NOTES AND ABSTRACTS 623
the state can create prosperity by legislation, is the fallacy against which, when it appears in the guise of socialism or populism, protectionist capital fights, but upon which its own theory is in fact built. Stock-jobbing and railroad wrecking naturally arouse a spirit of revolt, and many trusts afford color for the outcry against monopoly. Wealth must justify its existence on rational grounds. Had Bryan's movement been confined to an attack of abuses, instead of assailing national credit, the insurrection might have been purifying. GOLDWIN SMITH, Forum, December 1896. F.
Some Practical Lessons of the Recent Campaign. The need of leadership and the way to secure it is one of the chief lessons. There is need of states- manship instead of declamation in the legislature, which will devise remedies for real evils and explode imaginary ones. Workingmen are in a better position in this coun- try than any other, but what they want is justice, even more than prosperity. The recent victory was given by states in which education is best developed and most widely diffused. Our leading colleges should be strengthened as fortresses against future outbursts of demagogism. An unenlightened democracy is a mere mob. The enlightenment of citizens is the most important of public duties. ANDREW D. WHITE, Forum, December 1896. F.
The Labor Movement and Socialism in the United States. The workman's struggle in the United States is chiefly with " the boss," not against bosses or capi- talists as a class. The movement is little known except for its trades-unions and its strikes. According to the Department of Labor, in the thirteen and a half years from January, 1881, to July, 1894, strikes have affected 75,234 establishments and 4,081,096 workmen. Losses of wages have amounted to $190,493,382, and employers' losses to $94,825,837. Two-thirds of the cost of the industrial war have then been borne by the workmen. Thirty-two per cent, of the strikes succeeded fully, i2 l /4 percent, partly, SS/4 per cent, failed totally. The proportion of successful strikes lessens from year to year. The fault is not with the tenacity of the workman, for the statistics show that the average duration of the strikes was increased. The proportion of fail- ures in large establishments is much greater than in small ones. The trades-unions are nearly powerless because capital has organized, and because of the large number of unemployed. The vast system of railways is in the hands of a half-dozen men. English nobles and syndicates possess immense tracts of land. Two great trusts have lately been formed, one in coal which includes the mines and railways of six rich dis- tricts, the other in the wood trade of the Pacific coast. The Socialist party which held its ninth congress at New York in August has eight official organs in as many lan- guages. There are also seven unofficial dailies, besides several weeklies and one monthly review. There are four other great organizations. They are the Knights of Labor, the Fabian Society, founded by Gronlund, the American Railroad Union, of which Eugene Debs is head, and the People's party, which is largely made up of farmers and farm laborers. There are, therefore, besides the unions, and the Fabian societies for study and benevolence, two great reform parties opposed to the old Dem- ocrats and Republicans, the one, the People's party, is a party of pure agitation unhap- pily without clear views; the other, the Socialist Labor party, is conscious of its latent force and confident of its future. The two should unite. ADKIKN YIT.KR in Revue
.;/.', for October, 1896. Fr.
Human Welfare and the Social Question (Fourth Article). YI1 1. Develop- ment of Ownership. Property was at first in common. In rverv civili/cd country private ownership h.i^ urown up. This indicates that in it lies the impulse to culture. Culture is a perpetual struggle ni between private and general interests.
Development of production is trnmjuil only when dirertinv: powers are stable, vate ownership brought equilibrium and the organization and concentration of power. These gave a community \\<\\ intake over its neighbors. Another cause was ambi- tion and desire for independence. The possessor of the m.-.ui . ion is more ndent than others; complete independence is impossible in society.
' r///>. R< ;> mav l>e
defined as that primitive right to the enjoyment of a thing which forma the basis of
