Wages and Combination (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1834 edition. Excerpt: ...per cent., both upon his floating and upon his fixed capital; and when the Frenchman sells his goods for 60,000/., he replaces his advance for wages and materials, and realizes a profit of ten per cent. upon his whole capital. Now, if the Frenchman would sell his greater quantity of goods for the same sum for which the Englishman sells the less quantity, and would be satisfied for a short time with seven per cent. upon his original capital of 100,000/., he might undersell the English manufacturer, and drive his goods out of the foreign market. The French manufacturer might now sell double his former quantity of goods. He might advance an additional 50,000/. in wages and materials, and sell the additional quantity of goods for an additional sum of 57,000/.; and, should no additional outlay be requisite for buildings and machines, this would yield him, on his second portion of floating capital, a profit, not of seven, but of fourteen per cent. It is self-evident, therefore, that if a greater quantity of materials can be worked up without an additional outlay for fixed capital, it will be the interest of the French manufacturer to take less than the average rate of profit in France upon the first portion of his advances, in order to gain more than this average rate upon the additional portions of floating capital, which he can employ by underselling the English manufacturer, and beating him out of the foreign market. It must be apparent, that the force of this argument depends upon the fact, whether, in manufacturing industry, additional floating capital can be employed without a proportionate addition of fixed capital. Now with respect to the matter of fact there can be no doubt. The market is occasionally under-stocked, and occasionally...