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procoeds of which at any rats went to the general pnrposes of
the connbry, and Set you continue to pay a small tax to 8
m y not exceeding in all about 30,000 men.
In the case of some trades, such as tho iron trade or tho
coal trade, tho effect of increased prices is even snore injurious.
Not only do consutners pay in the increased cost of coal or of
iron goods, but even wages are affected. Cod and iron are
materials of such universal irnportanco that they cannot riso i n
price without diminishing the prosperity of many other trades.
It is the cheapness of theso materials which llas greatly contributed
to render Lancashiro and Staffordshire tho workshops
of tho world, and so fer as colliers raise their own wages by
combination, they do it by obstructing tho very source and
fountain-head of the prosperity of all other classes.
Unionism, then, is simply I'ROTECTIOY. Every Union which,
by limiting the number of apprentices,-by prohibiting lnbour
below a certain rato of wngce, or by any similar device, keeps
the rate above what it would othermiso bo, levies a little
protective revenue of its own.
Perhaps you mill reply that combination is oqunlly open
and lawful for nll. Let all trades combine, and thon they will
all be benefited, and the increased wages must come out of
the pockets of the capitnlists. Kothing however could be mor0
unfounded.
In tho first place all trades havo not equal opportunitiesfor
combination. Small close trades like those of Sheffield, carried
on in one spot only, have the greatest facilities and must have
the advantage over thoso which are scattered about in every
part of the country.
Those who require special skill and apprenticeship, like
compositors, will be more suocessful than those whose work is
readily learned. The hatters are said to be very successful in
their combinations; the tailors are less BO, for very obvious
reasons; while the shoemakers, who carry on their work in
every street and in every part of the country, &re hardly
organised at all, so far aa I am aware.
There is again this important difference between trades :
some work for home trade only, like the building trade, and do
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