第30章

Whiletheserequirements(correspondingtothestandardofliving)remainconstant，wagescannotlongfallbeloworremainabovethecorrespondingstandard。Theimprovement，indeed，ofevenasmallportionwouldbe’whollyamatterofsatisfaction’

ifnogeneralimprovementcouldbeexpected。Butassuchimprovementisnowbecomingpossible，itistobehopedthatthebetterartisanswillseekadvantageincommonwith，or’nottotheexclusionof，theirfellowlabourers。’Thetrades-unionmovement，therefore，istakentobeequivalenttotheformationoflittlemonopoliesthroughwhichparticularclassesoflabourersbenefitattheexpenseofothers。YetMillisevidentlyanxioustomakewhatconcessionshecan。Strikes，hethinks，havebeenthe’bestteachersofthelabouringclasses’astothe’relationbetweenlabourandthedemandandsupplyoflabour。’

Theyshouldnotbecondemnedabsolutely——onlywhentheyaremeanttoraisewagesabovethe’demandandsupply’limit；and，eventhen，heremembersthat’demandandsupply’arenot’physicalagencies’；thatcombinationsarerequiredtohelppoorlabourerstogettheirrights(the’demandandsupply’rate)fromrichemployers；and，thattrades-unionstendtoadvancethetimewhenlabourerswillregularly’participateintheprofitsderivedfromtheirlabour。’Finally，itisdesirable，ashecharacteristicallyadds，that’alleconomicalexperiments，voluntarilyundertaken，shouldhavethefullestlicence。’

Mill，unlikehisrigidpredecessors，isanxioustomakeoutasgoodacaseashecanfortrades-unions。Hissympathiesarewiththem，ifonlythelogiccanbecoaxedintoapproval。Toelevatethelabouringclassistheoneworthyobjectofpoliticalaction。Yetheishamperedbytheinheritedscheme。Howevermodified，italwaysinvolvestheassumptionofafixedsumtobedistributedby’supplyanddemand。’Limitthesupplyoflabour，andyouraisetheprice。Nootherplanwillreallygotothebottomoftheproblem。Therateofwagesisfixedby’supplyanddemand’；andthephraseseemedtoimplythattherateofwageswasfixedbyabargain，likethepriceofcornorclothatagiventimeandplace。Error，asMilltrulyobserves，(114*)isoftencausedbynot’lookingdirectlyattherealitiesofphenomena，butattendingonlytotheoutwardmechanismofbuyingandselling。’Arewelookingdirectlyatrealitieswhenwetakeforgrantedthat’labour’isboughtandsoldlikecornandcotton？Arewenotcominginsightofmorefundamentalchanges，questionsofthestructureaswellasthefunctionsofindustrialorganism，whichcannotbesosummarilysettled？Thorntonarguesasthoughworkmensecreted’labour’asbeessecretehoney，andthevalueoftheproductwerefixedbytheproportionbetweenthequantityinthemarketandthequantitywhichpurchasersarepreparedtotakeattheprice。Heonlytriestoshowthatthepricemaystillbeindeterminate。The’equation’betweensupplyanddemandofwhichMillhadspokenmightbebroughtaboutatvaryingratesofexchange。Thewholesupplymightconceivablybetakenoffeitheratahighoratalowprice。Weneednotgobehindtheimmediatemotiveswhichgovernasetofbuyersmeetingasetofsellersatanauction。Millacceptsthesameassumptions。Itisquitetrue，hesays，thatinthecaseofwagesvariousratesmaysatisfythe’equation。’Thewholelabouringpopulationmaybeforcedtoputupwithstarvationallowanceormaybeabletoextortenoughtoraisetheirstandardoflife。

This，hesays，upsetsthe’wage-fund’doctrine，hithertotaughtbynearlyalleconomists’includingmyself。’(115*)Moreover，theemployerhastheadvantageinthe’higgling，’owingtowhatAdamSmithhadalreadycalled’thetacitcombinationofemployers。’(116*)Thisdepressinginfluencecanberesistedbyacombinationoftheemployed；andthereforethedoctrinewhichdeclaredthenecessaryincapacityoftrades-unionstoraisewagesmustbethrownaside。

Millhasreceived，andfullydeserves，highpraiseforhiscandourinthisrecantation。Wemust，however，regretthefacilitywithwhichheabandonedadisagreeabledoctrinewithoutsufficientlyconsideringtheeffectsofhisadmissionuponhiswholescheme。(117*)Towhat，infact，doestheargume