ate
individuals, and claiming them as social functions and social wealth to
be administered for the social welfare. This is the past and present
contribution of "socialistic legislation" towards a solution of the
problem of poverty, and it seems not unlikely that the claims of society
upon these forms of social property will be larger and more
systematically enforced in the future.

Chapter XI.

The Industrial Outlook of Low-Skilled Labour.

Sec. 1. The Concentration of Capital.--It must be remembered that we have
been concerned with what is only a portion of the great industrial
movement of to-day. Perhaps it may serve to make the industrial position
of the poor low-skilled workers more distinct if we attempt to set this
portion in its true relation to the larger Labour Problem, by giving a
brief outline of the size and relation of the main industrial forces of
the day.

If we look at the two great industrial factors, Capital and Labour, we
see a corresponding change taking place in each. This change signifies a
constant endeavour to escape the rigour of competition by a co-operation
which grows ever closer towards fusion of interests previously separate.

Look first at Capital. We saw how the application of machinery and
mechanical power to productive industries replaced the independent
citizen, or small capitalist, who worked with a handful of assistants,
by the mill and factory owner with his numerous "hands." The economic
use of machinery led to production on a larger scale. But new, complex,
and expensive machinery is continually being invented, which, for those
who can afford to purchase and use it, represents a fresh economy in
production, and enables them both to produce larger quantities of goods
more rapidly, and to get rid of them by underselling those of their
trade competitors who are working with old-fashioned and less effective
machinery. As this process is continually going on, it signifies a
constant advantage which the owner of a large business capital has over
the owner of a smaller capital. In earlier times, when trade was more
localized, and the small manufacturer or merchant had his steady
customers, and stood on a slowly and carefully acquired reputation, it
was not so easy for a new competitor to take his trade by the offer of
some small additional advantage. But the opening up of wider
communication by cheap postage, the newspaper, the railway, the
telegraph, the general and rap