The following letter did not form part of the series written to Mr.
Dixon; but is perhaps worth reprinting. I have not the date of the
number of the _Gazette_ in which it appeared, but it was during the
tailors' strike in London.
"TO THE EDITOR OF THE _Pall Mall Gazette_.
"Sir,--
"In your yesterday's article on strikes you have very neatly and
tersely expressed the primal fallacy of modern political economy--to
wit, that 'the value of any piece of labor cannot be defined'--and
that 'all that can be ascertained is simply whether any man can be got
to do it for a certain sum.' Now, sir, the 'value' of any piece of
labor, that is to say, the quantity of food and air which will enable
a man to perform it without losing actually any of his flesh or his
nervous energy, is as absolutely fixed a quantity as the weight of
powder necessary to carry a given ball a given distance. And within
limits varying by exceedingly minor and unimportant circumstances, it
is an ascertainable quantity. I told the public this five years
ago--and under pardon of your politico-economical contributors--it is
not a 'sentimental,' but a chemical fact.
"Let any half-dozen of recognized London physicians state in precise
terms the quantity and kind of food, and space of lodging, they
consider approximately necessary for the healthy life of a laborer in
any given manufacture, and the number of hours he may, without
shortening his life, work at such business daily, if so sustained.
"And let all masters be bound to give their men a choice between an
order for that quantity of food and lodging, or such wages as the
market may offer for that number of hours' work.
"Proper laws for the maintenance of families would require further
concession--but, in the outset, let but _this_ law of wages be
established, and if then we have any more strikes you may denounce
them without one word of remonstrance either from sense or
sensibility.
"I am, Sir,
"Your obedient servant,
"JOHN RUSKIN."