, 1874-01-02
THE RIGHT OF EMPLOYMENT.

Whec in the age Of the Reformation, the
aud convents were closed by those
Governments which had espoused its principles.
their inmates reduced, by tue policy of the Law,
to tho secular condition, and their property con-
iiscated, new problem arose for the solution Of
Btatesmcn. The 1nonastcries had been the prop
erty Of tho Church but IN theory, and to
great e1tnnt III fact, tho property Of the Church
was the patrimony Of the poor. To the 1nonas-
tery or convent camo the unemployed US well as
the sick, the lame, and tho blind, for there Was
their refuge. These institutions had long been
foci of Chistian charity. Whether ut the time
OF tho Reformation they were SO or not does not
concern us here; nor do the abuses which creps
INTO them, and which were remedied By their
aboltion. These houses once closed, the poor
who had for centuries sought help at their doors
vcrc without any resource. The old method OF
relief Was gone new one not yet provided.
And now it was for the first time in the history
Of the world that tho State undertook to find
emf loynent for al le-bodied men who could
procure none for themselves. To the hitherto
acknowledged functions Of Government was
added that Of employing the unemployed. In
the fortY-third year Of the reign Of Elizabeth,
it was enacted that the overseers of the poor
should find employment for au Children whose
parents could not support them; also for Ill
able-bodied persons, married or unmarried, not
able to find work themselves. Power WIS
taxes for this purpose on tho parish and
if necessary on the county. The poor had nos
demanded this. The proletar1at then was
poweriess, and the State undertook it, not as
nnatter Of duty which it owed to the laboring
class, nor as right which they could claim, but
only Is matter Of ezpediency. That it ~as
measure not to be approved, not dictated by en-
lightened craftsmanship, will appear in the Be-
qucl
No: till the time OF tho French Revolution
was the right of employment advocated By
the French Constitution Of 1871 it Was pro-
vi,lcd that employment should be procured By
tnc State for all 2b1e-bodied INDECENT persons;
and institutions not unlike the English work
houses were established to carry this provision
into effect. The Constitution Of 1889 went
step farther than that Of 1891. It declared
IL. it was the duty Of society to
::1:,.. such employment, and that the
i.:v2i ar had right to demand 1t OF the State.
The Constitution of 1893 provided that the re-
nun Grafton Of the lahore. should bo sufficient to
support him. After this, the doctrine OF the
rsshl to employment drops for long time ont
of French Constitutions and appears only in
works Of tue Socialists. Babnuf advocated
community of goods. Fourier maintained that
every mai had right to dud employment such
d. he WEE .e,t fitted for. This Was in 1919, after
which the doctrine Of the right OF employment
remained in abeyance until 1913. On the 2Cth
Of Fcoruary, Of that year, tie following bill was
placarded on the walls Of Paris: ''The Pro-
visional Government Of the French Republic
guarantees existence to the laborer by labor. 1t
guarantees labor to every citizen. It guarantees
that the laborers may aBsociato to OBJ
tain the fruits of their legitimate labor"
The demand for the recognition III
this right wag 80 urgent tnat Government
was compelled to do something. There
was some tal Of transferring the property in
Blanc proposed that their proprieto-s should &C.
cept IS decentralization the bonds Of the State.
Society was for q time on the verge Of dissolu-
tion. Manufacture ceased. Laborers were
A..
shops were opened By the Government. But az
they were opened to afford employment, and for
no other object, they necessarily failed. There
was no one specially interested in eeeing that
not employed at all, or employed where their
experience was not utilized. Fitness was the
last thing thought Of in assigning an artieaa
his position. Goods when manufactured re-
manned unsold. The Government had failed to
provide purchasers; failed to foresee that it was
one thing tobring article to market and another
thing to ssn it. It had acted throughout On the
assumption that If they took care of production,
CONSUMPTION md remuneration would take care
of themselves. As distinguished man as Theirs
advocated the theory that there wero times when
it became the duty Of tho State to undertake to
afford labor to the unemployed: md that when
business was bad it should order Ill that it need
ed, or would need for some time to como; in
other words, TINT during those years that busi-
ness was brisk the Government should under
take nothing but that when business was slack
it should order dono all that it might need till
trade was likely to become brisk again. very
ingenious but very absurd remedy; ono alto
gether unworthy the practical mind OF its au-
thor.
One would have supposed that the United
States OF America would be the very last place
in the world w!,ero the revolutionary nnd Social
istic doctrines Of the French Revolution would
be openly expressed, OF where there would be
reason for expressing tlora. The experience Of
the past few weeks has dieabused Us Of that
error A little reflection suiices to show us now
that it is not at au improbable that the 1ntezna
tional will carry prouder head here than any