Note 917 — Chapter II · : STATE SOCIALISM

Such, as we have already seen, is Colson’s conclusion (Cours, vol. iii, p. 366), and such is the verdict of M. Chatelain after studying the United States census returns. According to Chatelain (Questions pratiques de Législation ouvrière, June and July, 1908), the American metal-workers’ share in the product fell from 71 to 68 per cent. between the years 1890 and 1905, while capital’s share increased from 28 to 32 per cent. The men’s wages during the same period rose from 551 dollars to 626, while the rate of interest fell from 9 to 8 per cent. Despite this diminution in labour’s share of the total product it is impossible to say whether the remuneration of labour in general is moving upward or downward, for the working classes do not depend solely upon the wages of their labour. Some of them have a little capital—a very small amount, perhaps, but there is no reason for thinking that it will not grow in future.

It is quite clear that this complicated question must be carefully defined. Three different factors must be distinguished: (1) The individual’s wage; (2) labour’s share in the product; (3) the income of the working class. On this problem see Edwin Cannan’s article in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1905, and his statements in his Theory of Production and Distribution, 1776-1848.