ABSTRACT
There are four main reasons for desiring a reduction of the hours of labour. The husband, breadwinner no longer, goes off on tramp to see if he can happen on better luck in another town—and passes on the road many a score of fathers going to his native town on a similar hopeless errand. The argument from experience is convincing on this point. It is incontestibly true that, in spite of all mournful prophecies to the contrary, every reduction of hours in any trade in this country, whether obtained by trade unions or by legislation, has been followed by a large increase of wages, whether increased in money or in goods. There have been, and still are, classes that by the use of their political power have managed to secure, through Parliament, not merely the full produce of their labour, but a very large amount of produce without performing any labour at all.
