6 POLITICAL ECONOMY 



power ; they are secret societies, aud therefore odious ; they 

 have been established by fraud, on the pretence of being benefit 

 societies for which purpose they are even now bankrupt ; the 

 savings which should have been invested to provide for the 

 benefits have been squandered in futile strikes, and even had 

 every sixpence been profitably invested, the subscriptions are 

 inadequate to provide for the payments promised. It is really a 

 comfort to think that such monstrous organisations are even by 

 the present law illegal, and we must readily grant that the only 

 remedy practicable is total abolition. Here and there we have 

 reinforced the Quarterly argument by extracts from the evidence 

 of Mr. Mault and others; and assuredly this impeachment, 

 supported by evidence of murder, theft, and outrage, can be met 

 with no light denial. 



Let us now hear what men in unions claim to have accom- 

 plished, what objects they avow, and how they answer the accu- 

 sations against them. As to wages, the men say : 'We have 

 raised wages ; if political economy says that this is impossible, 

 so much the worse for political economy ; we know that unions 

 do raise wages, and our employers know it, and this is one reason 

 why they are hostile to unions. Our opinion is no conjecture, 

 but based on evidence collected for years from all parts of Eng- 

 land evidence which we lay before you. The cry used always 

 to be that strikes could not raise wages ; now it often is that 

 wages have by unions and strikes been raised so high that trade 

 is banished to other countries. Not only do we raise wages, 

 but by the establishment of working rules, by the collection of 

 information as to the want and excess of labour in different 

 towns, by the selection of good and exclusion of bad workmen, 

 by discouraging piece-work and over-time, noxious practices 

 both, we have greatly benefited our members, and at the same 

 time we have benefited both our employers and the consumers 

 of the wealth we produce. By the establishment of organised 

 bodies with whom employers can treat and argue, we have 

 diminished the number of strikes, and facilitated arbitration ; 

 our unions supervise the conduct of their members, and we 

 have notably raised the social position of the artisan ; by our 

 benefit funds we encourage frugality and have banished pau- 

 perism from among us. Your calculations as to our bankruptcy 



