Either he reaches out directly to the ultimate
consumer by means of chains of stores or other devices, or else, he
makes use of his control over patents and trade marks and thus succeeds
in reducing the wholesale-jobber to a position which more nearly
resembles that of an agent working on a commission basis than that of
the _quondam_ industrial ruler. The immediate outcome is, of course, a
considerable increase in the manufacturer's margin of profit. The
industrial class struggle begins to abate in intensity. The employer,
now comparatively free of anxiety that he may be forced to operate at a
loss, is able to diminish pressure on wages. But more than this: the
greater certainty about the future, now that he is a free agent, enables
him to enter into time agreements with a trade union. At first he is
generally disinclined to forego any share of his newly acquired freedom
by tying himself up with a union. But if the union is strong and can
offer battle, then he accepts the situation and "recognizes" it. Thus
the class struggle instead of becoming sharper and sharper with the
advance of capitalism and leading, as Marx predicted, to a social
revolution, in reality, grows less and less revolutionary and leads to a
compromise or succession of compromises,--namely, collective trade
agreements.
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