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This latter manager is generally commissioned directly
by the central organization or by the diocesan or
provincial representatives of the central organization.
In all business matters the local directors or local
managers employ the services of this district or depart-
mental manager. The larger cities have generally
a manager of their own, who ranks with the manager
of a district or department. There are 15 diocesan
or provincial representatives over the managers of
the departments, through whom all business matters
with the central organization are arranged. The head
of the entire union is the central bureau at MUnchen-
Gladbach, which acts for the board of directors, and
which forms the chief court of appeal for the diocesan
or provincial representatives. Where there are no
such representatives it is the court of appeal for the
managers of the departments or of the larger cities.
All the members of the organization are closely united
in their activity. The representatives of the board
of directors meet several times a year to discuss the
most pressing affairs of the union, while the central
bureau sees to the execution of its decisions. In
addition there is a general meeting of the board of
directors annually during the session of the Catholic
Congress of Germany; the most important questions
are kejit for the decision of this annual meeting.
This annual meeting of the board of directors is sup-
plemented by a meeting, held at the same time, of
delegates of the Volksverein from all parts of Ger-
many. The meetings of managers for the communes,
government departments, and provinces are respon-
sible in their turn for the putting into practical effect
of the new proposals and advice of the higher govern-
ing body.
Formerly the legal domicile of the Volksverein was Mainz; since 1908 it has been Miinchen-Gladbach. There are at the central bureau 3 directors and 15 literary assistants. Since 1905 the legal organ of the union has been the " Volksvereinsverlag, Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung" (People's Union Publish- ing Company, Limited), which employs about .50 salesmen and 70 workmen for the organization, the book-trade, and the printing establishment. The work of the central bureau, which is chiefly literary, is many-sided. The most important questions of the day are treated in the "Sozialkorrespondenz", which is sent without charge every Saturday to about 300 Catholic newspapers, in order to aid the Catholic Press in its struggle against socio-economic heresies and in the promotion of social reforms. By means of the periodical "Der Volksverein", which appears eight times annually, the members of the union are instructed especially concerning the most important apologetic and social-economic questions of the times, and as to the immediate practical problems of the various provincial diets. The central bureau issues explanatory and instructive fly-sheets and appeals in special cases and on suitable occasions; these are cir- culated throughout Germany to the number of many millions. In addition the central bureau publishes series of works on home economics and work for the young. It has three collections of pamphlets, at five Pfennl/je a copy, on social, apologetic, and public questions; the Pfennig papers "Soziale Tagesfragen", "ApologetischeTagesfragen", pamphlets andsix peri- odicals, namely:. since 1901, the "Prasidenskonferenz", for ecclesiastics who are leaders of the union; since 1907, the "Kranz", for girls; since 190S, the "Jung Land", for boys; "Efeuranken", for young people with an advanced education; since 1910, "Frauen- wirtschaft", for the training of women in home and industrial economics; "Soziale Kultur", a popular periodical for the educated, since 1905 combined with the union's " Arbeiterwohl". A further branch of the work of the central bureau is the bureau of social- economic information connected with it, which gives all desired information in reference to suitable
writings on various questions of social economics
and social institutions, on working-men's benevolent
institutions, advice as to practical work in social
economics, refutation of socio-political attacks,
etc.
The same object is kept in view by the sociological library of the union, containing some 35,000 volumes, which can be used without charge by any member. There is also the people's bureaus, thirty of which have been established with the aid of the People's Union; for a very small sum or without charge, these give information in questions as to working-men's insur- ance, rent, taxes, and similar matters, and draw up any necessary legal documents. In addition eco- nomic studies are promoted by the course lasting two months annually, established at the central organ- ization of the union for the training of officials of professional associations, and of associations for the different social classes; the courses, one each, for farmers, mechanics, merchants, clerks, teachers; a general vacation course in sociology for priests and laity, as well as courses lasting several days in the various provinces. To this work must be added the numerous meetings held by the local organizations, some 600 meetings annually, and at election times even more. With each year the People's Union labours with much success in new fields of social- economic work, and thus devotes its efforts equally to all classes of the nation. Its greatest achievement is its success in arousing large sections' of the Catholic population from indifference in regard to the socio- economic questions of the times, in training CathoUcs to social-political work in the field of legislation and to associational independence, and in making the Catholic population a bulwark against the revolu- tionary Social Democracy which is hostile to religion. The Volksverein, therefore, has not only gained the enthusiastic love of the Catholic people, but it has also received the recognition of the national and ecclesias- tical authorities, and has been imitated in other countries.
Handbuch fur die Freunde und Forderer des Volksvereins /flr das katholische DeuUchland (Munchen-Gladbach. 1901); Material fur Reden in Versammtungen des Volksvereins fUr das katholiache DeutBchland (MOnchen-Gladbacli. 1901); Der Volksverein (Mttn- ohen-Gladbacb, 1890), varioua articles in periodicals.
Joseph Lins.
Volta, Alessandro, physicist, b. at Como, 18 Feb., 1745; d. there, 5 March, 1827. As his parents were not in affluent circumstances his educa- tion was looked after by ecclesiastical relatives. At the age of .seventeen he fini.shed his humanities, and at nineteen disclosed the scientific bent of his mind in a correspondence with Abb6 Nollet (q. v.). In 1769 Volta published his first paper, "De vi attrac- tiva ignis electrici", which attracted attention and helped to secure for him his first public appointment, professor of physics in the Liceo of Como (1774), a position which he held until 1779, when he was elected to the chair of natural philosophy in the LTniversity of Pavia. In 1782 he visited the principal seats of learning in France, Holland, (Jermany, and England, and met many of the representative men of the day. The twitching of frogs' legs under electrical stimulus, discovered by Swammerdam in 1658 and re-discovered and described by Galvani in 1786, occasioned a memorable controversy as to the cause of the convulsive movements; after years of dis- cussion the "animal electricity" of (ialvani was superseded by the "contact theory" of Volta.
Volta's work was characterized throughout by forethought; there was no empiricism, nothing due to mere chance. In his endeavour to test his theory, he invented the "condensing electroscope" by which he established the fundamental fact that when two dis- similar conductors, e. g. zinc and copper, are brought together in air and then separated, the zinc is found
