are persuaded that their wages are too low,
then a strike will show whether it is the case or not; if their
employers find themselves unable to get equally good workmen at the same
wages, they will have to offer more; but if equally good can be got at
the old rate, then it is a proof that the strikers made a mistake. Their
wages were as good as the state of trade warranted. It is all a matter
of bargain, and of supply and demand. Those who strike work are in the
position of those who, having a stock of goods, refuse to sell it,
hoping to get a better price. If they make a mistake, they must suffer
for it, and those who choose to sell their goods in the meantime will
have the benefit. But it is plain that it would never do to allow one
holder of goods to intimidate and prevent other holders from selling to
the public. It is worthy of consideration whether even voluntary
combinations of dealers should not be prohibited, because they are often
little better than conspiracies to rob the public. The good of
consumers, that is, of the whole people, is what we must always look to,
and this is best secured when men act freely and compete with each other
to sell things at the cheapest rates.

#53. Trades-Union Monopolies.# It cannot be denied that, in certain
trades, the men may succeed to some extent in keeping their wages above
the natural level by union. Wages, like the prices of goods, are
governed by the laws of supply and demand. Accordingly, if the number of
hat-makers can be kept down it reduces the number of hats that can be
made, raises their prices, and enables the hat-makers to demand higher
wages than they otherwise could do. Many unions try thus to limit
production by refusing to admit more than a fixed number of apprentices,
and by declining to work with any man who has not been brought up to the
trade. It is probable that, where a trade is a small one, and the union
powerful, there may be some success. The trade becomes a monopoly, and
gets higher wages by making other people pay dearer for the goods they
produce. They raise a tax from the rest of the nation, including all the
workmen of other trades. This is a thoroughly selfish and injurious
thing, and the laws ought by all reasonable means to discourage such
monopolies. Moreover, monopoly is extremely hurtful in the long run to
the working classes, because all the trades try to imitate those which
are successful. Finding that the hatters have a strong union, th