s. They are not in a
position for the unrestricted development of individualism in regard to
many of their interests. Unquestionably the better ones lose by this,
and the development of individualism is to be looked forward to and
hoped for as a great gain. In the meantime the labor market, in which
wages are fixed, cannot reach fair adjustments unless the interest of
the laborers is fairly defended, and that cannot, perhaps, yet be done
without associations of laborers. No newspapers yet report the labor
market. If they give any notices of it--of its rise and fall, of its
variations in different districts and in different trades--such notices
are always made for the interest of the employers. Re-distribution of
employes, both locally and trade-wise (so far as the latter is
possible), is a legitimate and useful mode of raising wages. The
illegitimate attempt to raise wages by limiting the number of
apprentices is the great abuse of trades-unions. I shall discuss that
in the ninth chapter.

It appears that the English trades were forced to contend, during the
first half of this century, for the wages which the market really would
give them, but which, under the old traditions and restrictions which
remained, they could not get without a positive struggle. They formed
the opinion that a strike could raise wages. They were educated so to
think by the success which they had won in certain attempts. It appears
to have become a traditional opinion, in which no account is taken of
the state of the labor market. It would be hard to find a case of any
strike within thirty or forty years, either in England or the United
States, which has paid. If a strike occurs, it certainly wastes capital
and hinders production. It must, therefore, lower wages subsequently
below what they would have been if there had been no strike. If a
strike succeeds, the question arises whether an advance of wages as
great or greater would not have occurred within a limited period
without a strike.

Nevertheless, a strike is a legitimate resort at last. It is like war,
for it is war. All that can be said is that those who have recourse to
it at last ought to understand that they assume a great responsibility,
and that they can only be justified by the circumstances of the case. I
cannot believe that a strike for wages ever is expedient. There are
other purposes, to be mentioned in a moment, for which a strike may be
expedient; but a strike for wages is a