growth of the German Social Democracy, which went to the polls for the first time in 1867, is shown by the following figures:

Per cent. of Repre

This gain in votes went hand in hand with a marvelous growth of the organization. From a very modest beginning, the membership of the Social Democracy had on July 1, 1912, reached 970,112 (including 130,371 women). On July 1, 1913, the number was 982,850 (including 141,115 women), and on July 1, 1914 it was 1,085,000 (including 174,754 women). The party is organized according to Reichstag election districts, each of which sends its representative to the annual congress. These party congresses elect the Party Executive Committee, which is a body of ten salaried officials, as well as a Control Commission of nine members which is above the Executive Committee. The highest_official party authority, after the annual congress, is the Party Central Committee (ParteiAusschuss), which is made up of the representatives of 29 district federations. These district organizations elect their representatives to the Central Committee directly. At the beginning of 1914 the Party had about 200 salaried secretaries all over the country.

Among the most admirable accomplishments of the German Socialist Movement, are the educational commissions which were organized by the party in conjunction with the labor unions, through an especially elected Central Educational Committee. Before the war, there were 364 branches, all provided with regular instruction, plans of work and assistance in the arrangement of lectures, artistic and occasional entertainments of all kinds. For this purpose alone the party in 1912-13 spent $175,000. More than 3,500 lectures of high quality on all subjects, first-class theatre and opera performances, concerts and art exhibitions were arranged in this one year. Plans for the adaptation of motion

pictures for the purposes of Socialist propaganda and instruction were well under way, when the war began. The party supports a school in Berlin, where each year 31 men and women, chosen by the district organizations, receive a seven months' course of theoretical and practical education to equip them for the literary, organization and propaganda work of the party. During their school term these pupils receive not only sufficient funds to support them in Berlin, but their families also receive financial support. The budget of school is about $14,000 each session.

A special women's department, conducted by two salaried women secretaries, conducts the agitation among women, publishes leaflets and pamphlets and reports annually at the Women's Conference which meets in conjunction with the Party Congress. The Women's Conference in turn, instructs the women's department and suggests lines of activity. Even broader is the activity of the party in the interests of the coming generation. (See article on the Young People's International.)

The Socialist press of Germany, like the German movement, has never found its equal in the proletarian movement. These papers are all exclusively party property and are wholly controlled by the membership who submit all complaints to a press commission elected by the party. These press commissions elect the editors. In 1914 the German Social Democracy possessed 91 papers, 86 of them dailies; 83 are produced by printing plants which also belong to the party. In 1912 the total circulation of these papers was 1,500,000. In July, 1914 this circulation had increased to 1,780,000. The central organ is the Berlin Vorwaerts, which is also the local organ in Berlin. Before the war Vorwaerts alone yielded an annual profit of $75,000 for the party. Its circulation was 130,000. The socialist humorous illustrated journal Der Wahre Jacob had a circulation of 400.000 and made a profit of $12,500. The Woman's paper Die Gleichheit, edited by Klara Zetkin, had a circulation of 107,000, the scientific weekly, Die Neue Zeit, edited by Karl Kautsky, 15,000 copies and the Kommunale Praxis, the organ for municipal social science, 8,000 copies. The party publishing company in Berlin, in 1912-13, published 70 leaflets and pamphlets on a variety of subjects, aggregating 2,750,000 copies. In addition, almost all of the larger party printing offices publish socialist literature under the direction of the district party organizations.

In the different State legislatures the Social Democratic Party has 230 representatives; on July 1, 1914 there were in the different municipal and town councils 13,400 Socialists. The national headquarters in Berlin are located in a building erected by the Party at a cost of $1,125,000.

When the war broke out and the Government brought the budget before the Reichstag only fourteen of the Socialist deputies had decided to vote against it contrary to the decision of the majority of the Reichstag group. The opposition, though weak at first, was composed of some of the most distinguished men and women of the German movement, Haase, Liebknecht, Stadhagen, Franz Mehring, Klara Zetkin and Rosa Luxemburg as well as Karl Kautsky, who was somewhat more moderate in his criticism. It grew rapidly, so that, when the second war budget came before the Reichstag, Liebknecht voted against it and 15 others showed their opposition by leaving the chamber before the vote was taken. Liebknecht and Ruehle voted against the third war credit and 30 members this time left the Reichstag; and when on December .15, 1915, another war credit was introduced, twenty Socialist deputies voted against it. This minority later formed itself into the "Social Democratic Workers Community" as a separate party group, but not as a separate party. Besides these twenty who voted against the war credit, in March, 1916, twenty-two others left the chamber before the vote was taken.

There are at present roughly speaking three groups in the German Social Democracy. The extreme radical opposition, represented by Liebknecht, Ruehle, Mehring, Zetkin, and Luxemburg; the group consisting of Kautsky, Haase, Adolf Hoffmann, Stadhagen, Wurm, Bernstein and others, and the representatives of the majority including Scheidemann, Suedekum, David, Heine, Ebert, and Molkenbuhr.

The government, in the meantime, has ruthlessly continued its persecution of the opposition. Karl Liebknecht was arrested for speaking for peace in Berlin on May Day and for distributing peace leaflets. He was condemned at first to 30 months' imprisonment. Upon appeal this term was increased to 49 months and he was also deprived of all citizenship for six years. Many radical Socialist men and women are confined in so-called "Schutzhaft," that is, they are being kept in prison till the end of the war. Newspapers have been suppressed and editors have been punished. Rosa Luxemburg is in prison, and Klara Zetkin was released only after seven months.

The free labor union movement grew up with the party. It was created by the party and is stronger than that of any other nation. The unions affiliated to the General Commission of German Labor Unions on January 1, 1914 numbered 2,548,763 members. Outside this organization there are 344,687 Christian and 106,400 Hirsch-Dunker (liberal) unionists. There are also Protestant, Catholic and "yellow" unions, but these altogether have not more than 140,000 members. Germany has 46 national unions. Germany is more and more

adopting the industrial form of organization. The strongest German unions are the metal workers with 556,939 members, the building trades with 326,631, the transport workers with 229,785, and the factory workers with 210,569 members. The following shows the growth of the free (socialist) unions:

The Correspondenzblatt der Gewerkschaften Deutschlands, the weekly organ of the Trade Unions shows in a statistical survey published on September 25, 1915, that on July 31, 1915, 1,061,404 members of German Socialist trade unions were serving in the army, that is, over 42 per cent. of the whole membership. The highest and lowest percentages of union members drafted into the army are to be found in the following unions: bakers 73.2%, gardeners, 63.1%, factory workers, 61.3%, clerks 27.5%, tobacco workers 23.6%.

The co-operative movement of Germany, for the last fifteen years divided into two sections, one of the workers and the other of the middle class, is splendidly organized and highly developed.

National Headquarters: German Social Democratic Party, Linden Strasse Berlin.

General kommission der Gewerkschaften Deutschlands: C. Legien, Vors., Engelufer 15, Berlin.

GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.

Constitutional Monarchy; monarch holds his position solely by the authority of an Act of Parliament, which is of no more, and also of no less, authority and permanence than other Acts of Parliament; it was passed in exactly the same way as any other Act, and if it had to be amended or repealed this would be done by another Act of Parliament in the ordinary form. This has been done once before, when the Crown was settled on the heirs of a protestant princess instead of the regular catholic heir.

The supreme legislative power of the British Empire is vested in Parliament; this body consists of two houses, the Lords and the Commons. The House of Lords is composed of the whole Peerage of England and of the United Kingdom, and of certain representative Peers of Scotland and Ireland, but many members of these latter have also English titles which give them seats in the House. The House at present consists of 3 Princes of the Blood, 2 Archbishops, 21 Dukes, 26 Marquesses, 121 Earls, 46 Viscounts, 24 Bishops, 356 Barons, 16 Scottish Repre

sentative Peers elected for each Parliament, and 27 Irish Representative Peers elected for life. The Lord Chancellor of England is the Speaker

of the House of Lords.

The House of Commons consists of 670 members-465 for England, 30 for Wales, 72 for Scotland and 103 for Ireland. Salary of each member $2,000 per annum. The division of parties in the House of Commons, after the General Election in December 1910 was: Liberals 272; Nationalists 76; Independent Nationalists 8; Labor 42; Unionists 272.

To the outsider the British labor movement in its industrial, political and co-operative aspects, presents itself as a bewildering and an entangled group of organizations without apparent plan and made still more confusing by the titles and designations of the different bodies. Although the movement has grown haphazardly and experimentally, it is more cohesive than it seems, and there are signs that a better co-ordination of activities will result in the near future. The movement is essentially practical and is particularly fertile in practical suggestions. Although the doctrinal side is not conspicuous, the great world tendencies of industrial democracy and Socialism are potent forces. Before judging the movement it must be carefully studied in relation to the conditions under which it works. The facts which are presented in the following description of the British labor movement have been partly drawn from the first (1916) issue of the Labor Year Book, published under the auspices of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trade Union Congress, the executive committee of the Labor Party, and the Fabian Research Department.

The "Labor Party," is a federation consisting of trade unions, the "Independent Labor Party," the "Fabian Society," the "Women's Labor League," one co-operative society, and a large number of trade councils and local labor parties. It has a national executive of 16 members consisting of eleven representing the trade unions, one for the trades councils and local labor parties and the Women's Labor League, three for the Socialist societies, and a treasurer, who is elected by an annual conference as a whole, while the other 15 members are elected by ballot at the annual conference by their respective sections. The secretary, who is not a member of the executive, is also elected by the annual conference. There is also a Scottish Advisory Council with an executive committee.

The Parliamentary Labor Party consists of those members of the House of Commons who have been elected under the auspices of the Labor Party. The number of successful candidates at the last General Election in December, 1910, was 42. Six have since died. Two new members have been elected at by-elections. The present strength of the Party is 35.

The Independent Labor Party is a distinct organization