GUNTON'S
MAGAZINE
GEORGE GUNTON, EDITOR
VOLUME XX.
JANUARY JUNE
1901
NEW YORK
THE GUNTON COMPANY
41 UNION SQUARE
INDEX
Australian Commonwealth, The,
William Francis Schey 19
Billion- Dollar Corporation, The, The Editor ... 421
BOOK REVIEWS :
ADAMS, BROOKS ; America's Economic Supremacy 185
BRADFORD, AMORY H. ; The Age of Faith 472
BROWN, ALEXANDER; English Politics in Early Virginia
History 573
BULLOCK, CHARLES J. ; Monetary History of the United States 92
CONANT, CHARLES A. ; The United States in the Orient . . , 469
FERGUSON, CHARLES; The Religion of Democracy 476
HOBSON, JOHN A.; The Economics of Distribution ?79
JONES, EDWARD D. ; Economic Crises 183
JUDSON, FREDERICK; The Law and Practice of Taxation in
Missouri 91
KIMBALL, LILLIAN G. ; The English Sentence 92
MACPHERSON, HECTOR; Spencer and Spencerism 180
McVEY, FRANK L. ; The Government of Minnesota 474
MACY, JESSE; Political Parties in the United States 89
OPDYKE, GEORGE HOWARD; The World's Best Proverbs and
Short Quotations 93
PUTNAM, DANIEL; A Text-Book of Psychology 574
RED WAY, JACQUES W. ; Elementary Physical Geography.. . 283
RUEMELIN, GUSTAV ; Politics and the Moral Law 571
THURSTON, HENRY W. ; Economics and Industrial History for
Secondary Schools 378
WILLEY, FREEMAN OTIS ; Education, State Socialism and the
Trust 187
WOOD, HENRY; The Political Economy of Humanism ... 568
Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, The,
D. L. Cease 235
Chinese Civilization, Archer B. Hulbert 127
INDEX
Civic AND EDUCATIONAL NOTES:
Carnegie gifts, Psychological value of 555
Chautauqua work, Extension of 554
Crime, A continuous 267
Education and menial labor 3^9
Education in our new possessions. 1 69
English tongue, Save the . . . j6
Filipinos, Educating the 75
German industrial education 74
Oilman, Dr., and Johns Hopkins 77
Industrial education 459
Lectures, The essential thing in popular 267
Porto Rico, Meager school facilities in 75
Race problem, Labor and the 269
Ross, Professor, Dismissal of 367
Saving dollars and wasting men 460
Syracuse University, Progress of 553
Two points where we do not lead 1 68
Color Problem, Has Jamaica Solved the,
Julius Moritzen 3 1
Cooperative Men and Things in England, Some,
N. P. Oilman 403
Corporations, Government Ownership of Quasi-
Public, Edwin R. A. Seligman 305
Cuba, Our Educational Responsibility in,
Leonard B. Ellis, 256
Democracy and National Authority, The Editor, . 425
Direct Nominations by Petition: Some Note-
worthy Expressions 349
Doom of the Dictator, The Editor, 323
EDITORIAL CRUCIBLE :
Albany, Jobbery at 441
Babcock's illusion, Chairman 538
Bimetalism, international, a dead issue 156
Bryan, A fair challenge to 355
INDEX
Bryan and Cleveland 353
Bryan on plagiarism 537
Bryan, A severe test for , . . . . 44 2
Bryan after Watterson 44 l
Carnegie vs, Schwab 539
Child- labor, Hopeful southern opinion on 447
China, Our army in 537
Citizenship, A southern paper on fitness for 6 1
Cleveland's pessimism 15^
Compete, Why we cannot 65
Cuban independence, The Monroe doctrine and 249
Economic folly from an unexpected source 251
Educational need, A great 59
Education, Great gifts to
Emperor within twenty- five years, An 354
Exports to the Philippines 537
Foreign alarm at American progress ,.. 1 6 1
Gage's bank deposits, Secretary. 44 2
Government ownership, An unfortunate argument for .. . . 53^
Gorman law, Unexpected outcome of 537
Harrison's inconsistency, ex- President *59
Jobbery at Albany 44 J
Labor, Organized, and the negro 443
Labor unions, Mr. Schwab's stale criticism of . 54 *
Labor policy. New York Central's enlightened 44^
Labor, Southern generosity to 445
Labor unions, Sound advice to 539
Maryland's educational test not unjust 445
Monopoly in steel manufacture, No 54
Monroe doctrine and Cuban independence 249
Minneapolis primary law, Extending the 353
Minnesota, Popular nominations law in .... 250
Music in the workshop 6 1
Negro, Organized labor and the 443
New York Central's enlightened labor policy 446
INDEX
Nominations, First step towards direct 35 1
Odell, Governor, a disappointment 249
Odellaftera "record" 160
Odell, Plattand 353
Odell, not Platt, is governor 63
Panic, Cause of the 1893 . 62
Philippines, " Exports" to the 137
Pope Leo on socialism 252
Protection vs, paternalism 59
Race problem, Fair questions on 357
Reform, Insincere critics of wholesome 157
" Ripper " bill, The infamous 353
Sanger, The case of Colonel 356
Schwab, Carnegie vs 539
Schwab's stale criticism of labor unions 54 1
Socialism, Ha verhill rejects 60
Socialist propaganda, Growth of 35^
Southern " generosity" to labor 445
South, No segregation for the 251
Steel manufacture, No monopoly in 54
Steel strike settled 441
Strike, Why the workingmen 54 *
Tammany succeeds, Why 444
Tammany, Union against 54
Ecole Libre in Paris, The, Leon Mead 543
England, Some Cooperative Men and Things in
N. P. Oilman 403
Electrical Development, George Styles 151
Government Ownership of Quasi- Public Corpora-
tions, Edwin R. A. Scligman 503
Historic Changes in the Character of Interest,
The Editor 516
Insecurity, The Uses of, Leonora B. Halsted .... 449
Jamaica: Has Jamaica Solved the Color Problem?
Julius Moritzen 3 1
INDEX
LETTERS FROM CORRESPONDENTS:
Annexation policy, An old soldier on ............ $6 1
Commendation, A word of .............. ...
Conciseness appreciated .................. 373
Economics in a great labor organization, Sound ...... 2/1
Fairness in discussion ................... 5 6
Government, The peril of popular ............. 4^4
Jamaica color problem, Mr. Washington on ........ 464
Labor's needs, Organized ................. 373
National duty, present and future ............. 5 5 &
Nominations by petition, Popular ............. 4^3
Our right to govern .................... 463
Pan- American exposition, Ethnology at the ........ 79
Philippine policy, Our .................. I/I
Problem of the hour, The great .............. 560
Sentiments that are appreciated .............. I/I
Magazines, Extracts from, (Jan.) 95, (Feb.) 191,
(Mar.) 287, (Apr.) 383, (May) 479, (June) 575
Municipal Politics, The Editor ............. 47
Negro Education, New Orleans and, The Editor 66
Negro in Business, The, Booker T. Washington 209
New Books of Interest, (Jan.) 89, (Feb.) 189, (Mar.)
285, (Apr.) 382. (May) 477, (June) ....... 574
Private Philanthropies, One of Miss Gould's,
C. B. Todd 71
Party Degeneracy, The Editor ............. 414
QUESTION Box:
American municipal government, European and ...... 175
Anti-Tammany campaign, The .............. 84
British empire, Future of the ............... 173
Civilization decaying? Is ................. 82
Cleveland and Toledo elections, Meaning of ........ 467
Corporations and government aid ............. 5 62
Corruption and popular nominations ............ 565
INDEX
Corruption versus education 273
Cuba, Our duty to 465
Democratic party, Future of 8 1
Depressions; How will depressions be eliminated? 178
English borough and county franchise 375
European and American municipal government 175
Expansion, Prosperity or 4^5
Government aid, Corporations and $62
Labor laws, New York 277
New York city politics, now and in 1897 176
Prosperity or expansion 4^5
Ross, Professor, Case of 37^
Socialism's defeats and prospects 173
Socialistic discussion 275
Southern representation in congress 85
Steel combination, The giant 2 74
Steel "trust" and independent producers
Toledo and Cleveland elections, Meaning of
Wealth a social fact 563
Republic, A New, The Editor 29
REVIEW OF THE MONTH:
Aguinaldo, Capture of 393
Albany's street railway strike 488
Annexation, the danger of 293
Attorney general, The new .... 493
British policy outlined 9
Canal treaty, The 16
Centennial, The Washington I
Charter revision, New York city 39!
Chinese situation 5, 98, 196, 300, 399, 400
Clayton- Bui wer treaty, Abrogate the 17
Coal strike forestalled 386
Congressional reapportionment 206
Congress, First work of 14
INDEX
Congress, The independence proposal in 2OI
Constitutional question, The great 103
Cuban independence 292
Cuba's new constitution 203
De Wet, The pursuit of 7
Edward VII., Accession of 193
Election, Some details of the November II
Funston's exploit, Moral aspect of 394
Harrison, Benjamin, Death of 303
Hawaiian elections 172
Inaugural, President McKinley's 290
Kruger's European mission 9
Labor organization, Status of .^American 4
Labor, Crucial time for 385
Machinists' struggle for nine hours 485
Municipal campaign, New York's 491
Odell's doubtful statesmanship, Governor 114
Paris exposition, The 5
Philippine Problem 99, IOI, 199, 291, 397
President's message, The 12
Protest, A word of 197
Public, the law, and the speculators 483
Queen Victoria, Death of 97
Railroad deals, The great IO6
Railroad strike averted 387
Ramapo charter repealed 390
Reform efforts in New York city Ill
Revenue reduction bill 14
Russia, Tariff complications with 296
Russia in Manchuria 298
" Second term " in American politics 289
South African situation 194, 398
Steel strike, Reinstatement ends 3^8
Steel corporation, The giant 3 O1
Stock market panic 48 1
INDEX
Strike, Albany's street railway 488
Strike averted, Important railroad 387
Tariff complications with Russia 296
Trusts, Present status of IOS
" Trust " growth, A permanent limitation to IIO
Wage conditions, Progress in 2
War tax reduction 295
Washington centennial, The I
"Ruskin Hall" Movement, The 163
Russia's Blow at American Commerce,
Romney Wheelock 432
South, Industrial Awakening of the,
Leonora Beck Ellis 527
Speculation An Incident in National Develop-
ment, Joseph Weare 142
Statesmanship, Un American, The Editor 243
Strikes and Lockouts in North Carolina,
Jerome Dow d 136
Tariff Enforcement, Discreditable, The Editor . . . 345
Trade Routes and Civilization, Jacques W. Redivay 508
"Trusts "and Business Stability, The Editor. . . 117
Tuskegee Negro Conference as an Educational
Force, Max Bennett Thrasher 359
Uses of Insecurity, The, Leonora B. Halsted .... 449
Victoria and Her Remarkable Reign, The Editor 220
Wars of Wall Street, The, The Editor 495
Woman Suffrage Question, Some Scientific Aspects
of the, Mrs. Mary K. Sedgwick 333
CONTENTS
JANUARY
Review of the Month i
The Australian Commonwealth, William Francis Schey 19
A New Republic, The Editor 29
Has Jamaica Solved the Color Problem 1 Julius Moritzen 31
Municipal Politics, The Editor 47
Editorial Crucible 59
New Orleans and Negro Education 66
One of Miss Gould's Private Philanthropies, Charles Burr Todd. 71
Civic and Educational Notes 74
Letters from Correspondents 79
Question Box 81
Book Reviews 89
From December Magazines 95
FEBRUARY
Review of the Month 97
" Trusts " and Business Stability, The Editor 117
Chinese Civilization, Archer B. Hulbert 127
Strikes and Lockouts in North Carolina, Jerome Dowd 136
Speculation An Incident in National Development, Joseph Weare 142
Editorial Crucible 156
The Ruskin Hall" Movement 163
Civic and Educational Notes 168
Letters from Correspondents 171
Question Box 173
Book Reviews , . . . 180
From December Magazines 191
MARCH
Review of the Month. , 193
The Negro in Business, Booker T. Washington 209
Victoria and Her Remarkable Reign, The Editor 220
The Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, D. L: Cease 235
Unamerican Statesmanship, The Editor 243
Editorial Crucible 249
Our Educational Responsibility in Cuba, Leonora Beck Ellis. . . 250
Civic and Educational Notes 267
Letters from Correspondents 271
Question Box 273
Book Reviews 279
From February Magazines 287
CONTENTS
APRIL
Review of the Month 289
Government Ownership of Quasi- Public Corporations, Edwin R. A.
Seligman 35
Doom of the Dictator, The Editor 323
Some Scientific Aspects of the Woman Suffrage Question, Mrs.
Mary K. Sedgwick 333
Discreditable Tariff Enforcement, The Editor 345
Direct Nominations by Petition : Some Noteworthy Expressions . . 349
Editorial Crucible 353
The Tuskegee Negro Conference as an Educational Force, Max
Bennett Thrasher , 359
Civic and Educational Notes 367
Letters from Correspondents 373
Question Box 375
Book Reviews 378
From March Magazines 383
MAY
Review of the month 385
Some Cooperative Men and Things in England, Nicholas Paine
Oilman 403
Party Degeneracy, The Editor 414
The Billion-Dollar Corporation 421
Democracy and National Authority, 7 he Editor 425
Russia's Blow at American Commerce, Romney Wheelock .... 432
Editorial Crucible 441
The Uses of Insecurity, Leonora B. Halsted 449
Civic and Educational Notes 459
Letters from Correspondents 463
Question Box 465
Book Reviews 469
From April Magazines 479
JUNE
Review of the Month 481
The Wars of Wall Street, The Editor 495
Trade Routes and Civilization, Jacques W. Redway 508
Historic Changes in the Character of Interest, The Editor .... 516
Industrial Awakening of the South, Leonora Beck Ellis 527
Editorial Crucible . 537
The cole Libre in Paris, Leon Mead 543
Civic and Educational Notes 553
Letters from Correspondents 55 8
Question Box 5 6 2
Book Reviews 568
From May Magazines .575
WILLIAM FRANCIS SCHEY
Labor Commissioner of New South Wales
See page
GUNTON'S MAGAZINE
KEVIEW OF THE MONTH
On December i2th the city of Washing-
ton celebrated its one-hundredth anni-
versary as the capital of the nation. Just
a century ago the seat of government was removed
from Philadelphia to the new site on the banks of the
Potomac. The centennial, observed by a reception at
the white house to the governors of some twenty-four
states, a military parade, and formal exercises by the
senate and house of representatives in joint session, fur-
nished a fitting occasion for reviewing the marvelous
progress of the nation, typified in part by the transfor-
mation of the capital city itself from practically a wil-
derness in 1800 to one of the most artistically beautiful
and politically influential centers of civilization in the
world.
The close of the nineteenth century is as
Growth of natural a time for retrospect and com-
the Nation . ,, . - ,, ,. ,,
parison as the opening of the twentieth
is for planning and prophecy. Far more than ordinary
interest, therefore, attaches to the results of the twelfth
census. It serves as a basis not only for noting the
percentage of increase during a decade, but for centen-
nial comparisons of the utmost significance. The total
population in 1900 is 76,295,220; in 1890 it was 62,-
622,250; an increase of 22 per cent. During the pre-
1
2 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [January,
vious decade, 1880 to 1890, the percentage of increase
was 24.86. Our population in 1800 was 5,308,483; the
increase during the century being 1 340 per cent. Our
national territory has increased during the same period
from 909,050 to 3,846,595 square miles. The sixteen
states that formed the federal union in 1800 have in-
creased to forty- five, with the territories of New Mexico,
Arizona, Oklahoma and Indian territory, also Alaska,
Hawaii, Porto Rico, the Philippines, and several scat-
tered Pacific islands, in addition.
It is interesting to compare this growth of popula-
tion with that of some of the principal European coun-
tries during the century. In 1800 the population of
Great Britain and Ireland was 15,570,000, now it is
about 37,000,000; France in 1800, 27,720,000, now about
38,000,000; Germany in 1800, 22,330,000, now about
46,000,000; Austria- Hungary in 1800, 21,230,000, now
about 41,000,000. In other words, the population of
Great Britain and Ireland has increased about two and
a half times, of France about one-third ; Germany and
Austria- Hungary have about doubled, while the popu-
lation of the United States has increased almost fifteen
times.
Analyzing the details of the census, New York
state still remains in the lead, the population being
7,268,009; in 1890 it was 5,997,853. Pennsylvania is
second with 6,301,365, as compared with 5,258,014 in
1890. Illinois is in third place, as in 1890, the popula-
tion having increased from 3,826,351^4,821,550. Ohio
has increased from 3,672,316 to 4,157,545, and Missouri
from 2,679, 184 to 3,107,117. These states retain the
same relative rank as in 1890, but Texas now takes the
place of Massachusetts as sixth in size. The population
of Texas has increased from 2,235,523 to 3,048,828;
that of Massachusetts from 2,238,943 to 2,805,346. Al-
though Massachusetts thus falls behind Texas, the rate
xgoi.] REVIEW OF THE MONTH 3
of increase in the Bay State is larger than that for the
whole country and indicates that the westward trend of
population, while it does not actually diminish, is not
depleting the East. Indeed, there are many evidences
that the growth of manufactures and use of more scien-
tific methods of agriculture in the East is producing a
marked decline in the tendency of native Americans to
migrate to the West, and stopping the multiplication of
New England abandoned farms.
Of course, however, the most rapid rates of increase
are in the far western states, although the growth in
actual numbers is relatively small. Nevada is the only
state in the union which shows a decline in population.
This state contained 45,761 people in 1890 and only
42,334 in 1900; a population less than that of the city
of Yonkers, New York, although represented in the
national councils by one congressman and two senators.
Although the census statistics of wealth,
industries and labor are not yet complete,
other investigations and sources of infor-
mation testify to a highly gratifying progress during
the decade just ended, a progress which would have
been far more impressive but for the severe industrial
depression from 1893 to 1897. United States Labor
Commissioner Carroll D. Wright has recently investi-
gated the average wages for the country and finds a
general increase since 1891 of 3.43 per cent. In many
industries the increase has been more like 20 to 30 per
cent., but Commissioner Wright's average is for the
whole country. In considering its apparent smallness
it must be remembered that only last year, 1899, did
wages recover sufficiently from the period of depression
to equal the rates of 1892. The seven years from 1893
to 1899 were an arbitrary interruption and period of
stagnation in what might have been a normal and
4 GUNTOWS MAGAZINE [January,
healthy forward movement in labor conditions. The
significant consideration to-day is not so much the
literal amount of increase since 1890 as it is the
fact that a satisfactory rate of progress has at last been
restored.
Status of Even more significant than the actual
American Labor wage progress is the increasing extent,
Organization influence and economic good sense of the
organized labor movement in this country. The best
general representation of this movement is the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor, whose membership includes
unions in practically all the most important trades in
the country. The federation apparently was never in
a more flourishing and healthy condition. According
to the December number of the A merican Federationist,
it:
"... has now affiliated to it no less than 82 national and international
unions, with 9,494 subordinate local unions, having an aggregate mem-
bership of 804,050. In addition to these before-mentioned general unions
there are at present date of writing 1,051 independent chartered local
unions having 79,150 members, making a total of 10,545 unions with a
membership of 883,200. These figures are exclusive of the membership
indirectly affiliated through the medium of the central labor unions of
205 cities and 16 state federations of labor. Thus it would be safe to
conclude that the grand total membership of our organization approxi-
mates one million members in good standing, or nearly four-fifths of the
entire known number of trade unionists on this continent. Each suc-
ceeding year this immense mass becomes more closely knitted together
and more clearly recognizes its mutual interdependence. With the
establishment and growth of adequate protective and beneficial funds,
the influence exercised by such a body will prove irresistible. "
A membership of one million means that fully five
millions of the American people are directly interested
and involved in the labor organizations of the country,
not counting the extra 20 per cent, in unassociated
independent unions. Obviously, the few old-school
doctrinaires who still want labor organizations abolished
are to be classed permanently with the Mrs. Partingtons.
I90I.J REVIEW OF THE MONTH 5
The growing economic good sense of the organized
labor movement could hardly have better evidence than
the -unanimous reelection of Samuel Gompers as presi-
dent of the federation, at its annual convention held in
Louisville, Kentucky, early in December. Mr. Gom-
pers' remarks in opening the convention reflected a
point of view and spirit thoroughly appreciative of the
proper economic position of labor organization in the
industrial life of the nation. It contained no tinge of
socialism, which it has so often been feared would cap-
ture the trade-union movement in this country.
The great world's fair held in Paris this
The Paris r in ustra ted the climax of nineteenth-
Exposition
century progress as well as anything of
a spectacular nature can illustrate achievements that
have wrought their broadening influence into the very
character -fibre of the nations. A formal exposition can
portray the material and artistic side of the progress of
civilization, but it can give only hints and suggestions
f the profound psychological development that lies
beneath the material surface ; it cannot put into statu-
ary, paintings and machinery the expansion of individ-
ual life, knowledge and character which is the real test
of human advancement.
But of those things which an exposition can illus-
trate, the Paris fair was an elaborate and fairly com-
prehensive representation. It cost more than the
Chicago exposition of 1893, but it is doubtful if the
showing was so vast or so well displayed. Many of the
buildings, however, were erected of durable materials,
and so, while costing much more, will remain as perma-
nent architectural adornments of Paris. The attend-
ance at the Paris exposition was more than fifty
millions, or more than double that at the Chicago fair,
but it is stated in explanation that the admission fees
6 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [January,
were reduced to practically insignificant sums, so that
the actual gate receipts were probably less than at
Chicago. The largest attendance at the Paris exposi-
tion on any one day was 600,000, which was exceeded
in 1893, on October gth, when 716,881 people attended
the Chicago fair.
The last year of the century has witnessed
More Delay the beginning of what will ultimately
in China . _ .._, .
mean the complete opening up of China
to western civilization, but the twentieth century will
have come in before much progress is made in the set-
tlement of the immediate terms of peace and reparation
to Christendom for the Boxer outrages of last summer.
It is now clear that negotiations are to proceed along
more moderate lines than those laid down by Germany,
and this change of attitude is generally attributed to
the United States. Our state department submitted a
note to the powers, late in November, suggesting com-
promises in respect to the peace proposals that were
then being urged ; and, apparently in response to these
suggestions, an article, understood to have been inspired
by the German government, appeared on November
28th, in the Berliner Post, declaring that while
". . . allthe powers are convinced that the ringleaders deserve death, . . .
the question has been raised on various sides as to whether such a meas-
ure should be insisted upon from the standpoint of political expediency.
So far as Germany is concerned, she has never insisted upon the execu-
tion of specific persons, but has repeatedly declared that she laid chief
emphasis upon the harmonious action of all the powers in punishing the
guilty. This attitude corresponds with the guiding principle of Ger-
many's policy, which seeks, above all else, to preserve the harmony of
the powers."
Nevertheless, according to the general consensus
of reports, Germany's troops in China are doing their
best to embitter the Chinese and make settlement diffi-
cult. Harassing expeditions, with the object of taking
booty or punishing groups of Boxer offenders, are per-
i90i.] REVIEW OF THE MONTH 7
mitted if not literally ordered by Count von Waldersee.
The latest of these, in which the French shared but
afterwards desisted, is the confiscation and removal of
the elaborate astronomical instruments from the Peking
observatory. General Chaffee protested against this so
vigorously that von Waldersee returned his note un-
recognized, as a breach of official etiquette. Perhaps
it was somewhat brusque, but the American people
will feel that here was a case where politeness was
more honored in the breach than in the observance.
General Chaffee's conduct of American military opera-
tions in China thus far has been eminently satisfactory.
Rigid discipline is maintained among our troops and,
during the prolonged period of looting after the capture
of Peking, our men were strictly ordered to take no
part in the depredations. Presumably there were
violations of the rule, but they seem not to have been
numerous or serious.
As the situation now stands, formal negotiations
between the foreign ministers and the Chinese govern-
ment, represented by Li Hung Chang and Prince
Ching, are likely to begin within a very few days.
The terms finally agreed upon are understood to be
practically those proposed by Germany, summarized in
our December number, with a modification of the
demand for execution of specific persons and also some
modification in the indemnity requirements. All the
ministers except Great Britain's representative have
been instructed to sign the agreement for submission of
these terms to China. Just what further alteration, if
any, England means to suggest before negotiations
proceed, is at present an enigma.
If one cannot admire the good judgment,
The Pursuit ., . .
of De Wet xt 1S lm possible not to admire at least the
valor and strategic skill of the few Boer
detachments that are still resisting British arms in
8 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [January,
South Africa. Lord Roberts being on his way home to
England, General Kitchener has succeeded him in chief
command. This is understood to mean, and doubtless
does mean, the end of leniency in dealing with the
Boers. British sentiment has been intensified in favor
of rigorous measures by the discovery of a plot, in
Johannesburg, in which a number of Italians, Greeks
and Frenchmen were implicated, to assassinate Lord
Roberts by blowing up St. Mark's church during service
on Sunday, November 1 8th. It is thoroughly realized
now that only rigorous measures can prevent these sub-
terranean methods of prolonging the useless struggle.
General De Wet scored another brilliant success on
November the 23d by capturing the British garrison of
Dewetsdorp, consisting of 400 men and two guns.
Lord Roberts' dispatch reporting the occurrence states
that De Wet's force numbered 2,500 men, showing that
where De Wet is, at least, the struggle has not quite
degenerated to the guerilla stage. Dewetsdorp is in
the southern part of the Orange River Colony, and only
the prompt action of General Knox prevented a raid
into Cape Colony. Knox succeeded in driving De Wet
back to the north, but the wily Boer has thus far
evaded capture. Since then, two more serious blows have
been inflicted upon the British. Four companies of
General Clement's fusileers, numbering more than 500
men, were captured on December isth, near Krugers-
dorp, in the Transvaal, and on the same day a force of
1 20 cavalrymen was taken near Zastron, in the Orange
River Colony. Serious as these reverses are, the Boers
are apparently unable to follow up the advantage, but
are compelled to release prisoners as fast as they are
taken. These exploits are tributes to brilliant general-
ship, but their only real significance is that the war will
have to be brought to an end by the slow wearing out
of the resisting powers of De Wet's diminishing army.
i90i.] REVIEW OF THE MONTH 9
Meanwhile, ex- President Kruger has
served as a rallying-point of French
animosity to England, and incidentally
learned for a certainty that he has nothing to hope for
in the way of European aid to his cause. Mr. Kruger
landed at Marseilles on November 22nd, proceeded to
Paris on the 23rd, thence, after a weeks' stay, to
Cologne on December 2nd, and to the Hague, capital of
Holland, on the 6th. In France he was everywhere
received as a popular hero and the French senate voted
him unanimously an expression of sympathy. This
was the full extent, however, to which France gave the
cooperation Kruger had virtually asked for in his
speech at Marseilles. In Holland the practical results
of his visit have been equally meager. The Dutch
people gave him an enthusiastic welcome, and the
Dutch government officially declared its sympathy but
declined to take the lead in any movement to secure
arbitration between Great Britain and the Transvaal.
As for Germany, Emperor William let it be known that
he would decline to receive Kruger, and therefore the
Boer ex-president abandoned his proposed visit to
Berlin. He is now expected to take up a permanent
residence in Holland, and will cease to figure in world
politics.
Naturally, the sessions of the British
British Policy , . . , _
Outlined parliament, which convened on Decem-
ber 4th and has just adjourned for the
holidays, were almost exclusively occupied with the
discussion of South African affairs. The liberals, at
the very outset, directed an intensely bitter attack on
Joseph Chamberlain, not only on the score of his prac-
tical sponsorship for the South African war but accusing
him of personal dishonesty both in the parliamentary
campaign and in connection with financial interests
10 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [January,
involved in the war. Seldom has parliament witnessed
a more impressive change in the drift of sentiment than
occurred when the colonial secretary's turn came to
make his defence. Denial of the charges against his
personal integrity was to be expected, of course, but
the thing which seems practically to have destroyed the
liberal opposition was his statement of the govern-
ment's plans for dealing with the Transvaal and Orange
River colonies. These he explained in detail in the
house of commons on December 7th, summarizing the
three objects of the government as follows :
" First To end the guerilla war. It would not surprise him if the
Boers had destroyed more farms than the English. Never in history
had a war been waged with so much humanity. The women had only
been deported for their protection. The native population was answer-
able for the acts of proved outrage of women and children, and it
had been shown that in no case had a British soldier been justly ac-
cused. The farm burning was greatly exaggerated. Lord Roberts had
only sanctioned the burning of farms as punishment in cases of com-
plicity in the rebellion, or damage done to the railroads. The govern-
ment sustained Lord Roberts absolutely. The government was bound
to leave large discretion to the military.
" The second object was that when pacification was accomplished a
crown government would be instituted.
"The third object was ultimate self-government."
In pursuance of this program it is proposed to
institute civil government at the earliest possible mo-
ment, giving the preference to Afrikanders in the civil
offices as far as practicable, and guaranteeing equal
rights and liberties to every man, Boer or Englishman.
The expense of the war will be met by taxation in South
Africa, since it was for the benefit of the Uitlanders
that the struggle was undertaken. These propositions
were even cheered from the liberal benches, and Sir
Henry Campbell- Bannerman, who had been the most
vindictive of all in his attacks on Mr. Chamberlain,
formally withdrew the liberal opposition. Of course,
the British government cannot begin to carry out these
looi.J REVIEW OF THE MONTH 11
plans until the Boers give up the struggle. Their
resistance could be understood so long as there was the
least chance of success, but in the present situation it
means simply the perpetuation of misery and desola-
tion and fruitless delaying of the peaceful regeneration
of the country.
Some Details of The figures of the popular vote for presi-
the November dent, with the exception of minor candi-
Election dates, are at last practically complete and
show a popular plurality for President McKinley of
847,897. This is an increase of 246,025 over his plu-
rality in 1896. Mr. McKinley 's total vote was 158,487
larger and Mr. Bryan's 87,538 smaller than in 1896.
It appears from the returns that the bulk of this
republican gain comes from increased pluralities in the
West and a decreased Bryan vote in the South. In the
East the republican pluralities were generally lower,
especially in New York (268,469 in 1896, 145,143 in
1900) and Massachusetts (173,265 in 1896, 82,988 in
1900.) In the middle West there was a substantial in-
crease, except in Illinois, which gave President McKin-
ley a plurality of 95,990 as compared with 142,498 in
1896. The republican plurality in 1900 in Nebraska
was 7,372 ; in Kansas, 25,843 ; in South Dakota, 21,000;
in Wyoming, 4,381 ; in Washington, 12,613; i n Utah,
2,140. All of these states were carried by Bryan in
1896.
In the South the results are equally significant,
and, but for the fact that they are based on a general
decrease in the total vote cast, indicating wholesale
neglect of the suffrage privilege, would be some indi-
cation of more wholesome political tendencies through-
out that section. Bryan's plurality was less in 1900
than 1896, in Alabama by 32,871 ; in Florida by 940 ;
in Mississippi by 12,776; in Louisiana by 17,974; in
12 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [January,
Arkansas by 36,149; in Tennessee by 3,024; in South
Carolina by 6,585. It was larger than in 1896, in Geor-
gia by 12,524; in North Carolina by 5,473 ; in Virginia
by 10,874. The net falling off in the Bryan plurality
in all these states is 114,562. If Missouri and Ken-
tucky be counted in, the total falling off is 117,231;
Bryan's plurality in Missouri was 10,907 less than in
1896, but in Kentucky he won by 7,957, as against a
republican plurality of 281 in 1896.
President McKinley's message to the
The President's , \,
Message second session of the 56th congress,
which convened on December 3rd, pos-
sessed two at least of the most familiar characteristics
of Mr. McKinley's state papers extraordinary length
and comparative dearth of positive recommendations
for the guidance of national policy. It is chiefly an ex-
haustive historical review of the problems that have
confronted the administration during the past year and
the way it has dealt with them, and a statement of the
existing conditions at home and abroad. A large part
of the message is devoted to the Chinese situation, and
the familiar lines of our policy are again stated, pun-
ishment of Boxer leaders, indemnity for losses suffered,
guarantees of trade privileges and opposition to dis-
memberment of the empire.
A suggestion that ought by all means to be
promptly and favorably acted upon is that provision be
made for handling through the federal courts instead of
through state courts all cases of outrages committed
against aliens within the United States. The inability
of the national government to guarantee any satisfac-
tion to foreign governments in cases such as the anti-
Italian outbreaks in Louisiana is an absurd anomaly.
Nothing like it exists in any other country, and it has
been and will be a fruitful source of misunderstanding
REVIEW OF THE MONTH 13
and ill-feeling whenever disputes of this sort come up
for settlement.
Reference is made to the growth of our foreign
trade, the increase in national banks under the currency
law of 1900, and the saving in interest on the national
debt through the refunding of bonds provided for in
that measure. Reduction of the war taxes by thirty
million dollars per annum is recommended. Little is
suggested as to the Philippines except continuation
along the lines already being pursued. The Taft com-
mission is apparently the rock to which the president's
faith is anchored, and, if only the Filipinos could be
made to see the beneficence of Mr. McKinley's program
of civilization as clearly as Mr. McKinley himself sees
it, not another shot would be fired. Evidently the
president does not expect the last shot to be fired for a
long while, since he recommends increasing the stand-
ing army to 60,000 men, with authority to raise it to
100,000 when necessary, and endorses Secretary Long's
request for an enlarged navy. The encouragement of
American shipping is urged, although no specific meas-
ure is endorsed, and there is the familiar suggestion
for legislation in control of injurious combinations in
restraint of trade. The message closes with a recom-
mendation of economy in public expenditures.
The tone of the document as a whole is optimistic,
and with good reason. The nation enters upon the
twentieth century under circumstances of extraordinary
prosperity and promise, backed by more than one hun-
dred years of experience with self-government along
lines which in 1800 were purely experimental, dis-
trusted everywhere outside of the United States, and
not even commanding full confidence here at home.
We are standing upon broader and firmer foundations
to-day, but it would be a fatal mistake to assume that
even now we can afford to make grave departures in
14 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [January,
policy from the fundamental principles upon which our
national existence is based.
Congress lost no time in getting: to work
The First Work . * .
of Congress upon measures of sufficient importance to
center the attention of the country upon
Washington. In the senate, discussion was begun
almost immediately on the Nicaragua canal treaty and
the ship subsidy bill ; in the house, on the revenue re-
duction and army reorganization measures. The latter,
providing for an army of 60,000 for the immediate
future, with authority to increase it to 100,000 if neces-
sary, passed the house on December 6th by an almost
strict party vote of 166 to 133. The ship subsidy bill
has been extensively and warmly debated already, its
principal defenders being Senators Frye and Hanna,
but its prospects are dubious in spite of the large re-
publican majority in the senate. The proposition to
spend $9,000,000 a year for twenty years in direct
bounties paid out of the treasury, a total of $180,000,-
ooo, so distributed that there is little reason to believe
that any important new shipbuilding establishments
would be called into existence, is so obviously no part
of recognized republican policy that senators are de-
clining to divide along party lines for and against the
bill. A measure providing for shipping protection by
an additional ten per cent, duty on all goods imported
in foreign vessels would be strictly in accordance with
sound protective policy and involve no drain on the
national treasury, but this proposition apparently must
wait until the subsidy scheme has been definitely put
aside.
Chairman Payne of the ways and means
The Avenue committee introduced the revenue reduc-
Reduction Bill
tion bill in the house on December 5th,
and followed it next day with a report showing the rea-
REVIEW OF THE MONTH 15
sons for the specific lines of reduction proposed. The
rule adopted in preparing the measure, according to
Chairman Payne, was ' to remove the more annoying
taxes in the war revenue act by the entire abolition of
those which were most vexatious and by a reduction of
those which seemed to have proved a great burden upon
the several branches of trade to which they are applied."
In other words, the object is to remove as far as possi-
ble the more offensive features of an always offensive
system of direct taxation, and the extent to which this
has been accomplished the bill deserves hearty com-
mendation.
Some of the most important proposed reductions
are: on beer, from $2.85 to $2.60 per barrel ; on cigars,
from $3.60 to $3 per thousand; and entire abolition of
the taxes on bequests to religious, charitable, literary
or educational institutions, taxes on commercial and
custom-house brokers, circuses and theaters, and the
stamp taxes on proprietary medicines, perfumes, cos-
metics, etc., also those on bank checks, certificates of
deposit, postal money orders, express receipts, tele-
graph messages, deeds, insurance policies, leases, notes
and mortgages. The most important taxes retained, in
whole or in part, are those on beer and tobacco, wines,
legacies, bankers, stock brokers, and the stamp taxes on
stock and bonds of corporations, stock exchange sales,
freight receipts, certificates of profit, and custom-house
and warehouse entries.
The reductions are expected to cut off about $40,-
000,000 of revenue per annum, and those retained it is
believed will yield $65,000,000; so that the reductions
amount to about 38 per cent, of the total amount of the
special war taxes. Considering that the treasury sur-
plus for the year ending June 3oth last was something
over $79,000,000, and that the estimated surplus for the
current year is $80,000,000, and for the year ending
16 GUNTOWS MAGAZINE [January,
June soth, 1902, is about $26,000,000, by which time it
is to be hoped there can be a substantial reduction in
our military expenditures, the cutting off of $40,000,000
now seems to be amply justified. The proposed meas-
ure seems to have been prepared with unusually intel-
ligent appreciation of scientific principles of taxation.
Some effort will undoubtedly be made to reduce the
customs tariff revenues and preserve the war taxes, but
there is no popular support of this left-handed rein-
troduction of free-trade policy. The proposition at
present has only an academic interest.
President McKinley sent to the senate
Treaty* on December 4th the report of the isth-
mian canal commission, of which Rear-
Admiral Walker is the head. This report summarizes
the advantages and disadvantages of the Nicaragua and
Panama routes, and declares in favor of the former,
although the estimated cost of the Nicaragua canal as
surveyed by the commission is $200,540,000, while the
amount required to complete the Panama enterprise is
only $142,342,579. The principal advantage of the
Nicaragua route is the shorter journey it would make
possible between the east and the west coasts of the
United States; the principal disadvantage of the
Panama canal is the existence of French and Colombian
financial interests and rights of ownership which would
prevent proper control of the undertaking by the United
States.
The report is regarded as practically disposing of
the Panama project so far as the United States is con-
cerned, unless the outcome of the senate's action on the
Hay-Pauncefote treaty between the United States and
Great Britain should be an indefinite delay and blocking
of the Nicaragua enterprise. It will be remembered
that this treaty, which was sent to the senate on the 5th
1 9 oi.] REVIEW OF THE MONTH 17
of last February, provides for a neutral canal, free and
open in war and peace to vessels of commerce and war
of all nations, with no fortifications erected to command
the canal or adjacent waters. This proposed neutral-
ization of the canal is in recognition of the neutrality
agreement embodied in the Clayton-Bulwer treaty with
England, made in 1850; but the senate has chosen
practically to disregard this by adopting, on December
1 3th, by a majority of 65 to 17, the amendment intro-
duced during the last session by Senator Davis, provid-
ing that the neutralization sections of the treaty should
not " apply to measures which the United States may
find it necessary to take for securing by its own forces
the defence of the United States and the maintenance
of public order." Other amendments are now pro-
posed, declaring definitely that the Clayton-Bulwer
treaty is superseded and striking out the provision
which requires England and the United States, after
concluding the new treaty, to bring it to the notice of
the other powers and invite them to adhere to it.
Abrogate the Whatever policy is finally adopted as to
Clayton-Bulwer the canal proposition, it is apparent
Treaty t h at t ^ e Clay ton- Bulwer treaty has long
outlived its usefulness and remains only an exas-
perating source of useless controversy. Probably the
bulk of the sentiment in this country against neu-
tralizing the canal has come from the impression that
we are being forced to yield this point to England
against our own best interests. If we had been entirely
free to act as we chose, the importance of fortifications
and exclusive control would certainly have seemed far
less weighty ; we might even voluntarily have chosen
the neutralization policy as safer in the long run, and
less expensive. But for the controversy with England,
the costly privilege of building forts and assuming the
18 G UNTON'S MA GAZINE
whole responsibility for protection of the canal would
have seemed much less valuable. The common-sense
fact would have been more obvious that no hostile fleet
could ever traverse the canal, whether fortified or not.
To enter it, such a fleet would first have to pass an
American fleet massed at its mouth, and would then
have to be guarded on both sides of the canal by an
enormous military force to prevent land attacks, and,
finally, to escape at the other end, the vessels would
have to contend one by one with an American fleet in
waiting. It would be a much more desperate under-
taking than Admiral Cervera risked in getting out of
Santiago harbor, since the Spaniards could at least come
through the channel at a high rate of speed and so be
ready for quick maneuvers, an impossibility in emerg-
ing from a canal.
It is intimated that Great Britain will not accept
the amended treaty. If such proves the case, immediate
steps should be taken to secure abrogation of the Clay-
ton-Bulwer treaty, and, if this cannot be done by nego-
tiation, then the treaty should be declared no longer
binding upon our government. There is plenty of pre-
cedent for such action, in cases where circumstances
have so changed as to render treaties out of date and
burdensome. In the present case there is no doubt that
Great Britain long ago violated the Clayton- Bui wer
treaty by obtaining control over certain territory adjoin-
ing the canal region. Technically we have recognized
the validity of the treaty since this violation, but we are
in a position, morally at least, to revoke it if our inter-
ests so require. With this stumbling-block out of the
way, we can deal with the practical problem of the canal
strictly on its merits, free from the distorting effects of
anti- British prejudice and suspicion.
THE AUSTRALIAN COMMONWEALTH : A
NEW NATION
WILLIAM FRANCIS SCHEY, GENERAL SECRETARY OF THE
NATIONAL PROTECTIVE UNION OF AUSTRALIA
On the first of January 1901, there will be formally
inaugurated, with due solemnity and much ceremony,
another federation of English-speaking people, which
is destined to bulk largely in the coming years before
the nations of the world. And its doings will be of
much interest and great importance to the United
States of America. On that date six British colonies
who have hitherto been divided on many questions,
who have maintained fiscal barriers one against the
other, who have from time to time viewed each other
with jealous eyes, and sedulously sought to draw each
other's trade away and to minimize the power and im-
portance of all their neighbors, will be welded in a firm
and indissoluble union by one of those happy and busi-
ness-like conjunctions which seem peculiarly adapted
to the needs of the Anglo-Saxon race.
From the first day of the new year, which is also
the first day of the new century, Australia, inviolate in
her sea-girt shores, will drop away the belittlement of
merely colonies and become in deed and in truth an in-
dependent nation in all but name. Still subject to the
British crown in matters of imperial interest she will
be sovereign and autonomous in all that concerns her-
self. An island continent approximating in size the
19
20
GUNTON'S MAGAZINE
[January,
whole of Europe, and of area almost equal to the whole
of the United States of America, with but little over
three millions of people in all her borders, she will, if
her statesmen be but wise, soon be the dominating
factor of all the southern half of our great round world.
A few facts concerning this new nation, this
coming competitor, will be of interest to all thoughtful
Americans. The areas of the federating states are :
COLONY
Area in Acres
Area in Sq. Mis.
New South Wales . . .
198 848 ooo
qiO 700
Victoria
c6 24 e ; 760
87 88d
Queensland
427 8^8 O8O
668 497
South Australia
578,361 6OO
003,600
Western Australia
624,588,800
07^,020
Tasmania
16 778,000
26,215
Australian Commonwealth ....
1,902,660,240
2,972,906
The first settlement of Australia was commenced
by Captain Arthur Philip, who landed at Botany Bay
on January iQth, 1788, and formally took possession of
the whole continent, which was proclaimed a colony
under the name of New South Wales on February /th
of the same year. The island of Tasmania, off the
southeastern coast of Australia, was taken possession
of by an expedition from Sydney, as the town first
founded was called after a British statesman then in
power, on September i2th, 1803. It was governed
from Sydney till 1825, when it was proclaimed an inde-
pendent province under the name of Van Dieman's
Land, which name was subsequently changed to Tas-
mania. About 1803 an attempt was made to settle the
southeastern portion of Australia, and this subse-
quently became the colony of Victoria which was
separated from New South Wales in 1851. Swan River
settlement, now Western Australia, was first settled by
an expeditionary force from Sydney in 1826, and was
IQOI.J THE A USTRALIAN COMMONWEALTH 21
made a separate colony on June ist, 1829. South
Australia was first colonized in 1836 by immigrants sent
from . England by a colonization company, and the
colony was formally proclaimed on December 28th,
J 836. Queensland, like Victoria, is an offshoot of New
South Wales. In 1825 a convict establishment was
formed at Moreton Bay, and in 1859 Queensland was
proclaimed an independent state.
Having thus briefly outlined the genesis of the six
colonies now about to be federated I shall not stay to
catalogue the numerous items of their progress, all of
which may be found in the various statistical publica-
tions. But it is worthy of note that the idea of union
was almost coeval with that of separation, and while
the enormous distances between the settlements ren-
dered the latter both necessary and advisable, the idea
of reunion was promulgated by the best of the colonists
from the earliest times, and indeed our early annals
contain many prophecies of the now consummated po-
litical conjunction both in prose and verse.
Probably the most radical difference between the
colonies, and certainly the most lengthy, has been in
their fiscal policies, which have varied from time to
time according to the political necessities of each, but
have always left the most striking contrast between the
adjoining colonies of New South Wales and Victoria.
Of course they all started very much on the same lines,
specific duties on large items of consumption being
levied on for revenue purposes. Generally speaking,
these have been increased from time to time, and ad
valorem duties added as exigency demanded, but little
scientific principle seemed to underlie the various rates
charged. Thus Tasmania raises by far the heaviest
per capita customs taxation, over 20% average ad valorem
on all imports, while Victoria, whose tariff is the most
protectionist and the most scientific of all the states,
22 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [January,
only levies an average of between n and 12 per cent.
It seems to have been accepted as a canon of taxation
that raw materials required for local manufactures
should not be taxed, but even this has been frequently
departed from. The customs revenue generally is on
the decline, attributable in the main to the fact that all
the states except New South Wales have given some
encouragement to native industry by means of customs
duties and bonuses, and so, gradually, manufactures
and producing interests generally have been developed,
and have in some instances obtained a firm hold on
Australian markets. Thus, with the exception of New
South Wales, very little agricultural produce is im-
ported, and locally-made goods in various classes are
produced in sufficient quantity to equal the demand.
The tariffs generally may be described thus: New
South Wales, except for four years (1892 to 1895 inc.)
of mainly ad valorem duties, generally free trade : Vic-
toria for the last twenty- eight years, protectionist, many
of her duties being specific and others ad valorem :
South Australia and Queensland, a judicious mixture of
protective and revenue duties, some of the latter having
a protective incidence also ; and Western Australia and
Tasmania, high revenue duties some of which of course
are incidentally protective as well.
On the proclamation of the commonwealth all the
customs collections are to pass immediately to the fed-
eral government to form its revenue, and the federal
parliament is charged with the making of a federal
tariff which it may set about at once, but must promul-
gate within two years of the commencement of the
federal authority. And already the din of battle is
commencing. The first federal elections, which will
take place early in the new year, will be almost exclu-
sively dominated by the question of protection versus
free trade, and both sides are now preparing as best
igoi.] THE A USTRALIAN COMMONWEALTH 23
they may for the greatest fiscal fight that has ever taken
place on this continent. While the infant industries
and their employees will range themselves under the
banner of protection, the importers and foreign manu-
facturers' agents are numerous and strong and are being
assisted in everyway by money and otherwise by their
principals in other parts of the world, notably in Great
Britain and Germany. The issue ought not to be in
doubt. It is a fight between patriotism and progress
on the one hand, and selfishness and stagnation on the
other. And only the apathy and cocksureness of the
national party gives the foreign traders a chance.
What a protectionist policy will mean to the Aus-
tralian commonwealth may be estimated from the
history of the United States. With a territory reaching
so near to the equator as the tenth parallel of south
latitude, high in the tropics, and stretching right down
below 43 degrees south into the colder portion of the
temperate zone, having a range of climate from the
fervent tropic heat to that of the snowy mountains
where snowshoe races are annually held, fires are re-
quired during eight months of every year, and the
mails are not infrequently stopped by winter snow
storms, it will be seen at once that every vegetable
product which can be furnished in any part of the world
can be grown in some part of Australia just as well.
With enormous mineral wealth of the most varied de-
scription there is absolutely nothing that could be denied
to a wise and industrious population. In short, within
our borders is to be found every element of national
greatness, and in a profusion unsurpassed in any
country of the whole world. Rich gold fields, from
which we have already extracted gold to the value of
$1,750,000,000, are backed by the greatest silver mines
known since the palmy days of Peru. From all corners
come the rich ingots of copper which modern scientific
24 GUN TON'S MAGAZINE [January,
development has raised almost to the rank of a royal
metal. Our streams yield abundant tin of the best
quality, while many of our mountains are built of iron
and other ores. Side by side with this embryo steel
run beds of limestone and great coal fields, the other
necessary ingredients of a great iron and steel manu-
facture. And this magnificent heritage of mineral
wealth is amply supported by the quality of our lands,
wherein huge tracts of the best sheep country to be
found in any part of the world are interspersed with
great areas of agricultural soils which can grow our
every requirement in cereal or fruit; from oats and
barley to sugarcane and coffee; from the apple and
the gooseberry to oranges, pineapples and bananas.
Yet with all this enormous mass of raw materials,
our population is sparse and our manufactories few.
Our minerals have fed people in every quarter of the
globe, while the unemployed have cried to us in thou-
sands in our own country. Our wool is sent away for
manufacture, much of it not even scoured in the country
of its production. Not a ton of steel has yet been made
from native ores, and our copper and tin are sent abroad
in ingots to return over the sea made up by alien
laborers into all the various things of our daily need.
Even much of the food we eat is still imported, while
our coal has gone to feed the mills of America, India
and Japan.
But a change is at hand. The interstate barriers,
which have isolated our people into small sections, are
about to fall, and with a scientific policy, framed prob-
ably on the lines which in the great republic of America
produce revenue for the government, and foster and
protect the industries of the people, the Australian
commonwealth will increase in as great a ratio as its
transoceanic friend and cousin. Our lands now idle,
or merely running sheep on stations as large as English
igoi.] THE A USTRALIAN COMMONWEALTH 25
counties, and sometimes as many of them put together,
will be made to blossom out with corn and wine.
"Our own we love; others we do not hate,
"But loving best our own we make their fate
"Our first concern;
' 'And, by the way we love our own dear land,
"And, by the wisdom make to govern her,
"We show the world the fruit of these is joy,
"And so by precept lead all on to good;
"Till truth omnipotent reigns everywhere,
"And by his offsprings: justice, wisdom, love,
"And by his grandchildren, joy and charity,
"Makes tears more scarce than the most precious pearl,
1 'And destitution quite a thing unknown ;
"While sorrow only comes to guide those back
"Who stray from wisdom's path;
"And pain and hatred, like white-feathered crows,
"Are very scarce indeed.
' 'Thus you can see by loving best our own
"Immediate friends, we best do serve the world."
A mordant illustration of what such a policy will
mean to our young nation was furnished a year or two
ago by our railway commissioners, themselves pro-
fessed free-traders but believing in good business
through and through. They set out to show how much
better it would be for the railways if our lands were
used for agricultural pursuits instead of being confined
to pastoral industries. They said :
"The following rough estimate of the value to the
railways of 10,000 acres of land under cultivation, as
against 10,000 acres of land employed for running
sheep, will strongly illustrate this point. A distance
of 300 miles from Sydney has been adopted in each
case.
Agricultural Result
"The average yield over the whole colony for the
past three years has been 12 ^ bushels per acre:
26 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [January,
Freight.
"Which gives 3,304 tons at $3.5o'per ton $11,564.00
"Carriage of wheat bags 423.67
"Machinery and implements of all kinds,
binder twine, etc., materials for re-
pairs, etc., 1,750.00
"Rations, clothing, etc., for one man for
every 100 acres 100 men .... 1,990.00
$15,727.67
"No allowance is made for families or for travel-
ing upon the railways, which would be a fair additional
revenue.
"If the crops were reaped and the straw sent to
market, a large additional revenue would result.
Pastoral Result
"Average of the whole colony gives one
sheep to 2 1-5 acres n tons of wool,
at $i 8 (5j Ibs. per sheep) .... $198.00
"Increase of the flock to be reduced by 25
per cent, each year by trucking to
market or by boiling down, say 600
sheep trucked and 525 boiled down 221.08
"Woolpacks, rations for one man for
every 4,000 sheep continuously, and
two men for 14 days per 1,000 sheep
at shearing time 33-25
$452.33
' 'In this instance a higher average is adopted for
the stock sent by rail than is found to be the usual re-
sult. No proper estimate can be arrived at in regard
to materials for improvements required in the future,
as the requirements in this respect will now be com-
paratively small, owing to the majority of the runs
igoi.] THE A USTRALIAN COMMONWEALTH 27
having completed their fencing, etc., maintenance sup-
plies only in future being required. Allowing $100 per
annum for each 10,000 acres for material of this kind,
an occasional wool press, etc., it gives a total revenue
of $550 per 10,000 acres, as against $15,727 per 10,000
acres under crop."
Now agricultural settlement depends ultimately on
being able to find a market for the produce, and the
market depends on having population to eat up what is
grown. And the population cannot eat unless it is em-
ployed ; and to employ the people manufactures both
numerous and varied must be founded and carried on.
And only protection can give us these.
Again, with the restricted market afforded by one
colony only, there has never been sufficient inducement
to invest capital in the manufacture of iron and steel on
a commercial scale. But the inauguration of the
commonwealth has changed all that. Already a Sie-
mens' steel furnace has commenced, although working
mainly on scrap, while one of our best citizens is now
in England busily organizing a great company to work
our rich deposits of which the government statistician
says: "Every natural advantage possessed by the great
iron and machine producing countries of the world
such as England, America and Belgium is also present
here. Not only are the iron and coal deposited in
abundance, and in positions easily accessible and readily
worked, but, as pointed out previously in this work
(' Wealth and Progress of N. S. W.'), the local iron ore
is exceedingly rich." And what is true of iron is true
of copper, of tin, of silver, of lead, of zinc and of every
metal or mineral commercially valuable. And so with
our abundant wool, our easily grown cotton, and so on
through all the long list of our wonderful resources.
Protection will be to us the magician's wand which
will set hammer to ring on anvil, make the wheels to
28 G UNTON'S MA GAZINE
revolve, the shuttles to whirr, and the hum of busy in-
dustry to sound through all our land, covered with
smiling fields and happy homes.
Then indeed shall we take our place among the
nations of the world, and, in the great world
market, compete in friendly rivalry with even
the great republic of the West. Then shall we
found, not only the great and mighty nation (phrase
beloved of post-prandial orators), but establish within
our borders the most desired and desirable thing on
earth, a prosperous, a happy and a contented people.
Then may we realize the pregnant words of Went-
worth, who, with prophetic glance, wrote some fifty
years ago :
"And, oh Britannia! Shouldst thou cease to ride
"Despotic Empress of old Ocean's tide:
"Should thy tamed lion spent his former might
"No longer roar, the terror of the fight:
"Should e'er arrive that dark, disastrous hour,
"When bowed by luxury, thou yield'st to power;
' 'When thou no longer freest of the free,
"To some proud victor bend'st the vanquished knee:
"May all thy glories in another sphere
"Relume, and shine more brightly still than here:
"May this, thy last born infant then arise
"To glad thy heart, and greet thy parent eyes;
"And Australasia float, with flag unfurl' d,
' 'A new Britannia in another world ! "
A NEW REPUBLIC
The new federation of the Australian colonies con-
stitutes essentially a new republic. The link that still
connects it with Great Britain is formal and perfunc-
tory, and does not affect the internal affairs of the
commonwealth. Australia is in many respects similar
to the United States. It has hitherto consisted of six
British colonies which, like the early colonies in this
country, have been extremely jealous of each other and
always on guard to protect their own rights, political as
well as industrial. The progress in Australia has been
exceptionally great, in many respects no less extraor-
dinary than the progress in this country. The spirit
and principle of democracy have pervaded the entire
political structure of all the colonies, and their practical
advantages in self-government have been well-nigh
complete.
In the industrial development of Australia, the
influence of the United States and of England have been
perceptible. New South Wales followed closely the
English idea- of economic policy and adopted free trade.
Victoria was more influenced by the American idea and
adopted protection. In labor legislation the English
influence and example have been very great. The
eight-hour system has long been an established fact in
Australia, in which it may be said to have led the
world. Wages in Australia have been higher than in
any other country ; in this respect surpassing even the
United States, although doubtless representing a some-
what smaller purchasing power per dollar.
High wages and short hours always mean political
and economic progress. It is not surprising, therefore,
to find that the progress of Australia towards political
democracy, advanced forms of individual freedom and
29
30 G UNTON'S MA GAZINE
intelligent public policy, has been marked, constructive
and rational. Under such influences integrating forces
naturally operate. Accordingly, with the close of the
nineteenth century we find this community of English
colonies blooming forth into an integrated common-
wealth under a truly democratic form of government
and constitution. Happily, this consummation has
been brought about not by war or revolution but by
industrial development and natural political evolution.
The labor movement has had its wholesome influence
on Australian industrial conditions, and the policy of
protection has had its wholesome influence upon public
policy, so as practically to destroy that fetich of free
trade which denies the right of a nation to use its polit-
ical institutions to stimulate, enlarge and protect the
economic opportunities of its own people. Along the
lines of rational protective ideas, wholesome labor pol-
icy and truly democratic representative institutions,
Australia, not with the antagonism but with the sym-
pathy and cooperation of the English people and gov-
ernment, has evolved from six segregated colonies into
an integrated commonwealth and virtual republic.
We have the honor of publishing in this number
an article on the Australian Commonwealth from the
pen of Hon. William Francis Schey. Mr. Schey has
been conspicuously identified with the recent movement
towards Australian federation. He was a member of
parliament in New South Wales, and is a leading pro-
tectionist, being general secretary of the National
Protective Union, president of the New South Wales
board of labor commissioners, and otherwise conspicu-
ously identified with recent progressive economic and
political movements. Mr. Schey is peculiarly well
fitted to write upon what he calls " The New Nation,"
which is of special and suggestive interest to every
citizen of the United States.
HAS JAMAICA SOLVED THE COLOR PRO&LEM?
JULIUS MORITZEN
Allowing that the revolting Chinese drama pre-
sents racial animosity in its crudest and most barbaric
form, not since the civil war have questions of race and
color entered more largely into the affairs of the west-
ern hemisphere. Politics and religion undoubtedly
have had a hand in the world-imbroglio of the Orient.
Religious proselytism, however, cannot be assigned as
a cause of effects all too evident this side of the Atlan-
tic Ocean.
Perhaps the question of race and privilege assumes
specific importance as it concerns either the southern
or northern states. Each section, it may be supposed,
looks at the matter from its own point of view. But to
expect that a disfranchisement process of the North
Carolina stamp can make for the homogeneity of the
nation is to ignore morality. Political aggrandizement
here stands sponsor for a move recently treated of ex-
haustively in the public prints.
Since the cry of Anglo-American cooperation arises
every now and then when questions affecting both na-
tions are at issue, why not examine how each country
may benefit the other in solving the problem of race
and color ? No other two countries have been con-
fronted in a like degree with racial intricacies. Both
Great Britain and the United States have had dealings
with the African race antedating emancipation.
How much, then, has the British empire to teach
those responsible for the stewardship of the Afro-
Americans ? In how far can the rule of Britannia over
its colored subjects find even partial application as it
31
32 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [January,
concerns the right of suffrage due the American negro ?
The query teems with vital significance ; the more so
since the answer at best can be but a superior sort of
interrogation. Almost within speaking distance of
each other, the United States and Great Britain are
working for the solution of the color problem. Whether
greater success has crowned the efforts of the empire or
the republic is left for the consideration of such who
know what the United States has done for the colored
people in the past. The North Carolina disfranchise-
ment blunder need not necessarily stand out too boldly
against a background which may as yet be blended into
a harmonious whole.
Of the several British colonies in the West Indies,
none offer a better opportunity for studying the negro
problem than Jamaica. Few, if any, possessions of the
empire have been the scene of greater strife and vicis-
situde. How great a factor the negro has continued in
the existence of the island the history of Jamaica bears
witness.
James Anthony Froude visited Jamaica almost fif-
teen years ago. The itinerary included the greater
portion of the British West Indies and a cursory glance
or two bestowed on Hayti. The late historian went,
as he afterwards said, for the purpose of increasing his
knowledge of the British colonies. The people of Ja-
maica, whites, blacks and browns, are not yet done dis-
cussing Mr. Froude and what he gave utterance to as a
result of his journey to the Antilles and the Caribbean
Sea. Without reservation it is charged in many quar-
ters that the negrophilism of the eminent historian is
not altogether luminous. That Mr. Froude did not
consider negro suffrage of whatever kind desirable for
the British colony is evident enough from what he
wrote about Jamaica and the negroes.
The north coast of the island offers essential advan-
i 9 oi.] HAS JAMAICA SOL VED THE COLOR PROBLEM? 33
tages for the study of existing conditions. Between
Port Antonio and Montego Bay the Caribbean Sea
washes a stretch of country prodigiously rich in na-
ture's attributes. And it is in Portland parish that the
colored race is now demonstrating its capacity for
partly working out its own salvation. The white
minority in this section is doing all it can to aid the
others in their task.
Port Antonio fifteen years ago did not aspire to the
importance which now makes of the town the greatest
fruit-shipping port of Jamaica. But since Americans
were already acting as the redeeming agency of the
northern coast ; since what was then the Boston Fruit
Company now the United Fruit Company employed
a large number of blacks on its plantations, the re-
nowned author of " The English in the West Indies"
would have done well in visiting Port Antonio before
he published his work. The railroad did not then con-
nect the town with Kingston to the south, it may be
argued, but, without necessarily championing the cause
of the negro, a writer should take every feature into
consideration when to gain and disseminate knowledge
is the twofold purpose. The capital of a country is
never the place where the native pulse beats in unison
with its normal self.
The Spanish- American war came home to the Ja-
maicans as a conflict the result of which would be of
more than passing interest to them. To the colored
population in particular the aid in behalf of Cuba ap-
pealed as some fin de siecle emancipation. Fifty odd
years before, the efforts of Wilberforce and others of
his mind gave freedom to the negroes of Jamaica. The
Spanish yoke, as it concerned the Cubans, in the eyes
of the blacks and browns, did not seem one whit less
oppressive than the slavery of yore, into which many
of those living had been born. For which reason the
34 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [January,
advent of the stars and stripes in the Caribbean Sea was
hailed joyfully by the Afro-Jamaicans.
Landing at Port Antonio, colored quarantine offi-
cers inspect the steamer. The custom-house officials
likewise are of the colored race. It is the first encoun
ter with representatives of the crown, and on the very
threshold of Jamaica, therefore, the opportunity is pre
sented of studying the color problem. Colored clerks are
busily at work in the long room, occupied jointly by the
custom-house and the colonial bank which has a branch
here at Port Antonio. Deft fingers ply the ledgers.
Pounds and shillings and pence pass over the counters.
From the darkest hue to the lightest brown the ensem-
ble indicates that the British government considers its
colored subjects fit to transact part of its business. No
fault is to be found with the treatment bestowed on
the traveler. If now and then a tinge of officiousness
creeps in it is nothing more serious than what may be
met with where the representatives of the British gov-
ernment are white instead of black. The colored
official in Jamaica cannot be blamed entirely for desir-
ing to impress on the visitor that he considers himself
a trifle superior to those of his own race in the United
States. Of course his opinion of the colored people of
the North is based largely on what he has read concern-
ing the negro disfranchisement. But he is perfectly
familiar with the name of Booker T.Washington and the
importance of institutions like Tuskegee Institute and
the Hampton Training School . And there is not the least
doubt that whether black or brown the negro of Jamaica
sees in his anterior emancipation a proof positive that
he is somewhat in advance of his colored brethren in
the United States. He takes pride in knowing that
progress has attended the march of his race under the
stars and stripes. But he is not willing to concede this
progress to be equal with his own. He now and then
igoi.] HAS JAMAICA SOL VED THE COLOR PROBLEM? 35
strikes up an argument which from his point of view,
presumably, is conclusive. In this matter of excellence
and priority his traits are characteristically provincial.
This is said in no sense of disparagement.
In the matter of shedding fresh light on the color
problem of Jamaica the writer had to proceed somewhat
differently than anticipated. To make a logical begin-
ning it was the intention to show how the negro had
been brought from his native land a slave ; how he had
been instrumental in cultivating the colony these hun-
dred of years since ; what was his condition before and
after emancipation, and what changes for better or for
worse had been wrought in his material and mental
make-up since he had been granted his freedom. It
was the purpose to begin with the peasant and the soil
and rise gradually upward. But, as it happened, the first
representatives of the race to be met with were such as
held important government positions, and their case, as
it were, had to be disposed of first. Between the two
are other grades, each a factor in the development of
the colony and the colored race. Even the coolies be-
long by rights under the color caption.
During the Spanish- American war the large colored
population of Port Antonio and surrounding country
evinced a more than passing interest in the momentous
happenings to the north of the Caribbean Sea. Since
then the interest in all that concerns Cuba and the
United States has increased twofold. Port Antonio ly-
ing directly to the north of the island, which was form-
erly Spain's, news of importance nearly always found its
way here before reaching other points in Jamaica. In
common with the white residents the colored popula-
tion became keenly alive to all that transpired in Cuba
and Porto Rico, especially since thousands of blacks
and browns were about to be relieved of the Spanish
yoke. Then came the conclusion of the war, Cuba was
86 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [January,
brought under the protecting wings of the United States,
and now the Jamaica negro is anxious to know what
political freedom will be given his brother in Cuba in
case independence is not granted the island. With his
left eye resting on some of the southern states, where
the disfranchisement plan is advocated, he cannot help
glancing to the right as well where Hayti is presenting
a spectacle anything but edifying as regards self gov-
ernment. It is true that the Haytians are not concern-
ing themselves with the outside world, but the negro at
large has a right to inquire what his colored brother in
Hayti is doing for his own elevation. More so since
here the race is working out its own salvation, let the
latter term be rightly applied or otherwise.
Speak to a Jamaica negro of average intelligence
about Hayti and the Haytians and he at once professes
his allegiance to the queen. Not that there are wanting
those who look to independence as the saving clause,
but the better element is of a different mind and spurns
in unmistakable language the idea that annexation to
the United States is for the best of the island. In this
respect the sentiment of the colored people has under-
gone a marked change during the past decade.
Of the more than 700,000 inhabitants of the island
about 17,000 are whites. This may seem the reason
then why so many negroes are found in the pro-
fessions, the arena of commerce and in similar walks of
life. As artisans they are also much in evidence, and,
as a matter of course, all heavy labor is performed by
them. But while numerical strength may have consid-
erable to do with their success in the higher branches
of existence the Jamaica negroes know only too well
that but for education they could never have attained
to positions which are seldom reached by the race
anywhere else. Whether on the plantations or at the *
docks it is difficult to find a negro who cannot at least
i 9 oi.] HAS JAMAICA SOL VED THE COLOR PROBLEM? 37
read or write. With a rudimentary foundation the rest
is easier.
The color question of the island in reality presents a
problem within a problem. To an outsider, at any
rate, there exists a distinct division between the blacks
and the browns. The latter as might be guessed are
those of mixed race, and not infrequently the browns
are referred to in Jamaica as the colored people. The
Maroons, the descendants of Carib Indians and negroes,
should not be confounded with the browns having
Caucasian blood in their veins.
Not once but a number of times the writer while in
Jamaica observed how the blacks and browns looked
upon themselves as individually superior to the others.
There is hardly a doubt that the pure blacks consider
the browns as great a danger to their race as the
whites.
Market day at Port Antonio brings together every
type of the negro race. The streets are crowded with
people in picturesque costumes. The country folks
passing up and down are almost invariably of the pure
negro class. The women are in the majority and
balancing heavy baskets on their heads they appear
splendid specimens of their sex as they pass by. The
black policemen look like statues in their spotless
uniforms of white.
In conversation with a colored merchant the writer
was reminded of what is told of Li Hung Chang when
the shrewd Chinese diplomat is being interviewed.
The Celestial statesman, it is affirmed, instead of being
interviewed turns himself interviewer. The Jamaica
merchant was approached for the purpose of learning
certain phases of the situation with which he was said
to be familiar to a high degree. It is true that much
was gained by the conversation which ensued, but
there was evident a desire on the part of the other to
38 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [January,
learn all he could about those of his own race in the
United States, even before he would commit himself.
"In the interest of my business I go to the states
twice a year," he said. " But while there I have not
much opportunity to study the color question. How-
ever, I feel that we of Jamaica have not a great deal to
complain of as concerns our contact with the whites.
Of course, here in Port Antonio you can only see one
side of the question, since the blacks and browns are so
greatly in the majority that you will find us in every
avocation. But even when you get to Kingston you
will find that the negro is perfectly able to keep step
with his white brother of the capital. Some of the
most eminent lawyers for instance are of my race."
In speaking of the color problem the merchant
affirmed that whites, Cubans, blacks and browns were
members of the several secret societies to which he
himself belonged. As to the real social intercourse
between the races there is a line drawn, although not as
definable as in the United States, he confessed.
The railroad between Port Antonio and Kingston
furnishes another chapter of information anent the
colored people of the island. It is not our purpose,
however, to dwell on the rolling stock, what manner of
roadbed is furnished or what the distance between
Port Antonio and the capital to the south of the
island. A more graphic pen than the present might
be able to picture adequately the magnificent landscape
through which the train speeds towards its destination.
The personnel of the train and the passengers, how-
ever, came entirely within the purpose of the journey
undertaken by the writer. From fireman to conductor
the crew was composed of negroes. Except for a few
persons the passengers were blacks and browns.
The conductor volunteered considerable informa-
tion as to the relationship between the white and
igoi.] HAS JAMAICA SOL VED THE COLOR PROBLEM? 39
colored passengers in general. The Jamaica Railroad
has first and second-class carriages, and color is no bar
to either. In fact, while many of the whites travel
second-class, blacks and browns not infrequently fill
the first-class carriages. On this first railroad journey
to Kingston the writer had as fellow passenger a
colored overseer of a large plantation, and the informa-
tion gained from him remains not the least valuable
material gathered in the island. What he had to say
about the peasant class proved him in possession of
logic and acumen.
In the United States the color question comes most
strongly to the fore where those of different races meet
in public places. As for Jamaica, it was to be expected
that whatever animosity prevailed would find antagon-
istic expression where whites and negroes were sup-
posed to meet on common ground. The writer recalls
an incident which, while strikingly unique to a stranger,
offers a fair example of what can be met with frequently
in the British colony.
It was on the evening of a dramatic performance at
the Theater Royal, Kingston. The amateur talent of
the city was to give a benefit for the fund for the wid-
ows and orphans of soldiers who had fallen in the
Transvaal war. A large audience had gathered to pay
tribute to the valor of the British army. The military
band was playing a stirring battle piece and the curtain
was about to rise. The writer was interested in the
mixed assemblage which from the point of fashion
would have done credit to an audience at the Metropol-
itan Opera- House on a gala night. Magnificent types
of Creole women, handsome dark-skinned mulattoes and
men and women of the pure negro type were scattered
throughout the lower floor and occupied conspicuous
boxes in the balcony. Sir Augustus Hemmings, gov-
ornor of Jamaica, was in the official box with Lady
40 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [January,
Hemtnings and other members of the family. Suddenly,
attention was directed toward the rear of the auditorium.
Down the center strode a couple, the man six feet tall
and black as ebony, the woman a perfect blonde. Like
some modern Othello and his fair Desdemona the couple
reached their seats where the removal of the woman's
opera cloak revealed a form which stood in striking con-
trast to that of her escort who looked almost inky black
from head to foot, except for his immaculate shirt front.
The man now rose and bowing toward the govern-
or's box gave intimation that the occupants were no
strangers to him. Then he turned aside and spoke to
some one sitting next to -him.
"Rather a difference in complexion," remarked a
typical Creole sitting near the writer. " Even to us such
a contrast is not an everyday occurence."
It transpired that the negro was one of the foremost
jurists on the island and that he had recently married
in England. His wife, who belonged to a prominent
family in the country across the sea, was making her
initial appearance before the social set that evening.
Nothing could have been advanced to prove more con-
clusively that Jamaica gives apparent social recognition
to the colored race. And still it is only as a sort of su-
perior toleration that the negro is admitted to the
charmed circle of society. As in the United States, the
color line would be drawn tight were it but politic. It
is the knowledge of this which makes the Jamaica negro
strive hard to earn social recognition through education.
The Anglo-Saxon element of Jamaica looks with
disfavor on intermarriage of the races. That such a
practice is conducive to the solution of the color ques-
tion is very doubtful. It is quite true that some of the
most brilliant mulattoes in the island testify to the fact
that mixed parentage has worked benefit in their par-
ticular cases. But as a rule the admixture of Caucasian
igoi.] HAS JAMAICA SOL VED THE COLOR PROBLEM? 41
blood is to be traced back a considerable period when
the negro was still a slave.
Entirely apart from the question of illegitimacy,
those of unmixed race do not admit that this contact
with the whites has been an exceptional heritage. The
pure negro with some reason says that since his lineage
is undisturbed he has a right to consider himself the
superior. On the other hand the browns as a whole
seem perfectly contented that their skin in many in-
stances borders on the white.
To treat conclusively of the Jamaica negro is out
of the question. The psychology of the race as it per-
tains to the colored people of the island has much to
differentiate it from what obtains in many other places.
Books of travel do not furnish all the facts about this
member of the African race. The writer fails to see
in what way most authors have placed the Jamaica
negro in his proper light. It is quite true that of
faults he has many, but the final estimate is not
obtained from some steamer's deck, as the tourist
merely glances at the coast of Jamaica and its people,
as it were. Mr. Froude did not do much better, even
though he made a stay on the island and was enter-
tained royally at the hands of the government officials.
It may be argued that his book is entitled "The
English in the West Indies.'' The more reason why
he should not have planned beforehand what to say
about the blacks and browns who constitute the ma-
jority. The late historian did not consider them fit
members to participate in the affairs of the local gov-
ernment. As an insular Englishman it could hardly
be expected that he would have advocated their partici-
pation too strongly ; but to compare the Afro- Jamaicans
with the Haytians is an injustice which some future
historian will surely correct. And that is in reality
how Mr. Froude summed up his result.
43 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [January,
Perhaps the reader will reach the conclusion that
the present article gives more than a due proportion of
credit to the negro and omits to speak adequately of the
whites. Such a conception is a fallacy except so far as
it concerns the object of the article : to tell what the
Jamaica negro is doing for his own elevation. Many
descriptive books are in the market which will enlighten
the curious in the matter of picturesque delineation.
Jamaica is an island like few in the West Indies. As
for the political situation it has been dealt with every
now and then. But the negro race is just beginning to
be a real factor in the destiny of nations. And whether
in the United States, the West Indies, or in their
native Africa, the racial bond must sooner or later assert
itself. And this, notwithstanding the mulatto, has of
late become a sub-division of the entity.
The schools and churches of the island are fertile
places in which to study the evolution of the colored
people of Jamaica. Since the emancipation several
important changes have been made in the educational
system. The wealthier classes among the whites in-
variably send their children to England to finish their
education. But to the writer it appeared as if the spirit
of amicability between the white and colored children
attending the parochial schools left nothing to be
desired. There comes to mind, for instance, the picture
of two young girls walking down the steps of a school
in Kingston. The one was of fair complexion with
blonde curls in profusion around her head ; the other
had the dark features and woolly hair of the typical
negro. With their arms around each other's neck the
contrast could not have been greater. No racial ani-
mosity could have rested in the minds of these young
girls at any rate. Perhaps the case in point was
exceptional. If so it is pleasant to have witnessed it in
a season of such world- wide racial contention.
i 9 oi.] HAS JAMAICA SOL VED THE COLOR PROBLEM? 43
The name of Booker T. Washington has already
been alluded to. It is exceedingly doubtful whether
Frederick Douglas in his time meant much more to his
race than the influence this masterful negro educator
now exerts over his people. It was to be supposed
that the aim and strenuousness of Professor Washing-
ton were quite familiar to the colored people of the
towns and cities of Jamaica, but even in the country
districts his educational propaganda has taken root, and
when the black peasant is asking questions pertaining
to his colored brethren in the United States he fre-
quently bases his inquiries on what he already knows
about the " Negro Moses" of the North, as Booker T.
Washington has been termed by his own people and
others. When on that day at Harvard, five years ago,
a colored man for the first time in the history of a New
England university was officially honored, the degree
of master of arts, conferred by President Eliot, placed
Booker T. Washington on a pedestal visible as far
south as the British colony in the Carribbean Sea.
When he said subsequently that work and education
are the levers by which the race is to be lifted up, he
may have given unconscious inspiration to thousands
of Jamaica negroes. For there is no doubt that within
the past five years the blacks, who constitute the labor-
ing class, have gone to work with more of a will than
in years gone by. Whatever Booker T. Washington
has written has gone straight to the mark, whether it
applied locally or in the aggregate.
Not a few negroes have found their way from
Jamaica to the United States, but in most instances a
grateful return has been beaten after a limited stay.
The numerous tourists who now flock to the island for
health and pleasure have perhaps stimulated a desire
on the part of the Jamaica negro to share in the opu-
lence which most travelers so openly display. Wages
44 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [January,
are small in the island it is true, but then again to the
natives the living is inexpensive. Narrowed down to
its due proportion the colored race here is quite as well
off as anywhere.
Unquestionably it is to the soil that the negro of
the tropical countries will have to turn for his ultimate
salvation. The industrial activity with which the
negroes have recently identified themselves in the
southern states of this country has its mainspring in
the cultivation of the cotton fields. In Jamaica and
other islands of the West Indies nature has prepared
the ground almost in advance. Since sugar must in
the future be confined to extensive territories under
the management of central factories, other products will
be found available to the peasant class. Bananas, co-
coanuts and other tropical plants and trees will be
made to yield even more plentifully than at present.
And it is the hope of a large number of negroes that
the whites will come to realize that this is for the best
of all concerned and not oppose the peasant proprie-
tary.
But who is to do the work of the larger estates, the
plantations where labor is wanted during certain periods
of the year? This is a question which has caused no
end of discussion, and was solved to some extent by
the introduction of the coolies who came to Jamaica
under contract with the British government. But since
men and women share equally the labor of the field,
the peasant, it is said, can manage his own plot of
ground and be at the service of the planters when most
needed. That the advent of the coolies has from the
first stimulated the negro to greater effort there is little
doubt. Patient, saving, the coolie has told the negro,
by example that if the latter does not continue indus-
trious the other will take his place.
The writer visited many country districts and saw
IQOI.] HAS JAMAICA SOL VED THE COLOR PROBLEM? 45
the workings of the peasant proprietary system. Ap-
parently the people are happy in the knowledge that
they have roofs of their own over their heads.
The constitution of Jamaica reads that in order to
vote at the election of a member of the legislative
council for any of the electoral districts the individual
must have attained the age of twenty-one years. He
must be a British subject by birth or naturalization,
and during the preceding twelve months must be the
owner or tenant of a dwelling house within the district.
This applies to whites and negroes alike and there is
no educational clause inserted for the reason that it
could not find application since nearly everybody can
read and write. Perhaps a certain element of the white
population is not too enthusiastic because their black
and brown fellow voters thus easily qualify themselves.
But the preponderance of colored voters is there to
stay and the white opponents might just as well make
the best of it. Careful investigation has shown that
rather than put in nomination one of their own color
the blacks and browns have chosen a white candidate
where the latter's qualifications for the office have been
more pronounced.
As for the cry of superstition, which so many
writers raise in their treatment of Jamaica and other
West Indian islands, that perhaps is a matter which is
inherent in the African race. But not once during a
stay of several months in Jamaica did the writer en-
counter anything which would lead him to believe that
education in time would not make an easy conquest of
this very superstition. Not a few writers have at-
tempted to show with a vengeance that devil worship
was a feature of the Jamaica negro in common with the
blacks of Hayti. Whatever authority lies behind, it is
safe to say that hearsay is alone responsible. It is in
the nature of the colored race to be easily influenced.
46 G UNTON'S MA GAZ1NE
But rather than expose to view whatever shortcomings
the negro of Jamaica may possess the white inhabi-
tants should take pains to tell the visitors of his better
qualities. A parent does not usually chastise his child
in public. Perhaps the Anglo-Saxon element of Jamaica
might do itself a service by at any rate extolling those
qualities and improvements which the Afro- Jamaicans
possess and show. As for the United States and its
thousands of recently acquired colored wards in the
West Indies, it is to be hoped that it will deal con-
scientiously with the negro population which is to
witness a new era likewise under Anglo-Saxon steward-
ship.
MUNICIPAL POLITICS
The next great public movement in this country is
destined to be in the field of municipal politics. It is
in the nature of all rapid progress that it moves in
sections. The first progress in a new country is always
industrial. It is the very prosperity of its industrial
enterprise that brings progress in all other phases of
society. Population centers around industrial activity ;
hence the development of manufacture and commerce
brings cities. The relation of cities to each other and
to agricultural regions brings the railroad system, and
so the nation grows along the lines of its industrial
activities, and the character of its institutions is largely
determined by the nature of its industries. When the
industrial progress is very rapid, especially if abnor-
mally so, the growth and government of towns and
cities are largely left to their own momentum.
This is vividly illustrated in the sudden growth of
a mining camp. The kind of houses, the conditions
of the town, the civic regulations, the sanitation, the
laying out and care of the streets, are for a time left
largely to the individual impulse of the people, with
the result of chaos, disorder and neglect. In short, all
the municipal and social features of the town are subor-
dinated to the prime impulse that brought the town
into existence, namely, industrial success. Next to
industrial success, and largely contemporaneous with
it, comes the political interest, especially as affecting
the relation of the industries of the place to the state or
national government. Under these forces, which are
naturally aggressive in proportion to the industrial
growth of the place, the municipal interests are for a
long time neglected.
47
48 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [January,
This neglect brings a multitude of vices as the
town grows. The lack of sanitation, neglect of streets,
of proper water supply, of building regulations, of
opportunities for education, etc., begin to show them-
selves in the poor character and unattractiveness of the
town. Politics, which is an early development, imme-
diately interests itself in the police department because
that is the source of control. The consequence is that
the place becomes known as rich but crude and shoddy.
It is characterized as sacrificing civilization to the dol-
lar, its laws are ill enforced, the free use of money and
purchase of privileges and bribery of public officials
become common. As a natural consequence, public
attention is first temporarily and then permanently
turned to the improved elevation and purification of
civic life. It becomes a part of the policy and politics
to raise the political and civic character of its institu-
tions to the level of its industrial accomplishments.
This is the natural order of development under the
influence of rapid growth, and hence is apt to be char-
acteristic of new "bonanza" countries. It has been
conspicuously illustrated in the history of the United
States.
Our industrial progress has no parallel in any other
country, neither has the comparative backwardness of
our municipal governments. We have more national
wealth, we have made more and greater economic
improvements, we have a greater degree of personal
and political freedom, we have a higher standard of
prosperity and individual income than any other nation,
and we have a lower standard of civic life, poorer city
governments, and more municipal corruption and de-
bauchery than can be found in any other country. This
is not evidence of the political debauchery of the Amer-
ican people, but it is the result of a neglected field in
our governmental activities. The national energy has
igoi.] MUNICIPAL POLITICS 49
been devoted to other fields, and in these unequalled
success has been accomplished.
The admittedly higher standard of municipal gov-
ernment in Europe is easily accounted for by the fact
that the progress in European countries has been more
uniform, because it has been much slower than in the
United States. The progress has been more homo-
geneous and more gradual, it has taken no great spurts,
either in industry, population, form of government or
other conditions. Its several nations have practically
no alien population, no "trust '' problem, no free silver
agitation and no Tammanys, because it has had no
extraordinary industrial expansion, which within a
single decade called into existence new municipalities
and sometimes new states. The city of London, for
instance, has had its charter nearly a thousand years.
During the first half of the present century the
industrial development of this country was compara-
tively normal, the diversification of industry was slight,
cities grew slowly, and municipal government kept
comparative pace with the growth of national institu-
tions. Tammany administrations were practically un-
known. It was not until after the war, A, hen the
extraordinary growth of industry came, with multipli-
cation of manufactures, almost magical appearance of
cities and conversion of small cities into large ones,
that the field of municipal activities came to be rela-
tively neglected. It is not that municipal interest
became less, but that it failed to grow apace with the
industrial expansion and urbanization of population.
We have now reached the point, however, where the
problem of municipal government with all it implies
must receive national attention or its very neglect will
react upon our industrial progress.
The debauchery and corruption developed in our
municipal life has already begun to spread into the field
50 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [January,
of state and national politics. At the present rate of
city growth, before, the first quarter of the twentieth
century is closed, the majority of the voters of the
nation will probably be in the cities and large towns,
and the national government will be controlled by the
methods and forces that govern the municipalities.
The national questions of immediate importance, if
not yet solved have been put beyond the point of immi-
nent danger. The tariff question, for instance, though
not scientifically settled, may be regarded as safely dis-
posed of for the next few years. The gold standard
has been established and the stability of our monetary
system practically secured. Although much remains
to be done to perfect our banking system, it is not in
danger of revolutionary disturbance, so as to jeopardize
our financial and business stability. Unfortunately,
new problems have been injected into our foreign
policy which to some extent will unduly absorb public
interest and tend to lessen the concentration of atten-
tion on domestic affairs, but this is largely an affair of
the national government, which should not and it is to
IDC hoped will not be permitted, even in the hands of
cunning politicians, to divert the attention of the people
from the now imperative question of municipal gov-
ernment.
New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and other large
cities have become the nests of political pestilence.
They are the breeding places of political ' ' Black
Death '' and are rapidly infesting the atmosphere of
the nation with their disease-laden germs. There is
one element, however, in the character of the American
people which furnishes the foundation for optimistic
confidence ; it is, that they generally rise to the occa-
sion when demanded. They have occasionally made
mistakes, but when brought face to face with vital
issues involving the nation's welfare and future progress
MUNICIPAL POLITICS 51
they have always taken the highway, though the
temptation to go cross-lots was ever so great. This
feature has been illustrated in the last two national
elections. The people the masses upon whom the
sophistry of quack statesmanship is expected to have
the greatest influence, who are the victims of industrial
dislocation and come most directly in touch with the
disadvantages and receive the meager end of the bene-
fits of industrial and social institutions, are naturally
expected to lend the most willing ear to drastic meas-
ures and even to revolution. But in 1896, and again in
1900, although in sympathy with much that was pre-
sented in favor of disruption, they rose to the level of
wholesome discrimination, selected the genuine and
rejected the spurious with a decision that stimulates
faith in democracy and furnishes a guarantee to civiliza-
tion. There is every reason to believe, therefore, that
when brought face to face with the problem of munici-
pal government the American people will be no less
equal to the task.
With the comparative subsidence of national ques-
tions the subject of municipal government is naturally
coming conspicuously to the front. It is also beginning
in exactly the right place, New York city. New York
is the metropolis of the country, it is the second largest
city in the world, it is the greatest center in this coun-
try of wealth, learning, art, science, commerce and' in-
dustry, and, for reasons already stated, it has perhaps
the most corrupt and debauched government of any city
in the world. Its administration has been so long in
the hands of a debased and debasing organization that
those responsible for it have lost the capacity to blush.
Instead of being a government for the protection of the
city, it uses the political power and wealth of the peo-
pie to traffic in crime and protect criminals and levy
blackmail upon the unfortunate class whose duty it is to
52 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [January,
help and protect. It has converted politics into a cor-
rupt private business, to the scandal of the community
and disgrace of the nation.
This naturally tends to grow worse as it grows
stronger, and becomes more impervious to criticism.
Under the tendency to neglect municipal interests, these
corrupting and degrading methods have been systema-
tized into regular organized politics on the principle
that success succeeds and establishes the methods of its
success.
The corrupting methods evolved and so skilfully
adopted by Tammany have been imitated by the repub-
lican organization. It is no longer a question of differ-
ent principles or public policy that actuates the two
organizations in New York city, but how a division of
the spoils can be secured. While Tammany is in con-
trol of the administration, it is frequently more or less
in danger of dislodgment, and in order to perpetuate
itself it consents, according to the degree of danger, to
divide the emoluments with the other organization. It
has become a question of the division of spoils rather
than policy of municipal administration.
This evil has been generally believed to exist for a
considerable time, the evidence of it has been more or
less manifest for many years, but the proof of it now
exists in indisputable form. That the republican man-
agers and officeholders do trade with the leaders of
Tammany Hall is now susceptible of conclusive demon-
stration. We have in our possession the evidence that
such dishonest trading took place in the last election.
Although this vice is probably more flagrant in New
York than in any other city, it has become a feature of
municipal politics in all large cities.
This feature is responsible for the failure of many
wholesome efforts towards municipal reform. There
have been several spasmodic attempts to cleanse the
i 9 oi.J MUNICIPAL POLITICS 53
character of municipal politics, but when the movement
seems to reach anything like the danger point to either
organization the other comes to its rescue. This has
been done so many times and in so many ways that the
faith of the people in the wholesome integrity of the
local republican organization is not much greater than
in that of Tammany. It is probably true that 75 per
cent, of those who voted for McKinley in New York
city at the national election would be as reluctant to
give the republican party control of the city government
as they would to reelect Mayor Van Wyck. Indeed,
the public belief is that the municipal government un-
der the leadership of Thomas C. Platt would be in no
important sense better than the present one under
Richard Croker. This may be an unjust view. Mr.
Platt is not a duplicate of Mr. Croker, he is a cultivated
gentleman. It has not and probably cannot be proved
that he is a personal beneficiary of crime and the crim-
inal class. He has never yet had Croker's opportunity,
yet it is definitely known that those immediately under
him, who do his bidding, are ready to and do participate
in identically the same methods as do the men under
Croker ; indeed, that they participate in the same thing
with them. This belief regarding Mr. Platt and the
republican organization is so strong and knowledge of
the conduct of his subordinates is so conclusive that the
people will not and ought not to trust him.
Although a majority of the people of New York are
unquestionably opposed to Tammany and would gladly
rid themselves of Croker and all he implies, they will
not transfer the administration to the republican party,
which is so visibly tainted with Tammany methods.
This fact has now become so clear that a republican
nomination for mayor in New York city cannot be taken
seriously ; it is so clear that republicans who really want
clean politics would not favor it, and any effort to bring
54 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [January,
about that result would be properly interpreted as a part
of a plan to perpetuate Tammany and enable certain
republican politicians to divide with Tammany the reve-
nues from the city's degradation.
The fact that this is becoming an increasingly
definite view held by the citizens in both parties is a still
further hopeful sign that the people are getting ready
to face the municipal problem in a practical and efficient
manner. Past experience and knowledge of present
conduct on the part of the republican organization, and
its accommodating relation to Tammany, makes it in-
dispensable to any real success that the republican
organization be not trusted with any leadership in
municipal politics. There are many signs of real
awakening on the part of the public in this direction.
If the people take vigorously hold of this aspect of the
subject at the outset there are abundant reasons for
hoping and believing that a great step in the progress
of municipal government in this country can be taken
during the coming year. The movement to be success-
ful and the time is supremely opportune must be
under unquestioned leadership. The first, and perhaps
in this instance the only, proposition around which the
people should be asked to rally is the complete and un-
qualified dethronement of Tammany. This would
make the issue simple, the point of concentration easy,
and the motive for enthusiastic cooperation obvious.
The first thing to accomplish in dealing with the
municipal question is to inspire public confidence, in-
spire the faith of the people in the possibility of clean
politics and honest administration, with the dominating
motive to promote the welfare of the city, not merely
in making taxes low but in promoting public improve-
ments and ministering to the welfare of the people in
respect both to the conditions of living and the condi-
tions of doing business. If clean politics and honest
IQOI.] MUNICIPAL POLITICS 55
administration can once be assured, so that blackmail
and league with crime between government officials and
the criminal class shall disappear, so that the courts
shall be accessible to all citizens alike, regardless of
their relation to a political organization, then the oppor-
tunity for dealing with the real municipal problems,
like the sweatshops and other depressing features of
our city life, will be at hand.
An important and indeed vital question in connec-
tion with the movement for clean politics is the ma-
chinery for nominating candidates. It is at this initi-
atory stage where the Tammany and republican organ-
izations exercise their vicious control. The public in-
fluence in the caucuses is practically nil. The reason
for this is that through the power of patronage the
organization can control the delegates in the nominating
conventions, Tammany through municipal offices and
Platt through federal and state offices. Here is where
much of the trading between the two parties is done. By
having office-holders as delegates, they can manipulate
the conventions for almost any candidate. If they can-
not change the result by putting the screws on existing
office-holders they can buy delegates with the promise
of office or other reward.
It is in this way that Croker dictated the nomina-
tion of Van Wyck for mayor in 1897, and forbade the
nomination of Coler for governor in 1900. It was ex-
actly in this way that, for a money consideration, the
nomination of William L. Douglas for congress in the
1 4th congressional district, New York city, in place of
Adelbert H. Steele, last fall, was dictated, although a
majority of 36 of the delegates were voluntarily
pledged to Mr. Steele. In this case Tammany office-
holders were used to accomplish the result. So long as
the organization leader through his control of patron-
age can thus dictate the nominations, the progress
56 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [January,
towards clean politics will be very slow. This obstacle
to free nominations ought to be immediately removed.
All that is required to accomplish this end is to
substitute nomination by petition for nomination by
delegate conventions. What is needed is simply to
abolish the convention and let the nomination of candi-
dates be made by petition of registered voters. Thus,
for instance, in the nomination of congressmen, provide
that every name presented with the endorsement of
fifty enrolled republicans or democrats shall be placed
upon the nominating ballot in alphabetical order. In
this way, any person whom fifty voters of his own
party desire to have submitted to the people's approval
as a candidate can be put upon the list. At the legal
primaries the voting is open to the entire electorate of
the district, who are entitled to vote in the party pri-
mary. The person who receives the largest number of
votes in the secret ballot thus taken becomes the party
nominee, whose name is to go upon the official ballot
on election day. This would do two things : it would
give the voters not merely the right but the protected
opportunity to nominate, because it would enable every
person of any appreciable popularity to have his name
submitted to the voters of his party for nomination.
The organization might nominate a candidate but they
could not influence the voters any more than they can
now do so at the polls. In short, this would place the
nomination of candidates under the protection of the
secret ballot, which has already been adopted as the
last resource for protecting the citizen's vote at the
polls.
If Platt or Croker and their friends could in-
fluence a large number of voters to support their candi-
dates, they would be perfectly justified in doing so, be-
cause they could only do this by influencing the judg-
ment of the voters, which it is every citizen's right to
igoi.] MUNICIPAL POLITICS 57
do, but their power to coerce office-holders would be
gone. This would be the practical elimination of both
office-holder and boss from politics. With this accom-
plished, the people would then be directly in control of
the nomination as well as the election of candidates,
and popular elections would be an established fact.
Of course, the Platts and Crokers would unite in
defeating any such important legislation in the interest
of popular elections. It would be like signing their
own death warrant. Nevertheless, this is the great
needed first step, and this is the opportunity for the
republican party to show whether it is really in favor
of clean politics. The republican majority in the
assembly at Albany is so great that if the party really
believes in popular nomination as well as election, and
believes in placing the entire machinery of the election
in the hands of the citizens, such a law can be promptly
passed early in the present session. If such a bill is
introduced, as it surely will be, the opportunity will be
presented and the test applied to republican political
ethics.
This power over the nominations makes cowards
of most members of the legislature, because they know
they will perish in silence before they have a chance to
appeal to the people. For instance, when Mr. Platt
was elected as senator from New York there were
seven members of the legislature who preferred Mr.
Choate, and voted accordingly. They all died ; not one
of them passed the renomination caucus guillotine.
This power to kill at the threshold of nomination would
be held over the head of every member of the legisla-
ture of either party who dared to favor a measure which
would transfer the nominations from the delegate con-
vention to petition by the people. But there is this
saving fact which should not be overlooked, that if the
law is passed neither Platt nor Croker can thereafter
58 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE
behead its advocates in the primaries. Their power to
kill by preventing nomination would be gone, and so
the success of such a measure would carry with it the
self -protection of its supporters.
If the republican party, with the endorsement of
the national administration, would favor such a propo-
sition, nothing could prevent its becoming a law in New
York state before next March. With such a law, plac-
ing the nominating machinery in the hands of the
people, the work of clean politics and real progress in
municipal government would have begun, and once
fairly established in one or two large cities it would
soon permeate the political machinery and methods of
the whole nation.
EDITORIAL CRUCIBLE
IN CRITICIZING the fallacy of the idea of government
repression of profits, so prevalent in many of the social-
istic movements, the Richmond (Va.) Times very sanely
remarks :
"It is the duty of government to open the way and give every
opportunity and encouragement to human endeavor. If the government
will do this, we shall continue to progress and improve, and be sure the
results will take care of themselves."
This is eminently sound doctrine. It furnishes the
true line of demarcation between wholesome, protective
public policy and coddling paternalism. It states the
rational and scientific ground between a policy of doc-
trinaire do-nothingism and socialism. Yes, it is the
duty because it is the true function ' ' of government to
open the way and give every opportunity and encour-
agement " to individual endeavor, and, in order to give
this encouragement, it must protect the opportunities for
the endeavor of our own people to make the most of
their possibilities. The Richmond Times sounds the
note of true political science and wise public policy.
MR. ANDREW CARNEGIE'S promised contribution of
three million dollars to build and endow a technical
institute at Pittsburg is another mark to his credit.
This makes about fifteen millions Mr. Carnegie has
contributed to public libraries and other educational
opportunities for the non-collegiate class. Now if some-
body will endow an institute for systematic industrial
and political education, through local classes, home
studies and lecture courses, with a permanent home in
New York and, ultimately, branches in the leading
cities, the real educational work of the twentieth cen-
59
60 GUN TON'S MAGAZINE [January,
tury will have begun. There are persons of great
wealth who could well afford and would be glad to aid
in such work if they only realized its importance and
necessity. Peter Cooper did his work well ; Mr. Car-
negie is making effective contributions to the prepara-
tory work in this field, and the university settlement
movement is also doing good work in breaking the
ground. The time is now ripe for a well-equipped,
constructive institution which shall systematically con-
duct this educational work throughout the country.
THE CITY of Haverhill, Massachusetts, for two years
has had a socialist for mayor. His election was re-
garded as a significant political event and the experi-
ment has been watched with interest. The outcome is
that after two years the people of Haverhill, like the
people of Kansas in their experiment with populism,
have had enough. A republican mayor has been
elected by nearly one thousand majority over a combi-
nation of socialists and democrats put together. Vaga-
ries are good to catch popular applause, but they are
usually disappointing in practice, and this is a very
practical world. When we get to them we find that
single-taxers, populists and socialists, in their interests
and daily action, are wonderfully like other people.
Such experiments do but emphasize the fact that, after
all, society is not to be suddenly made over by fantastic
ideals, but the improvements must come, if at all, by
development and expansion along the same lines by
which all the progress of the past has come. Idealism
is not to be inaugurated by electing a populist governor
or a socialist mayor, but by gradually improving the
conditions which lead to the development of the char-
acter and raise the standard of life of the people. It
is not miracles but progress that is wanted.
i 9 oi.] EDITORIAL CRUCIBLE 61
THE Jacksonville (Fla.) Times takes exception to our
criticism of the democracy in posing as the friend of
full political rights of the colored people in the Philip-
pines while suppressing those of the colored people in
the South. But really, its tone is so moderate and its
spirit so fair that we feel like apologizing though plead-
ing not guilty. ' 'We grant, " it says, * * that logic is on the
side of our opponents we claim that all precedent and
experience sustains our position." Then, after ably
arguing that fitness is " a prerequisite in citizenship,"
it says :
"Let us pass out of the atmosphere of the campaign and talk seri-
ously and sensibly among ourselves. The South would gladly surrender
whatever strength in congress might be necessary to lay the specter that
has afflicted our land all these years republicans have the power to de-
mand this if they choose, but no man who has an interest in the South
could see without apprehension any proof that the administration de-
signed to bring back the rule of ignorance and prejudice to a great and
growing section of the union. "
Here the Jacksonville Times is assuredly right. Its
position is sound theory and good practice. If the
South would take its stand squarely upon some scheme
of fitness for citizenship and apply it alike to all its
people, and voluntarily accept representation in con-
gress upon the constitutional basis of its voting popula-
tion, it would at once put itself beyond criticism and
command the endorsement and cooperation of the en-
tire nation. The Jacksonville Times has sounded the
true note. With such a policy, prejudice would soon
disappear and the industrial prosperity of the South
would take on even greater stimulus.
A CONCERN in Trenton, New Jersey, which employs
some 200 young women making cigars, has adopted the
novel experiment of furnishing music for them to work
by. A grand piano is placed in the work-room, a com-
petent pianist employed to furnish music two hours
62 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [January,
each day, and a music teacher is hired by the firm to
furnish singing lessons free to the operatives during the
noon hour. The hope of the management is that this
will render thejlabor of the women less monotonous and
help to stimulate good feeling for their employers and
something of refined taste which shall show itself in
their domestic lives. It is a little on the plan of the
National . Cash Register Company in Dayton, Ohio,
which provides facilities for the operatives to take
recreation, baths, etc., in the company's time. What-
ever the practical outcome of such departures, they
show that the tendency has actually set in among em-
ployers to do something for their work-people besides
exacting the maximum work for the minimum pay.
Every experiment of this kind is an indication of a
better spirit toward laborers, which will ultimately
bring better economic relations between labor and
capital. When employers, of their own volition, begin
to furnish recreation and music, we may reasonably
hope that the opposition of the employing class to
shortening the working day, securing ample oppor-
tunities for education for working children, and protec-
tion against accidents, will soon disappear, and a
general system of old-age and accident insurance for
laborers will receive their active encouragement.
IN A CLEVER article on democracy and panic, the
Savannah (Ga.) News comes to the rescue of the New
York Times in its effort to shield the Cleveland admin-
istration from the responsibilities of the panic of 1893.
After quoting our statement that : ' ' Of course it was
not what Mr. Cleveland did, it was what it was feared
he would do that ushered in the panic. The panic came
ahead of him, but it came because it was known he was
coming with disruption in his hands," the News says:
igoi.] EDITORIAL CRUCIBLE 63
" But is it not rather true that the public doubted the ability of the
government to continue for an indefinite period the purchase of dollars
for 100 cents that we.re only worth 67 ? We think so."
This could hardly have been the case, because, as
a matter of fact, the government was not ' ' purchasing
dollars for 100 cents that were only worth 67." Under
the Sherman law the government bought silver at the
market bullion price, and at no time during the opera-
tion of that law was silver 129 cents an ounce, which
would be " 100 cents " in the dollar. Indeed, much of
it was bought at less than $i an ounce, some of it as
low as 73 cents. Nor was there any real doubt in the
public mind on the subject. It was discussed a little in
Wall Street, but it did not become a question of public
agitation and popular concern until after the election.
The Sherman law ought not to have been passed, and
its repeal was a wise step, but there is no ground for
attributing the panic to that law. Probably it would
have created a panic just as easily as did the threat of
free trade, if the public had become frightened regard-
ing it, but the fact is the public did not become fright-
ened at it and consequently it had practically no pan-
icky effect. The panic was the result of fear, and the
threat against the tariff, whether well grounded or not,
was what caused the fear.
INDICATIONS ARE beginning to appear that Mr.
Odell is not going to be exactly a "Me too" governor
of New York. It was taken for granted by many, and
apparently by Senator Platt, that Mr. Odell would
remember his creator in the days of his youth and take
his "orders" without too much explanation. On this
assumption, immediately after the election Mr. Platt
announced with great assurance that certain things
would occur : Mr. Aldridge would be reinstated at the
head of the public works department, and a state con-
64 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [January,
stabulary bill would be " promptly passed." These
announcements, like his recent statement that Mr.
Bidwell would not be removed "while I live," were
made with as much assurance as if he alone were to be
consulted. But something seems to have occurred.
Mr. Odell is beginning to act as if it were he and not
Senator Platt that was elected governor, and to the
surprise of Mr. Platt he has already indicated that Mr.
Aldridge cannot be reinstated, but that Governor Roose-
velt's appointment of John N. Partridge will be sus-
tained. And, as if something serious had occurred
behind the scenes, Senator Platt has suddenly discov-
ered that a state constabulary bill will not be passed.
With all this awakening to wisdom who knows but what
Mr. Platt may yet discover that he is not president of
the United States, and that after all it was William
McKinley who was voted for at the last national election.
Mr. Platt once before mistook himself for the president
of the United States, and that too was about the collect -
orship of the port of New York. The people of New
York did not share his hallucination and it took him
fifteen years to recover from the shock. He is some-
what older now and may be wiser by the experience,
but whether he recognizes it or not it is quite clear that
the people are now in no mood to brook his dictator-
ship, either in New York city, Albany or Washington.
IT SOMETIMES seems as if it were impossible for a
certain class of journals to approach anything bearing
on protection without losing their reason. In discuss-
ing the ship subsidy bill, the New York Times says :
" The whole theory of the ship subsidy bill is that Americans cannot
compete with Englishmen or Germans in building and running ships.
If any American were told that he was inferior in brains, energy, and
business ability to the average Englishman or German, he would resent
the statement as an insult. . . . Why is it that the confidence in
himself and respect for himself which is so strong in each American
seems to vanish when the question of aid from the government is raised?"
EDITORIAL CRUCIBLE 65
The Times seems not to know that the ability of
manufacturing industries in one country to compete
with those in another does not depend alone upon their
energy and business ability ; it depends on a great
many other things over which the managers personally
have no control. For instance, the civilization of the
United States absolutely prevents American shipbuild-
ers from procuring labor at the same cost as English
and German shipbuilders. That item alone might ren-
der it impossible for Americans to compete with the
English or Germans though they were not in the least
" inferior," etc., and might even be superior.
But there is one simple fact that conclusively an-
swers this superficial and essentially false statement of
the case. American shipbuilders have not been able to
compete with English and German shipbuilders though
they are admittedly equal or superior "in brains,
energy, and business ability." Then manifestly there
is some other cause that prevents their success. If they
could compete they surely would. It is out of no feel-
ing of philanthropy that they permit 95 per cent, of
our commerce to be carried in foreign bottoms. Why
do people who reason sanely and even profoundly on
other subjects seem so silly when they come to this?
As if it implied a lack of "confidence in himself and
respect for himself" for an American manufacturer to
admit that he cannot compete with an English or Ger-
man competitor when he is handicapped by some
adverse economic conditions ! Such talk is not reason-
ing ; it neither enlightens the people nor reflects credit
upon those who make use of it. It ignores the entire
economic element in the protective theory. The ship-
ping bill may not be a good bill, it certainly is not the
best method of protecting our shipping industry, but
such stilted, cock-sure, half-charged arguments will
never correct the error.
NEW ORLEANS AND NEGRO EDUCATION
In the October number of GUNTON'S MAGAZINE
certain comments were made upon the action of the
school authorities in New Orleans regarding negro
education, which have given rise to considerable dis-
cussion. The portion of our comment that has been
chiefly selected for adverse criticism is the following :
"New Orleans has decided to discontinue all
grammar-school education for colored children and
admit them to nothing above the primary grade.
Following so closely on the heels of the anti-negro
riots in that city, with the burning of the extensive and
expensive Lafon school, built by a negro for the educa-
tion of negroes, this is particularly discouraging. It is
in line with the increasing tendency in the South, first,
to provide an educational test for negroes at the polls ;
second, to restrict their educational opportunities so
that they will never be able to meet that test, thus
making disfranchisement as universal as possible."
Commenting upon this, the New Orleans Picayune
said editorially, in its issue of October 26th :
' ' It would be difficult to find in any pretended
statement of facts such an assemblage of falsehoods.
There is but one fact in the entire declaration, and that
is that the Lafon school was burned during an anti-
negro disturbance in this city.
"Feeling assured that GUNTON'S only wishes to
state facts in this as in every other matter, and that its
expressions as given above were made in good faith on
information supposed to be reliable, the Picayune will
briefly state the facts in the case.
" In the first place, the New Orleans school board,
which is vested by law to administer the schools of this
NEW ORLEANS AND NEGRO EDUCA TION 67
city, has never decided to discontinue grammar-school
education for negroes. On the contrary, the school
system remains just as it has been for years, with both
primary and grammar schools for colored pupils, as
well as white, but separate from the white schools.
The state of Louisiana also maintains in New Orleans
the Southern University, for the higher education of
colored people. There has never been any action by
the school board, or by any other official organization
in this city, discontinuing or closing the grammar
schools for negroes.
"As to the Lafon school, the facts are that it was
not built by a negro for the education of negroes, but
was erected and established by the city of New Orleans
for the education of negroes. The only way in which
the school was associated with Thorny Lafon was that
it was named by the city in his honor. Lafon was a
colored man who had amassed a considerable fortune,
which, by his will, was in large part left to charities,
such as orphan asylums, hospitals, homes for the indi-
gent aged and the like. While his bequests were
chiefly left to institutions for the benefit of persons of
his race, this was not entirely the case, for several
bequests went to similar institutions for whites, but
mainly to the Charity Hospital, where the sick and
wounded of all races and colors are cared for.
" Now that the premises upon which GuNTON'shas
based its line of argument against the white people
of New Orleans have been proven false, the entire
argument itself falls to the ground."
GUNTON'S MAGAZINE has no desire to misrepresent
or unfairly criticize the conditions existing or policies
adopted in any city or section of the country. On the
contrary, it is anxious at all times to present the exact
facts and discuss them with entir : fairness.
Therefore, in the light of the Picayune s denial, we
68 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [January,
have taken the pains to write to several reputable
authorities in the city of New Orleans to obtain addi-
tional testimony upon the subject. We have the follow-
ing in reply, from Mr. William Beer, Librarian of the
Howard Memorial Library, New Orleans :
"On interviewing the authorities of the school
board I find that the only change that has been effected
in the education of the colored children in this city has
been to suppress the sixth, seventh and eighth grades,
and increase the space and teaching power dedicated to
the first five grades. It was found by experience that
colored children who had passed through the earlier
grades preferred to enter the earlier classes of the four
universities for colored people in this city. Of these,
one is supported by the state ; consequently it came
about that the space and teaching power in the higher
grades of public schools was so little used that the per
capita expense became abnormally high. The result
has been that almost double the number of colored
children are receiving the benefit of education in the
public schools, and are being prepared for the higher
education which they will obtain either in the state
university for colored people, or in three other univer-
sities supported for their benefit. The Lafon school
was, as the article shows, only a name.''
We have also received thus far one other reply,
from Mrs. Julia Truitt Bishop, literary editor of the
Daily Item, one of New Orleans' oldest journals, and
which describes itself as politically independent. Mrs.
Bishop interviewed Superintendent Easton of the pub-
lic schools, and makes the following statement :
"In the colored public schools, the sixth, seventh
and eighth grades have been cut out by the board for
the reason of the small attendance in those grades.
Superintendent Easton says, that it is probable the
board will restore the grades when negroes show a
igoi.] NE W ORLEANS AND NEGRO ED UCA TION 6
disposition to take advantage of them. In the mean-
time there are four negro universities in the city, one
of which is free, and those who are anxious for a higher
education have this recourse."
It appears, therefore, that our original statement
was not a misrepresentation so far as concerns the fact
of negro education in the grammar grades having been
discontinued in New Orleans. The reasons assigned
for the change, in the letters above published, may be
entirely sufficient, but this is no adequate reason why
the Picayune, which is looked upon in the North as the
representative New Orleans organ of public opinion,
should flatly deny the facts in the case and accuse
northern journals of deliberate falsification when they
state these facts. If the Picayune had frankly admitted
the discontinuance of negro education in the higher
grades, and proceeded to defend it along the lines
stated in Mr. Beer's letter, it would have been a con-
tribution to public information on the subject and
avoided the unpleasant appearance of seeking to cover
up an indefensible policy. Conceding the situation to
be as stated by Mr. Beer, there is no reason why the
Picayune should not have discussed it in the same way.
A flat denial, under such circumstances, invariably cre-
ates the suspicion that there is a side to the case not
fully and fairly presented. Neither the New Orleans
press nor that of the South in general will find it easy
to convince northern people of the integrity and fair-
ness of southern policy as to negro education, when
northern criticisms are met by wholesale denial of facts,
coupled with something bordering very close on abuse,
instead of by temperate argument and discussion of the
true situation.
If, as is stated by Mr. Beer, the upper grades have
been closed because of the light attendance, and more
opportunities offered in the lower grades, while higher
70 G UN TON 'S MA GA ZINE
education for negroes is furnished by four universities,
we can see little ground for criticism of this rearrange-
ment on the part of the New Orleans school board.
The only reason for suspecting that there may be an
unrevealed side of the case is the fact of the Picayune s
denial that any change at all has been made.
We took occasion not long ago to commend in the
strongest terms the new policy of municipal improve-
ment in New Orleans, involving a rate of expenditure,
for a long time to come, hardly to be matched by any
other city in the country. We have no desire to mis-
represent the attitude of the city towards the negro
problem. Whether it is precisely true that the attend-
ance of negroes in the higher grades of the grammar
schools is so light that to discontinue these grades was
wise policy is a question of fact upon which probably
neither Mr. Beer nor Mrs. Bishop undertook to get
positive information. It may be that the new step was
designed, as is claimed, to distribute more effectively
the opportunities for negro education in the city, and
if so we are glad to withdraw our criticism. But it
could be wished that the general and traditional south-
ern policy towards the negro, politically, educa-
tionally and industrially, were such as to warrant
more complete confidence in the justice and necessity
of a step which, on its face at least, is a withdrawal of
an educational opportunity.
ONE OF MISS GOULD'S PRIVATE PHILAN-
THROPIES
CHARLES BURR TODD
Miss Helen Gould has many private charities of
which the public rarely hears. Of these the one that
interests her most no doubt is Woody Crest, her fresh-
air home and school for the children of the poor, at
Tarrytown, New York. The home is only about a
mile from her own country house, Lyndhurst, and is
one of those square, solid stone mansions with broad
piazza, wide hall and high ceilings which the Dutch
settlers were in the habit of rearing a century ago. It
stands on the crest of a wooded hill, one of the range
which divides the valley of the Hudson from that of
the Saw Mill River, and about two miles distant from
either. The view from its front porch is superb : rich
intervales green with grass and springing wheat and
shaded by groves clad in the crimson and scarlet of
autumn are at one's feet ; while farther away flows the
silver tide of the Hudson with dark mountains for a
background. Miss Gould bought the house, with thir-
teen acres of land surrounding it, in 1893, and at once
organized her beautiful charity. Its practical working
is best described in the words of Miss Miriam Jagger,
the matron in charge :
" Our fresh-air work begins on June ist. Eighteen
crippled girls, selected by the visiting physician of the
Hospital for the Ruptured and Crippled, are entertained
during June. July, August and September are devoted
to children, both boys and girls, from the Sunday-
schools of the New York city mission, who are chosen
by its missionaries. Each company of eighteen stays
71
72 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [January,
two weeks and is succeeded by a fresh one. The chil-
dren range in age from six to twelve years, and a mis-
sionary accompanies them in order that they may not
feel themselves wholly among strangers. The last two
weeks in September we take working boys over four-
teen, who are obliged to work to help maintain their
families and who could not afford a vacation at their
own expense, while the last two weeks in September
are given up to babies from the day nurseries of New
York.
"It is a fortunate child that comes to this breezy
home from the stifling heat of the tenements, and the
two weeks spent here usually give them a new lease of
life. Everything they get is of the best. We raise
our own vegetables both for winter and summer, of
every variety. The milk farm of the estate, with its
herd of thirty Jersey cows, adjoins us, and I send the
coachman down every morning with a requisition for
what is wanted. The children have fresh milk three
times a day. We have a gardener, a second man, a
coachman and three horses. Every afternoon the chil-
dren are taken to drive. Last summer the boys were
driven to the Hudson, to Miss Gould's private dock, to
swim. Then the Gould estate extends back nearly to
the Saw Mill River, much of it beautiful forests, high
timber, all of it free to us, and we take the children
through it on long rambles, instructing them in nature
studies. They tell their parents when they go back
that it seemed like heaven up here. A public-school
teacher in the city writes me that one of our boys, who
n her class, is doing splendidly this year, and she
attributes it to the health and strength gained with us.
" I do not consider the fresh-air work the most
important, however,*' Miss Jagger continued. "Our
winter school for boys is more so. This begins on
November ist and ends June ist. We teach the com-
igoi.] A PRIVATE PHILANTHROPY 73
mon English U ! ranches and manual training. This
winter we have sixteen boys. The well boys are
selected by the superintendent of the city mission,
Mrs. J. L. Bainbridge, who takes her missionaries into
consultation, and they select boys who are ailing and
need country air, or who cannot find a place in the
public schools, or who are orphaned with no home but
the streets. The lame and crippled boys are selected
by the visiting physician of the Hospital for the Rup-
tured and Crippled.
" We are quite proud of our class in manual train-
ing, under the care of Miss M. Buck, who teaches in
the best schools in New York city. She assures us it
is the best class she has in her work. Paper-work or
basket-work is given them first, then sloyd, then carv-
ing, then iron-work. Here are some of the articles
they have made."
Miss Jagger opened the door of the old-fashioned
china closet in the corner of the room and displayed
quite a variety of articles of excellent workmanship ;
indeed a skilled handicraftsman might have been proud
of them. There were paper boxes in great variety of
form and color, carved wood-work of various designs,
and a number of examples of ornamental iron-work,
as photograph holders, thermometer frames, paper-
weights, etc.
The students edit and publish a monthly paper,
The Woody Crest Monthly, the subscription price of which
is twenty-five cents. Formerly, type for this was set
up and the paper printed by the manual-training class,
but the compositor and printer, Edward Tape, a lad of
great promise, died in December, 1898, and there has
since been no one to take his place.
It is the intention to build a large addition next
summer and materially increase the capacity of the
school.
CIVIC AND EDUCATIONAL NOTES
German Germany is not only the pioneer but
Industrial probably the leader, to-day, in technical
Education industrial education. A considerable
portion of German success in foreign trade competition
may be credited to this cause, although its influence
has been much overestimated in certain quarters. The
fact of possessing practically the equivalent of the best
machinery, operated J)y lower- wage labor, is the chief
reason why Germany has been able to compete, not only
with England in foreign markets, but in the English
market itself.
The newest proposed step in German industrial
and commercial education is a commercial university at
Hamburg. For the present it will confine itself to
such scientific subjects as bear directly upon commerce,
but an effort is to be made to induce large industrial
works to cooperate with the new institution and make
it possible for students to obtain practical industrial
experience which theoretical training does not fur-
nish.
Berlin also will probably soon have a higher com-
mercial school, one of the special features of which will
be the study of English, as 33 per cent, of Germany's
export trade goes to England and her colonies and the
United States. The Prussian government is giving
much attention to the increasing demand for technical
training. The amount set apart for this purpose has
been increased nearly 75 percent, in four years, but, as
this is still considered insufficient, a special committee
has been appointed to see how the appropriation can be
further augmented.
74
Cl VIC AND ED UCA TIONAL NO TES 75
If we are to have the Philippine problem
Educating permanently on our hands, its ultimate
solution will come, not by force, but
through the slow in- working of industrial and educa-
tional influences. Like the bringing of one thousand
Cuban teachers to Harvard last summer, the recently
started movement to educate young Filipinos in the
United States is in the right direction. Already, two
of our leading universities, Yale and Columbia, have
each offered free tuition to five Filipinos. Of course,
the obvious defect in this plan is the possibility, even
probability, that these young men when once trained in
American ideas and familiarized with American oppor-
tunities will decline to return and work among their
own people, and there is no law that could compel
them to do so. The really effective step would be to
establish a university on American lines, right in the
Philippines. This would be a center of civilizing influ-
ence placed exactly in the spot where the need exists.
What we now spend every three or four weeks on
bayonet civilization in the Philippines would build and
equip a fine institution of learning in Manila, and this
is not to say that we can or ought, having come thus
far, to stop short of suppressing the insurrection. It
simply means that when peace is restored, if ever it is,
the same moral obligation that is now supposed to
justify our military expenditures will apply even more
forcibly to the furnishing of liberal opportunities for
the development of as high a state of civilization as
tropical conditions will permit.
Meager School Tne re P rt of M. G. Brumbaugh, COm-
Facilities in missioner of education for Porto Rico, is
Porto Rico virtually a strong plea for more teachers,
better facilities and better systems in the island. The
present facilities only provide for 88,000 students, leav-
76 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [January,
ing 300,000 children of school age without means of
securing an education. Small as the number of en-
rolled students is, it is far too great for the number of
teachers, the average being only one teacher for more
than 100 pupils. Such a proportion makes good work
impossible.
The report states that Porto Rico contains no pub-
lic school buildings and no public colleges or universi-
ties ; 80 per cent, of the people are illiterate, while
thousands of children are half -clothed, half -housed and
half -fed. There are now over 100 American teachers
and more are demanded, provided they can teach Span-
ish and are in earnest, not mere seekers after novelty.
Commissioner Brumbaugh's report is a reflection, in
certain respects, on the work of his predecessor, Gen-
eral Eaton, who was the first commissioner of education
under American rule, and is naturally criticized by
friends of the latter as being exaggerated and unfair.
It may be that sufficient recognition is not given to the
improvements started by General Eaton, but there is
little reason to doubt the substantial accuracy of Com-
missioner Brumbaugh's statement of the existing con-
ditions. They may be much better than under Spanish
rule and still be very bad indeed ; it is hard to imagine
what a school system can be with no public school
buildings. How the Porto Rican legislature deals with
this problem will be an interesting test of its capacity
to exercise the powers of government.
Why the teachers in the public schools
EngHsh Tongue! of New York cit y should be directed to
reduce the amount of time devoted to the
teaching of English grammar is one of the things that,
on the surface at least, is beyond comprehension. If
the object is to permit a larger attention to the study
of English by more approved methods than formal con-
igoi.] CIVIC AND EDUCATIONAL NOTES 77
ning of text-books on grammar, then without doubt the
course of wisdom has been adopted. But if the time
taken from grammar is to be given to anything except
English, it is a mistake, regardless of what the subjects
are that will take its place.
If there is any one subject in which American
school children are deficient it is the proper use of the
English language. How anybody, who overhears the
average conversation of a crowd of average school boys,
can come away with anything but the sort of feeling he
would have after witnessing a murder, is incomprehen-
sible except on the theory that the man is himself a
regular perpetrator of linguistic crimes. Fortunately,
there are many exceptions among school boys on the
side of good clean speech, but, in the large cities es-
pecially, the English language in the mouths of school
boys is largely one is tempted to say chiefly an out-
pouring of vulgar slang, barbaric sentence construction,
and pronunciation so drawling and slovenly that the
street gamin's influence is apparently proved far more
powerful than anything brought to bear in the school-
room. It may be that formal grammar study is being
discarded as bad in method, but, if any change is to be
made in the time devoted to English, double it! To re-
duce it would be a crime.
The retirement of Daniel C. Oilman from
Dr. Oilman and ^ . , .. T ,
Johns Hopkins the presidency of Johns Hopkins Univer-
sity, because of advanced age, has again
brought into prominence the extraordinary nature of
his service to American educational progress. Perhaps
no other educational institution in the country has
stood so conspicuously for high standards of research
and instruction, in preference to imposing buildings
and numberless "fad" courses, as has Johns Hopkins
under President Oilman's direction during the last
78 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE
quarter of a century. It is probably true, as the Phila-
delphia Press says in the course of an able editorial on
the subject, that no institution with means so small has
exercised so large an influence in shaping educational
methods and elevating educational standards in this
country. The custom of issuing university publica-
tions, containing the results of the original research of
experts, which has now become a feature of nearly all
our universities, originated at Johns Hopkins ; and, al-
though these publications never do and never will have
a popular character or influence, their service in afford-
ing a constant test of educational methods and the
character of current instruction, conveying to all col-
leges and universities the results of the best work that
is being done anywhere, has been and is of the highest
importance. Dr. Oilman's long association with Johns
Hopkins (he became president in 1875) has so identified
him with the institution that it will be hard to think of
anyone else in his place. Probably the man best fitted
to succeed him, to carry on the work in the same spirit
and with full appreciation of its high purpose, is Pro-
fessor H. B. Adams, head of the department of histori-
cal and political science in Johns Hopkins. It is en-
couraging to note that Professor Adams is the man who
is now being most prominently mentioned for the place.
THE OPEN FORUM
This department belongs to our readers, and offers them full oppor-
tunity to "talk back" to the editor, give information, discuss topics or
ask questions on subjects within the field covered by GUNTON'S MAGA-
ZINE. All communications, whether letters for publication or inquiries
for the " Question Box," must be accompanied by the full name and ad-
dress of the writer. This is not required for publication, if the writer
objects, but as evidence of good faith. Anonymous correspondents are
ignored.
LETTERS FROM CORRESPONDENTS
Ethnology at the Pan-American Exposition
Editor GUNTON'S MAGAZINE :
Dear Sir: I would be very glad if you would call
the attention of your readers to the department of eth-
nology and archaeology of the Pan-American Exposi-
tion. The exposition has provided a circular building
128 feet in diameter and has also arranged for a * Six
Nation " Indian exhibit on the grounds with a represen-
tation of the typical " Long House " of the Iroquoisand
an attendance of some sixty Indians who will be en-
gaged in such industries as basket-making, wood-work,
etc. As these Indians are pagans and have preserved
to a great degree their ancient customs, they will cele-
brate in appropriate seasons their various thanksgiving
festivals, dances and other rites.
It is not too early to assure the public that the
promises of such institutions as the American Museum
of Natural History, The Peabody Museum, University
of Pennsylvania, University of Chicago and the Buffalo
Society of Natural Sciences, as well as the friendly co-
operation of the ministers of the South American
republics, guarantee the success of this department. At
the same time, there is always room for more, and, as
79
80 G UNTON'S MA GAZINE
the aim of this department is not so much to get togeth-
er a large miscellaneous collection of relics as to afford
a means of popular instruction in American archaeology,
it is desired that students from all parts of the country
shall send on exhibits or memoranda descriptive of re-
sults obtained in their special fields of labor. For ex-
ample, one exhibit will show the animals domesticated
by the aborigines of the western continent and will ex-
plain why the lack of large useful animals capable of
domestication hampered the development of civilization
in the new world.
Through the cooperation of the department of
agriculture and horticulture, exhibits will be made of
the plants cultivated in both North and South America
before the discovery.
One point we would like to have made perfectly
clear, namely, that mercenary collectors will not find
the Pan-American Exposition a source of revenue,
although there would be no objection to a modest ad-
vertisement placed in a case of relics which are other-
wise of scientific value.
A. L. BENEDICT, Buffalo, N. Y.
QUESTION BOX
Future of the Democratic Party
Editor GUNTON'S MAGAZINE,
DEAR SIR: In your lecture on "The Passing of
Bryan," published in November, you said that it would
1 ' probably be a long time before a person of Mr. Bry-
an's stamp will again get possession of the democratic
party."
What signs are there of any new forces at work in
that party? Can anybody tell what it stands for if
Bryanism is taken out? What issue has it to rally
round that the American people have not already buried
beyond the hope of resurrection? For one I believe
that, although Bryan may drop out, what is meant by
Bryanism really represents whatever there is of oppo-
sition to the principles and tendencies of the now
dominant party in this country. Old issues are gone ;
old party characteristics are being merged into new
forms, and the issue of the future is going to be sharply
drawn in a deadly struggle ; vested interests and indi-
vidualism on the one side, against socialism on the
other. R. P. E.
Our correspondent has stated the case well. Bryan
may be gone probably he is, but the ideas for which
he stood are by no means gone. They may lull for a
little while, especially if business prosperity continues,
but with the first signs of business depression they will
surely reappear. All the issues which rallied under
the name of Bryanism were essentially of a socialistic
character; they expressed different degrees of doubt
and distrust of existing institutions ; they stood for
social and political revolution. The struggle in the
81
82 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [January,
future, and it may be in the' immediate future, will
indeed be a struggle between the right of individual
initiative and some form of socialistic experiment.
How deadly this struggle will be will depend largely
upon the wisdom of the owners of wealth and organ-
izers of industry on the one hand, and the informed
intelligence of the masses on the other. The character
of the struggle will largely depend upon how far social
prejudice and class feeling among the laborers shall be
superseded by knowledge and wholesome views on
industrial relations and political policies. If the wis-
dom of the wealthy is at all commensurate with their
interests and their duty to society, they will recognize
the importance of aiding the work of industrial and
political education among the masses as the only source
of safety for society against the havoc of disintegrating
experiments with socialism.
Is Civilization Decaying ?
Editor GUNTON'S MAGAZINE,
Dear Sir: The rapid growth of vice in our large
cities is an evidence of dry-rot at the heart of our civi-
lization, and brings to mind the beginning of Rome's
degeneracy so forcibly that it is no wonder men tremble
for the future of the republic. It is easy to be opti-
mistic when these things are only in the stage of being
merely signs and portents, but nobody in Rome realized
what was coming until it actually came. In these days
of fast living and chasing of money and pleasure, there
is a decay of individual conscience and individual sense
of strict morality. What can be done to turn the cur-
rent before it is too late? M. H.
The pessimism of our correspondent is unduly great.
There is no ' ' evidence of dry-rot at the heart of our
civilization. " The progressive forces in the community
i 9 oi.] QUESTION BOX 83
are neither dry nor rotten. The heart of our civiliza-
tion is sound, our people as a whole are honest, their
motives are upright, and their faith in progress is
strong. There are some evidences of political corrup-
tion and social impurity and industrial greed, but these
are really but specks on the surface of a general whole-
someness. We would not underrate the importance of
eliminating these evidences of vice in various forms,
but it is well to understand the case correctly and not
mistake a few miscreants for all society.
It is true that the most serious problems of the
twentieth century will be municipal. While the cities
are the seat of our civilization, they are also the birth-
place of economic and political iniquities. The chief
evil in the political methods of our cities is due, not to
the depravity of the people, but to the imperfection of
our political machinery. In the evolution of political
freedom we have at last reached the point of protecting
the vote of the citizen by the ballot, so that the evil
which has been so conspicuous during the greater part
of this century, of coercing and otherwise corruptly
influencing elections, has substantially disappeared.
The remnant of that corruption is now limited to the
methods by which candidates for office are nominated,
and very naturally that shows itself with the greatest
force in large cities. The next step in political progress
is to extend the secret ballot, which has given such
security and protection to citizens at the polls, to the
caucus machinery for nominations. The corruption
to-day exists at the sources of nomination. There is
where the buying and selling and trading is done.
There is where the corruption is practised. There is
where the office-holder is used as an instrument for
corrupt manipulation by the bosses. The masses of
the people are honest, and they protest against this,
they are disgusted, and their disgust is making them
84 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE \ January,
indifferent, not because they share the evil but because
it seems beyond their reach. The remedy for this is to
substitute nominations by petition and secret ballot for
the corruptible, patronage-packed, delegate conven-
tions. Then the people will have the same power in
nominating candidates for mayor that they have now in
voting for them after they are nominated. With high-
minded, characterful city officials, whose nomination
as well as election is made by the free choice of the
people, the jobbery, corruption and political vices now
so conspicuous in city administrations would rapidly
disappear.
The Anti-Tammany Campaign
Editor GUNTON'S MAGAZINE,
Dear Sir: What do you regard as the most feasi-
ble method of electing an anti-Tammany mayor in New
York city? The citizens' union is again in the field,
and so is the republican party. If they fail to come
together, as they failed in 1897, the people will have to
practically abandon one or the other organization if the
city is to be saved. Which shall it be? L. A. S.
There appears to be only one feasible method of
electing an anti-Tammany mayor, and that is to organ-
ize a municipal campaign and nominate a candidate out-
side the strictly party lines. The citizens' union made
a great many enemies by its blunders in 1897. It ar-
rogantly asserted to itself the sole prerogative of con-
ducting an anti-Tammany campaign, refusing definitely
to associate or enter into any arrangement with the re-
publicans. Such short-sighted egotism naturally pre-
vented the republican organization from cooperating.
This made unity of the anti-Tammany forces impossible,
and hence there were three candidates and Van Wyck
was elected. The citizens' union has learned some-
i90i.] QUESTION BOX 85
thing since then, and it is to be hoped the republican
organization has learned something, but there is one
thing manifest to all observers ; namely, that while the
people of New York are disgusted with Tammany rule
there is a very prevalent feeling that to transfer the ad-
ministration of the city from Tammany under Croker
to the republican organization under Platt would be
very little if any improvement, at least that the im-
provement would scarcely be worth the effort. In short,
the best people of New York, and probably seventy-five
per cent, of those who voted for McKinley, have no
faith in the Platt organization. For this reason, any
nomination for mayor in 1901 by the republican organ-
ization, under any circumstances, means defeat. It
must be general cooperation of all opposed to Tammany
and under leadership other than the Platt organization
or success will be impossible. Mr. Platt cannot lead a
successful movement against Croker. The people will
not follow him because they know, as the facts are now
in hand, that Mr. Platt, if not personally then through
his followers like Quigg and Bidwell, trades with Tam-
many, and the people have no faith in leaders who trade
with Tammany. Whether it is the citizens' union
movement or another and more largely republican
movement which shall make the campaign in 1901
against Tammany, one thing is absolutely certain, that
a successful contest cannot be made by the republican
organization.
Southern Representation in Congress
Editor GUNTON'S MAGAZINE,
Dear Sir: On page 34 of the Lecture Bulletin for
November isth the statement is made that: "The
southern states have representation in congress to-day
nearly one-third larger than they are entitled to be-
86 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [January,
cause of their suppression of the legal rights of colored
citizens.*'
I question the correctness of this statement. Is
not representation based on population and not on
voters? Will you kindly put me in the correct posi-
tion on this statement? I have seen it made several
times this fall but supposed it to be an oversight.
J. M. G.
It is true that representation is based on popula-
tion rather than on the number of voters. The four-
teenth amendment to the constitution of the United
States, which covers this point, says: " Representa-
tives shall be apportioned among the several states
according to their respective numbers, counting the
whole number of persons in each state, excluding
Indians not taxed."
But this same fourteenth amendment also provides
for exactly such a situation as is now presented in the
several southern states which have disfranchised the
negro. Here is the provision :
" But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of
electors for president and vice-president of the United States, repre-
sentatives in congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or
the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male
members of such state, being of twenty-one years of age, and citizens of
the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in
rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be re-
duced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall
bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in
such state."
There is no question, therefore, as to the propriety
and even the constitutional obligation of reducing the
representation of the southern states which have dis-
franchised the negro. As a matter of fact, this applies
not merely to Louisiana, Mississippi, North and South
Carolina, but to practically all the southern states, for
in no one of them- is negro suffrage much more than a
QUESTION BOX
87
farce. The extent to which the South has excess rep-
resentation in congress is a question of fact only, and
an approximate idea of it may be gained by comparison
of recent population and election statistics.
The 1900 census returns for total population are at
hand, but the figures showing the number of males
over 2 1 years of age have not yet appeared. We have
these figures, however, for 1890, and it is fair to as-
sume that the rate of increase in the total number of
males over 2 1 and the number of colored males over 2 1
has been substantially the same as the rate of increase
in total population in the various states. The follow-
ing table for the southern states shows the total num-
ber of males over 21, estimated in this way, also the
total vote cast for McKinley and Bryan this year, the
difference between the total number of legal voters and
those actually voting, the total estimated number of
colored males over 21, and the percentage by which the
legal voters outnumber those who actually voted :
STATE
Total
Males over
21, in 1900
(Esti-
mated)
Total Vote
cast in 1900
(Scatter-
ing votes
not
reported)
Legal
voters not
voting,
IQOO
Total male
negroes
over 21,
in IQOO
(Esti-
mated)
Per cent,
of excess,
legal vot-
ers over
those
actually
voting
Alabama .
Arkansas .
Florida
393,000
300,000
129 ooo
150,037
125,842
2C CQ6
242,963
- 174,158
QO J.Q1
170,000
82,000
51 ooo
161
138
263
Georgia .
Louisiana.
Mississippi
North Carolina
South Carolina
Tennessee . .
Texas
480,000
310,000
325,000
401,000
275,000
460,000
7il OOO
H6,735
6l,840
57,459
290,733
49,982
236,105
4.84. 800
363,265
248,160
267,541
110,267
225,018
'223,895
246 2OO
216,000
149,000
180,000
127,000
155,000
105,000
139 ooo
3ii
401
465
37
450
94
CQ
Virginia ....
424,000
261,945
162,055
147.000
61
It will be seen, therefore, that taking these states
as a whole, the number of possible voters is more like
three times that of the actual voters than one-third
more, as was stated in the Bulletin lecture to which our
correspondent refers.
88 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE
Of course, nobody believes that the extraordinary
discrepancy between the possible and the actual vote in
these southern states is due entirely to the failure of
the white people to vote. In some cases the difference
between the possible and the actual vote is much larger
than, even more than double, the entire number of
negro voters, which allows a liberal margin for white
non-voters and leads irresistibly to the conclusion that
practically none of the negroes voted.
Necessarily, the total vote cast in any election never
equals the total number of possible voters, but nowhere
else in this country is there anything approaching the
remarkable discrepancies in the South. Even in Cuba,
this year, in the first general election ever held, the
registration was much larger in proportion to popula-
tion than the vote in some of the southern states. The
statement, therefore, that southern representation in
congress is one-third larger than the conditions pre-
scribed by the fourteenth amendment justify, is well
within the facts. It would be conservative to say that
the representation in several of these states is more
than double what the constitution authorizes under the
conditions there existing.
BOOK REVIEWS
POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE UNITED STATES ; 1 846-
1861. By Jesse Macy, A.M., LL.D. Half leather,
316 pp., with bibliography and index. $1.25. The
Macmillan Company, New York.
The real distinction between factions, parties and
propagandists is very seldom distinctly recognized. In-
deed, it would be not far from the truth to say that they
are commonly if not generally confused. Yet there is
a real difference. Each pursues a different object and
frequently exercises a different influence. When we
confuse their functions we frequently misinterpret their
object. This subject is ably discussed and clearly de-
fined by Professor Macy in the little volume under con-
sideration. In discussing modern political parties he
defines a political party as a conscious organic agency
of the people for the attainment of good government ;
in other words, a conscious organization whose specific
object is to transform public opinion into public policy.
Professor Macy fixes the date for the advent of
political parties at the passage of the first reform bill in
England in 1832. We commonly speak of parties ex-
isting in England from the reign of the Stuarts, and
conspicuously after the revolution of 1688, but these
the author explains as political factions. They differed
from political parties in that they were in no sense
organs of public opinion. They did not represent any
public opinion ; they took no means to consult public
opinion or to ascertain what public opinion was on any
theme of current interest. They did sometimes stand
for a certain policy as against the government, but in
this they represented no expression of opinion by the
country. They were for the most part small bands
89
90 GUN TON'S MAGAZINE [January,
who, sometimes for good motives and sometimes not,
struggled for a share in the administration, for the
right to be near the throne, the chief reason being, it
is needless to say, that nearness to the throne brought
richer emoluments.
The political party differs entirely from this in that
it is an organized representative of external opinion,
the opinion of some section at least of the public, and
the object of the party is to transform that opinion into
law.
The propaganda group differs both from the fac-
tion and the party in that it is a more or less organized
body whose object is to create public opinion. It is not
so much the representative of any section of public
opinion as the proclaimer of an idea which it endeavors
to convert into public opinion. Lincoln seems to have
recognized this distinction, so well brought out by our
author. When Wendell Phillips called on him during
the war to remonstrate against his toleration of slavery,
urging that Mr. Lincoln make abolition and not union
merely the issue of the war, Lincoln replied : Your
function and mine are different ; yours is to make pub-
lic opinion, mine is to use it. You make public opinion
in favor of abolition and I will use it as fast as you can
make it.
Professor Macy has not merely related the history of
political parties in the United States, but he has dis-
cussed the subject. Moreover, he has discussed it with
a delightful clearness which makes the book at once
instructive and interesting. It is a little book which
contains a fund of information for young readers, and
may be read with interest and profit by students. It
discusses in a clear, concise manner the existence and
work of factions in the evolution of political institutions
and the preparation for the rise of responsible political
parties. Its account of the origin, character and devel-
i 9 oi.j BOOK REVIEWS 91
opment of political parties in this country is full enough
to be clear and interesting, and brief enough not to be
tedious. It brings the history down to the war. It is
an excellent contribution to the discussion as well as to
the history of the subject.
THE LAW AND PRACTICE OF TAXATION IN MIS-
SOURI. By Frederick N. Judson, of the St. Louis bar.
Cloth, 358 pp. E. W. Stephens, Publisher, Columbia,
Missouri.
Mr. Judson prepared this volume because he felt
strongly impressed with the fact that before citizens
can demand reform in taxation they must know what it
is, how it has been developed and how it has been en-
forced. The result is not a general treatise on taxation
but a history of taxation in Missouri, the present
system and proposed amendments.
In discussing the presenj; system Mr. Judson points
out its effective and ineffective features, some of the
former being the valuation of such properties as are of
an interstate character by a central state authority, the
assessing of the shares of stock of banks, trust com-
panies and domestic insurance companies, and the
method of collecting delinquent taxes. Among the
inefficient features are found inequality of taxation,
direct personal taxation and double taxation. The
separation of the sources of state and local revenue as
a remedy for unequal taxation, and adoption of an in-
heritance tax as an effective method of reaching per-
sonal property, are some of the changes suggested.
Although inheritance taxes are taxes on personal prop-
erty, Mr. Judson seems fully to appreciate the fact that
modern scientific investigation of taxation is resulting
in an almost universal trend of the best opinion away
from any further efforts at personal direct taxation.
Taxes levied on real property only, as near as possible
92 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [January,
to the sources of production, are most equitably dis-
tributed throughout the community, and reach the
owners of personal investments far more certainly and
uniformly by this indirect method than by any direct
forms of personal property taxation ever devised.
MONETARY HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. By
Charles J. Bullock, Ph. D. Half leather, 273 pp., with
bibliography and brief index. The Macmillan Com-
pany, New York.
If one takes up this book with the idea that it is a
consecutive history of the monetary system of the United
States he will be disappointed. It is really three essays
or lectures, put together in book form. The first is a
brief review of the monetary experience of the United
States, covering three centuries. Although this
survey of monetary history is crowded into 121 pages,
it contains a good deal of information upon the sub-
ject, and withal there is a streak of sound banking
doctrine running through it.
The second paper is a history of paper currency in
North Carolina and the third is on the history of paper
currency in New Hampshire. Both of these essays are
confined to the colonial era. Much of the matter, how-
ever, in these essays is of interest only to investigators
who desire early data, and shed little if any light upon
modern monetary questions. The author has taken
great pains in giving frequent and sometimes copious
foot-note references. It is, in short, a contribution to
early data upon the subject, which evidently involved
painstaking effort, and as such it is a creditable product.
THE ENGLISH SENTENCE. By Lillian G. Kimball,
instructor in English, State Normal School, Oshkosh,
Wisconsin. Cloth, i2mo, 244 pp., 75 cents. American
Book Company, New York.
i 9 oi.] BOOK REVIEWS 93
This book, which is intended as a continuation of
grammar study, ought speedily to find a place in the
high schools and normal schools for which it is in-
tended. The style is so easy and natural that the book
is readable as well as instructive. Its object is the
analysis af the English sentence in relation to the
thought embodied. This takes the study of grammar
out of the realm of rules and definitions only, gives it
life and meaning, and trains the student to interpret
the speech of others and give correct expression to his
own ideas.
The sentences for analysis have been chosen from
the writings of reputable authors of the present
century. No attempt is made to criticize the sentence
structure, the object of the analysis being to determine
the efficiency of the sentences in conveying thought to
the mind of the reader.
THE WORLD'S BEST PROVERBS AND SHORT QUOTA-
TIONS. By George Howard Opdyke, M.A. Cloth, 271
pp. Laird & Lee, Publishers, Chicago, Illinois.
This compilation shows a careful selection from
the most important collections in all languages, and a
classification quite different from the usual order of
such works. An alphabetical arrangement by subjects
has been adopted which weaves the proverbs into
essays, making the book readable as well as useful for
reference.
Disraeli said : "There seems to be no occurrence
in human affairs to which some proverb may not be
applied," and, judging from the variety of topics
covered in this volume, he would seem to have been
very nearly right.
94 G UNTON'S MA GAZINE
NEW BOOKS OF INTEREST
Spencer and Spencerism. By Hector Macpherson,
author of "Thomas Carlyle," and "Adam Smith."
Cloth, 241 pp., $1.25. Doubleday, Page & Co., New
York.
The History of Colonization. From the Earliest
Times to the Present Day. By Henry C. Morris. 2
vols., crown 8vo, cloth, gilt tops, 459-383 pp., $4.
The Macmillan Company, New York.
Jesus Christ and the Social Question. An Examina-
tion of the Teaching of Jesus in its Relation to some
of the Problems of Modern Life. By Francis Green-
wood Peabody, Plummer professor of Christian morals
in Harvard University. The Macmillan Company,
New York.
The Settlement after the War in South Africa. By
M. J. Farrelly, LL.D., barrister at law, advocate of the
supreme court of Cape Colony. 8vo, cloth. 321 pp., $4.
The Macmillan Company, New York.
The Venetian Republic: Its Rise, its Growth, and its
Fall. 421-1797. By W. Carew Hazlitt. 8vo, cloth,
gilt tops, maps, 2 vols., 814-815 pp., $12. The Mac-
millan Company, New York.
The United States Naval Academy. By Park Benja-
min, of the class of 1867. 494 pp., $3.50. A history
of the evolution of the American navy. With 70 illus-
trations. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York.
Two Women in the Klondike. The Story of a Jour-
ney to the Gold- Fields of Alaska. By Mary E. Hitch-
cock. $3. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York. With a
folding map of Alaska and 500 illustrations.
The Life of William Ewart Gladstone. Edited by Sir
Wemyss Reid. 2 vols., $4.50. G. P. Putnam's Sons,
New York. Containing over 200 illustrations.
FROM DECEMBER MAGAZINES
"The close of the century is signalized by a nota-
ble step taken by Russia in abolishing deportation as a
part of her penal system, with the exception of a small
penal colony for political and habitual offenders. This
is a step long contemplated by Russia, and now deter-
mined upon after the most positive evidence of the evils
of deportation to Siberia. Russia is about to make pro-
vision in prisons for 14,000 more prisoners; and she
has appropriated 3,520,000 for the new buildings
which must be erected for the 8,000 who cannot be ac-
commodated in existing prisons." S. J. BARROWS, in
" Progress in Penology ;" The Forum.
"If only Gutenberg could return to the world,
with what astonishment would he behold his art,
fit for delicacy and learning, used to record the
tattle- tattle of a not too refined society? Would
he not feel shame at his own invention, when he
witnessed the ardent ingenuity wherewith men and
women intrigue to obtain press notices for themselves
and their friends, the active indiscretion wherewith the
journals belittle the heroes of our time? And might
he not justly refute Lamartine, declaring that the
printing press is not the telescope, but the microscope
of the soul?" CHARLES WHIBLEY in "Jubilee of the
Printing Press;" The North American Review.
"The problem in China is not how to get the most
work out of a man, but how to divide a given piece of
work so as to give the greatest possible number of men
a chance to make a day's living out of it. The cheap-
est thing in the empire is a man, and therefore labor-
saving devices are not in demand. How cheap this
Chinese labor actually is may be better understood
95
96 G UNTON'S MA GAZINE
when it is known that, in certain parts of the empire,
Chinese carpenters have proved that it is cheaper to
saw up logs into planks by the use of hand labor than
with a sawmill; while in the great Kaiping mines,
which have been developed under English engineers,
it has been found cheaper to bring the coal to the sur-
face by the use of human labor than to use engines,
stationed at the very mouth of the mines and run with
coal taken from them." ' 'Highways and Byways;"
The Chautauquan.
"The law of consolidation of capital and division
of labor holds as good in the field of distribution as in
that of production. It is inevitable, and it is profitable.
The department stores and the mail-order stores sell
for 10 per cent, instead of for 30 per cent, profit, and
the consumer thus saves 20 per cent. The profit ob-
tained by the distributor of staples, on the way from
the farmer to the consumer, is less than one-quarter
what it was thirty years ago. The farmer secures a
wider market, the consumer gets his staples just so
much more cheaply, and the enterprising middleman
avails himself of improved banking and transportation
facilities to do a larger business. This is why he has
adopted as his motto, 'Quick sales and small profits.'
"The real benefits of 'capitalistic production,' as
compared with production on a small scale, are two-
fold. The first and greatest benefit of industrial com-
binations goes to the whole body of the community as
consumers, through reduction in prices. The next
benefit, and that next most largely distributed, goes to
the workers through increase of wages, and thus it hap-
pens that the workingman gains simultaneously in two
ways. He gets more money for his work and more
goods for his money." CHARLES R. FLINT, in "Indus-
trial Combinations in the United States;'' Gassier s
Magazine.
MICHAEL G. MULHALL
(Courtesy of Leslie's Weekly; Copyright by Judge Co., 1901)
See page 158
GUNTON'S MAGAZINE
EEVIEW OF THE MONTH
Just as we go to press comes the news of
t]be death of the a S ed soverei g n of the
British, empire. Though daily expected
for more than a week, the certainty that Queen Victoria
is no more is none the less an impressive fact, and will
shock the thought of Christendom into even keener
appreciation of what the great epoch marked by her
reign has meant to the world than the formal passing
of the old century into the new, three weeks ago, could
do, despite the tons of retrospective literature and
floods of sermonizing that accompanied the event. The
world sees most vividly through personality, and there
is something that profoundly stirs the imagination and
brings the marvels of the greatest century of human
progress sharply down into the foreground in the pass-
ing away of a monarch whose life and reign have been
so closely identified with it all as even to have given
it the name of the " Victorian Era/' Personally, the
queen was not a history -making monarch. She was an
exalted type of womanhood, but not a particularly
aggressive or determining force in the great world
movements that were developing and coming to fruit-
age all about her. The marvelous progress of the
epoch that has taken her name was the work of the
world, not of any individual or group of individuals ; it
was the work of the masses struggling for broader
liberties, of science seeking for broader knowledge, of
97
98 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [February,
invention reaching out for completer mastery over
nature, of literature, art and music, striving to express
the highest and finest thought of the age. Victoria's
place in history will not be that of England's most
brilliant sovereign ; rather, it will be that of the
worthy head and representative of the greatest empire
upon earth during the most illustrious period in human
history. She will stand out less as a personality than
as the personal embodiment of a wonderful age.
In our next issue, probably, we shall review some
of the epoch-marking features of this reign and try to
point out their significance. It is a striking and im-
pressive evidence of the growing solidarity of the
English-speaking race, no less than of the worldwide
respect, transcending national bounds, for a life whose
personal influence stands out far above its political, that
in this city to-day the flag is everywhere floating at
half-mast.
After lone delays, the representatives of
Settlement at ,, . .T* *j
Last ia China foreign powers in Peking, on Decem-
ber 22d, signed the note conveying to
the Chinese government the conditions upon which
peace could be restored. The demands submitted were
grouped under twelve distinct heads, providing in brief
as follows :
1. China must send a special mission to Germany with the apologies
of the Chinese government for the murder of Baron von Ketteler, and
erect a monument to his memory on the spot of his assassination.
2. The severest punishment for ringleaders in the Boxer uprisings,
and suspension for five years of official examinations in all cities where
foreigners have been subjected to outrages.
3. Reparation to Japan for the murder of Mr. Sujyama.
4. Erection of a monument in every foreign cemetery in China which
has been desecrated by the Chinese.
5. Prohibition of the importation of war materials.
6. Indemnities to all foreigners who have suffered in person or prop-
erty during the Boxer uprisings.
1 90i.] REVIEW OF THE MONTH 99
7. A permanent guard maintained by each of the powers for its
legation in Peking.
8. Destruction of forts between Peking and the sea.
9. Military occupation by the powers of certain points between
Peking and the sea.
10. Publication by the Chinese government throughout the empire,
for two years, of decrees prohibiting membership in any anti-foreign
society, under penalty of death, and holding all viceroys and governors
responsible for the maintenance of order within their districts.
11. China to give commercial and industrial treaty rights within the
limits of the empire, as may be desired by the powers.
12. Reform of the Chinese department of foreign affairs.
As might be expected, the Chinese peace commis-
sioners vigorously objected to the provisions for de-
stroying the forts and permitting permanent guards for
the legations in Peking, but it was clearly hopeless to
offer any important resistance and the commissioners
were ordered to sign within a week after receipt of the
note. The act of signing, on January I3th or i4th,
closed the first chapter in the history of the final march
of western civilization into the great oriental empire
that has so long struggled against all external influ-
ences. Already the British minister at Peking has
proposed a new commercial treaty with China, securing
new rights and guarantees of protection for foreign
industry and trade within the empire. It is along this
line that progress in the immediate future may be
expected. The genuineness or otherwise of the pledges
not to engage in any partition of China will have to be
determined by experience. Faithfulness to this pledge,
unless the Chinese government should utterly break
down and chaos ensue, will be the test of the moral
integrity of Christendom's attitude in the East.
Endless The familiar report that Aguinaldo is
Philippine dead comes along with the other equally
Warfare monotonous items of news from the Phil-
ippines during the past month. Whatever may have
100 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [February,
become of the Filipino leader, it is certain that there is
a widespread revival of insurgent activity, especially in
Luzon, and this despite the fact that early in December
some 2,200 natives surrendered to General Young at
Santa Maria and took the oath of allegiance to the
United States. It will be remembered that President
McKinley in his letter of acceptance, on September 8th
last, declared that if it were not for the hope that Bryan
would be elected and withdraw American authority, the
Filipino insurrection would speedily cease. "But for
these false hopes," he said, " a considerable reduction
could have been had in our military establishment in
the Philippines, and the realization of a stable govern-
ment would be already at hand." This was certainly
an optimistic view of the situation ; much more so than
the statement by Secretary Root less than a month ago,
to the members of the Senate military affairs commit-
tee, that so long as present conditions in the islands
continued we should need the full strength of our army
of 100,000 men. On January 3d Senator Sewell of New
Jersey, a strong supporter of the administration's Phil-
ippine policy, while arguing in the senate for the army-
increase bill, made this significant declaration, equally
out of joint with the president's predictions :
" It is perfectly apparent to anyone who will look into the situation
that we have got to continue about the same number of men (76,000 to
79,000) for some time to come. It may be for one or two years, or three
years, but it ought not to be limited. . . . There is a war going on,
a very serious war. It is not in great shocks of battle, which may occur
one day in a month, but the loss is equal to it, taking the aggregate in a
month or three months. Our troops to-day are being denuded by losses
which grow out of the little posts, where they are turned out as scouts,
and where they are ambushed, and all that kin a of thing. The country
has got to face the situation boldly as to whether we are to uphold our
flag in the Philippines or not. If we are and I take it that we shall
we certainly must provide the men with which to do it."
As a part of our policy of dealing with the situation
we have begun an exile or banishment system, deport-
REVIEW OF THE MONTH 101
ing Filipino leaders to the island of Guam, pending the
conclusion of peace ; which from the present outlook
very likely means that several of these men have seen
the last of their native land. It is still further inter-
esting to note in connection with the Philippine situa-
tion that, according to a special report from Major
Edie, there are some thirty thousand lepers in the
Visayas group, with practically no provision for isolat-
ing them or preventing a spread of the disease through-
out the archipelago at any time. This is a problem
that must be handled promptly and on a thoroughgoing,
wholesale plan, involving nobody knows how much
expense in ferreting out the unfortunate victims from
their hiding places and conveying them to some perma-
nent quarantined reservation. Clearly, those who
defend our Philippine policy as a purely philanthropic
rather than financially profitable enterprise have the
bulk of the experience to support them thus far.
Popular There is no question but that the Amer-
Weariness with ican people are becoming more and more
tired of the entire Philippine complica-
tion, and are rapidly losing patience with the desultory
movement of affairs. The Filipinos want self-govern-
ment, and the long continuance of this insurrection
offers increasing evidence of their probable capacity to
carry it on, at least as well as many other self-governing
peoples of relatively low civilization, with whose affairs
we do not consider it our mission to interfere. The
petition from some 2,000 leading Filipino citizens of
Manila and vicinity, read in the United States senate
on January loth, is another evidence of the persistence
and growth of the independence idea. The declaration
in this petition that, since the revolution began, the
peaceful natives engaged in their ordinary vocations
have liberally supported the Filipino soldiers in the
102 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [February,
field and seem disposed to support them so long as the
war lasts, is amply borne out by the statements of
General MacArthur in his official report, summarized
in our December issue. At present there seems little
evidence that the administration contemplates any
change of policy. Senator Hoar's resolution providing
that an armistice be granted the Filipinos, and that a
number of their leaders be brought to the United States
at our expense, with the view of arranging a suitable
and honorable termination of the miserable situation
now existing, was laid on the table on January nth by
a vote of 32 to 19, the only republicans voting for it
being Senators Hale and Hoar. We believe the time
will come, however, when Senator Hoar's attitude in
this matter will be regarded as that of high statesman-
ship, representing the true line of policy for our gov-
ernment ; and that if we persist in the extreme policy
of subjugation by force, with complete annexation and
no prospect of ultimate independence for the islands, it
may be the rock of disaster for the administration's sec-
ond term.
Out in Hawaii, too, the policy of terri-
Thc Hawaiian ' , ^ ,. J ,. ., ,
Elections torial expansion beyond the limits of
natural affinity and fitness has lately re-
ceived a significant setback. At the election, held early
in December, for the first delegate to be sent from the
new territory to the United States congress, Robert
Wilcox, a half-caste Hawaiian, aggressively represent-
ing the interests of the old native monarchy, was
elected over his two competitors, one a republican and
the other a democrat, who were understood to be favor-
able to American rule. The strangeness of this lies in
the fact that, for years before annexation took place,
the Hawaiian people were represented as vainly and
pathetically knocking at our doors, fairly pining away
igox.] REVIEW OF THE MONTH 103
with anxiety to get in. It will be remembered how the
reports of the public grief when our flag went up in
Honolulu came as a shock of surprise ; and the recent
election still further confirms the growing impression
that the supposed annexation sentiment was all the
time chiefly the creation of a group of American and
English residents, with scarcely any native support.
In fact, it is becoming clearer all the time that the
nation, which for more than a century has stood as the
shining type of political independence and advocate of
the right of self-government, is going to find the re-
sults of that example and influence confronting it, either
in sullen resentment or forcible resistance, wherever it
attempts to reverse its own principle of freedom by
forcing its authority upon unwilling peoples. It is a
strange and unwelcome situation that we should be en-
gaged in rooting up growths of our own planting.
The Great Meanwhile, the momentous question of
Constitutional the status of our new dependencies, un-
der the constitution, is at last before the
supreme court. A number of cases have been pre-
sented and argued but the issue involved is substan-
tially the same in all. The first cases to go before the
court were those involving the right of the government
to collect tariff duties on certain merchandise brought
from the Philippines and Porto Rico into the United
States. The Philippine case is that of a soldier named
Pepke, who brought back with him from the islands a
number of diamond rings which were subsequently
confiscated by the government. The Porto Rico case
is that of John H. Goetze, who paid duties on tobacco
imported from Porto Rico and is contesting the right
of the government to collect such duties. In both cases
the point at issue is whether these islands are parts of
the United States in the sense that would bring them
104 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [February,
under the constitution and require free rights of trade
with the states. Argument on these two cases was be-
gun in the supreme court on December i/th and con-
cluded on the 2oth, the government's contention being
that these islands are not necessarily under the consti-
tution but were annexed by the superior power of con-
gress and may be governed by congress. It is an issue
of extraordinary interest, involving an interpretation of
the intent of the constitution to a degree of importance
which has hardly been equalled since the great Webster-
Hayne debates in the senate.
Attorney-General Griggs, in presenting the gov-
ernment's case, contended for the extra sovereignty
rights of congress, along lines well indicated by this
brief extract :
1 ' They [the f ramers of the constitution] gave to
the nation they founded the usual untrammeled powers
of making war and treaties, the most frequent methods
by which foreign territory is acquired by the nations
of the earth. If they intended to restrict or limit their
own government in these respects, would they not have
done so in express terms? They did not do so by any
language \vhich can even be suggested as capable of
such import, and it is therefore right nay, necessary
to conclude that they did not intend to do so. ...
"Is the United States so bound and tied by this
constitution of ours that it can never acquire an island
of the sea, a belt across the isthmus, a station for a
naval base, unless it be at the cost of admitting those
who may happen to inhabit the soil at the time of pur-
chase to full rights as citizens of the union, no matter
how incongruous or unfit they may be, while the
foreign-born inhabitant or the aboriginal red man must
depend upon the grace of congress, though he dwell
half a century among us?"
On the other hand, the contention of the claimants
igoi.] REVIEW OF THE MONTH 105
is, in the language of Mr. Lawrence Harmon, one of
the attorneys for Pepke :
' ' By the treaty of peace between the United States
and Spain, the Philippines became a part of the United
States ; the government and the citizens of the United
States both enter said islands under the authority of the
constitution, with their respective rights defined and
marked out ; the former can exercise no power over the
person or property of a citizen of the United States
beyond what that instrument confers, nor lawfully
deny any right which it has reserved. . . . The
president of the United States has no legislative power.
The imposition of customs duties upon commerce be-
tween these islands and other parts of the United
States after the treaty of peace and exchange of ratifi-
cations, by executive order, is without lawful authority,
and the seizure of the property of the plaintiff in error,
a citizen of the United States, under such pretended
authority, constitutes a taking of his property without
due process of law."
The decision in any one of these cases will practi-
cally be the decision for all. It is now expected that
the court will declare against the government's conten-
tion and in favor of the position that uniform regula-
tions must prevail throughout all the annexed terri-
tories. If so, we shall begin without further delay to
see some of the consequences of our colonial policy.
The bars will be thrown down, and American capital-
ists will be able to take the most modern machinery
into these various groups of islands, employ ten-cent-a-
day labor, and import the products into the United
States in competition with American industries, to say
nothing of the free immigration of coolies into the
United States to compete with American laborers. Not
only this, but each of these possessions will have the
status of regular territories of the United States, in line
106 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [February,
for statehood. Whoever imagines that any effort to
convert them into states is an exceedingly remote con-
tingency should abandon the delusion without delay.
Already there is discussion of the possible admission
within a few years of both Hawaii and Porto Rico.
Whichever way the court decides, the real solution
of the problem will not be reached. If the constitution
goes with the flag, then, as we have just pointed out, it
is bars down and an open road for admission of these
groups of wholly unfit population to the privileges of
American citizenship. On the other hand, if the right
of congress to govern these possessions outside the con-
stitution is sustained, then the very principle of our
democratic institutions is undermined. Whether that
principle has been violated before, in minor instances,
does not modify the fact that to violate it now, in order
to permit the beginning of a new and distinctly monar-
chical policy of annexation and subjugation of alien
peoples without their consent, would mark the first
really great and fundamental departure from the rock
on which our republic was erected.
The only permanently safe solution of this prob-
lem is to adopt the principle that, where the flag cannot
go without danger to our institutions, it must not go at
all. We must adopt in the Philippines the policy we
have pursued in Cuba, and if we do so we shall be more
honored in this return to the principles of true democ-
racy than we ever could be in arbitrarily forcing through
a mistaken policy under the shallow " spread-eagle "
plea that where the flag has once been raised, whether
right or wrong, it must never come down.
The wave of capitalistic consolidation
Deals Railf ttat ^ as been swee P in over tne country
during the last few years, reaching its
height in 1899, seems to be finding its final expression
REVIEW OF THE MONTH 107
in gigantic railroad combinations. Within the last few
weeks negotiations have been under way looking to-
wards the consolidation of a system of roads that would
give a through transcontinental line under one single
management, including steamship lines operating in
both the Atlantic and the Pacific. This consolidation,
in which the chief promoter is understood to be the
master railroad organizer James J. Hill, of the Great
Northern, will if completed probably include the Great
Northern Railway, the Northern Pacific, the Chicago,
Milwaukee and St. Paul, and the Erie Railroad ; the
total mileage being nearly 20,000. At the same time,
another group of roads have been passing under one
control here in the East, including more especially the
lines engaged in the coal-carrying trade. Mr. J. P.
Morgan, who represents the controlling interest in the
Philadelphia and Reading road, has recently acquired
also the Central Railroad of New Jersey and the Le-
high Valley, which, with certain other smaller lines,
will give to the Morgan interests more than sixty per
cent, of the eastern coal shipments. The other impor-
tant coal-carrying roads being under management
friendly to the Morgan lines, it is estimated that fully
96 per cent, of the coal tonnage will, when these re-
organizations are complete, be handled under practi-
cally uniform policy.
Railroad consolidation is no new thing. It has
been progressing for many years, but never before has
it taken on such tremendously far-reaching proportions.
Perhaps it is natural that this should come a little later
than the great tide of reorganization in manufacturing
industries, for the reason that railroad interests are so
vast, so widely separated geographically, subject to
such complex conditions, and with interests frequently
very antagonistic. If properly financed, however, and
not burdened with extravagant obligations which re-
108 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [February,
suits cannot justify, the economy of consolidation is
obvious, not to mention t}ie relief it will give from dis-
astrous rate wars and trie constant temptation to rate
discriminations. The chairman of the inter-state com-
merce commission, Hon. Martin A. Knapp, states this
aspect of the case clearly in the following interview,
based obviously upon hard experience with the difficult
problem of preventing discrimination where railroads
are prevented by law from pooling their earnings :
' While combinations of this kind are not very desirable, in the
broad sense, still I hold them preferable to conditions brought about by
existing laws, especially the anti-trust law, with reference to large and
small shippers by the public carriers, and which have militated against
the latter to the extent of almost driving them completely out of
business.
"One of these things must happen the legalized pooling ' of com-
petitive traffic, general consolidation or government ownership. . . .
" I hold that railroad rates should be as uniform as the postal rates,
and that the business man, small or large, should be no more concerned
about his neighbor getting an advantage through lower traffic rates than
about postage."
Meanwhile, the great field of manufac-
Prcsent Status . . ' . ,
of Trusts tunng industry is characterized at present
by somewhat of a reverse movement.
The high-water mark of reorganization has been reached
and passed, and the more prominent feature now is the
growth of new competition. The recent out-reachings
by the Carnegie interests, including the proposed build-
ing of a vast new tube plant at Conneaut Harbor, though
seeming to be a part of the trust movement are really
steps in the direction of new competition with some of the
great steel and iron consolidations. The New York
Journal of Commerce and Commercial Bulletin, which has
for a long time occupied a position largely unfavorable
to trust organization, points out in a recent review of
the situation that the value of the interests which have
passed into great consolidations is much less than is
popularly supposed, and supports this by showing that,
igoi.] REVIEW OF THE MONTH 109
as a rule, only the preferred stock and bonds of the new
" trusts " represent the actual value of the properties
included ; the common stock being for the most part
non- dividend earning, for the present at least. This
conclusion is at least plausible, in view of the fact that
in the organization of most of the large new combina-
tions it was a practice to give away common stock as a
bonus to the promoters, and to the financial interests
that could be persuaded to buy the bonds. It is clear
at any rate that the gross amount represented in the
capitalization of the new concerns gives a considerably
exaggerated idea of the extent to which the industrial
interests of the country have passed under so-called
"trust" control. The same paper, on December 3ist,
published a classified list, showing by names and
amounts of capital stock, a very large number of new
independent corporations that have recently been organ-
ized to compete with the "trusts " in a variety of indus-
tries; notably wire nails, tin-plate, tubes, sheet steel,
glucose, matches, baking powder, oil, paper and ice.
This list makes no mention of a projected new sugar
refining company in Philadelphia, nor of the recent
extensive growth of competition with the United Fruit
Company (banana "trust"), nor of the formation in
Chicago of a new rubber shoe concern to compete with
the United States Rubber Company.
In spite of this growth of competition, there have
been a few instances lately of concerns which seem
determined to pursue the old path of folly which nearly
all the great corporations have been wise enough per-
manently to abandon : namely, trying to make excessive
profits through "squeezing" the consumers by high
prices. The Rochester Optical and Camera Company,
a combination about a year old, undertook this on a
large scale, and as a result its business fell in a year
from $1,500,000 to about $800,000. Its stock has de-
110 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [February
clined in value, and it is reported as having great
difficulty in paying dividends even on its preferred
stock. At the same time, the salt combination has been
raising prices to such an extent that there has actually
been a notable increase of salt importations from abroad,
in spite of the tariff. Just why this corporation should
deliberately select a policy that has been discarded as
ultimately ruinous by practically all the great well-
established industries is one of the things that passes
understanding. It is unfortunate that a large industry
should put itself into a position where it must sooner
or later learn by hard experience what it might avoid
by starting out with a wise economic policy.
It is interesting to note in this connec-
A Permanent t j on ano ther difficulty which limits and
Limitation to -., , -. ., ,., f
"Trust" Growth 1S llkel Y always to limit the growth of
gigantic combinations beyond a certain
point : namely, the increasing difficulty, as the combina-
tion extends, of securing sufficiently able managing
ability to conduct successfully enterprises so vast.
Professor Adams, of the University of Michigan, in a
recent address delivered at the university, called atten-
tion to this feature, and it is reported in connection
with it that the head of one of the great American
industrial combinations has recently declared that sev-
eral positions in his organization, commanding upwards
of $10,000 per year salary, were vacant from sheer
inability to find men with sufficient talent and capacity
for responsibility to fill them. Of course, with the
further development of business along these vast new
lines we may expect an increase in available managing
ability, but it is doubtful if human capacity can ever be
sufficiently extended to permit of effective control of
widely differing industries under one management, as
it is sometimes feared will eventually occur. The
i90i.] REVIEW OF THE MONTH 111
probability is that the line of greatest economic effi-
ciency (which is the line that always limits any further
growth of industrial combination, because of the cer-
tainty of new competition when that line is passed) will
be found to be in the organization under single man-
agement of industries of very similar character. The
natural law which limits superior human ability to at
most two or three distinct fields will be the permanent
bar to any universal "trust." Whenever that line is
passed, the economy of specialization will be more
effective than the economy of organization. The inde-
pendent establishment devoted to one distinct purpose
will win the day against any unwieldy, unnatural com-
bination of many diverse interests under what is certain
to be at least partially ineffective management.
The removal by Governor Roosevelt, on
Reform Efforts in ^ jr-r^-^-^A-L A
New York City December 22d, of District Attorney Gar-
diner of New York city, and appointment
of Eugene A. Philbin, a clean and capable democrat,
in his stead, has resulted in more activity in the prose-
cution of violators of the law than New York has wit-
nessed for a long time. It is at last possible to secure
indictments against offenders without indefinite delay,
so that those who are working for better conditions in
the metropolis can now feel that at least one depart-
ment of the city government is no longer in corrupt
league with the lawbreakers.
Mr. Croker's wonderful " committee of five," ap-
pointed as a Tammany instrument for unearthing vice
and bringing offenders to justice (!) has been chiefly
occupied thus far in explaining that law-breaking does
not exist to any important extent. For the very shame
of the thing, the efforts of this committee cannot be
wholly without fruit, but the obvious insincerity and
political expediency of its work places it in the category
112 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [February,
of things farcical so far as any permanent contribution
to clean government is concerned. There has been, it
is true, some shaking up of the police force, including
the substitution of Captain Titus for Herlihy in the
Eldridge Street district where some of the worst abuses
have existed ; and temporary improvement has occurred,
which may be expected to last just about as long as
public indignation remains sufficiently intense to cause
the Tammany ring any serious apprehension. Chief
Devery has refused to suspend Captain Herlihy and
Inspector Cross, pending trial for neglect of duty, and
the outcome is practically a deadlock between the chief
and the board of police commissioners, during which
further reform hangs in suspense.
The humiliating absurdity of the situation is lead-
ing up to an exceedingly strong sentiment in favor of a
single police commissioner in place of the present bi-
partisan board, to accomplish which a bill has already
been introduced in the legislature at Albany. Whether
this is the best solution of the problem experience will
have to determine, but certainly nothing could be much
worse than the bi -partisan board plan, which has here-
tofore meant either deadlock, with consequent stagna-
tion and inefficiency of service, or else systematic
trading and dealing between the two parties represented
in the control of the police department. The proposed
substitution of a single police commissioner does not
necessarily conflict with the democratic idea of govern-
ment, which ought to recognize the important difference
between legislative and executive functions. The
present arrangement is an attempt to embody legislative
features in what is really an executive function. The
true distinction should be to offer the amplest oppor-
tunity for expression of the public will in all matters
involving choice of public policies, and then to provide
ample power to enforce the results of the people's deci-
i goi.] RE VIE W OF THE MONTH 113
sion ; this power to be exercised in such a way that con-
flict of authority will be impossible and responsibility
for the results will be definite, explicit and unescapable.
Meanwhile, the committee of fifteen, organized on
December ipth under the auspices of the chamber of
commerce, and headed by Mr. William H. Baldwin, Jr.
as chairman, is planning and inaugurating a campaign
of progressive reform work which ought to have wide-
reaching results. It proposes to institute a thorough
non-partisan investigation into the causes of the more
extensive and familiar forms of vice now flourishing
under police protection, and to collect evidence show-
ing where the official responsibility rests. Next, it
proposes to publish the results of these inquiries and
work systematically for legislation which shall make it
possible to center more effectively the responsibility for
enforcement of the laws.
/ This committee is also arranging to undertake a
campaign of public education on the conditions existing
in the city and the kind of improvement in the social
environments that ought to be developed as offsets to
the innumerable incentives to vice and crime. If the
committee can carry out even a part of this most whole-
some program it will justify itself and become a per-
manently necessary institution. Bishop Potter, by the
way, has suggested a permanent vigilance committee of
several thousand members to keep constant watch on
the relations between the police and protected vice, all
over the city, and constantly stimulate active public
sentiment in favor of wholesome civic conditions. It
would be difficult to keep such an organization in good
working condition for any length of time, and it might
easily drift into misguided officiousness, but for a period
it might have a powerful effect in rousing public con-
science to a higher sense of municipal duty.
Both this plan and the efforts of the committee of
114 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [February,
fifteen will bear fruit in the slow betterment of civic
conditions, but at the present moment the most impor-
tant, direct and obvious way to secure the opportunity
for these efforts to yield the results expected of them is
for all the forces of decency to unite in a strenuous, deter-
mined movement to oust the Tammany organization
from every part of the municipal government. It is
possible to do this, but it cannot be done through any
one reform organization or political body. There must
be a complete sinking of prejudices and differences,
and harmonious union for the one object in view, if the
enemy is to be dislodged and an era of decency
ushered in.
Governor OdelPs Meanwhile, the new governor of New
Doubtful York is trying hard to make a reform
record of his own and is welding his
political future to the cause of economy in public ex-
penditures. This was the keynote of his first message
to the legislature, and his various suggestions are all
interesting, many of them clever, some of them useful,
but practically none of them reflecting any high order
of statesmanship. The most important specific recom-
mendations he makes are for the consolidation of the
board of mediation and arbitration, board of labor sta-
tistics, and factory inspection department into one new
department of labor, accomplishing a saving of some
$72,000 a year; consolidation of the forest preserve
board and forest, fish and game commission, saving
$35,000 a year ; abolition of the state board of charities,
state board of health and state prisons' commission and
substitution of a single commissioner in each case;
abolition of the state lunacy commission and return to
the old plan of separate management, saving $750,000
a year.
Mr. Odell has a plan for abolishing all direct state
REVIEW OF THE MONTH 115
taxation by virtue of these economies, and also by in-
creased taxation of savings banks, trust companies, in-
surance companies and the capital stock of corporations
organized in other states but doing business in New
York. There is no doubt that a larger revenue might
properly be drawn from some of these sources, but this
does not imply that there is either justice or economic
wisdom in trying to transfer the entire burden of tax-
ation to a few specific interests in the community. Our
present system of taxation is glaringly defective at
almost every point, but when it is reformed it should
be reformed scientifically, with a view to securing the
widest and most equitable distribution of the tax bur-
den. This will never be accomplished by any arbi-
trary scheme for transferring all the taxes of the com-
munity to a few interests that happen to be unpopular
on the political stump.
An economy program like Mr. Odell's may have
many meritorious features, but is the program of a
politician rather than of a statesman. The politician is
always striving for spectacular and semi-sensational
effects, always attempting to identify himself with some
proposition that has elements of popularity, and if it
can be something that seems thoroughgoing and radical
all the better for the purpose. But this sort of thing
is not possible for the statesman. The true statesman
knows that genuine reform can never be accomplished
by wholesale, sweeping, unqualified measures that cut
down good and bad together. Economy is a word to
conjure with, but it is the politician, not the statesman,
that holds it up as the highest attainable wisdom in
public policy.
The true end of statesmanship is to promote the
greatest public welfare, whether this means saving
dollars or spending dollars. Where economy will con-
tribute to this welfare economy is good, but where it
116 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE
will cripple some important branch of public service
then economy is bad, and the public official who tries to
make a record in defiance of this fact is no real friend
to public welfare. Where sinecures exist, or useless
political " job" commissions, or where waste occurs by
poor organization of the service, then economy and
reorganization are in order, but, where important work
would be less effectively done by arbitrarily abolishing
offices and reducing the number of employees, then the
path of statesmanship is to point out the grounds for
distinguishing between the two cases, and shape poli-
cies accordingly. In brief, Mr. Odell's attitude on this
matter thus far only goes to confirm the general im-
pression of him prior to his nomination, that he is a
clever politician and shrewd business man, but lacking
in broad-minded conception of the duties of progressive
rational statesmanship in any large field of public
affairs.
-TRUSTS" AND BUSINESS STABILITY
Business stability is a vital element in national wel-
fare and progress. Nothing contributes so much to
cheerful optimism and inspires such confidence in social
institutions as continued business prosperity. It broad-
ens the life, liberalizes the spirit, elevates the charac-
ter, stimulates the growth of altruism, and strengthens
the bonds of human association. It turns on the sun-
shine in human experience and fructifies the best there
is in human nature.
On the other hand, industrial uncertainty is the
most depressing fact in social experience. No other
element in society is so fatal to energy, enterprise and
hopeful anticipation. Laborers, business men, public
officials, the workers in every calling of life, can do
their best only under conditions of approximate secur-
ity. Present prosperity loses much of its stimulating
effect if the immediate future be shrouded in uncer-
tainty. While business prosperity acts as the main-
spring of progress, furnishing the inspiration for new
ideas, new methods of doing and new standards of liv-
ing, which bring new types of institutions and civiliza-
tion, business depression brings doubt, distrust and
pessimism, and contains the germs of disintegration
and disruption. Business depressions bring economic
heresies and the seeds of political revolution. The dis-
ruption in which farmers lose their land by foreclosed
mortgages, merchants and manufacturers lose their
117
118 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [February,
business and property by bankruptcy, and laborers are
forced into idleness, creates pessimism and distrust.
Under such conditions it is not unnatural for the dis-
located to doubt the equity of existing institutions and
feel that injustice is at the very basis of economic rela-
tions. When such feelings grow into theories, and
those theories become convictions of the community,
they are likely soon to be converted into political policy.
This is the way revolutionary theories arise and grow
into political movements. The greenback, free-silver,
populist and socialist movements, which are jointly ex-
pressed in Bryan's popularity, were the cumulative re-
sult of these forces.
Had 1900 been a year of industrial depression in-
stead of one of high industrial prosperity, nothing
could have prevented Mr. Bryan with all his economic
heresies and disintegrating political ideas from sweep-
ing the country. The period of business depression
and disaster from 1893 to 1896 furnished exceptional
nursery conditions for the development of revolutionary
economic and political theories. The doctrines of so-
cialism promulgated by Karl Marx and Rodbertus, as
the reaction against monarchical institutions in Europe,
took very little root in this country so long as prosperity
continued. Every industrial disturbance, like a strike
or labor riot, afforded temporary opportunity for the
socialist prophet, but it made little permanent inroads
with the American people. The fiat-money theory repre-
sented by greenbackism, and the debased-coinage doc-
trine represented by free silver, were latent ideas that
were starved into impotence by industrial prosperity,
but a four years' period of continued depression, idle-
ness and increased poverty furnished the opportunity
for these disintegrating ideas to be worked into social
and economic theories and be accepted as the higher
gospel of society.
"TRUSTS" AND BUSINESS STABILITY 119
Under this protracted experience of adversity, it
was easy for the suffering masses to yield a ready ear
to the gospel of antagonism to capital. The theory
that corporations are organized exploiters of society,
that private profits are robbery, that the capitalist sys-
tem is inherently unjust and that public ownership of
industry is the only equitable system by which the in-
justices and misfortunes that afflict mordern society can
be abolished, all this and the reasoning leading up to
it was readily accepted. Consequently, when Mr.
Bryan appeared on the scene declaring against capital
and corporate industry and denouncing our industrial,
financial and judicial institutions, he was at once popu-
lar with the masses, not so much for the exact formu-
lation of his ideas as for the fact that he voiced the ag-
gregate discontent. He was friendly to the new eco-
nomic, financial and social theories that were developed
under the influence of industrial depression and social
hardship. Nothing but the hope and faith-inspiring
influence of returned business prosperity prevented his
success. The ideas and theories that were developed
to a greater or less degree of exactness were not dis-
pelled ; they are still lurking in the background, and if
another industrial depression overtakes us in the near
future these theories will reassert themselves with in-
creased force and vigor. Nothing but an extended
period of industrial prosperity or increased opportunity
for wholesome industrial and political education can
prevent an experiment with doctrines of the sort Bryan
represents. Business stability and widespread liberal
economic education are the only forces which can pre-
vent such a national calamity.
The characteristic feature of the progress of the
nineteenth century, particularly the last half of it, is
the development of the means of industrial prosperity.
Science, ability, organization, and indomitable energy
120 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [February,
have combined to increase the capacity of wealth pro-
duction. Nature has been made to yield more at every
touch ; steam, electricity, and gravitation have been
harnessed to the work. Wealth has been multiplied at
a marvellously diminished cost ; the wealth per capita
of the community, in this country, has increased four-
fold, wages have increased more than ninety per cent.,
the working day has been shortened by more than one-
quarter, and the purchasing power of a day's work has
more than doubled. All this has made for national
progress and whatever is implied in a higher civiliza-
tion.
But thus far this progress has been accompanied by
the menacing effect of recurring industrial depressions,
which furnish the soil and seed of social disruption.
These business disturbances have not only accompanied
the rapid progress of the century but they are a part of
very rapid progress wherever it takes place. There are
no business depressions in China, India, Africa, or any
countries where the methods of industry are uniform
and progress imperceptibly slow. There may be fam-
ines in these countries, but never business depressions.
Famines are the result of failing production ; business
depressions are the result of irregular, unbalanced in-
crease in production. Increased production can only
be permanently beneficial to the nation when it is ad-
justed approximately to the consumption or market for
products.
Industrial progress is itself a disturbance. It is a
constant substitution of new for old, of superior for in-
ferior methods of doing. Every such substitution
brings with it some dislocation. The benefits must be
greater than the injuries from dislocation, or there is no
real gain. Unless the new movement absorbs the dis-
located elements to their advantage, or at least not to
their disadvantage, a current of reaction will be created.
"TRUSTS" AND BUSINESS STABILITY 121
Several examples of this have occurred during the last
three-quarters of a century, with increasing havoc.
This is chiefly due to the fact that industrial activity
has been dominated by what some delight to call ' 'nat-
ural selection." The rule of "survival of the fittest,'
which is blind struggle for supremacy, has prevailed in
both theory and practice. The idea that unlimited and
unorganized competition is the source of success and the
sole solvent for economic problems has been taught by
the scholar and practised by the capitalist. Hence we
have had a protracted regime of struggle and strife,
with the maximum waste and the minimum economic
and scientific direction.
In the era of hand labor, with small production and
restricted markets, this unrestricted competition had
the effect of wholesome rivalry, but as production in-
creased in quantity, markets expanded in area and com-
petitors multiplied in number and strength, single-
handed competition became mere blind struggle against
the unknown. Ignorance of what others were doing,
and disregard of the law of market equilibrium, have
given us rapidly recurring business fluctuations, so that
we have been constantly rising on a "boom" or descend-
ing with an industrial depression. Under the stimulus
of advancing prices, capital rushes in as if the market
demand for products were infinite, and business men
borrow heavily in the effort to produce the maximum
and get the quick benefit of the boom. This uneco-
nomic stampede soon results in an inflated overdoing,
with the consequence of reaction and inability profita-
bly to dispose of products and pay credit obligations ;
all of which culminates in disruption and forced liqui-
dations, destruction of confidence, and enforced idle-
ness, with all its concomitant evils throughout society.
This has been no less general in agriculture than in
manufacture and commerce. When the price of corn
122 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [February,
or cotton is high, farmers, each regardless of what the
others are doing, immediately turn their energies to
raising more corn or cotton, with the disappointing ef-
fect of falling prices and a depressed market.
While these reactions accompany industrial prog-
ress and expansion they are not an inevitable part of
it. They are rather the result of adhering too long to
blind competition as the governing force in industry.
To reap the benefits of expanding industry, natural se-
lection must be superseded by scientific selection, blind
competition must yield to intelligent, comprehensive
organization. Unrelated individual effort can only be
successful in the realm of small things ; the civilization
of great things is the civilization of scientific organiza-
tion.
Successful business to-day involves more than the
mere capacity to produce or even to produce cheaply.
It involves maintaining the equilibrium between the
forces of production and consumption. This requires a
knowledge of the world's economic conditions in each
line of industry. To know the output and the demand
in any given line of industry, and correctly to antici-
pate their movement so as approximately to maintain a
working equilibrium, requires a knowledge of the state
of invention, the amount <?f new machinery used, capital
invested, stocks on hand, and substantially all the con-
ditions affecting industry in every part of the world
from whence competing products may come. This is
impossible to individual producers or small concerns.
It is only with immense capital and perfect organization
that this can be accomplished. Frequent and reliable
statistical advices of all the details of production, con-
sumption, transportation, stocks on hand, and antici-
pated innovations, are among the necessary equipments
of modern industry. Only with such information and
far-reaching organization is approximately correct eco-
"TRUSTS" AND .BUSINESS STABILITY 123
nomic forecast possible. With this knowledge of the
world's economic conditions, industrial enterprise will
be governed with more definite relation to the world's
economic demand.
Another feature of present industry is the sudden-
ness of changes in social desires and the immense
quantity which it is necessary to carry for the normal
supply. Small concerns are wholly incapable of ade-
quately adjusting these conditions. With small pro-
ducers, a little change and fluctuation in the public
demand for products when the supply on hand is large
causes numerous failures and bankruptcies ; with large
concerns, the stocks can be safely carried and even
transferred from one section or class of demand to
another. The losses involved in carrying declining
supplies will be offset by the increased margin in the
new supplies. Thus, what to-day would cause bank-
ruptcies and perhaps widespread business disturbance
would be absorbed in readjustment under the manage-
ment of adequately large concerns.
Moreover, very large concerns have so much in-
volved that a few mistakes will often involve the loss
of millions of dollars. Such establishments cannot
afford to be idle. A very small concern can close down,
throw laborers out of employment, and impair the
market demand of the community rather than endure
loss in running. The investment is so small that the
loss of stoppage may easily be much less than the loss
of disadvantageous working, but in large concerns,
where hundreds of millions are involved, the loss of
stoppage may soon be fatal. Where world markets are
the prize, the richest concerns cannot afford to retire
even temporarily, lest new competitors step in and per-
manently secure the business.
Thus all the conditions of large enterprise tend to
make the maintenance of market equilibrium or busi-
124 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [February
ness stability an important feature of success. It is in
response to this law of business success that large cor-
porations succeeded small ones, and so-called "trusts''
made their appearance. Despite all the public opposi-
tion to large corporations, they are admittedly here to
stay and have already begun to exercise a marked
steadying influence upon business. In the last business
disturbance, for example, which came suddenly through
a threatened change of national policy, it was the smaller
concerns which suddenly succumbed to the depressing
wave ; concerns which could not afford to carry large
stocks of goods and whose financial credit was limited.
Large concerns, like the Carnegie, Standard Oil and
sugar companies, withstood the shock almost undis-
turbed.
Business depression and uncertainty, which are the
bane of modern industry, can be avoided in only one of
two ways, either by returning to the era of small pro-
duction, or else by adopting the methods of larger and
more perfect industrial organization. With the growth
in size and complexity of productive enterprise must
come the growth in magnitude and complexity of the
organizations to deal with it. Liliputians cannot do the
work of giants. If we insist upon having small re-
stricted concerns to deal with the colossal interests of
the twentieth century, we may expect and will surely
have constant disturbances and failure with their train
of disrupting evils. As well might we expect to govern
a modern city by the primitive town meeting as expect
individual effort and small corporations adequately to
deal with the colossal proportions of modern industry.
Everything points to the conclusion that the real rem-
edy for business disturbance is more perfect develop-
ment of large corporations.
But here, as in every other phase of social life, the
spurious comes with the genuine. In the development
igoi.] "TRUSTS" AND BUSINESS STABILITY 125
of corporate enterprise as the natural method of dealing
with our increasing industrial interests have come a
species of uneconomic and unsubstantial organizations.
In the flush of business boom, the promoters in many
instances have taken the place of investors. Corpora-
tions have been organized for speculative rather than
economic purposes. Advantage has been taken of the
overconfidence of the public, and to give abnormal
rewards to promoters and speculators a system of over-
capitalization has come into vogue. This has been
especially true during the last two years. With the
settling down of business to normal conditions, how-
ever, these overcapitalized concerns will fail to yield
encouraging profits, some of them will collapse and
others be compelled to reorganize. This abnormal
inflation is so uneconomic that it will bring its own retri-
bution and teach the lesson that watered stock does not
earn dividends, but that after all it is only investment
and economically organized enterprise that yields per-
manent success. We are in some danger of condemn-
ing all corporations because of the conduct of the
spurious ones, but experience will educate the public
to discriminate between legitimate investment and
mere speculative inflation. If bankers would refuse to
lend their names and influence to watered-stock corpo-
rations, and the public refuse to invest in mere specu-
lative industrials, buy only stocks that represent legiti-
mate investment and established earnings, the occupa-
tion of the promoter in fabricating mere "wind"
corporations would soon be gone.
Corporations, like trade unions, which are another
phase of the same industrial movement, have many
crude uneconomic features, but the remedy for these
defects is not restriction and repression but more eco-
nomic, scientific and comprehensive organization. In-
discriminate antagonism to a natural movement always
126 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE
brings out its worst features. Suppression of free
speech, restriction of the press, and forbidding of free
public meetings always lead to inflamed secret discus-
sion and usually to conspiracy and physical-force
methods. This was true of the Fenian movement in
Ireland, is true of the nihilists in Russia ; and in fact wher-
ever organized authority is used to suppress a natural
movement it drives it from the field of open action to
secret underhanded methods which inspire less honora-
ble motives and develop the worst characteristics.
Much of the physical force used by trade unions is the
result of the same mistaken antagonism to the natural
growth of labor organization. For a long time a trade
union was conspiracy; then for decades it remained
outside the pale of law. Its funds had no protection
in court and the treasurer could steal the revenues with
impunity.
It is only when the normal movement is protected
by the moral sentiment and legal institutions of society
that it unreservedly comes out into the light and devel-
ops its best characteristics. Nothing more effectively
develops the worst in human nature than to put it
under the ban. To this universal law corporations are
no exception. An inflamed and perverted public senti-
ment against corporations, to which small -calibre poli-
ticians are ever ready to respond with petty inquisito-
rial repressive legislation, is the most effective means
of stimulating the worst phases of corporate develop-
ment. It constantly creates a presumption against the
new organization and leads to numerous devices of
secrecy and suppression, which grow into misrepre-
sentation. It develops the quality of the pirate instead
of true economic leadership.
CHINESE CIVILIZATION
ARCHER B. HULBERT, FORMERLY EDITOR OF THE KOREAN
' ' INDEPENDENT "
Civilization is a word of double meaning. It some-
times means that enlightened condition of society in
which each individual has the best opportunity for self-
development, and in this sense it is never used in the
plural. It may also mean one of several modes of
social and political development whereby different
styles of national life have been evolved. In this sense
we may use it in the plural as the European, Moham-
medan and Chinese civilizations. Etymologically it
refers to the relation between the citizen and the
state, and depends upon that great law of human prog-
ress that necessitates a growing interdependence of
man upon man.
The various civilizations of the world differ widely,
not because of any difference in the fundamental ele-
ments of human nature but because these elements
have received such different handling. Thus it comes
about that we shrink from conceding any similarity
between our civilization and that of such a people
as the Chinese.
It must be granted at the start that the civilization
of China is as highly developed as the Anglo-Saxon,
but the lines of that development have been so different
that it may interest us to glance at some of the more
important of them, for by so doing we shall be able to
discover wherein lies the lamentable failure of the
Chinese system. A thorough discussion of the 'subject
would nil a volume ; we must confine ourselves, there-
fore, to one special phase of it namely, what has China
187
128 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [February,
retained of the great original ideas of the race and
what has the West rejected.
I. China has retained the original theocratic idea,
the West has rejected it. We find that in the begin-
ings of history kings held their seats not only by a sup-
posed divine right but by some assumed direct connec-
tion with divinity, so that they were themselves clothed
with a dignity that claimed a kinship with the divine.
The reason for this is not far to seek. Let us grant for
the sake of argument that the biblical account is sub-
stantially correct, then we shall find that the divine
attributes given to kings was a counterpart of sacrificial
offerings. The apostacy of the race cut them off from
direct communion with divinity, and just as sacrifice
took the place of direct worship so the direct govern-
ment of God was modified to a delegated theocracy.
At least the universal acceptance of the general law of
divine government constrained men to recognize their
temporal rulers as the seat and symbol of that govern-
ment. In no other way can we account for the divine
honors that were given to the ancient kings of Assyria
and Babylonia, and later to the Roman emperors. It
survives to-day in the expression ' 'divine right of kings, "
but in our western civilization this means little more
than the divine right of any man to do his own proper
work whether he be king or mechanic.
The Chinese have retained the idea of a delegated
theocracy and their government is the logical outcome
of such a course. A delegated theocracy to succeed
must have a perfect medium. A Moses or a Samuel
might presumably be an approximately perfect medium,
but even in these instances we find that human fraility,
both in the medium and in the governed parties, ren-
dered the divine will nugatory, as expressed in many
instances, whatever may have been the undisclosed will
of the Almighty. If these men were only approxi-
i 9 oi.J CHINESE CIVILIZATION 129
mately successful what shall be said of those who have
had neither the ability nor the preparation for such a
calling as they had ? The ancient custom of giving
divine honors to kings worked boundless evils in society,
for the imbecilities, the cruelties, the injustices of those
supposed vice-gerents of God could not but lower the
peoples' notions of the Diety. The contemptible ac-
tions of God's agent would inevitably make the Divine
Being contemned by the people. At the same time, the
terror inspired by the belief that the king stood for
God himself in the government of the kingdom would
naturally engender that servility of manner which is
such a prominent feature of the Oriental court life.
Now these are precisely the features which differentiate
the Chinese form of government from ours. It has en-
gendered deceit, insincerity, servility in the outward
manner, while at heart there is secret contempt. This
pseudo-theocracy is a cloak for untold and untellable
oppression and injustice. It is the cause of venality,
nepotism and all political uncleanliness, for the basis
of a theocracy is necessarily absolutism, and a corrupt-
ed absolutism bears such fruit as we find in Turkey,
Persia, China and like absolute governments. Those
kingdoms whose sovereigns make the loudest claims to
divine vice-gerency are the most corrupt. The Mikado
of Japan was for two thousand years considered semi-
divine, and it was only when he laid aside this guise
and admitted his people as copartners of his responsi-
bilities and his honors that Japan became politically
regenerate.
The higher a thing is the more momentous is its
fall. An American writer has illustrated this by a tell-
ing though humble metaphor. The higher the form
of animal life the more offensive it becomes to the nos-
trils when it decays. Beginning with the mollusk and
proceeding through all the grades of animal life till we
130 G UNTON 'S MA GAZ1NE [February,
reach that of the human being we readily perceive the
truth of this statement. And it is on some such theory
as this that we can explain why a theocracy, the highest
ideal form of government, may become the very worst
when it loses the vitalizing force and becomes a corpse.
Such is the government of China. It has always been
a pseudo-theocracy and as such could neVer be other
than offensive to the lover of good government. The
West long ago rejected this idea and eliminated it from
its idea of human government, not because a genuine
theocracy is not the only perfect form of government
nor because rulers do not need divine guidance, but be-
cause Christianity has taught the fallibility of human
judgment and has thereby proved that a democratic
form of government is the next best to a pure the-
ocracy. Such democracy we find in all limited monarch-
ies to-day, modified in various ways to suit the condi-
tions and limitations of society. The evils of a parli-
mentary government are incidental and adventitious ;
those of a pseudo-theocracy like that of China are in-
trinsic and fundamental.
II. China has retained the original patriarchal idea,
but the West has rejected it. Here we touch upon the
social, not the political, organism. In the morning of
the race the term of human life ran into the centuries,
and we can readily imagine how a family in which ten
or a dozen generations were represented would look
with the utmost reverence upon the hoary patriarch at
its head and receive his words as well-nigh oracular.
China retained this notion. It was old when Confucius
crystallized it into a written dogma. It has never
ceased to be the basis of their social system. But this
idea, like that of her delegated theocracy, has run to
seed. Its most baneful effect has been to adumbrate
the individual by the clan. It has made China a
nation not of individuals but of cliques. It is difficult
i90i.] CHINESE CIVILIZATION 131
for a westerner, even after years of residence among
the Chinese, to realize the full significance of a China-
man's intense loyalty to his clan. He never thinks of
adopting an independent line of action. He must dis-
cuss every matter with the members of his family or
clan and his every act is that of the clan rather than of
himself as an individual. In short, as in America the
unit of value is the dollar and all less than that is mere
fractional currency, so in China the social unit is the
clan, and all the members that compose the clan are
mere fractions devoid of all integral force. A man can-
not name his son without consulting the clan. He can-
not give his daughter in marriage, nor sell his estate,
nor change his place of residence, nor make his will,
nor choose a profession without conferring with his
relatives. If he is fortunate enough to amass wealth
he shares it in great part with the clan. If he gets
into trouble he is sure of all the help the clan can give.
If he commits a capital crime a dozen of his relatives
may be decapitated with him, or sold into slavery or
driven into banishment. There is no such thing as a
purely personal course of conduct in such a country and
in consequence there is no such thing as personal re-
sponsibility. If he does wrong it is taken for granted
that his relatives are his accomplices. It would be
difficult to exaggerate the obstacles which such a system
throws in the way of national progress. Being not a
self-dependent and independent member of society but
only a single factor in a highly articulated family sys-
tem his every act must have a disturbing effect upon
the system. A barrow wheel may turn slow or fast,
backward or forward, without disturbing any one or
anything, but not so with a cog-wheel in a complicated
machine. Any erratic movement disorganizes the
whole mechanism. Thus it is that the life of a China-
man is circumscribed. He can have no genuine ambi-
182 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [February,
tion. He can never climb the ladder of fame or fortune
without dragging his clan with him. There is no such
thing as starting as an office-boy and ending as the
president of a railroad, or of beginning life as a news-
boy and rounding off his career as the governor of a
province. There is no such a thing as a son attaining
a fortune in trade and living in a city mansion while his
aged father lives on the old farm and rejoices in still
being independent of his son's help. Such a thing
would be subversive of all notions of Chinese propriety.
It would be impossible. There is no such thing as a
mother sending her sons out into the world to fight for
themselves. The boy chooses neither his occupation
nor his home nor his bride nor his companions. They
are all prepared for him and he never dreams of acting
independently in anything.
It is to this patriarchal idea that we must charge
the inertia of China. It is harder to move a clan than
an individual, and it is doubly hard for the younger
members of a clan to effect any change for they are con-
fessedly its weakest element. By the time they have
reached years of experience they have received the im-
press of the clan and no longer desire a change. This
is why, with all their civilization, they still make use of
implements and utensils that would be considered pri-
meval in America. Their arts and sciences are based
upon models as crude as those that did duty in the days
of ancient Babylon.
In the West all this is changed. Here again it is
Christianity that has effected the change. It inculcates
the principle of individual responsibility. It sets each
man upon his own merits and judges him thereby. It
makes each man a king by making him autocratic in
the field of personal opinion. It makes the individual
the social unit distinct from his parents, his wife and
his children, and leaves him to play with the facts and
i 9 oi.] CHINESE CIVILIZATION 183
the forces about him without having to square his
opinions to any set standard. This ideal has not yet
been fully realized but in so far as it has the world has
become enlightened.
III. China has retained the ancient ideographic
idea. The West has rejected it. The first attempts of
the race to transfer ideas by means of visible symbols
resulted in the hieroglyph, or more scientifically speak-
ing, the ideograph. The discovery of a phonetic system
took place only after man had attained a considerable
degree of intellectual growth, and when an ideographic
system failed to convey the fine shades of meaning
which such growth necessarily involved. But the
Chinese have never shaken themselves loose from the
crude system which the race learned in its infancy.
We find, nevertheless, that China has evolved a ponder-
ous literature and that the art of letters is considered
the art par excellence. An examination of this literature
shows that it is lacking in the very elements that one
would suppose it to lack in view of its cumbersome
system. In the first place they have no true poetry in
our sense of that term. They have imaginative ideas
expressed in a certain metrical or rather geometrical
form, but it is all a matter of literary finesse rather than
an outpouring of genuine poetic feeling. Chinese poetry
must be read from the page to be most highly appre-
ciated, while with us it is the human voice that carries
the poetic truth most closely home to the human heart.
In truth we may say that the element of heart is quite
lacking in Chinese literature as a whole. In like manner
we find that there is no such thing as oratory in China,
and thus one of the most important avenues of intellec-
tual intercourse is cut off from that people. For the
same reason also music means infinitely less to the
Chinese than to us. The professional musician in
China is classed with the acrobat, the butcher and the
134 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [February,
courtesan. But on the other hand the Chinese are
master hands at anything that appeals to the eye.
Their countless flaunting banners, their passion for
colors and the high significance given to these in all
walks of life, the showy pageant, the spectacular pyro-
technics, the parade of finery on all occasions all these
things show that if you would appeal to the Chinese it
must be through the eye. To be able to take a brush
and write a single Chinese character faultlessly would
make a man's reputation more speedily in that country
than to speak like Demosthenes or sing like Jenny
Lind. Chinese literature deals with history and ethics
almost exclusively. What they call poetry would ap-
pear to us but a disconnected string of aphorisms,
many of them to the point, but without a gleam of that
genius which lights the page of Dante or Shakespeare.
Eye-service dominates all Chinese life. What
they see they will believe. Words are light, they are
made to play with. Nothing is true but that which is
seen to be true. This lies at the bottom of the material-
ism and utilitarianism of the Chinese. To him diplo-
macy consists in skilful lying and he commits himself
only by doing something. His deed has no necessary
connection with his word. In business life the Chinese
are exceptionally honest but this is only a part of their
hard common sense and their utilitarian spirit. It pays
them to be honest for they know that it is next to im-
possible to free themselves from their environments.
They cannot leave for parts unknown and begin life
anew. They have learned better than we that defal-
cation and indirection are not only bad morals but bad
business as well. But this applies only to business life
pure and simple. When it comes to the matter of
official peculation the merest novice in China would put
to shame the cunning of the worst ring that ever tried
to exploit the exchequer of a western government.
i 9 oi.] CHINESE CIVILIZATION 135
This ideographic system has proved a heavy drag
upon the progress of thought in China. Intellect has
pushed the cumbersome system to the wall. It has
continued to demand the formation of new characters
to express itself until the most erudite can hardly hope
to master more than a tenth part of them in a lifetime.
His education is almost exclusively glossarial and no
opportunity has been given him to bring his intellect
to bear upon the production of new and better ideas.
This has naturally resulted in intellectual coma. It is
only on the business side, the economical side, that he
is really alive.
China's retention of the ancient notions of the-
ocracy, patriarchy and ideography is what has thrown
her out of the current of the world's progress. To have
entered into a discussion of the religious side of the
Chinese character would have revealed a similiar diver-
gence from western ideals. But enough has been
said to show the pitiable need under which China lies
of being loosed from the intellectual, social and politi-
cal fetters with which she has been bound lo, these
three thousand years.
STRIKES AND LOCKOUTS IN NORTH CARO-
LINA
JEROME DOWD, PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY,
TRINITY COLLEGE, NORTH CAROLINA
Within the last few months of 1900 there were
strikes and lockouts involving not less than thirty cotton
factories in North Carolina. As these outbreaks between
labor and capital are new in this section it may be of
general interest to learn something of their origin and
nature. One of the chief arguments used to tempt
capitalists into manufacturing in the South was that
there were no labor organizations to make trouble.
Mill presidents and promoters always gave out that the
most pleasant and cordial relations existed between the
employer and employee. Only last spring at the meet-
ing of the Southern Cotton Spinners' Association the
president felicitated the members upon the happy and
contented condition of the wage-earners.
Sometime in April of last year the American
Federation of Labor commissioned Mr. C. P. Davis
of High Point, North Carolina, to organize local unions
throughout the southern states. He began work first
in his own state, going from factory to factory and
quietly effecting organizations. The operatives lent
themselves readily to the movement, and before it was
known among the mill-owners many unions had been
formed.
About the first of May the first skirmish took place
between organized labor and capital at the Proximity
Mill, near Greensboro, where a thousand or more hands
were employed. When the president of the mill, Mr.
Cone, learned of the movement, about one hundred
136
STRIKES IN NORTH CAROLINA 137
and fifty operatives, including twenty-five women and
children, had enrolled. The mill was immediately
closed and a notice posted that all operatives were dis-
charged. Mr. Cone declared that he had come South
to get away from labor organizations and would tear
down his mill before he would run a day with union
labor. The company's store was at the same time
closed and no one could obtain provisions without going
to the city, two miles away. The post-office, which was
in the store, was necessarily closed also and people
complained of trouble in getting their mail. Many
families were caught without money, supplies or credit.
A widow, Mrs. Cox, with six small children, was in
destitute circumstances and the union made up five dol-
lars to aid her. The company, fearing damage to their
property, hired twelve extra watchmen and had the
sheriff on the grounds every day. All families in which
any one belonged to the union were ordered to vacate
their houses. The conduct of the company excited re-
sentment and the membership ran up to two hundred
and fifty. The members of the union held meetings in
the woods and decided to stand by their organization,
no matter what happened, After a lockout of a week
the mill resumed with non-union operatives, each one
being required to sign an agreement not to join any or-
ganization of laborers. Some of these who had joined
the union renounced it and returned to work, while
others, impelled by a sense of loyalty to their organiza-
tion, left the community to seek employment elsewhere.
The young men secured positions in the Erwin Mill at
Durham, but the same day they were discharged upon
information that they came from the seat of the trouble
at Greensboro. John Melvin and family obtained po-
sitions at the Cedar Falls mill, but were likewise sum-
marily dismissed upon advice that they hailed from
138 G UNTON'S MA GA ZINE [February,
Greensboro. Many other laborers who went in search
of work met with same fate.
The next clash between labor and capital took
place in Alamance county, where there are twenty or
more cotton mills. Organizer Davis had effected labor
unions at nearly every one of these plants. The clash
was precipitated on September 2/th over the discharge
of Miss Anna Whitesell in a mill at Haw River. This
girl, in attending to her looms, had to make trips into
an adjoining room to get rilling. On the day in ques-
tion, after she had made several trips, the superinten-
dent met her at the door and accused her of having
already made sixteen trips, and at the same time
threatened to discharge her. She flew into a passion,
denying his charge and scorning his threat. Instantly
she was discharged. Miss Johnie Pope, who worked in
another part of the mill, was offered the vacancy but
upon learning that Miss Whitesell, a member of the
union, had been discharged she declined to accept it.
The superintendent then waxed wroth and commanded
her to do the work assigned or walk out. Being an
orphan and having to choose between giving up her
job and incurring the frowns of her union friends, she
did not know what to do and burst into tears. This ex-
cited the indignation of the union workers and they
were on the point of quitting the mill. However, Miss
Pope went on with her work the remainder of the day.
When night came the union held a meeting and de-
cided that Miss Whitesell had been unjustly and rudely
treated, and that if Miss Pope should be forced to take
Miss Whitesell's place they would all abandon their
work. Next morning, Miss Pope being ordered to take
the vacant place, the union operatives threw up their
positions. In a moment the whistle of the mill blew
and the machinery stopped. Within an hour the three
other mills in the town shut down also and eight hun-
i 9 oi.] STRIKES IN NORTH CAROLINA 139
dred operatives filed out into the streets. The mill
proprietors had determined to bring the question of
organized labor to an issue. After several days of sus-
pense the union held a meeting and appointed a com-
mittee to confer with the managers of the mills with a
view to adjustment. The managers refused to treat
with the laborers except as individuals. Becoming
alarmed about some rumors of a plot to blow up the
mills, extra guards with Winchester rifles were sta-
tioned in and about the property. A notice was posted
that on Oct. 1 5th the mills would resume work with
non-union labor. The other mills in the county also
advertised that on the same day the services of all union
operatives would be dispensed with. According to an-
nouncement the Haw River mills started up, but with
only a few hands ; at the same time members of the
union and their sympathizers in the other mills of the
county, together numbering about four thousand, re-
mained out. The following day a great crowd of union
members assembled at the town of Graham, and after
parading the streets entered the court-house and lis-
tened to speeches by organizer Davis and others.
Since the commencement of the lockout many union
members have sought positions at other mills where
operatives are known to be in demand, but when ques-
tioned where they came from they are uniformly re-
fused employment. Nearly every mill in the state has
pronounced against union labor.
Upon inquiry among the laborers as to the nature
of their grievances and the object of their organization,
the writer learned that the operatives wished to protect
themselves against the introduction of low-priced labor-
ers to undermine those already at work, and to obtain
better wages for adults, so that the small children
might be sent to school instead of being obliged to work
in the mills. More than five thousand children under
140 GUN TON'S MAGAZINE [February,
fourteen years of age are employed in the industries of
this state. It is claimed that at many mills the stores
conducted by the companies sell at higher prices than
the ordinary merchants in other places. At Haw River,
for instance, ham was known to sell at 15 cents per
pound at the company store, and 12 ^ cents at the
stores of private merchants, and an employee told the
writer that he had ordered bacon in 100 pound lots
from Goldsboro, a distance of 90 miles, and after pay-
ing the freight it cost him i j cents per pound less than
he could have bought it at the store of the company.
The same employee stated that coal had been hauled by
wagon from Graham, two miles distant, and sold at 50
cents per ton less than the company was then charging.
Flour which in Durham sells for $4 per barrel is sold
for $6 at a factory store a few miles away.
Mr. Edward Johnson, president of the union at
Haw River, says that the chief grievance against the
mill owners is their opposition to organized labor: " I
think," says he, "that we have as much right to organ-
ize as capitalists and to belong to anything that is right
and honorable."
The mill owners affirm that they would never have
objected to the union had not unreasonable demands
been made, and had not the efficient working of the
mills been interfered with. The strike, they claim,
was precipitated by a flagrant violation of the rules by
Miss Whitesell, and that the union being made up
largely of women and children and the worst element
among the men it would be ridiculous to turn over the
management of the mills to such people.
There can be but one outcome of this lockout.
The laborers must renounce the union or seek other
means of earning a livelihood. The doors of all mills are
closed to them while hundreds of recruits are ready to
accept the places left vacant. The operatives chose a
IQOI.] STRIKES IN NORTH CAROLINA 141
very inopportune time to press the issue of organized
labor. The price of yarns is low and raw cotton high,
and many mills are running at a loss. A further mis-
take was that, after having organized, the operatives
began too soon to make demands.
The day-laborers in the South are peculiar in that
all have the southern characteristic of sensitiveness and
quickness of temper. They will not take an insult and
when spoken to roughly they retaliate with interest,
and, in case of women, often with interest compounded.
Much friction in mills and much of the moving from
one mill to another arise from this fact. Labor organ-
izations in the South will be hampered for some years
to come by their liability to hasty and untimely action.
They lack the experience and head-work necessary to
formulate wise policies.
[Professor Dowd's article is an interesting illustra-
tion of what nearly always takes place in the early
stages of the introduction of modern industry in old
agricultural communities. The public point of view is
exclusively that of the capitalist employer, and long
hours with low wages is the rule. What is now taking
place in the South is exactly what occurred in New
England twenty-five years ago ; the difference to-day
is simply that the New England manufacturers have
learned economic wisdom enough to recognize and
treat with labor unions, while the southern mill-owners
are pursuing the path of economic folly, every step in
which, sooner or later, they will have to retrace. No
doubt, as Professor Dowd says, the southern unions are
frequently rash and ill-managed, but this is largely due
to the intolerant opposition they are forced to meet.
In their extension and improvement lies the chief hope
of decent wages and working conditions in the new
manufacturing sections of the South.]
SPECULATION AN INCIDENT IN NATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
JOSEPH WEARE
It has been said that each era of prosperity as evi-
denced by many and many an experience is the advance
agent of a wave of depression which follows in its
wake. Equally true is the inverse proposition, and the
more hopeful among us prefer to regard the subject in
that light. Certain writers have set the cycle of rise
and fall at twenty years, as though there were magic
in that fateful number, but the fact remains that in a
country subject to conditions of development such as
bind us here, in a country which has reached a stage in
its growth so great as we have attained, this term of
years, indefinite at best, tends constantly to increase
and the waving line of height and depression seems
ever to become more straight.
So in speaking of speculation and panics in this
time of good cheer it is with no idea of dismal croaking
that we enter on the subject, but simply to study very
crudely the interesting phenomena of which the year
1900 will furnish its due share.
Speculation exists not to be ignored; few of us
have escaped its fascination. We are born into an
atmosphere saturated with it and strengthened in the
instinct by the hopefulness characteristic of the Amer-
ican people.
Now we have prosperity. The people engaged in
manufacturing industries are employed making and
saving money. Through a combination of circum-
stances agriculturalists are also doing well. Those
who are the media of exchange and those in the pro-
142
SPEC ULA TION 143
fessions, being directly dependent upon the first two
classes mentioned, are thriving as a natural outcome.
All have or will soon have capital to invest in the pro-
duction of more wealth. Where will this capital find
an outlet? Let us enumerate briefly the items in our
answer.
(1) In manufacturing industries, supplying the
domestic and foreign market.
(2) In agricultural lands, manufacturing and town
sites.
(3) In mining industries.
(4) In means of transportation, one of the media
of exchange.
(5) In commercial houses, another of the media of
exchange.
(6) In banking institutions, another of the media
of exchange.
(7) In city real estate.
(8) In building operations of all kinds in answer
to a present or supposed future demand.
Now surplus capital is turned into the above forms
of investment usually and principally through the fol-
lowing three channels :
(1) Money is borrowed from banks by individuals
or corporations upon security more or less sound. Note
that while there are legal safeguards to a certain ex-
tent banks get money from their depositors upon trust
alone.
(2) Promoters secure the money from individuals
or sets of individuals, it may be corporations, giving in
return stock or bonds in the new enterprise.
(3) Individuals invest their own money, see to its
expenditure, and have a tangible view of their trans-
formed wealth in the property which they may create.
The danger from speculation comes in this wise,
taking our outlets for speculation in their order :
144 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [February,
(1) Manufacturing Industries. The danger of an
oversupply in either or both the foreign and domestic
markets, or the lack of a demand in part or altogether
as better things supersede the old.
Labor troubles long continued, which may mean
ultimate ruin.
(2) Agricultural Lands. Lack of inherent qualities
in the soil, adversities due to weather or plague.
Lack of labor to develop.
Lack of capital to develop, consequent on an inade-
quate comprehension in the first instance of the amount
of necessary outlay before a project becomes self-sup-
porting.
Lack of transportation.
Manufacturing and city sites are rendered value-
less by failure of the expected influx of capital and
population.
(3) Means of Transportation. This class and the
agricultural, manufacturing and mining are all inter-
dependent. The transportation lines may be put out
in advance of the ability of the undeveloped mining,
manufacturing and agricultural industries to feed them,
and are for the time being run at a loss.
(4) Mining Industries, usually projected in futuri-
ties, we may regard as an important part of our subject
though not so weighty as manufacturing and agricul-
ture because not affecting so widespread a population.
The danger of a "slump" here usually takes more than
one form.
(a) Enough money may be raised to open up a
property, but, confidence waning, not enough more is
forthcoming to prosecute operations upon a business
basis.
(b) Transportation may be lacking.
(c) Labor may be hard to find even if the addi-
tional capital were ready.
ifoi.] SPECULATION 145
(d) Danger of dishonest promoters and the in-
ability of stockholders to get together for an efficient
reorganization.
So the property becomes a present loss though not
necessarily a total failure.
(5 and 6) Commercial Houses and Banking Institutions
are, as media of exchange, the one of goods the other
of capital, equally dependent with transportation upon
something to handle. Their prosperity then hinges
upon that of agriculture and manufactures and is largely
determined by the extent of their sphere of action, i. e.,
upon the markets that are within their reach. In say-
ing that the media of exchange are dependent for their
success upon something to exchange, it must be re-
membered that they may be the means of creating that
something by finding a market for its outlet.
(7 and 8) City Real Estate and Building Operations are
city questions. The city depending for its welfare
upon that of its inhabitants these two items receive
their value from the status of merchants, bankers,
traders, manufacturers (including of course their em-
ployees) and professional men. The manufacturers in
the city and the agriculturalists without, though assisted
to their markets and so advanced by the merchants,
bankers and traders, are in the first instance the meas-
ure of prosperity or depression. Of the professional
men the lawyers may give stability and security to en-
terprise and the engineers promote its details, but the
remaining professionals while indispensable to society
do not directly influence the question at issue.
Having classified the outlets for capital, the chan-
nels through which it is turned into these outlets, and
the dangers to which each class is subject, we can now
consider how panics are started and hastened on their
ruinous career. The causes are simple and can be ex-
plained in a word, yet they may be numerous, unde-
146 GUNTON'b MAGAZINE [February.
fined in origin and far-reaching in influence even as the
interests of the members of any society are bound to-
gether and all affected by change to any one.
Of the three channels for the outlet of capital,
banking loans, promoters' receipts, and individual ex-
penditures under personal supervision, the banks, and
promoters so far as they can resort to banks, have the
largest public share in panics, or more properly speak-
ing, industrial crises of which panics or heavy flurries
in the money market are but a subdivision. Money
panics often occur without disturbance to any interests
other than those of stock-brokers and their clients, as
when money is needed in the fall to pay for western
grain, and the banks by calling in their loans cause a
slump in stocks necessarily thrown on the market t
meet their demand.
Individual effort, our third channel, upon failure
suffers by itself and affects confidence only as it is an
index to the general conditions.
Confidence or the lack of it is the keystone to the
arch upon which rests speculative investment. Re-
move it and the structure falls to the ground. Not al-
ways the cause of crises, if the dangers which we have
already enumerated have been openly invited, it is
often the occasion when a cause works itself out to a
legitimate effect. An apple may ripen in the orchard
in due season and eventually fall of its own weight.
But the wind blowing through the branches hastens
a result which gravity would have ultimately attained.
So lack of confidence shakes the tree of stability upon
which hang the fortunes of many and many an enter-
prise, and they fall to earth.
Distrust born before a political contest may prove
a check to business until that contest is decided, but
nothing more. After an election come the serious re-
sults. Now lack of confidence may become truly a
i90i.] SPECULA TION U7
cause of evil. Doubt and suspicion may be removed or
confirmed. Confidence in the continuance or better-
ment of existing circumstances upon which calculations
have all been based keeps enterprise sustained unless
natural dangers, such as those mentioned, be incurred
by the violation of economic law. Belief that a change
promised by a political party which has come into
power will overthrow existing conditions and in all
probability make them worse has numerous effects :
(1) Checks the continuance of effort toward sus-
taining investment until it becomes profitable.
(2) Is an instigation to the withdrawal of capital
from certain fields in which it has been placed.
(3) May depreciate the value of property in cer-
tain forms, which otherwise would fulfil all the condi-
tions for successful development.
(4) And may even affect the interests of all the
people of a country when such a change strikes at some
nerve center of the national creation and intercourse
such as money, a matter which touches the pockets of
every man.
So much for the influence of politics on industrial
welfare.
Confidence waning and suspicion beginning, indus-
trial insolvency and general bankruptcy may be the
outcome. How is this brought about ?
The people have lent money to banks, the banks
to promoters, to corporations or to speculative individ-
uals, this in addition to what we would ordinarily call
safe investments. The banks of course want to make
money, and, the bigger the risk they run, either the
higher per cent, they get or the larger the volume of
loans they are able to make at a given rate of interest.
The limit is decided by a balance between their desire
for large profits and their duty to protect the savings
148 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [February,
of those who have trusted them, provided government
law enforces no other restrictions.
The banks learn that the enterprises in which
their capital was placed are not paying well enough to
promise stability. If possible they call in their notes,
or it may be these become due. It is impossible for
the individual or corporation, or for a stockholder deal-
ing in the public market, to pay with stocks purchased
with money borrowed from banking institutions. It
may be after this, it may be before, that the general
public learns that these enterprises are not flourishing
as they should. Though ignorant of just how or
where their money was invested, they see so many
symptoms of feebleness in many new as well as in
some old and tried projects that they deem it best to
draw their money from the banks at once.
Some one or two or a number of persons do so.
They get their money back. As their influence is and
in proportion as the knowledge that they have done
this and the reasons therefor spread among the rest,
in that proportion is the run on the bank large or small.
But now the general symptoms of a crash are in the
air and the feeling of uneasiness grows and extends
everywhere. The banks, unable to meet demands,
suspend payment. The people's money is gone, spent
in works, some of which will never be heard of again ;
others requiring development which can only come
with time to make them of any value.
Of course the banks are only agents. Those who
have paid their money directly into the hands of pro-
moters suffer as much, perhaps more, for they have not
the machinery and organization of the banks at their
disposal to secure such assets as may have value.
Business men have advanced goods to small or
large merchants who are trying to do business in places
usually new, or in old communities already overstocked.
i9oi.] SPECULATION 140
There is no demand. They cannot pay their bills.
The business man who has credited them owes in his
turn to the manufacturer or agriculturalist, and goes to
the wall. The agriculturist may have mortgaged his
farm and cannot now meet the interest, much less pay
the principal. The manufacturers, or it may be manu-
facturing corporations, operating on borrowed money,
have demands to meet, cannot do it and go under.
Their money may have come from banks. Thus
through the banks and back to the people again goes
the loss and trial.
Mining ventures follow the same career, and their
failure comes to swell the public wail in proportion as
the money invested comes from the many or the few.
So with land speculations and transportation. So with
our dependent but important real estate and building
investments.
At the bottom of all a speculative value merges
into the real only by the application of labor to the sub-
ject in hand, bearing in mind always that intelligent
direction of force is as much a part of labor as work of
the hands. Organization is the mechanism through
which all force works, whether that force be supplied by
work of the hands or by the marvelous and intricate
machinery of the present day.
So now the surplus of the people as a whole is
gone, some of it for all time, some of it waiting for
labor to close the gap between what an investment now
is and what it may become. What part shall the gov-
ernment take in spanning the chasm? The subject is
too broad for a fair treatment here. Van Buren, per-
haps rightly from his point of view, refused to build
the bridge. Hamilton indicated by all his works that
such would have been his attempt in any event. His
financial genius more than that of any statesman of our
country or of any other was equal to the task. Not
150 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE
that government should seek to postpone the inevitable
crash which comes of speculation long persisted in, but
it should seek to check panic in some way, until by
earnest effort and not by vain imaginings values become
more real.
The only external check upon indiscriminate spec-
ulation will spring from a law requiring all corpora-
tions and stock companies to publish at intervals reports
of their resources and liabilities, thus exposing their
operations to the light of day. To give a just and
equitable effect to such a law is one of the problems
baffling our statesmen now.
Reorganization of the banking system in such a
way that hard times will find the banks better able to
meet the situation is a great study of itself, and endless
schemes looking to greater elasticity in the system have
been suggested.
All internal remedy must lie in the educated and
progressive business sense of our people. It is very
probable that for some time to come the only check
will lie in the sobering shock of an old-time panic, the
only channel through which restraint can reach
those upon whom it is to be imposed. But let us look
forward to better things.
Perhaps our future has been mortgaged in the
prospect of present gain. Patiently we must begin to
pay these debts, patiently toil to accumulate anew a
reserve for coming years.
ELECTRICAL DEVELOPMENT
GEORGE STYLES
Outside of the telegraph the history of what we
may call applied electricity is practically only twenty-
rive years old. If the most advanced scientist of the
days of the centennial exhibition had died then and
were to return to-day he would be bewildered by the
various adaptations of this subtle power.
In no other period of the world's history have
there been so many scientific applications of a single
force as that of electricity, and the most advanced
electrician is the least disposed to limit its range in the
future. To-day one million people are employed in
the United States in enterprises which depend upon
electricity. At the beginning of the period of our text
hardly a telephone was in public use anywhere in the
world. In 1880 less than 35,000 miles of wire and only
3,350 employees were reported, while at this moment
there is in this country alone something like $85,000,-
ooo invested in telephones, controlling 600,000 miles
of wire and employing fully 15,000 persons.
Fifteen years ago there was not an electric road in
full operation in the world. But now in the United
States alone there are 15,000 miles of them, costing
$900,000,000. Ten years since there were only two
or three electric power and light companies here. To-
day we have 10,000 of them representing a capital of
$500,000,000. Especially during the last six or eight
years has the application of this force been marvelous,
not only in the different channels of its present use, but
also in the enormous pressures to which it is subject
for man's convenience. In no respect is it more start-
151
152 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [February,
ling than in its transmission over long lines. Four
years ago the highest pressure employed was 10,000
volts, that being the force used I believe on the line
between Buffalo and Niagara. Within fifteen months
this pressure was doubled, and to-day 40,000 volts are
in use. The increase in this respect means a good
deal from an economical standpoint, for the higher the
pressure the more economical is the plant, because the
conductivity of a copper thread increases as the square
of the pressure.
Relatively therefore you require less metal with a
high potential than with a low one. And while on this
subject we may notice that though the transmission
pressure is used in excess of what is required by the
purpose of the current, and for which purpose it is
transformed to the point needed, as for manufacturing,
lighting and propelling, still it will not be forgotten
that the limit of the possible voltage determines the
distance to which that power can be profitably sent.
This becomes of consequence in reference to the loca-
tion of the site for the use of the power with regard to
its source. In other words, it becomes of the highest
moment to determine whether the source of supply can
transmit the current one, two or any other number of
miles.
For example: at present the farthest distance to
which the Niagara current is sent is but little more than
twenty miles. But there are plants now in operation
which transmit the current four or five times that dis-
tance. This being so, a water privilege is no longer
valuable simply for those electrical industries in its
immediate vicinity; so that, the manufacturer who
happens to live where fuel is comparatively scarce will
suffer no disadvantage in using such a transmitted cur-
rent as compared with the one whose factory is situated
where fuel is plentiful. Only a few weeks ago the
i90i.] ELECTRICAL DEVELOPMENT 153
Snoqualmie Falls Power Company of Seattle performed
the feat of driving an electric motor one hundred and
fifty-three miles distant from the generator.
Returning from this digression we notice a few of
the things now accomplished by electricity, which until
within a few years were considered impossible. Thus
the use of the electric arc renders possible the creation
of a temperature of 7,200 degrees Fahr. This is more
than strong enough to reduce to its first elements every
known substance. Gold, platinum, copper, may be
volatilized in the electric furnace ; copper, steel and
nickel may be welded, and carborundum, the hardest
known substance next to the diamond, is now made at
Niagara.
By means of electricity one's handwriting may be
sent by telegraph, and half-tone pictures reproduced
many miles away from the subject. We can crowd a
wire with seventy simultaneous messages, and by
touching a button in Washington one can in a moment
alter clocks all over the United States to the true time.
There is no form of machine but what may be run
by this current, from the ponderous engine down to the
churn in the dairy ; and when we have turned in won-
der from the motions of the mighty crank that moves
and stops in obedience to the hand that presses the
lever we can turn the fluid's sparkling current to account
to enable us to see every bone, sinew and' muscle in
that hand.
Tiny incandescent lamps may be swallowed and
the hidden anatomy of the stomach be revealed without
impairing its processes. By it we can separate alumi-
nium from the earth and thereby furnish it for a frac-
tion of its former cost. The home may be heated,
lighted, ventilated, and the elevator run by it. And
we are here reminded that one of the latest appliances
of electricity enables us with perfect safety to use an
1$4 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [February,
elevator by means of a storage battery without requiring
an attendant to the machine.
Electrolysis separates from a vat of common brine
the chlorine and sodium, and thus two valuable chem-
ical agents are produced. You can place drugs on a
moistened electrode, and they can be carried intact to
diseased parts of the system. We cut coal by electricity
and the same force moves the pit-car to the mouth of
the shaft and hoists the coal to the surface. It even
ministers to the toilet of the man or woman of fashion,
and can be used to stimulate the hair or destroy it,
according to our wishes.
We put it in the form of a hundred gleaming stars
on our horse's harness and store it under the carriage-
seat to light our vehicle. It is no longer an open
question as to whether our railroads will eventually be
electric roads, the main difficulty being the value of our
present locomotives, with reference to the cost of laying
them aside for the electric motor, and the next genera-
tion will wonder how we endured the smoke and steam
and grime incident to our "steam-cars."
The possibilities of wireless telegraphy are too
many to keep it long in what are now its initial stages.
Only a few weeks since, Prof. Fessenden and his assist-
ant, Prof. Kintner, of the Western University of Penn-
sylvania, were reported as having produced a receiver
for this means of communication, which is 2,000 times
as sensitive as Marconi's coherer. The latter has shown
that he can send messages 90 miles, and the improved
receiver must of necessity lengthen this distance.
If so many of these things have already been
accomplished the query naturally arises, what yet
remains to be done? The question is necessarily
indefinite but suggestive. We have spoken of the high
voltage of the transmission-line and the enormous
power thus possible to be conveyed. A difficulty in
i 9 oi.] ELECTRICAL DEVELOPMENT 155
this branch met the experimenters at the outset, to
invent insulators strong enough to withstand the strong
pressure. This has been overcome only to present
another arising from electrical leakage. At 30,000
volts this is hardly noticeable, but when this voltage
is doubled the loss on bare wires becomes too serious
as an economical factor to be passed by. It has been
suggested that placing the wires under ground or
enclosing them in tubes and placing oil in contact with
the copper might reduce materially the leakage.
Another undeveloped field of the highest import-
ance is the direct transformation of heat into electricity.
When this is done the great heat stores, as already
suggested, will become of much greater value in the
production of a given electrical end than now, and
cheaper electricity will result.
The sun and the tides are being canvassed to see if
their exhaustless stores of energy can be utilized as
electric creators. Nay, who will say that the magnetic
currents on the earth's surface may not be harnessed
for the same purpose? This may seem only a dream,
but so was the conception that first saw in Niagara's
rushing waters the potential strength of a mighty
motor.
For years we have been taught that there is elec-
tricity within and all about us, generated wholly by
natural forces. Now, that supply is supplemented by
the handiwork of man, ministering to his wants and
comforts until trade and art and science fairly bristle
with them. Franklin's key and kite have evolved the
mightiest force of nature as a servant to man, tireless,
resting neither night nor day.
EDITORIAL CRUCIBLE
IN HIS RECENT address before the Holland Society,
Mr. Cleveland gave another demonstration of his
capacity as a prophet of pessimism. He gave all the
influence of his imposing ponderosity to the solemn
prediction that we are going to the bad, but he had no
hint of a helpful suggestion to offer. His every appear-
ance before the public seems to justify his reputation
as a messenger of misfortune. When he cannot lead to
disaster he predicts it, but fortunately he has been
retired and for all practical purposes belongs to the
past.
IT is WITH no little surprise that we note in the
December number of Money an article by its editor urg-
ing the republican party to emphasize its adherence to
the doctrine of international bimetalism. In the evo-
lution of the subject the republican party has finally
taken the position of a gold-standard party. The con-
version from free silver to international bimetalism and
ultimately to the gold standard has been a gradual his-
toric process, and any return to the free -silver doctrine,
international or national, would be a retrogressive step.
Of the two kinds of free silverites the international
bimetalist is the worst, because he tends to keep the
subject in agitation on the theory that it is the true
future position, whereas the world is gradually tending
away from bimetalism altogether. The i6-to-i silver
advocate has become less dangerous because the absurd-
ity of his position is more obvious. The future improve-
ment of our monetary system lies in the direction of
better methods of banking and not in any new agitation
about the standard.
156
EDITORIAL CRUCIBLE 157
IT is ANNOUNCED that Mr. John D. Archbold has
contributed $400,000 to the endowment fund of Syra-
cuse University, and simultaneously comes the infor-
mation that Mr. Andrew Carnegie has contributed
$260,000 for the building of a public library in Syra-
cuse, following only by a few months his contribution
of $300,000 to Cooper Union, New York city. This
shows that our wealthy men are more and more seri-
ously realizing the importance of furthering opportuni-
ties for education. No better use can be made of great
wealth. The problems that are to be faced in this
country during the next twenty-five years are going to
be solved in a contest between the forces of construct-
ive, progressive, intelligent evolution and the forces of
socialism. The socialistic propaganda is already in the
lead. It has an organized army and a political chief in
the person of Mr. Bryan, and it feeds on social distrust
of industrial progress. Education of public opinion,
particularly among the masses, is the only weapon with
which this movement of hazardous experiment and
disruption can be successfully met.
INCONSISTENCY and insincerity sometimes look so
much alike that it is difficult to distinguish between
them. There are certain newspapers in New York
city which are so near the border line and so frequently
cross it as to justify the suspicion that they belong to
the less ethical side. These papers constantly parade
their virtues as the guardians of political ethics, yet
they are generally among the first to find reasons for
questioning the motives or denouncing the wisdom of
any official who has the courage effectively to deal with
scandalous political conduct. This was illustrated in
the hostile attitude of certain New York papers toward
Governor Roosevelt's removal of District Attorney
Gardiner of New York city, despite their moral pre-
1S8 GUNTOWS MAGAZINE [February,
tences. Every clean-minded and patriotic citizen of
New York, and for that matter of the country, feels
that the moral atmosphere was cleared and political in-
tegrity strengthened by the governor's act. The
American people have more faith in the virile integ-
rity of such men as Roosevelt, even though they make
some mistakes, than in the ethics of the cynical critics
whose chief virtue is to find fault with whatever is, and
take more comfort in picking a technical flaw in a vir-
tuous act than in supporting the courage and energy
that takes some risks in favor of public honesty and
political decency.
IN THE DEATH of Michael G. Mulhall the world has
lost one of the most remarkable statisticians of the nine-
teenth century. Unlike most statisticians, Mr. Mulhall
had the faculty of marshalling statistics into massive
generalizations and at the same time reducing them to
intelligible specific quantities. Dr. Giffen is probably
a more painstaking original investigator, but his results
are neither as comprehensive nor as intelligible as were
those of Mulhall. The great work of Mulhall was not
in original investigation, but in the massing and mar-
shalling into comprehensive form the work of the
world's investigators. He took the statistics of differ-
ent nations and made them intelligible to the average
mind. It may be said that he was not as accurate in
minutiae as some others, but he dealt with such large
quantities and in such a methodical way that minor de-
fects were offset and practically eliminated. In other
words, he had a faculty for and developed a system of
reducing the world's doings to the comprehension of
the ordinary mind. In his hands the average person
could understand almost at a glance statistics that run
into the billions. He did this so well and so persist-
ently that by sheer force of his superior ability he be-
i 9 oi.] EDITORIAL CRUCIBLE 159
came the most frequently quoted authority. He was a
statistical genius, who, besides having the eminent fac-
ulty for statistics, had the power of organization. He
reduced his work to a system which it is to be hoped is
sufficiently well-established to remain a permanent
source of world- wide statistical information.
IN HIS RECENT address at the University of Mich-
igan ex- President Harrison gave the key for his silence
during the recent national campaign. He advocated in
vigorous terms the doctrine that the constitution must
accompany the flag. If by governing under the con-
stitution he means giving the people full rights of suf-
frage and self-government with representation in con-
gress, then all our territorial government has been un-
constitutional. If Mr. Harrison contends that when
the flag goes to Porto Rico and the Philippines and
Hawaii it must carry with it all the rights of American
citizenship that are exercised in Indiana, he should
oppose annexation of inferior peoples altogether. But
he started the present annexation movement by annex-
ing Hawaii, a group of people economically, politically
and socially inferior to most of the inhabitants of Porto
Rico and probably to many of the Filipinos. If Mr.
Harrison is in favor of annexing barbarism, with the full
privileges of United States citizens, he is advocating
the most dangerous doctrine that has ever been pro-
mulgated in this country.
To take the position of ex-Speaker Reed and Sen-
ator Hoar that the annexation of barbarians is a bad
and even dangerous departure from American policy is
sound and defensible, but to advocate the annexation
of unclad savages and then insist that the constitution
must accompany the flag is a combination which makes
an intolerable doctrine for the United States or any
other civilized country. If we are to have the strict
ICO GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [February,
construction doctrine that ' ' the constitution goes with
the flag," then we must scrupuously avoid letting the
flag go where the people are industrially and politically
unfit for the constitution. Mr. Harrison's address at
Ann Arbor does not sustain his reputation for statesman-
ship and legal learning. If his annexation theory and
practice is sound his constitutional doctrine is bad, and
if his constitutional doctrine is right his theory of
statesmanship is disastrous.
GOVERNOR ODELL of New York appears to be
ambitious to make a record for economy. He has
begun by urging the abolition of many of the state
commissions, among which he has selected the board
of arbitration, the board of factory inspectors and the
bureau of labor statistics. The work hitherto done by
these three boards he recommends should all be per-
formed by one new department. This may save a few
dollars but it will impair the scope and efficiency of a
line of work that should be increased and strengthened
instead of curtailed. Instead of reducing the work of
factory inspection it should be increased. The demand
for workshop inspection in the interest of wholesome
labor conditions is increasing every year. Similarly,
the work of the bureau of labor statistics should not be
curtailed but rather extended. The data furnished by
an efficient bureau of labor statistics is altogether more
important than a governor's staff ; it furnishes a reliable
basis for sound discussion of public questions. There
is ample room for criticism of the work of these
bureaus, because they have been equipped largely by
political patronage instead of competent, efficient ap-
pointments. The one mistake Governor Roosevelt
made was in assuming that he could get efficient
service by parcelling out these positions to trade
unions. He soon found that trade unions were won-
igoi.] EDITORIAL CRUCIBLE 161
derfully like political organizations. As soon as they
saw an office they all wanted it, and it was a disgrace-
ful struggle in which all united to abuse the one who
got it. If these appointments were made solely on the
ground of fitness, regardless of trade union or any other
" pull," the boards of factory inspection, labor statistics,
and arbitration, would be three important features of
the state government and would be worth to the public
many times more than their cost. Abolishing these
bureaus or lumping them all under a single head with
reduced force would be a step backwards, distinctly
detrimental to the interests of labor throughout the
state, and against which the workingmen ought vigor-
ously to protest.
EUROPE is evidently becoming disturbed by the
striking progress of the United States. M. Leroy-
Beaulieu, the French economist, has sounded the alarm
and proposes a social union of Europe against the
United States. He says :
" They are on the point of becoming by far the most important
economic factor in the world. They may henceforth be regarded as the
first industrial nation, and their superiority will become more strikingly
evident year by year. Moreover, they will very soon have a consider-
able mercantile marine."
To prevent this he proposes a practically prohibi-
tive or highly discriminating duty against American
products throughout Europe. There is not much
danger that such a scheme will immediately prevail,
because of the suspicion and rivalry between many of
the European countries, particularly France and Eng-
land. This, following Mr. Chamberlain's proposition
for an industrial confederacy between England and her
colonies, having free trade within and imposing a duty
on all imports from without, shows the trend of affairs.
It shows that instead of the world growing towards free
162 G UNTON'S MA GAZINE
trade it is altogether likely to adopt a more comprehen-
sive system of protection, and that, after all, the great
and most important thing any nation can do for the
perpetuation of its own growth and prosperity is to
develop its own market resources through domestic
consumption. There is a lesson in this that American
statesmen will do well to learn. Those doctrinaires
who assume that either England or the United States,
or both, are going to be permitted long to monopolize
the markets of other countries for manufactured prod-
ucts are counting without the facts. The most ordi-
nary self-interest in social advancement will invent
some method to stop any such monopoly. As progress
advances, it becomes more and more obvious that
civilization and national power are incompatible with
merely agricultural industries. Manufactures and com-
merce, with their socializing effect upon population, are
indispensable to any appreciable national strength;
consequently, every nation is going to become a manu-
facturing country as fast as it shares in any appreciable
degree in the world's consumption of manufactured
products.
THE "RUSKIN HALL" MOVEMENT
The inauguration of the "Ruskin Hall" movement
in this country, by the starting of a school at Trenton,
Missouri, raises the question of the possible place of
such a propaganda among the educational forces of the
nation. The school at Trenton is to be operated by the
income received from students, who will provide for a
considerable part of their tuition and living expenses
by working on a farm connected with the institution.
On its practical side there is nothing particularly novel
about this plan, there are numerous worthy educa-
tional institutions in this country conducted in much
the same way. But the next step the Ruskin Hall peo-
ple have in view is to establish branch schools in cities
throughout the country and carry on a propaganda of
economic doctrine by means of these schools, supple-
mented by home-study courses. The point of view and
general character of instruction given will, of course,
be largely determined by the influence of John Ruskin ;
which, in economics, means socialism pure and simple.
It is hardly worth while to comment on the pros-
pects of an undertaking before it has been submitted to
the test of practical experience, but it is not out of place
to discuss its probable effect in case it succeeds. With-
out minimizing the elevating and stimulating character
of much of Ruskin's teaching in certain important
fields, it cannot be said that his economic notions were
either sound in theory or helpful in their practical rela-
tion to society. Minor points aside, the two really
characteristic and vital features of Ruskin's economic
thought were antagonism to mechanical industry and
the use of machinery, on the one hand, and thorough
belief in a socialistic reorganization of society on the
other.
163
164 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [February,
Ruskin is regarded as the most prominent repre-
sentative, probably, of the literary school of modern
socialists. In this country several communistic experi-
ments have flourished (and most of them withered) un-
der the name of "Ruskin colonies." One of these,
started in Tennessee and afterwards reestablished in
Ware County, Georgia, was thus described by a writer
in the Savavnah (Ga.) News, last October :
' ' The Ruskinites have demonstrated by actual ex-
perience the lowest possible daily cost for food for their
entire community. . . .
' ' Everything they consume is bought at wholesale,
in large quantities, and is cooked in the community
kitchen. In the community dining-room tables are set
for three hundred people. Those who do not wish to
eat with the crowd are given the privilege of purchasing
company stores and cooking it at home. When vege-
tables are scarce these people are allowed seven cents
per capita a day, that is, seven cents for each person,
big, little, old, young, sick or well. When vegetables
are plentiful the cash allowance is only five cents. As
the community raises its own vegetables, the approxi-
mate cost is only about two cents per capita a day f
making the actual cost of living at Ruskin from seven
to nine cents a day for each man, woman and child.
"Let us go into the community dining-room and
see how they live. We go at the invitation of Professor
Denny, an eminent socialist speaker and scholar. In a
large room 20 feet wide and 150 feet long we see nearly
three hundred men, women and children seated at long
tables. Breakfast is our first meal. It is well prepared,
savory and daintily served. We make a wholesome
meal on light bread furnished by the colony baker, but-
ter, Georgia syrup, oatmeal, Irish potatoes, milk, cereal
coffee and sugar. Sometimes we have fried mush with
fruits and jellies.
igoi.] THE "R USKIN HALL" MO VEMENT 165
' l Our dinner generally varies according to the sea-
son. Meat only comes to the table twice a week. The
bill of fare usually consists of rice or peas, beans or
macaroni, some two or more of these ; Georgia syrup,
beets, tomatoes, eggplants, potatoes, soup, bread and
cereal coffee cereal coffee is manufactured by the col-
onists and is one of their main industries.
" For supper, cheese in some form, lemonade, cake,
rice or beans, sugar, grits, mush, fried potatoes, cold
tea and bread. The person visiting Ruskin and taking
his meals in the community dining-room will have the
above bill of fare placed before him, with slight varia-
tions. He will find that it is not only possible, but
practicable, for people to live at a cost of from seven to
nine cents a day per capita."
The same writer, in speaking of the economic views
and purposes of these colonists, says :
" The Ruskinites are socialists. . . . They be-
lieve firmly in the doctrine that society should be reor-
ganized by regulating property, industry and the
sources of livelihood. They also believe in a community
of property and the negation of individual rights in
that property."
t The only significance of this illustration is that it
shows the kind of efforts which naturally spring out of
Ruskin's economic influence, and even adopt his name
as best typifying the spirit of the undertaking. There
need be no uncertainty, and ought to be no lack of
clear understanding, as to just what sort of ' ' educa-
tional " work this Ruskin Hall movement is designed
to perform.
Any propaganda which has for its background a
practically communistic reorganization of society on the
basis of a return to agricultural conditions and hand-labor
industry, leading its votaries to glorify such a pitiable
ideal as being able to live on seven to nine cents a day,
1<J6 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [February,
cannot fill any useful place in modern educational effort
or exert any wholesome influence on public opinion or
upon the world's great industrial tendencies. The fatal
defect of Ruskin's economic teaching, which deprives
it of any really scientific standing and destroys its
capacity for broad practical usefulness, is the fact that it
arrays itself arbitrarily against the natural evolution of
industrial society, instead of recognizing the broad
advantages and opportunity-making character of this
progress and pointing out ways and means of removing
its hardships and defects while preserving and aiding
the general trend.
When it does teach preservation of the general good
and removal of the specific evils, economics becomes
both the guide and purifier of industrial progress, but
an economic philosophy cast on the general lines of
Ruskin's reactionary doctrines can never be anything
in its total effect but a stumbling block in the pathway
of social progress.
Ruskin was by nature incapable of formulating a
sound and well-balanced philosophy of social progress.
The reasons for this disqualification were fundamental,
and perhaps could not be better summarized than has
already been done by Charles H. Moore in the Atlantic
Monthly of last October. In a paragraph Mr. Moore
states the essential features of Ruskin's economic in-
capacity :
"For a social reformer Ruskin was not well
equipped, either by nature or by education. He did not
see that men must be led in freedom. He did not re-
spect freedom. He did not see that character can be
formed only by voluntary conformity with the divine
laws of life. Repression and compulsion, while neces-
sary under existing conditions for the maintenance of
outward order, have no potency to reform human na-
ture. He would enforce principles of right living, and
i90i.] THE "RUSKIN HALL" MO VEMENT 167
the slowness of men to conform to such principles made
him impatient. But a reformer needs vast patience.
Impatience, anxiety, irritability and excitability are
weaknesses which unfit a man to help his fellows ; and,
with all his genius and all his nobility of soul, Ruskin
had these weaknesses in large measure."
There is crying need of broader, more helpful and
a thousand-fold more extensive popular education in
economics in this country, but it must be education of
the sort that illuminates the pathway of natural evolu-
tion, instead of attracting the nation by false lights, into
the byways and pitfalls of revolutionary and reaction-
ary experiments.
CIVIC AND EDUCATIONAL NOTES
Two Points In summing tip the results of nineteenth-
E^N* ^ d century progress, it appears that educa-
tion is one of the few departments in which
the United States has not led the world ; probably has
not made as much progress as some other nations. Six-
ty years ago we were, with one exception, at the head
of the world in the general extent of education. That
is to say, we had a larger percentage of adults who
could read and write than any other nation except Ger-
many. In 1840, 80 per cent, of the adults in this coun-
try could read and write. In Germany there were 82
per cent. To-day Germany has 96 per cent, and we
have 92. In 1840 Russia had only 2 per cent, who
could read and write, to-day it has only 15 per cent.
Italy, sixty years ago, had 16 per cent., and now has 47
per cent. Spain had 14 per cent, in 1840, and has now
only 28 per cent. England in 1840 had 59 per cent.,
and now has 90 per cent. In other words, England was
25 percent, behind us sixty years ago, and is only about
2 per cent, behind to-day. It has made more rapid
progress in education than we. This is an important
matter. To be sure, illiteracy in this country is not
very great, and it may be true and undoubtedly is that
the percentage is largely affected by the South ; but
this only shows where the need for special effort is. If
this country is to keep to the front as a real power in
civilization it must keep up with its education, evenly
throughout the land. Wealth, industrial prosperity,
nothing will avail ultimately if it is not so directed as
to show a large part of its results in the general infor-
mation and culture of the people.
The same is largely true of our relative progress
168
CIVIC AND ED UCA TIONAL NO TES 169
in municipal government. Europe has made more
rapid progress than we. Our industrial advancement
has been so all-absorbing that municipal government
has been relatively neglected.
We do not say this in a pessimistic mood. Our coun-
try is not disgracefully in the rear in education and mu-
nicipal government, but we cannot afford to be at all in
the rear. These two things are more important with us
than with almost any other nation, because we are facing
new conditions and more complex problems than any
other country, and we have to face them unreservedly
by democratic methods. They are submitted, not to a
little cultured group but unqualifiedly to the people,
and the people must have the intelligence to deal with
them or our institutions will fail.
The annual statement of William T.
Education in Our TT . TT ., ., ~, . -
New Possessions Harris, United States commissioner of
education, contains some interesting re-
ports of the educational conditions in' our outlying ter-
ritories and possessions.
In Alaska 25 public schools have been maintained
during the past year, but on account of the increasing
population the present school facilities have become
wholly inadequate. The immigration of white men
has aroused an interest in education among the adult
native Alaskans, and in several sections there have
been requests for night schools. It has been impossible
to comply with these requests except in one instance,
but the results there have been most satisfactory.
A brief account is given of the condition of schools
in the Philippines before the disturbances of 1896- '97,
and their reestablishment under United States author-
ity, but no information is offered as to progress since
made and the present status of the schools, possibly
because our efforts have been more actively directed
170 G UNTOWS MA GAZINE
thus far to pursuing the recalcitrant Filipino with the
bayonet than with the school book.
In Cuba there has been a more thorough reorgani-
zation of the school system than in any of the other
sections reported. Boards of education have been es-
tablished, a superintendent of schools appointed, who
prescribes the courses of study, free text-books fur-
nished and attendance made compulsory under fines of
from $5 to $25. In March, 1900, there were reported
131 boards of education, 3,099 schools, 3,500 teachers
and 130,000 enrolled pupils. In 1899 there were only
200 schools with an attendance of 4,000. The school
fund is taken from the customs receipts and the esti-
mate for 1900 was $4,000,000.
The report of the conditions in Porto Rico agrees
substantially with that made by M. G. Brumbaugh,
commissioner of education for that island, to which we
referred in our last issue. Intellectual apathy, born of
poverty, seems to pervade the island, and until the
United States took possession there was almost no at-
tempt at popular education. Progress has been made
in the past two years but the results do not compare
with those in Cuba.
In Hawaii the missionaries have carried on more or
less effective educational work for nearly a century.
The people have been eager to learn, and schools and
colleges have sprung up. As early as 1840 there was
a compulsory school law with penalties for non-attend-
ance, applying to both parents and children, as well
as a law which provided that no illiterate man should
" hold office over any other man." With the coming
of Englishmen there was an increase in the number and
quality of the schools, the most important change being
the teaching of English instead of the Hawaiian lan-
guage. At the present time in nearly all the schools
in Hawaii English is the medium of instruction.
THE OPEN FORUM
This department belongs to our readers, and offers them full oppor-
tunity to "talk back" to the editor, give information, discuss topics or
ask questions on subjects within the field covered by GUNTON'S MAGA-
ZINE. All communications, whether letters for publication or inquiries
for the ' Question Box," must be accompanied by the full name and ad-
dress of the writer. This is not required for publication, if the writer
objects, but as evidence of good faith. Anonymous correspondents are
ignored.
LETTERS FROM CORRESPONDENTS
Our Philippine Policy
Editor GUNTON'S MAGAZINE,
Dear Sir: Many of the views expressed in your
magazine are, I think, admirably sustained, but I
cannot fully endorse what seems to be your position as
to the course of the administration in dealing with the
Philippines. I cannot possibly see how any other
course could have been pursued. President McKinley
was bound to sustain the authority of the United States
therein. Had he failed so to do he would have been
liable to impeachment. These islands have been gov-
erned just as our other territories have been. We
have kept some of them out of the union many years,
and it will be many years before the Philippines will
be in such condition as to enable us to determine what
will be best for them, for us, and for the world. That
which will tend to promote their own best interests will
surely be best for the world at large, and I think every
sane man will conclude that our rule will best subserve
that purpose. J. W. S., Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.
Sentiments That Are Appreciated
Editor GUNTON'S MAGAZINE,
Dear Sir: Your January number is the first copy
of your magazine I ever saw, that I know of, and I
171
172 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE
confess I am pleased with the tone of the articles and
the lines along which you seem to be moving with ref-
erence to public affairs, recognizing the good that is
and at the same time demanding and expecting progress
in the future. It seems to me that the best results can
be obtained not by expecting a complete change of the
present order of things, and that your magazine will
supply a real need and meet with many sympathizers
among a large class of people who are not completely
and fully satisfied with every condition of the body,
social and politic, and yet are not so filled with pessi-
mistic sentiments, which are seemingly cherished, as
to see no hope in anything, unless such advice as they
approve is followed seriatim on all questions. What
pleased me most in your magazine was that I caught no
suggestion of any of the above spirit, a too common
spirit, both in the press and in private discussions. I
am glad to become acquainted with a magazine which
appears to possess the spirit of poise in its editorial
department. C. H. P., Greenfield, Mass.
QUESTION BOX
Future of the British Empire
Editor GUNTON'S MAGAZINE,
DEAR SIR: Mr. Schey's article in your January
number certainly makes out a cheerful showing for
Australia, but what does it all point to, if not the break-
ing up of the British empire into independent republics
Australia, Canada, South Africa, and so on, leaving
England only her island kingdom? The bonds are
becoming so weak that it begins to look like an impend-
ing breakdown of the greatest colonial system in the
world. J. S. P.
Yes, true progress means the breaking up of em-
pires everywhere, German anc]. French as well as Brit-
ish. As prosperity advances and labor grows the essence
of empire is sure to decline, and colonies governed
by distant authorities will disappear. Canada and
Australia can only be held nominally by Great Britain
because they are permitted practically to be republics.
Progress is towards self-government, which is the
antithesis of colonial government. If we attempt to
establish a colonial system we shall be taking on what
even progressive monarchy is throwing off. This
republic may consistently cooperate with struggling
people to help them establish representative govern-
ment, but we cannot enter upon a colonial policy with-
out radically departing from the principle of our insti-
tutions, and the trend of political progress everywhere.
Socialism's Defeats and Prospects
Editor GUNTON'S MAGAZINE,
DEAR SIR: Because a socialist mayor has been
defeated in Haverhill, you seem to think socialism is
173
174 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [February,
done for. How many years ago was it that the idea of
a socialist being a formidable candidate for anything
was an absurdity? How many centuries did it take
people to win the right even to have a free religious
opinion, and then only in one corner of Europe? How
many centuries has it taken the masses in only a few
countries to get merely the right to vote? How many
defeats and long discouragements have they had? A
righteous cause may be ten centuries in winning, but
do not imagine it is going to be wiped out by an occa-
sional setback in one place while victories are being
won in dozens of others. E. N. G.
Our correspondent is mistaken. We do not "think
socialism is done for " at all. It is entirely true that it
has taken centuries of continuous struggle to win the
civil, religious and economic freedom that is now en-
joyed. It is equally true that a local setback did not de-
feat but only delayed the movement. A righteous cause
may indeed be centuries in winning, and if progress con-
tinues it is sure to win. It is because socialism is not a
"righteous cause," in the sense of being a sound social
movement, that we look for its failure wherever the
experiment is tried. Thus far, in all the forms of
attempted socialistic government, the result has been
disappointing failure. It is because socialism is opposed
to the highest type of individual freedom that we expect
its failure wherever tried. It is based, moreover, upon
a false economic assumption : namely, that profit or
"surplus value" is robbery, which is not true, and
cannot be sustained either by logic or fact.
It is true that every religious cause has to struggle
for recognition, but it does not follow that every religion
that struggles for recognition is true. On the contrary,
mistaken panaceas outnumber many times the sound
measures which make for permanent progress. Social-
i90i.] QUESTION SOX 175
ism is an unsound theory, and, although it will probably
have to be exploded by some degree of actual experi-
menting with it, the degree of its temporary success
will be the measure of social misfortune and setback to
real progress during its continuance.
European and American Municipal Government
Editor GUNTON'S MAGAZINE,
Dear Sir: Is it not generally recognized that mu-
nicipal government is much farther advanced in Europe
than in the United States, especially in respect to mu-
nicipal ownership of public enterprises? If so, cer-
tainly this is the first step we should take to make our
city institutions what they should be. E. M. S.
European experiments in municipal ownership of
public enterprises are not the respect in which their cities
are superior to ours. The respect in which municipal
government in Europe is more advanced than here is in
wholesomeness of political methods and broad-minded
attention to public improvements. In fact, public spirit
in Europe has been altogether more largely absorbed in
municipal government than in national government. It
is in municipal government that the democratic spirit
there has made its greatest progress, whereas in this
country municipal government has been the neglected
feature of our public life. The natural consequence is
that in Europe the cities are better governed, freer from
political corruption, and consequently freer from job-
bery in conducting municipal enterprises. There are
no Tammanys ; such institutions have not had the op-
portunity to take advantage of the people's inexperience
in civic affairs and absorption in other pursuits that they
have here. The characterful and responsible citizens
take an active part in municipal affairs and are fre-
quently elected to the most responsible offices. In this
176 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [February,
country municipal government is conducted largely by
cliques, and offices are given to incompetents, with the
result that local departments, like the New York city
police, become blackmailing and vice-protecting insti-
tutions instead of guardians of the public interests.
It is in these respects that Europe is farther ad-
vanced than the United States in municipal government,
and this is partly due to the methods of selecting candi-
dates for office. In Europe they have no delegate con-
ventions, where a few unscrupulous persons, through
the power of patronage, can buy and sell offices and con-
trol the selection of candidates. In England, for in-
stance, the nominations are made by petitions, so that
any comparatively small group of citizens can put a
candidate in nomination and thus easily reach the peo-
ple without the intervention of " bosses, "as in this
country. Indeed, that is perhaps the worst feature of
our whole municipal political machinery.
New York City Politics, Now and in 1897
Editor GUNTON'S MAGAZINE,
Dear Sir: You are certainly on the right side of
the case when you say that the people of New York city
are as willing to give the city government to Tammany
as to the republican organization. The two machines
do trade with each other all the time ;. there is no doubt
of it, and they have always done it. This was just as
true in 1897 as it is now, and I cannot understand why
you supported the republican candidate for mayor that
year if you recognized the true situation as you seem to
do now. There was a chance then to keep out both
machines and start the greater city under an honest and
able mayor, free from local partisan control. Mr. Low
did some exasperating things, no doubt, but you do not
igoi.] QUESTION BOX 177
imagine, do you, but what the republican machine pre-
ferred to see Van Wyck elected, if necessary, to defeat
Mr. Low? J. D.
It may be true that "dealing" between the republi-
can organization in New York city and Tammany "was
just as true in 1897 as it is now." If it was we did not
know it and did not believe it. It has been demon-
strated over and over again since the Tweed era (1872)
that Tammany is a corrupt and corrupting institution ;
that it is not in any legitimate sense a political party
but a private organization which goes into politics for
what it can make. Several official investigations have
conclusively shown that in the pursuit of its object it
uses the political administration for blackmail in its
vilest forms, by conspiring with the vicious classes,
furnishing protection to crime for a division of the
booty. It has been shown that this method of black-
mail and corruption permeates every department of the
government over which Tammany has control ; that the
police force is an organized system of corruption, black-
mail and persecution conducted on a systematic revenue-
receiving basis. To be sure, it was commonly said that
Platt was as bad as Croker, that the "republican ma-
chine" was a duplicate of Tammany, but it is so easy
and common to indulge in this sort of thing against
whoeve/succeeds to political leadership that it is wholly
unsafe to accept such charges without specific proof.
Our theory of ethical judgment is to assume a per-
son innocent until he is proved guilty, not believe him
guilty until he proves his innocence. We did not have
the evidence that the republican organization traded
with Tammany and used other coercing, intimidating
and corrupting methods in 1 897, but we have that evidence
now. Within a year we have seen the despotic methods
by which republican political officeholders use their
178 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [February,
power of patronage to coerce delegates and suppress the
rights of citizens and reverse nominations for public
office for the same low motives and by the same corrupt
means that Tammany employs. In 1897 we believed
Mr. Quigg to be a clean-handed, energetic, public-spir-
ited political leader. We now know him to be a manip-
ulator and user of the lowest kinds of Tammany methods.
In 1897 we did not believe the story that the republican
organization leaders traded with Tammany. We now
know they did on the personal admission of the men
who did it. Whether Mr. Platt is personally a party
to this sort of thing we know not, but we do know
that he is the supporter and defender of those whom he
knows have done it. The first-hand evidence of all this
we now have in our possession. We may have erred in
trusting the integrity of the republican organization in
1897, but we know we are warranted in wholly distrust-
ing it in 1901. Our correspondent may have been more
alert than we in discovering the true character of the
leaders of the republican organization in New York
city. Perhaps he was closer to the inside. We were
slow to suspect and reluctant to believe that Tammany
methods prevailed in the republican party, but we now
know they do and act accordingly.
How Will Depressions Be Eliminated ?
Editor GUNTON'S MAGAZINE,
Dear Sir: It does not seem to me reasonable to as-
sume, as you do in many of your editorials, that if prop-
erly educated the people would submit quietly to indus-
trial depressions and hard times. Education cannot hold
out against starvation. I can see no hope of permanent
industrial peace until the time comes when we can have
permanent prosperity under stable conditions and set-
tled policies. R. G. M.
igoi.] QUESTION BOX 179
Our correspondent is quite right, but it is exactly in
this direction that economic and political education
among the masses would help. Of course, the more intel-
ligent the people are and the more they know of indus-
trial causes and effects, the more impatient they will be
with the recurrence of industrial depressions ; on the
other hand, the more clearly they will recognize the
actual causes of depressions and the character of the
remedies needed. Industrial depressions are the labor-
ers' calamity. They can be remedied by no specific act
of the legislature, but will disappear with the increasing
permanence and stability of industry. This can come
only through the better organization and more scientific
application of capital. The era of industrial depressions
is the era of haphazard conducting of productive indus-
try, without scientific knowledge of the real market de-
mands and conditions. The era of industrial perma-
nence and stability must be the era of large coordinated
industrial enterprise, enterprise on such a large scale
that it cannot afford to move by fits and starts, but in
self-preservation must so adapt itself to the conditions
as to make continuous use of its capital and tools possi-
ble. This is what the great corporations are tending
to accomplish, and an intelligent understanding of their
own economic interests on the part of the masses would
lead to endorsement of rather than antagonism to the
general trend of industrial evolution in this country.
BOOK REVIEWS
SPENCER AND SPENCERISM. By Hector Macpher-
son. Cloth, 241 pp. Doubleday, Page & Co., New
York.
This is really a review of the Spencerian philoso-
phy. The author is not merely an admirer of Spencer
and his philosophy, but he worships at the Spencerian
shrine. Of Spencer's works he says (page 233) :
4 ' There are no gaps to fill in ; the various volumes hang on First
Principles ' like golden beads upon a golden string. Herbert Spencer
may rest from his labors with the proud consciousness that with his own
right hand he has carved his path from obscurity to a philosophic throne.
He now stands among the sceptred immortals."
It is true that Mr. Spencer has constructed a syn-
thetic philosophy which, with the works of Darwin,
Huxley, Lyell and Tyndall, and a few other great
writers of the period, has practically changed the point
of view of human thinking. The astonishment about
the doctrine of evolution is that it should have become
so generally accepted when so few have read its litera-
ture. The influence of the Spencerian school has been
spread far more by brief popularizations of it than by
the works of either Spencer or Darwin.
It is just such books as the one before us that give
popularity to the principle of evolution. As an evi-
dence of how completely Spencer impresses himself
upon his followers, nearly all his pronounced disciples
carry off his errors with the same devotion and alacrity
that they do the great truths he has taught. One pecul-
iarity of Spencer's teaching is his unqualified accept-
ance of the doctrine of laissez faire. It is no reflection
to say that in the realm of economics Spencer was not
a thinker but a borrower. It was one of the fields in
180
BOOK RE VIE WS 181
which he generalized upon other people's investiga-
tions. He accepted the orthodox English school as
represented by Adam Smith, Ricardo and Mill. He
received his economic impressions in the era of the
free-trade agitation, consequently he was an unqualified
free trader. He subjected every economic and indus-
trial policy to the test of its consistency with the free-
trade theory. If it diverges from that it is heresy. In
this respect he was very much like Buckle.
Mr. Macpherson is no exception to this rule. He
expounds " Spencer and Spencerism" in a most attrac-
tive and eloquent style. When he comes to the subject
of the economic evolution of society he bears the in-
delible imprint of the master's defects. He sees and
most eloquently describes the relation of economic de-
velopment to political progress. He sees that material
prosperity is the source of social and political diversifi-
cation and advance, yet he utterly fails to recognize
that equally conspicuous fact in history that whatever
promotes the diversification of industry contributes to
the evolution and advance of society, and that it is an
essential part of the science of statesmanship so to
direct the political and social forces as to promote this
development. Affording protection to property through
the establishment of a police force is a part of such
policy. Ultra laissez faire would have forbidden this
and rendered progress even much slower than it has
been, but Mr. Spencer was so thoroughly opposed to
government action that he even condemned popular
free education, and his criticism of anything like trade
unionism was unbounded. This was the defect in the
socialistic part of Spencer's doctrine, and Mr. Macpher-
son has taken it all. He extols free trade and con-
demns protection as the antithetical forces of good and
evil in economics (page 140) :
182 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [February,
" The intelligent adoption of Adam Smith's doctrine as the corner-
stone of foreign policy is only a matter of time ; and when Free Trade
is universal, humanity will advance from the stage of nationalism to
that of internationalism. When that day arrives, wars will cease.
. . . Under Free Trade the progress of one nation makes for the
progress of all. Fleets and armies are no longer needed to secure a
monopoly of trade, to preserve the balance of power, because in obedi-
ence to an economic law those countries which are industrially equipped
will share in the trade of other countries, even in the teeth of protective
tariffs. . . . Free Trade thus appears in its true light as, from the
economic side, the application of Christian ethics to the international
sphere. . . . Well might Richard Cobden describe Free Trade as
the international law of God Almighty."
How much this sounds like the orations of Villiers,
Cobden and Bright in the early forties. They pre-
dicted that the benefits of free trade needed only to be
seen to be eagerly imitated by all other nations, yet
more than fifty years have elapsed and no other nation
has followed England's policy, not one. On the con-
trary, the nation which has advanced along all the lines
of national evolution at a rate having no parallel is a
nation which has persistently adhered to the hated and
pernicious doctrine of protection. We have deviated
from it occasionally, only to be repaid by direful indus-
trial disaster. There was some excuse for Cobden and
Bright, who wrote and spoke over forty years ago, and
perhaps some for Spencer, who is not an original in-
vestigator in this field, but experience should count for
something with the followers and expounders of so
profound a doctrine as the synthetic philosophy. It is
the more surprising that the disciples of Spencer, like
Mr. Macpherson, should so tenaciously adhere to the
free-trade dogma, since protection is in no way incon-
sistent with the principle of evolution. On the con-
trary, it is but the substitution of intelligent, scientific
selection for blind natural selection. It is the substi-
tution of science for cosmic force and of statesmanship
for ignorant blundering empiricism.
i90i.] BOOK REVIEWS 183
Protection, in the sense of giving societary encour-
agement to industrial development, is as consistent
with and as much a logical part of evolution as is the
development of insurance, the application of steam and
electricity to production, or the guarding of the freedom
and property of citizens. Scientific protection is but
intelligently applying the great principle of evolution
to new phenomena as they arise. Instead of the world
becoming converted to the free-trade doctrine, even
England is beginning to waver. Her responsible
ministers are boldly discussing in the house of com-
mons a protective confederacy by which England and
her colonies shall have free trade between themselves
and protection against the rest of the world.
It is true Herbert Spencer stands for the great
universal philosophy which inductively interprets uni-
versal progress, but the application of his great prin-
ciple to the specific spheres of phenomena are subject
to the actual experience in each case ; to do which is
the duty of his modern disciples. To adhere to the
doctrine of laissez faire as Mr. Spencer did in un-
qualified form, when the best thought in economic
science has abandoned it in obedience to the scientific
induction of half a century's experience, is to get into a
rut and fail to learn the lessons of contemporaneous
induction and verification, which is in effect to be un-
Spencerian.
ECONOMIC CRISES. By Edward D. Jones, Ph. D.
Cloth, 223 pp., $1.25. The Macmillan Company, New
York.
This is an excellent discussion of economic crises
or industrial depressions. The subject is handled with
care, painstaking precision and in a true economic
spirit. It is altogether more analytic than synthetic.
184 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [February,
It is a careful analysis of the economic causes and con-
ditions which effect industrial disturbances. The
treatment is comprehensive yet close ; it shows wide
reading on the subject. The author calls to his aid a
liberal collection of writers of standing in all great
commercial countries. He indulges in some very
wholesome criticisms on the doctrine of parsimony,
saying (page 77) :
' ' When parsimony is rare it is highly paid in the
return given to capital ; when it becomes common its
rewards are reduced. The methods by which the in-
dividual advances his fortunes above those around him,
must not be confused with the methods by which
the economic life of society is properly regulated.
Maxims of private wealth-getting cannot be transformed
directly into principles of political economy. If capital
is accumulated more rapidly than the field for its use is
developed, the talents of the organizer are those de-
manded and a high remuneration will be given for or-
ganizing ability rather than for saving. The liberal
salaries now paid to men of superior organizing power,
in contrast with the low rates of interest prevailing
upon the markets of the world, show the present rela-
tion between the supply and demand for these qualities
so necessary to social progress.
Capital, however, can be used to assist in the solu-
tion of its own problem. Wealth may be used in the
encouragement of science and invention and in opening
those lines of possible economic activity which are not
generally appreciated. It may be used to promote the
study of new markets, to disseminate information as to
market conditions, and to perfect all those means of in-
dustrial control which would further a systematic dis-
tribution of capital over the realm of industrial enter-
prise. But the most abundant return, measured in
terms of public welfare, will probably result from the
igoi.] BOOK REVIEWS 18*
application of capital to the development of the higher
and more social economic needs of man."
This is eminently sound reasoning and is charac-
teristic of the author's treatment of the subject through-
out. He recognizes, as few writers do, that while the
equilibrium between production and consumption is the
great fact in industrial stability the social forces which
most need stimulating are on the side of consumption,
and, moreover, that the aggregate consumption of so-
ciety is governed altogether more by the social life and
standard of living of the laboring class than by all other
classes put together. For example (page 85):
"The assertion, which is made on good authority,
is therefore significant, that eighty per cent, of the
machine-made goods of the world are consumed by the
laboring class. The cutting off of the laborer's share
in distribution manifestly in an equal degree diminishes
his power to consume or to take the products of indus-
try off the hands of the producer."
Professor Jones has here made an important con-
tribution to the discussion of one of the most important
phases of modern economic stability, to accomplish
which is the next great step in industrial progress.
AMERICA'S ECONOMIC SUPREMACY. By Brooks
Adams. Cloth, 222 pp., $1.25. The Macmillan Co.,
New York. 1900.
Our swift triumph over decrepit Spain, with the
consequent expansion of our authority in the Philip-
pines, is having its effect upon the public imagination.
As was to be expected, distance is lending enchantment
to the view and the tendency to let the imagination run
wild and deal out immeasurable prophecy, reeling off
the colossal things done and to be done by the United
States, with the assurance that we are to work the
186 G UN TON'S MA GAZINE [February,
miracles of the immediate future, is being indulged, in
dimensions which make one fairly dizzy.
A most fascinating contribution to this tendency of
colossal generalization and cyclonic world absorption
has been made in this little book, "America's Eco-
nomic Supremacy." It is written in the same key as
Mr. Adams' "Law of Civilization and Decay." His
style is exceptionally lucid and shows the masterhand
in historical generalization. It tends to carry the
reader along breathlessly, with the assurance of reach-
ing the goal inevitably marked by evolution.
The author handles centuries and races as if they
were but months and families ; he sees the course of
civilization turned by a single event. He sees the cen-
ter of economic supremacy transferred from the Thames
to the Hudson by the fall of two shillings a hundred
weight in the price of sugar in London. Close and
colossal organization is coming, which is to equip us
for a great world work. It might "be effected by the
growth and amalgamation of great trusts until they
absorbed the government, or it might be brought about
by the central corporation, called the government, ab-
sorbing the trusts." In either event the author thinks
the result will be approximately the same. The eastern
and western continents will be competing for the most
perfect system of state socialism.
Mr. Adams is a kind of fairyland philosopher. He
touches facts so lightly and quickly and masses them so
sweepingly as to make the stolid plodding world seem
in a cyclonic whirl. His style is enchanting and elo-
quent, his reasoning plausible, and his conclusions in-
terestingly prophetic, but his structure is so loose and
airy that it will only hold good with the aid of a most
fertile imagination. He neither furnishes enough of
cohesive facts or inductive reasoning to warrant the ac-
ceptance of any specific conclusion he points to. He
i 9 oi.J BOOK REVIEWS 187
is an excellent specimen of imaginative writers, who
command the ages to obey their theories. In his
" Law of Civilization and Decay " he saw all the world
moving towards destruction, unless the money power
were dethroned and the free coinage of silver estab-
lished. In the present work he sees, with similar
clearness, England decaying and the United States de-
stined to take its place. While the book is highly in-
teresting reading and contains a touch-and-go reference
to many important economic facts, its chief influ-
ence, so far as it exerts any, is likely to be as a contri-
bution to a false, inflated sentiment regarding the
" world destiny " of the United States, to the injury of
the internal development and safeguarding of pros-
perity and welfare at home.
EDUCATION, STATE SOCIALISM AND THE TRUST. By
Freeman Otis Willey. National Economic League, New
York. Cloth, 125 pp.
The National Economic League is devoted to the
circulation of literature for the purpose of correcting
the prevalent idea that the rich are growing richer by
making the poor poorer. No better work can be done
in this country to-day than the circulation of sound
literature on this subject, but the object cannot be
accomplished by sending out mere special pleading for
capital. Although erroneous doctrines are prevalent
among wage-earners, it must not be imagined that
workingmen are dunces. In order to be of real service
in promoting intelligent opinion on modern economic
problems, it is no less important that the laborer's
interest and point of view be correctly presented than
that the interests of capital should be defended and its
utility explained.
The lack of this balance and fairness of presenta-
tion is the chief defect of Mr. Willey's little book. For
188 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [February,
example, in order to show that the laborers get a very
large proportion of the product, Mr. Willey argues,
with a liberal use of census figures (pp. 73-78), that if
an eight-hour day were adopted it would cause a loss
to capital of $10, 125,000,000 a year. He arrives at this
by taking the aggregate production and reducing it by
one-fifth. This method of reasoning on national pro-
duction is as false as is any method used by free-silver-
ites or socialists. It assumes that with a reduction of
the hours of labor everything else would remain the
same, hence the lessened production would be propor-
tionate to the reduction in the working hours, which is
contrary to all experience. Mr. Willey ought to know,
and if he does not intelligent workingmen do, that
nothing of this kind has ever occurred. During the
nineteenth century, and especially the last three-quar-
ters of it, every civilized country has had more or less
experience in reducing the hours of labor ; in England
the reduction has been nearly 40 per cent, and in this
country from 20 to 30 per cent., and nowhere has the
result predicted by Mr. Willey taken place. Instead of
either the aggregate output or the output per laborer
being reduced proportionately with the reduction of
hours, the reverse has everywhere occurred. Evidence
of this is as abundant and obvious as that railroads
have supplanted stage coaches.
The historic fact everywhere obvious is that com-
mensurately with the shortening of the working day
has come enlarged production, increased aggregate
profits, and concurrent increase of wages. The work-
ingmen know this : they know that the capitalists have
not grown poorer nor their own wages smaller with the
reduction of the hours of labor, and any literature
which teaches that disaster would follow a shorter
working day will receive little appreciation from intel-
ligent laborers. No better work can be done to-day
1901.] BOOK REVIEWS 189
than furnishing sound economic literature correcting
the false sentiment against capital, but literature can
not accomplish much in this direction which does not
discuss intelligently, with equal comprehension and
fairness, the laborer's side of the social problem.
NEW BOOKS OF INTEREST
The Attache" at Pekin. By A. B. Freeman- Witford,
author of "Tales of Old Japan," "The Bamboo
Garden," etc. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt top, 386
pp., $2. The Macmillan Company, New York. A
collection of letters written while Mr. Mitford was
attached to the British legation at Peking.
Memories of the Tennysons. By the Rev. H. D.
Rawnsley, honorary canon of Carlisle, author of ' ' Life
and Nature at the English Lakes." Cloth, gilt tops,
i2mo, 252 pp., $2.25. With portraits and other illus-
trations. The Macmillan Company, New York.
History of the Prudential Insurance Company of
America (Industrial Insurance). 1875-1900. By Fred-
erick L. Hoffman, F.S.S., statistician of the Prudential
Insurance Company of America. Cloth, 338 pp.
Prudential Press.
A Geography of the British Isles. By Lionel W.
Lyde, M.A., F.R.S.G.S. Cloth, i2mo, 128 pp., 60
cents, net. The Macmillan Company, New York.
The Future of the American Negro. By Booker T.
Washington. Cloth, i2mo, gilt top, 254 pp., $1.50.
Small, Maynard and Company, Boston, Mass,
The Postal Deficit. An Examination of Some of the
Legislative and Administrative Aspects of a Great State
Industry. By H. T. Newcomb, author of "Railway
Economics." Cloth, i58pp.,$i. Ballantyne and Son,
Washington, D. C.
190 G UN TON'S MA GAZINE
Tuskegee, Its Story and Its Work. By Max Bennett
Thrasher. With an introduction by Booker T. Wash-
ington. Cloth, 1 2 mo, decorative, 248 pp., $i. Small,
Maynard and Company, Boston, Mass. Containing 50
illustrations.
Spanish Highways and Byways. By Katharine Lee
Bates, professor of English literature, Wellesley Col-
lege. Crown, 8vo, $2.25. The Macmillan Company,
New York.
Political Theories of the Middle Age. By Dr. Otto
Gierke, professor of law in the University of Berlin.
Translated, with an introduction, by Frederic William
Maitland, LL.D., D.C.L., Downing professor of the
laws of England in the University of Cambridge.
Cloth, 8vo, 197 pp., $2.50 net. The Macmillan Com-
pany, New York.
Whos Who, 1901. An Annual Biographical Dic-
tionary. Cloth, i2mo, 1234 pp., $1.75. Fifty-third
year of issue. The Macmillan Company, New York.
The Men Who Made the Nation. An Outline of
United States History from 1760 to 1865. By Edwin
Erie Sparks, Ph.D. Crown, 8vo, cloth extra, gilt top,
415 pp., $2. The Macmillan Company, New York.
Illustrated with many reproductions of contemporary
prints, sketches, facsimiles, etc.
The Letters of Thomas Gray. Including the Corre-
spondence of Gray and Mason. Edited by Duncan C.
Tovey, editor of " Gray and His Friends," etc. Cloth,
I2mo, 393 pp., $i, net. The Macmillan Company,
New York.
Educational Aims and Methods. By Sir Joshua P.
Fitch, late chief inspector of training colleges in Eng-
land, author of "Lectures on Teaching," etc. Cloth,
$1.25. The Macmillan Company, New York.
FROM RECENT MAGAZINES
' ' I must, however, express the hope that the em-
ployers of the country will take into more serious con-
sideration the employees, who at the recent election
voted to give prosperity to all, in the face of the stren-
uous effort of the opposition, who would have had them
believe that the prosperity of the employer meant the
coercion of the employee, and that the only recourse of
the latter was to destroy the former. The workingmen
of our country have again resented the talk of dema-
gogues about coercion, and have voted for a continuance
of an administration that has given employers great
prosperity, in which they themselves have participated.
They have voted for the flag wherever it floats, and I
hope and believe that they will have their full share of
the benefits." HON. PERRY S. HEATH, in " Lessons of
the Campaign," The Forum (December).
1 * One who has retired from the service, but not
from the love of his country, must be pardoned if he
finds himself unable to rejoice in the acquisition of
lands and forests and mines and commerce at the cost
of the abandonment of the old American idea that a
government of absolute powers is an intolerable thing,
and, under the constitution of the United States, an im-
possible thing. The view of the constitution I have
suggested will not limit the power of territorial expan-
sion ; but it will lead us to limit the use of that power
to regions that may safely become a part of the United
States, and to peoples whose American citizenship may
be allowed. It has been said that the flash of Dewey's
guns in Manila Bay revealed to the American people a
new mission. I like rather to think of them as re veal -
191
192 G UNTON'S MA GAZ1NE
ing the same old mission that we read in the flash of
Washington's guns at Yorktown. God forbid that the
day should ever come when, in the American mind, the
thought of man as a ' consumer ' shall submerge the old
American thought of man as a creature of God, endowed
with 'unalienable rights.'" BENJAMIN HARRISON, in
" Status of Annexed Territory and its Inhabitants,"
The North American Review (January).
' ' Sometimes historians tell us that it was only
Dutchmen and not Englishmen who bought the red
men's land instead of stealing it. Such statements
have been made in New York, but if we pass on to
Philadelphia we hear that it was only Quakers who
were thus scrupulous, and when we arrive in Baltimore
we learn that it was only Roman Catholics. In point
of fact, it was the invariable custom of European set-
tlers on this Atlantic coast to purchase the lands on
which they settled, and the transaction was usually re-
corded in a deed to which the Sagamores affixed their
marks. Nor was the affair really such a mockery as it
may at first thought seem to us. The red man got
what he sorely coveted, steel hatchets and grindstones,
glass beads and rum, perhaps muskets and ammuni-
tion, while he was apt to reserve sundry rights of
catching game and fish. A struggle was inevitable
when the white man's agriculture encroached upon and
exhausted the Indian's hunting ground; but other cir-
cumstances usually brought it on long before that point
was reached. The age of iron superseded the stone
age in America by the same law of progress that from
time immemorial has been bearing humanity onward
from brutal savagery to higher and more perfect life
In the course of it our forefathers certainly ousted and
dispossessed the red men, but they did not do it in a
spirit of robbery." JOHN FISKE, in "The Story of a
New England Town," The Atlantic Monthly ( Dec.).
BOOKER T WASHINGTON
Principal of Tuskegee * Institute
See page acxj
GUNTON'S MAGAZINE
REVIEW OF THE MONTH
Although England's new king was for-
EdwarcTviI. mally proclaimed and took the constitu-
tional oath on January 24th, the imme-
diate interest of Christendom remained with the dead
queen until well after the last and wonderfully im-
pressive ceremonials of February 2nd, when the funeral
cortege passed through London on its way to Albert
Chapel. Now that Victoria has passed into history,
however, King Edward becomes an object of interest
altogether greater than usually attaches to the person
of a new monarch. This is partly due to the extraor-
dinary length of Victoria's reign, making the very idea
of a new English sovereign a novelty not easily reduced
to the commonplace ; but in a larger sense the accession
of Edward attracts the attention of the world because
of the possible effect it may have upon English and,
therefore, upon world policies.
Thus far, with the possible exception of the gaudy
show of February i5th when the king and queen rode
to the houses of parliament in the gilded chariot of
George III., the new king's public appearances have
created only a favorable impression. Coming to the
throne in his sixtieth year, he will at least be free from
hot-headed indiscretions of the sort that marred the
opening years of his nephew William's reign, in Ger-
many ; but whether Edward will prove a man of large
193
194 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [March,
enough calibre for the headship of the greatest empire
on the earth can be settled only by experience. There is
little in the world's knowledge of him thus far to sug-
gest anything more than a correct-mannered, tactful,
pleasure-loving English gentleman, and it may be that,
in a country where the real governing power has passed
so completely out of the monarch's hands into those of
the ministers and parliament, this type of " ruler" is
quite as useful and much less bothersome than a strong-
minded individual set upon policies of his own. The
principal function of an English sovereign to-day is to
typify or impersonate the idea of authority but not
become too familiar with the thing itself.
The king's speech in opening parliament might as
well have come from the late queen herself, so far as
any hint of change of policy is concerned, either with
reference to domestic or foreign affairs. The only
significant incident that has occurred thus far, indica-
ting a possible modification of British policy, was the
peculiar wording of the proclamation of Edward's
accession with reference to the Transvaal. A special
phrase " Supreme Lord Of and Over the Transvaal "
was adopted, whether by the suggestion of the king or
not does not appear, but the effect of it is distinctly to
recognize a different sort of sovereignty over the new
South African colonies than England claims over all
her other possessions. There is in this the suggestion
at least of a conciliatory policy in store for the Boers
when the Transvaal's institutions are permanently
brought under British civil administration.
There is no evidence, however, that the
Boers are an ? better Phased at the pros-
pect of British sovereignty, under what-
ever name or form, than they ever were. Lord Kitch-
ener's task, if not the most serious, is at any rate the
1 9 oi.] RE VIE W OF THE MONTH 195
most exasperating and tedious phase of the South
African war. It is true, a peace committee of native
Boers was formed in Pretoria about the middle of De-
cember, and these men have been trying to persuade
their countrymen to give up the hopeless struggle
without further bloodshed ; but the very efforts of this
committee have served to bring out on the other side
fresh evidence of the intense bitterness of the Boers
still in the field. Three peace messengers sent by the
committee to General De Wet's camp about the middle
of January were seized, brutally flogged and then
shot, an act of barbarity which destroys whatever
claim De Wet may have had to the admiration of the
world for his prolonged resistance against overwhelm-
ing odds.
Early in January the war took on once more a
really serious aspect, by reason of the formidable inva-
sion of Cape Colony by the Boer forces and the immi-
nent probability of a rising of Boer sympathizers. To
prevent this, martial law was proclaimed throughout
the larger part of the colony, and the efforts of Piet De
Wet, a member of the Pretoria peace committee and
brother of General De Wet, counted heavily against
any serious outbreak of the Cape Dutch. General Botha
is still active in the Transvaal, but the real heart of the
struggle is along the border-line between Cape Colony
and the old Orange Free State, where Kitchener has
taken personal charge of the campaign to capture De
Wet. Experience has proved that it is practically
impossible to trap the wily Boer by infantry move-
ments ; the British war department, therefore, is send-
ing Kitchener 30,000 additional mounted troops, which
presumably will be applied directly to this final task.
The remaining phases of the struggle have no interest
to the world so far as the future of South Africa is con-
cerned, for that is practically settled already. It is now
196 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [March,
simply a duel between two military geniuses, with the
end not far away.
Early in February the Chinese peace
More Trouble . . -V- - . J
in China commissioners and the foreign ministers
in Peking began holding regular meet-
ings to arrange for carrying out the terms of the peace
agreement. As might have been expected, trouble
arose over the very first important item, punishment
of the ringleaders in the anti- foreign outrages last sum-
mer. The powers demanded the execution of twelve
persons, including Prince Tuan, father of the heir
apparent to the Chinese throne. It appears that two of
the twelve are already dead, but with reference to the
others China returned a compromise proposition by
which only one of the offenders, Yu Lu, the former
viceroy of Pe-Chi-Li province, would have been exe-
cuted outright. Another, Prince Chuang, commander-
in-chief of the Boxers, was to be compelled to commit
suicide ; Prince Tuan and Duke Lan exiled to Chinese
Turkestan ; Ying Nien, the accomplice of Chuang,
ordered executed but his sentence commuted to life
imprisonment ; and three others merely degraded. This
proposition substituted Yu Lu, whose execution had
not been demanded, for General Tung Fu Siang, com-
mander-in-chief of the army, for whose life the Chinese
commissioners made a special plea on account of prob-
able uprisings in certain provinces if the general were
sacrificed. The plea for Prince Tuan was put on the
ground that the government could not execute a prince
of the blood royal and continue to maintain proper
respect for its authority.
The effect of this reply was to incite a military
movement on the part of Germany, which, for a time,
promised the most serious complications. Count von
Waldersee announced a plan of campaign of far-reach-
igoi.] REVIEW OF THE MONTH 197
ing proportions, including a general invasion of Chi-
nese provinces to the west of Peking by the whole of
the allied force under his command. All the powers
were apparently ready to join in this movement except
Russia and the United States, and it is hardly sup-
posable that Russia's refusal was due to any special
consideration for China or excessive love of peace.
General Chaffee, however, promptly declined to join
the expedition, and Minister Conger was instructed
from Washington to inform the other ministers that
our government was opposed to any further hostile
movements at this time. It now appears that in all
probability the German proposition was never meant
seriously ; in fact, the German foreign office is under-
stood to have informed our ambassador, Mr. White,
that ' ' the expeditions were designed chiefly to con-
vince the Chinese government that the powers would
not be trifled with.'' The latest report is that this
threat has had the desired effect and that China will
grant the demands of the powers in full without further
parley.
Whether this should prove true or not,
Protc [ it is quite clear that our government is
right in refusing to join in any whole-
sale campaign of devastation in the interior of China.
The fact is, evidence is accumulating of the discredi-
table performances of the foreign troops to such an
extent that the moral strength of Christendom's case
against China is already seriously damaged. Many of
the stories of pillage, outrage and murder of defence-
less men and women are doubtless exaggerated, but if
only a part of what is reported is true it is enough to
make Christendom ashamed of the later stages of its
descent upon China. At any rate, the situation is no
longer such that the powers have any moral justifica-
198 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [March,
tion for arbitrarily refusing to consider the traditions,
limitations and embarrassments of the Chinese in the
matter of fulfilling the penalties demanded.
The great object now to be gained is peaceful set-
tlement, on a basis that will maintain the integrity of
the empire and establish good feeling and friendly re-
lations between the Chinese people and the outside
world. This is incomparably more important than any
minor issue of execution versus banishment or life im-
prisonment for three or four fanatical princes and
generals. The terms that have been imposed upon
China are anything but lenient and the powers can well
afford to waive an occasional point for the sake of fu-
ture amity, without any danger of inflicting too mild a
"vengeance." The hands of Christendom are not
clean enough to enable it gracefully to assume the role
of faultless Justice dealing with a guilty culprit, all
the right on one side, all the wrong on the other.
China must indeed pay the penalty of last year's out-
rages, but if the empire's independence is to be main-
tained its government must have at least the privilege
of submitting proposals in its own behalf without
having summary threats of annihilation thrown into
the negotiations at every step. Such a course, offensive
in itself, is the most shortsighted and impolitic. It is
certain so to intensify Chinese bitterness against
Christendom as to destroy trade opportunities and de-
lay any real regeneration of the empire for many
decades, however successful the allies may be in
forcing the "open door" and exacting industrial
privileges. It is one thing to drive the Chinese horse
to the stream of Christendom's trade but quite another
thing to make the animal drink.
igoi.] REVIEW OF THE MONTH 199
President McKinley on January 25th sent
"Pacification "in to ^ Q senate a special message transmit-
the Philippines J - . -
ting a report from Secretary Root which
included the full report of the Taft commission. In
this message the president strongly urged ' ' legislation
under which the government of the islands may have
authority to assist in their peaceful industrial develop-
ment in the directions indicated by the secretary of
war," which is understood to have been an appeal for
the passage of the Spooner amendment to the army
appropriation bill. This amendment provides that,
until otherwise arranged by congress, "all military and
civil powers necessary to govern the Philippine islands "
shall be ' ' vested in such person and persons and shall
be exercised in such manner as the president of the
United States shall direct." If this amendment passes
it is practically certain that Judge Taft, chairman of the
Philippine commission, will be made governor of the
islands, with very large powers.
Probably it is wiser to centralize authority in the
Philippines in the way this amendment proposes, so
long as our present policy is maintained, but continued
experience does nothing to confirm the wisdom of the
policy itself. Deportation of Filipino leaders, banish-
ment of refractory newspaper editors, and increased
severity of military measures do not seem to " pacify "
the natives. In fact, it is probable that even the sur-
renders of groups of insurgents recently reported in
different quarters are little more than ruses designed to
throw our forces off guard. An illustration of the
thoroughly untrustworthy nature of Filipino submission
and " cooperation " with the American administration
is offered in a private letter from a United States gov-
ernment official in the Philippines to the editor of the
New York Evening Post, published in that journal on
January i6th. Said this correspondent :
200 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [March,
' ' The American authorities set up a local munici-
pal government; presidente, clerk, etc., are elected,
and everything seems to be working smoothly. A little
later it is discovered that the presidente and clerk also
represent the insurgent government, and that where
they collect 100 pesos tax for the Americanos, they
collect 400 pesos tax for the cause of the ' Filipino
nation.' "
The same official, earlier in the letter, observed :
" It is openly and repeatedly asserted by army offi-
cers in Manila to-day that the American army is on the
defensive in this archipelago, and that it has been on
the defensive for more than six months. It was on the
defensive when Gen. Otis went home to tell the people
of the United States that ' the Philippine situation was
well in hand/ Perhaps the official code of ethics for-
bade his successor's discrediting that statement, at least
until after the election ; but the time is at hand when
something radical will have to be done.
1 ' They report that the garrisons in two-thirds of
the territory visited are in a state of actual siege, and
that they dare not go more than a few hundred yards
outside their posts for fear of capture or of encounter-
ing an overwhelming force of insurgents ; that all of
the garrisons are too small for the territory watched
over, and that not a day passes that several American
soldiers are not picked off by the watchful and treach-
erous natives.
' ' The country is pacified and ' the situation is well
in hand,' but there are towns within a few miles of
Manila where the authorities will not permit an Amer-
ican to go for fear that he will be massacred. American
soldiers daily fall prey to the bold treachery of the
Malay, but these have ' needlessly exposed themselves.' '
As to the feeling of the Filipinos towards American
authority, the Post's correspondent said :
REVIEW OF THE MONTH 201
' ' Official reports to the contrary, officers and men
who know the situation and the natives are all agreed
that the Filipino hates us as he never hated the Span-
iard ; that every Filipino is an insurrecto ; and that the
present guerilla warfare will continue for years unless
some strong policy be inaugurated."
This is quite in line with General MacArthur's
statement in a letter to Secretary Root, which the latter
sent to the senate on February 4th. " Expectations
based on result of election," said the general, "have
not been realized. Progress of pacification apparent to
me but still very slow. Condition very inflexible and
likely to become chronic."
The Independence * n our ^ ast i ssue we expressed the belief
Proposal that the American people are becoming
in Congress more and more tired of the entire Phil-
ippine complication, and eager for a safe and honorable
termination. A sidelight of confirmation was thrown
on this opinion by an incident in the house of repre-
sentatives February gih. Mr. Brown of Ohio, a repub-
lican in regular party standing, made a stirring speech
in favor of Philippine independence. His appeal was
so eminently practical and logical that a large number
of his party associates gave vent to their feelings in
hearty applause during the address and congratulations
at its close. This is only a straw, but we should not
be surprised to see other evidences develop that the
congressional support of the administration's Philip-
pine policy has become largely perfunctory. At any
rate, it would seem to be dangerous to let anybody
boldly express the rational and truly American doctrine
on this matter under circumstances which permit any
response of real feeling from the party ranks. Here is
the resolution Mr. Brown advocated :
"It is the purpose of the United States in retain-
202 GUNTOWS MAGAZINE [March,
ing possession of the Philippine Islands to aid their in-
habitants when they submit to the authority of the
United States in establishing a capable and stable free
government, and when this purpose shall be fully ac-
complished the United States, under such reservations
and conditions as may be wise and just, will relinquish
authority in those islands."
In support of this he said in part :
' ' Congress has never yet announced to the Fili-
pinos what the national purpose is with respect to them.
If this body will tell them now tell them explicitly
and solemnly that it is the fixed determination of this
nation to establish its authority in their country, and
that when this end shall be reached they shall have a
chance to become in due time free citizens of a free
government if congress will say this to them, and say
it now, we may confidently expect that their rude
weapons of warfare will fall from their hands and that
they will sue for peace peace which they will know
means more for them than anything ever held out to
them or to their fathers in any generation.
"This declaration would now be opportune. It
would be at this time a wise act, which the government
is strong enough to perform without having its motives
questioned by friend or foe. Even the most deluded
Filipino could not misunderstand it. It would go to
him, as he would know, and as all the world would
know, in the day of our triumph and his defeat. This
declaration by congress now would go to the Filipinos
as a great nation's amnesty to them."
It may be that Representative Brown was over-
sanguine as to the immediate effect of such a proclama-
tion. The Filipinos have acquired a deep-seated dis-
trust, based on 400 years' experience, of promises or
pledges made by an alien authority, and the added ex-
perience of the last two years has transferred to us the
REVIEW OF THE MONTH 203
animosity so long cherished towards Spain. This, how-
ever, only emphasizes our duty in the case. It is en-
tirely reasonable to anticipate that at least the leaders
of the insurrection could be convinced of the genuineness
of such a declaration. That it would materially im-
prove the situation cannot be doubted, besides giving a
moral strength to our presence in the islands that we
have not been able to command in any really high and
disinterested sense thus far, either at home or abroad.
It would pave the way towards settlement of the Phil-
ippine problem along the lines followed in Cuba, and
even if the task were longer and harder the results
would be incomparably better than anything whatever
to be gained from our present unnatural policy of sub-
jugation by extermination. This would be true whether
we reckoned the advantage of the rational and humane
policy in lives and money saved, or in the certain
raising of our moral standing throughout the world, or
in the preserving of our democratic principle of gov-
ernment from the insidious undermining effects of a
" colonial " policy.
Although not yet fully adopted and pro-
claimed, the principal details of the
proposed constitution of Cuba are prac-
tically completed. The full text of the constitution as
submitted to the convention in Havana late in January
has been published. Like the constitutions of all our
neighboring South American republics, it shows at
almost every point the powerful influence of our own
national constitution. In all three departments of the
government, legislative, executive and judicial, the pro-
posed Cuban system will be patterned very closely after
the United States model. The Cuban congress will
include a senate and house of representatives, the
former to consist of six senators from each of the
204 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [March,
six "departments" of the republic, the term to be six
years, and one-third of the senate to be elected every
two years. The house of representatives, will have one
member for every 25,000 inhabitants, the term being
four years, and one-half the house to be elected every
two years. The president's term will be four years,
and he is prohibited from receiving more than two
elections. Each of the six departments in the island
will have a local assembly and governor of its own,
with powers and duties corresponding in general to
those exercised by the various states in this country.
Each governor, however, will be responsible to the
national senate for any infraction of the constitution.
Fundamental guarantees of personal rights form
the largest single section of the constitution. They
include most of those great vital safeguards won by the
English-speaking people through many centuries of
painful struggle, such as these :
' ' No law can have a retroactive effect, except in
penal matters, when the new law is favorable to the
delinquent.
"No person shall be arrested, except by virtue of
a warrant from a competent judge ; the writ directing
the issuance of the warrant of arrest shall be ratified or
amended after the accused shall have been given a
hearing, within seventy-two hours following his im-
prisonment.
' ' No person shall be tried or sentenced, except by
a competent judge or tribunal, in consequence of laws
existing prior to the commission of the crime, and in
the manner that the latter prescribe.
* ' The expression of thought shall be free, be it
either by word of mouth, by writing, by means of the
public press or by any other method whatsoever, with-
out being subject to any prior censorship, and under
the responsibility determined or specified by the laws.
I 9 oi.] REVIEW OF THE MONTH 205
' ' No person shall be molested by reason of his
religious opinion, nor for engaging in his special
method of worship. The church and state shall be
separate.
' ' The inhabitants of the republic shall have the
right to meet and combine peacefully without arms for
all licit purposes.
' ' The penalty of confiscation of properties shall
not be inflicted, and no person shall be deprived of his
property except by the competent authority for the jus-
tified reason of public benefit and after being paid the
proper indemnity therefor. Should this latter require-
ment not have been complied with, the judges shall
give due protection, and, should the case so demand,
they will restore possession of the property to the
person who may have been deprived thereof.
" No person shall be obliged to pay any tax or con-
tribution of any kind whatsoever, the collection of
which has not previously been legally decided upon."
A great deal of wrangling is going on
as to whether or not the United States
congress should undertake to revise or
in any way pass upon the Cuban constitution. There
is nothing in the Cuban constitution, as it now stands,
defining any special or unusual relation between the
new republic and the United States government. For
that matter, we do not expect or care to exercise any
protectorate over Cuba, and there is no apparent reason
why our relations with the island, with the possible
exception of one or two very general provisions, should
not be left to be arranged between the two govern-
ments when Cuba's constitution goes into full opera-
tion. There is little practical value in the suggestion
that we should reserve the right to control Cuba's for-
eign relations. The Monroe doctrine covers that point
206 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [March,
just as it does with all the other American republics,
and we have never found it necessary to assume re-
sponsibility for the conduct of either the foreign or
internal affairs of any of them.
The only reason why it might be important to
have a special understanding with Cuba is that we
made our withdrawal from the island conditional upon
the establishment there of a sound and stable govern-
ment. As Senator Platt of Connecticut, chairman of
the committee on relations with Cuba, suggested in the
senate on January 3ist, congress might declare upon
what terms our military occupation would cease, and
couple with this such suggestions as we might regard
necessary to the establishment of a stable government.
The Cuban convention would then have the opportunity
to embody these suggestions in the constitution or
otherwise provide for their fulfilment, without formally
submitting the document to the United States congress
for approval. The point is technical rather than es-
sential. The only real reason for preferring a method
which implies the minimum authority over Cuban af-
fairs is the practical certainty that every opposite step
will be promptly taken advantage of by those who are
already urging annexation of the island to the United
States. The attitude of the administration in the
Philippines does not afford any satisfactory assurance
that if only the road could be made easy enough Cuba
itself would not be gathered into our "colonial" sys-
tem. Every point of procedure which emphasizes our
pledge not to do this is important just now, and may
profoundly affect the political future of the island.
The outcome of the recent struggle
Congressional . ^ -
Reapportionment ln congress over the matter of re-
apportionment of representatives on
the basis of the new census shows the difficulty of
i 9 oi.] REVIEW OF THE MONTH 207
living up to the national constitution when a problem
of inferior races is thrown into the situation. The
literal fact is that democracy cannot be made to work
for two distinct orders of civilization within the same
group, constitution or no constitution. It would
seem as if the repeated demonstrations of this with
reference to our colored population in the South would
afford some warning of the wholesale nullification of
constitutional mandates that will be forced upon us in
our dealing with the even more degraded populations
of Porto Rico, Hawaii and the Philippines, as soon as
we attempt to confer anything like equality of political
rights upon them.
The new apportionment increases the total mem-
bership of the house from 357 to 386, which gives one
representative to every 194,000 inhabitants (approxi-
mately), instead of one to every 174,000 as at present.
Under this arrangement, Illinois, New York and Texas
each gain three members ; Minnesota, New Jersey and
Pennsylvania two each ; Arkansas, California, Colorado,
Connecticut, Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missis-
sippi, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota, Wash-
ington, West Virginia and Wisconsin, one each. No
state loses a representative.
The very suggestion of reducing the representa-
tion of certain southern states because of their dis-
franchisement of negro voters raised a storm in con-
gress, and the exigencies of practical politics prevailed
against the plain mandate of the constitution. The
1 4th amendment provides in definite terms that, when-
ever the right to vote of any legally-qualified citizens is
denied them by any state, the representation in con-
gress of that state shall be proportionately reduced.
At present four states have, by a one-sided educational
test, denied this right to the negro ; in consequence of
which, as Representative Olmsted showed in his reso-
208 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE
lution introduced on January 3rd, the vote cast at con-
gressional elections declined between 1890 and 1898, in
Mississippi from 62,652 to 27,045 ; in South Carolina
from 73,522 to 28,831, and in Louisiana from 74,542 to
33,161. In several other states, as is well known, the
negro is practically disfranchised by force or intimida-
tion. The disenfranchisement act in North Carolina is
too recent to show results in tables of comparison, but
the obligation to reduce the representation of that
state is exactly as binding as in the other cases. The
grotesque absurdity is that, instead of obeying the
constitution and reducing the representation of these
states by fully one-half, the new apportionment actu-
ally gives Louisiana, Mississippi and North Carolina an
additional vote each in congress. No doubt this avoided
a sectional struggle of extraordinary bitterness, but at
what a price! As before pointed out, the real sig-
nificance of the matter is the apparent ease with which
the constitution is set aside to meet the necessities of a
race problem. Either the constitution must fall into
contempt or we shall have to stop taking on groups of
population to whom our fundamental institutions
cannot be extended in practice as well as in theory.
THE NEGRO IN BUSINESS
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, PRINCIPAL TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE
The conference of the National Negro Business
League, which assembled in Boston in August of 1900,
was unique. For the first time since the negroes were
freed an attempt was made to bring together, from all
over the United States, a company of representative
business men and women of the race. Over three
hundred delegates were present. They came from
thirty states, and from an area which extended from
Nebraska to Florida and from Texas to Maine.
Many of these men once were slaves. Others were
younger men, born since the civil war and educated in
the industrial schools and colleges ; but they were al-
most all alike in one respect, that they had come up
from the bottom and had gained whatever of property
and position which they possessed by their own efforts.
The business enterprises which they represented were
manifold; their range and the success which these
men have attained in them were object-lessons to the
country. Another lesson, no less striking, was the
conduct of the conference itself.
The New Orleans riots occurred while the prepar-
ations for the conference were being made. The
streets of New York resounded to the cries of a negro-
hunting mob just at the time when many of the dele-
209
210 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [Match,
gates were leaving their homes to come to Boston.
When the conference assembled, on the morning of
August twenty-third, the newspapers were rilled with
accounts of the disturbances at Akron. And yet,
throughout sessions which occupied two days and two
evenings, in which at least two hundred persons spoke,
there was not one single reference to the riots or to
the conditions which gave rise to them. These were
business men, come to Boston for a definite purpose
with which politics had no connection, and they at-
tended strictly to business. Nor was this the result of
fear or intimidation. The position of the promoters of
the league had been plainly stated beforehand and the
policy of the gathering outlined.
I quote from one of the most widely published an-
nouncements of the meetings: "Those who are in-
terested in the success of the league do not underesti-
mate the importance of seeing to it that the negro does
not give up any part of the struggle for retaining his
citizenship. They are against the repeal of the fif-
teenth amendment, and they believe that election laws
throughout the country should be made to apply with
equal justice to black and white alike. They believe
that if the franchise is restricted in any state it should
not be done in such a way that an ignorant white man
can vote while an ignorant black man cannot. At the
same time they recognize the fact that to retain citizen-
ship and the respect of the nation there must go with
the negro's demands for justice, tangible, indisputable
proofs of the progress of the race, or, briefly, that deeds
and words must go together. They believe that help-
ing the negro along commercial lines will help his
political status. This is not a political meeting. It is
a business gathering. Politics and other general mat-
ters pertaining to the race are dealt with at the sessions
of the national Afro- American Council."
i90i.] THE NEGRO IN BUSINESS 211
I think that a paragraph in an editorial in one of
the Boston papers, printed just after the conference
adjourned, described the tone of the gathering admira-
bly. It said: " There was no politics in this gath-
ering. There was no clamoring for rights. There
was as little sentimentality as in a meeting of
stock jobbers or railroad directors. . . . Wanton,
insane cruelty of white men was something which
colored men, minding their own business, could not
reasonably cause, nor effectually rebuke. With a per-
fect dignity they left the matter to those whom it con-
cerned. . . . Their conduct was a sign of power,
equal to any other that the conference gave witness of,
the supreme power of manliness that is recognized in
self-restraint."
It had seemed to me for some time that an organi-
zation was needed which would bring together the
colored business men and women of the country for
consultation and to obtain information and inspiration
from each other. As I had traveled through the coun-
try, especially in the South, I had often been impressed
and repeatedly surprised to see how many colored men
were succeeding in business enterprises, often in small,
out-of-the-way places where they are never heard of,
but where they are doing good work not only for them-
selves but for the race. I do not mean that the men
and women who are in business in the cities are not
doing equally well, but their work is better known
because it is more obvious. How much I wish that our
race might be judged by these people and by its stu-
dents and teachers instead of, as is too often the case, by
those who are in the penitentiaries and idle on the
street corners. Other races are judged by their best.
Why not the negro ?
Unless one has given some consideration to the
subject he will be surprised to learn how widely the
212 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [March,
colored people have gone into business. There were
present at the meeting in Boston the representative of
a colored cotton factory, a bank president, the president
of a negro coal mine, grocers, real- estate dealers, the
owner of a four-story brick storage warehouse and the
proprietor of a trucking business operating forty teams,
dry-goods dealers, druggists, tailors, butchers, barbers,
undertakers, the owner of a steam carpet- cleaning busi-
ness, manufacturers of brooms, tinware and metal
goods, hair goods, etc., a florist, printers and publishers,
insurance agents, caterers, restaurant keepers, general
merchants, contractors and builders, the owner and
proprietor of a brick yard (in North Carolina) which
turns out several million bricks a year, and in fact rep-
resentatives of almost every industry which can be sug-
gested.
Two men who were present at the conference were
the mayors of negro towns which they have built up in
the South. One of these men, Mr. Isaiah T. Mont-
gomery, was once a slave of Jefferson Davis. Fifteen
years ago he began to colonize a tract of land in the
valley of the Yazoo River, in Mississippi. Colored
people now own 12,000 acres there. In the town of
Mound Bayou, which is the nucleus of the settlement,
Mr. Montgomery said there are ten stores and shops
owned by colored people, doing a business of at least
$30,000 a year. Mr. J. C. Leftwich, of Alabama, owns
over a thousand acres of land not far from Montgom-
ery, where he is building up a town which he has
named " Klondike." All the business is in the hands
of colored people, even the postmaster being a colored
man.
Three of the best addresses were made by women,
one of them, Mrs. A. M. Smith, the president of a col-
ored business woman's club and employment agency in
Chicago ; one by Mrs. A. Thornton, a dermatologist, of
1 9 oi.] THE NEGRO IN BUSINESS 213
Cincinnati, and one by Mrs. A. A. Casneau, a dress-
maker, of Boston. The last named woman is the author
of a book upon dressmaking which has been quite wide-
ly used. She told of an interesting experience with a
white woman who came to Boston to take some addi-
tional lessons from her, suggested from the book, and
who did not know that the woman she was coming to
see was a colored woman. For this to be understood I
must first relate an incident which occurred to one of
our Tuskegee Institute students, because it was to this
incident that Mrs. Casneau referred.
Among the other industries taught at Tuskegee In-
stitute is that of dairying. We have a herd of over one
hundred good dairy cows, and classes of young men and
women are constantly receiving practical instruction in
this industry, doing all of the work of the dairy at the
same time. There came to our knowledge the fact that
the owners of a certain creamery were looking for a
competent superintendent. We had just graduated a
man whom we knew to be thoroughly competent in
every way, but he was just about as black as any one
could possibly be. Nevertheless we sent him on to ap-
ply for the position. When the owners of the cream-
ery saw him they said: " But you are a colored man.
That would never do. We cannot hire a colored man."
Our candidate politely intimated that he had not
come there to talk about any color except butter color,
and kept on talking about that, while the owners kept
talking about his color. Finally something which he
said so caught their attention that they told him he
might stay and run the creamery for a fortnight, al-
though they still insisted that it was out of the question
for them to hire a colored man as superintendent.
When the returns for the first week's shipment of
butter made by our man came back, it was found that
the butter had sold for two cents a pound more than
214 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [March,
any product of the creamery had ever before sold for.
The owners of the establishment said: "Why, now,
this is very singular;" and waited for the next week's
report.
The second week's returns showed that the butter
had sold for a cent a pound more than that of the week
before, three cents more than before the colored man
had taken charge of the work. That time the owners
did not stop to say anything. They simply hired the
man as quickly as they could. The extra three cents on
a pound which he could get for his butter had knocked
every particle of color out of his skin so far as they
were concerned.
Mrs. Casneau, in her address before the league,
said that when she received a letter from her customer
saying that the woman was coming to Boston to call
upon her at a certain time, her courage failed her
because she knew that this customer had no idea that
she was to meet a colored woman as the author of the
book which she had been studying. When the day
came, and the bell rang, and she was told that this
woman had arrived, she was at first almost tempted to
send in word that she was ill and could not see her,
when suddenly there came into her mind the story of
the Tuskegee graduate who had declined to discuss any
question of color except the butter color which per-
tained to his business. "I went into the room as
bravely as I could," she said, "and, although the
woman looked and acted just as I felt sure she would, I
would not let myself take any notice of it, but went on
talking business as fast as I could. The result was that
we made a business engagement, through which, after-
wards, other work came to me.''
This meeting not only showed to the country what
the colored people are doing, but it gave the delegates,
especially those who came from the South, an oppor-
i 9 oi]. THE NEGRO IN BUSINESS 215
tunity to see something of the business methods em-
ployed by northern people. .1 think it will have some-
thing of the same good effect on them that the bringing
of the Cuban teachers to the United States may be ex-
pected to have on the Cubans.
If a record of the business enterprises operated by
colored men and women in the United States were
available it would be interesting and instructive, but
such information has not yet been very generally re-
ported.
From the published reports of the valuable studies
of Professor W. E. B. Du Bois I make a few extracts
bearing on the subject. In his book, "The Phila-
delphia Negro, 5 ' Dr. Du Bois deals chiefly with the
colored people of the seventh ward of that city. The
author says that this particular ward is selected because
it "is an historic center of negro population and con-
tains one-fifth of all the negroes in the city." The
negro population of Philadelphia in 1890 was 40,000,
and over 8,000 lived in this ward. Both these numbers
will undoubtedly show an increase when the figures of
the census recently taken are available. In this ward
Dr. Du Bois found the following- named business estab-
lishments operated by negroes: 39 restaurants, 24
barber shops, 1 1 groceries, 1 1 cigar stores, 2 candy and
notion stores, 4 upholsterers, 2 liquor saloons, 4 under-
takers (two of these were women), i newspaper, i drug
store, 2 patent-medicine stores, 4 printing offices.
There were 83 caterers in the ward, but some of
these Dr. Du Bois reports as doing a small business,
and others as engaged in the business only a part of
the year, being otherwise employed the rest of the
time. The business of catering by negroes in Philadel-
phia has always been remarkable for the ability and
success with which it has been conducted. Several
men of the race in that city have been famous for their
216 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [March,
work in this line. Dr. Du Bois, in writing of the ca-
terer, reports "about ten who do a business of from
$3,000 to $5,000 a year."
In addition to these there were at the same time
in other parts of the city, among the negro business
establishments, 49 barber shops, 8 grocery stores, 27
restaurants, 8 coal and wood dealers. There was a
successful florist, a large crockery store, and success-
ful real-estate dealers.
From the reports of other studies of Dr. Du Bois,
in the South, I make some extracts. I do not quote
his lists in full, but give only a few of the leading en-
terprises reported :
Birmingham, Ala. 8 grocers, 6 barbers, 4 drug-
gists, 4 tailors. Montgomery, Ala. 6 grocers, 2 un-
dertakers, 2 drug-store keepers, i butcher. Vicksburg,
Miss. 2 jewelers, 2 tailors, 2 drug- store keepers, 2
newspapers, 2 dry-goods dealers, i undertaker. Nash-
ville, Tenn. 9 contractors, 6 grocers, 2 undertakers,
2 saloon keepers, 2 drug stores. Houston, Tex. n
grocers, 10 real-estate dealers, 5 contractors, 6 barbers.
Richmond, Va. 2 banking and insurance men, 2 under-
takers, 2 fish dealers. Tallahassie, Fla. 3 groceries, 2
meat markets. Americus, Ga. 12 groceries, i drugstore,
i wood yard. Seattle, Wash. i real-estate dealer, 2
barbers, 3 restaurants. I do not have available a list
of enterprises in the city of Pensacola, Fla., but there
are at least two groceries there, conducted by colored
men, doing a business of $10,000 a year each, and suc-
cessful restaurants, contractors, drug- store keepers,
shoe- makers and tailors.
Much has been said and written about the fitness
of the negro for work in cotton factories. Until the
negro is given a fair trial under encouraging condi-
tions I shall be slow to believe that he is not fitted for
profitable work in factories. . For years the colored
THE NEGRO IN BUSINESS 217
man has been the main operative in the tobacco fac-
tories of the South, and, aside from this, he operates in
very large measure all of the cotton-seed oil mills in
the South and is engaged in every avenue of mechan-
ical work. I think those who hold to the theory that
the negro cannot be depended upon as a laborer in fac-
tories will find their theory exploded in a few years
very much in the same way that dozens of other the-
ories regarding him have been exploded.
The failure of the Vesta Cotton Mills, in Charles-
ton, S. C., has been laid to the door of the negro.
Those who have written on this subject seemingly for-
get, however, to state that these same mills failed once,
and I think twice, under white labor and that these
mills have never had colored labor exclusively in them.
When I visited Charleston a few months ago and made
a careful inspection of these mills, I found at least one-
third of the operatives were white people, the remain-
ing two-thirds being colored. The colored people, as
I remember it, occupied two floors and the whites the
other floor, so that the failure cannot be wholly ascribed
to colored labor.
Few cotton mills North or South have succeeded
in large cities where there is no opportunity to segre-
gate and control the labor. If the negro is given a fair
trial in a small village, or in a country district where
he is so situated in his home life that the operators can
control, as they do in the case of the white laborer, the
life of the families, I believe that the negro will suc-
ceed in the cotton factory equally as well as the white
man. Until such fair trial is given him it is unfair and
misleading to make sweeping statements regarding his
reliability in this respect.
In further proof of my statement that the negro
can succeed in factory work if given a fair opportunity,
I refer to the employment of colored persons in the
218 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [March,
silk factory at Fayetteville, N. C., a small town where
conditions are much more conducive to factory life than
in Charleston. Mr. H. E. C. Bryant, a white man and
one of the editors of the Charlotte Daily Observer, pub-
lished at Charlotte, N. C., recently visited this silk
factory in Fayetteville and after his visit said in his
paper :
"It is the most unique and interesting manufacturing plant in the
state, if not in the entire South. It is managed by Rev. T. W. Thurs-
ton, a mulatto, born in Pennsylvania and educated in Philadelphia, and
who is highly respected by the white and colored citizens of Fayette-
ville."
Mr. Bryant further remarks :
" It has proved a signal success. Its continued success will mean
much to the negro of the South. The building is of brick, three stories
high, and the mill has 10,000 spindles and employs 400 operatives, mainly
boys and girls between 10 and 18 years old. The first floor contains the
reeling department over which Mr. J. H. Scarbough, a young German,
is foreman ; the second is devoted to winding and doubling, and Ger-
trude Hood (colored), daughter of Bishop Hood, is in charge ; and the
third, weaving, with Mr. Harry Fieldhouse, an Englishman, as fore-
man. The mill has the appearance of a well-regulated school. The
operatives are thoroughly organized and work with perfect system. I
found order and neatness on every hand. The children did not seem
frightened but satisfied and ambitious. None but the best class of boys
and girls are employed at the silk mills. The employment of colored
labor has not caused racial trouble. It takes the young negro from the
streets and makes a good citizen of him and turns loose about $4,000 a
month to spend for food and clothing."
Despite these evidences of progress, it has been
said, sometimes, that negroes cannot come together
and successfully unite in holding such meetings as that
of the National Negro Business League, and that this is
a proof of their business incapacity. I think such a
meeting as that of last August disproves that theory.
What gave me the most encouragement was the manly
and straightforward tone used in all the papers and
discussions. There were no complaints. At the next
session I believe that there will be still larger numbers
and stronger support. I believe that as a race we shall
i90i.] THE NEGRO IN BUSINESS 219
succeed and grow, and be a people, with our due rep-
resentation in business life, right here in America.
We must not be discouraged, and we must watch our
opportunities and take advantage of them. There is no
force on earth that can keep back a brave people that is
determined to get education and property and Christian
character. They never can be defeated in their prog-
ress.
VICTORIA AND HER REMARKABLE REIGN
The death of Queen Victoria closed the longest
reign in the history of monarchical institutions. She
was on the throne sixty-four years (1837-1901), being
four years longer than the reign of any other European
monarch. George the Third's reign was the next
longest, being sixty years (1760-1820), but during the
last nine years he was insane and the government was
under the regency of his son, George IV. Henry III.
reigned fifty -six years (1216-1272), and Edward III.
fifty years (i 327- 1 377).
Besides being the longest, Victoria's reign was in
all respects the most remarkable. Under it more
political, industrial and religious progress was made
than during the reign of any ten other monarchs the
world ever saw. Since Victoria came to the throne in-
dustry has been revolutionized, the condition of the
laboring classes in England has been changed from that
of practical serfdom to political and social freedom ;
the hours of labor have been reduced one-third and
wages doubled ; the English workmen have been made
into active citizens with the full power of the franchise,
politically the equals of any lord in the realm. Religious
freedom has been definitely and irrevocably secured,
and in Ireland at least church and state have been
completely separated, catholics and protestants being
put upon a common level. The principle of democracy
has been thoroughly established, the right of nomina-
tion as well as of election has been taken from a fac-
tion and class and given to the people, so that not only
the house of commons but the officers of municipal
government throughout England, both in their selec-
tion and election, are in the hands of the people. In
220
VICTORIA AND HER REMARKABLE REIGN 221
this respect the political progress in England has
reached a more advanced and more truly democratic
plane than has yet been attained even in this country.
But in all this the queen played practically no part,
and so far as is known she never expressed an approving
opinion of any of the great reforms that shocked Eng-
land during her reign. Her chief virtue in this respect
was in refraining from opposition.
In the case of the abolition of the purchase of com-
missions in the army, she was practically coerced by
Mr. Gladstone. The house of commons^had acted in
favor of abolition, and, knowing the house of lords
would oppose it, he asked the queen to do it by royal
proclamation. She was utterly opposed to the meas-
ure, but he asked her in such a way that her very
frugal shrewdness prevented her from declining. Had
she done so the house of commons might have refused
to vote the supplies for the civil list and various special
allowances for the personal expenditures and perqui-
sites of the royal family, amounting to over a million
pounds a year, which in that case would have to be de-
frayed from her majesty's private resources. Nor did
she refuse to approve the bill to disestablish the Irish
church, nor for that matter any other bill passed by
parliament. She never once exercised the veto power.
But she never forgave Mr. Gladstone for forcing upon
her these disagreeable duties. The popularity of the
great Commoner was too great for even the queen
openly to oppose.
This should not be recorded as particularly against
the queen. She could hardly be expected to be per-
sonally in favor of such progressive steps. She was at
the very center of conservatism. Her whole environ-
ment, interests and thinking were of necessity from the
point of view of conserving the traditions of the mon-
archy, and with it, of course, the status of the aristo-
222 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [March,
cratic classes. It is not surprising, therefore, that she
should on a few occasions have shown reluctance to ap-
prove, or even opposition to, the innovations of a mani-
festly democratic movement. The surprise is, rather,
that she should have acquiesced in so much and op-
posed so little. This is really the secret of her popu-
larity. It was not for what she did but for what she re-
frained from doing that the English people learned to
love her so much.
She was reared in the era of middle- class struggle
for freedom and was queen during the era of the popu-
lar struggle for democracy. Less than three months
after she was born the " Peterloo massacre" occurred,
in which many people were killed and injured for at-
tending a public meeting in Peterloo Square, Man-
chester, to protest against the corn laws and demand
the right to vote. Instead of suppressing the move-
ment this massacre had the effect of intensifying it, and
under the leadership of Henry Hunt, who was chief
speaker at the forbidden meeting, it increased from
that time on. Overthrow of the " rotten-borough "
system and establishment of legitimate representa-
tion in parliament became the objects of an irrepressi-
ble demand which culminated in the passage of the re-
form bill of 1832, giving the middle-class representa-
tion in parliament.
Simultaneously with this movement the factory
system had come into existence. With it came a period
of increasing wealth and power for the middle class and
dire oppression for labor. The poorhouses were emptied
into the factories and little children as well as women
and men were worked sixteen hours a day. The landed
aristocracy, which was intensely jealous of this rapidly
growing middle class, protested against the brutality
of the factory masters under their new system of indus-
try, and thus encouraged the movement for reform of
igoi.] VICTORIA AND HER REMARKABLE REIGN 223
the factory conditions. In 1802 a law was passed pre-
venting children working in factories on Sundays, in
order that they might attend divine service. In 1815
a committee was appointed by the house of commons
to investigate the conditions of factory labor, which re-
sulted in the passage of a law in 1819 prohibiting the
employment of children under nine years of age, and
restricting all workers under sixteen years to twelve
hours a day.
Thus the movement for wholesome industrial legis-
lation had taken practical form at the time the queen
was born. Through the cooperation of the more phil-
anthropic members of the aristocracy and the increas-
ing boldness of the laborers, together with the experi-
ments of Robert Owen, the short-hour movement
pushed forward with increasing vigor. A further legal
reduction of the hours of labor to eleven and a half a
day was secured in 1825, and in 1831 the hours were
reduced to eleven, and night work for all persons under
1 8 years of age abolished. In 1833 this law was ex-
tended to numerous other industries and finally to coal
mines.
Under the leadership of Wilberforce, after twenty-
seven years agitation, slavery was abolished through-
out the British dominions, and in 1835 the chartist
movement was organized, demanding universal suf-
frage, vote by ballot, annual parliaments, equal elec-
toral districts, no property qualifications, and payment
of members of parliament. Thus, when Victoria came
to the throne, she found the middle class possessing the
suffrage, the factory acts in operation, and an organ-
ized movement among the masses for universal suffrage,
the secret ballot and a program amounting practically
to democracy.
All this had a wholesome influence on the young
queen. She had seen the danger of obstinate resist-
224 G UNTON 'S MA GA Z.INE [March,
ance to the popular will in the experience of her uncle,
William IV., who was compelled to promise an un-
limited increase of peers to pass the first reform bill ;
so that when she became queen, to her great credit be
it recorded, she left all the actual resistance to these
rapidly growing demands for reform to the aristocracy
and to parliament. Her non-interference steadily in-
creased her popularity with the people until they
almost came to believe that she favored their demands.
At any rate they felt sure that if they could secure
parliament they would have no trouble with the queen,
for which they learned to love her. The house of
lords, on the contrary, steadily interposed its opposi-
tion to every step of political advance, and thereby
earned the distrust and almost hatred of the common
people in about the same degree that the queen secured
their respect and admiration.
At this time also, England was greatly stirred by
an agitation for the repeal of religious disabilities,
which excluded everybody from holding office except
members of the church of England. This movement
had been growing more intense every year since the
passage of the reform bill, and in 1828 parliament was
compelled to yield to the pressure of the demand of the
non- conformists for the repeal of the "test and cor-
poration act." This act made it necessary to take the
sacrament of the Church of England to hold any office,
national or local, in Great Britain, and therefore ex-
cluded all non- conformists as well as catholics and
Jews from holding any public office whatever. The
repeal of this act gave encouragement to the catholics,
who for years had been struggling for the right of
representation in parliament. Their exclusion had
been accomplished by compelling them to take an oath
subscribing to the protestant religion. A measure for
abolishing this oath had already been rejected many
I9QI.J VICTORIA AND HER REMARKABLE REIGN 225
times by the house of lords, Daniel O'Connell having
been elected twice and prevented from taking his seat.
Under the advice of the Duke of Wellington, as a
choice between " reform and revolution," the house of
lords yielded and catholic emancipation was obtained
in 1829.
Now began that severe contest between the aris-
tocratic land- owning class and the mercantile class,
known as the anti-corn-law agitation. In 1839 the
anti- corn-law league was organized in Manchester. It
had behind it the wealth and vigor of the entire manu-
facturing class of England. The object of this league
was to secure the removal of all duties on foodstuffs,
which meant the adoption of free trade in England.
English manufacturers had outlived the need of protec-
tion, which had been vigorously insisted upon from the
time of Edward III. They had obtained a monopoly of
factory methods, which gave them an advantage over
all foreign competitors, and what they now wanted was
cheap food and foreign markets for manufactured wares.
The chartist movement, on the other hand, was a real
democratic industrial movement for the masses. This
demanded the same political rights for laborers that
their employers had received by the act of 1832. Al-
though it was a continuation of the Henry Hunt move-
ment, which included the repeal of the corn laws, the
chartists had dropped the repeal of the corn laws from
their demands. Their reason for doing so was that the
repealers, who were the manufacturers, wanted cheap
bread only that they might pay low wages. This atti-
tude of the chartists had been created by the bitter
opposition of the whole manufacturing class to the
factory acts.
The first years of the queen's reign, therefore,
were occupied with these two movements, which were
probably more intense than any two movements that
226 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [March,
ever existed simultaneously and were not actual war.
One movement represented the employing class and the
other the laborers and unenfranchised masses. The
landed aristocracy was the mortal enemy of the anti-
corn-law league, and hence, while not the least in sym-
pathy with anything like democracy, it gave some
encouragement to the movement of the masses, partic-
ularly on the line of factory legislation. Lord Ashley,
afterwards Earl of Shaftesbury, who was a traditional
landed aristocrat, a prominent tory and unrelenting
antagonist to the anti- corn-law league, was a member
of the first reform parliament and assumed the leader-
ship of the laborers' demand for factory legislation.
Beginning with 1840 he brought the subject before par-
liament almost every year. In 1844 he succeeded in
getting a law enacted prohibiting the working of chil-
dren under 14 years of age more than half time in any
industry whatever, compelling them to go to school the
other half-day, making attendance on school a requisite
to the right of employment. This law is still in opera-
tion and is one of the best pieces of legislation for the
health, education and social improvement of the Eng-
lish laborers that was ever enacted.
At this same time, under the leadership of John
Bright, who entered politics in 1841 and parliament in
1843, an d Richard Cobden, the real leader of the anti-
corn-law movement, the struggle for free trade waxed
hot both inside and outside parliament. In parliament
the annual struggle was being made for more factory
legislation, out of parliament the agitation of the chart-
ists on the one hand and the corn-law repealers on the
other, keeping England in a constant state of ferment.
The chartists were meeting on Sundays in the fields
and on the hilltops near every large town, and the corn-
law repealers were holding mass meetings in all avail-
able halls and theatres in the large cities. During the
i90i.] VICTORIA AND HER REMARKABLE REIGN 227
four months from December, 1842, to March, 1843,
instance, there were 136 mass meetings held in London
at which Bright and Cobden spoke. In many instances
the leaders of the two movements held public debates
and in not a few instances the meetings ended in riot
and bloodshed.
Both of these movements which so stirred England
during the first ten years of the queen's reign culmina-
ted about the same time. In 1846 the corn laws were
repealed. This so exasperated the land owners that
the next year the tories voted for Lord Ashley's ten-
hour bill, to punish the manufacturers for having re-
pealed the corn laws. The chartists attempted revolu-
tion and were suppressed in 1848.
The queen having married, February loth, 1840,
now had the wise cooperation, counsel and support of
Prince Albert, who was sympathetic and sagacious and
always showed an intelligent appreciation of the tem-
per of the English people, which was very necessary
during the very lively times of the middle of the century.
Instead of the people becoming indifferent after these
great accomplishments, success only whetted the appe-
tite for more. The operation of the ten-hour factory
law was so beneficial to all the laborers affected that it
laid the foundation for wider application of the factory
acts and gained increasing support from all the disin-
terested classes in the community. During the next
ten years, in almost every session parliament was asked
to extend the factory acts to new industries or amend
the law for its better enforcement, resulting in the
creation of a board of factory inspectors. This move-
ment gathered in its support not merely the factory
workers themselves but philanthropists, ministers, edu-
cators and physicians, all of whom testified to the bene-
ficial effects upon the physical health as well as the
mental and moral character of the operatives. But, in
228 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [March,
addition to all this, its economic effect was such as
effectively to disprove every pessimistic prediction
made by its opponents, the leaders of whom were
Bright, Cobden and the anti-corn-law advocates. Its
influence in this respect was perhaps the most mar-
vellous of all, since it actually converted several of the
staunchest opponents of the movement.
On one instance, in 1860, when the motion was be-
fore the house of commons to extend the operation of
the factory acts to hitherto unprotected industries, Mr.
Arthur Roebuck and Sir James Graham, two of the
most conspicuous speakers against the ten-hour law in
1847, rose in the house of commons and testified to
their entire conversion and apologized for having voted
against the ten-hour law. Both men supported the new
measure. Sir James Graham (formerly prime minister)
prefaced his vote by saying: "By the vote I shall give
to-night, I will endeavor to make some amends for the course
I pursued in earlier life in opposing the factory bill." Four
years later, Sir Thomas Bazley, Mr. Gladstone and
others changed their position on the question in the
same manner, and in 1874 with Mr. Gladstone's aid the
hours of labor were further reduced to nine-and-a-half
hours a day. During this period, also, labor unions
advanced from the position of conspiracies before the
law to a legal respectable status, recognized not only
by the laboring class but ultimately among the em-
ployers as a legitimate feature of successful industry.
While the immediate effect of the repeal of the
corn laws was not as expected, when industries were
adjusted to the new conditions the increase of manu-
facturing industries was enormous. Foreign trade
multiplied, labor for mechanics was increased, wages
rose, prosperity and its concomitant welfare prevailed
in all branches of manufacture, but the death blow was
struck to agriculture. The foreign influx of foodstuffs
igoi.] VICTORIA AND HER REMARKABLE REIGN 229
destroyed all energy and success in English agricul-
ture, and the progress of the agricultural class, par-
ticularly the laborers, was effectually arrested. What
is worse, it has essentially remained so until this day.
Wages of agricultural laborers in 1901 are not percep-
tibly higher than they were in 1840. The only ad-
vantage they have reaped from the immense progress
during the last sixty years is what has reached them in
the cheapening of the commodities they consume.
Even in the case of manufacturing industry, the ad-
vantage a free-trade policy gave England seems to have
nearly run its course. Other countries have been in-
troducing modern machinery, operated by labor cheaper
than English manufacturers can command, to such an
extent that manufactured goods are even shipped into
England and sold in the English market. The result
is that to-day England is seriously considering the re-
vival of a quasi-protective tariff policy.
In the sphere of politics, the progress about the
middle of the century was commensurate with the ex-
pansion of manufactures and commerce and the in-
creased welfare of the laborers. The new spirit of
liberty demanded freedom of the press, and in 1855 the
stamp tax on newspapers, which had once been as high
as eight cents a copy, was finally abolished. Moreover,
the struggle for religious rights, which in 1828 had
abolished the test and corporation act and in 1829 given
catholic emancipation, in 1858 removed the last dis-
abilities of the Jews and established their right to sit
in parliament.
On the principle that ' ' the blood of the martyrs is
the seed of the church," the suppressed chartist move-
ment rose again in the form of the cooperative move-
ment. The very year after the chartist leaders were
sent to jail, George Jacob Holyoake and a few of the
unimprisoned disciples of chartism met in Toad Lane,
230 G UNTON'S MA GAZ1NE [March,
Rochdale, and formed a pioneer cooperative society,
which is to-day the greatest cooperative enterprise in
the world. Imbued with the spirit of agitation born of
the chartist and short-hour movements, it became a
part of the policy of the cooperators to furnish a lec-
ture hall and reading room in connection with the co-
operative store, and as a very large number of them
owned their own buildings these lecture halls became
the chief places of public discussion for radical move-
ments, the churches and schoolrooms being reserved
for the opposition.
The importance of this to civilization was soon to
be apparent. When the civil war in this country broke
out, these cooperative lecture halls became the Faneuil
Halls of England, from which the voice of the people
effectively went forth and prevented the English gov-
ernment from siding with the South and giving victory
to the slave power against the union. This was indeed
a period of political education for the unenfranchised
laborers of England; and after the close of the civil
war, when the factories resumed work and prosperity
returned, the effect of this education showed itself in
the new political movements among the masses.
A league was organized in Birmingham, known as
the Birmingham reform league, for the purpose of
agitating another extension of the franchise. The
chief demands of this league were manhood suffrage
and vote by ballot. John Bright, although he had
been an unmitigated opponent of the factory acts, was
the most conspicuous and powerful leader in the move-
ment just referred to regarding the American war and
in this had become a popular hero of the nation. When
the new reform movement began, Mr. Bright gave it
his warmest support and became one of its most prom-
inent advocates. At the election in 18615 parliamentary
reform was made the issue and Mr. Gladstone its
IQOI.] VICTORIA AND HER REMARKABLE REIGN 231
leader. He was elected with a good majority in the
house of commons and immediately proceeded to intro-
duce a reform bill, not, indeed, as radical as that
demanded by the Birmingham league but sufficiently
so to propose giving the householders in boroughs a
vote. Mr. Gladstone's bill was defeated, he resigned,
and Lord Derby was made prime minister with Disraeli
chancellor of the exchequer.
The avowed object of the new administration was,
as Lord Derby expressed it, ' ' to stem the tide of de-
mocracy." This was another sting to the people, who
had now become irrepressibly committed to an exten-
sion of the franchise. Under the spur of this setback,
Mr. Bright told a meeting of workingmen in London
that if they would ' ' fill the space between Charing
Cross and Westminster no ministry would dare to
refuse their demands." They took his advice, agitation
at once broke out, and in the large cities, particularly
in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, and
throughout the north of England, monster meetings
were held such as are unknown in this country. In
the summer of 1866, among other immense meet-
ings, a demonstration was arranged to be held in
Hyde Park, which had long been used for public gather-
ings. Learning that this was to be an immense affair,
the government made great preparations to stop it, and
gave orders through Scotland Yards to keep the gates
of Hyde Park locked and prevent the meeting from be-
ing held. This so enraged the people, who had hitherto
had no other than the most peaceful intentions, that they
broke the gates, tore down nearly two miles of the iron
railings surrounding the park, and rushed in, trampling
over shrubs and breaking small trees. They held their
meeting, with several platforms, the chief one being un-
der the largest tree in the park, which to this day is
called the "reform tree." That broke the resistance to
232 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [March,
parliamentary reform in the house of commons as com-
pletely as it did the railings around Hyde Park. The
tory ministry introduced a still more radical measure
than the one proposed by Mr. Gladstone, which they
had defeated a few weeks before ; and the second reform
bill became a law in 1867.
This radical change in the electorate, involving a
change in the constitution of the house of commons,
called for a dissolution of parliament, but just before its
dissolution Mr. Gladstone introduced what proved to be
another stirring reform. It consisted of three resolu-
tions calling for the disestablishment of the Irish church.
This was the issue of the campaign, and a bitter issue it
was. The proposition was one more step in the direc-
tion of religious freedom. It took away the state reve-
nues from the church and applied them to education in
Ireland. On that issue Mr. Gladstone was triumphantly
elected, with a majority of 120 in the house of commons.
To this reform, as to nearly every really progressive
step that had been taken during the century, the house
of lords was a force of obstruction. Bishops who had
seats in the house of lords became frantic at the pros-
pect of disestablishing the Irish church, not so much on
account of the church in Ireland but they saw in it the
ultimate disestablishment of the church of England.
However, the spirit of justice and religious freedom had
made successful opposition to disestablishment impossi-
ble. Gladstone and his majority in the new parliament
meant business, the church was disestablished, and reli-
gious equality secured for Ireland.
In 1870 parliament passed a law providing for pop-
ular education. Education, much less free education ex-
cept what was provided by the factory acts, was until then
unknown in England. In 1871 Mr. Gladstone also took
the radical step which led to the abolition of purchase
of commissions in the army, a direct blow to the influ-
i 9 oi.] VICTORIA AND HER REMARKABLE REIGN 233
ence of the aristocracy winch fairly infuriated the house of
lords. It was this which led Mr. Gladstone to do the
exceptional thing already referred to, of asking the
queen to abolish the purchase of commissions by royal
proclamation and thus accomplish the desire of the
house of commons and the people independently of the
house of lords.
With all the progress that had taken place, the es-
tablished church in England still had the right to tax
dissenters of every denomination for the support of the
Episcopal church. It was common for rich clergymen
who were land owners with opulent rent rolls to go
around and exact church rates from the poorest inhab-
itants of their parishes, and if they refused have them
sent to jail. Cases of this kind were commonly occur-
ring in different sections of England, of course most
frequently in the agricultural sections where the people
had made the least progress. A long account of one
such case is given by the Suffolk Mercury, in October,
1873, where a rich land-owning clergyman had thrown
a poor man named James Grant into jail because he
refused to pay church rates, and his family were star-
ving for lack of income because of his incarceration.
The next year, 1874, Mr. Gladstone introduced a bill
abolishing this scandalous religious tax, and so removed
the last offensive burden upon the people for the state
church, although the church still enjoys an income of
some ten million pounds a year from state sources.
With every new advance progress moved still more
rapidly, and, since the second reform bill only extended
the suffrage to householders in boroughs and established
a ten-pound qualification for voting outside of counties,
the spirit of democracy again asserted itself and de-
manded the extension of suffrage to all householders
in both county and borough. This was granted in
1874, again under the leadership of Gladstone, thus
234 GUN TON'S MAGAZINE
extending the suffrage to the remnant of the unenfran-
chised classes the agricultural laborers. This made
England for all practical purposes a democracy.
All in all, the progress England has made during
Queen Victoria's reign is the most remarkable chapter
in the world's history. It is even greater in many re-
spects than the progress that has been made in this coun-
try. At the beginning of her reign the United States
was already a firmly established republic. Religious
freedom and popular education were already accom-
plished facts. Universal suffrage was in general prac-
tice, whereas in England at the beginning of her reign
popular government was unknown. Only the smallest
group of the middle class had any political voice, the
house of commons was practically a packed assembly,
the press was taxed, the right of religious opinion was
vouchsafed only to the believers in the established
church. Laborers had no right to organize or safely to
conduct public meetings in their own interests. In
fact, ignorance, squalor, physical deformity and relig-
ious and political oppression were the lot of the average
English laborer. During her reign, to a very great
extent, despotism has been transformed into democ-
racy, ignorance into intelligence and enlightenment,
poverty into prosperity and social welfare, persecution
into protection ; and the principle of liberty and human
rights, both at home and abroad, has become the ruling
spirit of the English nation. All this has taken place
under Queen Victoria's reign, and for the most part, if
not by her aid, at least without her obstruction, some-
thing which can be said of no other monarch, and for
which her descendants, as well as the English people
and for that matter the English-speaking race every-
where, may be supremely proud.
THE BROTHERHOOD OF RAILROAD
TRAINMEN
D. L. CEASE, EDITOR " RAILROAD TRAINMEN'S JOURNAL "
The Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, organized
at Oneonta, New York, September 23d, 1883, is a pro-
tective labor and insurance association ; that is, it en-
deavors to secure for its members, and all others in the
same class of service, what is believed in fairness to be
due to them in the way of wages and conditions of em-
ployment, and it conducts an insurance department on
the mutual assessment plan, in which every member,
physically qualified, must participate. The organiza-
tion is not, strictly speaking, a trade organization,
although its members come from the train service of
the steam railroads and each member must be em-
ployed thereon as either conductor, baggageman, brake-
man or switchman. The three last mentioned classes
of service predominate, for the conductors have a well-
established organization in which the great majority of
that branch of the train service is to be found. Gener-
ally speaking, the conductors who are members of the
Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen are those who have
been members of that organization while in the lower
grades of the service and have retained their member-
ship rather than seek other affiliation.
The history of labor organization is very much the
same and divides the organized labor movement into
two classes, namely, the successful organizations and
the unsuccessful ones. There can be no middle ground
between effectiveness and impotency, for a labor
organization must be either one or the other. It does
not necessarily follow that, to be successful, an organ-
235
236 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [March,
ization must revolutionize the working conditions of
the trade it represents but it is essential to its success
that it protect wages and working conditions, except
when, because of business depression or adverse trade
conditions, it is forced by business exigency temporarily
to accept unsatisfactory conditions. A labor organiza-
tion may be entirely unsuccessful in improving the
wage-earning capacity of its members and yet, because
of its educative opportunities afforded the members, it
may be eminently successful in every other respect.
An organization failure can generally be traced to per-
sonal ambition and jealousy on the part of its leaders,
inability to govern its affairs intelligently, participation
in partisan politics, and internecine dissensions that
ultimately lead to disruption and loss of influence.
The Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen feels en-
titled to recognition as a successful labor organization,
and for the reason that within the few years of its be-
ing it has accomplished more than usually falls to the
credit side of a labor organization account.
The Brotherhood started its career with the ex-
pressed belief that there was no reason for serious dif-
ferences between the employer and the employee, and
it included in its declaration of principles this state-
ment : ' ' Persuaded that it is for the interest both of
our members and their employers that a good under-
standing should at all times exist between the two, it
will be the constant endeavor of this organization to
establish mutual confidence and create and maintain
harmonious relations," and the organization can lay
honest claim to the fact that it has never repudiated its
declaration.
The organization, by its practical methods of fair
dealing, has overcome to a large extent what opposi-
tion was against it at its inception ; it has secured to its
members all the advantages that accrue from increased
igoi.j BROTHERHOOD OF RAILROAD TRAINMEN 237
wages and improved conditions of employment ; it has
secured favorable legislation in some instances, and in
particular was very effective in securing the passage of
the automatic safety -appliance act, protecting trainmen
in their employment ; it has furnished its members
insurance at cost and, what can be considered as a most
worthy achievement, it has raised the moral and intel-
lectual standard of its members and their families and
in consequence has advanced them to a higher social
position. The organization has been a school of prac-
tical economics in which the members have learned
many valuable lessons on the relative questions of work
and wages ; and, in the knowledge that differences are
not all one-sided, the organization has sought to adjust
all questions that have arisen between the employer
and the employee in an amicable manner. It has stood
fast to its ideas of the advantage of conference, and in
the failure of an agreement it has sought to adhere to
its principles pertaining to conciliation, mediation and
arbitration, rather than indulge in serious controversy
with the employer.
The protective feature of the organization has been
instrumental in accomplishing the most satisfactory
results. Before there was an organization the men in
the train service were paid ridiculously low wages and
were subject to the arbitrary performances of their
superiors, who exercised their authority to discharge or
suspend without question. No redress was possible
and the employees were absolutely helpless against any
decree that might be formulated by the employer.
To demonstrate briefly what has been done, the
statement can be made that at present the members of
the Brotherhood have secured contracts upon all of the
leading roads of this country and Canada. The majority
of the agreements bear the signatures of the managers
and the committees representing the employees, but
238 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [March,
there are a few companies that do not care to enter into
a written agreement but which have made verbal agree-
ments; and, whether written or verbal, it can be said
to the credit of both employers and employees that the
spirit and letter of the contracts have been generally
observed.
These contracts represent increased wages, shorter
hours, improved conditions of service, and guarantee
promotion if ability warrants, in addition to which they
assure the right of appeal against unjust treatment and
generally cover all questions pertaining to the rules
governing the service. An average increase in wages
of thirty-five per cent, has been secured since the for-
mation of the organization, and when it is remembered
that this statement applies to all the employees in the
service as well as to the members of the Brotherhood
the far-reaching results can be appreciated.
There has been so much said of the arbitrary per-
formances of labor organizations that a word concerning
the method of procedure may not be out of place here.
An agreement is first undertaken by the committee
representing the men, asking for an audience with the
management. When the date is fixed the manager and
the committee meet and go over the proposition sub-
mitted by the committee. The meeting is a business
one and opinions concerning the matters under discus-
sion are freely expressed by both sides. If, after a
hearing and consideration of the question, the proposi-
tions are conceded or satisfactorily modified, the agree-
ment is concluded and the committee returns to its du-
ties in the service. Should there be a failure to agree,
the committee will request the presence of the chief
executive officer of the organization to assist them in
effecting a settlement. Generally the manager, that
officer, and the committee will arrange the questions in
dispute, and many managers prefer ^to have the attend-
i90i.] BROTHERHOOD OF RAILROAD TRAINMEN 239
ance of the officer, since the experience and knowledge
of prevailing conditions possessed by him greatly assists
to facilitate the business in hand.
But if it so happen that no agreement can be reached
and the questions in controversy are of vital importance
to the employees, the result of the conference is given
to the men and they decide whether it shall be pressed
further or dismissed. If they decide to continue the
affair, the question of striking (leaving work peaceably
and in a body) is submitted to a secret ballot of the men.
If two-thirds of them vote for a strike, and the vote re-
ceives the sanction of the grand master and the com-
mittee, a strike may be declared, but not until every
effort that is consistent without sacrifice of honor and
self-respect shall have been made to avert trouble. The
organization is opposed to a strike and provides, as a
penalty for indulging in an illegal strike, expulsion
from the Brotherhood.
It has been necessary to indulge in two strikes, but
to-day the men have a good contract on each system
where the strike occurred and both employer and em-
ployee have the highest regard for each other. The
organization was forced in each instance to take the po-
sition it did, and I believe that at this time the officers
of each company appreciate that fact.
The Brotherhood is desirous of maintaining friendly
relations with the employers and will always contribute
its part toward that end.
I know of no more convincing argument to present
to bear out this statement of the good feeling existing
between the employers and the Brotherhood than to
point to the fact that, aside from four railways with an
aggregate mileage of 6,500 miles, out of the (approxi-
mately) 200,000 miles in the United States and Canada,
the relations are harmonious and have been brought
about by conference and contract. What opposition
240 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [March,
there is is of the evasive kind, and I feel perfectly safe
in saying that it was founded in a mistaken idea of the
purpose of the organization,
The insurance feature of the Brotherhood deserves
special mention, since the hazardous nature of the em-
ployment of the members prevents them from enjoying
the advantages offered to men in less dangerous voca-
tions by fraternal associations. This department is
operated from the fund raised for the conduct of the
general business of the organization, and every dollar
received on the assessments is paid back in the payment
of claims. At this writing the amount paid reaches the
respectable sum of $6,250,000. Insurance is provided
against disability and death, at a rate of $20 per thou-
sand per year. Three classes of policies are issued ;
namely, for $400, $800 and $1,200. The great good
that has come from this feature of the organization can-
not be appreciated until a realization is had of the
benefits that have accrued to thousands of the depend-
ents of the disabled and deceased members.
The organization publishes a monthly journal,
known as the Railroad Trainmen s Journal. It is sent to
each member of the organization and to subscribers
who desire it. It is intended for the general informa-
tion of the members and their families and calculated
to furnish them with reading matter along the lines
that are adjudged to be of particular interest to them.
It has been a very effective means of educating them
along social and economic lines and has led them to
become close students of social problems. I believe
that, as a class, they are more devoted to such matters
of interest than any other one class of workers.
I have prepared the following brief statement con-
cerning the membership, the insurance carried, and its
cost, for each year of the organization :
igoi.] BROTHERHOOD OF RAILROAD TRAINMEN 241
STATEMENT OF MEMBERSHIP, COST OF INSURANCE, NUMBER AND AMOUNT
OF CLAIMS PAID IN THE BROTHERHOOD UP TO DEC, 31, 1900.
s i
i|
1*
to
I
"3
0,0 fc
*>>P
5
Fiscal Period.
lis
111
fi
CM
O
!H
Amount Paid
on Claims.
a^ *
g*J
S'S 10 "
a?
^ /v^ ^
fl) flj ^
o C S
B
S
Ss
gfl-C
55
188 '8
GO I
870
$ 6,596 82
l884-'85 .
V
4 766
w / 7
4,7O3
$16 oo
17
44,976 63
i885-'86
*TJ / ^^
*T i^J
7.QI4
21 66
83
QQ.IOO OO
i886-'87
8*622
/ y X4 r
8,476
16 25
*/
147
V ;7>
123,106 25
1887 '88
w > *T / ^^
16 oo
145
253,318 oo
i888-'89 . , . ...
lV^62
Il'l22
21 OO
250
274,027 25
i88Q-'oo .
14,057
13,837
22 OO
** jv
271
368,637 05
1890 "91
*-T> v 'J /
20, 409
20,198
21 OO
366
1,014,424 oo
Sep.i,'9itoAug.3i,'93
28,540
28,219
23 oo
J W
1,014
590,310 20
Sep. 1/93 toDec. 31/94
22,359
22,070
15 83
533
( A 22 50
1805-96 .
22,326
21,846
] B 22 50
751
893,407 89
( C 20 00
/ 3 *
A 22 50
l8o7-'o8 .
11 185
28,198
B 22 5O
028
1,042,014 44
C 2000
V
A 22 50
1800 'oo
41 225
AI <f)K
B 22 5O
3l6
1,419,828 42
4O ** j
C 20 00
Total . .
5,830
$6,129,746 95
Two assessments only of $i each for year 1884.
From Aug. i, 1895, to July 31, 1897, there were three classes of in-
surance: A, $400; B, $800; C, $1,200. Members had option of carrying
any or all of them.
In its operation the Brotherhood is thoroughly
democratic, it interferes with neither religious nor po-
litical opinions, it endeavors to educate its members,
that they may adapt themselves to the changing social
and economic conditions. It has raised the financial,
moral and intellectual standing of its members and
their families, as can be attested by their comfortable
homes, their high standing in the communities in which
they live, and the education that each family head is
trying to give to his children, a combination of advan-
242 G UNTON'S MA GAZINE
tages that shows for itself in the general condition of
the families of our railroad employees.
It has not been my purpose to elaborate the princi-
ples of the organization but simply to present the gen-
eral idea of the Brotherhood and its attitude toward the
employer, together with such other information as
seemed to be of interest. The policy of the Brother-
hood is one of fairness in all things, and in following it
out it has endeavored to be just and courteous to the
employer and at the same time make every endeavor to
secure each possible advantage for its members. As it
commenced with its platform of amity and fairness,
so it has continued and is now, standing for the indus-
trial peace that is so necessary to industrial success.
UNAMERICAN STATESMANSHIP
The police law just enacted by the republican leg-
islature of New York, under the leadership of Governor
Odell, is a bold partisan violation of the essential prin-
ciples of local self-government and is contrary to the
spirit and genius of American institutions. The act
abolishes the present board of police commissioners and
substitutes a single commissioner, who is to be ap-
pointed by the mayor but who can be arbitrarily re-
moved by the governor without cause or right of hear-
ing. A person once so removed is declared forever in-
eligible for reappointment. This means that, unless
the mayor appoints a commissioner who is agreeable to
the governor for whatever reason, the governor can
arbitrarily remove him. The logic of this is that the
commissioner must be obedient to the governor and the
powers the governor represents, rather than to the
mayor and the citizens of the municipality who alone
are interested.
The passage of this recklessly partisan measure has
given Tammany, whose administration is a reeking
scandal, the opportunity to pose as the champion of the
people's right of self-government, and it has promptly
taken advantage of the opportunity. Mayor Van Wyck's
veto of the police bill was a strong and almost states-
manlike document. It exposed the partisan object of
the measure, its manifest evasion of the constitution
and its suppression of the right of the people to local
self-government. The mayor had tradition, principle
and the authoritative declaration of American states-
men in his favor ; nay more, he had the history of con-
stitution-making and the interpretation of the courts to
support his rejection of the measure. If the republi-
343
244 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [March,
can legislature and governor had especially designed to
come to the rescue of Tammany politicians in their
effort to get another lease of power in the metropolis, a
more effective method could hardly have been devised.
It puts the republican party in the position of an enemy
to home rule and leaves the defence of the people's
rights to Tammany.
In passing this measure the republican legislature
does not represent the expressed or implied desire of
the people. No such proposition for taking the gov-
ernment away from the people was hinted at during
the campaign ; yet, before the legislature convened, it
was ''authoritatively" announced that a single-headed
police commission bill would be passed before the end
of February. This was not the result of any public
discussion of the subject by the people, not even of
discussion among the members of the legislature, but
"an announcement of what the legislature would do"
by an individual who was not a member of either branch
of the legislature nor even of the state government.
This, therefore, is not a republican measure in the
sense of representing the opinion or policy of the re-
publican party, much less of the people of the city or
state of New York, but it is the product of the personal
management of the republican organization, which de-
termines the nomination of candidates for both branches
of the legislature and consequently controls their
action.
It may be truly urged that the police force in New
York city, under the control of Tammany, is an organ-
ized assistance to crime and fraud, that it is the black-
mailing guardian of vice, the protector of crime to the
neglect of the interests of decency, honesty and the
wholesome forces of society, and if the indictment were
made twice as severe it could not overstate the case.
It is a desperate problem, but will the mere
igoi.] UNAMERICAN STATESMANSHIP 245
transferring the control of the police force from
New York city to Albany furnish any remedy?
If we have reached the pass that a recourse to despot-
ism is necessary to correct the vices of democracy and
save society, we must at least be assured that the newly
created autocrat will be clean, honest and efficient.
With the present condition of organized politics in
New York, however, this new law simply divides the
power between the two political organizations. The
power which announced that this bill would become a
law before the end of February is the power which
would control the action of the governor in his inter-
ference with the police department. We have just had
conclusive evidence that this power which governs
republican politics is as unclean as Tammany itself. It
corrupts the primaries and coerces delegates, it dictates
and sells nominations and blackmails corporations ; in
short, it lives and thrives upon the same debasing
political methods which Tammany has reduced to a
science. Under such conditions, to give the removal
of the commissioner of police to a creature of the re-
publican organization is simply to increase the power
of that organization to force Tammany into a better
division of the spoils.
It may be said that the power of arbitrary removal
would seldom be used without proper cause, but the
methods of Tammany are such that a proper cause
could nearly always be found to exist, and consequently
a division of the spoils could easily be exacted as the
price of approval of a Tammany appointee.
There is little reason to believe that anything
would be gained for clean government by placing the
power of arbitrary removal of local officials in the
hands of state or even of national authorities. Evi-
dence is fresh in the minds of the people of a case
where an appeal to the president, whom most people
246 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [March,
regard as honest, utterly failed to secure recognition
and action against the corrupters of our political ma-
chinery, although the very federal official who used his
position to intimidate delegates, defeat the will of the
people and destroy the very virtue of popular election,
was of his own appointing and absolutely subject to the
president's power of removal. The mayors, governors,
and even president are for the most part creatures of this
star-chamber political machinery. For political pre-
ferment even great journals bow to its power, and
either attack virtue or suppress the exposure of vice as
the interests of " personal politics" may dictate.
The first encounter between the two organizations
for power and spoils under this new bill has already
taken place. The police bill, through abolishing the
police commission and office of chief, was intended
permanently to remove Chief Devery and compel the
Tammany mayor to put the police force of New York
in cleaner hands, but it entirely miscarried in the first
day of its existence. The character of the police bill is
so perniciously partisan and undemocratic throughout
that it emboldened Tammany's mayor to follow his
very able veto by complete official defiance, and in less
than twenty -four hours after the bungling measure
became a law Devery was practically reinstated. The
mayor promptly appointed one of the most offensive
Tammany partisans to the position of single police
commissioner, and the new commissioner within a few
hours appointed the obnoxious Devery as his first
deputy, which made him practically chief of police.
So that, in the first instance, the bungling scheme
to make Tammany "come down" has utterly failed.
The victory is completely with Tammany. The whole
performance is so clumsy and partisan that it justifies
the people in distrusting the republican party as man-
aged by the "machine, 1 ' and regarding it as in no
i 9 oi.J UNAMERICAN STA TESMANSHIP 247
/
important respect superior to Tammany. This meas-
ure is bad politics as well as low statesmanship. It
represents neither the republican party nor public
opinion in the city or state. It is a bold but clumsy
effort to use the legislature as an instrument of a
politically degraded organization.
The people are honest ; they believe in and desire
clean politics, honest administration and a high stand-
ard of public life. They have no part in or sympathy
with the methods of Tammany or the republican or-
ganization ; they are the patient and discouraged vic-
tims of both. The people are honestly, anxiously, but
doubtfully waiting for some method of emancipation
from the dishonorable despotism thus exercised in the
name of democracy. There is no hope of accomplish-
ing any real reform in this direction by placing arbi-
trary power in the hands of any segregated political
authority. The virtue of the nation is in the people.
They furnish the moral fibre, conscience and integrity
of our public life. Any reform, therefore, which shall
impart cleanliness and virtue to our politics and public
life must proceed by placing the government and re-
sponsibility for honest and competent administration in
more direct touch with the people.
The road to home rule and direct responsibility of
public officials is not in substituting governor for mayor
but in making the mayor and the mayor alone responsible
to the people for all municipal appointments and giving
him the power of prompt removal. Then, if he act
not the cause of his inaction will be obvious, the place
of responsibility easy to locate, and the remedy directly
in the hands of the people. In order to make this pos-
sible, however, the people must have the power to act ;
they must not only have the power to remove a bad
mayor but they must have power to nominate as well as
elect a good one. This cannot be secured, and the con-
248 G UNTON'S MA GAZINE
trol of the people over the government fully established,
until the power to dictate nominations is put beyond
the reach of office-holding " organizations " by substi-
tuting nomination by petition for the present method
of party conventions. Let the people once have the
free and protected right to vote for the nomination of
public officers as they now have to vote for their elec-
tion, and the power of the "boss" in politics will be
gone. Then, and not till then, will the virtue, con-
science and character of the people be truly repre-
sented in the government.
EDITORIAL CRUCIBLE
IT is ESPECIALLY unfortunate for Mr. Odell that he
should have followed Theodore Roosevelt as governor.
The contrast is painful and emphasizes the fact that Mr.
Odell's promotion from chairman of the state committee
to governor was a mistake. He seems desirous of doing
something striking, and thus far it has been strikingly
poor. His police bill is a discreditable botch. Instead of
making Odell a hero it has put Van Wyck in the saddle
and given Tammany an opportunity to pose as the
friend of self-government. Governor Odell's much her-
alded and badly digested tax bills show the same lack
of statesmanship, and, as if this were not enough, he is
now credited with urging the revival of last year's
mortgage-tax bill. If it be really true that he is not an
instrument of the ' 'organization," some one should
whisper a little sane advice in his ear.
MR. BRYAN SEEMS to have the notion that Cuban in-
dependence means absolute sovereignty. To admit
that would be to abrogate the Monroe doctrine alto-
gether. Independence does not necessarily mean abso-
lute and unqualified sovereignty. Greece is an indpen-
dent state, but it could not exist an hour but for the
interference of Europe in its behalf. Nearly all sover-
eignty is subject to the general peace and interests of
other nations. When Turkey defeated Greece it was
not permitted to do what it pleased with the little
kingdom. When Japan defeated China it was not per-
mitted to dictate the entire terms of peace. When Rus-
sia conquered Turkey, with its victorious armies at the
gates of Constantinople, it was not permitted to dictate
the terms of peace ; the peace and future of other na-
tions had to be considered. For the same reason that we
249
250 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [March,
would not permit Spain endlessly to protract a harrow-
ing war in Cuba, we should not permit Cuba to invite or
allow any monarchical power to have possession of the
island. Cuban independence should mean the freedom
of Cuba to govern Cuba, but to govern it consistently
with peaceful relations with the United States. If
Cuba wants the right to sell the island back to Spain or
to England or to Russia it should not, and in accordance
with the Monroe doctrine and the very principle of our
interference it would not, be permitted so to do.
IN 1899 the Minnesota legislature passed a law pro-
viding for nominations by petition in counties having
200,000 or more inhabitants. The only county in the
state having the requisite population appears to have
been the one in which Minneapolis is situated. Last
fall, therefore, Minneapolis held an election under this
new primary law. It demonstrated one fact conclu-
sively : namely, that when the people realize that they
have a right to vote and that their votes will count and
not be offset by any coercing conspiracy they will attend
the primaries with about the same interest that they have
in voting on election day. In Minneapolis 32,000 people
attended the primaries and voted for the nomination of
candidates. This was more than the entire city vote
cast at the preceding election for governor. The Minne-
sota law appears to have the defect of not limiting the
primaries to the previously enrolled members of the re-
spective parties ; hence they are still exposed to the evil
of "padded rolls" so prevalent in New York previous to
the new primary law, which provides that only the en-
rolled voters of the respective parties shall be permitted
to vote at a party's primaries. With this exception the
Minnesota law for nominations by the people appears to
be a complete success. No time should be lost in pass-
ing a similar law in New York ; it should be passed be-
igoi.] EDITORIAL CRUCIBLE 251
fore the legislature adjourns in order that the people
may have the benefit of it in the coming municipal elec-
tions.
THE MACON Telegraph does not entirely like our
criticism of its appeal to the South to adopt political ex-
clusion, and rises to explain with a column-and-a-half
editorial which touches the high-water mark of southern
eloquence. There is always something delightfully
frank about the southerner. While the Telegraph could
not relish our remark that its ' 'proposition is provincial-
ism and not statesmanship" it frankly admits that its
"impassioned appeal'' was made in a moment of despair.
That is all right. We all have moments of despair and
say things that we do not expect will be held against us
forever. Of course our contemporary could not let the
occasion go by without delivering a soul-stirring oration
on the horrors of reconstruction, too much of which is
painfully true. But it does get in some very wholesome
characterizations of the Altgelds and Crokers of the
democratic party and justly draws the line with pride
between these and the statesmen of whom the South is
so proud. We do not mind at all the few hard things
the Telegraph says, so long as it did not really mean to
be taken seriously on that "political secession" proposi-
tion. If the South will only encourage its factories to
adopt the program of the North Carolina manufacturers,
of shortening the working day and promoting the edu-
cation of factory children, nothing will stop her from
fulfiling the Telegraph's prediction that : "In her own
good time she will become the garden spot and pride of
the greatest nation of the earth.''
"Where wealth accumulates there men decay . . . The prosperity
of the few means the robbery of the many." GEO. E, McNEiL.
THIS MIGHT have been expected from a young hot-
head, an ignorant proletariat, or from an impulsive
252 GUNTOWS MAGAZINE [March,
miner or factory operative, but from the first deputy
chief of the Massachusetts Labor Bureau and "sage of
the labor movement/' such utterances are unpardonable.
They are contradicted by all experience. Wealth is
steadily accumulating in this country and men are not
decaying but are progressing; men are stronger and
better and freer now than they ever were before wealth
began to accumulate. The nation in which wealth does
not accumulate is a nation of poverty and barbarism.
Nor is it true that ' 'the prosperity of the few means
the robbery of the many.'' A broader spirit among the
employing class might have made a greater proportion of
the increasing wealth go to the poor, but it is not true
that their wealth has been acquired by * 'robbing' ' the
poor. The welfare of the masses has progressed with
the prosperity of the capitalists. Labor leaders like Mr.
Gompers, Mr. Maguire and others, who have studied
the economics of the labor question and attach more im-
portance to fact than to rhetoric, constantly proclaim
this. Laborers have no interest in stopping the "accu-
mulation of wealth" nor in preventing "the prosperity
of the few, ' ' but have an interest in seeing to it that the
prosperity which at first comes to the few should be
rapidly extended to the millions. It is in the nature of all
progress that the benefits first come to the few and then
extend to the larger groups until they reach the whole
community. Empty epigrams may sway a meeting but
they can never really help a cause.
THE POPE'S recent encyclical against socialism is
another evidence of his progressive statesmanship. His
recognition of the political tendency toward democracy,
and the economic tendency among the masses for or-
ganized action in their own interests, gives him the
right to speak as a friend of society and of civilization,
not merely for the upper class but for the masses. In
igoi.] EDITORIAL CRUCIBLE 253
now encouraging the masses in desiring a more liberal
participation in the benefits of industrial progress, and
at the same time defending the rights of property and
condemning the doctrine of socialism as inequitable,
unchristian and uneconomic, he has rendered a real
service to Christendom.
Rash socialism, which rests primarily upon unen-
lightened feeling, bolstered by perverted economic
reasoning, is the most dangerous force with which so-
ciety will have to deal in the first half of the twentieth
century. If the great leaders among the capitalists in
this country and Europe would act with as much in-
telligence and discrimination as the pope exhibits
towards the present industrial movement, many of the
ominous tendencies which threaten society would dis-
appear. The spirit of socialism is abroad and it cannot
be stamped out by arrogance and force. It must be led
by reason, experience and ethics into the light of true
social progress, upon the principle that the legitimate
success of any means the improvement of all, and that
no class can permanently improve its position by in-
juring that of any other. While it is clear that the
destruction of capital means the poverty of the masses,
it is equally manifest that the prosperity and progress
of the masses is the only sure foundation of permanent
success for capital.
IT is MORE than encouraging to learn from Mr.
Edward H. Sanborn, general manager of the National
Association of Manufacturers, that the mill owners and
managers in the South have become alive to the evil of
child labor and are willing to cooperate in any measure
to exclude children under twelve years of age from the
factories, and still further that they are ready to adopt
the ten-hour working day. To this end, Mr. Sanborn
254 G UNTON'S MA GAZ1NE
says, an agreement has been signed by one hundred
North Carolina manufacturers, as follows :
"We, the undersigned, cotton-mill owners and managers, agree to
the following, taking effect March i, 1901:
"(i) That one week's work shall not exceed sixty- six hoars.
" (2) That no children less than twelve years old shall work in a
cotton mill during the term of an available public school.
" Provided, this shall not apply to children of widows or physically
disabled parents; provided further, that ten years shall be the lowest
limit at which children may be worked under any circumstances.
" (3) That we will cooperate with any feasible plan to promote the
education of working people in the state, and will cheerfully submit to
our part of the burdens and labors to advance the cause of general edu-
cation.
" (4) On the basis of the above agreements of the cotton-mill
owners and managers, we hereby petition the legislature not to pass any
labor laws at this session of the legislature."
This is the most remarkable thing of its kind that
ever occurred. Individual employers have voluntarily
reduced the hours of labor and otherwise improved the
conditions of their laborers, but never before did manu-
facturers organize to bring about a general shortening
of the hours of labor, restriction of the employment of
children, and compulsory education for working chil-
dren. If the above be true, to the manufacturers of
North Carolina belongs the honor of initiating such a
wise and beneficent policy among employers. It is
rather natural that the people of the South should be
opposed to restricting the hours of labor by law, because
by tradition and education they are opposed to state in-
terference. The only way to prevent such legislation
is for manufacturers throughout the South to adopt
the program of their North Carolina brethren. It is
not important to laborers which way the shorter day
comes ; it is only important that it come. In proposing
voluntarily to adopt a ten-hour system, North Carolina
manufacturers are taking the position of the real leaders
of social progress in the South.
OUR EDUCATIONAL RESPONSIBILITY
IN CUBA
LEONORA BECK ELLIS
One immediate effect of a protracted and vital war-
fare in any country, no matter how just the contest,
how sublime the principle in which it originates, is
to bring upon the stage of national action a tumultuous,
often a lawless generation. This could scarcely be
otherwise in Cuba, where through half a century the
savage fire of one struggle for freedom has only died
away to let another flash up from the embers.
Barely thirteen months and a few days had elapsed
since Havana's joyous demonstrations on the hauling
down of Castile's royal colors to make way for the re-
publican stars and stripes on the ramparts of old Morro
and the governor general's palace when an unexpected
scene at the Albisu Theatre startled, angered, and
momentarily embittered hundreds of Americans, both
resident and visiting in that city. Pit, boxes, and gal-
leries were crowded, and, the play being pleasing, the
audience was good-humored. At the close there was a
spectacular finale, and the flags of many nations were
run up seriatim, to be received with cheers and ap-
plause. Each one met its bravas and hand- clappings
without counter demonstration until the beautiful sym-
bol of our republic made its appearance. The Ameri-
cans cheered and clapped loudly, a few Cubans joined
them without warmth, but above all sounded a spon-
taneous outburst of hisses, in which boxes kept gal-
leries company while the pit outvied both.
"Cowards and traitors" the Americans cried. But
is it so? Do the many incidents of this and similar
255
256 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [March,
kind daily recorded, some more trifling, some apparent-
ly more momentous, go to prove that the Cuban nation
hates our flag and our people as mean spirits often hate
their benefactors? Certainly this sort of proof cannot
weigh with thoughtful minds.
But two things clearly indicated by these and kin-
dred demonstrations are, first, that long strife in the
island- country has fomented turbulence and pushed it
to the front; second, that four centuries of unkind treat-
ment and unfair dealing on the part of Spain towards
this child of hers have of necessity bred a suspicion
difficult for any guardian to allay, a distrust lasting as
her wardship towards all purposes that cannot be marked
out by definite time and method limits. Both these re-
sults we should put ourselves in the attitude of compre-
hending, since each constitutes an element of value in
the solution of the educational problem which the Unit-
ed States government now finds itself ethically bound
to work out in Cuba.
It must be assumed that no man of righteous
decisions will deny the existence of our responsi-
bility towards the next generation of Cubans and
this implies our responsibility towards all Cubans
of the future in the matter of their education,
mental, moral, civic, spiritual. The present paper
is not written to set forth an argument leading up
to a point already so well established, but rather to
give a short exposition of what has been accomplished
in the discharge of this responsibility during the time
intervening since the ratification of the Spanish treaty.
In order to comprehend clearly what has been done
one must understand first what material there was to
work with and how it had been affected by antecedent
influences.
The educational system instituted and conducted
in Cuba by Spain was far from being a thing that any
IQOI.] ED UCA TIONAL RESPONSIBILITY IN CUBA 257
mother country could be proud of or any colony grow
strong and intelligent under. If one looks at it closely
he needs but little additional help from his knowledge
of the oppressive taxes imposed upon the island, the
revenues tyrannically extorted, the inadequate and un-
righteous judiciary it suffered from, the false priesthood
that added to the sum of licentiousness instead of holy
living, in order to trace unmistakeably the paths by
which this people have arrived at the present low plane
of productive industry, domestic and civic virtue, in-
tellectual stamina, and spiritual striving. He can no
more be surprised that 72 per cent, of the islanders can-
not read or write than he is surprised at the statistics
of illegitimacy among them, or the ominous prevalence
of miscegenation, or the boasted fact that the most ad-
mired tacos or "swells" of Havana have attained su-
premacy through their fame as duelists, gamblers,
and roues. In fact, he is more inclined to be astonish-
ed that 28 per cent, can read and write, as he is at first
moved to pleasant wonder that the island has bred
some illustrious patriots, and that there are homes in Ha-
vana, Matanzas, indeed scattered all over Cuba, which
shelter virtue, love and unselfishness equal to any in
earth's more favored spots.
Von Humboldt's famous educational proposition
is not more true than its converse ; for whatever is in-
troduced into the schools of a people will surely be
wrought into the intrinsic fabric of that people's nation-
al existence. Look at the only schools Cuba has known
in the three hundred and ninety-nine years that have
dragged over her since the planting of her first colony,
and see if they were such institutions as would foster
courage and honor and truth, industry, temperance,
virtue, strenuous moral purposes.
For the girls belonging to the classes that are sup-
posed to have educational needs, there have always
258 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [March,
been conventual schools. In these the future women of
the nation were shaped by nuns and priests of two
classes: those who knew nothing of the world, and
those who knew nothing of the world saving its wicked-
ness, to the sum total of which they often contributed
incalculably. Yet, upon women whose hearts, char-
acters and intellects were molded by the unnatural
forces pent up within these convent walls, has develop-
ed for ages the part of rearing those who were to con-
stitute the chief body of citizens of the island.
The boys of the upper classes have had some advan-
tages over their sisters. The provincial institutions
have offered fair training for their minds, and Havana
University has opened its doors to some 1,400 of them
annually. There was no savor of anything Cuban in
these institutions: everything was Spanish; all teach-
ing tended towards the ultimate end of setting Spain
upon the pinnacle of the world.
Thus much for the more fortunate classes, which
include in their ranks comparatively few genuine Cu-
bans, being largely filled with the peninsular and
insular Spanish. But what of "the masses, " which
means here the people themselves?
No need to say that for centuries there was noth-
ing in the way of education set within their reach. But
when the spread of intelligence, the general diffusion
of knowledge and rapid establishment of schools in
other countries had forced hard taskmasters to do
something here, a weak and false system of public
institutions was tardily built up. A review of this
would scarcely prove profitable for the general reading
public. It is sufficient to state that Cuban municipali-
ties paid extravagantly for the maintenance of the
system, but Spanish school inspectors and boards,
Spanish commissioners of education, superintendents,
and frequently teachers held all the power and dictated
igoi.] ED UCA TIONAL RESPONSIBILITY IN CUBA 259
every item down to the minutest in organization, man-
agement, employment of funds, courses of study,
standards of scholarship and discipline.
By Spain's Cuban census of 1887, which gave the
island a population of 1,631,687, there were 775 public
schools in operation. This may or may not be trust-
worthy. At any rate, in 1890, when the most authori-
tative educational statistics of the world showed that
23 per cent, of the people of the United States were
attending school, by the same showing there were only
3^ per cent, of Cuba's population engaged likewise.
Yet a lower point was still to be touched, for an offi-
cial statement promulgated some time before our
occupation of Cuba announced that only 449 public
schools were in operation in the whole island, and it is
undoubtedly true that most of those were but semblances
of schools. Only 4,000 children were in these schools.
The instruction given under this system was as inade-
quate and unsatisfactory as could be expected from
such conditions. An investigation of it will reward
the student who is seeking to locate the most fatal germ
of Spain's decay.
Turning from such a view with the solemnity upon
us which it necessarily engenders, we are likely to ask
ourselves very sternly if we have done as much better
as the conditions and capabilities involved make it meet
we should do. We assumed this responsibility with
eyes wide open, senses awake to its gravity, mind
measuring its far-reachingness. If we have met it
weakly, if we are discharging it ineffectually, if we
have failed to give Cuba a system of schools or, more,
an adequate system of good schools if we are neglect-
ing to infuse into those schools the eternal principles
which we claim it is our desire to see the national life
of the Cubans imbued with, then the shame is undying,
the stain upon our national honor ineffaceable.
260 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [March,
It will be remembered that the United States took
formal possession of the Cuban forts and government
buildings on January ist, 1899. But the final ratifica-
tion of the treaty with Spain was not accomplished until
April nth following our occupation. In the chaotic
state in which matters financial, industrial, municipal,
national and individual were found, it was impossible
to institute any school reform before the summer holi-
days were on. In truth, those first few months were
quite full enough with dispensing daily bread to 150,-
ooo starvelings whose wretched bodies demanded the
earliest care. When September came, the Americans
in authority were not unmindful of the schooldays so
full of meaning and import ; they did not fail to grasp
the fact that a generation could slip from neglected
childhood into illiterate and probably criminal manhood
and womanhood in the brief time required to adjust a
few urgent questions of government and finance.
Mr. Alexis E. Frye, a man of experience in the
educational world and possessing standards as high as
his ability is great, accepted the difficult position of
superintendent of the schools of Cuba, and set himself
to his arduous task with the zeal and efficiency marking
men of his stamp. Yet so great were the obstacles to
be surmounted, especially that constituted by the lack
of available revenues, that in spite of heroic endeavors
December had come, and the eighth month of our com-
plete occupation of the Great Antille and control of its
resources was drawing to a close, before the military
governor was able to promulgate a decree for the reor-
ganization of the "elementary and superior schools in
the island of Cuba, " and educational regeneration began
to leaven a nation.
The little pamphlet whose authorship Professor
Frye can claim, and whose two dozen pages of English
and Spanish embody a system destined to shape in
I90I.1 ED UCA TIONAL RESPONSIBILITY IN CUBA 261
great measure the future fate of the island-nation, is a
potential document. The historian and the prophet of
education will each grasp it eagerly, finding it rich in
significance to their respective provinces. It bears the
date December 6, 1899, and presents in the clearest and
simplest form the plan upon which public schools were
to be provided for, organized and opened, without
delay throughout the length and breadth of inhabited
Cuba. So effective did this plan prove, so strong and
sound was its conception, and its execution so unfalter-
ing, that within two months from the date of its publi-
cation I found 2,024 schools opened and in successful
operation in Cuba, gathering to their shelter 100,000
children ranging from six to fourteen years of age. A
startling proportion of these had never seen the inside
of a schoolroom before.
The good work moved swiftly forward, and another
month swelled those figures amazingly. A letter from
Professor Frye, dated March 14, 1900, says: "Up to
the present time there are 3,025 public schools in the
island, with over 125,000 children. The growth of the
schools has been so rapid and the expense so great that
the government has issued an order postponing the
opening of more schools. Otherwise, I think the en-
thusiasm of the start would have carried our numbers
up to 4,000 schools with nearly 200,000 children by
next June."
Since that time, however, the number of pupils
has increased to almost 150,000, and the government,
conquering financial difficulties, is setting on foot prep-
arations for opening during the present scholastic year
many more schools as conditions may require.
Thus much for numbers. The system itself next
calls for our consideration.
It is doubtful if another country can be pointed out
in which so much has ever been demanded of a new
262 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [March,
educational system as in this little ex-colony of Spain's,
now standing unique in the world of nations, being
neither bond nor scarcely free. Its system of schools
must spring full grown after the briefest prenatal life ;
this system must be adequate, it must be elastic, capa-
ble of marvelous expansion. It must satisfy the wide-
mouthed needs of the immediate present, yet remain
competent to answer fully to the larger ones of the
future. In homely metaphor, it must fit the infant
nation to-day and still be a dignified and graceful garb
for the adult to-morrow. No time could be spared to
the experimental processes, the gradual evolution, the
building of new beauty upon old ruins, which other
countries, awakening early and starting with the first
germs of scholastic systems, have been able to follow
out. An unschooled people was to be endowed at once
with the educational resources and appliances, the
requisites, even the possibilities, which in our own
country as in Germany or England have been hardly
won through centuries of endeavor, failure, and sterner
new endeavor.
One who comprehends the singular case and meas-
ures well the difficulties of the task will not be slow to
find the points of strength in the system which this
little pamphlet so modestly but ably sets forth. Com-
pulsory attendance of pupils will perhaps strike him
first ; and, ascertaining that all children between the
ages of six and fourteen years inclusive must attend
school, public or private, provided that public schools
are accessible, for not less than thirty weeks in each
scholastic year, he recognizes the imperative necessity
to which such a measure answers among a people igno-
rant of the value of education and rendered suspicious
by their past of all government benefactions showing
no immediate material advantages.
To have provided free schools, however adequate
1 9 oi.] EDUCATIONAL RESPONSIBILITY IN CUBA 263
and excellent, and left attendance voluntary, would
have been to leave our educational responsibility in
Cuba unmet. The compulsory attendance measure is
enforced by suitable fines imposed upon parents and
guardians, and is relieved of hardship by proper pro-
visions to meet the case of children physically or men-
tally defective, and also of those having widowed
mothers depending wholly upon them for support. A
liberal clause follows it providing for the granting of
permission by boards of education to young men and
women over fourteen years of age to attend the public
schools, either elementary or superior, though it does
not need to be said that such attendance is not to be
compulsory.
Schools are provided in proportion to the popula-
tion, each municipality having clearly defined districts ;
and, when the plan is fully consummated, as we have
good reason to conclude it will be in the course of a
very short time, every Cuban city or town of over 1500
inhabitants will have at least one public school for boys
and another of equal grade for girls, or, if the board of
education so please, a single school open to both sexes.
As many more schools, complete and incomplete, will
be distributed over the municipality as the board shall
deem necessary.
The sanitation of school buildings and premises,
as well as the healthfulness of locations chosen, is
much emphasized, while the monthly lectures to teach-
ers stress such points as the daily and hourly guidance
of pupils into ways of cleanliness, tidiness, and mod-
esty ; and it will not be denied that these lessons are
more needed by the islanders now than even spelling,
arithmetic and civil government.
The public-school sessions, under the present order,
are of some ten months' duration. They open on the
second Monday of September, and, with vacations dur-
264 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [March,
ing Christmas and Holy week, in addition to such other
legal holidays as may from time to time be appointed,
continue until the last Friday in June.
The subjects of study in the elementary schools
embrace very thorough and well-conducted courses in
reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, history, hy-
giene, music, drawing, nature studies, and languages.
The last named is to include Spanish and English, but
up to the present moment very little has been accom-
plished in the teaching of English because of the un-
reasonable expense involved in securing teachers.
However, the normal schools which are being rapidly
established, and the summer courses which Professor
Frye is taking care to provide for the teachers already
employed, will shortly supply this deficiency. The
course of study in the superior or high schools is yet to
be marked out definitely. The time is scarcely ripe
for their organization upon a new basis, and the old
provincial institutions can very well continue to supply
their places for some sessions to come.
Salaries of teachers range on as liberal a scale as
the cramped condition of finances will warrant for the
present. Beginning with $30 per month to assistants,
they reach $60 and even $75 to regular teachers, with
$10 additional for all who perform the extra duties of
principals. Women receive equal pay with men for
similar service, and they alone are to be employed in
schools for girls, while either women or men may teach
in the male schools. With a wise and generous fore-
thought it has been arranged that for some time to
come these salaries are to continue during vacations as
well as actual school sessions, for the purpose that the
teachers shall employ these vacations in attendance up-
on normal classes, teachers' meetings, or in following
other courses of instruction prescribed for them by the
superintendent of schools in Cuba. The attendance of
igoi.] ED UCA TIONAL RESPONSIBILITY IN CUBA 265
the large body of Cuban teachers on the Harvard sum-
mer school last year must be regarded as a gratifying
result of so excellent a measure.
Another evidence of discreet liberality not to be
overlooked is the free distribution of text-books and all
minor supplies. The teachers are made responsible
for the care and safe-keeping of this necessary equip-
ment.
It will be asked how the heavy expenditures in-
volved in conducting such a system of schools are to be
met by the impoverished municipalities of the island.
Another instance of the happy elasticity required in the
general scheme is shown here: "Until otherwise de-
creed, the department of finance of the island of Cuba"
is to provide the necessary funds, all extravagance be-
ing guarded against by distinct stipulations.
The main points have now been gone over. Minor
ones must be left to individual students of the unique
conditions. Few will be found who would arraign the
United States for failure in any portion of this solemn
duty up to the present hour. Without claiming public
credit for what private charity and religious societies
from our states have already accomplished for the Cu-
bans in an educational way ; with but a glance towards
the new agricultural schools and training "homes" es-
tablished by such philanthropic organizations as the
"Cuban Orphan Society" of New York ; with a bare
allusion to the Compostela School and many other in-
dustrial and technical institutions created and working
towards success through government sanction and
assistance ; with scarcely a claim as yet for what has
been done for civic education by the judiciary and state
reform process instituted, we must stand before the
world and be judged in regard to our discharge of this
peculiar educational responsibility,
We have not hoped to convert these islanders into
266 G UNTON'S MA GAZJNE
a people of Anglo-Saxon habitudes, forms, and ideals.
Their traditions are against success in such an attempt,
and their temperaments are with their traditions. Ar-
dent and pleasure-loving, with the inconsequent gayety
of the negro and the passionate love and hate of the
Indian grafted upon the arrogance, the sentiment,
bigotry, and shifting moral purposes of the Latin,
their natures would mock such endeavor. But we con-
scientiously believe our intentions toward the Cubans
to be reasonable and attainable as well as unselfish.
Fortified by this conviction, we are unafraid to invite
the world's scrutiny of our educational processes in the
island-country for whose welfare in matters spiritual
our responsibility cannot end when we are done with
our brief guardianship in matters temporal.
CIVIC AND EDUCATIONAL NOTES
The Essential Efforts to interest wage-earning people
Thing in Popular in educational lectures or regular studies
Lectures a re frequently failures, but usually the
cause is not lack of interest on the part of the people.
More often by far it is due to the failure to give the peo-
ple what they can enjoy, assimilate, and make useful
to themselves. The free public-lecture system just or-
ganized in Brooklyn borough, New York city, in con-
nection with the public-school system, is being con-
ducted with proper recognition of this fact, fortunately ;
and as a result the attendance of 4,000 at the first week's
lectures rose to 8,000 the second week. From the
standpoint of the scholar the amount of information
offered is rather meager, and there is a surplus of stories
and pleasantries, but where the saloon is one of the
chief counter attractions something must be provided
which will really interest the weary shop-toilers and
housekeepers which such lectures are intended to reach.
A few suggestive and practical facts, presented in an
attractive manner, will be remembered and exert a
stimulating influence, while information that exceeds
the conscious needs of the people will find no lodgment
and serve no helpful purpose.
Everybody who attended the recent pub-
A Continuous 1 r ^-u A -L
Cfimc lie hearings of the tenement-house com-
mission in New York city was made to
realize how full of present alarming significance the
situation is. As ministers, doctors, nurses, teachers,
missionaries and settlement workers came before the
commission with their matter-of-fact accounts of filth,
267
268 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [March,
want, disease and crime, it was difficult to realize that
there could be anything 1 more than grim irony in the
assurance we get from time to time that conditions are
really "better than they used to be." The most dis-
piriting feature of the situation is the fact that there is
already a law against nearly every kind of tenement-
house evils and abuses that are still reported as rampant.
Even in the construction of new buildings this holds
true ; the experts appointed by the commission to ex-
amine new tenements reported that out of 333 such
buildings examined 318 contained violations of the law.
The amazing fact also came out that, out of nearly 1 1 , -
ooo reports of violations of the building laws sent to
buildings department in a year, only four were follow-
ed up to the point of imposing a penalty upon the vio-
lator. As a sidelight on Tammany Hall's numerous
subterranean sources of revenue, the practice of buy-
ing exemption from the imposition of penalties for
violations of the building laws would be an interest-
ing study in itself. The case is sufficiently clear, in
the light of this outrageous 4-out-of-n,ooo showing.
Officials paid by the city to enforce the laws are the
very ones who connive at and profit by its violation.
The miserable denizens of sweatshops ( not suppressed )
and vile tenements (not brought under the law),
victims of tuberculosis (not protected against ), and of
flagrant immorality ( not restricted ) in all the surround-
ing environment, are the ones who suffer by this abomi-
nable system of organized official rascality. The situa-
tion is a continuous crime, but there is one possible
contingency that would be an even greater crime,
namely : failure on the part of the decent elements in
New York city to get together and politically annihi-
late this cabal of unscrupulous freebooters, beyond hope
of resurrection.
igoi.] CIVIC AND EDUCATIONAL NOTES 269
Labor and Principal Booker T. Washington's article
the Race published in this number is gratifying by
Problem reason of the possibilities it indicates, in the
way of negro advancement through the disciplining and
stimulating influence of industrial education. Of course,
to regard the case of "The Negro in Business" from
Mr. Washington's standpoint, without duly remembering
that the overwhelming mass of the colored race is still
sunk in ignorance, poverty and degradation, would be
to cherish a monumental illusion as to the real status of
the whole problem. Because success crowns the efforts
of a few brave, able and devoted men, we ought not to
delude ourselves with the pleasing notion that they are
doing all that is necessary and are able single-handed
to elevate the black race to self-respecting, industrious,
independent citizenship. One swallow does not make
a summer, nor one oasis fertilize a desert.
Mr. Washington's labors are most admirable in
purpose, encouraging in results, great in possibilities
and full of genuine promise ; but his task would be al-
most hopeless if there were not other forces at work in
many quarters tending toward the same ends. He is
with the flow of the tide, not the ebb ; and by reason
of this his efforts have a promise of success that would
not exist if the solution of the race problem depended
wholly on what such institutions as Tuskegee can do.
The entrance of the modern factory system and la-
bor organization into the South is one of the strongest
forces that may be expected, in cooperation with efforts
like Mr. Washington's, to bring about the slow eleva-
tion of this unfortunate race. The community of in-
terest developed through organized labor is already
striking heavy blows at the dead-line of color prejudice
which bars the negro's industrial advance in the South.
For example, at the convention of the American Fed-
270 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE
eration of Labor last December, in Louisville, Presi-
dent Gompers made this declaration :
"Realizing the necessity for the unity of the wage-earners of our
country, the American Federation of Labor has upon all occasions de-
clared that trades unions should open their portals to all wage -workers,
irrespective of creed, color, nationality, or politics. In making the
declaration we have, we do not necessarily proclaim that the social bar-
riers existing between the whites and blacks could or should be felled with
one stroke of the pen ; but when white and black workers are compelled
to work si-de by side under the same adverse circumstances and under
equally unfair conditions, it seen, s an anomaly that we should refuse to
accord the right of an organization to workers because of a difference in
their color."
This frank statement only confirms in another way
what we have often said in these pages, that the solu-
tion of the race problem in the South will come, when
it does come, through the forces and influences center-
ing around industrial life, rather than by sentimental
oratory or arbitrary legislation or even by common-
school education. When white men and colored men
can be brought to work in harmony and close cooper-
ation, because of a real community of interests ; when
conditions are such that they must stand or fall together
with respect to the most vital problem of all the get-
ting of a living the lesser considerations of prejudice,
animosity and distrust will disappear. This point
reached, recognition of the broad equality of human
rights will extend out from the industrial into other de-
partments of life. Social intermingling may never
come, but there will be mutual respect, and the social
segregation will be for the same kind of natural reasons
that already separate white people into innumerable
social groups ; it will no longer be due to any brutal
classification of the colored race as an inferior order of
beings just because their turn to rise out of savagery
came a little later in history than our own.
THE OPEN FORUM
This department belongs to our readers, and offers them full oppor-
tunity to "talk back" to the editor, give information, discuss topics or
ask questions on subjects within the field covered by GUNTON'S MAGA-
ZINE. All communications, whether letters for publication or inquiries
for the ' Question Box," must be accompanied by the full name and ad-
dress of the writer. This is not required for publication, if the writer
objects, but as evidence of good faith. Anonymous correspondents are
ignored.
LETTERS FROM CORRESPONDENTS
Sound Economics in a Great Labor Organization
Editor GUNTON'S MAGAZINE.
Dear Sir: I have noted with considerable satis-
faction the attention you have been giving to the
progress of the labor movement, for I am fully aware
that your publication will reach many persons who
have very little idea of what the labor movement, rep-
resented by labor organization, really means.
The Railroad Trainmen s Journal for December and
January gives briefly something of what has been done
in the past year by the Brotherhood of Railroad Train-
men, and I take the liberty of sending you marked
copies, thinking the statements might be of interest to
you.
If at any time you care to know anything of our
plan of organization, its insurance and protective fea-
tures, etc., I will be pleased to furnish you with any
information pertaining to the Brotherhood you may
desire, for our business is an open book and we feel
that it will be to our advantage to have the public un-
derstand what our organization really means and how
far into practice it has carried its theories.
271
272 G UNTON'S MA GAZINE
I will also take this opportunity to use from time
to time articles that appear in your Magazine, giving
you due credit and promising to not abuse the privi-
lege. You have many thoughts ^that come from an ap-
parently unbiased source, and there is much in your
publication that I would be more than glad to have the
members of our organization read. Our greatest am-
bition is to educate them along the exact lines as laid
down in your " Prosperity and Education." We ap-
preciate the fact that labor can make mistakes and
overreach as easily as capital can, and we use our
every endeavor to educate them along the lines of real
social and economic truth. That we make slow prog-
ress is not to be wondered, when everything is taken
into consideration, but that we are progressing stands
in evidence. Your publication stands between capital
and labor and I feel makes every effort to be fair to
both, something that cannot in justice always be said
of the publications of both capital and labor. The
tendency to judge by immediate necessities and preju-
dices, generally born in a lack of knowledge of true
conditions, is responsible for a great deal of the trouble
that we hear so much of between the two classes. If
we knew more of each other we would profit, I am
sure of it.
D. L. CEASE, Editor Railroad Trainmen s Jour-
nal, Cleveland, Ohio.
QUESTION BOX
Corruption versus Education
Editor GUNTON'S MAGAZINE,
Dear Sir: I have read with much interest one of
Professor Gunton's recent lectures on the need of more
education on economic subjects, for the sake of political
safety. He seemed to imply that the last two elec-
tions had to be won by the corrupt use of money, but
it seems to me the masses are more intelligent than he
gives them credit for. They have buried Bryanism
twice, and the last time worse then the first. P. N. J.
The implication intended in the lecture referred to
was that more or less use of money had been regularly
relied upon in our elections. Undoubtedly it was used
to some extent in 1896, but it was used very much less
in the last election. Nor does this imply that we do not
give the masses credit for intelligence. The American
people are the most intelligent of any on the face of the
earth, but they are not educated on economic questions
to anything like the extent that our highly sensitive
and complex conditions require. In 1892 the appeal to
the anti-capital sentiment succeeded in inducing the
masses to vote for the the overthrow of our national in-
dustrial policy, chiefly as a punishment to capital.
That appeal to class prejudice, it is fair to say, laid the
foundation for much of the ill-feeling which now exists,
but the withering effect of the 1892 election was so
swift and fierce that the people realized their mistake.
The punishment lasted down until 1896, when the ef-
fect of hard times led a very large number to accept
Bryan's debased-money doctrine. That questionable use
of money was resorted to in that election will not seri-
ously be disputed. The case was desperate and the
273
274 GUNTON'S MAGAZINE [March,
methods used were equally so, but in the election of
1900 there was very little of this. Yet the result showed
that more than six million voters still cling to the
cheap-money and populistic theories represented by
Bryan. The one thing which more than all else pre-
vented a still larger number from supporting Bryan's
theories was the temporary fact that their dinner-pails
were full. They were living in a period of great pros-
perity and had not altogether forgotten the experiment
of '92. But, let a national election come in the midst
of industrial depression and we shall see the effect of
revolutionary doctrines and the general economic mis-
information or lack of sound education among the
masses. From such a castastrophe only a broader edu-
cational movement on permanent and systematic lines
can save us.
The Giant Steel Combination
Editor GUNTON'S MAGAZINE,
Dear Sir: What do you think of this billion-
dollar steel combination? You have been telling us
that the limit of " trust" organization was nearly
reached, but this does not look like it. What pro-
tection is the consumer to have when the whole steel
industry of the country is united in one concern? 
