That would make
it cheaper for the master to employ two sets of men working each eight
hours when they had long jobs requiring them, while for the necessities
of finishing contracts, etc., they could well afford to pay double for
the extra hours. "It would make everything dearer!" Of course it would!
How else can you produce a more equal distribution of wealth than by
making the rich and idle pay more and the workers receive more? "The
workers would have to pay more, too, for everything they bought!" True
again, but what they paid more would not equal their extra earnings,
because a large portion of the extra pay to the men will be paid by the
rich, and only the remainder paid by the men themselves. The eight
hours' day and double pay for overtime would not only employ thousands
now out of work, but would actually raise wages per hour and per day.
This is clear, because wages are kept down wholly by the surplus supply
of labour in every trade. The moment the surplus is used up, or nearly
so, by more men being required on account of shorter hours, competition
among the men becomes less; among the employers, for men, more: hence
necessarily higher wages all round. As to the bogey of foreign
competition, it is a bogey only. All the political economists agree that
if wages are raised in all trades, it will not in the least affect our
power to export goods as profitably as now. Look and see! And, secondly,
the eight hours' movement is an international one, and will affect all
alike in the end.
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