y the number of hours in the day that a workman should work. In
some trades a man is paid by the hour or by the work done, so that each
man can labour a longer or shorter time as he prefers. When this is the
case, each man is the best judge of what suits him, and no trades-union
ought to interfere. But in factories, generally speaking, it would not
do to let the men come and go when they liked; they must work while the
engines and machines are moving, and while other men need their
assistance. Accordingly, somebody must settle whether the factory is to
work for twelve, or ten, or nine, or eight hours a day. The employer
would generally prefer long hours, because he would get more work and
profit out of his buildings and machines, and he need not usually be on
the spot all the time himself. It seems reasonable, then, that the
workmen should have their opinion, and have a voice in deciding how long
they will work.

But workmen are likely to be mistaken, and imagine that they may get as
much wages for nine hours' work as for ten. They think that the employer
can raise the price of his goods, or that he can well afford to pay the
difference out of his own great profits. But if political economy is to
be believed, the wages of workmen are really the value of the goods
produced, after the necessary rent of land and interest of capital have
been paid. If factories, then, produce less goods in nine hours than in
ten, as is usually the case, there cannot, in the long run, be so much
wages to receive. On the other hand, as machinery is improved, labour
becomes more productive, and it is quite right that those who are
sufficiently well paid should prefer, within reasonable limits, to
lessen their hours of work rather than increase their earnings. This is
a matter which depends upon many considerations, and it cannot be
settled in this Primer. What I should conclude is, that when workmen
want to lessen their hours of work, they ought not to ask the same wages
for the day's work as before. It is one thing to lessen the hours of
work; it is another thing to increase the rate of wages per hour, and
though both of these things may be rightly claimed in some
circumstances, they should not be confused together.

#49. The Raising of Wages.# The principal object of trades-unions,
however, is to increase the rate of wages. Working men seem to believe
that, if they do not take care, their employers will carry off the main
part of the produc