THE WAGES-FUND DOCTRINE AT THE HANDS OF GERMAN ECONOMISTS.

The article focuses on the view of German economists regarding the wage-fund doctrine. Among English economists, there has been a singular neglect of the treatment of the subject by their German associates. It is the object of the article to follow the peculiar development of German thought, and to consider the significance and the value of the treatment of wages which has become a traditional part of it. To understand the views of any writer on the whole range of subjects of which the wages-fund doctrine is a part, it is needful to consider his views on the nature and functions of capital at large, and more particularly on the place in the analysis of capital of finished commodities consumed by laborers. A step in the right direction has been taken in very recent times by a German thinker, who has broken with the traditions of his predecessors in more than one part of economic theory. The thinker's brilliant analysis of the capital of a community, of social capital and of private capital, of the length of time over which the period of production is spread, of the whole possessions of the community as constituting one great subsistence fund, of the steadily issuing flow of consumable commodities which constitutes the real income of every class in the community, all is admirable, and a long step towards a better understanding of the phenomena of distribution.