"You all know that pearls and diamonds cost a lot more than bits of glass and wood. Why do they? Because they're valuable, you'll say. But why are they valuable? Because men want to have them? No, it's not that only. It's because they're scarce.
"Take the Kohinoor—the grandest diamond in England, belonging to Her Majesty. Three cheers for our noble Queen, lads!" John's hat went up, and the haggard men before him responded warmly. "That's it!" said John, well pleased. "Now about the Kohinoor. I'm afraid to say how much it is worth. But supposing that instead of one there was fifty such diamonds in the country. Would they all be worth as much? No, of course not. And suppose there was ten thousand—why, lots of people could buy them then, the price 'ud be so much lower. And suppose they were as common as pebbles in the road; why, then you'd be able to, pick them up like pebbles, you know, and not have to pay anything at all."
"So a thing is worth more or less, partly according to whether it's wanted, but mostly according to whether it's scarce or plentiful."
"That's how it is with labour. When there's much work to be done, and few men to do it, labour is dear because it's scarce. When there's little work to be done, and many men to do it, labour is cheap because it is plentiful. And when labour is cheap, no amount of strikes can make it worth more than it is worth, even though wages may be forced up unnaturally for a while."
"Would you go for to say," put in a voice, "that strikes are never on no account to be resorted to?"
"No, I don't say that," returned John. "It's natural and it's right that working-men should band together to protect their own interests; and maybe now and then a strike's the only method open to them. Any way, I do know it oughtn't to be a common thing. For in nine cases out of ten, lads, the loss is more than the gain. A strike is wise, only when affairs are in such a condition, that you all know on the very best authority—not only on Pope's authority—that a rise is your just due, and that there's no chance of your getting it for a long while save by a strike. That's a state of things that might be; and then if you liked to go in for a strike—well, it mightn't be altogether unreasonable."
"But a strike should be your last resort, not your first. If a rise in wages is really your due, I suppose it's sure to come sooner or later, from the pressure of competition, whether you strike or whether you don't. But if you're mistaken as to the state of things, and a rise is not your due—why a strike isn't like to do more than bring loss and disappointment; or even if it does force the wages up for a bit, that can't last, and things will be worse for your trade in the end."
"It 'ud be a good thing if masters and men would draw together, and be more friendly-like, and each listen to the other. For there's rights on both sides, and difficulties on both sides; and there's room on both sides for a kind and thoughtful spirit to be shown. It wouldn't do no harm to you, lads, if you was sometimes to put yourselves into the masters' place, and think how you'd act there. And I wish the masters would do the same for the men. Not as they don't sometimes, I'll be bound. There's masters and masters, just as there's men and men! I don't see as we ourselves have much to complain of. Mr. Bertie and Mr. Lovett have been good friends to us for many a year. It wasn't till Pope came to enlighten our ignorance, that we found out we was grovelling under the heels of two bloodthirsty tyrants."
"No, no; not so bad as that!" cried several voices.
"Hope not!" said John dryly. "Any way, my slavery don't fret me much. I've got along pretty comfortable, in spite of it—till these last weeks."