MRS. B

IN our last conversation I think we came to this conclusion, that capital is almost as beneficial to the poor as to the rich; for though the property of the one, it is by its nature destined for the maintenance of the other.

CAROLINE

It comes to the labourer in the form of wages, but as we must allow the capitalist a profit on his work, I should like very much to know what proportion that profit bears to the wages of the labourer.

MRS. B

It varies extremely, but the wages of the labourer can never be permanently less than will afford him the means of living, otherwise he could not labour.

CAROLINE

On the other hand, they can never be equal to the whole value of the work he produces, for if his master made no profit by him he would not employ him.

MRS. B

Such then are the two extremes of the wages of labour, but they admit of many intermediate degrees of variation. If besides furnishing subsistence for himself, the wages of the labourer would not enable him to maintain a wife and bring up a family, the class of labourers would gradually diminish, and the scarcity of hands would then raise their wages, which would enable them to live with more comfort and rear a family; but as the capitalist will always keep wages as low as he can, the labourer and his family can seldom command more than the necessaries of life.