OF COMPETITION. interested.
is fully recognized. On what ground is it that Parliament regu- fully set at nought. knowledge ? what was the extent of his knowledge and cooperation ? From this general view we proceed naturally to an examination The will-forgers (as they are, though perhaps inaccurately, called) of the principles which ought to guide the Legislature in the par- conspired to procure certain sums of money by fraud : that was the ticular case of Short-time. offence for which they were tried, and the ends of justice required It is admitted on all hands, that excessive competition among that it should clearly appear to be the offence for which they were the labourers is the immediate cause of that excessive toil of which punished. Mrs. DOREY might have been convicted of suborning all likewise admit the evil. It is a case of excessive competition. evidence, GRIFFIN of perjury ; but their punishment for these
A very slight examination of the political-economy law of corn- offences would have been no example to the public of the danger petition shows, that in no few matters of bargain the majority is incurred by conspiring to procure money by fraudulent means. As apt to be subject to the minority. Let us suppose that three- to FLETCHER, it was not proved that he had actually forged a fourths of the factory -labourers had made up their own judgment document, or suborned evidence, or committed perjury : it is not and inclination in favour of working not more than ten hours a easy to see how he could have been laid hold of except in his cha- day : still they must work twelve hours if the others did, because racter of originator and director of a conspiracy to commit fraud ; there cannot be two prices in the same market, and in any market and to establish the fact of a conspiracy, it was necessary to prove the higher price must always give way to the lower. Thus the the cooperation of several individuals with a guilty knowledge. minority would control the majority. A large majority perhaps of Public justice required that the case of all the prisoners should be the labouring peasantry would gladly keep their children at school gone into at once: but public justice also provides that each indi- till they had really learnt something: but the minority care no- vidual shall only be punished in proportion to his actual delin- thing about it ; these let out their boys for hire at twelve years of quency ; and the acquittal of BARBER on the first trial shows that age; and therefore the others must do the same, in obedience to such a simultaneous investigation is quite compatible with indivi- the unchecked law of competition, which in this case commands dual safety. Even were this not the case, the danger would only equality of wages for all the families of equal labouring poser, and, be a reason for changing the instrument of investigation (the Jury) as in every other case, gives the lower wages control over the higher. for one more efficient. Supposing it good that the factory-labourers should work for only The characteristic feature in the crime of conspiracy is the corn- ten hours, but that all must work twelve hours if any can, then bination of more than one person, with a guilty knowledge, to a surely the Legislature might properly interfere in order to give guilty end. The giving of publicity to the fact that the parties act effect to the judgment and inclination of the majority. It is good in concert does not render it less a conspiracy. To procure the for all poor children to go to school ; but if any can go to work in- money which had belonged to STEWART it was necessary that stead, the families of the school-goers would be punished by a Feercees, GRIFFIN, BARBER, and the fictitious Miss Brewster, diminution of wages: supposing those who wish their children to should at different times appear publicly acting in concert. BARBER learn something to be the majority, surely Parliament would do was acquitted, not because he acted publicly, but because there well to pass a law compelling all poor children to go to school— was no proof that he acted with a guilty knowledge. Again, it is
that is, permitting the majority to do as they please. necessary in order to render the conspiracy criminal, that it should Nay more, interference for the purpose of checking the law of be for a criminal purpose : but any criminal act whatever that can competition may often be necessary in order to give effect to the judgment and inclination, not of the majority, but of all concerned. be committed in concert may communicate the guilty character to conspiracy. In the recent case, which has suggested these remarks, Supposing that all the factory-workers could agree in opinion about the object of the conspiracy was to commit fraud : it would have ten hours a day, and wished to enter into an agreement to the effect been equally a criminal conspiracy had violence been its object.
that none should work longer, their opinion and wish would be of This is readily admitted in the case of the will-forgers, because no avail, because, from the nature of things, such an agreement their punishment irritates no powerful party—because no one has would not be binding without a law to enforce it. If it were not any thing to gain by representing them as the victims of a harsh enforced by a law, some might change their mind afterwards, and or an unjust law, or by appealing to misconceptions of the exact compel the others, in obedience to the law of competition, to work meaning of a word. This is unfortunate for them, otherwise their twelve hours. It would be the same with respect to education, conviction might have raised them to the dignity of martyrs—have In any like case—in any case where a general agreement of opinion caused Netegate to be frequented as a holy shrine—and, could they and wish cannot take effect without the aid of Parliament—it is a by any means have got leave to walk about at large, might have proper function of Parliament to lend its assistance. entitled thein to the apotheosis of a public dinner. The principle is as old as the world. All law is founded on it. Any offence against the law that can be committed in concert by It is for the interest of all to be honest : but none could be honest several individuals may become the object of a conspiracy. The if any were allowed to steal at pleasure : therefore we make laws act of conspiring to commit—of contributing to the commission of against stealing. The bigotry of Laissez-faire says, that the prin- a crime—differs from the act of committing a crime. "Criminal eiple ought never to be applied to matters of production and ex- conspiracy " is therefore a necessary category in every complete code change. We hope it has been shown that the cases are very nu- of penal law. The recorded decisions of English courts of justice TOPICS OF THE DAY. meroua and important in which legislative interference with the law of competition, so far from being opposed to the reasonable doctrine of Laissez-faire' is rather a means of giving effect to the
THE BIGOTRY OF LAISSEZ-FAIRE, AND THE LAW judgment and inclinationof a majority, or of the whole, of the parties
EVERY doctrine has its appropriate bigotry. The bigotry of This conclusion, however, leaves with the advocates of Short- -Laissez-faire consists in believing that every man is the best judge time the onus of proving that the factory-workers desire the pro- of his own interest in whatever relates to production or exchange; posed interference with the law of competition ; and that a com- and, therefore, that all legislation is mischievous which controls pliance with their wish would not be so injurious to the rest of anybody's inclination in matters of that kind. Hence the fury of the community as to counterbalance the general good of saving the certain of the Economists at the proposal to shorten the hours of factory-workers from excessive toil. We do not meddle with those
points here. Our sole object on the present occasion has been to labour by act of Parliament. They cannot listen with patience to show, that the bigotry of Lausez-faire, which fumes at the pro- arguments of which the tendency is to show the necessity of such posal of any legislative interference with the law of competition, is interference ; because their dislike is not to unnecessary inter- ference, but to all. They begin and end by denying that any in- all stuff and nonsense. Let us conclude by expressing a hope, that Lord Howicx, who seems to have got a better hold of the terference can ever be necessary.
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