year 1779 it was proposed in the American Legislature to grapple with the slavery problem by declaring all children of slaves, born after a certain day, to be free, and then to transplant them in time to a new settlement. This would have also solved the Black difficulty which the sudden emancipation of the slaves during the war, has entailed on America. But nothing was done; the question was let drift. Whatever laws the slaveowners wanted they were able to secure, despite all the opposition of those who fought for principle. To the last the North offered them full security for their cherished institution if they would only remain in the Union. When Horace Greeley appealed to Lincoln to proclaim the slaves free during the war, he wrote in reply: "My paramount object is to save the Union, and not to either save or destroy slavery. What I do about slavery, I do because it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union." Thus were some eight millions of Southerners able to dictate to some twenty millions of Northerners, until, fortunately for the cause of freedom, they went too far and were crushed. It is the imperfection of government, showing itself sometimes in one way and sometimes in another, that is the perennial difficulty in human society, and, until this can be mended, the plan of handing all industrial enterprises over to State management, would not get rid of the evils we suffer under, but would only alter their direction.

CHAPTER IX.

THE UNITED STATES (continued).

FACING the great corporations and unions of employers are the workmen combined in associations, some of which I have referred to. When open hostilities break out it is a serious matter. It is civil war limited in area. In the Pennsylvanian coal strike of 1894 there were, at a conflict that occurred at Connellsville, twelve rioters killed, and in a fight between the strikers and the deputy marshals in Alabama six were killed and twenty wounded. In Colorado 1,600 men fortified a camp, and only gave way when the troops approached with cannon. The great Chicago strike was going on while I was in Canada, and we daily read startling details in the papers of the events that were taking place in that city, at San Francisco, and along the railway lines. When in America, I inquired into the facts; they are worthy of a brief record, not alone because of the vast proportions of the labour-war, but also for the evidence they afford of the power of capital, under a popular Government, in the struggle. The Commission appointed by the President to investigate the "causes of the strike and the best means of adjustment" of the difficulties that existed, presented a carefully prepared report, the tone of which was decidedly sympathetic to the side of the employés. The Commissioner of Labour of the United States, Mr. Carroll D. Wright, whose interest in all that concerns the workers was acknowledged to me by several Labour advocates, was,

in accordance with the terms of the Act under which the inquiry was held, one member of the board, and the two others were nominated by Mr. Cleveland. They were thirteen days at the scene of the conflict, taking evidence from all parties and interests concerned, and examined 109 witnesses. We get, therefore, from their report reliable details. The direct loss to the railroads in property destroyed during the strike, and expenses incurred, was estimated at $685,308; the indirect loss. of earnings at $4,672,916. Some 3,100 employés at Pullman lost in wages at least $350,000. About 100,000 railway servants lost in wages $1,389,143. Besides this direct loss there was the indirect injury to trade and industry owing to the stoppage of the trains and of business, that could not be accurately estimated. There were employed in suppressing the riots and in protecting property 1,936 men of the United States troops; the State militia on duty numbered 4,000, while there were 3,000 of the Chicago police, 5,000 extra deputy marshals, and 250 extra deputy sheriffs-making in all 14,186 fighting men. The large number of men thus engaged is, however looked at, one of the most striking facts in the story. All had to be paid for, none were brought merely for the sake of show. We are reminded of the Duke of Wellington's estimate of the number of soldiers necessary to preserve civil order in any emergency. He informed the English Government, when riots were threatening, that 300 soldiers ought to be sufficient to cope with any mob. Twelve persons were shot and fatally wounded; 575 were arrested by the police. The intervention of the President in sending the United States troops was applauded by the public generally, but strongly censured by the Populist party. framers of the Constitution, who never dreamt of such a state of things as in fact then existed at Chicago, declare as follows in the fourth article of the Constitution: "The United States shall guarantee to every State in the Union a republican form of government;

The

shall protect each of them against invasion, and on the application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened), against domestic violence.'

In this case the Governor of Illinois not only did not apply for the troops, but warmly protested against their being sent. He declared that he wanted no assistance to suppress the riots. But his protests and the apparent meaning of the Constitution were disregarded, ostensibly for the purpose of protecting Federal property and preventing obstruction in the carrying of the United States mails, but really to make Chicago safe against pillage. That there was real danger of this, and that the local militia could not be relied on, I was assured by official people whose business it was to know. The Superintendent of Police at Chicago naturally speaks guardedly considering the action of his Government, but he says: "When the troops arrived the indications looked bad, and the arrival of the troops I think was opportune."

The report of the Commission says: "That the policemen sympathised with the strikers rather than with the corporations cannot be doubted; nor would it be surprising to find the same sentiment rife among the military. These forces are largely recruited from the labouring classes."

The press reported that at the riots at San Francisco, which arose from this strike, the militia, when drawn up before the railway station and ordered to advance and clear out the mob who had taken possession of it, broke their ranks and walked away. The President sent United States troops there also. I asked a resident who was describing the scene to me, whether the accounts in the papers were correct. He said that they were, and that not only did the militia walk away, but that they left their arms in the orderly-room for the mob to seize.

Public opinion justified the President in maintaining the people's peace and preserving life, whether with or

without the sanction of the Constitution. It is an example of how the practical needs of a nation will modify a paper constitution, when events occur that were never thought of by its framers. In the Pennsylvania riots some years before, the aid of the central Government was not asked for nor given, and matters were left in the hands of the local militia. At the memorable rising at Pittsburgh they naturally sympathised with their fellow-labourers, stacked their arms, and fraternised with the crowd. When militia troops were brought from a distance, who would fight, things had become so serious that, sad to relate, in one conflict between the soldiers and the mob twenty-two people were killed. The troops were fired upon from the houses and even the police-stations of the city. Persons who were arrested for pillaging were at once discharged by the local authority. A part of the town was burnt down. The report of the Legislative Committee of the State says: "About 1,600 cars (mostly freight), including passenger and baggage cars, with such of their contents as were not carried away by the thieves, 126 locomotives, and all the shops, materials, and buildings, except one or two small ones, of the railroad company, from above 28th-street to the Union depôt, were burned on Saturday night and Sunday." Although Pittsburgh was the centre, rioting was also carried on at Reading, Scranton, Alleghany City, Altoona, Harrisburg, and Philadelphia. At Reading 200 soldiers were wounded by the brickbats and paving-stones of the mob. The damage done at Pittsburgh was estimated at $5,000,000. The report of the committee further says: "The large class of labourers in the different mills, manufactories, mines, and other industries in Pittsburgh were also strongly in sympathy with the railroad strikers, considering the cause of the railroad men their cause. This feeling of aversion to the railroad company and sympathy with the strikers was indulged in by the Pittsburgh troops to the same extent that it was by the other classes, and, as many of them had friends and