The  truth  of  this  law  is  evident  in  two  directions:
( I )  /;/  the  Competitive-wage  System. — This  system,
coupled  with  the  fact  that  there  are  always  more  laborers
than  opportunities  to  labor,  enforces  the  law  in  regard  to
individuals.  Each  individual,  In  securing  a  job.  Is  forced
to  accept  It  at  the  lowest  possible  Income  upon  which  he


i82  THE    COST    OF    COMPETITION

can  survive,  reproduce  and  maintain  his  level  in  society
and  in  economic  efficiency.
(2)  /;/  the  Depejidence  of  the  Factory  upon  the  City-
office. — Viewing  class-aggregates,  the  bargaining  division
holds  the  complete  advantage  over  the  producer-division.
Labor  to-day,  unless  it  can  find  access  to  land,  tools  and
exchange, — that  is,  to  capital  and  a  marlcet, — is  as  help-
less for  its  own  support  as  if  every  muscle  were  paralyzed.
There  was  a  time  when  an  alternative  was  open  to  it,  when
it  could  choose  between  specialization,  adopting  machine-
methods,  on  the  one  hand,  and  hand-trade  distributed  over
several  trades  on  the  other.  Then  barter  could  exact,  for
the  privileges  of  exchange,  only  the  bulk  of  the  superiority
of  specialization  with  tools  over  Jack-at-all-trades  hand-
production,  but  no  more.  Now  this  limit  has  almost
entirely  disappeared.  The  superiority  of  the  factory-
method  is  so  great  as  to  have  entirely  displaced  the  other.
The  producer  attempting  to  cling  to  hand-methods  cover-
ing the  bulk  of  even  his  bare  needs:  food,  clothes  and
shelter,  as  did  our  grandparents,  or  to  hand-make  any  one
of  these  needs  and  market  his  product  unaided,  would  liter-
ally starve.
