TABLET A Weekly Newspaper and Review .
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DUM VOBIS GRATULAMUR, ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMUS UT IN INCCEPTIS VESTRIS CONSTANTER MANEATIS.
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From the B r ie f o f H is Holiness P iu s IX . to T h e T a b l e t , fu n e 4, 1870.
V ol. 76.. No. 2626. L ondon, S eptember 6, 1890. price s<l, bypost ¡%d.
[R eg is tered a t t h e G en e r a l P o s t O f f ic e a s a N ew spaper.
C hronicle of t h e W e e k :
Page
The Trades Union Congress— Tuesday's Sitting— Further Proceedings— The American Silver A ct—To America in Four Days— The Australian Strike — Lord Derby on the Labour Question— Lord Harrington at Barrow—The British Association— “ The Gondoliers ” in Court—Death of General Bammdia—A Dukedom for Von Moltke— A Smokeless Campaign— Balloon Casualties — The Welsh Eisteddfod— Rent out of Shakspere’s Bones — County Cricket— Letter from the Hon. Gaston M o n s e l l .........................361 L eaders :
Portugal and the “ Padroado” . . 365
CONTENTS
L eaders (Continued) :
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A Problem of Population.. .. 366 The Brazilian Bishops and the New
Constitution .........................367 Turning over Old Leaves.. . . 367 ‘ Lead Kindly Light ” . . 369
N otes a ........................................ 3^9 R e v iew s :
Irish Schools and Scholars .. 371 Market Harborough Parish Re
cords to a .d. 1530 . . . . 372 Very Much Abroad ^ . . . 372 Handbook to Lincolnshire . . 373 Aspects of Anglicanism . . . . 373
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Prayers for the Conversion o f Eng
Page land .. . . . . . . .-3 7 5 New House for Foreign Missions . . 375 C orrespondence :
Rome :— (From Our Own Corre
spondent) .......................................377 P a r is :— (From Our Own Corre
spondent).......................................378 Dublin :—(From Our Own Corre
spondent) .......................................379 L e t t e r s to t h e E d itor :
“ To Such as Him ” .. The Final Destiny o f the Earth Blue, an Ecclesiastical Colour The “ Large Suggestion ”
• 38° . 380 - 381 •■ 381
Is This St. Giles ? . . .. .. 381 Hero and Valet . . . . . . 382 Another View of Ober-Ammergau.. 382
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Was it Coincidence ? .................... 383 Death o f the Foundress o f St.
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Joseph’s Foreign Missionary Sisters.. . . 383
SU PPLEM ENT. N ew s from th e S chools :
Lord Ripon at Leeds on Educa
t ion . . . . . . , . . . . 393 About E d u c a t io n ....................393 N ew s from th e D ioceses : Westminster............................... 394
Liverpool ......................... . . 395 St. Andrews and Edinburgh . . 395 Aberdeen The Late Cardinal Newman Masons at Hong Keng ..
395 • 395
397
Rejected M S . cannot be returned unless accompanied with address and postage.
CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK.
CONGRESS. \> T
THE TRADES UNION
HE 2jrd Annual Trades Union
Congress opened on Monday at Hope Hall, Liverpool, before delegates who numbered 450. The chair was taken by Mr. J. Swift, who welcomed his audience and gave a summary of events in the history of Trade Unionism since last the Congress met at Liverpool. When the election of officers was brought to a conclusion, the chairman announced that before proceeding to the reading of the Parliamentary Report something should be said in a representative way of the strike now going on in Australia ; he therefore moved that a resolution should be proposed after the suspension of the standing order. Mr. John Burns then moved : “ That this Congress hereby expresses its heartfelt and cordial sympathy with the workers in Australia now on strike in defence of Trade Union principles, and pledges itself to use every effort to obtain immediate monetary help through the organisations represented at this Congress, and by an earnest request from this body to each of our Trade Councils requesting them to call public attention to the present necessities of the case, and also for the collection and transmission of funds.” Seconded by Mr. Tom Mann, the resolution was carried unanimously. The Chairman then introduced the new President, Mr. W. Matkin, who, after some few words of thanks on his election, called upon Mr. Broadhurst, M.P., to read the Report of the Parliamentary Committee. It is not necessary to go very carefully into this. The Report was not very congratulatory on measures' passed during the last year in the working interest; it entered into detailed reasons for its condemnation of the Employers’ Liability B i l l ; on four other Bills it also touched briefly, going on to deal with proceedings in connection with federation of trade, the Limited Liability Act and railway legislation. Prison labour, the registration of Trades Unions, and the Labour Conference at Berlin were next treated, and the Report went on to the recent strikes, particularly the Police and Post Office agitations. The Committee thought it would ever be difficult to consolidate organisation in any body where a system of deferred pay, in the form either of perquisites or c f pensions, prevailed-. They had always contended that men should have full scope for combination in all branches of industry for mutual aid and protection, and they claimed the same rights for policemen and postmen. The Committee, in conclusion, welcomed the increase of trade unionism, and hoped that new unions formed would be based upon such sound principles of organisation and finance as not to prove broken reeds in the day of trial. Which concluded the business of the day.
On Tuesday the President delivered his
— Tuesday’s address. First he sketched the Future, as it sittin g , looms in the eyes of the Congress. It was to be labour— labour— labour. The State was to be the machinery of labour; the individual was to be the hammer, the spoke, the screw, the tender, the funnel, the wheel, anything, so it be part of the machine. Art, one may suppose, would be the mere green paint, the Aspinall’s enamel, the coloured varnish of the machine. That, then, was the future— a happy one, as he thought i t ; the ultima thule of the nation, as he put it. Then there was the Present ; and that was work— work— work • a little trammelled now perhaps, but the All-Father of the Universal Vulcan to be. He came to the labours of Hercules. First there was the Eight Hours’ Bill, and the time was full for energetic steps in its assurance. But with an inveterate tendency to drift into poetry, he went off to the “ bogey of foreign competition,” and the “ classes leading the masses.” He then returned to the Eight Hours’ Bill, and he said that in speaking of it he was not suggesting that such a measure should be forced through the House of Commons at once, irrespective of the wishes and desires of the industries affected. On the other hand, there was no reason why such a measure should not be conceded to occupations which unmistakably showed that they wanted it. He instanced the miners, amongst whom there was a strong consensus of opinion, and said no doubt such a measure would emphasise a new departure in British legislation ; but they were just as interested in the welfare of the State as the greatest capitalist, and the Congress could fittingly challenge either of the great political parties in the State to apply a Miner’s Eight Hours’ Act as an experiment. There was no reason why the plebiscite system should not be applied to a general Eight Hours’ Act. Let the* miners have it at once, and, if other trades required it, let them give expression to their wish, and the Act could then be put in operation. But, to secure effective labour representation, not only must great pressure be applied to the House of Commons, but a drastic change must take place in the type of representatives. The time had arrived when considerations of Party should
N ew Series, V ol. X L iV . , N c . 1.135.
