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When in any country the demand for those who live by wages,

labourers, journeymen, servants of every kind, is continually

increasing; when every year furnishes employment for a greater

number than had been employed the year before, the workmen have

no occasion to combine in order to raise their wages. The

scarcity of hands occasions a competition among masters, who bid

against one another in order to get workmen, and thus voluntarily

break through the natural combination of masters not to raise

wages. The demand for those who live by wages, it is evident,

cannot increase but in proportion to the increase of the funds

which are destined to the payment of wages. These funds are of

two kinds, first, the revenue which is over and above what is

necessary for the maintenance; and, secondly, the stock which is

over and above what is necessary for the employment of their

masters.