are of that flow that goes
to the wage earners. We have already seen that the larger the product
is, the higher wages are likely to be. But what determines the sharing
out? That is the next matter to be considered. First, however, let us
examine briefly two theories of wages which are more or less current in
certain quarters, and which are built upon partial or complete
misunderstanding of the connection between wages and the work actually
performed by the wage earners.

The first theory, or rather group of theories, is that to which some of
the leaders of the scientific management movement have given their
sanction. The central idea of this group of theories is that in the
output of the wage earners, considered either as individual output or as
the output of a small group engaged on a common task, is to be found
the final and just measure of wages. It is frequently assumed in the
course of the reasoning used in support of these theories, that wages
can and should measure a separate contribution which the individual wage
earner makes to production. The positive, although hazy, belief which
ordinarily underlies the scientific management theories of wages can be
perceived in the following quotation from a speech of one of the leading
advocates of the movement. "There are two ways in which wages can be
advanced. One is the natural method, the proper method, the beneficial
method, the one that tends to the uplift of the world. That is to make
the advance depend absolutely on the effort of the worker. When the
worker delivers more, it is perfectly proper that the returns should go
up. In other words as unit costs go down wages can very properly rise,
and they should rise. Under these circumstances, the worker is
tremendously interested in seeing that the unit costs go down. There is
a regular mathematical law here. Only to a certain extent can the unit
cost go down and only to a certain extent can the wages go up.... On the
other hand, when you raise wages without any connection whatever with
the unit cost you inevitably find that the worker takes his bonus in the
form of more leisure...."[16]

At the risk of repetition, it may be remarked that the output of an
individual or a group of individuals is of necessity but a contribution
to a joint product, and is dependent upon many other things besides the
effort of the individual. And, therefore, even if the view that each
individual should get what he produces were found to b