The Ideal State 261 



due to any fault of the workers themselves, and with 

 no balancing satisfaction of a righteous endeavour to 

 improve bad conditions, such as is looked for in a strike. 

 The struggles of industrial life are fraught with tragedy." 



Truly, as Burns has said, " Man's inhumanity to man 

 makes countless thousands mourn." Is it not dis- 

 graceful that to-day one man is able to inflict such 

 injury on his neighbours and is enabled to do this 

 by the power of the wealth created by the industry of 

 the workman. It ought never to be forgotten that 

 without the efforts of working-men there would be 

 no possibility of the accumulation of great wealth by 

 any one individual, and that to use this wealth so 

 acquired to damage those who helped him to obtain 

 it is an act of the meanest description. The only de- 

 fence ever attempted is, " It's business." If so, it is 

 bad business, and the methods pursued in our trade 

 and commerce call loudly for remedy. At present the 

 only cure for evils such as have been described by 

 Mr. Hobart is representation of the workers, with 

 powers, in the board of management of every business 

 concern which requires to employ many hands. 



The worker is of greater advantage to the State in 

 many instances than the employer, and it is very 

 wrong that the State should not protect the toiler who, 

 after all, must labour if he is to live. And yet, people 

 revile trade unions. How otherwise could the artisan 

 have security of work, or livelihood, or home, food, or 

 family ? What we want is the extension of the 

 principle of trade unionism to all trades, and every 

 kind of worker, male or female, if the cup of human 

 misery is in any degree to be lessened. Methods of 

 compulsion are of necessity required at this time 

 to restrain the evils due to the tyranny of capital and 

 monopoly ; but we fortunately can look forward with 

 confidence to a further stage when all men shall be 



