rown out of employment did not like it. Frequently
they attacked the factory-buildings and set fire to the machines, but
Insurance Companies had been organised as early as the 17th century and
as a rule the owners were well protected against loss.

Soon, newer and better machines were installed, the factory was
surrounded with a high wall and then there was an end to the rioting.
The ancient guilds could not possibly survive in this new world of
steam and iron. They went out of existence and then the workmen tried
to organise regular labour unions. But the factory-owners, who through
their wealth could exercise great influence upon the politicians of the
different countries, went to the Legislature and had laws passed which
forbade the forming of such trade unions because they interfered with
the "liberty of action" of the working man.

Please do not think that the good members of Parliament who passed these
laws were wicked tyrants. They were the true sons of the revolutionary
period when everybody talked of "liberty" and when people often killed
their neighbours because they were not quite as liberty-loving as they
ought to have been. Since "liberty" was the foremost virtue of man, it
was not right that labour-unions should dictate to their members the
hours during which they could work and the wages which they must demand.
The workman must at all times, be "free to sell his services in the open
market," and the employer must be equally "free" to conduct his business
as he saw fit. The days of the Mercantile System, when the state had
regulated the industrial life of the entire community, were coming to
an end. The new idea of "freedom" insisted that the state stand entirely
aside and let commerce take its course.

The last half of the 18th century had not merely been a time of
intellectual and political doubt, but the old economic ideas, too, had
been replaced by new ones which better suited the need of the hour.
Several years before the French revolution, Turgot, who had been one
of the unsuccessful ministers of finance of Louis XVI, had preached the
novel doctrine of "economic liberty." Turgot lived in a country which
had suffered from too much red-tape, too many regulations, too many
officials trying to enforce too many laws. "Remove this official
supervision," he wrote, "let the people do as they please, and
everything will be all right." Soon his famous advice of "laissez
faire" became the battle-cry around wh