As we have said above, we do not intend to
embarrass a situation so critical by any attack on the Government. We may, however, point out one or two facts which, though they may be ignored for the moment, are bound to have their effect. The Government are attempting to do what no Government yet has over succeeded in doing—to raise wages by Act of Parliament. They are trying, that is, to do what they have always declared, and as we hold rightly declared, cannot be done—i.e., secure a permanent advance in price through,any form of Protection. In the last resort, though the fact is concealed, the principle upon which they are acting is the principle of the Tariff Reformers, the principle which they are pledged to oppose. Another ueforeseen result of legislation, if it takes place—though this, again, will be probably hidden for some time from the men—will be the weakening of the trade unions. The men will insensibly be drawn to look to legisla- tion for obtaining their ends rather than to united action and collective bargaining. But if once the trade unions are drawn into the orbit of legislation, their independent powers will gradually be atrophied. The intellectual section of the
Socialists are, no doubt, quite prepared for this result, for they have always regarded the trade unions rather as tem- porary instruments than as institutions which could be fitted into their system ; but the old-fashioned trade unionists, who, after all, are still the bulk of the men, will, we venture to say, when the weakening comes be anything but pleased. The same remark applies to the new-fashioned Syndicalist&
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