Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1890-11-03
NEW LIFE IN OLD EUROPE.
A. Few or the Views OF John Swinton
During His Recent Tour Abroad.
Especial Correspondence.

November last got some views Of life
AID other things there that few Ameri-
can sightseers are ever likely to look for.
1t is safe to say that most of our tourists,
after spending short time abroad see
ing France, Italy, Germany or England,
are apt to tell us of the Eiffel tower and
other glittering shows in Paris, or of the
Coliseum and other wonderful relics in
Rome, or of Windsor Castle and other
massive fabrics in London.
Now l, too, when in Europe saw all
these things, beside hundreds of Others
not less attractive or less suggestive, yet
shall say nothing about them here.
But while abroad and going to one
country after another, from the Mediter-
ranean to the North sea, also took oc-
casion to study a few of the new feat
ures and ideas of the times that were
even more interesting to me than those
things with which all American tourists
in Europe are familiar. | took views
and made studies of the life Of the peo-
pie, common and uncommon. from the
upper world to the under world, from
the foreground to the background
surveyed the surface and sounded the
depths from Italy to Scotland.
What, then, did learn there? What
did see in Italy, France, Switzerland,
England and Scotland? Many things
beside those that the New Yor,. papers
had told me of-novel shows, surprising
sights, doleful scenes, hopeful signs.
Here, at this time, shall refer only to
the thing which struck me most, and
that was the evidence OF resurgent lifo
now to be found among the masses of
all the countries through which wan
dered in search of that life for myself.
New ideas are in the air there, new
movements are advancing, and the way
is being prepared for social and indus
trial changes that will surely promote
the welfare of the working millions.
found this resurgent life even in old
Italy, ay, in Rome, the seven hilled
capital of the Caesars, the popes and the
new rulers of the modern realm. | found
it in the fostering quarters of the city
and among the castaways, as well as in
the higher quarters and among their
denizens, with many of whom l held
intercourse. saw it in popular assem-
blages, in the workshops of the toilers,
in hundred projects Of which l became
aware. and in the papers of liberation.
| heard ideas that surprised me, and
predictions or aspirations that seemed
beyond realization in our times. be-
came convinced, after three months Of
residence and research in Rome, that the
progressive spirit now appearing among
the masses there must yet yield fruic
unlike any that has ever grown in the
soil of old Italy. That which | found
in Rome found afterward in the other
Italian cities along my course.
In France / found the resurgent life
from Paris to Marseilles The social
question" is up there, as it has been for
a century past, and the peasantIy of the
rural communes as well as the prole-
tariat of the cities are becoming famil-
lar with it. | feel it safe to say after
thrice visiting France that the French
working masses will not forever tolerate
a system under which they do not enjoy
their natural rights. What do they
want? They want the Inheritance thar
belongs to them and the full measure of
the earnings of their work.
In England, as in the other countries
here spoken of, took time to survey the
ways of life and study the currents of
thought among people of all social
grades. found that the English mind
is advancing in Il hopeful way. There
is spirit of inquiry in regard to that
condition of society which is fraught
with evils and dangers that cannot be