While these features harked back to the past, the economic functions of the _compagnonnages_ anticipated and really were a primitive form of the later syndicat. The _compagnonnages_ offered effective protection to the _compagnons_ in hard stresses of life as well as in their difficulties with their masters. "The 'devoir' of the compagnons" (read the statutes of one of these societies) "is a fraternal alliance which unites us all by the sacred ties of friendship, the foundations of which are: virtue, frankness, honesty, love of labor, courage, assistance and fidelity."[16] These abstract terms translated themselves in life into concrete deeds of mutual aid and of assistance which were immensely valuable to the traveling _compagnons_. A traveling _compagnon_, on arriving at a city or town, would only have to make himself "recognized" and his fellow-compagnons would take care of him. He would be given lodging and food. Employment would be found for him. If sick or in distress, he would receive aid. If he wished to leave the town to continue his _tour de France_, he would be assisted and would be accompanied some distance on the road. [16] Maxime Leroy, _Syndicats et Services Publics_ (Paris, 1909), p. 12. With their simple organization, the _compagnons_ were able to exert a strong economic influence. They served as bureaus of employment. One _compagnon_, elected _rouleur_, was charged with the duty of finding employment for _compagnons_ and "aspirants". He kept a list of those in need of work and placed them in the order of their inscription. Usually the masters themselves addressed the _rouleurs_ for workingmen, when in need of any. This fact gave the _compagnonnages_ a control over the supply of labor. They could withhold labor from a master who did not comply with their demands. They could direct their members into other towns of the _Tour_ if necessary, as everywhere the _compagnons_ would find friends and protection. They could, therefore, organize strikes and boycott a master or workshop for long periods of time. In fact, by these methods the _compagnonnages_ struggled for higher wages and better conditions of employment as far back as the sixteenth century. During the Great Revolution the _compagnonnages_ existed in twenty-seven trades and directed the strike-movement described above. They attained the height of their development during the first quarter of the nineteenth century when they were the only effective workingmen's organizations exerting an influence in the economic struggles of the time.