and left the home voluntarily. It would be just the same as in any
industry in which most of the workers are ignorant. They would remain
under low wages just as long as their ignorance and lack of initiative
would allow, but sooner or later the relatively able man would seek the
best wage. Hence the able man would seek the best wage, and his place
would be taken by one, possibly morally and physically unable to procure
any wage, or, in other words, belonging to the unemployable class. If it
should come to the point of the Army's hiring able men to carry on the
work without aiding the outcasts, it must compete in the market for them
and pay the market price. The only real danger would lie in the Army's
industrial work securing a strong enough position in some industry to be
able to dictate terms to labor in an industry, but this is so unlikely
as to be almost irrelevant and even in such an almost inconceivable
case, the danger would be only temporary. Labor would still be able to
drift sufficiently to another agency, not controlled by the Army and
thus bring up wages again. This is the more true in that any industry,
in which the Army engages, must of necessity be one in which unskilled
labor is competent.[30] In addition to this, from personal
investigation, we can state that a large part of the labor employed in
these plants of the Army is at any rate temporarily inefficient labor
and would not have much chance in securing employment elsewhere.
Finally, though considered a charitable work, this branch of the army
is, as already stated, a corporation, a business enterprise financed by
investors who receive interest on their investments; hence, to the same
extent that it is a financial enterprise, like other such enterprises,
it will be governed by the rate of wages.[31]

Another objection has been raised by critics, to the effect that the
Army, through its industry, enters into competition with existing firms
and companies to the harm of the latter.[32] For instance they urge that
in the case of those engaged in second-hand goods and salvage, who are
able to make a profit by buying their material, the army enters into an
unfair competition, when it takes such material, given in charity, and
sells at a lower figure. In so far as the army does undersell others
this objection is valid, and we have no doubt that in some cases such is
the truth. Doubtless some individuals and firms have been hurt in their
business by this und