eep labour in subjection. In describing how the "self-acting mule"
came into use he adds triumphantly: "This invention comprises the
great doctrine already propounded, that when capital enlists science
in her service the refractory hand of labour will always be taught
docility" (p. 368).

[233] "No. 64 Consular Report" (quoted Schoenhof, p. 209).

[234] Schoenhof, p. 216.

[235] _Der Grossbetrieb_, p. 167.

[236] _Vide supra_, p. 269. These wages, however, are the average of
all the labour employed in the weaving-sheds, not of "weavers" alone.

[237] E.R.L. Gould, _Contemporary Review_, January 1893.

CHAPTER XI.

SOME EFFECTS OF MODERN INDUSTRY UPON THE WORKERS AS CONSUMERS.

Sec. 1. _How far the different Working Classes gain from the Fall of
Prices._
Sec. 2. _Part of the Economy of Machine-production compensated by the
growing Work of Distribution._
Sec. 3. _The Lowest Class of Workers gains least from
Machine-production._

Sec. 1. In considering the effect of machine-production upon a body of
workers engaged in some particular industry we are not confined to
tracing the effects of improvements in the arts and methods of that
single branch of production. As consumers they share in the
improvements introduced into other industries reflected in a fall of
retail prices. Insomuch as all English workers consume bread they are
benefited by the establishment of a new American railway or the
invention of new milling machinery which lowers the price of bread; as
all consume boots the advantage which the introduction of boot-making
machinery confers upon the workers is not confined to the higher wages
which may be paid to some operatives in the boot factory, but is
extended to all the workers who can buy cheaper boots.

How far do methods of modern capitalist production tend to benefit the
labourer in his capacity as consumer?

Economic theory is in tolerably close accord with experience in the
answer it gives to this question. Each portion of the working classes
gains in its capacity of consumer from improved methods of production
in proportion to the amount by which its income exceeds the bare
subsistence wage of unskilled workers. The highly-paid mechanic gains
most, the sweated worker least. The worker earning forty shillings per
week gains much more than twice as much as the worker earning twenty
shillings from each general cheapening in the cost of production.