the same) only at a greater expense. The value of the first is determined by tlieir gyueral cost of production, that of the second hy their cost of production in the worst circumgtances.