122 POLITICAL ECONOMY 



THE TIME-LABOUR SYSTEM: 



OR HOW TO AVOID THE EVILS CAUSED BY STRIKES. 1 



MANY people think that strikes are due either to wickedness or 

 to ignorance ; that men on strike are endeavouring by illegi- 

 timate means to obtain higher wages than they are entitled to 

 by the law of demand and supply ; others consider that strikes 

 are the only means by which the men can ascertain what wages 

 this much-quoted law entitles them to claim. All, however, 

 will admit that the process is singularly barbarous and clumsy, 

 entailing much loss on all concerned. The first step in looking 

 for a remedy is to ascertain as clearly as possible the cause of 

 the evil. Why should a strike be required to ascertain the state 

 of the labour market when no analogous action is required to fix 

 the price of other goods ? Some deny that the strike is neces- 

 sary. Let us therefore examine in what way the law of demand 

 and supply does fix the price of goods in general, and then we 

 shall easily see whether the process be or be not applicable to 

 the determination of the price of labour. 



We all know that when the demand exceeds the supply 

 prices rise and vice versa, but let anyone who thinks that this 

 statement closes the question consider how, if he were appointed 

 arbitrator, he would decide what rise of wages should follow a 

 given increase of demand ; nay, how he would measure the 

 increased demand. This is the difficulty. The common answer 

 would be that no arbitrator can decide any point of this kind, 

 which must be settled by the operations of nature. This is 

 done so far as it goes ; but nature does not act by supernatural 

 methods. Her methods can be examined, and in some cases 

 new and better methods may be set in operation than those 

 which have crept in unwatched, as when we substitute emigra- 

 tion and sanitary science for famine and pestilence. Now a strike 

 1 From unpublished MS., 1879-81. 



