TRADE-UNIONS 21 



no means follows that without the diminished willingness to 

 work on the part of the men the increased desire would ever 

 have arisen. The master builders of London want for their 

 present work 2,000 men. They are paying them 30s. a week ; 

 there may be no reason why they should want an increased 

 number, and still less reason why pi'oprio motu they should wish 

 to give them 36s. ; but let the men decline to work for less than 

 366-., the masters, if making a good profit, will still want 2,000 

 men to do their work, and may therefore agree to advance the 

 wages. The demand in the sense of desire for labour may 

 thus be said to have increased, but it has increased solely in 

 consequence of the diminished willingness to sell. On the other 

 hand, if trade is bad and the workmen are unwilling to work, 

 the masters will not care to give 36s., and so the diminished 

 readiness to sell labour may diminish instead of increasing the 

 desire for it ; and if the men are obstinate, some may get em- 

 ployment at 36s. for urgent matters, but the whole desire for 

 labour and number demanded will both diminish. 



An antagonist might still urge this argument : When trade 

 o good that masters can afford the advance of wages, they 

 would naturally extend their business, and would want more 

 hands : it is this potential increase in the number of hands wanted 

 that really determines the increase of wages not the refusal of 

 the men to work for less than 36s. This need not always or 

 even generally be true, but even in this case the action of the 

 men in demanding more wages determines a rise of wages 

 instead of extension of employment. 1 



Our argument is briefly this : Wages, like the price of all 

 other limited commodities, depend on a conflict between the 

 desire for the commodity and the reluctance to sell it. Any- 

 thing affecting either feeling as to labour will alter wages. The 

 total desire measured by the total sum paid for wages may in- 

 crease in consequence of large profits leading men to wish for an 

 extension of trade, but it may also increase owing to increased 



1 To return to our equation : Under the influence of a good trade A may 

 ri^ and B fall, raising the value of x, and leaving the numerical value of pach 

 side of the equation unaltered. Or, on the other hand, .-1 and B may both 

 rise, while x remains constant. The action of the men determines the 

 fcrmer change, corresponding loan increase of wages, in distinction to the 

 latter change, indicating an increased number employed. 



