the skelps to the length of the musket barrel, was performed in a similar manner, but at a lower temperature.  The workmen who had combined were, of course, no longer wanted, and instead of benefiting themselves by their combination, they were reduced permanently, by this improvement in the art, to a considerably lower rate of wages:  for as the process of welding gun barrels by hand required peculiar skill and considerable experience, they had hitherto been in the habit of earning much higher wages than other workmen of their class.  On the other hand, the new method of welding was far less injurious to the texture of the iron, which was now exposed only once, instead of three or four times, to the welding heat, so that the public derived advantage from the superiority, as well as from the economy of the process.  Another process has subsequently been invented, applicable to the manufacture of a lighter kind of iron tubes, which can thus be made at a price which renders their employment very general.  They are now to be found in the shops of all our larger ironmongers, of various lengths and diameters, with screws cut at each end; and are in constant use for the conveyance of gas for lighting, or of water for warming, our houses. 364.  Similar examples must have presented themselves to all those who are familiar with the details of our manufactories, but these are sufficient to illustrate one of the results of combinations.  It would not, however, be fair to push the conclusion deduced from these instances to its extreme limit.  Although it is very apparent, that in the two cases which have been stated, the effects of combination were permanently injurious to the workman, by almost immediately placing him in a lower class (with respect to his wages) than he occupied before; yet they do not prove that all such combinations have this effect.  It is quite evident that they have all this tendency, it is also certain that considerable stimulus must be applied to induce a man to contrive a new and expensive process; and that in both these cases, unless the fear of pecuniary loss had acted powerfully, the improvement would not have been made.  If, therefore, the workmen had in either case combined for only a small advance of wages, they would, in all probability, have been successful, and the public would have been deprived, for many years, of the inventions to which these combinations gave rise.  It must, however, be observed, that the same skill which enabled the men to obtain, after long practice, higher wages than the rest of their class, would prevent many of them from being permanently thrown back into the class of ordinary workmen.  Their diminished wages will continue only until they have acquired, by practice, a facility of execution in some other of the more difficult operations:  but a diminution of wages, even for a year or two, is still a very serious inconvenience to any person who lives by his daily exertion.  The consequence of combination has then, in these instances, been, to the workmen who combined—­reduction of wages; to the public — reduction of price; and to the manufacturer increased sale of his commodity, resulting from that reduction.