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Owing to the extensive use of machinery and to division of

labour, the work of the proletarians has lost all individual

character, and consequently, all charm for the workman. He

becomes an appendage of the machine, and it is only the most

simple, most monotonous, and most easily acquired knack, that is

required of him. Hence, the cost of production of a workman is

restricted, almost entirely, to the means of subsistence that he

requires for his maintenance, and for the propagation of his

race. But the price of a commodity, and therefore also of labour,

is equal to its cost of production. In proportion therefore, as

the repulsiveness of the work increases, the wage decreases. Nay

more, in proportion as the use of machinery and division of

labour increases, in the same proportion the burden of toil also

increases, whether by prolongation of the working hours, by

increase of the work exacted in a given time or by increased

speed of the machinery, etc.