rers, who
are simply strong men without any particular skill, earn large wages
when trade is brisk and many ships come into the docks; at other times,
when trade is slack, or when contrary winds keep ships out of port, they
often fall into destitution through want of employment.

(4.) #The Small or Great Trust which must be reposed in those who
exercise the Employments.# This circumstance considerably affects the
supply of people suitable for certain occupations. A man cannot expect
to get employment in a bank, or in a jeweller's shop, unless he has a
good character. Nothing is more difficult than for a person convicted of
dishonesty to find desirable employment. Thus, a good character is often
worth a great deal of money. Honesty, indeed, is so far common that it
does not alone command high wages; but it is one requisite. The
cleverest man would never be made the manager of a large business, if
there was reason to think that he had committed fraud.

(5.) Lastly, #The Probability or Improbability of Success in Employments
greatly affects the Wages of those who succeed#. In some cases, a man
can hardly avoid succeeding; if he once enlists, he is made into a
soldier whether he likes it or not. Almost all, too, who become clerks
in banks, counting-houses, or public offices, can succeed in doing some
of the work required in such offices. Accordingly clerks are seldom
highly paid. But of those who become barristers, only a few have the
peculiar knowledge, tact, and skill required to make them successful;
these few make very large gains, and the unsuccessful men have to seek
for other employments.

Some occupations are very badly paid, because they can be taken up by
men who fail in other work. Frequently a person who has learnt a trade
or profession finds that he is unfit for it; in other cases, there is a
failure in the demand for a commodity, which obliges its manufacturers
to seek other work. Such people are usually too old and too poor to
begin again from the beginning, and learn a new difficult trade. Thus
they have to take to the first work they can do. Educated men who have
not been successful become secretaries, house-agents, insurance-agents,
small wine merchants, and the like. Uneducated men have to drive cabs,
or go into the army, or break stones; poor women become seamstresses, or
go out charing. Here again we see the need of leaving everybody at
perfect liberty to enter any trade which he can manage to carry o