English Associations of Working Men

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Contents

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< INTEODUOTIOHf.

Conclusion

Treatment of siok and aecident insurance.— Improf«ments affected by sanitary legislation. — Question of decrease of accidents. — Old age insurance.- Difficulties attending a large scheme of superannuation. — Financial consolidation of Friendly Societies.— Disadvantages and defects of these Societies.— Their preponderating advantages.— Question of further State supezrision.— Self-government of the working classes. — ^Hopeful Prospects ^^1

PREFACE BY MR. J. M. LUDLOW.

Gkx>D wine, as the old saying has it, needs no bush ; and I think too highly of the good sense of my fellow-countrymen not to feel sure that a work in itself of so much worth, and on a subject of sach weighty import to England, as the one now introduced to the English public by the accomplished pen of Miss Taylor, would have made its own way without other aid than that of its own deserts. But if any words of mine may help it in so doing, as I am told they may, I cannot but give them.

For I know of no book, in our own or any other language, which takes so large and clear a view of the great associative movement of the English nineteenth century working class in all its forms, as this of Dr. Baemreither's. Dr. Brentano,* though anticipated in some of his conclusions by Mill and one or two other writers, £xed once for all the place of Trade Unions in economic science. Dr. Ugo Eabbeno f has shown remarkable insight in dealing with the subject of Co-operative and Building Societies. Dr. Hasbach X has supplied a painstaking monograph on Friendly Societies, a subject partly dealt with in our own language by the Bev. J. Frome Wil^dnson. But all these are little more than monographs. M. Nadaud, indeed, in his "Histoire des Classes Ouvridres en Angleterre," has sketched out the history of our working class in many respects with remarkable insight, though with errors of detail which do not allow his book to be relied on as an authority. A little work, long since out of print and out of date, by myself and my late valued friend Mr. Lloyd Jones, the title of which Mr.

X Preface by Mr. J. M, Ludlow,

Giffen has since done ns tlie honour to borrow for a mtich weightier publication of his own — " The Progress of the Working Class " (Strahan, 1867) — though embracing a wider field and dealing much more summarily with the various branches of its subject, is perhaps still the one which, up to the period of its publication, covers the most nearly the same ground as Dr. Baemreither's book, though the relation between the two is little closer than that between a sketch and a finished picture by different hands, and firom somewhat different points of view.

The judgment of foreigners has been paradoxically said to be that of contemporary posterity ; which is, perhaps, after all, but a strained nineteenth century way of formulating the truth which Bacine expresses in such choice and happy words in the Preface to his " Bajazet " : " L'eloignement des pays r^pare, en quelque sorte, la proximity des temps." Our country could certainly never complain of so friendly a judgment as that of Dr. Baernreither. It has rather to ask itself, in fear and trembling, whether it deserves, or will continue to deserve, such a judgment.

It is right indeed to observe that the above remarks arise from the perusal only of the first volume of Dr. Baernreither's work now laid before the public, which, though setting forth the general purpose and scope of the book, deals only in detail with the subject of Friendly Societies. But, from the masterly introduction, it is impossible not to recognise how clearly the writer has seen as a whole, how distinctly in its main features, the complex task which he has set before himself ; whilst the accuracy and insight with which he has treated the subject of Priendly Societies afford, I may venture to say, a moral guarantee that the remaining portions of his task will be completed in the same spirit and with the same success. I can only say that by none of his readers will his second volume be looked forward to with greater expectations of satisfaction than by the one who signs these words.*

J. M. LUDLOW.

* It is light to observe that I have only seen Dr. Baernreither's original work. But MJBs Taylor's conscientioas accuracy as a translator is well known.

AtTTHOR'S PEBFAOE.

Tt "was on the oecasion of a visit to England in 188S, that the project of making the conditions nnder which the working classes in that country live the subject of special study, first occurred to me. I resolved to familiarize' myself as much as possible with the position of the English working-man, by means of personal observation and intercourse with the representatives of his class. The hope I had entertained of acquiring in this manner material from real life, which I regard as the first requisite for treating of social conditions of the present day, was fulfilled, and after having travelled for a twelvemonth in England, Scotland, and Ireland, I felt that I had gained a sufficiently safe foundation for constructing, with some confidence, a scientific work on the subject. London, whither I always returned from my tours, was naturally the centre of my field of research| since from there I derived all the means available for my studies, and the libraries, official authorities, and public institutions in the capital afforded me the most valuable assistance for my literary labours, in conjunction with what I was able to observe elsewhere. I paid repeated and long visits to the large manufacturing towns of the North of England, particularly Manchester, Bradford, Leeds, Sheffield, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, as being the headquarters of the working-men's associations ; in the Midlands and in the South, my principal information was collected at Birmingham, Bristol| and Cardiff. In Scotland I made myself thoroughly acquainted with Glasgow, Lanarkshire, and the ship-building centres on the Clyde. In Ireland an opportunity was given me of accompanying on their circuits the Land Commissioners appointed under the Act of 1881 (44 and 45 Vict. c. 49), to assess judicial rents. In this man^ ner I came in close contact with the peculiar relations prevailing in

zi xii Authof^s Preface.

the north as well as the south of the island ; but the very means thus afforded me of gaining an insight into the state of things, determined me to refrain from including Irish affairs in the compass of my remarks. The working-man's question is so complicated there by political and religious elements — the causes of the present animosity between the two races are so remote, and their relations are so embarrassed and uncertcdn, that the study would demand a volume by itself. My scheme is confined, therefore, to an examination of the position occupied at the present day by the working-men of England and Scotland, and particularly by the working-men engaged in manufacture and trade.

German literature already possesses some admirable accounts of particular phases of working-class relations in England, among the first of them, the work of Brentano. The latter is far more than a series of mere monographs on trades-unions, since it pointedly recognises and describes those social forces to which the working-classes in England are indebted for their progress. But the results achieved by means of legislation, self-government, and self-help at the beginning of 1870, when Brentano*s work appeared, have since then been powerMly developed. In the legislative measures intended to elevate the working classes in the perfecting of her self-government, and in the extension and consolidation of her institutions of self-help, England, since 1870, has made an amount of progress which, if insufficient to remove all the defects of her industrial system, may serve in various respects as a model for other European States.

A comprehensive description of the entire course of social development in England since the last century was attempted by Held, but his elaborate work remained, as is well known, a torso. I shall, therefore, be justified perhaps in repeating the attempt within a narrower compass, in a more succinct form, and confining myself to the last few decades.

The progress made in the methods of production of the present day, which depends on the ever-increasing application of mechanical power, has brought the working classes everywhere into a wholly new position towards society. Concurrently with this progress should have gone a complete transformation of the relations of this class to society in point of private and public

Authof^s Preface, xiii

rights ; bat while the modem modes of production created, so to speak, a new class of men, the factory operatives, the legislation and the public institntions in respect of this new class of society remained far behind* The present generation is seeking everywhere to retrieve the neglect of the past. Nowhere is this being done more energetically than in England, where the working classes, by their nnity ai^d their consistent and quiet conduct, have brought about a period of reform, distinguished by the patient endeavours made to supply existing defects, by means of a series of co-operating and mutually supporting institutions. Any one who studies attentively the condition of England at the present day, will very soon discover this tendency, which is pushing forward unremittingly to the appointed goal. It manifests itself in all her various institutions and legislative enactments, and its extent and importance can only be realized by comprehending the physical and intellectual life of the working classes as a whole and, at the same time, as a part of the life and development of the entire nation. This is the point of view from which I have undertaken my present work.

The advantage of studying the social relations of foreign countries does not require to be insisted on at the present day, when the same questions are recurring everywhere. Granted that though, as regards England in particular, an unprejudiced inquiry may show that the institutions of that country. bear the stamp of a specifically historical development and a peculiar national character, and that a competent observer of English institutions will guard against the error of transplanting them heedlessly on foreign soil, — still the march of western civilization and culture reveals everywhere the same general features, and one nation can learn more from another at the present day than ever. England also displays this feature in common with the other countries of Europe, that the power of Government exercises a greater influence on the life and economy of the people, only there the relation of the spontaneous energies which are at work among the people for the attainment of social objects, to the action of the Government, differs firom those existing on the Continent ; so that much that in England can be left to the self-help of the classes concerned, can only be accomplished on the Continent by the more vigorous xiv Authof^s Preface.

inleryentioii of the Goyemment* Yet on this very point the study of English institutions should act as an antidote against any exaggerated idea that a Government by its mere action can at once remedy every defect. The consideration of working-men's relations in England should convince us that State action should merely resemble a prop which supports a building so long as it is in course of construction, but which is intended to be removed directly the building is compact and complete. The necessity and duty on the Continent of taking care, wherever the action of the Government must step in, simultaneously and systematically to awaken and educate self-reliance and spontaneous activity — this is the great lesson which we should derive from the study of English relations. JB^or whatever social form we may encounter, the Aiture will never discover any formula which will be able to replace the energies of the individual.

I have endeavoured in the first chapter of the introduction to explain and justify the plan which I have proposed for my work. The other essays, of which the introduction is composed, are in« tended to state the working-man's question in connection with the general development of the nation, to consider it as part of die whole. The main body of the work, which will ultimately consist of two volumes, is devoted to an account of the various working" men's associations, with a view of making the reader acquainted with the life now led by the working-classes in England. I would add here only one remark on the arrangement of my material. In describing aooial relations, it is extremely difBlcult to combine details with general ideas ; the fioormer ou^t not to be too abundant, and yet they not only supply the proof of. the. particular statement, but also serve to illustrate it. Since thr appearance of the. works, of Le Play, which made, an epoch in regard to the sdence of method, no one will diq)ut0 the neoessity of tracing back social relations to their individual manifestations. It is difficult, in this respect, to observe the proper mean be-^ tween the too much and the too little. I have, endeavousod to fulfil my task by inserting in the notes those details which a|>*- peared to me necessary, wherever they could not be inoorporated in the text. The notes have, in consequence^ bean longer in many placee than I should have wished.

Author^ s Preface. xv

The collection of the materials comprised in this volume was comparatively easy, but the task of verifying them, and eliminating what was improbable or incapable of proof was one which I could only perform by the aid of much oral information and of a correspondence maintained and continued until the completion of the work. I have received assistance from all quarters. English officials, factory and school inspectors, local authorities, manufEicturers, andi^ibhe officers and secretaries of the working-men's associations, have given me the most valuable support through their recommendations, information and communications of every kind ; and similar assistance has been afforded me, and that invariably with the utmost readiness and kindness, by the working-classes themselves, so that I hope I am, generally speaking, safe in my conclusions. Were I to thank here by name all those to whom my thanks are thus due, I should have to write a history of my tours. I am convinced, that in no country does earnest study meet with greater interest and more active sympathy than in England. Part of my debt of gratitude, however, I shall discharge by making the reader acquainted in the course of the following pages with the men who were most helpful to me, wherever I have an opportunity of referring to their doings and their services on behalf of their country's welfare.

I must make one exception to my present reticence. I allude to the Austro-Hungarian Consul-general, Dr. von Krapf-Liverhoff, whom I beg to thank here sincerely and heartily for all the kindness and acts of self-sacrifice with which he has assisted me in England.

Vienna. THE AUTHOR.

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INTBODUOTION.