◆¹ One thing only could interfere with this process; and that has been excluded from our supposed community: namely, an increase in its numbers. And a mere increase in the numbers would in itself not be enough. It must be an increase which outstrips the discovery of new ways in which labour may be employed profitably. Let us suppose that to our original eight labourers, eight new labourers are added, who if left to themselves could do just what the first eight could do, namely, produce annual subsistence for themselves to the value of _fifty pounds_ each. If, under the management of James or John, the productivity of these men could be multiplied eight-fold, as was the case with the first eight, James and John would be soon competing for their services, and the second eight, like the first eight, would share in the increased product. But if, owing to all the best land being occupied, and few improvements having been discovered in the methods of any new industries, the productivity of the new men could be increased not eight-fold, but only by one-eighth—that is to say, if what each man produces by his unaided Labour could be raised by Ability from _fifty pounds_, not to _four hundred pounds_, but to no more than _fifty-six pounds ten shillings_,—_fifty-six pounds ten shillings_ would be the utmost these men would get, even if the Ability of James or John got no remuneration whatever. Meanwhile, however, the first set of workmen are, as we have seen, receiving much more than this. They are receiving each, we will say, _one hundred pounds_. The second set, therefore, naturally envy them their situations, and endeavour to secure these for themselves by offering their Labour at a considerably lower price. They offer it at _ninety pounds_, at _seventy pounds_, or even at _sixty pounds_; for they would be bettering their present situation by accepting even this last sum. This being the case, the original eight labourers have necessarily to offer their Labour at reduced terms also; and thus the wages of Labour are diminished all round.