THE  SOCIALISTS  OF  THE  CHAIR.

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doubts  to  arise  as  to  the  truth  and  definitive  triumph  of  the
economic  doctrines  represented  by  the  congress  of  Economists  ;
and  on  all  sides  it  is  questioned  whether  absolute  freedom  of
labour  and  the  complete  abolition  of  the  antiquated  regulations
of  the  Middle  Ages  will  bring  about  that  perfectly  happy
situation  which  the  believers  in  laissez  faire  have  so  enthusiastically ­
  predicted.”  While  separating  himself  from  the  old
optimism  of  the  Manchester  party  {Das  Manchesterthum),
Schmoller  was  careful  to  show  that  he  did  not  accept  the  conclusions ­
  of  the  Socialists.  “Though  by  no  means  satisfied,”
he  said,  “  with  existing  social  conditions,  and  convinced  of  the
necessity  of  reforms,  we  preach  neither  the  upsetting  of  science
nor  the  overthrow  of  the  existing  social  order,  and  we  protest
against  all  socialistic  experiments.  All  the  great  advances
shown  in  history  have  been  the  results  of  the  work  of  ages.
The  existing  economic  legislation,  the  present  methods  of  production, ­
  the  psychological  conditions  of  the  different  classes,
ought  to  be  the  basis  of  our  reforming  energy.  We  demand
neither  the  abolition  of  industrial  freedom  nor  the  suppression
of  the  wage  system  ;  but  we  do  not  wish,  out  of  respect  for
abstract  principles,  to  allow  the  most  crying  abuses  to  become
daily  worse,  and  to  permit  so-called  freedom  of  contract  to
end  in  the  actual  exploitation  of  the  labourer.  We  do  not
desire  the  State  to  advance  money  to  working  men  in  order
that  they  may  make  experiments  on  systems  inevitably  destined
to  fail,  but  we  demand  that  it  should  concern  itself,  in  an
altogether  new  spirit,  with  their  instruction  and  training,  and
should  see  that  labour  is  not  conducted  under  conditions
which  must  have  for  their  inevitable  effect  the  degradation
of  the  labourer.”  During  the  session  of  1872  three  papers
gave  rise  to  profound  discussions  :  one,  by  Brentano,  on
Factory  Legislation  ;  a  second,  by  Schmoller,  on  Strikes  and
Trades  Unions  ;  and  a  third,  by  Engel,  on  Labourers’  Dwellings
(  Wohnungsnoth).
In  the  session  of  1873  the  Socialists  of  the  Chair  formed
themselves  definitively  into  an  “Association  for  Social  Politics”
(  Verein  für  Sozial  folitik),  which  has  met,  generally  at  Eisenach,
almost  every  year  since.  The  way  in  which  the  papers  to  be