Читать книгу Description of the Process of Manufacturing Coal Gas. For the Lighting of Streets Houses, and Public Buildings онлайн

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Now, however the existing state of things may be in this country, or in other countries, arising out of a variety of arbitrary circumstances, foreign to the natural, and in all cases the ultimately inevitable course of industry, it is a matter of justice, clear and undeniable, that every improvement in society ought to be the property of the many, and not of a few; and that it ought either to lessen the quantity of labour necessary for acquiring the means of living, or to increase the profit to be gained by continuing the same quantity of labour. Nor does there seem any reason for believing that, in point of fact, the actual distribution of things is so far from according with this principle of justice as some superficial and prejudiced observers are fond of representing. The labourer, or artizan, may now work a greater number of hours daily than he did years ago; but how seldom do we find this to be the case without his comforts being more than proportionally multiplied, and his ultimate independence from labour essentially promoted. In general, however, the fact is, if we may give credit to well informed economists, that the working classes do not labour more than formerly, and yet live, or at least have the means of living better; and that by working even less than formerly, they can obtain the means of living quite as well.