_Radical Solution of the Problem._--A radical solution of this problem is to be expected only from an increase in the wages of the adult male workers. Not until the earnings of the father of the family suffice to provide adequately for all the needs of the family, will it become unnecessary for mother and children to work for wages. It is a fact of general experience that those workmen who earn adequate wages do not let their wives and children go out to work; and also that in the case of men occupied in the so-called seasonal trades, it is only during the husbands’ slack season that the wives and children contribute by their earnings to the family income (for instance, the wives and children of bricklayers go out to work during the winter only). If women and children did not undertake wage-labour, the supply of labour in general would be much smaller, and as a result of this the wages of the adult male workers would necessarily rise. It is most probable that in course of time the adult male workers will succeed in obtaining considerably higher wages than they receive on the average to-day. Wage-labour on the part of women and children will then for the most part cease, and this will result in yet further increase in the wages of the men. The adult male workers should not lose sight of the fact that by allowing their wives and children to work for wages they merely succeed in making their own condition worse. For a short time after the wives and children first begin to work there may, indeed, be an increase in the family income; but the ultimate result is to make life harder, not merely for themselves, but for other workmen in general. If, on the other hand, they do not allow their wives and children to engage in wage-labour, they may sometimes suffer for the moment, by a temporary diminution in income; but they enter upon a path which cannot fail ultimately to lead to benefit both for their own family and for the other workers.