The first Trade Union is heard of in 1824. It was formed immediately on the passage of the combination laws, and the men struck for a rise at Martinmas 1825. The men were utterly beaten and their union destroyed. Little capital was required to start a pot-factory in those days, and the strikers tried to employ themselves in an early example of a co-operative factory. They were however before their time and the experiment only hastened their defeat.[180] The best days for the Trade Unions came in 1833, when Robert Owen, the socialist, visited the Potteries and brought them all the enthusiasm of a great cause. A new union was founded, and was welcomed by many of the best employers as a lever to raise prices as well as wages. Chas. J. Mason, who was then supplying the world with his “ironstone” china, formed a Masters’ Association to work with the men’s union; and wages were raised. The dissentient masters refused to grant the rise, and a four months’ strike began at Martinmas 1834, and ended in a victory for the men.[181] During the years 1833-5 wages are said to have increased by 25 per cent.[182] But in March 1836 the masters united in a Pottery Chamber of Commerce and preparations were made for war. Before however an account is given of what is still known as “the great strike,” the two customs of the trade must be described, against which, then and for years thereafter, the men struggled in vain. By the “Annual Hiring” Agreement men were engaged only at Martinmas (Nov. 11). They were bound to serve all the following year to make ware at fixed prices, and if they broke their agreement they could be, and were, imprisoned. It was entirely a one-sided bargain. An employer could keep a man tied to a situation which gave him but one day’s work a week, yet if the man left he might be prosecuted. Even if not prosecuted, nobody could engage him without a written discharge. The system was similar to the Native Pass Laws of South Africa. The greatest number of male workers were flat or hollow-ware pressers and throwers. These men were paid by piece, and only for those pieces which were good. By a strange trade custom, however, they were not paid for those pieces which left their hands in good condition, but only for those that ultimately came good from the oven. In other words, they suffered for other people’s breakages and carelessness. The men could get no proof that the ware was bad at all. They had no appeal. Some masters were even said to refuse to pay for what they themselves afterwards sold as “seconds.”