Page:Manual of Political Economy.djvu/31

Rh XX Gontents. ought generally in future to be resisted — The test of the efficiency of •any means of raising the condition of the poor is this : Will it tend to make the poor ultimately rely more upon self-help ? PAOBS 231 — 245 Chapter IX. Trades* -Uniona and Strikes, An explanation of the functions of a trades' union — Trades* unions pro- duce their greatest effect upon wages if they restrict the number of workmen employed in a trade — This is attempted to be done by limiting the number of apprentices— Such restrictions, if carried into effect, inflict great injustice on the labouring class ; they also raise the price of commodities, and may jeopardise the existence of an industry — As an example of this, the effects of the trades' unions at Birmingham may be quoted — Trades' unions not necessarily connected with strikes— Workmen have a right to combine and to join a strike if they use neither intimidation nor violence in support of their combination — The majority of intelligent artizans are in favour of trades' unions— Their effect on wages described — They could exert no influence on wages if the effect of competition were instantaneous — But competition acts slowly, and in some cases, as with the wages of some agricultural labourers, it is neutralised for an indefinitely long period — Wages are fixed in the same way as a bargain carried on by the buyer and seller of a commodity— In order to improve their position in adjusting this bargain, employers and employed form combinations with others of their class — They are thus placed in a position of equality— Bargaining implies antagonism of interest — As long as wages are fixed by a bargain, strikes will continue to occur, because in settling the terms of a bargain it must often happen that one party will refuse to accept the price offered by the other — Conciliation and arbitration are not effectual remedies for strikes, because they do not remove the antagonism of interest between employers and employed — This is effected by copartnership— The principle of copartnership defined— Its benefits extend both to employers and employed— There are many collateral advantages connected with copartnership —It has been adopted with great success by M. Leclaire and others — it is well suited to agriculture — The experiment of Lord George Manners at Newmarket — The pro- gress of the movement will be greatly assisted by national education 246—262 Chapter X. Cooperation. Cooperation exists in its complete form, when labourers supply the capital which their industry requires — Many of the so-called coopera> tive stores are not truly cooperative, because they distribute the profits between the shareholaers and the customers, and give no portion of them to labour — ^The origin of the cooperative movement in England — ^The history of the Kochdale Pioneers' store — In the Rochdale store the ordinary retail prices are charged, and the profits are distributed among the customers in proportion to the amount of their purchases at the end of each quarter — In the Civil Service stores the customers receive their share of the profits by being charged a reduced price for goods — Cooperative stores give no credit — Qreat advantages result from this — The Wholesale Society Digitized by Google