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84 ECONOMIC INQUIRIES AND STUDIES
apropos of monopoly rent or the equivalent, is a real
question. I t is a new form of the old theorem, that
people may buy gold too dear.
I have already, in part, dealt with the question prac-
tically as far as working men are concerned, by point-
ing out the really narrow limits of monopoly rent,l and
practicall y the final conclusion must be reached by the
statistical method, and in the way I have already used.
But I wish to avoid statistics for the present, al}.d to
indicate merely the general conditions of the problem
to be solved, which appear to minimize the possible
extent of the alleged drawback.
It is clear, first of all, on general grounds that the
concentration of men in cities is due to the fact that
cities, on the whole, weigh in the balance against the
country. There is more and better employment there
than in the country, all deductions made, in the opinion
of those interested, and that seems a conclusive answer
to the question as to whether, on the whole, there is
not a net as well as a gross improvement in wages as
far as this drawback is concerned.
N ext, it is plain that as a great part of the improve-
ment of the last fifty years has consisted in the sub-
stitution of artisan and other highly-paid labour for
merely rude labour, the additional monopoly rent pay-
able in the cities can only be, in most cases, a com-
paratively trifling drawback. It may be the case, that
if we compare the former peasant of the country with
the rude labourer of the city, and especially of the
Metropolis, the latter has hardly gained; but if we
compare the former peasant of the country with the
town artisan of the present time, although the latter
has to pay monopoly rent or an equivalent charge for
conveyance, there is still an enormous gain in the latter's
position. It is the same with the professional classes.
If the latter were stationary in number, or increasing
only pari passu with the increase of population, then

1 See supra, vol. i., pp. 397-398.