The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-11-23

1880 - - - ~ ~
pounds e<ery year. The British Ia
Dor co-partnershiA movement now in
cludes more than oAa hundred produce
tive Establishments. among them
seventeen gas companies with 10000
employees. The Irish dairy and farm
ing cooperative movement is helping
on a large scale the small powers by
the thousands. as are the land pur-
chasing acts hundreds OF thousands.
The international Cooperative ALI
ance, with its biennial congress-.
serves at once to enlighten the peo-
pc of all Europe with regard TO CO.
Operative methods and to promote the
sentiments and arts of peace for the
workers instead of those of hatred and
destruction by war. C~uriously some
of the upholders of compulsory CO..
operation by the coming State are now
p~lcrrlnen- in promoting the work Ct
vtlun'aly cooperation.
Nothing more significant presented
itself TO my eye as a tourist than the
difference in appearance Of the Ger
man cities between the time visited
ent year. Accustomed as l long have
been not to accept printed report OF
working class betterments through
help of official authorities as final, 1
went in each city 10 what at the period
Of my previous visit were the slum
districts. In some of the cities these
nave been about completely wiped out.
Fer instance, the picturesque" Hum
burg dirty, narrow Cd streets, with
their quaint, sixteenth century build
ings, now exist chiefly on postal cards
that recall the past. Fine. open, new
~boulevards now run through quarters
once the sorry refuge of the poorest
stratum OF society. In Berlin, in the
northern section, a vast new WORKING
class 011aTfpr has hoan 6aNalnna6 Tho
streets are wide. the dwellings almost
palatial outWardly, the apartments
have modern equipment and the gen
era custom of balcony gardening m
parts to block after block an inviting
appearance After visiting the in
tc1ior Of some Of these houses, call
ing on the families of union men oc-
cupying apartments in them. hearing
the stries of increased wages through
labor organizations, seeing the neat
ness of the housekeeping. and then
driving for niles through his quarter,
to believe that the working class of
Berlin are in the grasp OF a society
through ever deepening poverty, would
be to reject an experimental appeal
to reason. And the same ppeal is
made in city after city in Germany.
The marked Improvement in munich
a management in Germany counts
for something to the Wage-workers as
a class. Cleaning up has gone on to
the point Of keeping all highways
parks and other public possessions per
~nanently in good order. The ravages
of disease, especially of tuberculosis
are steadily being fought down. The
decreasing death rate tells of diminish
ed causes of suffering among the poor.
Inc constant Improvement in the Ger
man school system, with its extension
to evening classes, manual training
and special courses, implies a develop
ment in working and earning capacity
Tor the masses. And what is true in
Germany appeared in a large degree
also true of Italy, France and Switzer-
land, and<tO a lesser extent of Austria,
Holland and Belgium.
The investigator in European indus
trial Centers may have his ~prejudiceS
against charities, or trade uniOniSm,
or municipal or state activities beyond
his own theoretical limits; yet if he
Will but Ven rapidly take some vision
al cognizance Of what these agencies
are doing for the people, he must ad-
NIT that each has its own important
place in social h~elpfuIness. 1t is bet
ter that the homeless and the derelicts
OF q great city should find shelter in
one Of the vast municipal or charita-
BILE lodging houses than to wander the
streets shelterless. 1t is better in a
Ountry where the poorest laborers
nav been accustomed to the wards
Of the authorities, that municipal en-
pIoyment exchanges should care for
the unskilled poor than that they
should be exploited by private labor
brokers' or 'padrones." 1t is Well for
the law to step in and specify what
safety c~ontriVanceS must be placed
about the machinery in workshops
rather than allow the employer to ex-
pose his employees to death or manning.
1t is better that savings banks should
be operated or controlled by the gov
eminent than that the working class
group of depOsitOrS be left to the
mercies of shapers ealing themselves
bankers In the advanced industrial