TRADE-UNIONS 35 



in the interest of the whole community, not in the interest of the 

 members of any particular combination. Joint-stock companies 

 are allowed not in the interest of their shareholders, but because 

 joint-stock companies are supposed to benefit the nation. The 

 law granting the right ought therefore to impose limits on the 

 action of the combination wherever that action is hurtful to 

 the community, as in the case of a company, by imposing a 

 limit to the profits it shall divide among its shareholders. The 

 very first limitation to the powers of a trade-union should be 

 aimed at preventing any violent or sudden change in the labour 

 market. A sudden refusal to work causes much greater incon- 

 venience than a refusal to work at a future time ; it may cause 

 great suffering to the community, as when all cabs are with- 

 drawn, or when engine-drivers strike suddenly ; and it may 

 extort wages for a time which the capitalist would never have 

 given, if he had been aware, before entering on a certain course 

 of action, of the demand his workmen would make. This can 

 create no permanent rise of wages, and it does harm both to 

 public and to employer, driving away capital without any 

 advantage to the workman. Xo law could permit all the bakers 

 one day to declare that they would not sell bread under double 

 or treble the price charged the day before, or to declare that for 

 the next month they would make no bread. No law could 

 permit all the railway officials round London to declare that 

 to-morrow they would not work. We need not, however, deny 

 to bakers and railway officials the right to combine. Let them 

 give six months' notice, and the public can provide against the 

 threatened loss or inconvenience. Any employer receiving a 

 six months' notice will be free to choose whether he will enter 

 into new engagements ; if so, on what terms : and though he 

 may still be fettered by old engagements, a six months' notice 

 will generally extricate him from any serious embarrassment. 



This simple restriction, which apparently would be accepted 

 readily by the unions, is far from being the only one required. 

 A combination permitted with the object of raising wages in- 

 evitably uses its power to obtain collateral benefits, generally 

 equivalent to increased pay. though differing in form ; in fine 

 they bargain not only as to wages, but as to all the conditions 

 of tbe contract between man and master. 



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