Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 9.djvu/525

Rh that link, and scientists differ on that point.

Only that portion of the early prehistoric period is known to us of which the caves and the drift have furnished records; these, however, suggest an antecedent period, in which man may not have attained the weapon-making stage. His primeval habitat and true birthplace, observes the author, may have been in the more favored regions of the earth where Nature spontaneous provided for his requirements.

That a work so voluminous as this should pass to a third edition is strong evidence of its merit, and of the deep interest felt in the subject of which it treats. The value of the work is enhanced by the number of its illustrations, there being 132 in the 800 pages of the volumes. It is the matured and intelligent expression of one of the early students of archæology, and will continue to command the attention of the specialist and of the general reader.

question of wages is strictly economical in its nature, and must be discussed by the political economist without reference to ethical or social considerations. Most writers on the subject of wages have, however, given to the term "economical" too restricted a meaning, thus excluding the action of causes which, though primarily ethical or social, are nevertheless secondarily potent in the field of industry, as affecting either the production or the distribution of wealth. To such causes Prof. Walker assigns due weight, and herein consists one of the distinctive features of his work. "Sympathy for labor" is a phrase which, on first view, would seem to have no place in a scientific discussion of the wages question from the political economist's point of view. Yet, as is shown by the author, if sympathy for labor serves in any degree to make competition on the side of the laboring class more active and persistent; if it takes anything from the activity and persistency with which the employing class use the means in their power to beat down wages, or lengthen the hours of work, it becomes, in just so far as it has such an effect, a strictly economical cause.

Three doctrines, which are more or less current in political economy, the author vehemently controverts, viz.: 1. That there is a wage-fund irrespective of the numbers and industrial quality of the laboring population, constituting the sole source from which wages can at any time by drawn. Wages, he shows, are paid out of current production, and not out of capital, as the wage-fund theory assumes. 2. That competition is so far perfect that the laborer, as producer, always realizes the highest wages which the employer can afford to pay; or else, as consumer, is recompensed in the lower price of commodities for any injury he may chance to suffer as producer. 3. That, in the organization of modern industrial society, the laborer and the capitalist are together sufficient unto production, the actual employer of labor being regarded as the capitalist, or else as the mere stipendiary agent and creature of the capitalist, receiving a remuneration which can properly be treated like the wages of ordinary labor.

In opposition to the generally-accepted view that, if the wage-laborer does not seek his interest, his interest will seek him, Prof. Walker holds that, if the wage-laborer does not pursue his interest, he loses his interest. "In a state of imperfect competition," says the author—