It will be Been that on this view of the effect of naateful expenditure the posilion occnplad by sonie earty economiaW, as Malthas, Lauderdale, Chsimera, and others, as well as by some later ones, w* RobertAon, HobsoD, ia Babatantially well taken, altbough the defence of waste which these econoniisls oQer may be iucotnpleta. Waste ■eema necessary to keep trade brisk, and therefore to keep the indoatrjal processes working at their full capacity. The ulterior reason tor this stale of the case being the (act that the decisive ground which delfirmlnestbemarginof activity in buBineaa, and therefore In industry, ia the busineas men's reluctance to acc«pt a reduction of profits as measured in terms of price. The oppouenla of the Malthusiaii view failed to appreciate the decisive importance of price, as contraslad with serviceability, among the motives on which business proceeds.
' The objection would not come unexpected \hat this state oi the case ia not to \» taken as normal, — a point of opinion not readll; U> be decided, since it reals on a dlHeience in the point of view.
the machine industry which such a state of affairs supposes.'
The explanation of this persistent business depression, in those countries where it has prevailed, is, on the view here spoken for, quite simple. By an uncertain date toward the close of the seventies the advancing e£Bciency and articu, lation of the processes of the machine industry reached such a pitch that the cost of production of