The Economic Position of the British Labourer

ply the capital which industry requires, and another class, who are the employed, supply the requisite labour. The proceeds of industry are divided into two distinct shares; the one share is the wages which the labourer receives as his remuneration, and the other share is given to the capitalist in the form of profits; these profits reward him for the investment of his capital and for his labour of superintendence. It is evident, however, that the labourer will enjoy the whole proceeds of his industry, or in other words, that profits as well as wages will be allotted to him, if he, instead of obtaining a supply of capital from another,provides all the capital which his labour may require. Thus the peasant proprietor owns the land which he cultivates, and also furnishes the necessary capital, and consequently the whole produce yielded becomes his property. Formerly the artisan capitalists who worked on their own account, and not for a master, were a numerous class: but many of the causes which have swept away the small freeholders of bygone days, have also operated to destroy those domestic manufactures which once represented so large a portion of the industry of this country. . I have already shewn, that as the implements of agriculture have been improved, farming on a large scale has become more profitable. For similar reasons the handloom weavers, the pillow lace- makers, and many others who once carried on manufactures in their own homes, were inevitably des...