New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-11-14
MR.. JOHN BURNS.
AS ARTISAN, AS AGITATOR. AS LEGISLATOR
AS SOCIALIST. AND AS HERALD TO
THE MILLENNIUM.
LONDON, November 4.

T.
Mr. John Burns, NJ. p, is conspicuous per-
sonage this week, both in London and in Paris
Of Paris | will speak presently London has long
been familiar with the name of the arch-agitator.
who was the Life and soul Of the great dock strike
He conducted that enterprise with perhaps Ies.
scruple and less regard for consequences than anv
artisan leader in England had ever shown. He
has since becorhe-Or he may have been before-a
paid and professional agitator. BY trade he il
an engineer. He has abandoned this honest in
dustry and now lives upon aims The hat goes
round for him. and he is understood to receive
from voluntary and involuntary contributions the
Inadequate sum of $40 week. He is worth
much more than that but a spirit of thrift pre-
walls among his artisan constituents; and, among
the community which he serves in two capacities
a spirit Of something more than thrift. AS men,
Der of the London County Council he receives
nothing; as Member of Parliament, nothing His
election in each case costs money but hfs cleo
ton expenses are paid by his admirers
IL was as introducer Of deputation of County
Council members to the President of the Local
Government Board that Mr. Burns has this week
made his voice again heard in London. The object
of the deputation was to induce Mr.. Fowler to
do something for the unemployed. 1t does not
appear that he has power to do anything, but
and his comrades should not ask him TO- Nor
does il appear that the amount of distress Is I'M
usual. It seems to be rather less than usual but
that again is no reason for not anticipating Its
arrival Nor has Mr. Burns anything new TO
suggest by way Of relief lie has some vague
notion that somebody, preferably the local
authorities, ought TO provide employment for tho
unenployed. and that the Local Government
Board ought TO make them, spite of its want
Of legal authority to make them. Not by loose
talk Of this sort is London very much impressed.
NJ. Huret. who has constituted himself inter-
viewer general to the universe. ard who. admit
ting that thing Of this kind is 10 he done at
all does it well, has interviewed Mr.. John Burns,
NJ p for the Figaro" Naturally, he exalts his
subject. but it is exalting Mr. Burns very far to
sreal1 of him as likely to become the most popular
man in England. Some of bis fellow-workingmen
and Socialists will have a word TO say TO that;
for your regenerator of mankind is by no means
The least Jealous of his own fame and interests
Mr.. Tom Mann, Mr. Keir Hardie and many an
other think themselves at least as representative
Of the cause and OF their comrades as Mr. Burns
and rightly. for aUsht know
II is as Socialist that NJ. Huret picks him ont
for interviewing and Socialist that he handles
such questions are presented to him. lie De
rims like Mr. Frederic Harrison and other leaders
of minorites by protesting that the strength OF
his Marty is not 10 be Judged from its NUMBERS
It's strength must be judged ty the number OF re-
forms il EFFORTS from its adversaries; not ai.o-
cether bad way of estimating pohtical ana sociai
strength He explains 10 his French examiner
that in England, the governing classes nave al
wavs contrived TO govern by dint OF concessions
70 those who knew how TO demand them But'
asks W. Huret. does not the granting Of all these
o11oJ q
revolution you aim at, and quiet the artisanF
"Oh no." answered Mr. Burns, in one of those
bursts OF franlxness which make him so useful to
his opponents, rot at all. The more you grant
10 the workingmen the more they want"
THIS is quite in the spirit of the
celebrated declaration from the same lips
NOT very long ago, that the agita-
ton for Eight Hours only the prelude TO an
agitation for seven six or even four, a decaIa-
ton which, in substance, he repeats even now
He ikens the Socialists to the wolves who force
the Russian coachman to fling to them first hrs
clothes. then his food then his children. then
his wife, and, in spite Of all, is finally devoured
himself. The coachman, of course. is the capital
ia. NJ Huret naturally asks how soon his 80
cialist friend will eat him. To which Mr. Burns
makes a reply not devoid in all points Of sense
"Oh. we are rot in such hurry a. you are on
|
slowly and surely Before we build we want
broad deep. solid foundations: not till we have
got those do we think of raising fabric on them.
In France YOU think only of destroying. ard YOU
mako haste 10 run I'D something at once for me
rI.os,Ne Of seeing 1t. and without much though'
whether il is durable"
For this and other good reasons Mt Burns II nop
in favor OF violent revolution Ike the SocE's's
Of France and Germany. He is for climbing we
staircase step by step His steps are tne ''"u's-
| unions. or for he varies the metaphor ia'Ne'
abruptlv they are the horses harnesSed 10 'ne so-
cialstic chariot The tradeS-unions are rapiu''
10 ,b;rl,s hccominc "collectivst,n II one muet
uss tbe sy,ialistic jargon: the history OF tnelf
congresses proves IT, And there are twelve Socraf
ists out OF l39 members of the London Noui''F
| Council: and the Council has already gone in'o
the building business, not Independently ou' NJ
orally, and is going into many other en'erPiiS'
purely soc.allstic They are running street ran
| roads, for example, and nobody VIII "orA niOio
tbon eight hours OH County Council road. ke-
H,cs nroatsp No doubt. What do we care'
II is only tho idle shareholders who suffer when
Is Of a niece with much Of the political economy
nrotcss.d not only by Mr. John Burns, but ~
cocioIists WIN nose as thinkers. In the END, the
Council is to annex all public enterprises that are
proftsbl.-water. eleetricty-not gas because Una.
* a dead industry This very Parliament VIII
vote an Eight Hours bill for miners ana LOT '''''
employed in dangerous industries
And what a weapon it will be in the hanus
q, the Socialists for demolishing capital ana COM
nlctinu the education OF the workingman
The word demolishing may or may not nave
hsen the word used by Mr. Burns, but IT Is the
literal translation OF the French word gwen oy
" Huret, and presume it expresses with acou-
raoy the thought and the purpose deepest down
IN Mr. Burns's mind Capital is to him the
enemy. When once you have demolished the ac-
cumulated savings of the worlds industry, tho
millennium il here.
The acquisition by the State or municipalities