, 1875-09-10


W0RKrN1MEN IN FRANCE.
Tho most potent rcnson agauBt succcss-
fnl revival Of communism In ita supposed
stronghold steadily ignored by
political theorists and prophets in England
and tho United States. It Is tho marked In
crcaso in tho comfort OF tho avorago French
workingnan. Comfort and communism are
incompatible forces. Tho triumph Of either
involves tho tliminution Of tho other. When
the Kevolution.of '03 waa Mt its height, tho
poasantry Of Franco woro communists Of the
most approved stripe. They aactcd md
tho property they could 10y hands on. But
the poasantry Of to-day nro Of tho most rig
Idly anti.communistio type. Tho change In
their feelings is duo to tho improvement In
their material condition brought ns,out
by tho land laws and tho aboli-
ton of the oppressive taxcs Of lilo
old syatom. The Hcarecrov Of threatened
communism, worlsod by wires thnt conferred
at tho Tuilerics, made them devoted alher-
ents To tho Third Empire, which promised
their property protection. Tho samo cauac
is producing the anmo effect among tho work.
mel. A. report published fow days aeo by
committee, appointed by tho Assembly to
consider tho natoria1 md economic condition
Of the laboring classos, shows tliis. Tho law
Of 1851, sfter which tho recent Artiaan-
Dwellings bill Of England was. patterned, isaa
had an important influence in bettcring tho
homes Of the poor, Structures on tho plan of
the PEABODY buildings, howover, have not
succeeded. Tie report says: 'Immenso
buildings, q kind Of barracks, occupied solely
by workmon, Ind serious inconvoniencos
in n moral mud oron political point
Of view, to avoid which, strict supervision,
supported with difficulty, Ind to DO organ
lied" Much has been done by employers.
Tho gront Creusot Iron Company 1ets ita en-
ployes house at rent TINT barely coyors
expensea Other companies regularly set
npart percentage of their profits In improY-
ing tho homes OF their operatives. These
wel-meant attempts arc regarded with con-
siderable suspicion by tho workingnen, who
think that their wages arc lowered by just tho
amount spent On their homes. This feeling
seeu,s quito general. Tho $4,000 employees
Of tho Orleans Railway Company, who aro
supplied with food and clothing in tho Com
pany's storea at about so per cent below
market prices, actually complain Of this ns
m OWL. Cooperation has done something
to bonoft tho individual workinem emnn,
but the political bias that has been given to
it haa bacn fatal To its general succoas. Tho
report praises tho strict sanitary regulations
trrt,t at+ nj AMI y, ET1,%,r41
factories, mud dociaro TINT tho health Of
tho poor is much better than it was twenty
yeara ago,--a fact that is partly due to tho
more generous dict that this clasa can now
afford. Wages hnYo increased. Tho great
noed now is industrial education.
It is Of value to compare this report With
thoso submitted by tho French workingnon
sent to tho Vionna Exposition. The lattor
have Just been published, and arc reviewed
in Into number Of the Rents des DeAr Afonttes
They may DO taken % tho authoritative
utteranccs Of the working classes. Thcse
reports admit that wages have risen in Trance
of lato, but claim TINT tho cost OF l;v-
ing has incroasod in.n greater ratio.
They show TINT industrial education haB
made great advances, thanks TO tho trado-
unions, which have organized technical
schools. Almost without exception, tho re-
porta condemn strikes. This Is very note-
worthy fact. It shows that the Froach
workingnan is far in advance OF his English
or American follow on this important point
It nppears, too, from these interesting gtate-
ments, that tho laboring classos hope to sec
tho wage-Bystem abolished, and capital aud
labor united in tho possession Of the present
wago-carners, but they expect this to como
about, not by sudden revolution, but by .
process Of orderly evolution. Councils Of
workingmen Aro to bo formed. These will
establish sociotos for cooperative dis
tribution- Tho capital accumulated by
theso societioB md by tho trade
uniona is then to bo used in starting
part OF tho members in co-operativc work.
shop. Tho process of accumulation will 80
on meanwhile, and tho next round aum Of
money sayod will start another Workshop.
Thus by degrees tho whole body OF worlt1ncn
in each trade will establish themselves In
businoss. This IL tho programme Of action
which TIE TB1puNE has ofton urged upon
the attention Of unionists. When 1t Ia COM
parod with the babyiah dependence oi
French workingnen, hitherto, upon the
Stato; when its calm and ordered develop.
mont is contraatel with tho fierce paasion ot
the Commune; when tho osidout material
and neral advance Of tho individual laboroz
Ia considered, then the ghostly terror Of tho
Commune fados away, and fear Of the future
10 replaced by hope.