420 THE REIGN OF LAW. 



is unquestionably secured. Equal confidence i$ 

 expressed by many Associations, that as a mat- 

 ter of experience and of fact, they have suc- 

 ceeded in establishing higher rates of wages than 

 would have accrued under the system of unre- 

 stricted competition. This may very well be 

 true. It is a truth which casts no doubt what- 

 ever on the invariability of Economic Laws when 

 these are rightly understood. They are invariable 

 in the same sense, and in no other, in which all 

 other Natural Laws are invariable. That is to say, 

 they represent tendencies in human character de- 

 termined by motives, which tendencies are con- 

 stant, and may surely be relied on as producing 

 always, under like conditions, their own appropriate 

 effects. It is upon this constancy that Combination 

 must rely for any power it can ever have : and it is 

 the same constancy in the action of specific motives 

 which sets bounds to the power of Combination, 

 beyond which it can never pass. The same motive 

 which impels the Workman to secure an adequate 

 reward for his labour, impels the Manufacturer or 

 the Trader to secure an adequate reward for his 

 capital, his knowledge, and his skill. And although 



