which harmonize with traditional rather than with revolutionary
conduct. What the trade union sought was not class war, but the
restoration of the old order which had been upset by innovating
businessmen. This point was illustrated by conditions in the woolen
industry in the first years of the 19th century. The industry was
made up mainly of small masters, each employing an average of ten
journeymen and apprentices; work was carried on in the master's
house, whose wife and children usually assisted. Apprentices could,
after completing their course of training, set up on their own. The
essence of this situation was stability. "There were journeymen who
had continually for twenty years and more worked with the same
masters." ⁴ The introduction of machinery, according to Brentano,
introduced a variety of changes. Mills employing machinery and
workers who had served no apprenticeship became popular. Employ-
ment became uncertain, and the journeyman became unsure of his
job. Whereas formerly employment was for a year, now an adverse
change in business would lead to the idling of many workers. Unions
arose, and, to avoid prosecution, "the workmen combined under the
cloak of Friendly-Societies." ⁵ These unions were formed as a defense
against the aggressions of the rising manufacturing class who were
intent upon eliminating the protection and the customary usages of
the workers.

Brentano emphasized that the objectives of the trade unions as of
the craft gilds "was the maintenance of an entire system of order,"
or of a standard of life which was being undermined by the growing
factory owners. Instead of being a revolutionary mass bent on de-
stroying the system of private property, Brentano emphasized the
conservative aspects of trade unionism in its desire to return to an
earlier time. In this view, the trade union arose as a result of the
breakdown of the customary rights enjoyed by the worker, and it was
an attempt to create a new equilibrium by elaborating a system of
rules to govern industry. The view that the trade unions were
descended from the gilds has been challenged by the Webbs. Never-
theless, the notion that the trade unions arose because of the dis-
turbance of an established custom shows that Brentano well under-
stood one of the essential causes for the origin of trade unionism.
An attempt to change a rule or a rate has frequently led to organiza-
tion. Considering that his essay was written in the 1860's, when

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