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VOL. IV. NO. 12.

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THE

W. T. STEAD.

Review of Reviews, London and New York, January. HE Czar has no love for France or the French Republic. He distrusts the Republic on account of its republicanism and the support which the republican Left has frequently given to Poles, Nihilists, and other enemies of his dynasty. He distrusts it still more because of the constant change of ministry. When, however, the French became more settled, when General Boulanger was effaced, and when the fall of Bismarck gave some prospect of tranquillity to Germany, the Czar deemed it possible to consolidate the peace of Europe by putting France under bond to keep the peace.

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If Russia and France have made friends publicly, it is in order that the Czar may have an inside veto upon all French designs of war. The Cronstadt rapprochement was sanctioned by him as strengthening his control over French policy, in order, in short, to render it impossible for France to go to war for the lost provinces, and at the same time to render it impossible for Germany to menace France with extinction. When the French Ambassador at St. Petersburg, last year, suggested that the incident of the Empress Frederick's visit might be utilized as an occasion for war against Germany, he went away with a flea in his ear. The Czar takes seriously his role of peace-keeper.

Notwithstanding the policy which England has pursued both in Central Asia and in Bulgaria, the Czar has not lost faith in the possibility of coming to terms with England. Open hostility, frank and resolute opposition, he can understand; but trickiness, bad faith, and falsehood—with these he has no patience. Let him once be convinced that England's word is false, and that she is capable of accepting, let us say, the ideal of the Cyprus Convention and living up to it, and he will sorrowfully but resolutely turn his back upon the hope of an English entente. When this has taken place, nothing can bring him back. Once wilfully deceived, he is done with the deceiver once for all. No considerations can induce him to palliate a lie or to condone a fraud. Whatever we have to do with this man, it will be well to deal with him straightforwardly, speaking the truth and acting honestly and above-board, as he will certainly deal with Otherwise we shall make shipwreck of everything. But the Emperor is too familiar with the trouble caused to central governments by the license of distant subordinates to cherish any ill will against England for the scurvy part we played in attempting to steal a march upon Russia, by thrusting the Afghans forward to Penj-deh. At St. Petersburg, there is only one opinion, which the Emperor shares-that our commissioners wished to bring about war. Believing that war was being forced upon him, the Czar made ready for it, but was greatly pleased when the difficulty was arranged and the frontier delimited. How Mr. Gladestone, of all men, could have forced him so near to a collision, is one of those mysteries which are beyond the Russian mind.

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As to Bulgaria, the Emperor's breach with Prince Alexander was due to two causes, either of which was fatal. He is convinced that the Battenberg lied to him, with set purpose to deceive. The Prince had already excited prejudice by putting Nihilists in office, and when he was caught in a lie the Emperor would have no more to do with him.

Apart, however, from this revolt at the duplicity of the Prince, the Emperor felt that his conduct in condoning the revolution of Philippopolis, which united Eastern Roumelia and Bulgaria, touched his honor. There is something almost Quixotic in the Emperor's sentiment of honor. He wished, like every Russian, to see Eastern Roumelia united to the Principality; but he had undertaken that there should be no alteration in the status quo in the Balkans. Suddenly the status quo is revolutionized in the direction of his wishes, and the revolution is approved by the Prince whom Russia placed on the throne. Instantly in Vienna and Pesth voices were heard accusing the Emperor of bad faith, of connivance in the insurrectionary movement. These accusations fell on the Emperor like a sword-cut. Prince Alexander's conduct in accepting the union of the Bulgarians gave color to the doubt cast upon his word, and the suspicions of his good faith to his neighbors. That was decisive, and to wipe off this reproach, the Emperor painfully set himself to oppose the very political consummation which he most desired, and broke irrevocably with the Prince whose conduct had exposed him to suspicion.

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the majority will be large enough to enable the new Government to have a foreign policy of its own, and to do anything regarding our relations with Continental Powers except live from hand to mouth. But hand-to-mouth treatment will not long suffice to meet the dangers of the Egyptian and Newfoundland cases; nor to cope with the existing total want of protection for British subjects in Madagascar. There is also extreme probability of renewal of the war between France and Madagascar, for which Lord Salisbury will be in part responsible, and which will awaken the interest of all the British Mission Churches, and of all friends of humanity.

Though harm has been done by Conservative delay, it is not too late, on the one hand, to keep our word about Egypt, and on the other hand, to act justly towards our Newfoundland colonists, even though this means acting firmly towards France. These two questions may be brought together in our negotiations, but to include Madagascar will be difficult, so completely has Lord Salisbury gone out of his way to jeopardize British interest in Madagascar, and to surrender those liberties of the Hova nation which were not ours to give up. Even if it is too late for us as a country to say a word for Mada

could; they helped her to renew the Triple Alliance, by inducing sanguine Italians to believe that the British fleet will protect them against France, though, as a fact, we all know that the House of Commons will not allow a British fleet to do anything of the kind. Our Government has also given to Germany, as far as they could, a vast tract in Africa, in which British subjects have traded and Britons preached the Gospel, but in most of which no German had ever been. They have given Heligoland, which they might have sold dear, and which, if Mr. Gladstone had given, they would have destroyed him for giving. Her Majesty's Government nominally obtained in return a protectorate of Zanzibar—that is, of the little island of Zanzibar. But they might previously have had, save for an old promise to France, the protectorate of all Zanzibar-the island and the coast, and the reversion of the whole after the late Sultan's death. Virtually they had it. In consequence of this same old promise, they gave to France a free hand in Madagascar. What have we gained? In Africa our share is less than it was thought to be before we came to a division; less than our trade and travel and right of discovery justify. The Egyptian occupation-the jealousy of France at our virtual violation of our promises-the need for German countenance, must be the secret, as they are the only possible, explanations.

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land, the Congregationalist, the Society of Friends-and those bodies, when they act together, are powerful, not only in England, but in the United States. The American Consul for Madagascar transacts affairs with the Malagasy native Government, and it is to be presumed, therefore, that his Government shrinks from following Lord Salisbury's recognition of French rights. It is possible that the Americans may speak for the Malagasy people and inaugurate in their case that policy of protecting by moral influence the Protestant people throughout the world which is likely to be theirs in future.

Lord Rosebery, who must undoubtedly again be the Secretary of State for the Foreign Department, will naturally try to avoid the Madagascar question. What, in other matters, will he be able to effect? A very cautious man, he will disturb and undo as little as possible. He will have a free hand from his colleagues, and a free hand at first from the House of Commons (if the Liberal majority is large), except as to Egypt, and even as to Egypt, subject to the obvious necessity of entering upon negotiations. He has the advantage of a keen sympathy with colonial feeling, and may be trusted to do what is possible towards settling the Newfoundland question in consonance with colonial rights.

Has Lord Salisbury erred as regards foreign affairs, and if so, in what respects? Mr. Gladstone has been so delighted with Lord Salisbury's abandonment of the jingo policy that he has praised his conduct of foreign affairs, and in this way procured for the Conservatives an almost complete immunity from Parliamentary attack except on Irish questions. We have had no pro-Turkish demonstrations; no small wars, except that very big "small war in Burmah which has made a heavy drain on the finances of India, for which we are morally more responsible than for our own finance.

It has been left to Lord H. Bruce and Mr. Beckett, alone among the Conservative members of Parliament, to protest against the Heligoland-Zanzibar Convention. It is odd and exceptional, and it is also probably a temporary phenomenon, that the mass of the Liberal party actually support Lord Salisbury's foreign and colonial policy.

What, then, have the Tories done with the free hand that has been given them? Above all, they have "made up to " Germany, and this apparently for no definite object and with no definite result. They have given to Germany, as far as they

THE ENGLISH IN BURMAH.
JOSEPH CHAIlley-Bert.

Revue des Deux Mondes, Paris, January 1. EUROPEAN Power proposes to found a colony. It covets, for example, one of those old Asiatic monarchies which a decrepit civilization, more of a danger than & safeguard, is hurrying to ruin. The European Power, therefore, organizes an expedition which disembarks in the coveted land. Soon the regular troops of the latter are dispersed, and the victors overthrow the Government and take the reins of power. The discontented and ambitious support the newcomers,and the timid and discouraged bow before them. There is no further resistance save by some heroic characters, or those braggarts who make a trade of patriotism. Then the authorities issue a proclamation of pacification and conciliation; they guarantee security of person and property, respect for religious faiths, the maintenance of laws and customs; they promise a régime of justice and prosperity. Forthwith steps are taken to fulfill the promises made; for the promises were made in good faith, and, moreover, it is to the interest of those in power to keep their promises religiously. Then it is perceived, for the first time, how difficult is the task undertaken. In order to reduce a nation, it is not enough to have subdued it by force of arms; you must besides seduce it or at least tame it. Between nations of the same race or the same civilization, it is not impossible to succeed in the enterprise; by dint of intuition and application, the desired end is reached, sometimes quickly. The French, in our century, have accomplished such a thing in Westphalia, for example, and especially in Illyria. Between nations which differ in race and civilization, however, nothing is more difficult. Good will and clever artifices do not suffice. The European is too far from the Asiatic to divine what the latter wishes or will even tolerate. Without knowing it and in spite of himself, the European employs the experimental method. The dispositions which he thinks to be final are but experiments and gropings in the dark, and it is only successive checks which lead him slowly in the right way. So many obstacles, which he did not suspect and of which the vanquished had no knowledge, have singularly retarded the march of the conqueror. He asks for delay for a time. This time is always found too short and the general impatience makes it still shorter. Hopes are excited and cupidity aroused, while old grudges and hatreds awaken. Some day the governors are summoned to keep their word. If they fail-and the chances are that they will fail-all excuses are in vain. The judgment passed on these governors is that they are lacking

either in good faith or in tne power to keep their promises. ́ In either case they are contemptible. The triumphs and the generosity of previous days are no longer taken into account. This old and strong civilization, vanquished with so much ease, but understood and kept in subjection with so much diffiulty, reasserts itself and stands apart from the authorities. They were almost within reach of success; now, to touch it, they will require twenty, thirty, forty years of force discreetly used and of untiring benevolence.

Such is the exact picture of all the European enterprises undertaken against the old empires of Asia and Oceanica. All the same, when enlightened and sagacious Europeans have for many years maintained constant relations with populations so varied; when they have learned how to accumulate and transmit from hand to hand the treasure of experience, they become able, by means of unwearied attention, to eliminate some problems which are sure to arise, and when they assume government over a new people, they find their task simplified. Doubtless they do not know immediately what course to adopt and what dispositions to make; at least, they know what method to follow in order to gain instruction rapidly. They do not escape errors; but those which they commit are less frequent, less grave, and sooner recognized. This is the case with the English in Burmah, and the success they have obtained there is due to the fact that in India during the last hundred years, or in Indo-China during the last fifty, they have learned how to manage populations, and are in this way preserved from most of the faults of 1824 and 1852.

Any State which wishes to undertake enterprises of this sort in Asia or elsewhere should study deeply the methods of the English. Such a study will teach that in order to govern well a population of altogether alien ideas and customs, it is necessary to have good laws and good functionaries. To make such a population prosperous, you must assure it, besides security, a good economic régime.

Yet, in addition to these requirements, there must be good common sense, which is much rarer than knowledge. Men and governments in general are not so ignorant and shortsighted as they seem. Nearly all of them know how to discern what is just and useful; but instead of following the just and useful road inflexibly, they fancy now and then that the interest of themselves or those whom they govern will be subserved by a deviation from the right road. They deviate, and gather the inevitable fruits of such deviation.

Now,

Nothing could show better the process of the English government than the legislative work accomplished in Burmah. This work can be expressed in a single word, acclimatization. The process consisted in acclimatizing in Lower Burmah the laws of India, then in making preparations in Upper Burmah for the acclimatization of the laws of Lower Burmah. the laws of India would do honor to any community in the world. Such is the opinion of Sir Henry Sumner Maine, who is thoroughly acquainted with those laws, and of Sir John Strachey, who has written the best work on India which has appeared up to the present time. The criminal laws of India, especially, are a marvel of wisdom.

To administer these excellent laws in Burmah, the English appoint, for by far the most part, excellent functionaries, experienced men, who have been acclimated in India, who bring to their posts good sense, patience, a profound acquaintance with the Oriental nature, and of unimpeachable integrity. It is not easy to get such officials for Burmah, for tried men belonging to the English civil service in India have a right to choose to what part of India they will go, and they are, as a rule, indisposed to go to Burmah, by reason of the insalubrity of its climate, its distance from the central government, and the small number of Europeans there, which makes life in that country less agreeable. Nevertheless, the English government does manage, by tempting offers, to get a good many admirable administrators in Burmah, although,

unfortunately, the climate makes necessary frequent changes. The number of administrators, moreover, is suprisingly small. Lord Dufferin thought, in February, 1886, that Upper Burmah could be governed by a staff, exclusive of police, of twentyfour persons. That number proved quite insufficient; for now upwards of sixty persons are required and more will have to be added. Even so, we cannot help wondering that the business can be done with so few functionaries; and the fact shows what an approach to perfection English government in Asiatic countries has made.

THE

MR.. GOSCHEN'S MISSION.

A. EGMONT HAKE.

National Review, London, January.

politicians of our day seem to have agreed on ignoring the troublesome, but all-important. Bank question. Although few would deny its importance, with its manifold bearing on the supply of capital, credit, and coin; on the state of trade; on the rate of wages; on the safety of our fortunes; on the outlook in the city; on our supremacy in the world's finance; almost all hesitate to tackle it.

Mr. Goschen is not one of those who shut their eyes to the danger of the present situation, but as Chancellor of the Exchequer, and as a practical banker, he takes only a financier's view of the Bank question, and leaves the economic aspect untouched. The consequence is that the proposals which Mr. Goschen has put forth take the shape of unimportant amendments of the Bank Act rather than of a reasoned reform calculated to meet actual needs. As far as we can understand from his speeches, he has been impressed by only one of the dangers of our present banking legislation—namely, the alarmingly small proportion in which the metallic reserve stands to the ever-growing superstructure of credit. His approval of the rest he bases on the result of nearly fifty years' working of our present system. We have had a Bank Act, and we have had some progress; consequently, the Bank Act must be the cause of the progress.

As a matter of fact, the most that can be said in its favor is that it is so very useful when it is suspended. If, in later times, we have escaped actual panics, it is because the Directors of the Bank of England have ruthlessly carried out the principle of raising the discount each time the metallic reserve has become low. The evil effect of the mad system of regulating the price of the hire of capital over all the country, not to say over all the Empire, on the metallic reserve of one bank is something portentous. When we consider that this same Bank Act prohibits the expansion of mediums of exchange other than of coin and that the variations of the rates of exchange, absolutely and necessarily prevent us from increasing the circulating coin by importation, it is evident that every increase in our prosperity, every spurt in our industry creates an extra demand for mediums of exchange which can only be met by gold from the Bank of England. When the gold begins to flow out of the Bank into the channels of trade and industry, the Bank directors' duty is to nip the coming prosperity in the bud, by raising the Bank rate to the requisite pitch, so that the gold comes back from the producers and the working classes of the country. For nearly twenty years we have seen this operation frequently repeated until we have found our level in chronic depression and dull stagnation. The folly of allowing the people no mediums of exchange suitable for wages other than coin, which is at the same time the value measurer and raises the cost of production in exact proportion to the increase of its presence in the market, is only matched by the maintenance of a system which makes fair wages an impossibility, and at the same time places political power in the hands of the discontented wage classes.

The remedies proposed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer leave us in the old rule of thumb regulations, and cause us to build on foundations which are economically unsound and irrele

vant to first principles. His proposals for increasing the reserve fall under two heads: First, he proposes to issue one-pound notes, withdrawing an equivalent amount of gold from circulation and keeping it to be used only in grave emergencies; secondly, he proposes to allow the Bank of England, in case of need, to issue extra quantities of fiduciary notes, on condition that the bank rate should be raised considerably for each batch of ten million notes issued. All this is perfect feasible, but in a gold panic the new scheme would present no advantage over the old method-the suspension of the Bank Act. Besides, it is doubtful if the Bank directors would incur the responsibility of issuing ten millions upon ten millions of notes.

Let us hope that Mr. Goschen may see his way to break with this pernicious tradition. I will now show how this could be done.

Legal-tender notes should be issued by the Government itself, using them in all its disbursements, including interest on the National Debt. By receiving taxes in both gold and notes, and paying in notes only, the coin circulation would be, to a large extent, replaced by notes which, being backed by the whole credit power and wealth of the Empire, would never be discredited as long as Government redeemed them on demand. These legal-tender notes, besides supplying an inexhaustible reserve for the trade and the country in case of panics, would prove a considerable source of income to the State.

With the view of meeting panics the Government should be further prepared to purchase Consols for legal-tender notes, an arrangement which would at one stroke increase the reserve to the extent of the full amount of the National Debt. As the notes would pay no interest, while the Consols do, no one would offer the Consols for sale against notes, unless there was a pressing demand for mediums of exchange; the system would consequently work automatically.

If this system were adopted the power of the Bank Act to produce panics would be paralyzed. It is the knowledge that the reserve of legal tenders is small, that is the most prolific cause of panics. With such a reserve as is here proposed panics would be scarce. A mere bank crisis would not necessitate any suspension of specie payment, and even if the issuing office were compelled to suspend specie payment very little harm would be done. The Government could in a short time obtain all the gold it required.

If the Chancellor of the Exchequer would study Bank Reform as an economist, rather than as a financier, he would find a mission awaiting him of momentous importance to our country and our race.

SOCIOLOGICAL.

ETHICAL ASPECTS OF THE PAPAL ENCYCLICAL. BROTHER AZARIA'S.

International Journal of Ethics, Philadelphia, January.

II.

HESE rights of the workingmen determine the relations of

1 on

the employed and certain duties and responsibilities on the part of the employer. The underlying principle determining these relations the principle on the lines of which the whole Encyclical is planned-is this: That the workingman gives not only the skill and industry of his hands, for which he receives wages, but he gives a definite portion of his life as well, for which there is no stipulated compensation. And yet this strain upon life is an essential factor, without which there can be no proper adjustment of the relations of labor and capital. Upon the employer rests the responsibility of compensating for the lifestrain in the only way in which it can be done—namely, by taking cognizance of the family and imparting to the home the proper degree of comfort.

1. The employer, therefore, in the interests of society, is

bound to so compensate the wage-earner as to enable him to bring up his family in comfort and decency. Here State interference is at times permissible, and even at times urgent as an act of self-preservation. A father rears children, not for himself, but for the social body. Let wages vary as they may, it is no less important that there be a minimum beyond which the price of labor should not sink. And though the State cannot determine what that minimum should be, the State can see to it that in all arbitrations between workingmen and employers the weaker is protected against the unjust encroachments upon his rights by the stronger.

2. The workman has a spiritual life to be sustained, a spiritual sense to be cultivated, vices to be eradicated, virtues to be fostered, evil inclinations to be overcome, a God to worship, and religious duties to practice. In pleading for the Sunday's rest the Holy Father is also pleading for the prolongation of life as well as the strengthening of soul and consequent development of character.

3. There is a limit to the workman's power of endurance, He should not any day exhaust more of his muscle, or brain, or bodily strength than the night's rest and the daily food he takes are capable of restoring. There can be no cast-iron rule determining the number of hours for work. The number that might be too exhausting for one kind of labor would scarcely suffice for another. Some trades and occupations might, in justice, call for an eight-hour law, while with others that measure of time would be inadequate for a day's work. The fact that man has so many other claims than the supplying of his purely physical wants gives motive and meaning to the clamor for shorter hours and higher wages that goes forth from every quarter of the globe.

4. But if this progressive tendency which the workingman feels is to become a reality there must be coöperation on the part of his employers. It is a situation that capitalists dare shirk only at the risk of their very existence as capitalists.

Discussing the means by which to ameliorate the condition of the workingman, the Pope, acting in accord with the uniform policy of the Church, is far from proposing any radical measures that would tend to revolutionize society, or for which this age is not prepared. In the future other ideas may prevail, other social conditions may exist, other grievances may be rampant, and these things may call for other kinds of remedies. Should such conditions exist, the Church will be prepared to meet them. The Holy Father takes the existing state of things as it is, and shows how that state may be bettered to the advantage of both rich and poor.

1. First, and above all other means, the Holy Father places the religious influence of the Church. The Encyclical encour ages the exercise of charity toward the poor, and discriminates in favor of true Christian charity as against organized State aid.

2. But the Holy Father, in his desire to make the world better, also recognizes the necessity of employing the human agencies. He next proposes that the State step in and protect the interests of the laboring classes against any condition of things by which life, health, or morals are imperiled. The cautiousness with which the Holy Father limits and hedges in State interference is noteworthy. Personal rights are not to be infringed. Men are to retain liberty of action. On the other hand, the trades unions and the labor associations can aid the State considerably by advising the kind of legislation required as regards the manifold relations of capital and labor. Heretofore the rich man has been the sole legislator, and, as a rule, he has legislated in his own behalf.

3. Another remedy which the Holy Father suggests is organizing into associations. ing into associations. But His Holiness distinguishes between associations that are bound by secret oaths and led by invisible leaders, and associations that are based upon Christian principles, accompanied by Christian practices, and as solicitous for the well-being of the soul as for the well-being of the body.

Having laid the foundation of all organization in religion, the Holy Father next counsels the organization of Catholic societies for the benefit and protection of the Catholic workingmen. These counsels of the Holy Father may be called Socialism. Be the name what it may, certain it is that His Holiness is commending only the legitimate use of a natural right. The workmen's associations can become a great power for evil as well as for good. Organized labor is the only means of protection of the poor against the organized capital of the rich. It gives the inferior workman a chance to live. Looking the matter full in the face we are forced to admit that it involves many issues that are contradictory. Organized labor, for instance, destroys competition, and in destroying competition it depreciates the value of skilled labor. Again, organized labor coerces, and anything like coercion easily becomes injustice. Thus does a delicate system of action and interaction run through the principles of combination. It is a system that calls for forethought and moderation. It is not in itself a complete remedy for the evils under which the workingman suffers, nor is it a solution of all the issues of industrialism. This is why the Holy Father, in asserting the new methods of reform and social regeneration, does not lose sight of the old methods by which communities have grown and strengthened in the ways of civilization.

4. While recognizing the fact that, under the present strained relations between organized capital and organized labor, strikes must needs occur, the Holy Father does not counsel them. Instead of strikes the Holy Father would substitute arbitration and coöperation. He would have amicable settlement, conducted in a Christian spirit. He would have every association self-supporting, self-protecting, and promotive of the general good.

Greed for gain may be modified and injustice may be diminished, but while human nature remains human nature neither greed nor injustice can be wholly crushed out. Only the associations organized on principles of equity and Christian charity will be of lasting benefit to the workman. Such are the associations recommended and encouraged in the Encyclical.

STRIKES AND ASSOCIATIONS OF WORKMEN.

W

HECTOR Depasse.

La Nouvelle Revue, Paris, January 1.

HEN the Belgian Workingmen's Party lately threatened to declare a general strike unless Parliament recognized the right of universal suffrage, it was said on all sides that this was a great novelty, and that never before had been seen a demand for constitutional and political changes supported by a strike.

The fact is, however, that such a thing is very old in the history of the world. The general strikes at Rome, towards the end of the fourth century before our era, had a social, military, and political object. The democratic republic of the Romans was founded by strikes.

In France, from an early period, were formed associations of workingmen of each trade, which finally became powerful, close corporations. The chief object of the leaders of these, in time, was to limit the number of workmen and of masters, in order to prevent a reduction of wages or overproduction. The right to work became hereditary. Sons got a right to practice the trade of their fathers, simply by being born. All others found it very difficult to obtain a chance to learn or practice any trade. Of course, this sort of thing aroused violent opposition. Strikes were made, but they were crushed. At last, Turgot, by an edict in 1776, and the Constituent Assembly, fifteen years after, abolished these monopolies. It was forbidden to form Trade Associations of any kind, and labor became free.

Notwithstanding, associations were formed. They could not be prevented, for they result from the nature of things in

All

this world. In truth, unassociated labor does not exist. animals who work associate themselves together. The law of 1791 was never put into execution strictly. The discoveries of science, steam and electricity, the passion for rapid communications, called into existence associations on all sides. Capital multiplied itself, immense manufactories were built. The concentration of capital brought about the concentration of workmen. Two worlds have been formed, which seek their equilibrium in vain, and which are styled: Labor and Capital. When these associations of workmen became formidable, the masters invoked against them the aid of the law of 1791, which forbade Trade Associations. Thereupon was passed, in 1884, the Waldeck-Rousseau law, which gave the workmen the right of association, which their masters had long exercised in contravention of the law of 1791. The workmen made haste to avail themselves of the privileges granted them. Associations of workmen sprang up at Marseilles, Lyons, Lille, Bordeaux, Havre, Rouen, Paris. It is chimerical to think that these associations can be done away with by annulling the law, because the law, as always, is the outcome of imperative needs and

customs.

Invariably customs advance faster and further than the law, and it is the latter which is behindhand. The legislator who wished to regulate the creation of associations of workmen or masters, of the same trade or of allied trades, did not dream for a moment of creating associations of those employed by the great companies of transportation, like the railways and tramways, or associations of those employed by towns and by the Government. Such unions were not in the view of the law. They were formed all the same, and one of them, with the aid of Paris and the Government, won a memorable victory not long since. The drivers of the omnibuses, after their strike, climbed up to their seats triumphantly, with ribbons in their hats. This social phenomenon is one of the most important of our age. The associations of those employed by towns and governments have broached the question of a strike at various points, and it is difficult to say how far the movement will go. All descriptions of work people, however humble be the nature of their work, now want to have their charter and constitutional guarantees.

Between the associations of workmen and those of their masters, a contest has begun, and hardly a day passes in which a struggle does not break out, either in Paris or the provinces. It is, unfortunately, too certain that workmen have hardly ever obtained an improvement in their lot, save by a strike, as Mr. Gladstone did not hesitate to declare publicly, when he was Prime Minister. The statistics of strikes show that hardly a third of them have ended with results immediately favorable to the workmen. In a general view, however, it is evident that progress among the working classes has been accomplished in our time by strikes, and that the increase in salaries, the diminution of hours of work, and the search for new material and moral guarantees for workmen are in direct ratio with the agitation which has prevailed in the spheres of labor during the last twenty-five years.

Very probably we are at the beginning only of a period of economic and social struggles, which will be the life and honor of the twentieth century and which will bring in a new industrial order and new institutions that will be very interesting and very fertile in results, and of which we begin to make out the lineaments. These struggles may be struggles of influence, of publicity, of opinion, of elections; and of elections which will not present the political character which they possess to-day. They can be fertile in good results and yet not beand such is my hope-struggles of brutality and violence. Workmen, without property, without capital, without land, without tools, whom nothing fixes and attaches to assured employment, demand guarantees. They are seeking for the possible elements of the charter of work and they begin to observe some indications of it. The economic situation has

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