Page:James Ramsay MacDonald - The Socialist Movement.pdf/71

 Rh of land and capital is a serious drain upon national wealth and a heavy burden upon national production. Let us now approach the subject from the standpoint of the waste of labour involved.

A constant grievance against the amalgamation of railway interests which is going on to-day is its effect upon employees. So long as production is carried on primarily for the profit of the owners of capital, labour is not used to its economic maximum. There is no co-operation between capital and labour for the most economic use of both. Labour has to look after itself. Its more economic use—say by the introduction of machinery—may mean a lowering of the cost of production and consequently a fall in prices. But wage-earners cannot consider that, because the only immediate experience which they have of the change is that there is less demand for their services, that they are discharged, and that their incomes consequently cease altogether. The first task of a workman's life is to make a wage for this present week, and whatever prevents him from doing that cannot be welcomed by him, and we ought not to expect him to welcome it. This is