The line _AC_ measures time in decades and indicates, by the figures ranging from 1 to 10, the passing of a century. _AB_ represents the rate of wages which, on the average, are needed for maintaining the standard of living at the beginning of the century; and _CD_ measures the amount that is necessary at the end. The dotted line which crosses and recrosses the line _BD_ describes the actual pay of labor, ranging now above the standard rate and now below it. Whenever wages rise above the standard, the birth rate is somewhat quickened, and whenever they fall below it, it is retarded; but the increase in the rate does not suffice to bring the pay actually down to its former level. The descent of the dotted line is not equal to the rise, and through the century the earnings of labor fluctuate about a standard which grows continually higher. The pessimistic conclusion afforded by the Malthusian law in its untenable form requires (1) that the standard of living should be stationary and low, and (2) that wages should fluctuate about this low standard. In this view the facts would be described by the following figure:-- [Illustration] _AC_ measures a century, as before, by decades, and the height of _BD_ above _BC_ measures the standard of living prevailing through this time. The dotted line crossing and recrossing _BD_ expresses the fact that wages sometimes rise above the fixed standard and are quickly carried to it and then below it by a rapid increase in the number of the laborers. _Members of the Upper Classes not Secure against the Action of the Malthusian Law if a Great Lower Class is Subject to It._--It is clear that if the workers are to be protected from the depressing effect which follows a too rapid increase of population, the Malthusian law in its drastic form must not operate in the case of the lowest of the three classes, so long as that is a numerous class. A restrained growth in the case of the upper two classes would not suffice to protect them if the lowest class greatly outnumbered them, and if it also showed a rapid increase in number whenever the pay of its members rose. The young workers belonging to this class would find their way in sufficient numbers into the second class to reduce the wages of its members to a level that would approximate the standard of the lowest class. Under proper conditions this does not happen; for the drastic action of the Malthusian law does not take place in the case of the third class as a whole, but only in the case of a small stratum within it.