Whiletheserequirementscorrespondingtothestandardoflivingremainconstant，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’；thatcombinationsarerequiredtohelppoorlabourerstogettheirrightsthe’demandandsupply’ratefromrichemployers；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。