iend, that they are wrong. You may not be able to
confute them in debate, not having their skill in wordy warfare; but
your experience, your common sense, convince you that they are wrong.
And all the greatest political economists are on your side. I could
fill a volume with quotations from the writings of the most learned
political economists of all times in support of your position, but I
shall only give one quotation. It is from Adam Smith's great work,
_The Wealth of Nations_, and I quote it partly because no better
statement of the principle has ever been made by any writer, and
partly also because no one can accuse Adam Smith of being a "wicked
Socialist trying to set class against class." He says:

"The workmen desire to get as much, the masters to give as
little as possible. The former are disposed to combine in
order to raise, the latter in order to lower the wages of
labor.... Masters are always and everywhere in a sort of
tacit, but constant and uniform, combination, not to raise the
wages of labor above their actual rate. To violate this
combination is everywhere a most unpopular action, and a sort
of a reproach to a master among his neighbors and equals....
Masters too sometimes enter into particular combinations to
sink the wages of labor.... These are always conducted with
the utmost silence and secrecy, till the moment of execution."

That is very plainly put, Jonathan. Adam Smith was a great thinker and
an honest one. He was not afraid to tell the truth. I am going to
quote a little further what he says about the combinations of
workingmen to increase their wages:

"Such combinations, [i.e., to lower wages] however, are
frequently resisted by a contrary defensive combination of the
workmen; who sometimes too, without any provocation of this
kind, combine of their own accord to raise the price of labor.
Their usual pretenses are, sometimes the high price of
provisions; sometimes the great profit which their masters
make by their work. But whether these combinations be
offensive or defensive, they are always abundantly heard of.
In order to bring the point to a speedy decision, they have
always recourse to the loudest clamour, and sometimes to the
most shocking violence and outrage. They are desperate, and
act with the extravagance and folly of desperate men, who must
either starve, or frighten their master