ON CAPITAL AND LABOUR. 147 



have thought fit to take in order to ascertain the exact views held by both 

 employers and employed on the subject in question. Although the general 

 objects of such combinations, -whether of capitalists or labourers, are well 

 known, both from the written rules which bind them together and from the 

 action taken from time to time, your Committee have deemed it desirable to 

 come into personal contact with some representative men from both classes, 

 with a view of finding whether they do now stand by the rules of their Unions 

 and how far they are prepared to defend them ; and for that purpose your 

 Committee resolved to hold a consultative jjrivate conference of employers and 

 employed in the presence of the members of the Committee, where they might 

 discuss the questions involved in the resolution of the British Association, 

 with a view of reporting thereon to the same. The points more especially 

 inquired into were the following : — 



Ist. What determines the minimum rate of wages ? 



2nd. Can that minimum rate be uniform in any trade ? and can that uni- 

 formity be enforced ? 



3rd. Is combination capable of affecting the rate of wages, whether in 

 favour of employers or employed ? 



4th. Can an artificial restriction of labour or of capital be economically 

 right or beneficial under any circumstances ? 



Por the discussion of these questions your Committee had the advantage 

 of bringing together a deputation from the N"ational Federation of Associated 

 Employers of Labour, consisting of Messrs. K. E,. Jackson, M. A. Brown, H. E. 

 Greg, Joseph Simpson, J. A. Marshall, E. Hannen, and Henry WhitAVorth ; 

 as representing labour — Messrs. Henry Broadhurst, Daniel Guile, George 

 Howell, Lloyd Jones, George Potter, and Eobert Newton (Mr. Macdonald, 

 M.P., and Mr. Burt, M.P., having been prevented from attending) ; and on 

 the part of your Committee, Lord Houghton, Professor Eogers, Mr. Samuel 

 Brown, Mr. AV. A. Hamilton, Mr. Frank Fellows, and Professor Leone Levi 

 were present. 



Many are the works and documents bearing on the questions at issue. 

 Of an official character we have the Eeport of tho Eoyal Commission ap- 

 pointed " to inquire into and report upon the organization and rules of trade- 

 unions and other associations, whether of workmen and employers, and to 

 inquire into and report on the effects produced by such trade-unions and 

 associations on the workmen and employers and on the relations between 

 workmen and employers and on the trade and industry of the country." Of 

 an unofficial character we have the Eeport of the Committee of the Social 

 Science Association " on the objects and constitution of trade-societies, with 

 their effects upon wages and upon the industry and commerce of the country." 

 Of special works we have the late lamented Professor Cairnes's ' Leading- 

 Principles of Political Economy,' Mr. Thomas Brassey's ' Work and Wages,' 

 and Professor Leone Levi's ' Wages and Earnings of the Working Classes.' 



The chief functions of combinations, whether of capital or labour, being to 

 operate on wages, your Committee were anxious to ascertain by what 

 criterion the parties interested ordinarily judge of the sufficiency or insuf- 

 ficiency of existing wages. The first test of the sufficiency of wages is the 

 relation they bear to the cost of the necessaries of life. " The minimum of 

 wages," said Prof. Eogers, " is the barest possible amount upon which a 

 workman can be maintained ; that which, under the most unfavourable cir- 

 cumstances, a man is able to obtain." But the minimum thus estimated can 

 only be, and is, submitted to under circumstances of extreme necessity. 

 " I believe the minimum rate of wages," said one of tho representatives of 



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