The strain is not lightened as industrial efficiency increases and makes a lighter strain possible， but the increment of output is turned to use to meet this want， which is indefinitely expansible， after the manner commonly imputed in economic theory to higher or spiritual wants. It is owing chiefly to the presence of this element in the standard of living that J. S. Mill was able to say that "hitherto it is questionable if all the mechanical inventions yet made have lightened the day's toil of any human being." The accepted standard of expenditure in the community or in the class to which a person belongs largely determines what his standard of living will be. It does this directly by commending itself to his common sense as right and good， through his habitually contemplating it and assimilating the scheme of life in which it belongs； but it does so also indirectly through popular insistence on conformity to the accepted scale of expenditure as a matter of propriety， under pain of disesteem and ostracism. To accept and practice the standard of living which is in vogue is both agreeable and expedient， commonly to the point of being indispensable to personal comfort and to success in life. The standard of living of any class， so far as concerns the element of conspicuous waste， is commonly as high as the earning capacity of the class will permit -- with a constant tendency to go higher. The effect upon the serious activities of men is therefore to direct them with great singleness of purpose to the largest possible acquisition of wealth， and to discountenance work that brings no pecuniary gain. At the same time the effect on consumption is to concentrate it upon the lines which are most patent to the observers whose good opinion is sought； while the inclinations and aptitudes whose exercise does not involve a honorific expenditure of time or substance tend to fall into abeyance through disuse.
第35章 Chapter 5 The Pecuniary Standard of Living(4)（1 / 3）