Excerpt from Guild Principles in War and Peace Indirect interest in maintaining the unemployed - the indirect interest, namely, of safeguarding order. The Trade Unions, likewise, have an interest secondary to that of the industry itself, since their only object in undertaking the support of their unemployed is the maintenance of their own Union. Only the Employers, therefore, have a direct interest in the matter; and one which, besides being essential, is comparable to other of their functions. In what way, for instance sentiment apart - does either the necessity or the obligation to maintain a reserve of Labour differ from the admitted necessity and obligation of the employer to maintain his reserves of mechanical power, horse power, or raw materials? In none of these instances does he expect the State or other corporations to assist him in bearing the cost of maintaining a reserve, why, then, should he expect the cost of his Labour reserve to be borne by others The reply, of course, is that it is due partly to custom and partly to the circumstance that in fact the employer is able to throw the cost of his Labour-reserve upon others. But not only is his right to do even what he can here challenged, but proposals are made for instantly laying upon his shoulders a burden which was always properly his own, but which hitherto he has shifted to the shoulders of the State and the Trade Unions. In Short, Mr. Hobson's suggestion is that in future every industry shall bear its own burden of Labour reserve, without the aid of either the State or the Trade Unions. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.