TRADE-L'XIOXS 61 



That is the true free-trade principle. But whatever be thought 

 of these questions, we cannot refuse men the right to de- 

 cline 20j>. a day, so long as they support themselves or one 

 another, and do not hinder competition. But ' think of the 

 distress they occasion among the labourers, and other trades 

 who would take lower wages, but who cannot work without 

 shipwrights.' Poor fellows ! they do suffer sadly, but to force 

 shipwrights to work at wages they will not voluntarily accept 

 is equivalent to confiscation of property. Vast misery is caused 

 when a capitalist, finding that he can invest his money more 

 profitably elsewhere, closes a mill. We do not compel him to 

 be content with 2 per cent., when he will not invest without 

 the profit of 10. People are amazed when they hear a man 

 declare that he cannot bring up his family if he has less 

 than 7*. a day, and point to labourers who support large 

 families on 3s. a day. The shipwright may very properly 

 plead that his standard of comfort and education is wholly 

 different from that of the labourer, and that what he means 

 is just what a gentleman means who says he can't marry under 

 five hundred a year. A high standard is very far from an 

 unmixed evil ; it is almost unmixed good. 



There is much discrepancy between the various estimates 

 of the proportion of men in each trade who have hitherto joined 

 unions. Mr. Mault, for the building trades, puts the number 

 as low as 10 per cent., and tries to convince us that these 10 

 per cent., being organized, do lead and govern 90 per cent. 

 disorganized : though the latter are backed by the masters and 

 Colonel Maude. Mr. Applegarth thinks about half the men in the 

 building trade belong to the unions, and that in large towns 

 this proportion is far exceeded. Mr. Mault includes, as in the 

 trade, the boys, the labourers, and all the little country workmen, 

 taking his gross numbers from the census; his estimate is, 

 therefore, obviously very incorrect, and we do not think many 

 masters will endorse his estimate from practical experience. 

 According to one estimate 700,000 men are now enrolled in 

 trade-unions. The large societies are increasing very rapidlv ; 

 most of them increased by about one-fourth during last year. 

 The Engineers' Society, with 33,600 members, an income of 

 86,885^., a reserve fund of 140,000/., and 308 branches, stands 



