cally pertaining to labour. In considering such measures the unionists of the United Kingdom must remember that they are citizens; that the laws they seek to place on the Statute Book must be universal in their application; and that nearly as much depends upon the administration of the law as upon its enactment. These facts remembered and acted upon will conduce to the welfare of the State. § 16. The work of trade unions need not be restricted to parliamentary and other public work. When they extend the sphere of their action beyond wages, hours of labour, and other objects specifically provided for in their rules, they may achieve triumphs and promote the welfare of their members in other directions, quite within the scope of their organisation. For example, they have vast funds standing to their credit in joint stock banks, and in the Post Office Savings Banks, which might be judiciously utilised in providing better homes for their members. If properly managed, their funds might be invested at a higher interest in such manner as to enable thousands of members to acquire their own dwellings, and in obtaining the best articles of food and clothing and other necessaries at the lowest market prices on the co-operative system. Care and prudence would be required to accomplish this, but it could be done. In the past there has been a great waste of energy and of wealth; in the future this might be avoided. They have only to extend, under their own management, and in their own way, the principles of their own benefits for sickness, accident, out of work, and other provisions. They have opportunities also for other useful work, such as sending picked craftsmen to exhibitions, to study the productions of competitors in other countries, and report thereon; the collection of the statistics of trade, reports on styles and quality of workmanship, capacity of workers, cost of materials, wages, hours of labour, prices of food, etc., habits of workmen, and general condition of their homes, and many other matters of enduring interest to themselves and to all classes of the community. Every society and lodge might have a small select library of books on industrial and technical questions for the use of the members. In numerous ways they might widen the circle of their influence, increase their strength and importance, consolidate their power, and attain a more direct and permanent command over the destinies of labour, and all that concerns the welfare of the worker. § 17. It is difficult, extremely difficult, to prognosticate as to the future of labour. The Utopian dreams of the "friends of labour" differ vastly, according to the views, the culture, and the experience of the dreamers. We hear vague declamations about getting rid of capitalists, abolishing profits, and doing away with wages, hiring, contracts of service, etc., and of thereby adding to the welfare of the masses, and promoting the prosperity of the people. Labour's Utopia has been described as having reached the acme of perfection under municipal law, where the people are fed by a State-spoon, out of a State-platter, doled out by a State official, in a State uniform. Where the workers are no longer independent, self-reliant men and women, but parts of a huge State machine, moving mechanically in a State groove, under State regulation. No such dream has actuated the writer of these pages. He has endeavoured to promote the liberty of the subject, freedom of association, better wages for working people, extended leisure, a higher standard of living, improved conditions of life and labour, healthier homes, wider culture, and nobler aspirations. To these objects his whole life has been devoted. If a nobler, a better, and a speedier way can be found, he will not object; but, until it can be demonstrated that the old methods have failed, he relies upon individual exertion, and mutual help by associative effort, to at least ameliorate the condition of the workers. If the advantages gained, and the opportunities now offered are properly utilised, the future of labour, if it does not realise the dreams of enthusiasts, will be improved, the workers will be elevated, the country will prosper, and happiness will dwell in the land. APPENDICES. WITH the view of further illustrating some points in the preceding pages, the following series of tables and notes are appended. Their incorporation in the text would only have encumbered it, without giving that bird's-eye view which is presented in the fuller tables here given. These Appendices are but examples in elucidation of the text. 1.-Trade Unions: Tables of Members, Income, Expenditure, Balance in hand, Payments for Benefits, etc.-(a) Amalgamated Society of Engineers; (b) Steam-engine Makers; (c) Boiler-makers and Iron-shipbuilders; (d) Ironfounders; (e) Amalgamated Carpenters and Joiners, etc. II.-Rates of Wages Table. III.-Schedule or specimen of Strike Form to be filled in by Branches when application is made to the Executive for their sanction to strike. IV.-Votes of Trade Unionists on the Eight Hours System. V.-Abstract of Returns on Systematic Overtime worked in Government Factories, 1884 to 1890. VI. Tables of Dates, Places, Representation, Income, Expenditure, Balance in hand, etc., of the twenty-two Trades Union Congresses, 1868 to 1889 inclusive. VII.-Foreign Competition: Abstracts of Returns, 1877 to 1890, of chief groups of aggregate Exports of Manufactured Articles by Foreign Countries. VIII.-List of chief Works and Authorities, Papers and Returns, Magazine Articles, etc., referred to and consulted in the preparation of this work. I.-TRADE UNIONS. I. AMALGAMATED SOCIETY OF ENGINEERS. (a) Summary of Expenditure for 1876 and 1889, as given in the Annual Reports of the Society.-Comparison of the two periods. The figures for 1876 are the same as given in the First Edition; the figures for 1889 will serve as a basis of comparison, showing as they do under what heads and for what purposes, generally speaking, the payments are made, and the amounts. AMALGAMATED SOCIETY OF ENGINEERS-continued. (b) Summary of Expenditure for Benefits for Thirty-nine Years, and Balance at the end of each Year.-Amounts paid in each year for : 1875 44,032 31,560 22,495 11,109 1,800 7,889 2,737 8,592 264,641 17 1 1884 50,681 1885 51,689 1886 52,019 1876 44,578 45,036 23,242 12,538 1,100 7,539 3,755 7,659 3,983 Average per Member. £ 8. d. 45 11 9 19 0 3 11 3 31 1 11 7 Funerals-Members and Wives.. Benevolent Grants .. Assistance to own and other Trades Totals-39 years |