EVANGELICAL  SOCIALISTS.

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meetings  commence  with  prayer,  and  the  Bible  lies  on  the
table  of  the  council.  Those  addicted  to  drink  are  inexorably
excluded.  The  association  possesses  an  insurance  fund  which
pays  3000  dollars  to  the  widow  or  orphans  of  a  deceased
member,  and  in  this  way  more  than  a  million  dollars  have  been
distributed.  It  has  not  taken  part  in  any  strike,  but  the  number
and  union  of  its  members  constitute  a  force  with  which  the
railway  companies  have  to  reckon.  The  corporate  spirit,  and
the  sense  of  honour  resulting  therefrom,  are  guarantees  of  good
behaviour  and  good  work.  The  engine-drivers,  the  public,  and
the  companies  themselves  have  only  to  be  congratulated  on
these  happy  results,  and  it  would  be  a  good  thing  if  similar
results  could  be  obtained  in  all  trades.  This,  however,  is  a
free  association,  founded  on  the  initiation  of  its  members.  If
the  State  were  to  try  to  found  similar  associations  by  authority
it  would  probably  fail,  and  by  giving  them  a  monopoly  it
would  quickly  disorganize  the  present  working  of  industries.
Some  attempts  at  establishing  trade  corporations  have
actually  been  made  in  Germany.  Thus,  at  Osnabrück,  the
artisans  formed  a  corporation  under  the  inspiration  and  patronage ­
  of  the  burgomaster,  Herr  Miquel,  and  the  Staats-Sodalisi  of
the  5th  October,  1878,  published  their  statutes.  According  to
the  report  of  Councillor  F.  Reuleaux,  the  watchmakers  of  all
Germany  formed  an  association  represented  by  a  central  committee ­
  of  delegates,  and  formulated  regulations  for  the  admission
of  apprentices.  At  the  present  time  they  are  occupied  in
introducing  the  methods  of  manufacture  employed  in  the
United  States.  The  engravers,  the  potters,  the  tinsmiths,  the
engineers,  all  followed  this  example.  Their  principal  aim  is  to
tram  up  good  workmen  and  to  arouse  the  corporate  spirit.
Councillor  Reuleaux  praises  these  efforts,  because  he  sees  in
them  a  means  of  raising  German  workmen  to  a  level  with  those
of  England  or  America.  Recently,  however,  the  greater
number  of  these  associations  were  dissolved  by  virtue  of
the  new  Anti-Socialist  law.
The  “Central  Union  for  Social  Reform”  obtained  the  adhesion ­
  and  even  the  co-operation  of  several  well-known  economists, ­
  such  as  Professor  Adolf  Wagner,  of  Berlin  University  ;