60 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
the workingmen one institution and the hatred of conservative legislation goes over to the church. The wage earning class in cities is a distinct party arrayed in antagonism against the church, the so-called higher classes and the political authorities. At their meetings two policemen sit at the chair- man's table with notebooks to register actionable speeches and armed with authority to disperse the assembly. Hatred of person and policemen is manifested in many ways. Anxiety and alarm are evident in political and ecclesiastical discussions. Church work and imperial legislation have taken account of this condition of tense strain and social hostility. 1
The workingmen share the mental unrest of the age, listen to discourses on Darwinism, detest clerical control, and copy the example of those in high place who live for money and sensual satisfactions. So they have drifted away from the church and are usually indifferent or hostile.
Trades Unions. The workingmen have not waited for help from church, state or patronage. They have formed trades unions, since 1868, under two banners. The non-socialistic unions, led by Hirsch and Duncker have had an irregular course of success and disappointment, and still rally a respectable minority of wage-workers. The socialists, at first under von Schweizer, organized their own unions by trades, the strongest of all. Various mutual benefit organizations have been formed in all parts of the country, and there is a vigorous and vital movement toward self-help supported and officered by working- men.
Cooperation of friends. In organization and literary activity the wage-earners have been assisted by intelligent and sympa- thetic men. The names and services of Schulze-Delitzsch and Raiffeisen are honorably connected with schemes of investment, savings and loans. 2
Government policy. The German government has pursued a sternly repressive policy against socialistic organization. Each
'See ROBERT FLINT, Socialism, p. 86 ff. 9 See Woi FF. People's Banks.
