There was an interesting discussion in the Social Science Con-
gress on Thursday, on the question of Trades Unions and their influence on the rate of wages, in which the working-men appear to have got decidedly the better of the argument. Mr. J. Mathe- son, Jun., read a paper directed, it is said, to show that Trades Unions only waste money, and that wages would be higher with- out them than with them. A warm discussion followed, in which the working-men more than held their own, and in which Mr. Lloyd Jones ridiculed very ably the notion that England is falling behind in the commercial competition, owing to the self- will of the working-men. He said that there are now forty rich men among the employers for every one a few years ago, and yet the employers are always crying out that they are losing their trade. .0f course the working-man ought to share- in the prosperity, and all that the Trades. Unions effect is to secure him his share of it. And this is, in fact, the true upshot of the discussion.
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