vants up to a level approaching its own? Efforts in this direction, if successful, might accomplish the part of the plan which consists in levelling downwards. The cap italist might be forcibly, or even legally, shorn of his income to a great extent; and wherever the feeling towards him may be that of Haman to Mordecai, it may be gratified. But we have no right to say that the general feeling is of this kind. We rather suppose that the sensible part of the equalisers are intent upon obtaining some substantial benefit for the toiling many.

Now we do not remember to have seen any calculation of the amount of benefit that would accrue to the workers if a proportion of the profits now retained for their own use by capitalists were to be relinquished to them. Suppose one-half were so transferred, then half the annual net profits of many a capitalist whom we might name is undoubtedly a handsome sum of money, capable, if divided by a small figure, of much improving many humble incomes. But equality cannot of course divide by a small figure. It must make a very large number partakers in the benefit, or it must cease to call itself equality. Now the profits of a very large capital, when divided by a very large figure, dwindle down to a very miserable quota. What looked immense when appropriated to one man is of small account as a dividend for hundreds or thousands. And what is true of one collection of profits must be true of the aggregate profits of a country or of the whole world. A million of pounds divided among a million of men would give each

man only one pound. It might be well, before making any exhaustive or expensive effort to divert profits from the capitalist to the workmen, to calculate pretty closely how far the gain to the latter might be expected to compensate for the many dangers to business generally which would certainly attend such a new appropriation.

To look into this a little more closely. A business in which many workmen are employed may be conducted with a moderate capital

which means, that the principal cost of that business is in wages. Another business employing much fewer workmen may nevertheless require a very large capital—that is to say, it may make its principal outlay on machinery, fuel, raw material, patents, heavy rents, chemical processes, and so on. Now if in each of the cases supposed the workmen were to obtain from the capitalist a fixed share— say half-of the profits, the results would be very unequal; because the profits of the larger capital would be divided among the smaller number of men, and the profits of the smaller capital among the larger number of men. In the one case the share of the individual workman might be very handsome, and in the other very meagre. But possibly the workmen who would profit so largely say "Never mind; if all trades cannot benefit, many can, and we shall have made a step in the right direction." This, however, would be a mistake. It is impossible, while the world continues what it now is, that an industry employing few workmen should pay them heavily, and an industry employing many should pay them scantily, for any length of time. To the cap

italist, in either case it would come to the same thing1-he would part with half his profits. But to the workmen it would be by no means the same thing; and they would undoubtedly be as eager to correct this inequality of gains as they now are to gain out of profits at all. They would all press for employment in the business which would pay them best. But everybody could not find employment in one business. True; yet they would manage to make wages pretty equal. Premiums would be paid for places in the well-paid concerns, sometimes to the workmen in possession to retire and make way, sometimes to the employer for the privilege of serving him, and often very likely to both. The consequence would be, that in a short time the workman's gain in both the industries here supposed would come down to the level of the lower one.

The result will be the same after a short time if we contemplate any number of trades-the tendency undoubtedly being to make wages approximate to a fixed standard. A little reflection will take us further than this; and we shall see that, in effect, the half-profits taken from all the capitalists in a given region, will directly or indirectly come to be pretty evenly divided among all the workmen of that region. By this division each workman's gain would be very small indeed. Manufacturing hands, labourers, artificers, sailors, would all come in for shares. The capitalist would lose, but the workmen would be very slightly benefited.

What can it mean if half the

sum of the profits of a given region, when divided, can but yield a paltry addition of income to each workman? If we are right in our view of the case, it has a most important meaning, which all who want to see profits made over to the workers would do well to lay to heart. It means that the profits made in a given region (which may be the whole world) are pitifully small in proportion to the number of workers who would claim to participate in them. This truth it is which seems to lie at the bottom of all the workmen's disappointments. The profits made are not enough to enrich more than a few. No wonder, then, that the many, all seeking together to get rich, are baffled. There is not the wherewithal to satisfy their desires, even though these be modest.

He

Again, the capitalist, when restricted to a paltry share of the profits, might think it not worth his while to give his time to, and risk his fortune in, business. would reflect that in bad years, when there might be very low net earnings, or no net earning at all, he must bear the whole loss; and that, being tied down to his meagre proportion in prosperous years, he could never hope by any exertion to regain what might once have been lost. The consequence probably would be, that in a bad year he would shut up his works, cease to pay wages, and so throw all his workmen out of employment. Forced idleness of this kind would quickly dissipate the advantage derived by the workmen from sharing the profits.

It is true that it has been said to capitalists and employers, in an

swer to such arguments as we have just used, "Increase the price of your manufactured goods, or of the aid which in the way of your business you give to the public: so shall you be able always to secure some remuneration for yourselves, while giving your workmen much better pay than heretofore." But the man who may arbitrarily raise his prices in the manner suggested cannot, as a rule, count upon obtaining from the public much countenance or assistance in carrying out his plan. Competitors are sure to appear, offering the same goods or services for a lower price; the public will buy in the cheapest market; and the employer who has endeavoured to increase the cost of his wares will find himself left behind, with his stock unsold. Levellers did not perceive this difficulty until lately; and when, six or eight years ago, it had been found that it was unwise to press capital too hardly, they accepted with complacency the doctrine that, though it might be prudent to have some mercy upon capital, yet there was no reason on earth for having the smallest consideration for the public, who might be bled to an infinite extent for the benefit of the workmen. Accordingly, after the great strikes which occurred about 1872 had failed, through the inability of capitalists to meet the demands which were made on them, the device was hit upon of making common cause, as it were, with the capitalists, and of forcing them to raise the price of their commodities or services, and so, while conserving their own means, to make the public yield the necessary funds for increasing wages. Notices were therefore given to the employers that strikes were impending, in order that they might increase their charges, so as to be in funds

and ready to meet the workmen's wishes.

But the public did not lend itself very graciously to the design. It looked elsewhere for the lowerpriced commodities which it could not get in the home market (we are speaking of England now); and the foreigner, who had not raised his prices, stepped in and undersold the native employer. It was thus found that the new plan, which had been thought so ingenious, was even more suicidal than the old one of assailing the capitalists, because from the latter error it was possible to recede when it was discovered to be an error_it was a mistake among ourselves, and did not offer an opportuity to an alien interest; but the bringing in of the foreigner to find a market here was an evil not so easily to be corrected. He would hold his footing, and not be at all prompt to depart when it should be found that he was in the way of native industry.

It became plain at last that, as long as nation may compete with nation commercially, it will be ruinous for the manufacturers and other capitalists of any one nation to raise prices for the sake of bettering the condition of their workmen. So this fancied resource of the levellers had to be abandoned in its turn as impracticable. They did not, however, cease from their endeavours; but in order to remove the impediment to the arbitrary raising of prices, they projected a large combination of the labourers of the chief countries of the whole earth, who are to work in unison, and to prevent the state of things in which one country can undersell another. This is the last form of the great levelling movement that we have heard of, and it is a gigantic design. It will be

almost impossible, as we should think, to work it. There must be at this moment a great many nations who will absolutely refuse to forgo the advantages which they may gain in the markets of the world in order that their workmen may benefit at the expense of the other classes of their communities. Even supposing that a very extensive confederacy could be formed to embrace many portions of the earth, the workmen, having gone east and west, and north and south, to seek help in giving effect to the idea so dear to them, could hardly think themselves wronged if employers, and the purchasing public, who might might fancy that their interests were threatened, should also seek to protect themselves by looking for cheap labour in any region of the world where the workmen might not have joined in the confederacy of labourers. That they would do so, one may judge from the scare which some months ago agitated English labourers at the rumour that there were to be importations of Chinese into this country. Such an importation would be most unpalatable, no doubt, and probably fatal to the workmen's aspirations. Yet, if we are to concede to them the right to band with foreigners, it is only just that we concede the same right to employers and to the purchasing public. We can scarcely doubt that, were the confederated workmen to succeed in making commodities artificially dear, they would have to face the competition of Chinese or other cheap labourers.

Thus there would seem to be, all through this conception of raising up the labouring classes socially, as far as we can trace it, natural difficulties in the way, which do not diminish, but which,

on the contrary, increase at every stage of experience to which practical effort attains.

So that the levellers are face to face with some established condition of things which resists all these attempts at equalisation. We by no means say that these are wrong, as long as they are not attended by what is violent or illegal. But it is worth consideration whether the labour, thought, and money expended in this direction are likely ever to make a good return.

We have been speaking of the practicability of bringing about a general rise of wages; but there is something further than that to be considered. be considered. All candid writers on the subject have agreed that, were even a general advance of money wages to be brought about, the workman, though nominally he would have a larger income, would in effect be little, if at all, better off than he is at present. Because, as everything would be dearer, he would have to pay more for food, clothing, rent, &c.; and so, his expenses increasing in the same proportion as his gains, he would be very much where he was when the old prices prevailed. And although the public are often slow to see that the designs or movements of certain classes militate against their interests, yet, when they do see that they are being victimised, they will resist vigorously, and can by no means be relied on to help prices up. As an instance of how the public will act, may be cited the general indignation which was expressed when, a few years ago, the gas-workers conspired to leave London in darkness during winter nights. We do not here speak of the attempt as right or wrong, good or bad, but merely state that the public will be the uncompromising opponents of movements to

raise wages the moment they perceive that their own interests are directly or indirectly concerned in the matter. They were exasperated to a high degree against the gas men; and the latter not only failed utterly in their design, but many of them lost their employment through their plotting, and many were punished by the magis

trates.

The fate of the recent telegraphists' strike in the United States is also worthy of note. It was a very extensive movement, and threatened a great loss to the telegraph companies, and a great inconvenience to the public. Yet

it has resulted only in the confusion of the workmen; and so is, as one would think, a thing to be regretted by all their true friends. They have unfortunately more flatterers and pretended friends than they have real honest friends; and thus they are frequently induced to run after these Will-o'-thewisps, in order that their parasites may beguile them of their votes, and make a profit through their error.

Some thinking men are of opinion that laws can be made which shall secure to workmen a large share in the profits of any business in which they may be engaged. But anybody who may think earnestly on the conditions of prosecuting business, which we have briefly noted above, cannot fail to perceive that it is beyond the power of law to make business run permanently in such forced grooves as would give the workmen all they are seeking for. Laws, no doubt, have been, and may be, made which shall have the immediate effect of stripping certain classes or persons of their property, and transferring the same property to other classes or persons. But can it make the benefits to the

favoured classes or persons lasting? That is the question.

That very perilous experiments in legislation may be made in States where the workmen may have acquired a large share of power is extremely probable; but they cannot be of lasting benefit to the labouring classes until some cleverer plans shall be invented than any of those which have been mentioned in the preceding pages. Laws which attempted to regulate wages arbitrarily are not unknown in history, but it is unknown that such laws have ever had the effect of permanently benefiting the classes in whose interest they were enacted. So far as we have been able to discover, the labourers in a business which may be enjoying prosperity are pretty sure to participate in some way in the profits derivable from it; while out of a fluctuating or depressed industry it is in vain that we seek to get improved wages for the workmen. If this be a sound maxim, it is for the advantage of the workmen that the business should thrive. But strikes and quarrels and the terrifying of capital are all adverse to prosperity. Therefore they must be, except in special circumstances, adverse to an enduring rise in wages.

It is often said by those who plead the workmen's cause, that under the present system-that is to say, under the pressure of the conditions which we have been endeavouring to describe the workman's lot is truly pitiable; that he is allowed to earn only so much as will meet in the coarsest way his absolute necessities; and that, as to his making any provision for sickness or old age, or being able to defray the expenses of raising himself to a higher position, supposing that he has abilities to make him worthy of advancement, the idea is prepos