THERE is a glorious hope for the nation which has the wisdom to use its reserves. When the government of a country is confined to a comparatively small but wealthy class there is always the danger of exhaustion, of abuse of power, and of wasted efforts. However sympathetic the members of a legislature may be, if they lack knowledge and experience of those for whom they essay to make laws their efforts will be in many cases abortive; nay, they may possibly do infinite injury to the people. Obviously, this proposition has never been endorsed by the governing classes of the day. Seventy years ago the landed classes believed the best of all possible systems was secured by the limited franchise which gave one member each to the following constituencies:-Haslemere, with sixty electors; Hertford, thirty-one; Winchelsea, forty; Horsham, twenty-five; Newport, Marlborough, and Calne, with twenty-four electors each; Banbury, eighteen; Old Sarum, seven; and Gatton, with one elector. Plenty of members under the old pocket borough system were loud enough in their professed devotion to the middle classes, but this was not enough for the latter, who showed their distrust of the old and their faith in the new order of things by electing to the reformed Parliament of 1832 fifty-one persons connected with the trading, commercial, and manufacturing interests, and fifty-four lawyers; but the landed aristocracy put in an appearance with 356 representatives. During the last sixty years the members of the landed interest have been gradually reduced in numbers until there are to-day fewer in the House of Commons than at any preceding period. On the other hand, the number and influence of members of the commercial classes in that assembly were never so strong as they are at the present moment. It has long been evident that the manufacturing and trading community have recognised the value of class representation, and that it has left a very strong impress upon the legislation of the last half-century.

Although political parties have never adopted the distinctive and easily understood titles of the landowning party and the middleclass party, we recognise them in the Conservatives and Liberals of to-day. The former have held sway in rural districts, where the

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squire's influence was most easily and effectually exerted. other hand, the latter have generally controlled the representation of the towns, where, of course, middle-class influence has always been in the ascendant. Whenever a vital principle-as, for instance, the repeal of the Corn Laws or the Ten Hours Bill-was being agitated, the landowning class did not accept commercial men as their exponents, nor did the middle classes choose landlords as the champions of the manufacturing interest. But the esprit de corps of the classes. was much more pronounced before the extension of the franchise in 1868, and particularly of 1885, than it is now. The working community have largely obliterated the class lines of party. They are now slowly, if unconsciously, marking out newer, deeper, and probably more permanent ones.

Two great ideals have for generations animated the more thoughtful of the labouring classes. One, embodied in the couplet, Eight hours work, and eight hours play, Eight hours sleep, and eight shillings a day,

has stood out as a star during the long night of industrial degradation. The other is of a later date. It is the longing for a Labour party. Possibly it may be said that both are of the earth earthy, that neither appeals to the poetic fancy, and that the vibrating notes of patriotism are lacking. But the man who has never known slavery cannot understand the slave's unutterable longing for liberty; and people of leisure, of education, with opportunities and power, do not realise that the greatest boon you can offer to the sweated victim, the stewed factory operative, the panting miner, and the countless thousands who toil for their daily bread, is first leisure, and then the opportunities to frame the conditions of life and the laws under which they shall live. Hitherto, the masses have had history made for them; henceforth they will make it themselves. The Labour party they have pictured is not a small coterie or a flock of sheep blindly following a cunning leader with no experience of the lives of those he essays to lead. It must not grovel in the arena of party trickery. Its basis is experience of labour rather than Utopian conceptions; it is strong on the brotherhood of man; keenly patriotic, advocates civil and religious liberty, abhors monopoly, loves peace, and demands that justice shall not be the luxury of the rich, but the heritage of all; and it believes in attaining the equality of man through equality of representation. Never very strong on State ownership, its relation to other classes may be summed up in the phrase, that in seeking to make the poor richer it does not necessarily want to make the rich poorer. It has no particular desire to disturb existing institutions so long as they do not render themselves offensive. 'A fair day's wage for a fair day's work,' ' a more equitable share of the fruits of toil,' and 'better opportunities in the race

for life,' although indefinite as planks of a platform, are sufficiently clear to show that the ideal Labour party has never been intended by the masses as a founder of a new order of society. In a word, as the Labour party emerges from the realms of fancy into those of fact it is more clearly apparent that the masses wish it to work on those lines of steady development, of experience, and of evolution which are so marked a feature of the Anglo-Saxon race.

In the crystallising of this ideal into the real, trades unions have of course played an all-important part. It is through them that the working classes are being taught to realise the difficulties of government, the responsibility of power, and the necessity of formulating practical reforms. The unions are, in fact, the natural centre of the Labour party, and so long as they retain that leadership it will be well with the people; but should the control of the movement escape from them, should mere opinions without experience be regarded as qualifying any wealthy man to run as a Labour candidate, then the organised trades enter upon an unknown and uncertain sea, with theorists at the helm, and those elements of self-help which are the glory of the trades unions, and which no laws can replace, will be blown to the winds. Happily the working classes of this country have a habit of looking before they leap. They are neither to be captured nor deluded; and when they find a small but noisy section adopting the title of 'The Labour Party,' they naturally denounce it as another instance of false marking.

The cry of No politics' has wrought sad havoc among the trades. Fanned by partisans infinitely more anxious to defend the entrenchments of reaction than to promote the progress of labour, it was reechoed by street corner orators who boldly declared that trades unionism was played out, and that the only hope for the people was Socialism; and it was taken up by a number of well-meaning members of some societies who looked at political parties as stereotyped throughout the centuries, and who could not see that the extension of the franchise was founding a new heaven and a new earth in the political universe. For many years 'No politics' was effective enough to prevent the Trades Congress adopting a more pronounced attitude in respect to political affairs. Yet it was as impossible for the organised trades to escape from their destiny as it is for a man to live without air. If the Congress could not do the work directly, it could at least do it indirectly. At the Hull Congress in 1886, a Labour electoral committee was formed for the sole purpose of promoting Labour representation. But although it rendered good service, a year's experience proved that a Labour party without a platform is pretty much like an engine without steam, and at the Swansea meeting in 1887, at the suggestion of the electoral committee themselves, the Labour Electoral Association was floated as a distinct organisation, with a very advanced programme, agreed to at a largely attended informal meet

ing of the delegates. From that day down to the present the principle on which it was originated has never been lost sight of, but has been kept steadily in the forefront. Its latest manifestos, the president's address at the last Labour Electoral Congress, the fact that some very powerful and important unions send delegates to its congresses, and that, according to its constitution, 'no delegate shall be eligible for election (to the executive committee) who is not a bona-fide workman or a representative of a trades organisation,' all reaffirm in the most emphatic manner the principle embodied in the declaration, 'the organised trades are the natural centres of a true Labour party.' This fidelity to the Trades Congress has been responded to by that body with unvarying confidence. Although the advanced section at the recent Trades Union Congress obtained the assent of a majority to a scheme creating an Independent Labour Representation Fund,' that scheme imposes so heavy a tax upon the trades, exacts such a binding socialistic pledge from candidates, and is so inapplicable to our many-sided municipalities as to make it unworkable. Its promoters were, however, careful to disavow any hostility to the Labour Electoral Association. Some of them urged that there was room enough for such organisations, whilst a number of delegates who are active members of the said association in no way opposed the proposal, but in some cases actually voted for it. The fact is that in matters political and social the masses are firm believers in the doctrine of the survival of the fittest and any organisation which can by adaptability to changed conditions, and by the pursuance of an opportunist policy, outlive its early competitors and give evidence of permanence and strength, commands their respect. Democracy is applying the test of utility to all popular institutions; and it weighs labour organisations more scrupulously in the balance than it does any political combination.

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It is not surprising that many people were perplexed at the determination of the Belfast Trades Union Congress to form an 'Independent Labour Representation Fund.' If such a proposal ever had any value, it should have been put forward ten years ago, when political parties were infinitely more neglectful of working-class interests than they are to-day. But at the present moment we have a Government in power pledged to the hilt to give State payment of members, payment of returning officers' charges out of the rates, and a new Registration Bill-reforms which will obviously make such a fund unnecessary. The financial question could be speedily solved if the Labour members put their feet firmly down at a critical juncture and gave the Government to understand that these questions must be dealt with at once. As a matter of course, every one of them would become law before the present House of Commons is dissolved. But even if such a desirable result is not attained, the projected fund can have little influence on political life. 'You may take a horse to

the water, but you cannot make him drink.' Although the Trades Union Congress may call upon the trades to pay 5s. per annum for every 100 members, it by no means follows that they will agree to such a tax for a general Labour Representation Fund. Many of them now feel that their yearly contribution of 1l. per 1,000 members towards the funds of the Trades Union Congress is quite burdensome enough without paying an additional contribution of 21. 10s. per 1,000 for political purposes. In fact, some of the larger unions, feeling no doubt that this tribute to the Parliamentary Committee was already a heavy one, only sent in one-half their total membership and subscribed one-half what they ought to have done. And yet the Trades Congress has claims upon them which can in no way be equalled by a problematical Labour Representation Fund.' The following table will illustrate the difficulty of founding and maintaining such a

Now the actual contributions of the above societies, instead of being 5311. according to Standing Orders (which are henceforth to be strictly enforced), was only 3491., or 182l. short. The moral needs no emphasis. There was, however, another fact, which was strangely enough ignored by the Congress, and that is the marked tendency of the larger trades to have their own special fund and to keep it under their own control. The organisations named in the above table with an asterisk (*) prefixed have started such funds, and they will not, therefore, contribute to a general scheme. It may indeed be taken for granted that when any strong union is educated to the point of giving, say, 50l. per annum to a common fund, it will go a step further, and will pay a little more in order that it may have a special member. And if the large trades do not support this 'Independent Labour