LAW IN POLITICS. 421 



the desire of gain is not the only motive, and is 

 often not the strongest motive, which impels men 

 to persevere in enterprises once begun, yet if Com- 

 binations of Workmen should attempt to raise 

 wages so high as to trench upon the minimum rate 

 of profit which will induce men to carry on any 

 given trade, then by a natural consequence, not 

 less certain than any other, capital and enterprise 

 and skill will be withdrawn from that trade, and 

 those who depend upon it will be the first to suffer. 

 Short, however, of this extreme result, there is 

 generally a margin of ground upon which Com- 

 bination may act with more or less effect. It 

 may prevent arbitrary or capricious changes ; and 

 as there are practically many impediments in the 

 way of men moving their capital from one em- 

 ployment to another, Combination may compel 

 them to submit to lower rates of profit than would 

 otherwise content them if those difficulties did not 

 exist. 



But to all these possibilities of influence there 

 is a limit in the nature of things — in Natural Laws 

 — that is, in the new motives which are brought 

 into operation by new conditions. What that 



