to extend its business premises-twice by getting in space at first occupied by tenants, then by building,-so that the total floor space has nearly trebled since 1889 (now 35,647 square feet, instead of 13,650), the value of stock increasing in a still higher proportion (from £4613 to £20,027). The best machinery has been introduced, with the effect of increasing, not only trade and profit, but wages (over three hundred people being employed). The hours of work are fifty-three and a half weekly, taking the year round, and the full trade-union rate of wages is paid. The share of profit assigned, both to wages and custom, has to be capitalized till it amounts to £10. The workers, as such, elect two members on the committee, and 5 per cent. on the profits is set apart for an old-age pension fund to worker-members. It may be added that the volume is somewhat profusely illustrated, though it must be confessed that the hideous uniformity of Cranbourne mills, as depicted on p. 32, is enough to make an old pupil (like myself) in Mr. Ruskin's drawing-class at the Working-men's College shudder all

over.

J. M. LUDLOW.

THE EVANGELICAL SOCIAL MOVEMENT IN GERMANY.-The readjustment of economic conditions as a corollary of Christianity was preached in Germany by Wichern in 1848, the father of the great "Innere Mission," and the word was caught up by Pastor Huber who, as a step in practice, attempted the formation of workmen's co-operative societies, but not with much success. The first decisive impulse came from Rudolph Todt, another Evangelical clergyman, who, in 1877, organized a “Central Union for Social Reform on a religious and constitutional foundation," and laid down once and for all a set of definite principles. The movement claims to represent a stage of development immediately in front of Social Democracy, just as this, in turn, is an advance on Manchester principles; it is as much alive to the urgency of industrial questions, but as against a materialistic, subversive, and cosmopolitan spirit, it is religious, conciliatory, and patriotic. There are, however, two elements in its policy-a tendency to caution and an historic temper, and a tendency to drastic and radical reform; and in course of time they have risen into clear antagonism, so that there are now parties of "old" and "young," and the rift is dangerously widening. To trace the growth of this situation would be to follow the career of Adolf Stöcker, once a chaplain at the imperial court, a man of wide and active sympathies and great parliamentary gifts. In 1878 he carried 'The Evangelical Social Movement in Germany: Its History and its Aims. By PAUL GÖHRE. Abridged Translation by JANET E. KAY SHUTTLEWORTH. [236 pp. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. Ideal Publishing Union. London, 1898.]

the movement into politics by organizing the Christian Social Labour Party, which ran a few candidates of its own for the elections to the Reichstag and Landtag in 1878 and 1881, though in Berlin itself their number was only some three thousand. The programme of the party, which Professor Wagner of Berlin had a hand in shaping, may be taken to represent the particular aims of Evangelical Socialism as a whole. It demands a normal working day, sanitary protection to the worker, a reform of the usury laws, a graduated income tax, proportionate death duties, and extension of Government works. The most interesting clauses relate to labour association, and show the impress of a bureaucratic régime. The State is asked to compel every workman to membership in some trade union, to manage the funds of these unions, and to "authorize" them to protect themselves against their employers. Further, the State must regulate apprenticeship, establish compulsory courts of arbitration, and enforce contribution to insurance funds.

The party was dominated by Stöcker's personality, but, besides his influence, there were other causes which led to its subsequent development. The legal suppression of the Social Democrats after the attempts on the Emperor's life in 1878 had affected the working men of Berlin with apathy and suspicion, and the new party, failing to secure their support, was more and more recruited from the lower middle class the small traders and officials, in whom anti-Semitism is strongest, and who are more tender than the proletariate to established institu tions. It happened that these new influences answered to a change in Stöcker's own mind, and the result was an anti-Semitic propaganda and an open alliance with the Conservatives, effected by what is known as the "Berlin Movement" of 1880. Stöcker acted on clear and consistent lines. He regarded the Jews as the foremost representatives of the Manchester principle, and he honestly thought that salvation was to be had from the landed aristocracy. It was his idea to leaven and educate the Conservatives, to form them into a progressive and national party in which his own followers would take a prætorian rank. These forces he would oppose to the Social Democrats, and would grind the. Liberals and the Freisinnige party between the upper and nether millstones. The attempt was wrecked by Bismarck's Kartel policy, if indeed it was ever possible, and Stöcker became a political outcast. None of his followers were ever elected to the Reichstag under the party name, and all that remained of his ambitious scheme was a few inoffensive clauses in the Conservative programme of 1892, and a little lip-service to reform. Fortunately Evangelical Socialism has two other legs to stand upon. The stronger of these is the system of Evangelical Workmen's Unions originated spontaneously by the miners

of Rhenish Westphalia in 1882, but now spread over the whole Empire. These unions are at once benefit societies, social clubs, and centres of political activity. In 1896 there were 350 of them with a total membership of 80,000. The Evangelical Social Congress founded by Stöcker in 1890 is organized under a general and executive committee, and is mainly composed of the clergy and middle-class laity of the Protestant Churches. Its work is chiefly educational, carried on by local lectures and gatherings, and a general meeting once a year.

In each of these branches, as well as among the Labour Party, the difference of old and young has become acute, and threatens to paralyze the movement. Moreover authority has stepped in with a heavy hand. An edict of the Prussian Evangelical Church Council, held in December, 1895, forbids the clergy to take part in social or political agitation, and Stöcker and several other clergymen have lost their livings. Under this discouragement many have grown weak and many faint; but the younger men, one of whose leaders is Herr Göhre himself, are confident that out of this crisis there will emerge a new and frankly democratic party, which will unite in itself all that is national and intelligent in Germany, and hold the balance between what is selfish and hidebound and what is revolutionary. Herr Göhre sees that the function of social education and healing is to the clergy, and the duty of aggressive political warfare is to the laity, and that, in future, this distinction must be respected. Though he is himself a keen partisan, his little book is as fair as it is lucid and informing. The translator has done her work well. The difficulty of the composite adjectives has not been overcome, but the rendering is generally expressive and readable, and never obscure. It is impossible to follow the history of this movement without admiration for the strenuous courage which has sustained it, and sincere sympathy for its large and patriotic ambitions.

A. M. D. HUGHES.

LEGISLATION, PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRIES,

AND OFFICIAL RETURNS.

Ir any old-fashioned economist, such as still survives uncorrupted in one or two of the old political economy dining clubs, should by some strange chance happen to let his eye fall on this page, it would doubtless be much offended at the intrusion of the House of Commons Committee's Report on Burial Grounds, with Evidence, etc. (Commons Paper, 1898, No. 322, fol., 370 pp., 3s. 04d.). Does not this, he would inquire, belong rather to religion and the art of undertaking than to the science of political economy? But it does not do to be too particular in dealing with the blue books of the last quarter of the year; and, as a matter of fact, the material interests of the ratepayer are often very considerably affected by the vagaries of ecclesiastical law, and the disputes to which they give occasion, or, at any rate, opportunity. Neither the cost of an unnecessary second chapel, nor the payment of fees to nonofficiating clergy and sextons are very important additions to the cost of burials as conducted in England; but when an attempt to avoid these inconveniences by declining to apply for consecration leads to a partial boycott of a rate-provided cemetery, the firmest disciple of Gallio begins to desire to act as conciliator between religious parties.

The Committee propose to cut all knots by means of legislation which would provide that all new chapels paid for by the local authority should be unconsecrated and available for all burials, and that all fees, except those for services actually rendered, should be abolished. It seems probable that if this and some minor recommendations of the Committee were carried out, most local authorities would find it advantageous to have the whole of the ground consecrated except the small "allotments" which are commonly made to Jews and others. But in case any local authority should be perverse enough to insist on leaving the whole unconsecrated, the Committee propose to give the Local Government Board power to interfere, thus doing away with the option at present given by the very confused piece of legislation known as Marten's Act.

Equally drastic is the House of Commons Committee's Report on Money Lending, with Evidence, etc. (Commons Paper, 1898, No. 260,

fol., 274 pp., 28. 3d.). It begins with a lurid description of the extortion and other evils which prevail. Of extortion one example is sufficient: Between March and December, 1894, Gordon lent Burden £5178. In that period Burden repaid £10,274, and when he went into the Bankruptcy Court his debt was still £3809. The other evils are less easy to suggest by a single example; many of them are summed up in the phrase of a judge-"something very like blackmailing." The Committee reject altogether the proposal to fix a maximum rate of interest. They consider "that a high rate of interest is not in itself incompatible with fair dealing, and that no limit of interest can be prescribed which would be adapted to the widely different conditions under which these loans are contracted; and further, that if a maximum rate were fixed by statute, the interest would tend, in all cases, to rise to that maximum." The only remedy, in their opinion, is to give the Courts "absolute and unfettered discretion in dealing with the transactions of professional money-lenders." They therefore recommend legislation which would empower both County Court and High Court, whenever applied to by the lender for enforcement of the contract, or by the borrower for relief from it, to go into the whole transaction and allow only such interest as appears "reasonable, having regard to all the circumstances." This power is to be retrospective as well as prospective, so that Shylock may not only be compelled to take less in the future from a defaulting borrower, but may be ordered to repay a portion of what he has already received. As some people will undergo anything rather than expose their financial transactions to public view, the Courts are to be allowed to exercise these large powers in private, if they see fit. Then there follow a number of recommendations about bills of sale and other matters which are caviare to the general solvent public. Next, every professional money-lender is to be registered, to trade under his own name and address (which address ?), and not to call himself a "bank," "trust," "corporation," or other misleading title. He is not even to be allowed to issue or publish any false or misleading prospectus, circular, or advertisement, which, one would suppose, has been hitherto one of the most sacred rights of the British citizen. If he offends he will be struck off the register, be incapable of receiving any money he has lent, and so become a prey to the fraudulent borrower. The Committee reject the proposal to license money-lenders, because every licensed money-lender would then advertise himself as "licensed under Act of Parliament," which would imply a "guarantee of respectability and fair dealing;" but it is not easy to see how their scheme of registration escapes this difficulty.

In consequence of the hostility to the county councils exhibited by