r necessary on an average for their reproduction, so the
value of labor-power is likewise determined. Wages tend to a point at
which they will cover the average cost of the necessary means of
subsistence for the workers and their families, in any given time and
place, under the conditions and according to the standards of living
generally prevailing. Trade union action, for example, may force wages
above that point, or undue stress in the competitive labor market may
force wages below it. While, however, a trade union may bring about what
is virtually a monopoly-price for the labor-power of its members, there
is always a counter tendency in the other direction, sometimes even to
the lowering of the standard of subsistence itself to the minimum of
things required for physical existence.

To class human labor-power with pig iron as a commodity, subject to the
same laws, may at first seem fantastic to the reader, but a careful
survey of the facts will fully justify the classification. The capacity
of the worker to labor depends upon his securing certain things; his
labor-power has to be reproduced from day to day, for which a certain
supply of food, clothing, and other necessities of life is essential.
Even with these supplied constantly, the worker sooner or later wears
out and dies. If the race is not to be extinguished, a certain supply of
the necessities of life must be provided for the children during the
years of their development to the point where their labor-power becomes
marketable. The average cost of production in the case of labor-power
includes, therefore, the necessities for a wife and family as well as
for the individual worker. Far from being the iron law Lassalle
imagined, this law of wages is one of considerable elasticity. The
standard of living itself, far from being a fixed thing, determined only
by the necessities of physical existence, varies according to
occupational groups; to localities sometimes, as a result of historical
development; to nationality and race, as a result of tradition; to the
general standard of intelligence, and the degree in which the workers
are organized for the promotion of their economic interests. The advance
in the culture of the people as a whole, expressing itself in
legislation for compulsory education, the abolition of child labor,
improvement of housing and general sanitary conditions, and so on,
tends to raise the standard of living. Finally, the fluctuations in the