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MANCHESTER STATISTICAL SOCIETY. 
 
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 On Trades Unions in Eelation to National Industry. 
 
 Br ELIJAH 
 
 [Bead February 8th, 1871.] 
 
 ALTHOUGH Trades Unions are of comparatively .modern 
 there have existed, from very ancient time's^ a'sSddiatioiis closely 
 resembling them in their purposes and practices. These associa- 
 tions, usually known as Guilds, prevailed widely throughout 
 "Western Europe, and during several centuries influenced power- 
 fully its social and industrial life. Their general purpose appears 
 to have been, to afford to their members mutual help and defence. 
 At first, and generally during seasons of conflict and disorder, 
 when the governing power was weak or negligent, they per- 
 formed such duties as, in more stable, and especially in more 
 recent times, are assigned to the State. Some Guilds fulfilled 
 towards their members such functions as are now discharged "by 
 Friendly and Insurance Societies. In the cities and towns, many 
 Guilds were established for the protection and encouragement of 
 trade. Such were the Merchant-guilds, and the Craft-guilds, 
 the latter of which included not only traders, but also such 
 handicraftsmen as were free, and possessed of the full rights 
 of citizenship. The members of the Craft-guilds were, to some 
 extent, small capitalists, and some had associated with them one or 
 two servants and apprentices, who were also subject to the Guild- 
 laws. One of the objects of the Craft-guilds was to secure excellence 
 of workmanship. Where material was supplied to the craftsmen 
 
 976358 ? 
 
58 ME. E. HELM 
 
 to be worked upon, the Guild became responsible for the proper 
 execution of the work, and had, consequently, a strong interest in 
 its being well done. The products of skilled labour were very 
 costly, for there was, as yet, little or no machinery to save labour. 
 Bad workmanship was, therefore, a most serious matter. The 
 efficiency of the craftsman was a question of vital public importance. 
 The Craft-guilds strictly limited the number of apprentices to each 
 trade. They, therefore, became real monopolies, and at one time 
 the privilege of admission had acquired a high money value. 
 
 For a long time, the State not only recognised the Guilds, 
 but sanctioned their monopolies; whilst it prevented all associa- 
 
 on'.ths gdiij of those who were excluded, both in towns and 
 . . in^Jie.cQujrfry,, by $. Aeries of Combination laws, which extended, 
 : :*w#i"scmQ Jnj^r^ssions and alterations, from the middle of the 
 fourteenth century to the year 1824. 
 
 During the times of the Guild monopoly, various statutes were 
 passed, whose purpose was to fix the rate of wages, and the prices 
 of commodities, especially of necessaries. Many of these statutes 
 were framed in the interests of the Guilds, though others were 
 intended to preserve the public from being charged too high a price 
 for articles of general consumption. The condition of the labourers 
 who were outside the Guilds, and especially of those in agricultural 
 districts, was, through many generations, deplorable. The country 
 abounded with able-bodied persons, styled in the statutes, "sturdy 
 rogues and vagabonds. " Various acts were passed with the object 
 of compelling them to labour, and fixing the rate of wages, yet 
 forbidding them to wander in search of employment, or to change 
 their occupation, whilst the Craft-guilds shut them out from the 
 skilled trades. 
 
 At length, improvements in technical methods, and the introduc- 
 tion of machinery, began to disturb the system of hand labour. 
 New centres of industry, which were necessarily established at a 
 distance from the seats of the Craft-guilds, gave employment to 
 those who had been excluded from the Guilds. Auxiliary move- 
 
OK TBADES UNIONS IN BELATION TO NATIONAL INDT7STBY. 59 
 
 ments, tending in the same direction, were the result of the 
 exclusive spirit in other quarters. The Corporation and Test Acts, 
 the Five Mile Act, and other statutes for the protection of the 
 Church, drove out from the ancient cities experienced craftsmen, 
 who contributed to the success of the new industrial system, in 
 which the modern features of organized industry and large estab- 
 lishments began to supersede the old order of small handicrafts. 
 
 Thus the general tendency of custom and legislation during the 
 handicraft period was, to limit the number of artisans, to keep the 
 unskilled workmen of the towns and rural districts in a state of 
 poverty and semi-slavery, and, finally, to aid in the foundation of 
 a new and successful rival to the Craft-guilds. 
 
 The transition from handicraft to manufacturing industry in- 
 volved a quick development of the principle of division of labour, 
 and the employment of large capital. Its tendency was to reduce 
 the cost of manufactures, and to increase their production, extending 
 at every stage the comforts of the people, not only by enabling them 
 to purchase more largely of manufactured articles, but also by 
 procuring in exchange for such articles the products of other 
 countries, and especially of tropical climates. Such an extension 
 of manufacturing power required additional labour, and the rural 
 populations flocked to the manufacturing centres in large numbers. 
 To them the transition was an undoubted gain. They soon, how- 
 ever, began to find the advantage of union, and hence arose the 
 modern Trades' Societies. Several were formed even under the 
 Combination Laws, and after their repeal the number of Unions 
 increased rapidly. At first they were local, and their leaders 
 ignorant and violent. Their tendency has been of late years to 
 amalgamate, to cover larger areas, to select abler and more judicious 
 officers, and to seek their ends rather by conciliation than by 
 violence. 
 
 Much unmerited repugnance to Trades Unions has arisen in the 
 public mind, from a vague impression that the notorious violence 
 
60 MB. E. HELM 
 
 and tyranny of some of them are characteristic of most. Nothing 
 could be more erroneous. The Report of the Royal Commission on 
 Trades Societies, issued in 1867 8, shows that the atrocities prac- 
 tised in Sheffield, and in the Manchester building trades, within 
 the last few years, are without parallel elsewhere. The reports 
 of former commissions, those of 1824, 1825, and 1837, represent 
 such practices to have been common enough forty or fifty years ago, 
 but they are now very rare. The more the right to combine has 
 been acknowledged, the more have combinations lost their objec- 
 tionable features. The best and most powerful of them, the 
 Amalgamated Society of Engineers, and the Amalgamated Car- 
 penters and Joiners, have an organization and practice as far removed 
 from those of the old local unions, as a court of justice is from a 
 rabble of rioters executing lynch law. 
 
 The purposes of Trades Unions are so varied, that it is impossible, 
 in a short space, to compass them in detail. They are generally 
 described as intended 
 
 1. To watch over and promote the interests of labourers in their 
 respective trades ; and 
 
 2. To afford relief to members, or their families, when deprived 
 of their earnings by sickness, accident, decay, or death. 
 
 Before entering further into particulars, I propose to lay down a 
 few principles, to which national interests require, that all move- 
 ments of this nature should conform. 
 
 1. It is the paramount interest of the nation that every person 
 should, according to ability, be productively or administratively 
 employed ; 
 
 2. That the largest possible production of the highest possible 
 kinds and quality required, should be attained ; 
 
 3. It is contrary to the national interest, and ultimately destruc- 
 tive of industry itself, that these ends should be gained at the cost 
 of any preventible sacrifice of the health, or general welfare of the 
 people. 
 
 The first two of these principles require for their reali2ation 
 
ON TRADES UNIONS IN RELATION TO NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 61 
 
 freedom, individual enterprise, and education. The third requires 
 legislative restraint. Freedom of trade, freedom of labour, and hope 
 of gain, guided by intelligence and regulated by wise legislation 
 such are the fundamental requisites of a prosperous National In- 
 dustry. 
 
 The one object common to all Trades Unions is to secure the 
 highest average rate of wages that can be obtained in the several 
 trades. It is justified on the ground that individual workmen have 
 no means of holding out and reserving their labour for a better 
 market; the effect being, that, as in the case of an auction sale 
 without reserve, the price must depend solely on the competition of 
 buyers; being high only when demand is brisk, and much depressed 
 when it is not. It is assumed, that the capitalist can hold out, and 
 is thus enabled to obtain labour at his own price, whenever trade 
 is bad, and competition for labour consequently inactive. This is 
 only true, however, in cases where capital can be easily withdrawn 
 from an unremunerative trade. Wherever a large portion of an 
 employer's capital is fixed, he will generally prefer working without 
 profit, or even at some loss, to incurring the greater loss arising 
 from the deterioration of machinery and buildings, which is the 
 result of ceasing operations. During the past few years, there 
 have been long periods during which capital in the Cotton trade has 
 been employed at a positive loss. Many hundreds of thousands, if 
 not some millions of pounds, have been paid in wages, which have 
 never been returned to the employers in the price of the manu- 
 factured product, and which have therefore been wholly lost. The 
 impossibility of withdrawing fixed capital from a particular trade, 
 is, therefore, as real a hindrance to the freedom of the employer in 
 bargaining, as is the want of capital to the freedom of the workman. 
 Yet it is still true, that the isolated labourer cannot, except in 
 prosperous times, obtain as good terms in the sale of his labour, as 
 when his demand is supported by a Union ready to give him moral 
 and pecuniary help. The right to make use of this advantage is 
 undeniable, and is now generally conceded, so far at least as it 
 
62 MB. E. HELM 
 
 affects the rate of wages. The Eeport of the recent Royal Com- 
 mission, and other evidence, go to show that it is even a public 
 benefit. There seems no reason to doubt that it tends to render 
 wages more uniform in the same trade, and less fluctuating from 
 time to time. Regularity and steadiness, both of work and wages, 
 appear to be, above all things, instinctively desired by workmen ; 
 and certainly it would seem to be for the general good, that steady 
 and regular incomes should be realized by that class which has 
 least to fall back upon in times of distress, and which so soon becomes 
 liable to the demoralizing influences of public or private alms. In 
 some important trades, as, for example, in the Cotton trade, wages 
 are now settled by conferences between the Union committee and a 
 committee of employers. This plan possesses the essential features 
 of the Court of arbitration at Nottingham, and has, on the whole, 
 been found to work well. On both sides mutual respect is created, 
 by the knowledge that the responsibilities involved are large, and 
 the power to support all just requirements, ample. Such a system 
 is, no doubt, comparatively easy of application where piecework is 
 adopted, and where the trade is open. 
 
 "Whether it is in the power of Trades Unions [to raise the 
 average rate of wages higher than the uncontrolled action of 
 supply and demand would carry them, is a question that re- 
 quires some discrimination in its treatment. Whenever the 
 capitalist is receiving a larger profit than usual, a combination 
 of workmen may gain an advance somewhat earlier than it 
 would have been attained from the natural process which draws 
 capital into prosperous businesses, and so increases the demand for 
 labour. Such earlier rise in wages will, however, operate, to 
 some extent, as a check upon the investment of fresh capital, and 
 will moreover bring in an additional supply of labourers. This 
 again, is only a steadying operation. But whenever not more than 
 the average rate of profit is being earned, it is impossible to raise 
 wages, except by diminishing profits, and so driving capital out of 
 the trade unless the price of the product can be proportionately 
 
ON TRADES UNIONS IN RELATION TO NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 63 
 
 raised also. Now, it is obvious that when the product is subject 
 to foreign competition, as most products are, a rise which is not the 
 natural result of increased demand is impossible. It may, indeed, 
 happen, that by a sufficiently strict limitation of the numbers of the 
 employed, by a rigid exclusion of " interlopers," a rise may be 
 gained, or a fall prevented ; but the inevitable result will be, a 
 withdrawal of capital, a declining trade, and diminished employ- 
 ment, at the cost, to the union, of keeping on " donation," or out 
 of work benefit, a considerable number of its members. There is 
 a trade which has apparently arrived at this point, and I shall 
 allude to it hereafter.* 
 
 It is sometimes vaguely said, that in this matter of wages, the 
 interests of employers and employed are identical. But that is 
 hardly the truth. They are indeed reconcilable ; that is to say, if 
 there were wisdom enough, and justice enough on both sides, a 
 settlement of any given case might be discovered, which would be 
 generally satisfactory. It does not require much wisdom on the 
 part of an employer, to see that it is to his interest that the wages 
 of his workpeople should not be so low as to deprive them of such 
 conditions of comfort as are essential to health of body and mind 
 that they should neither be starved, nor discontented, nor inert. 
 Nor does it need great wisdom on the part of the workman to see 
 that his interest lies rather in the augmentation than the destruction 
 of his employer's capital. But on both sides there is a conviction 
 that, long before the point at which the process of reflex injury 
 would begin, there is space for encroachment. This is the debatable 
 ground of all wages disputes, and herein the interests of employers 
 and employed are not identical, and only harmonious so far as it 
 is the interest of each that a sense of justice, or satisfaction, should 
 prevail in the mind of the other. 
 
 No difference of opinion is likely to arise with respect to the 
 public good of the relief afforded by Trades Unions in sickness, or 
 other temporary calamity. The habit of providence and mutual 
 help engendered, is not less advantageous to the members, than is 
 
64 ME. E. HELM 
 
 its fruit to society, which is thereby relieved of a certain amount 
 of almsgiving, or poor-rate. It is sometimes contended that the 
 trade and benefit funds of Unions should be kept separate. The 
 majority of the Eoyal Commissioners concur in the opinion, that when 
 blended, as they usually are at present, there is no security for the 
 payment of the benefit liabilities, since benefit funds may, at any 
 time, be applied to trade purposes. The Amalgamated Carpenters' 
 and Amalgamated Engineers' Societies were reported to the Com- 
 missioners, by experienced actuaries, as practically insolvent. The 
 answer of the Societies is, that they are accustomed, from time to 
 time, to make special levies, which constitute a valid reserve fund, 
 though not called up. The answer appears sufficient. And, on 
 the side of the public at large, it is certainly much better that the 
 funds should not be separated. Consider, what a source of danger 
 to the progress of industry, as well as to the unionists themselves, 
 it would be, if every Trade Society should maintain a special fund 
 for trade purposes. The ordinary charges upon such funds could 
 not possibly absorb the amount that would, in a very short time, 
 be accumulated, with even the smallest subscription. They would 
 thus become the fruitful seeds of strikes, as they have often 
 proved to be in former times, when the unions discharged none of 
 the functions of Benefit Societies. The present system, on the 
 contrary, induces a wholesome caution in the minds of the. leaders. 
 They are compelled to consider carefully the merits of any given 
 dispute before permitting a strike, whose support would trench 
 heavily upon the fund from which the constantly-recurring benefit 
 claims have to be paid. Deficiencies would, it is true, be made 
 good, by a general levy. But that would be, in effect, an appeal 
 to the public opinion of the trade ; and although the members 
 might be disposed to give a tacit approval of any strike supported 
 out of a plethoric strike fund, they would be apt to visit with no 
 gentle chastisement any officers who might have countenanced an 
 unnecessary strike, which would touch the pockets of every member. 
 Some societies confine their benefit aid to burial grants. It would, 
 
ON TRADES UNIONS IN RELATION TO NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 65 
 
 doubtless, be a further advantage to them and to the public, if the 
 grants were made to cover losses by sickness, accident, or want of 
 employment, as in the case of the two societies already referred to. 
 The practice of granting " donation" to members out of work, 
 leads to the quickest and easiest mode of adjusting local differences 
 in the demand and supply of labour. The officials of the Unions 
 are compelled to keep themselves well informed as to the redun- 
 dancy or scarcity of workmen in different localities ; and to relieve 
 their funds from the support of the unemployed, by transferring 
 them, with all possible speed, to the places where they may get 
 work. The advantage to National Industry of this regulation is 
 obvious and great. 
 
 Another useful function of Trades Societies, and one that reflective 
 minds will admit to be of importance, is the care for the health and 
 safety of workpeople, wherever liable to be endangered, as is some- 
 times the case in manufacturing operations. I do not here allude 
 to those unjust regulations common amongst some of the building 
 trades, which, on humanitarian grounds, prevent grown men from 
 working at any speed, or for any number of hours they may choose. 
 Such rules are, really, expedients for prolonging work, and employ- 
 ing increased numbers of men. I refer, rather, to the influences 
 which may be brought to bear on public opinion and on the Legis- 
 lature, for the purpose of procuring enactments for the protection 
 of health and life, wherever good cause can be shown. It is surely 
 an encouraging feature that the tendency of parliamentary practice 
 has been of late years to impose such restraints upon freedom of 
 trade as may be shown to be necessary, on the ground of the health 
 of the people. Nor can any well-founded grievance, if adequately 
 and intelligently set forth, long fail to reach the public ear and 
 move the public conscience, and thus make legislation easy, and 
 indeed necessary. The Miners' Associations constantly use their 
 organization in this direction. It would be well if Trades Unions 
 sought to gain their ends more frequently in this way. For surely 
 any regulation involving important interference with personal 
 
66 ME. E. HELM 
 
 freedom, if justifiable at all, should be enforced only by the State. 
 And here we touch the border of a question that, as yet, seems 
 to be unsettled in many minds, viz., the extent to which Trades 
 Unions have a right to interfere with individual freedom. It is 
 obvious that any person entering a Trade Society, must surrender a 
 portion of his freedom. He yields some personal liberty, that he 
 may gain what he considers at least an equivalent, in the strength 
 of union. On him, the Society has obviously certain definite claims. 
 Has it any upon a person, who, choosing to earn his bread in the 
 same trade, does not choose to enter the Society ? Some defenders 
 of Trades Unions say it has, on the ground that he shares in any 
 advantages which, on behalf of the trade, the Union may succeed in 
 gaining. Others, with less temerity, admit that refusing to work 
 with non-unionists is unsocial. They think, however, that it is not 
 matter for legislative notice, and that it must be left to die out by 
 " gradual improvement of tone." No doubt, it is competent for 
 any person to refuse to work with any one whose company he does 
 not desire. Eut this is not the question. It is, rather, whether a 
 corporation has any right to issue a mandate requiring its members, 
 under penalties, to do acts which are destructive of private liberty 
 or of public welfare. It is absolutely essential, not less to individual 
 liberty than to National Industry, that every person should be free 
 to follow any honest calling for which he may be fitted, so long as 
 he does not deprive any one else of such liberties as are common to 
 all. This question is sometimes argued as if it were a matter lying 
 entirely between the non-unionist and the individual unionist. Eut 
 it is not so. It is a question of individual right against corporate 
 interests. The State is the only corporation whose interests can 
 override individual rights; and that is true only because the interests 
 of the State are the interests of all. If, therefore, the Legislature 
 should confer upon Trades Unions the power of virtually coercing 
 non-unionists, it must be done on the ground of public utility, 
 of which the Legislature must itself be the judge, and not for 
 the interests of the Unions. No doubt, the Union has a certain 
 
OX TRADES UNIONS IN EELATIOX TO NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 67 
 
 compulsory power over its own members, but not the power of 
 compelling them to take away the freedom of those who are not 
 members. Regulations against the employment of non-unionists, 
 are the mildest form of interference with private liberty that is 
 practised by Trades Unions. Others, of a more unjustifiable 
 character, and of rarer occurrence, such as " rattening," "picketing," 
 and other forms of molestation, admit of no defence whatever. I 
 do not pretend to determine by what method the freedom of the 
 non-unionist should be by law secured to him. The question is 
 one rather of jurisprudence than of political economy. 
 
 A very limited number of Trades Unions have regulations against 
 the introduction of machinery, whilst a larger number do not allow 
 payment of wages according to piecework. A few trades also 
 prescribe a maximum rate of working, wherever wages are paid 
 according to time. All these usages have one and the same effect, 
 viz., to check production, and to prevent the economizing of labour. 
 The practices are inexcusable in the more skilled and highly paid 
 trades. Indeed, everywhere they are to be condemned ; but if any 
 extenuation may be offered, it is in the case of unskilled labourers, 
 whose number is rendered artificially superabundant by the exclu- 
 sion from the skilled trades of many who would have entered them. 
 No doubt other causes, such as want of education, idleness, or intem- 
 perate habits, tend constantly to reinforce, beyond measure, the 
 class whose work is simply labour, requiring neither thought nor 
 skill. But many of them are the victims of Trades Union monopoly, 
 and on their behalf, as well as in the interest of the Nation, some 
 effort is urgently needed to break down the artificial barriers which 
 exclude them from the better paid callings. 
 
 The most formidable of these barriers is the practice of limiting 
 the number of apprentices in particular trades ; of insisting upon 
 a long apprenticeship, where the nature of the trade does not really 
 require it, or upon highly- skilled workmen doing work which 
 persons of less skill might perform. Regulations of this nature 
 tend obviously to keep up the wages of a limited number of persons 
 
68 MB. E. HELM 
 
 at the expense of depriving others of the power of earning as 
 much as they otherwise might. The practices are usually defended 
 on the ground, that existing journeymen have paid a certain con- 
 sideration, in the shape of an apprenticeship, for the privilege of 
 working at the trade, and that they have therefore an exclusive right 
 to exercise it. The same argument would hold good equally against 
 the introduction of machinery. A further justification consists in 
 an appeal to certain practices in the legal and medical professions. 
 But the restriction which prevents an attorney from taking more 
 than two articled clerks, or from taking more than the customary 
 fees, is a regulation made by law in the presumed interests of the 
 public. If unnecessary, it should be abolished. There are no 
 further restrictions, as far as I know, in the professions, except 
 those requiring proofs of efficiency in medical men. That, however, 
 is an arrangement obviously convenient to the public; but the 
 entrance to the profession, and the means of acquiring it, are open 
 to all competent persons. 
 
 It may further be said, that not only is a grave injustice done to 
 those who are excluded from the skilled trades, but national interests 
 require that none should be prevented from contributing to the 
 national production by these artificial restrictions. They have all 
 the effect of protective duties, and as far as they succeed in check- 
 ing industry, or artificially enhancing wages, they are not only 
 taking bread out of the mouths of those who are excluded, but 
 constitute a tax upon the rest of the community. No doubt, any 
 journeyman has a right to refuse to give instruction in his art, 
 without such compensation as he may require ; but he has no right 
 to prevent any other person from giving it. Still less has he a 
 right to prevent any person from learning it himself. Nor has any 
 corporation a right to prevent any of its members from giving 
 instruction. The insisting upon a long apprenticeship in trades 
 which are easily learnt, is equally wrong. In whatever trade the 
 necessary skill is difficult of attainment, the difficulty is itself a 
 real protection ; and, practically, this is the only protection which 
 
ON" TBADES UNIONS IN BELATION TO NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 6G 
 
 the professions have. In fact, in those trades which do require 
 this special skill, there is rarely any restriction imposed hy the 
 "Unions, and in such cases employers are actually averse to employing 
 many apprentices, and prefer to pay a higher rate of wages to 
 skilled journeymen. It is in those trades, or sections of trades, 
 whose processes are easily learnt, that conflict arises. I am not 
 prepared to say that there may not be cases where, on national 
 grounds, the State may find it to its interest to take the necessary 
 steps for securing a high class of workmen. But any work of this 
 kind is clearly the province of the Legislature. In Bavaria, 
 Saxony, and Switzerland, a numher of Trade Schools, wholly or 
 partly maintained by Government, has been established. They 
 are worked in connection with the Elementary School system. 
 A youth under this arrangement learns to understand something of 
 the requisites of many trades, and of his own fitness for each, 
 before committing himself finally to any one. Whether such a 
 plan can, in any considerable degree, substitute the English system 
 of apprenticeship, it is not easy to determine. But at any rate, it 
 may prove a valuable adjunct to it in certain cases; and it is to be 
 hoped that ere long some earnest effort will be made in this direction, 
 
 The whole system of restriction upon entrance to the skilled 
 trades is an attempt to protect the interests of middle-aged men against 
 the rising generation. It is contrary to the spirit of Christian civili- 
 zation, which, as it advances, tends to regard the interests of the 
 growing and coming generations as paramount. But under this 
 system, a man learns to prefer that he should get two or three 
 shillings a week more, and let some of his children grow up un- 
 skilled, and with diminished power of self-support,' than that he 
 should run the risk of earning a little less, and give his children 
 an opportunity of earning a great deal more. I have assumed that 
 these restrictions do secure a present advance; but, as I shall 
 hereafter endeavour to prove, that is only possible in certain cases. 
 
 I have hitherto tried to show, that Trades Unions are not only 
 
70 MR. E. HELil 
 
 allowable, but of positive public benefit, so. far as they are the 
 means of affording the workman the advantage of sufficient strength 
 in bargaining for the conditions of the sale of his labour ; that the 
 unions should have no powers of coercion which involve interference 
 with the private rights common to all ; and, further, that if, in the 
 interests of the public, any such interference is necessary, it is the 
 sole province of the State to make it. 
 
 The relations between Capital and Labour which are most favour- 
 able to the progress of National Industry, whatever they may be, 
 should tend to secure the results already laid down as essential, 
 viz., the largest possible production, and the highest possible state 
 of efficiency of the whole industrial population. To this end it is 
 necessary that the reward of industry, i.e., wages, should be large 
 enough to maintain the efficiency of the industrial machinery ; or, 
 in other words, to provide for the health, comfort, skill, and intel- 
 ligence of the working population. Now, of course, these conditions 
 of efficiency cannot be gained, unless there is a sufficient fnnd for 
 the purpose ; and this fund, investing-capital, or capital seeking 
 investment, is very indefinite and elastic, increasing with the 
 inducements of profit and security; and going abroad in search of 
 more favourable conditions whenever these cannot be adequately 
 obtained at home ; or, it may be, withdrawing itself from invest- 
 ment altogether. 
 
 The true interest of both Labour and Capital is, therefore, to pro- 
 cure all possible facilities for the maximum production ; to promote 
 the efficiency and economy of Labour; and to provide for the secu- 
 rity of Capital, by peaceful relations between the two. It is too 
 often forgotten, that the profits of the employer are not the mere 
 interest on his capital, but comprise, also, the reward of his skill 
 and knowledge in the conduct of his business, and compensation 
 for the risks of loss. Every unnecessary restriction put upon an 
 employer is, therefore, either a direct loss, or a difficulty to be 
 surmounted by extra skill, for which he will be compensated in the 
 
ON TEADES UNIONS IN RELATION TO NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 71 
 
 long run by increased profit. Risky and difficult businesses are 
 proverbially the most profitable, risk and difficulty being dis- 
 couragements to investment. 
 
 In most trades, increased cost means, necessarily, a diminished 
 volume of business ; but there is one exception that requires special 
 notice, that of the Building trade. Dwellings are amongst the 
 articles of prime necessity, and must therefore be obtained to the 
 required extent, with less regard to cost than most things. More- 
 over, the capital invested in providing them must be invested at 
 home. Building materials are, as a rule, too bulky to be imported. 
 It is probably in this trade that restrictions on production are most 
 common. They do not, however, drive capital away, but by ren- 
 dering production costly and investment risky, enhance the value 
 of buildings and raise rents ; or, what is the same thing, they foster 
 the erection of inferior buildings. Yet even here we find that the 
 lighter building materials, manufactured by means of capital in- 
 vested abroad, are being introduced.* 
 
 It is impossible to state to what extent British capital has gone 
 beyond our shores for investment, or how far the produce of foreign 
 labour and capital have been substituted for British of late years. 
 Still less is it possible to gauge the extent to which such changes are 
 due to restrictions upon freedom of Labour. So far as they may be 
 the result of the natural advance of wages, they must be regarded 
 with composure. There is little in the Report of the Eoyal Com- 
 mission to throw light on this question. A few words may, however, 
 be quoted. Mr. Mundella says: "I have known strikes to drive 
 away trade ; and I have known strikes to introduce trade in other 
 localities abroad." In the glass trade, Dr. George Lloyd, of the 
 firm of Lloyd and Co., Birmingham, says: " Foreign competition 
 is increasing daily, almost. There are many articles now, which 
 are introduced from the continent, in flint glass, which formerly 
 
 * As a single example of this, it is stated that the whole of the window 
 frames, and other portions of woodwork of the new St. Thomas's Hospital, 
 in London, have been imported from abroad. 
 
72 
 
 ME. E. HELM 
 
 were inadmissible, partly because they were of inferior quality, and 
 partly because they were inapplicable to the English market, and 
 were more expensive. Now the quality is improving, and the cost 
 of production and labour is greater in England than it is abroad." 
 "This is one of the trades in which," says the Beport, "the 
 employers are especially hampered by the union rules respecting 
 the number of apprentices." To give some idea of the changes in 
 this particular trade, I have compiled the following figures from 
 the Statistical Abstract for the fifteen years ending December, 1869 : 
 
 
 COMPUTED KEAL VALUE. 
 
 18551859. 
 
 18601864. 
 
 18651869. 
 
 Imports of glass of all 
 kinds, (except common 
 bottles) 
 
 . 
 697,025 
 1,404,682 
 
 . 
 
 1,962,932 
 1,934,901 
 
 . 
 
 3,912,865 
 2,281,810 
 
 Exports of do., (except do.) 
 
 707,657 
 
 28,031 
 
 1,631,055 
 
 
 
 It thus appears, that, whilst in the five years 1855 59, we 
 exported 101*5 per cent, more glass than we imported, in the five 
 years 186569, we actually imported 7T5 per cent, more than 
 We exported. There is here the strongest evidence of a declining 
 trade ; and it is one of those which are most strictly guarded by a 
 limitation of apprentices. No wonder that there are said to be 
 many journeymen out of employment in this trade. Of course it 
 is possible that some other reasons may be given to account for 
 this comparative falling off ; but as yet I have seen no explanation, 
 except that by trade restrictions the cost of production is being 
 kept higher than the trade can bear and prosper. 
 
 If, on the side of labour, its interests lie so obviously in foster- 
 ing the investment of capital, the interests of the latter are not 
 less clearly involved in promoting the efficiency and intelligence of 
 
ON TEADES UNIONS IN EELATION TO NATIONAL INDTTSTEY. 73 
 
 labour, and in securing peaceful relations between employers and 
 employed. Especially is this the case with those whose fixed 
 investments in buildings and machinery, in some measure, bind 
 them to an almost permanent relationship with the employed. And 
 now that Trades Unions are become a great fact in English indus- 
 trial life, it would surely show great want of sagacity to ignore 
 them. The violence and unwarrantable interference with the con- 
 duct of business, so common formerly, were naturally and rightly 
 resented by employers. Eut these objectionable features are abating, 
 and there seems every reason why the evidently peaceful intentions 
 and useful services of the best of the Unions should be acknowledged 
 and welcomed. A member and former officer of the Amalgamated 
 Carpenters' Society writes to me as follows: " Strikes throughout 
 our society are fast becoming things of the past ; and disputes are 
 now being prevented, or if that be found impossible, referred to a 
 more peaceful (and what is more to us) a more economical mode of 
 settlement." 
 
 Mr. Mills has pointed out,* that the strongest hope for checking 
 the evils of commercial crises, if not for preventing them, lies in a 
 more widely diffused knowledge of those economic laws under 
 which commercial transactions are carried on. Every step in this 
 direction is also a step towards removing the causes of strikes 
 and wages disputes. Commercial crises affect the business classes 
 first, but they eventually fall, with disastrous results, upon the 
 industrial classes, as Mr. Mills shows in his tables of the correspon- 
 dence between the various stages of a commercial cycle and the 
 deposits in Savings' Banks, as well as in the fluctuations in the 
 numbers of paupers relieved. A knowledge of the elements of 
 economic science is also most necessary for workmen, and especially 
 for the leaders of Trades Unions, so that they may understand the 
 causes which affect the course of trade, and which finally are the 
 reasons for alterations in wages. 
 
 * Transactions of the Manchester Statistical Society, 1867-8i 
 
74 ME. E. HELM 
 
 I have only space for a few words on the subject of Co-operation 
 and Industrial partnerships which have been of late much lauded as 
 remedies for disputes between Capital and Labour. Each of them 
 has, no doubt, its merits, but it does not appear to me that they 
 can ever become of such importance as to supersede the present 
 system of employer and employed. Co-operation, as a means of 
 investing small savings, is a way by which some workmen are 
 enabled to step into the rank of capitalists. Industrial partnerships 
 are practicable in but a few cases. The more enthusiastic supporters 
 of these systems appear to dream of a time when all capital invested 
 in business will be possessed by those who work with their hands. 
 Trades Unionism assumes that the relationship between employer 
 and employed is permanent, as permanent as any human relation- 
 ship, but it seeks to secure such conditions as will infuse a reason- 
 able amount of comfort, intelligence, and brightness into the life 
 of the workman, and to assure to him, as far as possible, a regular 
 income. The mass of mankind prefer a steady and assured position 
 of moderate comfort, to the fluctuations and vicissitudes of an 
 adventurous and anxious career, such as the career of a capitalist 
 usually is, and such as it must necessarily be with those who 
 attempt to struggle out of the rank of manual labour, into that of 
 a " Captain of Industry." To me, it seems that Trades Unions, 
 when purged from the evils that mar some of them, are by a long 
 way more practicable, than either of the other two systems, both 
 as a means of promoting the efficiency of National Industry and as 
 a remedy for industrial disputes. 
 
 As a specimen of a well conducted Trade Society, the main 
 features of the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners 
 may here be given. It consists of 237 branches, mostly scattered 
 throughout the British Isles, six of them being in the United 
 States of America. It has 10,346 members. It affords pecuniary 
 help to its members in case of sickness, accident, loss of tools by 
 fire, water, or theft, decay or disablement after 50 years of age, at 
 the death of members or their wives, and a small allowance when 
 
ON TRADES UNIONS IN RELATION TO NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 75 
 
 out of work from any cause. It carefully notes local differences 
 in the demand and supply of labour, and transfers workmen from 
 place to place, according to the wants of trade. -Its object is 
 more the equalization of wages, regard being had to local require- 
 ments, than an advance in any particular locality. It lays down 
 no rules with respect to work, wages, or hours; and does not 
 support any strike against piece-work, except, where, by a joint 
 agreement between employers and employed, its abolition has been 
 already agreed upon. It has established evening schools in various 
 places for the general and technical instruction of both members 
 and non-members in the trade. The report of one of the school 
 committees says, of the advanced classes, that: " The pupils receive 
 instruction in geometrical and free-hand drawing, and drawing of 
 various description of joiners' and masons' work, handrailing, 
 circles, and circles upon circles, skew arches, all-raking, and other 
 intersections, enlargement and diminishing of mouldings, making 
 and modes of hanging shutters, doors, and windows of all descrip- 
 tions, and of the scientific manner of setting out masons' and 
 joiners' work." 
 
 In conclusion, I am inclined to think that the basis of all further 
 improvement in the efficiency of National Industry, must be sought 
 in the prevalence of a complete system of National Education, 
 followed up by an extension of legal restrictions upon the employ- 
 ment of children and young persons. The latter would tend to 
 improve the wages of adults, whilst the former would prepare 
 every child to become an efficient contributor to the national 
 wealth, enabling each one to develop the powers conferred on him 
 by the Creator, and to use them in the sphere most congenial to 
 his nature. From the earliest efforts of the young workman, 
 through every part of his career, there is no period when a good 
 early education will not make him a better citizen, producing more 
 and better work. He will know too how to make the most of the 
 various circumstances of his life, its vicissitudes, its progress, its 
 defeats, its victories. Ignorance means incapacity and inability to 
 
76 ME. E. HELM 
 
 profit by experience. Education means aptness to learn, readiness 
 to be guided by events, and it infuses strength of character, 
 enabling men to bridge over the weak places in their experience. 
 Ignorance is apt to magnify disaster, to render men bewildered 
 and incapable when hard times come, and so drives thousands 
 into drinking habits and other degrading ways of drowning 
 cares in forgetfulness. Persons who fall into these snares rarely 
 come out of them, and what is worse, they rear generations to 
 succeed them in the same state of helplessness and degradation. 
 Their children are all their days in a state of semi-pauperism. 
 Their dull lives are devoid of brightness and of every human 
 comfort, and but little raised above those of brute beasts. They 
 do not care to earn more than will maintain them in their miser- 
 able condition, and if they do get more, it is squandered in 
 dissipation. They marry early and have families who live on as 
 their parents did. What they want is not alms, but a spirit that 
 will not be content with such a lot. Education will help them to 
 exercise self-denial, to labour more continuously, to be more 
 thrifty. Early marriages will become less frequent, as a higher 
 standard of comfort prevails. The reformation must begin from 
 within, in the character and aspirations. We have in our large 
 cities and even in our agricultural districts, the raw material of a 
 new source of national wealth. At present, this class is a serious 
 drag and burden upon the industry of the more intelligent work- 
 ing class. 
 
 It is to be hoped . that, ere long, some system of Trade Schools 
 Will be established, that these classes may be trained for useful 
 employment, and instead of every English workman having, as 
 he is now said to have, a pauper or a criminal on his back, he may 
 have by his side an intelligent co-workman, producing something 
 to be exchanged for the products of his own industry, instead of 
 being obliged to support the pauper for nothing. 
 
ON TRADES UNIONS IN RELATION TO NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 77 
 
 APPEHDIX. 
 
 During the discussion which ensued upon the reading of the 
 preceding paper, the following statistics relative to the expenditure 
 of certain Trades' Unions, were given by Mr. Baker, who adduced 
 them as valuable and interesting testimony to the provident 
 features which obtain among the larger unions, and the relative 
 smallness of the per centage expended on aggressive trade objects, 
 
 AMALGAMATED SOCIETY OF ENGINEERS. Founded, 1851. No. of 
 members, 33,539; of branches, 317. Income for 1869, 82,407. 
 In the nineteen years of its existence it has paid : 
 
 Per cent, of 
 gross income. 
 
 To members out of work ........ 457,624 = 46-1 
 
 For sick allowances 179,165 = 18'0 
 
 ,, Accidents and funerals 73,450 = 7'5 
 
 ,, Benevolent grants 14,877 = 1'5 
 
 ,, Superannuations 53,327 = 5-3 
 
 Benefits 778,443 = 78-4 
 
 ,, Trade disputes (for 11 years 
 
 past) 28,200 = 2'8 
 
 Grants to other trades 10,425 1-0 
 
 Trade 38,625 = 8-8 
 
 ,, Estimated working expenses . . 100,000 = lO'l 
 
 Balances in hand 76,176 == 7'7 
 
 Gross income 993,244 
 
 This Amalgamated Society includes, Engineers, Millwrights, 
 Machinists, Moulders, &c. Since 1851, the average of wage and 
 hours of labor in these industries remains nearly the same. 
 
78 
 
 MR. E. HELM 
 
 AMALGAMATED SOCIETY or CARPENTERS AND JOINERS, Pounded, 
 1860. JSTo. of members, 9305 ; of branches, 224. Income for 
 1869, 21,803. 
 
 In the ten years of its existence it has paid : 
 
 Per cent, of 
 gross income. 
 
 To members out of work 22,916 = 24-2 
 
 For sick allowances 3 18,052 = 19-1 
 
 Accidents and funerals 5,430 = 57 
 
 Benevolent and tool grants. ... 3,917 = 4'2 
 
 50,315 = 53-2 
 
 Trade disputes 8,106 = 8-6 
 
 Grants to other trades . , 451 = 0-5 
 
 Trade 8,557 = 9-1 
 
 Estimated Working Expenses. . 18,000 = 19-0 
 
 Balance in hand 17,626 = 18-7 
 
 Gross income 94,498 
 
 The wage and hours of labor in these trades, during the past 
 ten years have been largely modified, partly by the action of the 
 TJnion, and partly by the demand for skilled building labor. 
 
 In 1860 and in 1869, in the five following towns, they compare 
 thus : 
 
 I860... 
 1869... 
 
 LONDON. 
 
 MANCHSTR. 
 
 SHEFFIELD. 
 
 DEVONPORT 
 
 BlRMNGHM. 
 
 Hours. 
 
 Wage. 
 
 Hours. 
 
 Wage. 
 
 Hours. 
 
 Wage. 
 
 Hours. 
 
 Wage. 
 
 Hours. 
 
 Wage. 
 
 m 
 
 56 
 
 33/0 
 
 37/8 
 
 55 
 
 54 
 
 28/0 
 32/1 
 
 58 
 
 0J 
 
 26/0 
 30/0 
 
 60 
 58J 
 
 19/0 
 25/0 
 
 59| 
 
 56 
 
 25/6 
 30/7 
 
 OPERATIVE STONE-MASONS' SOCIETY. Founded, 1840. ISTo. of 
 members, 17,200; of Lodges, 315. Income for 1869, 23,054. 
 Since 1840, this society has paid : 
 
ON TBADES UNIONS IN RELLTION TO NATIONAL INDU8TBY. 79 
 
 Per cent, of 
 gross, income, 
 To members in quest of work, travelling 
 
 and donations 43,528 =s= 15'5 
 
 For Sick allowances 45,959 = 15-3 
 
 Accidents and funerals 26,674 = 9-5 
 
 , ? Benevolent grants to disabled, &c.. 23,486 = 9-4 
 
 Superannuations 989 = 0-4 
 
 Benefits 140,636 = 50-1 
 
 Trade disputes, &c 62,457 = 22'2 
 
 Working expenses 74,008 = 26'4 
 
 Balances in hand 3,496 = 1-3 
 
 Gross income 280,597 
 
 This Union is more a trade than a benefit society, the larger 
 number of its members belonging only to the trade section. For 
 the past four years it has been vigorously combating payment by 
 the hour, and the several prolonged strikes to which it has been 
 committed appear to have well nigh exhausted its funds. 
 
 IBONFOTJNDERS' SOCIETY. Founded, 1809. No. of members, 
 8,990 ; of Branches, 102. Income for 1869, 32,738. 
 
 From 1848 to 1869, it has paid : - 
 
 Per cent, of 
 gross income. 
 
 To members out of work 296,154 = 63.0 
 
 For sick allowances 63,098 = 13-4 
 
 ,, Accidents and funerals 29,963 = 6-4 
 
 ,, Superannuations 20,288 = 4-3 
 
 Emigration grants 3,351 = 0'7 
 
 Benefits 412,854 = 87'8 
 
 For trade disputes, estimated for 
 
 twelve years 8,422 = 1-8 
 
 Estimated working expenses .... 48,000 = 10-2 
 
 Balances in hand 650 = 0-2 
 
 Gross income 469,926 
 
80 
 
 ON TRADES UNIONS IN RELATION TO NATIONAL INDUSTRY, 
 
 It thus appears from the foregoing figures, that these four Trades* 
 Unions have a total of 69,034 members; a present income of 
 160,002 ; and that over an average of 20 years they have 
 expended : 
 
 In Out of Work Benefits . . 
 
 I 
 
 oft 
 
 . . . . 820,222 
 
 'er cent, 
 he whole, 
 
 44-6 
 16-7 
 7-3 
 2-3 
 4-1 
 0-2 
 
 Sick 
 
 . . . . 306,274 
 
 Accident & funeral ,, 
 
 . ... 135,517 
 
 , Benevolent grant ,, 
 
 . . . . 42,280 
 
 ,, Superannuation ,, . . 
 
 . . . . 74,604 
 
 , Emigration 
 
 . ... 3,351 
 
 Total Benefits 
 
 
 ... 1,382,248 
 
 75-2 
 6-4 
 13-1 
 5-3 
 
 *Trade purposes 
 
 118,061 
 
 Working expenses 
 
 240,008 
 
 And have Cash balances 
 
 97,948 
 
 
 
 1,838,265 
 
 COMPARATIVE TABLE OF PRECEDING AVERAGES. 
 
 SOCIETIES. 
 
 Out of Work. 
 
 1 
 
 Accidents & 
 
 Funerals. 
 
 Benevolent 
 Grants. 
 
 Superannua- 
 tions. 
 
 Emigration. 
 
 Total 
 Benefits. 
 
 1 
 f 
 
 Working 
 Expenses. 
 
 4 
 
 
 4fi-l 
 
 18-0 
 
 7-5 
 
 1-5 
 
 fi-8 
 
 
 78-4 
 
 3-8 
 
 10-1 
 
 7-7 
 
 Carpenters and Joiners' 
 Stone Masons' 
 
 24-2 
 Ifi-fi 
 
 19-1 
 15-3 
 
 57 
 9-5 
 
 4-2 
 9-4 
 
 0-4 
 
 
 
 53'2 
 fiO-l 
 
 9-1 
 W-v 
 
 19-0 
 9fi-4 
 
 18-7 
 1-3 
 
 
 filVO 
 
 13-4 
 
 6'4 
 
 
 4-3 
 
 0-7 
 
 87-8 
 
 1-8 
 
 10-2 
 
 0-2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Actual Averages 
 
 44-6 
 
 lfi-7 
 
 7-3 
 
 2-3 
 
 4-1 
 
 9 
 
 75-2 
 
 6-4 
 
 13-1 
 
 5-3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 * Represents an average of 15 years only. If taken at same ratio for 20 
 years, it would stand 141,673 = 7'6, and Out of work Benefits would be 
 796,610 = 43-4. 
 
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