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a I B R.AHY 
 OF THE 
 
 U N IVLR.S ITY 
 OF ILLINOIS 
 
 331.88 
 
 Bl45eEt 
 
Return this book on or before the 
 Latest Date stamped below. A 
 charge is made on all overdue 
 
 U. of I. Library 
 
ENGLISH ASSOCIATIONS OF 
 WORKING MEN 
 
 BY 
 
 J. M. BAERNREITHER 
 
 Doctor of Law, Member of the House of Deputies in Austria 
 
 English EMtion 
 
 (Enlarges anS TCevlseb b£ tbe Butbor) 
 
 TRANSLATED BY ALICE TAYLOR 
 
 With a Preface by J. M. LUDLOW, Chief Registrar of 
 Friendly Societies 
 
 LONDON 
 
 . SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO. 
 PATERNOSTER SQUARE 
 1893 
 
I 
 
 0 v T 
 
 3 "if.-gg 
 6 I 
 
 FIRST EDITION 
 CHEAP EDITION - - 
 
 STEREOTYPED EDITION 
 
 1889 
 
 1891 
 
 1893 
 

 CONTENTS 
 
 33132 
 
 I 
 
 £> 
 
 t<> 
 
 PART I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Scope and Limits op the Work. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Miserable condition of the working classes in England forty years 
 ago. — Peaceful revolution since the Reform Act ; its causes and motive 
 powers. — An apparent paradox. — Social improvement of the working 
 classes. — Altered conditions of labour. — Increase of national wealth. — 
 Economic and social elements of progress. — Development of associative 
 life. — Friendly Societies, Trades-unions, and Co-operative Societies. — 
 Benefit Building Societies. — Working-men’s Clubs. — Social counter- 
 poise to accumulation of capital. — Limitations to general advance of 
 working classes in culture. — Differentiation of employments in con- 
 sequence of machinery. — Fluctuations of trade and industry. — 
 Aristocracy of workmen. — Moral value of working-men’s associations; 
 their educational importance.— Practical aspirations of the English 
 working classes. — Higher view of wages. — Better relations between 
 labour and capital. — Public spirit of the working classes. — Three causes 
 of social development in England 3- 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 Greater Britain. 
 
 Historical aspect of industrial production in England. — Discovery of 
 the New World. — Merchant Adventurers. — Maritime apprenticeship of 
 England. — Three periods of her Expansion. — The Mercantile System. 
 
 — The Navigation Act. — Theory of the Balance of Trade. — The 
 Methuen Treaty. — Treaty of Utrecht. — Loss of the American Colonies. 
 
 — Acquisition of India and Australia. — Peace of Vienna. — England 
 Mistress of the seas. — The new Colonial System. — Growth of England’s 
 commercial supremacy. — Adam Smith and Free Trade. — Mr. Huskis- 
 son’s reforms. — The Anti-Corn Law League.— Increase of production 
 since 1840. — Effects of mechanical improvements. — Statistics of Ex- 
 ports and Imports. — Increased consumption of foreign food. — The 
 wage-earning population. — Preponderating importance of manufac- 
 tures. — Over-production and depression. — Foreign competition. — Tho 
 Fair Trade Movement. — Protection in America and on the Continent. 
 
 — Importance of the Colonies. — Comparison of foreign and colonial 
 Exports. — Foreign and colonial food-supply. — Imperial Federation and 
 the working-classes. — Effect of English national expansion on English 
 views 25 
 
 1.08595 
 
IV 
 
 Contents . 
 
 pass 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Society and the Individual. 
 
 Social order and individual enterprise. — Ecclesiastical origin of the 
 Guilds. — Physiocracy and Communism in France. — The Statutes of 
 Labourers.— Individualism in England. — New popular conception of 
 society. — Carlyle on Work and Wages.— Moral aspect of the question. 
 
 — Lord Shaftesbury and Canon Kingsley. — Patient attitude of the 
 working classes. — Social tendency of thought in England. — Growing 
 recognition of the duties of the individual to society. — Social elements 
 of the wage question. — Ricardo. — John Stuart Mill. — “ Habits and 
 requirements ” of the working classes. — A “ fair day’s wages for a fair 
 day’s work.” — Capital and Co-operation. — Industrial Remuneration 
 Conference in 1885. — Moral education of the working classes. — Arnold 
 Toynbee. — Growing importance of the Land Question. — Views of 
 George and Wallace. — “ Municipalisation ” of the Land . . .64 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The State, Self-Government, and Self-Help. 
 
 Moral cause of changes in the State system. — Self-government: 
 municipal and Social. — State-interference and laissez faire. — England 
 and the Continent compared. — Peculiar conditions of State-action in 
 England. — Co-operation of voluntary self-governing associations. — 
 Their importance in this respect. 
 
 1. Legislative and Adminstrative Action of the State : — Growth ol 
 Factory Legislation since 1833. — The Factory and Workshop Act, 1878. 
 
 — Its administration and working. — Vigilant attitude of the Trades- 
 unions. — Alkali, etc., Works Regulation Act, 18S1. — Coal Mines Regu- 
 lation Act, 1872. — Metalliferous Mines Regulation Act, 1872. — Mer- 
 chant Shipping Acts, 1854-1880. — Civil and criminal relations of 
 labour. — Question of Contract of Service. — Master and Servant Act, 
 1867. — Employers and Workmen Act, 1875. — Conspiracy and Pro- 
 tection of Property Act, 1875. — Laws relating to Arbitration. — Em- 
 ployers’ Liability Act, 1880. — Its working and effects. — Employers’ 
 Insurance Companies. — Action of the Trades-unions.— Payment of 
 wages in public-houses. 
 
 2. Old and New Self-Government : — The old magisterial system. — 
 Changes introduced by establishment of large industries. — Increased 
 requirements of modem administration. — Inadequacy of the old 
 system. — Local Boards and Government supervision. — The Poor-law 
 Union. — Public Health Act, 1848. — Establishment of the Local 
 Government Board. — Advantages of the new system. — National 
 Education and the Working Classes. — Dark features of social life. — 
 Reformatories and Industrial Schools. — Public Health Act, 1875. — 
 Effects of sanitary legislation. — Improvement of Working-men’s 
 
Contents . 
 
 v 
 
 PAG* 
 
 dwellings.— Centralisation of the new system. — Division of Adminis- 
 trative labour. — Co-operation of the Government. 
 
 3. Self-Government of the Working Classes .'—Problems left to the 
 Working-men’s Associations. — Advantages of freedom of association 
 in England. — Self-reliance and mutual confidence displayed in Working- 
 men’s Associations. — Publicity of their proceedings. — Enlargement of 
 their aims. — Their character as voluntary institutions. — Their tendency 
 to centralisation. — Development of official organism. — State super- 
 vision and voluntary effort. — Social guarantees against revolutionary 
 change. — Increased cost of production. — Countervailing advantages 
 enjoyed by England. — Adjustment of labour relations a source of 
 strength in future competition 95 
 
 PART IT. 
 
 FRIENDLY SOCIETIES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Origin and General Character of Friendly Societies. 
 
 Reasons for considering Friendly Societies before Trades-unions. — 
 Divergent aims and character of these two classes of institutions. — 
 Their historical points of contact. — Connection between the Friendly 
 Societies and the Guilds. — Temporary distrust entertained against 
 Friendly Societies. — Their enormous growth during the present century. 
 
 — Their objects of insurance. — Their course of development. — Recon- 
 struction of their system of insurance. — Legislation a necessity of their 
 growth. — Difficulties and drawbacks in their career. — They have 
 taught the English working-man the necessity of insurance . . 155- 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Different Kinds of Friendly Societies. 
 
 Prefatory remarks. -1. Dividing Societies : the Union Provident 
 Sick Society, Birmingham. — 2. Local Village and Country Societies : 
 
 - the Hitchin Friendly Institution. — 3. Local Town Societies: the 
 Cannon Street Male Adult Provident Institution, Birmingham ; the 
 Christ Church Provident Institution, Birmingham. — 4. Deposit Friendly 
 Societies : the Abbot’s Ann Provident Society. — 5. County Societies : 
 the Wiltshire Friendly Society. — 6. Burial Societies : (a) Local Burial 
 Societies and Local Sick and Burial Collecting Societies ; (6) General 
 Collecting and Burial Societies; (c) Burial (or Industrial Assurance) 
 Companies. — 7. Ordinary large (or general) Societies : the Hearts of 
 Oak Benefit Society, London.— 8. Particular Trade Societies : the 
 Managers’ and Overlookers’ Friendly Society, Bradford. — 9. Factory 
 Societies and Friendly Societies in connection with large Establishments : 
 
VI 
 
 Contents. 
 
 PAoa 
 
 Messrs. J. Crossley & Sons, Limited, Halifax ; Messrs. Platt & Brothers, 
 Company, Limited, Oldham ; the Atlas Works, Manchester ; T. Hoyle 
 & Sons, Limited, Manchester ; William Denny & Brothers, Dumbarton ; 
 Saltaire. — 10. Railway Company Societies : the G.W.R. Company ; the 
 London and N.W.B. Company; the Midland Railway Company. — 11. 
 
 The Working-men's Orders : the Manchester Unity ; the Foresters ; the 
 Grand United Order of Oddfellows ; the Druids ; the Loyal Order of 
 Shepherds (Ashton Unity) ; the National Independent Order of Odd- 
 fellows ; the National United Order of Free Gardeners ; other Orders 
 of Oddfellows ; minor Orders. — 12. Societies of Females and Young 
 Persons : Juvenile Friendly Societies 169 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Reeorm Moveirent Inside the Friendly Societies. 
 
 Benevolence and not insurance the original object of Friendly 
 Societies. — Early causes of collapse. — Evils caused by drinking habits. 
 —Opposite tendencies to Self-help and State supervision. — Legislation 
 a series of compromises. — Threefold objects of reform. 
 
 (A) Friendly Society Literature. Dr. Price’s Northampton Tables 
 of Sickness and Mortality. — The Highland Society’s Tables. — Mr. 
 Ansell’s Tables. — Neison’s “ Contributions to Vital Statistics.” — Quin- 
 quennial Returns, 1845-1850. — Mr. A. G. Finlaison’s “ Government 
 Tables.” — Mr. Ratcliffe's labours for the Manchester Unity. — Mr. 
 Neison and the Foresters’ Experiences. — Actuarial value of these in- 
 vestigations. — Other workers in the field. — Mr. Tidd Pratt. — Mr. 
 Charles Hardwick. — Mr. Neison, jun. — Friendly Society publications. 
 
 — Report of the Commission of 1871-1874. — Reports of the Chief 
 Registrar. — Institute of Actuaries. 
 
 (B) Insurance System. Funeral and sick benefits. — Conditions of 
 the old levy system ; its want of stability. — Gradual transition to the 
 new premium system. — Financial advantages of secessions.— Calcu- 
 lation of average liabilities. — Graduation of premiums. — Causes of 
 early insolvency. — Hindrances to reform. — Elements in calculation of 
 risks. — Question of occupation ; practice of Friendly Societies in this 
 respect. — Valuations.— Fluctuations in Friendly Societies. — Difficulties 
 and prejudices. 
 
 (C) Management. Common features of all Friendly Societies. — 
 Spirit of independence in the working classes ; their growing intel- 
 ligence. — Middle-class co-operation. — Social character of the Societies. 
 
 — Officers. — Rules. — Question of extent of a society. — Efforts at amal- 
 gamation. — District Associations. — Equalization. — Amalgamated So- 
 cieties. — Investment of funds. — Investment Associations. — Expenses of 
 management.— Precautions against shamming sickness. — Settlement 
 of disputes. — Good effects of the Temperance Movement. — Social 
 advantages of the Societies. — Publicity of their arrangements . . 228 
 
Contents . 
 
 vii 
 
 PAG K 
 
 CHAPTER IY. 
 
 The Law of Friendly Societies. 
 
 Two-fold character of Government intervention. — General character 
 of early legislation. — Necessity of compromise. — Permissive character 
 of legislation. — Position of the unregistered Societies. — Reasons for non- 
 registry. — Registered Societies. 
 
 1. Friendly Society Legislation up to the Act of 1875. The Act of 
 1793. — Act of 1819. — Parliamentary inquiries 1825-27. — Act of 1829. 
 
 Act of 1834. — Loan Societies Act, 1835.— Benefit Building Societies 
 Act, 1836. — Act of 1846. — Its “ Frugal Investment ” clause. — Industrial 
 and Provident Societies Acts, 1852 and 1876.— Registration opened to 
 the Affiliated Societies. — Consolidation Acts, 1850 and 1855. — Reports 
 of the Chief Registrar. — Royal Commission of 1871-74. — Outline of its 
 recommendations. 
 
 2. The Friendly Societies Act , 1875. Provisions relating to in- 
 
 surance. — Conditions and results of registration. — Extent of Govern- 
 ment supervision. — Powers of the Chief Registrar. — Results of Govern- 
 ment supervision. — Annual returns. — Quinquennial returns. — Quin- 
 quennial valuations. — Diffusion of actuarial knowledge. — Cancellations 
 and suspensions of registry. — Advantages and privileges of registered 
 Societies. — Their various methods of investment. — Public Officials. — 
 Arbitration. — Peculiar conditions of legislation in England. — Question 
 of Government control. — Assistance offered to the Chief Registrar by 
 the large Orders . 296 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 Government Working-Men’s Insurance in England. 
 
 1. The Government Annuity System. Schemes in the last century. 
 
 — Pitt’s proposal of a “parochial fund.” — Parochial Benefit Societies 
 Bill, 1818. — Friendly Society Savings Bank Act, 1833. — Lord 
 Shelburne’s Bill, 1862. — The Government Annuities Act of 1864. — 
 
 Mr. Gladstone’s Speech on the Bill. — Opposition in Parliament to the 
 measure. — Its material provisions. — Its inoperative character. — Select 
 Committee of Inquiry on the subject. — The Act of 1882. 
 
 2. Schemes of Compulsory Working-men's Insurance. Recent in- 
 fluence of German ideas and legislation. — The English Poor-Law 
 System. — Pitt’s view of Friendly Societies and Poor Relief. — Connection 
 between Friendly Societies and the Poor Law. — Origin of recent 
 schemes of national insurance. — Canon Blackley’s scheme of com- 
 pulsory Insurance.— Rev. Mr. Stratton’s scheme.— Select Committee 
 on National Provident Insurance, 1885. — General results of the inquiry. 
 Attitude of the Friendly Societies. — National objections to compulsion. 
 
 — Voluntary insurance under State supervision .... 338 
 
viil 
 
 Contents. 
 
 IAGB 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Two Great Orders. 
 
 Pre-eminence of the Manchester Unity and Foresters. — Their growth 
 in Numbers and Capital. — Distribution of Districts and Lodges. — 
 Financial Statistics. — Admission of new Lodges. — Suspension and 
 Expulsion of Members. — “ Clearances.” — Education Value of the 
 Organization. — The Districts. — General Meeting of Delegates. — 
 Executive Council. — Secretary. — Sick Insurance. — Burial Allowances. 
 
 — Classification of Sick Benefits and Premiums. — Widow and Orphan 
 Insurance. — Relief to distressed Members. — “Travelling Cards.” — 
 Funds administered by the Central Body. — Assistance to Distressed 
 Lodges. — Superannuation Insurance. — Social importance of the 
 Orders 370 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Miners’ Permanent Relief Societies. 
 
 Recent origin of these Societies. — Relation between sick and accident 
 insurance. — Foreign distinction in this respect.— Special risks attach- 
 ing to mining. — Colliery Catastrophes.— Legislative efforts to prevent 
 accidents. — Royal Commission on Accidents in Mines. — Statistics of 
 mortality. — Early “ Pit-Clubs.” — Appeals to public charity. — Proposed 
 schemes of insurance. — Northumberland Durham Miners’ Permanent 
 Relief Fund. — The late Mr. Alexander Macdonald. — Staffordshire 
 Permanent Relief Fund. — Lancashire and Cheshire Permanent Relief 
 Society. — West Riding of Yorkshire Permanent Relief Society. — North 
 Wales Permanent Relief Society. — Midland Counties Permanent Relief 
 Fund. — Monmouthshire and South Wales Permanent Provident 
 Society. — Midland District Society. — Objects and management of these 
 Societies. — Their Actuarial system. — Their early difficulties. — Their 
 financial position and prospects. — Questions of Re-insurance. — Con- 
 ferences of the Central Association SOS 
 
 CHAPTER VEIL 
 
 Conclusion. 
 
 Treatment of sick and accident insurance.— Improvements affected 
 by sanitary legislation. — Question of decrease of accidents. — Old age 
 insurance. — Difficulties attending a large scheme of superannuation. — 
 Financial consolidation of Friendly Societies. — Disadvantages and 
 defects of these Societies.— Their preponderating advantages.— Question 
 of further State supervision. — Self-government of the working classes. 
 
 — Hopeful Prospects 121 
 
PREFACE BY MR. J. M. LUDLOW. 
 
 Good wine, as the old saying has it, needs no bush ; and I think 
 too highly of the good sense of my fellow-countrymen not to feel 
 sure that a work in itself of so much worth, and on a subject of 
 such weighty import to England, as the one now introduced to 
 the English public by the accomplished pen of Miss Taylor, would 
 have made its own way without other aid than that of its own 
 deserts. But if any words of mine may help it in so doing, as I 
 am told they may, I cannot but give them. 
 
 For I know of no book, in our own or any other language, which 
 takes so large and clear a view of the great associative movement 
 of the English nineteenth century working class in all its forms, 
 as this of Dr. Baernreither’s. Dr. Brentano,* though anticipated 
 in some of his conclusions by Mill and one or two other writers, 
 fixed once for all the place of Trade Unions in economic science. 
 Dr. Ugo Rabbeno f has shown remarkable insight in dealing with 
 the subject of Co-operative and Building Societies. Dr. Hasbach { 
 has supplied a painstaking monograph on Friendly Societies, a 
 subject partly dealt with in our own language by the Rev. J. 
 Frome Wilkinson. But all these are little more than monographs. 
 M. Nadaud, indeed, in his “ Histoire des Classes Ouvrieres en 
 Angleterre,” has sketched out the history of our working class in 
 many respects with remarkable insight, though with errors of 
 detail which do not allow his book to be relied on as an authority. 
 A little work, long since out of print and out of date, by myself 
 and my late valued friend Mr. Lloyd Jones, the title of which Mr. 
 
 * “ Die Arbeitergilden der Gegenwart ” (Leipzig, 1871). 
 
 t “La Co*operazione in Inghilterra ” (Milano, 1885). 
 
 J “ Die Englische Arbeiterwesen, Geschichte seiner Entwickelnng und 
 Gesetzgebung ” (Leipzig, 1883). 
 
X 
 
 Preface by Mr. J. M. Ludlow. 
 
 Giffen has since done ns the honour to borrow for a much weightier 
 publication of his own — “ The Progress of the Working Class ” 
 (Strahan, 1867) — though embracing a wider field and dealing much 
 more summarily with the various branches of its subject, is per- 
 haps still the one which, up to the period of its publication, covers 
 the most nearly the same ground as Dr. Baernreither’s book, though 
 the relation between the two is little closer than that between a 
 sketch and a finished picture by different hands, and from some- 
 what different points of view. 
 
 The judgment of foreigners has been paradoxically said to be 
 that of contemporary posterity ; which is, perhaps, after all, but 
 a strained nineteenth century way of formulating the truth which 
 Racine expresses in such choice and happy words in the Preface to 
 his “Bajazet” : “ L’eloignement des pays repare, en quelque sorte, 
 la proximite des temps.” Our country could certainly never 
 complain of so friendly a judgment as that of Dr. Baernreither. 
 It has rather to ask itself, in fear and trembling, whether it 
 deserves, or will continue to deserve, such a judgment. 
 
 It is right indeed to observe that the above remarks arise from 
 the perusal only of the first volume of Dr. Baernreither’s work 
 now laid before the public, which, though setting forth the general 
 purpose and scope of the book, deals only in detail with the sub- 
 ject of Priendly Societies. But, from the masterly introduction, 
 it is impossible not to recognise how clearly the writer has seen 
 as a whole, how distinctly in its main features, the complex task 
 which he has set before himself ; whilst the accuracy and insight 
 with which he has treated the subject of Priendly Societies 
 afford, I may venture to say, a moral guarantee that the remain- 
 ing portions of his task will be completed in the same spirit and 
 with the same success. I can only say that by none of his readers 
 will his second volume be looked forward to with greater expecta- 
 tions of satisfaction than by the one who signs these words.* 
 
 J. M. LUDLOW. 
 
 * It is right to observe that I have only seen Dr. Baernreither’s original 
 work. But Miss Taylor’s conscientious accuracy as a translator is well known. 
 
AUTHOR’S PREFACE. 
 
 It was on the occasion of a visit to England in 1883, that 
 the project of making the conditions under which the working 
 classes in that country live the subject of special study, first 
 occurred to me. I resolved to familiarize myself as much as 
 possible with the position of the English working-man, by means 
 of personal observation and intercourse with the representatives 
 of his class. The hope I had entertained of acquiring in this 
 manner material from real life, which I regard as the first re- 
 quisite for treating of social conditions of the present day, was 
 fulfilled, and after having travelled for a twelvemonth in England, 
 Scotland, and Ireland, I felt that I had gained a sufficiently 
 safe foundation for constructing, with some confidence, a scien- 
 tific work on the subject. London, whither I always returned 
 from my tours, was naturally the centre of my field of research, 
 since from there I derived all the means available for my studies, 
 and the libraries, official authorities, and public institutions in the 
 capital afforded me the most valuable assistance for my literary 
 labours, in conjunction with what I was able to observe elsewhere. 
 I paid repeated and long visits to the large manufacturing towns 
 of the North of England, particularly Manchester, Bradford, Leeds, 
 Sheffield, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, as being the headquarters of 
 the working-men’s associations ; in the Midlands and in the South, 
 my principal information was collected at Birmingham, Bristol, 
 and Cardiff. In Scotland I made myself thoroughly acquainted 
 with Glasgow, Lanarkshire, and the ship-building centres on the 
 Clyde. In Ireland an opportunity was given me of accompanying 
 on their circuits the Land Commissioners appointed under the Act 
 of 1881 (44 and 45 Viet. c. 49), to assess judicial rents. In this man- 
 ner I came in close contact with the peculiar relations prevailing in 
 
 xi 
 
Xll 
 
 Author's Preface. 
 
 the north as well as the south of the island ; but the very means 
 thus afforded me of gaining an insight into the state of things, 
 determined me to refrain from including Irish affairs in the com- 
 pass of my remarks. The working-man’s question is so compli- 
 cated there by political and religious elements — the causes of the 
 present animosity between the two races are so remote, and their 
 relations are so embarrassed and uncertain, that the study would 
 demand a volume by itself. My scheme is confined, therefore, to 
 an examination of the position occupied at the present day by the 
 working-men of England and Scotland, and particularly bv the 
 working-men engaged in manufacture and trade. 
 
 German literature already possesses some admirable accounts 
 of particular phases of working-class relations in England, among 
 the first of them, the work of Brentano. The latter is far more 
 than a series of mere monographs on trades-unions, since it 
 pointedly recognises and describes those social forces to which 
 the working-classes in England are indebted for their progress. 
 But the results achieved by means of legislation, self-government, 
 and self-help at the beginning of 1870, when Brentano’s work 
 appeared, have since then been powerfully developed. In the 
 legislative measures intended to elevate the working classes in the 
 perfecting of her self-government, and in the extension and con- 
 solidation of her institutions of self-help, England, since 1870, has 
 made an amount of progress which, if insufficient to remove all 
 the defects of her industrial system, may serve in various respects 
 as a model for other European States. 
 
 A comprehensive description of the entire course of social de- 
 velopment in England since the last century was attempted by 
 Held, but his elaborate work remained, as is well known, a torso. 
 I shall, therefore, be justified perhaps in repeating the attempt 
 within a narrower compass, in a more succinct form, and confining 
 myself to the last few decades. 
 
 The progress made in the methods of production of the 
 present day, which depends on the ever-increasing application of 
 mechanical power, has brought the working classes everywhere 
 into a wholly new position towards society. Concurrently with 
 this progress should have gone a complete transformation of the 
 relations of this class to society in point of private and public 
 
Author’s Preface. 
 
 xiii 
 
 rights ; but while the modern modes of production created, so to 
 speak, a new class of men, the factory operatives, the legislation 
 and the public institutions in respect of this new class of society re- 
 mained far behind. The present generation is seeking everywhere 
 to retrieve the neglect of the past. Nowhere is this being done 
 more energetically than in England, where the working classes, 
 by their unity and their consistent and quiet conduct, have 
 brought about a period of reform, distinguished by the patient 
 endeavours made to supply existing defects, by means of a series 
 of co-operating and mutually supporting institutions. Any one 
 who studies attentively the condition of England at the present 
 day, will very soon discover this tendency, which is pushing for- 
 ward unremittingly to the appointed goal. It manifests itself in 
 all her various institutions and legislative enactments, and its 
 extent and importance can only be realized by comprehending the 
 physical and intellectual life of the working classes as a whole 
 and, at the same time, as a part of the life and development of the 
 entire nation. This is the point of view from which I have under- 
 taken my present work. 
 
 The advantage of studying the social relations of foreign coun- 
 tries does not require to be insisted on at the present day, when 
 the same questions are recurring everywhere. Granted that 
 though, as regards England in particular, an unprejudiced inquiry 
 may show that the institutions of that country bear the stamp of 
 a specifically historical development and a peculiar national char- 
 acter, and that a competent observer of English institutions will 
 guard against the error of transplanting them heedlessly on 
 foreign soil, — still the march of western civilization and culture 
 reveals everywhere the same general features, and one nation can 
 learn more from another at the present day than ever. England 
 also displays this feature in common with the other countries of 
 Europe, that the power of Government exercises a greater influence 
 on the life and economy of the people, only there the relation of 
 the spontaneous energies which are at work among the people for 
 the attainment of social objects, to the action of the Government, 
 differs from those existing on the Continent ; so that much that in 
 England can be left to the self-help of the classes concerned, can 
 only be accomplished on the Continent by the more vigorous 
 
XIV 
 
 Author's Preface. 
 
 intervention of the Government. Yet on this very point the 
 study of English institutions should act as an antidote against 
 any exaggerated idea that a Government by its mere action can 
 at once remedy every defect. The consideration of working-men’s 
 relations in England should convince us that State action should 
 merely resemble a prop which supports a building so long as it is 
 in course of construction, but which is intended to be removed 
 directly the building is compact and complete. The necessity and 
 duty on the Continent of taking care, wherever the action of the 
 Government must step in, simultaneously and systematically to 
 awaken and educate self-reliance and spontaneous activity — this 
 is the great lesson which we should derive from the study of 
 English relations. Eor whatever social form we may encounter, 
 the future will never discover any formula which will be able to 
 replace the energies of the individual. 
 
 I have endeavoured in the first chapter of the introduction to 
 explain and justify the plan which I have proposed for my work. 
 The other essays, of which the introduction is composed, are in- 
 tended to state the working-man’s question in connection with the 
 general development of the nation, to consider it as part of the 
 whole. The main body of the work, which will ultimately consist 
 of two volumes, is devoted to an account of the various working- 
 men’s associations, with a view of making the reader acquainted 
 with the life now led by the working-classes in England. I 
 would add here only one remark on the arrangement of my 
 material. In describing social relations, it is extremely difficult to 
 combine details with general ideas ; the former ought not to be 
 too abundant, and yet they not only supply the proof of the par- 
 ticular statement, but also serve to illustrate it. Since th/' 
 appearance of the works of Le Play, which made an epoch in 
 regard to the science of method, no one will dispute the necessity 
 of tracing back social, relations to their individual manifestations. 
 It is difficult, in this respect, to observe the proper mean be- 
 tween the too much and the too little. I have endeavoured to 
 fulfil my task by inserting in the notes those details which ap- 
 peared to me necessary, wherever they could not be incorporated 
 in the text. The notes have, in consequence, been longer in 
 many places than I should have wished. 
 
Author's Preface. 
 
 xv 
 
 The collection of the materials comprised in this volume was 
 comparatively easy, but the task of verifying them, and eliminat- 
 ing what was improbable or incapable of proof was one which I 
 could only perform by the aid of much oral information and of a 
 correspondence maintained and continued until the completion of 
 the work. I have received assistance from all quarters. English 
 officials, factory and school inspectors, local authorities, manu- 
 facturers, and^the officers and secretaries of the working-men’s 
 associations, have given me the most valuable support through 
 their recommendations, information and communications of every 
 kind ; and similar assistance has been afforded me, and that in- 
 variably with the utmost readiness and kindness, by the working- 
 classes themselves, so that I hope I am, generally speaking, safe in 
 my conclusions. Were I to thank here by name all those to whom 
 my thanks are thus due, I should have to write a history of my 
 tours. I am convinced, that in no country does earnest study 
 meet with greater interest and more active sympathy than in 
 England. Part of my debt of gratitude, however, I shall dis- 
 charge by making the reader acquainted in the course of the 
 following pages with the men who were most helpful to me, 
 wherever I have an opportunity of referring to their doings and 
 their services on behalf of their country’s welfare. 
 
 I must make one exception to my present reticence. I allude 
 to the Austro-Hungarian Consul-general, Dr. von Krapf-Liverhoff, 
 whom I beg to thank here sincerely and heartily for all the kind- 
 ness and acts of self-sacrifice with which he has assisted me in 
 England. 
 
 'Vienna. 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 

 
 
 
 \ 
 
 V- 
 
 
 
PART I. 
 
 INTROD UGTION, 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 Scope and Limits of the Work. 
 
 Miserable condition of the working classes in England forty years ago. — Peace 
 ful revolution since the Reform Act; its causes and motive powers. — An 
 apparent paradox. — Social improvement of the working classes. — Altered 
 conditions of labour. — Increase of national wealth. — Economic and social 
 elements of progress. — Development of associative life. — Friendly Societies, 
 Trades-unions, and Co-operative Societies. — Benefit Building Societies. — 
 Working-men’s Clubs. — Social counterpoise to accumulation of capital. — 
 Limitations to general advance of working classes in culture.— Differentia- 
 tion of employments in consequence of machinery. — Fluctuations of trade 
 and industry. — Aristocracy of workmen. — Moral value of working-men’s 
 associations; their educational importance. — Practical aspirations of the 
 English working classes. — Higher view of wages. — Better relations between 
 labour and capital. — Public spirit of the working classes. — Three causes of 
 social development in England. 
 
 When, forty years ago, Frederick Engels visited the English 
 manufacturing districts, he found the condition of the workmen 
 and of their wives and children so deplorable, the rate of wages 
 so low, health and morality so ruined, the greed of gain on the 
 part of the manufacturers in general so reckless, and the State 
 and society so indifferent, that in his well-known book describing 
 the condition of the working classes in England, he records the 
 gloomiest predictions, and sees no possible escape but in a violent 
 revolution, which he regards with certainty as unavoidable. 
 This opinion is shared by J. Venedey, who visited England about 
 the same time, and whose account of his visit reveals the painful 
 impressions produced upon him by the melancholy condition of 
 the working classes. These accounts have since been frequently 
 repeated on the authority of Parliamentary Blue Books, and the 
 reports of the Inspectors of Factories which began, about the 
 same time, to throw an impartial light on the relations between 
 
4 English Associations of Working Men ♦ 
 
 tlie employers and employed. Marx also, in his memorable work, 
 written much more recently, at a time when those who wished 
 to see both sides of the question could not fail to notice that the 
 workman himself, as well as the State and society, had begun to 
 grapple, and to some extent successfully, with the evils of his 
 position, was able to support his ingenious but one-sided theory 
 upon a mass of indisputable facts, proving that the English 
 workman, even between 1850 and 1870, lived partly under 
 conditions which enable one to conclude how intolerable, unjust, 
 and inimical to all progress must have been his position at that 
 earlier period. 
 
 If we call to mind the state of things prevailing in the manu- 
 facturing districts of England at the time of the Reform Bill 
 and of the abolition of the Corn Laws, we shall be well able to 
 understand the gloomiest forebodings. The modern history of 
 the West records, perhaps, no greater plundering of man by man, 
 than that which was then committed against a large portion of 
 the English working class. The hours of daily work were exces- 
 sive, and the effect of low wages, miserable dwellings, over- 
 exertion, deprivation, drunkenness, and immorality was ruinous 
 to the health and domestic life of the workman. Accidents, 
 especially in the coal mines, were of almost daily occurrence. 
 The unrestricted employment of women, girls, and children des- 
 troyed family life, and not only degraded whole classes of working 
 people to an extent almost past belief, but crushed at once all 
 hope of the rising generation. The truck system, the payment 
 of wages in the public-house, and every kind of dependence on 
 the part of the workman, seemed to close the door for ever against 
 a better future. He abandoned himself to excess, drink, and 
 coarse debauchery, and the generation to which England owed 
 the fabulous spread of her industrial supremacy, her commerce, 
 and -her wealth, lived in a condition which has often enough been ‘ 
 depicted in dark but only too faithful colours. Of the period 
 immediately preceding the passing of the Reform Bill, it may be 
 said without exaggeration, that England stood on the brink of a 
 civil war, or at all events of a wide-spread rebellion among the 
 working classes, which in some respects would have resembled 
 a Servile War of ancient Rome. As for the Reform Act itself, 
 
Scope a7id Limits of the Work . 
 
 5 
 
 although it became the turning-point of a new era for England, 
 its immediate result was to bring nothing but disappointments to 
 the working classes, which found vent in the movement known 
 as Chartism, from the so-called People’s Charter, around which 
 clustered all the vague political aspirations of the working classes, 
 and which had become the shibboleth for the bitter exasperation 
 felt by them between 1832 and 1848. 
 
 However, nothing occurred but local disturbances. The violent 
 revolution which in 1844 Engels deemed inevitable, never came 
 to pass, and any one who to-day, after a lapse of forty years, 
 examines carefully the condition of the working classes in England, 
 will be convinced that it never will. Whoever studies the now 
 by no means inconsiderable mass of literature relating to the 
 question of the working classes ; — whoever reads, in the trans- 
 actions of learned societies, the papers and discussions relating 
 to social subjects ; — whoever draws his information either from 
 the columns of the daily press, or from the reports presented to 
 Parliament (and in no other country can be found more compre- 
 hensive, conscientious, and impartial investigations into social 
 questions than those which these reports afford); — whoever 
 listens to the speeches of statesmen of different parties, to the 
 landowner, the doctor, or the clergyman ; — or, lastly, whoever hears 
 what the workman himself has to say, in the north and south of 
 England, in the cotton districts of Lancashire, in the woollen 
 districts of Yorkshire, in the coal and iron districts of North- 
 umberland and Durham, in the great centres of English industry 
 in Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, and Glasgow ; — 
 whoever takes the trouble, as we have done, not only in all these 
 places, but also in many others, smaller in size but equally instruc- 
 tive, to inquire into the changes in the dwellings, clothing, health, 
 temperance, morality, education, and political training of the 
 working classes, cannot fail to arrive at the conclusion, that dur- 
 ing the last forty years a complete revolution has been going on 
 in the lives of a large number of English workmen, and that an 
 improvement has taken place to an extent beyond the boldest 
 hopes of even those who, a generation ago, devoted all their ener- 
 gies to the work, and who to-day, with grey hairs, but with that 
 freshness of old age which is the reward only of an active and 
 
6 
 
 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 successful life, look back with conscious pride upon the time of 
 want, trouble, and anxiety. 
 
 It will be of interest, we think, to propound and endeavour 
 to answer these questions : What are the causes and the motive 
 powers of this revolution ? what economic, intellectual, and 
 moral means were employed in England to bring about this 
 change ? who started it ? from whom the first impetus pro- 
 ceeded, and how that impetus was communicated to the masses, 
 who in the last resort determine all questions of social reform ? 
 and, lastly, to what extent the progress may be regarded as 
 assured? It is certainly an interesting problem to solve, why, 
 in that very country whose earlier conditions have offered to 
 German Socialism the substratum for erecting its theory of 
 surplus value as a point of leverage for unhinging our whole 
 social system, socialistic theories, after the fashion of French 
 and German doctrines, have never yet had more than an 
 ephemeral existence ; — why, in a country so pervaded by the 
 power of capital, the working classes have nevertheless been able 
 to gain for themselves more practical advantages than in any 
 other \ — why in England, without universal suffrage, the working- 
 man has long since acquired a greater influence upon the legis- 
 lation and administration of his country than was the case, at 
 all events until the present day, with the working man on the 
 Continent ? 
 
 We have, in fact, before us one of those apparent paradoxes, 
 replete with interest to the observer of an epoch of culture, and 
 at the same time demanding for its explanation far more than 
 a mere superficial view of facts. In England we see an elaborate 
 social system, individually perfected as nowhere else. We find 
 the form and aspect of private undertakings reproduced even 
 in those social institutions of the working classes which have 
 contributed so much to elevate them, and which form on that 
 account the subject of these pages. Nay, more, the greater the 
 progress made in the organization of those specific institutions 
 which minister to the wants of the working classes, the more 
 do they assume the perfected form of those great capitalist 
 undertakings in which England has always been so rich. And 
 yet in this very way questions arising from the introduction of 
 
7 
 
 Scope and Limits of the Work . 
 
 modern processes of production have been settled, evils have 
 been cured or alleviated, and the way paved for a state of 
 things which in its further development will lead to an entire 
 revolution in the relations of labour. 
 
 The explanation of this apparent paradox, and the answer 
 to the questions already stated, is not easy, and we must at once 
 draw attention to a difficulty. If it is simply a matter of de- 
 scribing a reform effected in the economic condition of a nation, 
 or of one class of a nation, through the activity of a ruler or 
 statesman, by adopting and carrying out the leading ideas which 
 he imparted, the task of depicting and criticising this process 
 presents no difficulties. We have in this case a plan before us ; 
 a system has been pursued, and, be the object attained Or not, 
 the experiment from first to last proceeds on certain predeter- 
 mined lines. Whoever at the present day should seek to de- 
 scribe the revolution which French industry owes entirely to 
 the genius and energy of Colbert, would have to study, no doubt, 
 a mass of literature, laws, ordinances, administrative measures 
 and reports, but he would always have before him, as a safe 
 guide for the accomplishment of his task, that which Colbert 
 sought to carry out, and which was embodied in the so-called 
 “ Mercantile System ” ; or, whoever at some future day may have 
 to describe and pass judgment on the economic development 
 of the new German Empire, will not remain a moment in doubt 
 as to what statesman stands in the centre of his horizon. In 
 England the most important social reform of our century has 
 come about in quite another way. The improvement in the 
 condition of the working classes has formed no part of any 
 scheme of the Government, still less has Parliament proceeded 
 systematically in this question, neither has any economic theory, 
 like the mercantile one, united men’s minds, and spurred them 
 on in a settled direction ; nor has a tribune, like Lassalle, carried 
 the great bulk of the working class away with him. Nothing of 
 all this has happened. On the contrary, the Government have 
 frequently been puzzled how to deal with the working-man’s 
 movement, or have resorted to utterly wrong expedients. Parlia- 
 ment has rather been mastered by events than mastered them. 
 People have troubled themselves very little about speculative 
 
8 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 theories, and though the masses have been led, they have been 
 led not by one, but by thousands. Peel, Disraeli, and Gladstone, 
 the leading statesmen of this period, have worked honestly to- 
 gether, but neither of these names is singly identified with the 
 period of Reform comprised in the reign of Queen Victoria, a 
 period more important to England, in point of social and economic 
 changes, than any other epoch of her history. The reform in 
 the condition of the labouring classes is really the work of a 
 politically and economically free society, led by an active and 
 often reckless spirit of gain, but in which real ability and the 
 sense of duty have laboured to restore the lost equilibrium. It 
 is the fruit of the co-operation of a number of economic and 
 •ethical elements of legislation with the power of initiative, so 
 strong and active in the English nation; in a word, the fruit 
 of a great reaction, originating in the people themselves, and 
 directed against the evils that weighed so heavily upon one class. 
 
 We have thus pointed out the one great difficulty confronting 
 the attempt to describe and criticise this process of development. 
 It is well-nigh impossible to treat exhaustively of all the ele- 
 ments, economic, moral, religious, social, and intellectual, which 
 have worked together, and which form the real cement of all 
 the institutions coming under our review. So interwoven are 
 these elements with the history, customs, and character of the 
 people, that only a complete history of civilization would be able 
 to make the development thoroughly clear. An attempt to 
 exhaust the subject in these pages would be synonymous with 
 failure ; and we must therefore seek a definite limit for our 
 task. 
 
 Before proceeding, however, to designate the limit, and there- 
 with the subject we desire to lay before our readers, we must 
 endeavour to obtain a general point of view. In this respect we 
 would remark, first of all, that during the last forty years 
 economic and social causes have combined to give to labour in 
 England a higher value and a new form. This remark requires 
 a preliminary explanation. The reason why the working classes 
 of England, during the first half of this century, were in a con- 
 dition depicted on all sides in such gloomy colours, lay in a 
 division of the national income which was peculiarly unfavour- 
 
Scope and Limits of the Work . 
 
 9 
 
 able to these classes, and brought them in but scanty payment 
 for their labour ; and further, in the utter absence of any proper 
 correlation between work and wages. The circumstances that 
 brought this state of things about are well known. On the labour 
 market, oscillating with the variations of Supply and Demand, 
 Capital and Labour confronted each other with unequal forces. 
 When trade was bad, the artisan, if not actually discharged, 
 was not in a condition to prevent disproportionate deductions 
 from his wages ; and when trade revived, he had not the power 
 to gain an equivalent rise in pay. It seemed really as if an 
 immutable law were to keep the rate of wages for ever at a mini- 
 mum. The father of a family had to try to bring his wife and 
 child at any cost to the machine, in order to swell the family 
 income, and all had, according to the state of the trade, to submit 
 either to overwork or to idleness, equally destructive to health 
 and morality. To this was added the effect produced by machinery 
 on the form of modern labour. In many trades the men were 
 discharged, and women and children employed instead. The un- 
 limited development of manufacturing industry caused, at the 
 same time, a corresponding increase of purely mechanical labour, 
 which physically and morally crippled the workman. 
 
 An improvement in this state of things was brought about by 
 circumstances which, working side by side, can only properly 
 be estimated in their relation to each other. They are of an 
 economic as well as of a social nature, and were powerfully 
 furthered between 1840 and the present time by the legislature 
 and the Government, as well as by the associations of the work- 
 ing-men themselves. 
 
 In the first place it must be evident that the present economic 
 condition of England exhibits a series of important phenomena, 
 the result of an extension of English supremacy lasting for a 
 century, and always striving consistently in one direction. Ever 
 since the days of the great Elizabeth, England has been strug- 
 gling practically, consistently, and with an exclusive regard to 
 her own interest, for dominion in trade and industry, and step by 
 step she has succeeded in making the British Isles the commercial 
 emporium of the world, the centre of a huge colonial system, as 
 well as the workshop of a mass of industrial products, seeking 
 
10 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 for sale throughout the whole globe. The fruits of this historical 
 development, which is recognised all the more clearly at the pre- 
 sent day when other nations are seeking to imitate it, have ripened 
 in an unexpected manner during the last fifty years. Since the 
 Reform Act and the abolition of the Corn Laws, it would seem 
 as if every flood-gate had been opened to set free the forces 
 accumulated during centuries through the policy, the commercial 
 enterprise, and the spontaneous energy of the English nation. 
 The importation of raw products, their manufacture and exporta- 
 tion, the production of coal and iron out of English soil, and on 
 the other side the importation of cheap and wholesome food — all 
 this resembles a gigantic process of assimilation, the effects of 
 which are seen in an ever-growing increase of production, a rise in 
 the value of labour, and an augmentation of the national income ; 
 in short, a general advance and improvement in the economic con- 
 dition of the people. This advance and improvement, powerfully 
 furthered, as it has been, by the continuous transplanting of the 
 surplus strength of the mother-country to her colonies, and by 
 the reaction of this transplanting upon the mother-country, estab- 
 lishes the one paramount condition for the more equitable distri- 
 bution of the national income amongst the various classes of the 
 producing community, — namely, the increasing supply of that 
 material wealth which is to form the subject of distribution. 
 
 It would be a great mistake, however, to suppose that the 
 revolution in favour of the working classes, so far as it has already 
 advanced, is attributable to these economic causes alone. Not- 
 withstanding the upward tendency long pursued in the national 
 income in England, the increase of wealth without the influence 
 of quite another element would simply have swelled the income 
 of that class of the industrial community which was in a posi- 
 tion to turn the law of supply and demand to its own exclusive 
 profit. And for a long while it seemed as if a one-sided develop- 
 ment of this kind would actually take place in England, as if 
 the augmentation of the aggregate income would benefit this one 
 class alone. But the result — at least in part — proved otherwise. 
 
 A social element appeared, which, on the division of the great 
 national gains, so strengthened the position of the working-men, in 
 relation to capital, that their share was larger than it had hitherto 
 
Scope and Limits of the Work. 
 
 ii 
 
 been. This social element consisted of the working-men them- 
 selveSj united in various associations. Supported at first by a few 
 men of the upper classes, and afterwards by ever-widening circles, 
 by the press, literature, Parliament, and the legislature, their 
 countless associations embarked in a struggle for a rise in wages, 
 demanded — and demanded successfully — that the new form of 
 labour should be regulated by new enactments of law, attempted 
 even to assert a part in directing the process of production, and 
 finally created a number of institutions, destined to secure to 
 the working classes an increasing share in the progress of culture 
 in their time. 
 
 The preceding facts supply the limits of the material we pur- 
 pose comprehending in these pages. We shall endeavour to 
 describe the rise, growth, legal regulation and success of the 
 English working-men’s associations. Within the limits of this 
 framework we shall be able not only to examine, by means of a 
 careful study of details, the characteristic features of these insti- 
 tutions, but also to ascertain how far the State has interfered, by 
 legislation and administration, in the working-men’s affairs. And 
 lastly, a background is furnished to this picture by the general 
 course of events in England. 
 
 England is at present the theatre of a gigantic development of 
 associated life, which gives to her labour, her education, her social 
 intercourse, nay, to the entire development of her culture, a pro- 
 nounced direction, a decisive stamp. The tendency towards the 
 union of forces and the working of this union are now-a-days more 
 powerful in England than ever, and more powerful than any- 
 where else. The free union of individuals for the attainment of 
 a common object is the great psychological fact in the life of this 
 people, its great characteristic feature. This union of individual 
 forces has operated even there, where adverse relations have 
 sought to restrain it ; but now, freed from all fetters, and yet at 
 the same time under discipline, it has become a mighty moving 
 wheel of social development in general, and especially in the 
 elevation of the working classes. Since the repeal of the laws 
 prohibiting Combinations (1824), which has been the turning- 
 point in the history of the English working class, the working- 
 men’s associations have gained immensely in importance : they 
 
12 
 
 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 have become more organized, more enlightened, more firmly es- 
 tablished. The power of union, the capacity of submitting to the 
 lead of others, the pertinacity and energy which they display in 
 the pursuit of fixed aims, are amazing. In the course of the last 
 decade these associations have become more and more differen- 
 tiated, according to their various objects, and are now well-defined, 
 economic, and legal institutions. The combination of the earlier, 
 more scattered and disconnected groups into great centralized 
 associations has extraordinarily increased their power. 
 
 What, then, are those working-men’s associations of which we 
 are treating? 
 
 The oldest form of the present English working-men’s associ- 
 ations are the Friendly Societies. They were originally associ- 
 ations for support in case of sickness, old age, or death, which 
 owed their existence more to benevolence than to strict financial 
 calculations of risks and obligations incurred. Gradually and with 
 difficulty they exchanged this character for that of Insurance 
 societies, constructed on scientific foundations, and they include 
 at the present day by far the larger portion of those benefit 
 societies whose object is to solve for the working classes the 
 problem of insurance in a variety of directions. The question 
 of Friendly Societies is therefore the question of the English 
 working-man’s insurance. 
 
 The historical development of Friendly Societies is inti- 
 mately connected with that of Trades-unions. The latter are 
 associations, of which no one can now deny that the English 
 working-man largely owes to them the improvement, in his 
 condition. They are combinations of workmen of the same or 
 similar trades, originating in the struggle for higher wages, but 
 now well-developed organizations, towards the furtherance of 
 whose objects the strike is but the extreme and ultimate means ; 
 whilst in many trades, on the contrary, they have become the 
 staunchest support of the system of arbitration. But whether 
 vi et arviis or by amicable settlement, they have always the same 
 end in view : to obtain for the workman the best wages they can. 
 The Trades-unions also insure their members, but these insur- 
 ances, so far as they relate to illness and accident, form only a 
 subordinate object, the chief branch of their activity being to 
 
Scope and Limits of the Work. 
 
 n 
 
 v maintain those members who, through no fault of their own, are 
 thrown out of employment. Their purview and action extend 
 to all terms and covenants respecting labour, and they may be 
 designated the English working-man’s associations /car’ 
 inasmuch as their especial object is to emancipate him from his 
 isolation as an individual, and make him the member of a brother- 
 hood which, while imposing certain restrictions upon him, affords 
 him real and active protection. 
 
 The associations comprehended in England under the name of 
 Co-operative Societies have spread at length in a most surprising 
 manner. Their functions are both distributive and productive. 
 The primary object of the distributive societies, spread in thou- 
 sands over Great Britain, and ramifying from various centres, is 
 to sell to the working classes the material necessaries of life, — 
 provisions, clothing, and furniture, — and certain articles of luxury. 
 These Co-operative Societies, however, go far beyond the Konsum- 
 Vereine of the Continent, being not only sale-rooms, where a 
 moderate-sized household can procure all they require, but having 
 in many cases libraries and reading-rooms of considerable dimen- 
 sions, where recitations and concerts are given, and their members 
 can meet for social converse or amusement. Whilst the distri- 
 butive societies of this kind have met with widespread success, 
 the productive associations in England have, on the contrary, been 
 as yet a failure. Where they actually exist, they are in reality, 
 though not in name, as a rule nothing but joint-stock companies, 
 with this peculiarity, however, that the capital of the undertaking 
 is made up of a number of petty contributions, drawn from the 
 higher classes of the workmen. 
 
 The Friendly Societies, Trades-unions, and Co-operative Socie- 
 ties will therefore lead us at once to a consideration of the in- 
 surance, wage movements, provisioning, and industrial undertak- 
 ings of the English workman. To these we must also add the 
 Benefit Building Societies and the Working-men’s Clubs. The 
 first are a sort of building companies, or, more correctly speaking, 
 house-purchase companies, whose sphere of action is connected 
 with those great sanitary improvements which have taken place 
 /during the last ten years in the manufacturing towns, and 
 in many cases entirely changed their aspect. These societies 
 
14 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 will also give us occasion to advert to a subject which is daily 
 assuming more prominence, namely, the interest borne by the 
 English working classes in the relations of landed property. The 
 Working-men’s Clubs, finally, form a part of those institutions 
 which offer to the labourer or artizan the means of obtaining 
 improvement and social intercourse, — a task which has been 
 prosecuted during the last ten years with praiseworthy zeal and 
 undeniable success. 
 
 All these institutions have a separate existence ; they are re- 
 presented by independent and separate social organizations, and 
 legislation itself has established their rights and status in sepa- 
 rate Acts of Parliament. There is, therefore, no difficulty in 
 considering and determining separately their rise, extension, and 
 progress, and examining their advantages and defects, as we pro- 
 pose to do in the following pages. On the other hand, it is in 
 their co-operation alone that the secret of their success is to be 
 found. The separate study of Friendly Societies, Trades-unions, 
 and Co-operative Societies, or of the legislation respecting fac- 
 tories and wages, will not suffice by itself to give a satisfactory 
 answer to the question as to the causes which have given, and 
 are still giving, an impulse to the progress made by the working 
 classes in England. The key to this inquiry lies in recognising 
 the joint working of all these institutions as an organic whole. 
 One supplements and completes the other ; one is rendered pos- 
 sible by the other ; a mistake on this side is made up for by a 
 success on the other. However difficult it is to describe this 
 intertexture of organizations outwardly distinct, it is necessary 
 to grasp the fact of its existence. 
 
 Summing up the preceding remarks, it appears plain, as we 
 have said, that an element of association has stepped in and in- 
 fluenced the distribution of the national income. The process of 
 accumulating capital has received a counterpoise in the accumu- 
 lation of the social and material forces, represented by labour. 
 Capital, as the power which by the intellectual and material 
 combination of inanimate means of production, had acquired such 
 vast and exclusive sway, has found at least a partial counter- 
 poise in a power brought into being by a similar union of living 
 energies, —the power of labour. The process of production has 
 
Scope and Limits of the Work. 
 
 5 
 
 remained the same, the outward form and fashion of private 
 undertakings has even received a wider application, and extended 
 to the working men’s associations ; supply and demand have not 
 lost their meaning and importance — but inside the old pale of 
 political economy, the workman, face to face witli the capitalist, 
 is no longer a mere atom destitute of power or will. Capital and 
 labour now confront one another, each with all its forces com- 
 bined, and each learning to recognise and respect the equal rights 
 of its antagonist. 
 
 This state of things is obvious to those who observe the rela- 
 tions of the English workman of the present day. But it is far 
 easier to sketch out the direction taken by this development, 
 than to state an account of the nett result gained, or determine 
 arithmetically how far the condition of the working classes in 
 England has improved. An entire literature is occupied with 
 this question. Statisticians and political economists, learned 
 societies and the daily press, vie in seeking to explain it. Work- 
 ing-men’s meetings as well as debates in Parliament are full of it. 
 The wage movement in individual trades, the intrinsic value of 
 wages, the length of working hours, and the improvement of the 
 external conditions of labour, the health of the workman, the 
 precaution against unsanitary influences and accidents, and 
 further, the use which the working classes have made of the 
 advance in their material means, their progress in education 
 and thrift, and the decrease in crime and drunkenness — all this 
 has formed the subject of works of the highest merit, which, 
 stimulated as they have been by the spirit so rife in England, of 
 inductive inquiry, and fortified by the authority of official reports, 
 are mapped out in masterly fashion. That great progress is to 
 be noted in all the above-named directions during the last half- 
 century becomes evident in all these publications. So far there 
 is scarcely any difference of opinion, and also no difficulty. The 
 latter begins when from a variety of separate investigations a 
 general conclusion has to be formed as to the condition of the 
 working classes in the aggregate ; when from the wage move- 
 ments in individual trades, from the prices of food and wares, 
 from sanitary facts, and from the increasing wealth of the work- 
 ing-men’s associations, the time arrives to pronounce inductively 
 
1 6 E?iglish Associations of Working Men . 
 
 a comprehensive verdict on the whole. The difficulty increases 
 when one goes a step further and, very naturally, asks what 
 proportion the income derived from labour bears now, and for- 
 merly bore, to the other sources of national wealth ; whether the 
 progression in the earnings of the working classes during the 
 last ten years has been larger than that of other incomes, or 
 whether the same, or even smaller. Each of these cases is in 
 itself compatible with the fact that the situation of the working 
 classes is now, absolutely speaking, far better than it was so and 
 so many years ago. The question, however, is whether the gain 
 is also a relative one, whether in the main the effect of the work- 
 ing men’s associations and of social legislation has been to show 
 that, in the three chief branches of the national income, namely, 
 ground rents, interest on capital, and wages for labour, a displace- 
 ment has taken place in favour of the income derived from 
 labour ; and whether the accumulation of English wealth in the 
 aggregate tends to fill up the broad chasm lying between the in- 
 come of the working man on the one hand and that of the capital- 
 ists and landed proprietors on the other. 
 
 We hope, by a careful and critical examination of the English 
 working-men’s associations, of the results they aim at, as well as 
 the obstacles they have to surmount, to contribute something to- 
 wards answering this question. But we must first draw attention 
 to two salient features in the whole development of the English 
 working class, which it is necessary to bear constantly in mind 
 in order to prevent misconception, and which impose certain 
 limitations on the favourable judgment already formed of the 
 progress achieved in culture by the English workman. 
 
 The first limitation is suggested by a review and comparison of 
 the various divisions of the great English army of labour. Every 
 economic epoch has its fixed gradations, its hierarchy of work. 
 Above all, it is the technical means of production which have 
 determined at all times the stratification of the working classes. 
 They gave their stamp to the constitution of the guilds, when 
 industrial products were the result of handicraft, and it is they 
 which now divide into different categories the working men who 
 stand at the machine. The modern industrial workman is in this 
 respect the creature of the machine and of the new division of 
 
Scope and Limits of the Work. 
 
 17 
 
 labour which it has brought about. Machinery has produced in 
 all trades a differentiation of employment, tending to multiply the 
 constituent elements of the entire working class ; so that when 
 we speak of that class generally, we include an infinite variety of 
 talents and capacities, of work and pay, which, regard being had 
 to the processes of modern manufacture as a whole, is certainly 
 far greater now than ever, extending as it does from the highly- 
 educated and well-paid manager of an establishment, down to the 
 lowest day-labourer. But even if we restrict ourselves to the 
 class that lives by weekly wages, the differentiation is still great, 
 and, what must not be overlooked, it is one which, in consequence 
 of the steady advance in technical knowledge, is to a certain 
 extent constantly changing. We must always bear in mind that 
 the wage-earning workmen are standing on different stages as 
 regards their technical education and employment, their standard, 
 of wages and manner of life thus forming a large graduated scale 
 of different occupations, intelligence, and earnings. 
 
 Now it cannot be denied that, on the whole, this scale is in 
 England an ascending one, leading to a general amelioration of 
 the conditions of life. But the fact of progress does not prevent 
 the progress from being unequal, or forbid, indeed, the occurrence 
 of single instances of standing still, and even of going back. 
 Herein, then, lies one reason for qualifying the general eulogium. 
 The uppermost, best-paid, and best-educated portion of the work- 
 ing classes in England have, doubtless, made, during the last ten 
 years, undeniable and astonishing progress, and are at the present 
 day in full possession and enjoyment of all those institutions 
 which self-help and legislation have created for their benefit. 
 But, on the other hand, the lower we descend, the smaller we 
 shall find will be the share relatively enjoyed in all these advan- 
 tages. The workmen belonging to the textile industries, the 
 machinists, the ship-builders, the iron-workers and miners, who, 
 with or without the assistance of their families, earn from thirty 
 to fifty shillings a week and even more, form the class who have 
 been accurately described by Mill as the “skilled and privileged 
 labourers.” Their number during the last ten years has very 
 largely increased, and the progress they have made is notorious. 
 Those numerous workmen whose weekly earnings are less than 
 
1 8 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 thirty shillings may he regarded as the middle-class wage-earners. 
 The lowest grade consists of the “ unskilled labourers,” who, at 
 least in some trades, have relatively increased in number — through 
 the very introduction ol machinery. 
 
 A second feature is to be noticed in the modern relations of the 
 working-man, — we mean the influence exercised by the fluctua- 
 tions of industry and trade. These lead to fluctuations in the 
 money value ot labour, and to uncertainty in the employment of 
 the workman himself. Every economic epoch imprints its stamp 
 on the relations of the working classes. Protessor Thorold Rogers, 
 in his admirable work, u Six Centuries of Work and Wages,” has 
 pointed out that from the fifteenth century, which he terms “ the 
 golden age of the English labourer,” till about the middle of the 
 seventeenth century, there was a steady deterioration of the con- 
 ditions which influenced the lot of the working classes ; that the 
 nadir in this history of the degradation of labour began about the 
 time when king and Parliament were struggling for supremacy ; 
 that then again an improvement commenced, which lasted till the 
 middle of the eighteenth century, and was followed by a new 
 relapse, which reduced the English workman at the beginning of 
 the present century to a state of truly pitiable distress. Since 
 then the condition of the working classes has, no doubt, made 
 decided progress ; but the modern course of industry, with its in- 
 satiable productive energy and temporary over-production, creates, 
 inside this great movement, fluctuations or “ business cycles,” as 
 they are called in England, which, as regards a large portion of 
 the working classes, make the conditions of labour more preca- 
 rious and unstable than ever. If we follow only the latest phases 
 in the movement of trade, — the depression ot 1866-1870, the 
 revival of 1870-1874, the more recent depression of 1874-1879, 
 and the partial revival since 1880, which was succeeded by 
 another relapse ; or if we select any concrete examples of the 
 variations in wages, whether it be, for instance, the piece-work 
 earnings of the puddlers at Darlington, which varied from 8s. per 
 ton in 1869 to 135. 3d. in 1873 and 7s. in 1879, or the daily wages 
 of the Scotch coal-workers, amounting to 3s. 9c?. in 1870, to 9s. 11 d. 
 in 1873, and to 3s. 2d. in 1878 ; and if, lastly, we take into account 
 the fact that each depression not only involves a reduction of 
 
Scope and Limits of the Work. 
 
 19 
 
 wages, bat also throws a portion of the workmen out of employ- 
 ment altogether, we have done enough to point out the all-impor- 
 tant fact which imposes a second and essential limitation, to 
 qualify the favourable judgment of the progress of the working 
 classes in England. So far as concerns the workman who is not 
 deprived of employment altogether, the question is one of, perhaps, 
 very straitened means, but not of absolute want. The misery 
 begins with the failure of work, which in England affects larger 
 and larger numbers of workmen, as soon as a glut in the market 
 sets in. It is at such times that the power of resistance inherent 
 in the English character asserts itself in the most marvellous 
 manner ; but still the weaker individuals succumb to the strain, 
 and swell that dark residuum of English society which teems in 
 the destitute quarters of London, Glasgow, Liverpool, and other 
 large cities, and whose utterly forlorn condition remains the 
 gloomiest feature of English civilisation. 
 
 This configuration of working-class relations renders a general 
 judgment extremely difficult, and explains how it is that statisti- 
 cal dissertations on the wage-income and the growing savings of 
 the working classes, such as have appeared frequently in England 
 of late years, usually encounter contradiction. All arithmetical 
 data are correct only as regards certain grades of workmen and 
 certain relations. If we compare the various opinions expressed 
 in England itself as to the progress made by the working classes 
 in culture and refinement, we find that, as regards the progress 
 itself, nobody, as we have said, disputes it, but that people differ 
 widely as to its extent and degree. This is not to be wondered 
 at. It is not only that a natural optimism influences the one 
 party, who are anxious above all things to demonstrate the pro- 
 gress already achieved, while an equally natural pessimism im- 
 pels the other, who stands, perhaps, in immediate contact with 
 the shady side of the development ; but, above all, these cardinal 
 questions have to be considered : By what process of induction 
 was this or that conclusion arrived at ? What particular part 
 of the whole complex subject was observed ? Under what con- 
 ditions was this done ? And, lastly, according to what method 
 were the results appraised ? The works of Porter, Dudley Bax- 
 ter, Leone Levi, Griffen, Thorold Rogers, and many others, will 
 
20 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 frequently recur to our notice in the course of these pages. We 
 shall certainly not fail to pay careful attention to their calcula- 
 tion of averages, and the results based by them on the law of 
 large figures ; but we shall not exaggerate the value of statistics. 
 Our object is, rather, to put clearly before our readers the 
 inner forces of the working-men’s movement, as well as the 
 different forms which social self-government has assumed in 
 England. 
 
 We renounce, therefore, at the outset all design of passing a 
 judgment on the extent and operation of the wage movement and 
 the conditions of labour generally ; but we shall endeavour to 
 point out the element that determines the upward advance in 
 the life of the working classes in England. This element un- 
 doubtedly lies in the fact that in England there has gradually 
 been formed an aristocracy of workmen, a kind of vanguard, 
 which already counts many hundred thousands, and which is 
 daily growing in numbers. This vanguard consists of the mem- 
 bers of those working-men’s associations which we purpose to 
 describe. They are the organizing force of the English working 
 classes, whose interests they represent as their superiors, while 
 reaching a helping hand to those of their brethren whom they 
 seek to raise from the lower grades. 
 
 Viewed in this light, the real importance of the working-men’s 
 associations becomes apparent. It does not consist only in the 
 fact that these associations provide means of insurance to the 
 workman, protect his interest as a wage-earner, and supply him 
 with food, healthy dwellings, and places of social resort, — but they 
 add to these immediate objects a great deal more. Friendly 
 Societies are not only associations for purposes of insurance, but 
 bodies which undertake to teach their members to practise thrift 
 and providence and care for the future. Trades-unions are no 
 longer one-sided combinations for the purpose of obtaining higher 
 wages, but the champions and guardians of the economic interests 
 of the workmen in a broad and legitimate sense. Co-operative 
 Societies are not simply social institutions, which procure practi- 
 cally for the English workman the advantages which he derives 
 so abundantly at the present day from the importation of cheap 
 food and the cheap production of many articles of industry, but 
 
Scope and Limits of the Work. 
 
 21 
 
 schools in which he learns to understand business life in all its 
 bearings and with all its difficulties and dangers. 
 
 And still more than all this, the English workman, who has 
 established and who directs all these countless associations of the 
 most various kinds, has ceased to be an inactive spectator of the 
 proceedings of the State and society. His life has received a 
 new purpose and character. His evening, his Saturday afternoon, 
 and partly also his Sunday, are now devoted to an intellectual 
 work which brings him into close contact with all kinds of 
 financial, social, and legislative questions. His understanding 
 and his insight in economic matters are increasing ; he is learning 
 by his own experience to recognise the difficulties which oppose 
 themselves to the carrying out of social institutions ; he is be- 
 coming more moderate in his claims, calmer in judgment, and 
 more contented with success. On the other hand, he is losing 
 nothing of that pertinacity in the pursuit of his ends which has 
 always been his distinctive characteristic. Step by step, by his 
 meetings, journals, and congresses, he is attracting the general 
 interest of the public, acquiring an influence in local bodies and 
 in Parliament, and becoming a more active, independent, and 
 powerful factor in State life. But the main thing is that his 
 world of thought is filled with things clearly practicable and 
 attainable, and that no Utopias find place in it. It would be 
 an entire error to suppose that the English workman does not 
 extend his thought to the distant future, or picture to himself 
 one very different from the to-day ; but in his acts and conduct 
 he reckons with present facts, and he employs the freedom of 
 movement which he enjoys without limit in his associations, to 
 obtain one thing after another. 
 
 No more striking words have ever been uttered with regard to 
 this than by the American Minister, Mr. Bussell Lowell. In a 
 great inaugural address which he delivered (6th October, 1884), 
 as President of the Midland Institute at Birmingham, he said : 
 “ It is only when the reasonable and practicable are denied, that 
 men demand the unreasonable and impracticable ; only when the 
 possible is made difficult, that they fancy the impossible to be 
 easy.” 
 
 Upon the whole the English workman confines himself to what 
 
22 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 is possible. Marx lived in England for years without having 
 been able to gain any appreciable influence over the English 
 working classes, the majority of whose leaders know him only by 
 name. Now it is impossible to deny that during the last few 
 years, more especially in connection with the land question, 
 socialistic watchwords hitherto unheard have found their way 
 into assemblies of English workmen, and that theories of conti- 
 nental socialists have spread and even acquired a certain in- 
 fluence. But neither Henry George, with his ideas of expropria- 
 tion ; nor Hyndman, with his notions derived from Marx, which 
 he is seeking to propagate among the unemployed, will succeed 
 — unless some unforeseen and over-mastering events upset all 
 existing prognostics of development — in effecting any change in 
 the method which the English working-man has deliberately and 
 consistently adopted. On the contrary, all these new-fangled 
 ideas, however soaring and ambitious they appear at first sight, 
 will be turned by the English people into the peaceful channel 
 of reflection, where they can be quietly dealt w*ith by all con- 
 cerned in them, and where whatever is sound in them will 
 eventually be transformed into practical schemes of solid benefit 
 to the working classes. 
 
 In close and constant connection with this attitude of the 
 working-man stands the fact that the views of all classes in 
 England have completely changed with regard to the question of 
 wages. The Englishman of to-day thinks quite differently on 
 this subject to the Englishman of forty years ago. The question 
 is no longer regarded as one simply economic, but social and 
 ethical. Not only do science and the legislature fearlessly deduce 
 the logical results of this change, but the very classes, who gome 
 twenty or thirty years ago selfishly endeavoured to resist them, 
 now readily accept the consequences of their new position. In 
 this manner the relations between capital and labour have un- 
 questionably drawn closer together in England than in any other 
 country in Europe. The power developed by the workmen 
 through their associations first procured for them the recognition 
 of their interests, while the moderation they have shown has 
 gained them the respect and sympathy which they now univer- 
 sally enjoy. Unanimous as is the verdict as to the improvement 
 
Scope and Limits of the Work . 
 
 23 
 
 in the lot of the working classes in general, nowhere is this fact 
 more cordially and generally confirmed than in England. The 
 deep-rooted distrust between capital and labour has been, even if 
 not entirely eradicated, still essentially mitigated. The touch- 
 stone of this happier disposition is the treatment of the question 
 of wages. Both sides have been brought in England to treat this 
 question as one of common concern, and to recognise each other 
 as entitled to equal rights and an equal share in its solution. 
 Each party has learned to understand the point of view and the 
 legitimate interests of the other, and to take account of their 
 calculations and claims. We are far from saying that in the 
 intercourse between the representatives of labour and capital 
 there is no rough jostling of conflicting views and interests ; nay, 
 this intercourse is still often entirely broken off, and the rupture 
 ends in a strike. But we hope, in our second volume, to be able 
 to show clearly, from the ever-growing importance of the Boards 
 of Conciliation and Arbitration, as well as from the whole posi- 
 tion taken up by the associations of employers in respect of those 
 of the employed, and the indirect effect these associations have 
 also had upon the manufacturers and workmen outside them — how 
 the relations have assumed a peaceful character, how far this 
 mutual rapprochement has extended, and what fruits it has borne. 
 
 If now we are asked what are the prospects opened out by this 
 demeanour of the English working-men, we must decline to quit 
 the ground of actual fact or cast a horoscope. Nothing short of 
 an exhaustive inquiry into the development of the working-men’s 
 associations will afford a glimpse into the vista of the future. 
 This much, however, is certain, and may be affirmed at once, that 
 the English working-man feels his interests to be inseparably 
 bound up with those of the great industries of his country. Since 
 he has obtained more and more an equal voice in the great pro- 
 cess of production in England, this process is become his own 
 concern as well. The English working-man has made enormous 
 progress in comprehending the political situation of his country 
 in respect of trade and industry, and he is resolved to make efforts 
 and even sacrifices on its behalf, as the Lancashire artisans did so 
 nobly in the cotton famine during the American War of Secession. 
 Certain it is that, were England put to the proof, her working 
 
24 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 classes would be found in the forefront of those willing to make 
 sacrifices. 
 
 Reverting briefly, in conclusion, to the foregoing introductory 
 remarks on the progress of the working classes in England, we 
 are confronted with three great decisive facts as the conditions 
 on which the development of their culture depends. Firstly, 
 there is the gigantic process of production, which, after centuries 
 of preparation, now imports from foreign countries, in colossal 
 dimensions, cheap food as well as raw stuffs, and exports for sale 
 throughout the world the manufactured products, increased by 
 the treasure found in English soil. Secondly, there is the great 
 social movement, which directs and governs the march of English 
 thought, science, and legislation. Lastly, there are the great 
 characteristics of the English people, the power of self-help and 
 of self-government. On these pillars rests the social development 
 of England. It will be expedient to consider each of these points 
 separately, before proceeding to the main subject of our work. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Greater Britain. 
 
 Historical aspect of industrial production in England. — Discovery of the 
 New World. — Merchant Adventurers. — Maritime apprenticeship of Eng- 
 land. — Three periods of her Expansion. — The Mercantile System. — The 
 Navigation Act. — Theory of the Balance of Trade. — The Methuen 
 Treaty. — Treaty of Utrecht. — Loss of the American Colonies. — Acquisi- 
 tion of India and Australia. — Peace of Vienna. — England mistress of the 
 seas. — The new Colonial System. — Growth of England’s commercial 
 supremacy. — Adam Smith and Free Trade. — Mr. Huskisson’s reforms. — 
 The Anti-Corn Law League. — Increase of production since 1840. — Effects 
 of mechanical improvements.— Statistics of Exports and Imports. — 
 Increased consumption of foreign food. — The wage-earning population. — 
 Preponderating importance of manufactures. — Over-production and de- 
 pression. — Foreign competition. — The Fair Trade Movement. — Protection 
 in America and on the Continent. — Importance of the Colonies. — Com- 
 parison of foreign and colonial Exports. — Foreign and colonial food- 
 supply. — Imperial Federation and the working-classes. — Effect of English 
 national expansion on English views. 
 
 Industrial production in England has an historical background, 
 which alone renders it intelligible. Politics, the spirit of enter- 
 prise, the progress in mechanism and chemistry, as well as in 
 human skill, have been labouring for centuries, like concentric 
 forces, for the attainment of one object, the establishment, im- 
 provement, and extension of all branches of the great industrial 
 process of production. The wealth accumulated in this way, 
 even at an early period, and the trained energies of the English 
 people, have offered increasing means for the pursuit of this 
 object, so that the development of the industrial system has 
 made not only constant, but astonishing progress. 
 
 Frederick List, who has thrown such valuable light on the 
 commercial policy of England, rightly appeals to English history 
 
 25 
 
2 6 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 for evidence to prove how closely general politics are connected 
 with political economy. He has shown how England has acquired 
 power by her policy, productive energy by her power, and 
 wealth by her productive energy; and further, how, in conse- 
 quence of her policy, England has accumulated power on 
 power, and multiplied her capabilities of production. 
 
 The facts and events brought about by England’s industrial 
 position in the world reach back to the time when the discovery 
 of the Hew World brought a total change in the history of man- 
 kind. Humboldt, in the second volume of his “ Cosmos,” de- 
 scribes in charming language how the Oceanic discoveries of 
 the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries doubled to the inhabitants 
 of Europe the works of creation, and at the same time offered 
 to human intelligence a new and powerful incentive for the 
 perfecting of natural science, and how the acquaintance of the 
 European nations with the western hemisphere led to a correct 
 and enlarged conception of the universe. Along with this 
 broader view of the physical world went an extension and trans- 
 formation of political ideas and aspirations, a total revolution in 
 the system of commerce, as well as a rise of new and important 
 political communities, in the shape of colonies and settlements. 
 Italy and Germany at that time were pushed into the background, 
 whilst the five Western Powers : Portugal, Spain, Holland, Prance, 
 and England, contended for the possession of the New World. 
 The rivalry of these five nations for the New World, as Pro- 
 fessor Seeley shows in his admirable work,* sums up a large 
 part of the history of the world since the sixteenth century. 
 As an Englishman himself, he can take pride in expatiating on 
 this reflection, since it was England who issued victorious from 
 the contest. 
 
 At the close of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth 
 centuries, when the New World began gradually to be opened 
 out, England appeared to be the least concerned in it. She 
 took no part in the decisive voyages of discovery, and still in 
 Queen Elizabeth’s time was called “ in a great pool a swan’s 
 nest.” During the century following the voyages of discovery 
 
 * J. E. Seeley: “ The Expansion of England,” London, 1883. 
 
Greater Britain. 
 
 27 
 
 by Columbus and Yasco de Gama, while in Spain that stream 
 of wealth was pouring over the peninsula, which excited there 
 the lust of adventure without promoting any capacity for busi- 
 ness, and caused a revolution in property and prices without 
 giving to the mother-country any sound economical basis ; while, 
 together with the gold, came also that “ breath of poison ” which 
 was followed by the extraordinary torpor and enervation of the 
 seventeenth century ; — England had forcibly but finally struggled 
 through the Reformation and, in organizing her State and self- 
 government, laid the foundations of that internal strength, unity, 
 and spontaneous activity, on which rose the fabric of her future 
 greatness. It is true, that under the two first Tudors English 
 merchants had undertaken voyages to Newfoundland and Labra- 
 dor, but without any permanent assistance from the State. It 
 is as if fate from the very first had thrown the English nation 
 upon Self-Help. It was the time of “Merchant Adventurers,” 
 men who, as Schanz says of them, “ did not restrict themselves 
 to any settled route or settled place, who ventured forth, not as 
 instruments and emissaries of the Government, or mere organs 
 of finance and exchange, but independently on their own account, 
 and ploughed the seas wherever they could, establishing trade 
 connections, founding settlements, and obtaining value for Eng- 
 lish wares.” * The defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 con- 
 cluded this maritime apprenticeship of England with a brilliant 
 proof of her capacity. After that the nation turned her eyes 
 from insular matters to the ocean and the New World, and then 
 began her great maritime and industrial career, the construction 
 of a Greater England — Greater Britain. 
 
 Queen Elizabeth, at her death in 160B, had left the English 
 people fully equipped to enter on that career, which they pur- 
 sued with a recklessness and consistency that has excited in 
 turns the hatred or admiration of the world. Speaking roughly, 
 we may divide this expansion of England into three great periods, 
 occurring about the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth 
 centuries. These periods exhibit, in proportion as her external 
 
 * Dr. George Schanz : “ Englische Handelspolitik gegen Ende des Mit- 
 telalters,” p. 332. 
 
28 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 power expanded, a corresponding increase and elevation of her 
 internal forces, the whole combining to perfect that grand system 
 of trade and industry which governs the social history of Eng- 
 land, as well as her economic theories, and the thoughts and 
 wishes of her people. 
 
 In the seventeenth century the great personality of Cromwell 
 stands as the central figure of that policy which aimed at the 
 extension and consolidation of England’s power abroad. Blake 
 and Monk commanded the English fleet which, in the naval 
 war with Spain, won J amaica and Dunkirk. Out of the “ swan’s 
 nest ” arose a rival of mighty Holland, mightier even than she. 
 This new naval power was thrown back, it is true, under the 
 feeble and demoralised government of Charles II. But the check 
 was only temporary, for two circumstances co-operated more and 
 more in favour of England against the Dutch. The first was 
 her superiority in population, compared with which Holland 
 possessed then, as now, too small a basis in the mother-country 
 for colonial expansion ; and the second was her insular position, 
 while Holland was exposed to constant invasions in the conti- 
 nental wars. The English colonies were perpetually expanding ; 
 Carolina and Pennsylvania were founded, New York and Dela- 
 ware were taken from the Dutch, and the first settlements were 
 formed on the West Coast of Africa. The result was, that at 
 the close of the seventeenth century, just a hundred years after 
 the defeat of the great Armada, a royal dynasty, which had 
 come into hopeless collision with the intellectual development 
 of England, had been dethroned, and the island kingdom had 
 not only gained a position of equality among the great naval 
 powers of Western Europe, but wds preparing to out-do all 
 competitors. 
 
 Not only, however, did the English emerge victorious from 
 their wars with Holland, but they also made the commercial 
 policy of the Dutch, which in the first half of the seventeenth 
 century was at the height of its prosperity, the subject of the 
 most assiduous study, and imitated it with such success that the 
 customs revenues in England, which in 1580 had amounted only 
 to £14,000, rose in 1642 to £500,000. The seventeenth century 
 was also in England the century of mercantilism . This epoch is 
 
 i 
 
Greater Britain . 
 
 29 
 
 everywhere distinguished by the fact that governments and 
 peoples now began to recognise the importance of wealth to the 
 power of a State and the progress of its inhabitants, and did 
 their utmost to obtain as many commodities as possible for themh 
 selves. It was a time, not of cosmopolitan, but of national ideas, 
 and each Government tried to gain the greatest advantage to 
 its country from intercourse with the world. These efforts 
 produced a number of administrative measures and economic 
 theories, all tending to the same object, all contributing to 
 educate the national mind more and more in this direction, and 
 all awakening in Western nations the desire to become great, 
 powerful, and wealthy. 
 
 We should only be repeating well-known facts were we to 
 remind our readers how at that time the extension of political 
 power, the encouragement of navigation, and the spread of trade 
 and commerce began to be accepted everywhere as maxims of 
 State ; how England in particular promoted her home manufac- 
 tures together with raw production in her colonies, and trans- 
 planted negro labour from Africa to the West Indies ; and how 
 the English spirit of enterprise began to assert its activity in 
 all directions in the numerous companies for Spanish, Erench, 
 and African trade. It is more important to recognise that the 
 mercantile measures, which a later theory subjected to such sharp 
 criticism, were relatively right, since they enabled people to ob- 
 tain what they wanted. The views represented by the Balance 
 of Trade and the Navigation Act are the poles on which turns 
 the commercial policy of England in the seventeenth century, 
 the basis on which the English continued in later times to build 
 under different circumstances and with altered theories and al- 
 tered laws. The success of the Navigation Act was so complete 
 that even Adam Smith calls it the wisest of all the commercial 
 laws of England. Modern writers recognise its importance more 
 clearly than ever. “ The only direct blow,” says Cunningham,* 
 u which was struck by the English Government at Dutch com- 
 merce was the Navigation Act of 1651. Its aim — and an aim in 
 
 * W. Cunningham : “ Growth of English Industry and Commerce,” Cam- 
 bridge, 1882, p. 327. 
 
30 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 •which it was very successful — was to divert as much as possible 
 of the carrying trade of the Dutch into our hands. This, even 
 more than her success in the Indies, had been the envy of English 
 merchants: it had been urged in 1641 that neither our import 
 nor our export trade could be profitably developed, but that 
 England was admirably situated for becoming an emporium for 
 all nations and for doing a large carrying trade for the rest of 
 the world. By forbidding the export or import of goods except 
 in English ships or the vessels of nations to which the goods be- 
 longed, the carrying trade of the Dutch between English and 
 foreign ports was at once stopped : though there were more than 
 once slight relaxations, the Navigation Act was maintained until 
 the aims of its most sanguine promoters had been more than ac- 
 complished.” 
 
 As to the Balance of Trade, no doubts are any longer enter- 
 tained, for we know that its theoretical basis was unsound, but 
 that the practical measures of that time were successful in 
 collecting and training the domestic forces of the nation. We 
 quote the same author again on this point, because he is at once 
 quite modern and quite unprejudiced. 
 
 “ To keep,” he says,* “ a commercial balance in our favour was, 
 according to them, the best means of maintaining the treasure of 
 the prince and the purity of the current coin of the realm. But 
 it was also necessary for the statesman to watch the state of this 
 balance, as it served as a criterion of the condition of the country, 
 by analogy with the individual craftsman it was argued that the 
 man who bought more than he sold would soon come to poverty, 
 but that if a man sold more than he bought, that his affairs were 
 in a good condition, and that he was in a position to save money. 
 The analogy was, however, false ; it is undoubtedly the case that 
 a nation which consumes more than it produces is in a bad way, 
 but it is not possible to identify exportation with production, or 
 importation with consumption. In many cases imports may be 
 necessaries of life without which production cannot continue : 
 such in the present day is corn ; in our day too there has been a 
 great exportation of capital, owned by Euglish subjects but used 
 
 Ibid., pp. 314, 315. 
 
Greater Britain . 
 
 3i 
 
 abroad, and a great importation of the profits on foreign invest- 
 ments : all these things render exportation and importation a 
 most imperfect representation of national production and national 
 consumption. In the seventeenth century, however, matters were 
 very different : England supplied all the thrifty wares she needed, 
 her exports consisted of a surplus stock of the necessaries of life, 
 her imports on the other hand were mere luxuries, spices, wines, 
 silks, etc. ; if the value of the imports exceeded that of the ex- 
 ports, it showed that we were consuming a quantity of mere 
 luxuries that was greater than our surplus stock of necessaries. 
 The balance of trade did as a matter of fact serve as a very rough 
 criterion of the economical condition of the country.” 
 
 It was this criterion which, in the eighteenth century, when 
 the repressive and violent period of Mercantilism was succeeded 
 by a period of diplomacy and treaties, induced the English to 
 ratify or reject their conventions, according as the balance of 
 trade showed the superiority or weakness of England in the vari- 
 ous branches of home manufacture, as against this or that foreign 
 country. Thus, for example, while in the so-called Methuen 
 Treaty,* the real importance of which has been so brilliantly 
 established by List in opposition to the hostile criticism of Adam 
 Smith, a convention was concluded on these principles with the 
 industrially weaker kingdom of Portugal, whereby a market was 
 opened for the woollen goods of England, Parliament, on the other 
 hand, rejected the most-favoured nation clause of the Treaty of 
 Utrecht (1713), which would have secured an import of French 
 wines, brandies, silk, oil, paper, etc., to the value of more than 
 £1,700,000 a year, against which England then could only reckon 
 on exports to France, made so prosperous, industrially, by the 
 policy of Colbert, of the annual value of £270,000.-f 
 
 * Concluded in 1703. It was abrogated in 1884. [Note to the English 
 Edition .] 
 
 f Macpherson’s “Annals of Commerce,” 1805, vol. iii. p. 31. The same author 
 makes a remark elsewhere, which we cite to show what a practical view English- 
 men have always taken of their commercial relations. “ On the other hand,” 
 he says, “ there are branches of trade which would be ruinous if the imports 
 did not exceed the exports, or, in other words, if the balance were not unfavour- 
 able t, according to this standard of estimation. Such is the trade with all our 
 West India . settlements, which have been formed and supported by British 
 
32 
 
 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 Cleverly, however, as England laboured by means of treaties 
 and enterprise and improvements in manufacturing skill, as well 
 as by the organization of her system of money and credit, since 
 the establishment of the Bank of England (1694), to advance 
 her position in the world, it was after all by force of arms that 
 she eventually acquired it. In the eighteenth century, or, more 
 strictly speaking, from 1688 to 1815, during the second great 
 period of her history which we are considering, Greater Britain, 
 the creation of Queen Elizabeth, contended with Greater Erance, 
 the creation of Colbert, for the sovereignty of the seas, which at 
 length she acquired beyond dispute. The treaties of Utrecht 
 (1713), of Paris (1763), and of Vienna (1815) are the landmarks 
 of this expansion of England. 
 
 Until the last quarter of the eighteenth century this expansion 
 appeared to be boundless. By the Peace of Utrecht England 
 obtained Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Hudson’s Bay from 
 France, and Gibraltar, Minorca, and the right of negro traffic to 
 the Spanish South American provinces from Spain ; by the Treaty 
 of Paris she gained Canada, a portion of the Lesser Antilles, some 
 coast territory in Africa, and military advantages in India. The 
 first check she suffered was in 1776, when the American colonies 
 declared their independence, which England was forced to recog- 
 nise in the Peace of Versailles (1783), ceding at the same time 
 Florida and Minorca to Spain, and Tobago and the Senegal with 
 its dependencies to France. But thanks to British energy and 
 the bold and indomitable perseverance of the English race, the 
 way was prepared about this very time for a new and still larger 
 expansion of England ; for almost in the same decade when she 
 lost one great colonial empire, she gained the keys to two others. 
 It was at this very time that Lord Clive laid the foundations of 
 the East Indian Empire and Cook took possession of New South 
 
 capitals, and in a great measure owned by proprietors resident in Great Britain. 
 Therefore the outward cargoes are to be considered as the stock employed in 
 the culture of the plantations ; and the homeward cargoes are in fact the pro- 
 ceeds of that culture, the excess of which is not a loss to the nation, but the 
 real amount of the net profits coming into the pockets of the proprietors, and 
 giving a very comfortable demonstration how much the amount of the product 
 is more than the prime cost. In other words, the outward cargoes are the seed, 
 and the inward cargoes are the harvest .” — Ibid., vol. iii/pp. 342, 343. 
 
Greater Britain . 
 
 33 
 
 Wales. And now began the last act of that great struggle waged 
 by England with Erance for a hundred years for the dominion of 
 the seas. The loss of the American colonies, which the elder 
 Pitt had been unable to avert, through the obstinate narrow- 
 mindedness of George III., was destined to be brilliantly retrieved 
 by the policy initiated by the younger Pitt. By dint of unparal- 
 leled exertions and sacrifices, England gathered together all the 
 material and moral forces at her disposal, to annihilate at sea first 
 the French Republic and then the French Empire, together with 
 its allies. In the twenty-one years of that contest the English 
 fleet captured or destroyed a total of 1,110 ships of war belonging 
 to France, Holland, Spain, Denmark, Russia, and other nations, of 
 which no less than 115 ships of the line, 9 fifty-gun ships, 215 
 frigates, and 349 sloops and smaller vessels were French,* — a 
 catalogue of ships, the full significance of which is shown by Por- 
 ter’s statement, that, in the year 1811, out of the 24,106 vessels 
 of 2,474,774 tonnage, forming the commercial navy of the United 
 Kingdom and its dependencies, 4,023, with 536,240 tons, were 
 admitted to British registry as good prizes.f On the maritime 
 ruin of other sea-faring nations England gradually built up the 
 fabric of her OaXaa-croKpaTia. The Peace of Vienna put its seal to 
 it. Heligoland, Malta, Ceylon, Mauritius, the Cape, together with 
 large territories in the East and West Indies, and on the coasts 
 of South America and Africa, were then added to England’s for- 
 mer possessions, and have remained so ever since. 
 
 During the half century ending with the Treaties of Vienna 
 (1815), the specific energies of England had also been indefatig- 
 ably exerted at home. Her commercial genius, her industrial 
 activity, and her inventive talent had not only succeeded, despite 
 war and foreign dangers, in retaining what she had won, but had 
 struck out new paths, increased her home products, and inaugu- 
 rated, with the inventions of Arkwright, Hargreave, Crompton, 
 Cartwright, Watt, and Whitney, a totally new method of pro- 
 duction. The expansion gafned by England in the war 'opened 
 out for all these accumulated forces a wide field of action. 
 
 * Fonblanque’s “ How we are Governed,” ed. 1858, p. 126. 
 
 f G. R. Porter : “Progress of the Nation,” ed. 1851, pp. 394, 396. 
 
 D 
 
34 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 Reviewing her historical position at the time of the Peace of 
 Vienna, it must be admitted that, through her successful conduct 
 of the war, as well as the specific energies of her people, she had 
 obtained all the conditions that enabled her to become the great 
 commercial and industrial nation that she is at the present day. 
 The manner in which she turned this position to account, in the 
 various directions taken by her moral and intellectual progress in 
 the nineteenth century, — the third period of her modern life, — 
 will always remain one of the most interesting examples of the 
 development of a nation. This development, however, only con- 
 cerns us so far as it has determined, and still determines, the 
 condition of the working classes. We shall, therefore, discard 
 all details and confine ourselves to stating those cardinal facts 
 which, in our opinion, govern the general economic and social 
 condition of England in the nineteenth century. They form the 
 points of view from which we shall afterwards consider : what are 
 the guarantees of progress as regards the most important part of 
 the community at large, namely, the working classes who have 
 entered on this new path of development ; what dangers beset 
 them on this path ; in what direction there is still room for 
 further efforts ; and to what limits those efforts are probably 
 subject. 
 
 With this object in mind we shall attempt to show, in a brief 
 survey, the direction taken, by the colonial system and the com- 
 mercial policy of England and the revolution effected by modern 
 machinery in the process of production. 
 
 In the statement made by Lord Chatham in Parliament, that 
 the British colonists ifi America had no right to manufacture 
 even a nail for a horse-shoe, and in the speech of Sir Robert Peel 
 in 1842, when he demanded that the colonies should be treated as 
 integral portions of the Empire, is expressed the entire change 
 experienced by the colonial policy of England. The old system 
 regarded the colonies as dependencies of the mother-country, as 
 large domains for the creation of raw produce, and as markets 
 reserved for English manufactures : the new system regards them 
 as members of the same body. Politically, the new colonial 
 system means in the first place a vast expansion of the idea of 
 the English State. 11 There might easily have been a great 
 
Greater Britain. 
 
 35 
 
 emigration from England which would not in any way have en- 
 larged the English State. For by Greater Britain we mean an 
 enlargement of the English State, and not simply of the English 
 nationality. It is not simply that a population of English blood 
 is now found in Canada and in Australia, as in old time a Greek 
 population was spread over Sicily, South Italy, and the western 
 coast of Asia Minor. That was an extension of the Nationality 
 but not of the State, an extension which gave no new strength, 
 and did not in any way help the Greek name when it was 
 attacked and conquered from Macedonia. In like manner at 
 present we see a constant stream of emigration from Germany 
 to America, but no Greater Germany comes into existence, be- 
 cause these emigrants, though they carry with them, and may 
 perhaps not altogether lose, their language and their ideas, do 
 not carry with them their State. This is the case with Germany 
 because its emigration has happened too late, when the New 
 World is already carved into States, into which its emigrants 
 are compelled to enter, as with Greece it was the result of a 
 theory of the State, which identified it with the city. But 
 Greater Britain is a real enlargement of the English State; it 
 carries across the seas not merely the English race, but the 
 authority of the English Government. We call it, for want 'of 
 a better word, an Empire. And it does resemble the great 
 empires of history in this respect, that it is an aggregate of 
 provinces, each of which has a government which is sent out 
 to it from the political head-quarters, and which is a kind of 
 delegation from the supreme government. But yet it is wholly 
 unlike the great empires of the Old World, Persian or Macedonian, 
 or Roman or Turkish, because it is not in the main founded on 
 conquest, and because in the main the inhabitants of the distant 
 provinces are of the same nation as those of the dominant 
 country. It resembles them in its vast extent, but it does not 
 resemble them in that violent military character which has made 
 most empires short-lived and liable to speedy decay.” # 
 
 This enlarged idea of the State, which had been invoked, though 
 in vain, by Burke, at the time of the American War of Inde- 
 
 * Seeley’s “ Expansion of England,” pp. 42, 43. 
 
36 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 pendence, and which Peel was the first to put forward as the 
 programme of the Government, owes the great progress it has 
 made in the minds of Englishmen up to the present day, above 
 all, to the revolution in England’s commercial policy. The cir- 
 culation of commodities throughout her world-wide empire was 
 enormously quickened by the triumph of Eree-trade principles, 
 and closer commercial contact strengthened the political ties 
 which had been originally formed by occupation or conquest. 
 The acquisition of the colonies, therefore, means a correspond- 
 ingly large expansion of the field of English economics. 
 
 The English system of Eree-trade is to be explained not by 
 theory, but mainly by history. How England at length succeeded, 
 through the efforts of her Government, the extension of her 
 colonies, the immigration of foreign workmen and manufacturers, 
 and the mercantile system, in changing from a country that ex- 
 ported only particular articles of industry which could not be con- 
 sumed at home, and imported only certain articles of luxury, such 
 as spices, wine, silk, etc., into a huge workshop, drawing raw 
 material from all parts of the world and disposing in all quarters 
 of her manufactured wares, has been described by List, if in a 
 one-sided manner, nevertheless with accuracy of perception. He 
 has shown us — and the soundness of his judgment is confirmed 
 by the most recent English writers — that England’s woollen 
 manufacture formed the basis of her industrial development, 
 wool having been the first commodity that made its way to 
 foreign markets, and thus stimulated a number of other branches 
 of production and promoted the increase of navigation. “ Erom 
 the woollen trade,” he says, “ sprang all the other branches of 
 manufacture, as off-shoots from a parent stem ; it is the basis 
 of the industry, the commerce, and the naval supremacy of 
 England.” 
 
 The course of this development was guided, and, apart from 
 a few undoubtedly wrong measures, happily guided by a series 
 of acts of State, such as the imposition of import and export 
 duties, as well as the restriction and even prohibition of the 
 freedom of navigation. But there came a time when the growth 
 of industrial production in England had so advanced, and her 
 maritime trade assumed such dimensions, that all these measures 
 
Greater Britain . 
 
 37 
 
 were felt to be so many cramping and mischievous restraints. 
 That was the time when England’s ascendancy in all these 
 respects was gained, and her superior strength in the free in- 
 terchange of commodities with other nations was bound to assert 
 itself still more. It was natural that the recognition of the 
 change thus effected in the peculiar interest of England was only 
 slow and gradual, even in those circles which in the long run 
 derived the most advantage from Free-trade. But already in 
 the eighteenth century, the development of industry, oommerce, 
 and navigation had sufficiently advanced to enable a discerning 
 eye to foresee what principles would shape the national economy 
 of the future. The merit of this insight, pursued with rare gifts 
 of observation and power of logic, will always belong to Adam 
 Smith. The form in which he states the results of all his in- 
 vestigations must not mislead us. It is the form of a theory 
 which, since his time, has misled many into construing his state- 
 ments into a doctrine applicable to all circumstances alike, where- 
 as, in fact, he simply stated the natural course of development 
 which England was necessarily bound to pursue. For in his 
 work, notwithstanding that it seems a skilful unity, it is possible 
 to separate the generalisations due to the influence of the doc- 
 trinaire physiocrats of France from those classical investigations 
 derived from an inductive study of history, which convinced his 
 cotemporaries that England’s industry, commerce, and navigation 
 had infinitely more to gain by freedom of movement than by the 
 restrictions existing at that time. The influence of his work 
 was enormous, for he expressed the formula of the future. Free- 
 trade was bound to come in England, for it lay in the womb of 
 her material development. 
 
 But it did not come at once. Its birth was delayed, in the first 
 place, by the war with Napoleon ; and even when that war was 
 ended, more than a quarter of a century had to elapse before 
 all prejudices were overcome. Free-trade measures, like all 
 reforms in England, were introduced only by degrees, and their 
 ultimate achievement was the result of a series of cautious and 
 successful experiments. It was Huskisson in particular who, 
 when in office, took the first decisive step. At his instance, in 
 1822, the restrictions on navigation were partially removed, and 
 
38 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 his customs tariff of 1824 already contained the characteristic 
 features of reform. He not only changed prohibitions into 
 moderate duties, but also lowered the latter, especially those 
 on raw stuffs. Had Huskisson not met his death by an 
 accident at the opening of the railway from Liverpool to Man- 
 chester in 1880, the Free-trade movement would very likely have 
 been settled ten years before it was. But, after his death, long- 
 continued attacks had to be made on the customs system before 
 it gradually fell to pieces. Prominent among the agitations of 
 that period was that of the Anti-Corn Law League, — that great 
 movement of which Cobden was the leading champion both in 
 and out of Parliament, and during which the English working 
 classes for the first time, though by no means with a unanimous 
 voice, took part in the discussion with the same lively interest 
 that they evince in all the economic questions of the present day. 
 Attempts were made at different times, by means of a sliding- 
 scale, adjusted according to the current price of wheat, to arrange 
 a compromise between the increasingly urgent demands of in- 
 dustry for cheap food and the interests of those concerned in 
 maintaining the Corn Laws ; but the stone had been set rolling, 
 and no one could now arrest its course. Scarcely a session passed 
 without the reduction or abolition of a duty, till at length, be- 
 tween 1842 and 1846, the contest was terminated by the virtual 
 repeal of the corn duties, and the triumph of the Eree-trade 
 system all along the line. In 1846 Sir E-obert Peel, who had 
 become, much against his original intention, the political exponent 
 of Eree-trade ideas, was able to declare in Parliament, with 
 perfect truth, that England by the remission of her duties upon 
 the raw material, by the incitements offered to skill and industry 
 and by competition with foreign goods, had defied her com- 
 petitors in foreign markets, and had even been enabled to exclude 
 them.* 
 
 Thus began the new phase in the economic history and com- 
 mercial policy of England, which brought to unexpected maturity 
 all the conditions, as well natural as acquired, which were re- 
 
 * Speech in the House of Commons, 27th January, 1846. Hansard, Yol. 
 lxxxiii., 3rd series, p. 278. 
 
Greater Britain. 
 
 39 
 
 quisite for her industrial expansion. What Pluskisson had already 
 said in Parliament in 1826, — namely, that the nation which has 
 the largest trade must necessarily derive also the largest advan- 
 tage from the establishment of free international commercial 
 relations, — the English people by their untiring energy, and the 
 English Government by means of skilfully-framed treaties of 
 commerce, concluded on the footing of equal rights, but carried 
 out between countries of most unequal industrial powers, made 
 a practical reality far exceeding all predictions. 
 
 The advance made by English production since 1840 is, in fact, 
 enormous. Economically, it is due to that circulation of raw 
 products and manufactures which Eree-trade did so much to 
 promote ; technically, it is due, on the contrary, to the develop- 
 ment of mechanical power, which, though established long ago r 
 never exercised its full influence on the extension of production 
 until the middle of the present century. This extension has been 
 promoted as much by the increased facilities for transport, as by 
 the improvements in manufacture. In the first place, the net- 
 work of railways, which since 1840 began to spread over the 
 whole of England, and then steam navigation, have enabled that 
 circulation to attain its present volume and rapidity. At the 
 close of the year 1842 the railways in the United Kingdom ex- 
 tended over 1,857 miles ; at the end of 1855 the mileage had 
 reached a total of 8,280 ; and at the end of 1888 this total had 
 increased to 18,681, along which were conveyed in the same year 
 nearly 684 million passengers (exclusive of season-ticket holders), 
 and more than 266 millions weight of goods and minerals. The 
 statistics of shipping tell a similar tale. During these three 
 years, the total tonnage of British and foreign vessels entered 
 and cleared at ports in the United Kingdom, increased from 
 985,000 tons in 1842, to 18 1 million tons in 1855, and 65 million 
 tons in 1888. # Between 1870 and 1880 the carrying power of 
 the commercial navy of England increased to the extent of about 
 seven million tons. 
 
 * The figures in the text are taken from the Statistical Abstracts for the 
 United Kingdom, 1840-1854, 1855-1869, and 1870-1884; and from the Annual 
 Statements of the Trade of the United Kingdom with Foreign Countries and 
 British Possessions. 
 
40 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 To the influence exercised by mechanical improvements in the 
 various branches of production on the social condition of the 
 working classes, we shall frequently have occasion to refer. But 
 we desire to touch here on that aspect of the question which is 
 connected with the increase of production. Complex and many- 
 sided as is the history of modern, and especially of English tech- 
 nology, the effect and operation of the new system of machinery 
 may be comprehended in a general point of view. This effect is 
 felt in point of power, space, and time. Dynamically, the work 
 performed by the machine with the same power is out of all pro- 
 portion to that performed by manual labour. Leone Levi, in his 
 “ Work and Pay,” calculates that if all the yarn were spun by 
 hand which is spun in England in the course of a year by the 
 machine, which spins 1,000 threads simultaneously, 100,000,000 
 men would be necessary to accomplish it. In point of space, 
 the machine has concentrated the process of production in large 
 mills, kept going by a common motive power, so that a single 
 large weaving establishment, worked by machinery, comprises 
 in one building as many looms as were formerly contained in 
 several villages of weavers. Nor is the saving in time thus 
 effected less remarkable, since production, which in individual 
 trades was more or less piece-meal and slow, is now concen- 
 trated in this respect, and therefore far more speedily accom- 
 plished. A most striking instance of this is given in the German 
 edition of John Percy’s great work on metallurgy, where, in 
 reference to the refining process of iron, we find it stated that to 
 -convert 100 cwt. of pig-iron into malleable iron, by employing 
 one refining apparatus, the old method of refining in the charcoal 
 hearth lasted one and a half weeks, the puddling lasts one and a 
 half days, and the Bessemer process only twenty minutes. 
 
 We pass over at present those other facts which exercise a 
 specific influence on English production, and which we shall have 
 to deal with to some extent later on, — for example, the intensity 
 of manual labour in England, the advantages of her climate, the 
 treasures of coal and iron in her soil, and her water currents 
 used as motive power, — and would only touch briefly on the vast 
 increase which that production has experienced since 1840. In 
 doing so we must confine ourselves to large figures. A glance 
 
Greater Britain. 
 
 4i 
 
 first at trade in tlie aggregate, then at the great staple articles 
 of iron and steel, wool and cotton, and, lastly, at the importation 
 of the chief necessaries of life, will suffice for our immediate 
 purpose. 
 
 Earlier writers, such as Macpherson and others, estimate the 
 total value of English imports and exports for 1760 at 26| 
 millions sterling, and for 1800 at 74 millions. In 1840 it had 
 increased to nearly 103 millions, and in 1883 * reached a total of 
 no less than 732 millions. Thus the total trade of England, with- 
 in the period we are considering, increased nearly seven-fold : 
 and it must be borne in mind that these figures, owing to the 
 fall in the prices of most articles of merchandise, give only an 
 approximate index to the still larger augmentation in the volume 
 of trade. 
 
 The total exports of iron and steel since 1840, taking the volume 
 and declared value together, show the following scale of pro- 
 gression : — 
 
 Tear. 
 
 Tons. 
 
 Declared Value. 
 
 Millions. 
 
 1840 
 
 0*26 
 
 2-55 
 
 1845 
 
 0-35 
 
 3-50 
 
 1850 
 
 0-78 
 
 5-35 
 
 1855 
 
 1*09 
 
 9*46 
 
 1860 
 
 1-44 
 
 12-15 
 
 1865 
 
 1-61 
 
 13-47 
 
 1870 
 
 2-82 
 
 24-03 
 
 1875 
 
 2-45 
 
 25 74 
 
 1880 
 
 3-79 
 
 28-39 
 
 1881 
 
 3*82 
 
 27-59 
 
 1882 
 
 4*35 
 
 31-59 
 
 1883 
 
 4-04 
 
 28-59 
 
 1884 
 
 3-49 
 
 24-49f 
 
 1885 
 
 313 
 
 21-70 
 
 1886 
 
 3’83 
 
 21-81 
 
 * Statistical Abstract, 1870-1884, p. 35. 
 
 f Note to English Edition.— In the German edition this table concludes with 
 1884. I have thought it useful to add the figures for 1885 and 1886 ; they 
 show to some extent the depression of business during these years, and thus 
 modify our conclusions in one or two particulars, but without affecting their 
 general soundness. 
 
42 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 With regard to wool, we subjoin, side by side with the total 
 exports of woollen manufactures of all kinds (i.e., yarns and stuffs, 
 including worsted, carpets, and mixed stuffs), the total imports 
 ( i.e ., sheep, lamb, llama and alpaca), and also a separate column 
 showing the excess of imports, or the quantities of foreign wool 
 which have been manufactured in England, and which, together 
 with her home produce, form the raw material for her woollen 
 industry. 
 
 
 Imports in lbs. 
 
 Exports. 
 
 
 
 
 Yam. 
 
 Stuffs. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Excess of 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Imports. 
 
 Lbs. 
 
 Value. 
 
 Yards. 
 
 Value. 
 
 
 
 Millions. 
 
 1840 
 
 49-43 
 
 48-42 
 
 3-79 
 
 0-45 
 
 68-37 
 
 5-32 
 
 1845 
 
 76-81 
 
 74-15 
 
 9-40 
 
 106 
 
 106-83 
 
 7-69 
 
 1850 
 
 74-42 
 
 59-93 
 
 13-79 
 
 1-45 
 
 150-51 
 
 8-58 
 
 1855 
 
 99-80 
 
 69-84 
 
 20-40 
 
 2-02 
 
 183-03 
 
 7-71 
 
 1860 
 
 148-39 
 
 117-63 
 
 27-53 
 
 3-84 
 
 190-37 
 
 12-15 
 
 1865 
 
 212-20 
 
 129-76 
 
 31-67 
 
 5-42 
 
 279-20 
 
 20-10 
 
 1870 
 
 263-25 
 
 170-70 
 
 35-53 
 
 4-99 
 
 292-70 
 
 21-66 
 
 1875 
 
 365-06 
 
 192-99 
 
 31-72 
 
 5-09 
 
 31753 
 
 21-65 
 
 1880 
 
 463-50 
 
 226-10 
 
 26-46 
 
 3-34 
 
 262-35 
 
 17-26 
 
 1881 
 
 450-14 
 
 184-55 
 
 29-73 
 
 3*23 
 
 272-87 
 
 18-12 
 
 1882 
 
 488-98 
 
 225-01 
 
 31-83 
 
 3-39 
 
 265-21 
 
 18-76 
 
 1888 
 
 495-94 
 
 218-71 
 
 33-48 
 
 3-26 
 
 255-90 
 
 18-31 
 
 1884 
 
 526-52 
 
 249 60 
 
 39-27 
 
 3-89 
 
 290-27 
 
 20-13 
 
 1885 
 
 505-68 
 
 238-18 
 
 43-49 
 
 4-3S 
 
 272-98 
 
 18-84 
 
 1386 
 
 593-47 
 
 284-46 
 
 45-35 
 
 4-41 
 
 273-60 
 
 13-73 
 
 With regard to cotton, we compare below the totals imported 
 into England and there consumed, with the exports of cotton 
 yarn and cotton manufactures, both in quantity and value. 
 
 It would lead us too far afield to enter into other branches of 
 industry. But we must observe that it is exactly in a number 
 of smaller manufactures that a far more decided expansion has 
 hitherto taken place than in the larger staple articles, a fact of 
 no inconsiderable influence on the gross result of the movement 
 
Greater Britain . 
 
 43 
 
 
 Imports. 
 
 Exports. 
 
 
 
 Yarn. 
 
 Stuffs. 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 Lbs. { 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Lbs. 
 
 Value. 
 
 i 
 
 Yards. 
 
 Value. | 
 
 
 
 Millions. I 
 
 1 
 
 1840 
 
 553-81 
 
 118-47 
 
 7-10 
 
 790-63 
 
 i 
 
 17-56 ! 
 
 1845 
 
 679-06 
 
 135-14 
 
 6-96 
 
 1,091-68 
 
 19-15 I 
 
 1850 
 
 561-10 
 
 131-37 
 
 6-38 
 
 1,358-18 
 
 21-87 
 
 1855 
 
 767-38 
 
 165-49 
 
 7-20 
 
 1,937-73 
 
 27-57 
 
 1860 
 
 1,140-59 
 
 192-20 
 
 9-87 
 
 2,776-21 
 
 42-14 
 
 1865 
 
 675-06 
 
 103-53 
 
 10-34 
 
 2,575-69 
 
 46-92 
 
 1870 
 
 1,101-19 
 
 1,229-49 
 
 186-07 
 
 14-67 
 
 3,266-99 
 
 56-74 
 
 1875 
 
 215-60 
 
 13-17 
 
 3,562-46 
 
 58-59 
 
 1880 
 
 1,404-08 
 
 215-54 
 
 11-90 
 
 4,495-64 
 
 4,777-27 
 
 63-66 
 
 1881 
 
 1,471-35 
 
 254-93 
 
 13-16 
 
 65-92 
 
 1882 
 
 1,519-11 
 
 238-25 
 
 12-86 
 
 4,349-39 
 
 62-93 
 
 1883 
 
 1,487-10 
 
 264-77 
 
 13-50 
 
 4,538-88 
 
 4,417-28 
 
 62-93 
 
 1884 
 
 1,497-50 
 
 1,219-47 
 
 270-90 
 
 13-81 
 
 ■ 58-93 
 
 1885 
 
 245-80 
 
 11-8Q 
 
 4,374-51 
 
 55-11 
 
 188S 
 
 1,517-28 
 
 254-33 
 
 11-48 
 
 4,850-21 
 
 57-36 
 
 of English, trade and manufacture. An example of this occurs in 
 the jute trade, which since 1870 yields the following figures : — 
 
 
 Imports. 
 
 Exports. 
 
 
 
 Yarns. 
 
 Stuffs. 
 
 Year. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Cwts. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Lbs. 
 
 Value. 
 
 Yards. 
 
 Value. 
 
 
 Millions. 
 
 1870 
 
 2-37 
 
 12-66 
 
 0-19 
 
 51-92 
 
 0-78 
 
 1875 
 
 3-41 
 
 15-94 
 
 0-22 
 
 102-10 
 
 1-40 
 
 1880 
 
 4-63 
 
 16-83 
 
 0-23 
 
 183-20 
 
 2 25 
 
 1881 
 
 4-92 
 
 1806 
 
 0-24 
 
 204-29 
 
 2-36 
 
 1882 
 
 5-93 
 
 21-85 
 
 0-28 
 
 212 48 
 
 2-39 
 
 1883 
 
 7-88 
 
 21-17 
 
 0-26 
 
 227-25 
 
 2-50 
 
 1884 
 
 5-08 
 
 27-26 
 
 0-31 
 
 242-84 
 
 2-45 
 
 1885 
 
 5-71 
 
 30-70 
 
 0-27 
 
 21507 
 
 i-90 
 
 1886 
 
 5-34 
 
 30-70 
 
 0-27 
 
 216-10 
 
 i-80 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 But the most interesting example of the interchange of com- 
 
44 
 
 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 modities which is now being carried out in England, is unques- 
 tionably the increase in the imports of articles of food required foi 
 her home consumption. We give the figures relating to wheat, 
 bacon and hams, beef, and raw sugar, in hundredweights, and 
 those relating to tea (so far as it is retained for home consump- 
 tion and not re-exported) in pounds. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Wheat and 
 Wheat Meal. 
 
 Bacon and 
 Hams. 
 
 Beef. 
 
 Raw- 
 
 Sugar. 
 
 Tea. 
 
 Million cvrts. 
 
 Million lbs. 
 
 1840 
 
 10-56 
 
 0-006 
 
 0029 
 
 3-59 
 
 32-25 
 
 1845 
 
 4-95 
 
 0-005 
 
 008 
 
 4-85 
 
 44-19 
 
 1850 
 
 20-97 
 
 0-35 
 
 0-13 
 
 6-09 
 
 51-17 
 
 1855 
 
 13-94 
 
 0-24 
 
 0-23 
 
 7-32 
 
 63-42 
 
 1860 
 
 81-84 
 
 0-32 
 
 0-26 
 
 8-81 
 
 76-81 
 
 1865 
 
 25-84 
 
 0-71 
 
 0-24 
 
 10-25 
 
 97-83 
 
 1870 
 
 36-90 
 
 0-56 
 
 0-21 
 
 12-79 
 
 117-55 
 
 1875 
 
 59-54 
 
 2-63 
 
 0-21 
 
 16-26 
 
 145-32 
 
 1880 
 
 68-45 
 
 5-33 
 
 1-01 
 
 17-00 
 
 158-32 
 
 1881 
 
 71-34 
 
 4-62 
 
 1-06 
 
 18-65 
 
 160-05 
 
 1882 
 
 80-56 
 
 2-90 
 
 0-69 
 
 19-83 
 
 164-95 
 
 1888 
 
 84-55 
 
 3-69 
 
 1-09 
 
 20-36 
 
 170-78 
 
 1884 
 
 66-17 
 
 3-41 
 
 1-09 
 
 19-62 
 
 175-06 
 
 1885 
 
 81-28 
 
 4-05 
 
 1-14 
 
 19-42 
 
 182-40 
 
 1886 
 
 65-79 
 
 4-21 
 
 0-99 
 
 16-13 
 
 178-80 
 
 Beckoned per head of the population, the respective amounts 
 for the years 1860, 1870, 1880, and 1883 are : — Wheat, 118, 122, 
 210, and 250 lbs. ; bacon and hams, 1J, 2, 16, and 11 lbs. ; raw 
 sugar, 34, 41 J , 54, and 62 lbs. ; tea, 2J, 4, 4J, and 4f lbs. 
 
 The above few figures will, perhaps, suffice to give the reader 
 an idea of the industrial expansion that has taken place in Eng- 
 land since the year 1840. In ever-increasing proportions England 
 has imported foreign raw materials and food, enlarged her manu- 
 factures, and at the same time established a scale of increasing 
 production and increasing wealth which has become of the 
 utmost importance to the social condition of the country. 
 
 Our only object in reverting to the basis of this development 
 has been to show how wide is the field in which the English 
 working-man forms that link of the chain which occupies our 
 especial attention. For the development of English industry is 
 
Greater Britain . 
 
 45 
 
 a historical fact, which has caused a complete revolution in the 
 aggregate condition of the population of England within a space 
 of scarcely a century. History affords, perhaps, no other instance 
 of so entire a change, effected within relatively so short a period, 
 not only in the life and habits of a large part of a nation, but also 
 in their traditional relations. How the system of manufactures, 
 with its network of railways, has created new towns and enlarged 
 old ones in a manner formerly unknown ; how whole counties 
 have changed their economic character, and agricultural been 
 converted into manufacturing districts ; how the rural population 
 has been attracted by the manufactories, and the manufacturing 
 population itself, through the system of wages and the employ- 
 ment of women and children, received an inducement to multiply, 
 and thereby furnish constantly new hands for new manufactures, 
 — all this has long been a matter of notoriety. It was under these 
 conditions that the population of the United Kingdom — to say 
 nothing of the surplus given to the colonies — increased from 11 
 millions in 1760, to 16 in 1800, to 27 in 1840, and, lastly, to more 
 than 36 millions in 1885. Our concern, however, is with that 
 portion of the population which is composed of the working 
 classes. Kich as England is in statistical information, it is im- 
 possible to state at once how numerous are the wage-earners of 
 the present day, since it is impossible to trace the exact line of 
 demarcation between them and the lower middle classes, as well 
 as the temporary recipients of public relief. Professor Leone 
 Levi* estimates the total of the working classes broadly at 
 12,200,000, distributed among 5J million families, an estimate 
 with which Mr. Giffen agrees so far as to reckon the number of 
 families at 5 millions."}* The number of wage-earning workmen 
 engaged in manufactures is calculated by Leone Levi at 61- 
 millions out of the above total, while Jeans puts it at nearly 8 
 millions.^ Other authorities give still higher figures. According. 
 
 * See his report prepared for Sir Arthur Bass, in the Times of 23rd Jan- 
 uary, 1885. 
 
 f “ The Statistics of the Working Classes in the Last Half-century,” by 
 Robert Giffen, London, 1883. 
 
 X J. S. Jeans: “On the Comparative Efficiency and Earnings of Labour at 
 Home and Abroad,” in the Journal of the Statistical Society , vol. xlvii., Part 
 iv., December, 1884. 
 
4 6 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 to these estimates, the industrial workmen amount to nearly a 
 quarter of the total population of the United Kingdom. This 
 quarter of the population — if such it he — is at the present day 
 directly dependent on manufacturing industry, — directly depen- 
 dent on that industry being remunerative, and directly dependent 
 on its being stable and constant. 
 
 How these altered conditions of life have brought to many 
 millions of people entirely different relations of life, — a new 
 world of thoughts, aspirations, cares, and results ; how the in- 
 dustrial community is in fact a new form of human settlement ; 
 and how this population, in their character, tastes, and aptitudes, 
 have become, so to speak, a new race, with new wants and en- 
 tirely new claims on society, legislation, and the State, — all these 
 matters will frequently occupy our attention. Closely connected 
 with them is the question, What provision has been made for 
 the future of this industrial system, the basis of the England of 
 to-day, on which her whole modern life, and, in particular, the 
 present and future of her millions of working-men depends ? 
 The best heads in England, of all classes and parties, are at 
 present occupied with this question. Experience and science 
 combine in giving the answer, on which England’s attitude in the 
 immediate future, her measures, laws, and policy in this respect 
 depend. The English working-men’s associations stand in the 
 very centre of this movement, and take the liveliest share in the 
 discussion; for they know that it concerns themselves most 
 nearly of all. We will therefore endeavour to characterise the 
 situation as a whole. 
 
 If, with this object, we consider the United Kingdom by itself, 
 without its colonies, we cannot deny the one-sidedness of the 
 development. Adam Smith himself, as is well known, designated 
 it as the great object of political economy not to give any pre- 
 ference to foreign as compared with inland trade, on the ground 
 that the wealth and power of the country depended on the equal 
 importance of both. Malthus also regards those countries as 
 especially fortunate, where “ the resources in land and the capi- 
 tals employed in commerce and manufactures are both consider- 
 able,” but where “ neither preponderates greatly over the other.”* 
 
 * “ Essay on Population,” ed. 1826, vol. ii. p. 146. 
 
Greater Britain . 
 
 47 
 
 He reckons up a number of advantages resulting from tbis equi- 
 poise, and says that 11 it is the union of the agricultural and 
 commercial systems, and not either of them taken separately, 
 that is calculated to produce the greatest national prosperity.” * 
 The present state of England no longer answers these con- 
 ditions. Her manufacturing system far preponderates over all 
 other interests ; and the process of manufacture has become, 
 during the last half century, more and more dependent on sale in 
 foreign markets. No one, indeed, will wish to undervalue the 
 great advance made also in England’s power of consumption, and 
 the consequent importance of her home market. Nevertheless, 
 the Englishman’s main attention is rightly directed to the fluctu- 
 ations in sale abroad ; for he knows that the foreign market now 
 determines the prosperity of English manufactures. This fact is 
 also proved by the figures already cited, which show how largely 
 England stands in need of the importation of the most necessary 
 articles of food. Porter reckons that between 1801 and 1810 
 600,946 persons in England were fed on foreign wheat, estimating 
 the yearly consumption at eight bushels per head ; in 1841-1849 
 the number had already risen to 2J millions ; f and at the present 
 day it amounts to half of the entire population of the United 
 Kingdom. The 250 lbs. of wheat per head, imported by England 
 for home consumption in 1883, tell an eloquent tale ; and if to 
 this we add the fact that the cultivation of wheat in England, 
 which in 1869 covered 3,688,000 acres, in 1883 covered only 
 2,613,000— being a decrease of more than a million acres in these 
 fourteen years — we have shown pretty clearly the direction in 
 which the development moves. 
 
 And yet in this very one-sidedness lies, or at all events has 
 lain hitherto, the magnitude of England’s economic progress. 
 The law that governs a particular manufacture — namely, the 
 cheap supply of raw materials and food, and a brisk sale abroad 
 — has become the law of English economics in general. All 
 the powers and energies of the nation have been exerted in 
 this direction, and have achieved a brilliant result through the 
 
 * “ Essay on Population,” ed. 1826, yoI. ii. p. 161. 
 
 f “ State of the Nation,” p. 143. 
 
4 8 
 
 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 augmentation of production, the widening of the labour-market, 
 and the realisation of enormous industrial profits. The net re- 
 sult of all this is an increase of the national wealth — of the 
 material for distribution between landed property, capital, and 
 labour — the aggregate increase of which may perhaps be esti- 
 mated by the returns of property and profits assessed to the 
 income tax, amounting in 1855 to 308 millions sterling, in 1865 to 
 396 millions, in 1875 to 571 millions, and in 1882 to 601|- millions. 
 A penny in the pound income tax yielded in 1853 the sum of 
 £809,000, and in 1884 no less than £1,970,000, or more than 
 double. 
 
 In spite, however, of all these brilliant results, it is impossible 
 to conceal that England has to contend with growing difficulties 
 in order to maintain her position. Englishmen themselves are 
 well aware of the fact. “ This world- wide demand ” (for Eng- 
 lish goods), says Mr. Cunningham,* “has been so great as to 
 give an extraordinary stimulus to particular branches of trade ; 
 but the effect has been that English capital has flowed, and 
 drawn English labour in its stream, into the directions that were 
 pointed out by the demands of foreign countries, not by the de- 
 mand of our own. And this has introduced an extraordinary 
 degree of instability into all our industries; the state of our 
 chief trades depends directly and immediately on circumstances 
 which lie as completely beyond our control as the state of the 
 weather. Depending, as our manufacturers do, not only for a 
 sale, but for materials and food, on foreign countries, any social 
 change in foreign lands, or rupture between foreign countries, 
 may be a most serious matter. In olden days the policy of our 
 country determined the direction of our trade ; in the present 
 generation there is a danger lest the needs of our trade should 
 reconcile us to a policy that has for its sole object the avoidance 
 of disturbances, which, in the interests of our industry, it would 
 be recklessness to face. The Civil War in the States opened our 
 eyes to the dependence of one great branch of our trade on that 
 country ; a quarrel with any European power might seriously 
 endanger our food supply ; while there is hardly a petty quarrel 
 
 * “ Growth of English Industry and Commerce,” pp. 400, 407. 
 
Greater Britain. 
 
 49 
 
 in any distant region which does not affect the demand for our 
 goods. Just because England has come to be the workshop of 
 the world, she is no longer self-sufficing nor mistress of her own 
 fate. This has been very prominently borne on most minds — 
 even during a period of peace — by the hostile tariffs of other 
 countries, and their effect on our trade. However true it may be 
 that such tariffs affect the wealth of the country that imposes 
 them more than they affect ourselves, this is comparatively beside 
 the mark, so long as they inflict, and are likely to continue to 
 inflict, a very serious blow upon the industries by which we live.” 
 
 Undoubtedly, in the course of affairs hitherto a series of 
 hindering elements have intervened. In the first place there are 
 causes of complaint which are by no means novel in the history 
 of English manufacturing industry. Between 1870 and 1874 
 production advanced with such leaps and bounds, and so outran 
 the demand, that the inevitable consequence was a commercial 
 crisis and a serious fall in prices. Since at the same time very 
 large capitals had been invested in almost all branches of manu- 
 facture, and those capitals could not possibly be immediately 
 withdrawn, inasmuch as countless new establishments had been 
 founded and the old ones enlarged, this cause of over-production 
 still to some extent continues, and prevents any real recovery of 
 the market. Add to this the fact that England of late years has 
 had a succession of bad harvests. 
 
 But there are deeper-lying causes still to account for the pre- 
 vailing depression. England has lost much of her carrying-trade 
 since direct communication between other nations has increased, 
 nor does there appear any prospect that in this respect a change 
 will take place again in her favour. In regard also to her ex- 
 ports a remarkable symptom is apparent. The quantity and 
 value of her exported articles no longer keep pace with each 
 other, the value of the articles, notwithstanding the increase of 
 bulk, being stationary, and in some cases even lower than before. 
 The fall in prices which this fact reveals is the consequence of 
 the greater efforts and sacrifices that England is obliged to make 
 in order to dispose of her ever-growing quantity of products ; it 
 is a significant proof of the successful competition of other 
 nations, and involves a reduction of profits as well in commerce 
 
50 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 as in manufactures. Professor Neumann-Spallart, a competent 
 authority on the subject, estimates that Great Britain’s share in 
 the commerce of the world amounted in 1875 to 24 per cent, of 
 the entire aggregate of foreign exchanges of all countries, but 
 had sunk in 1882 to a percentage of 19’50. In like manner, 
 according to his computation, her share in the industries of 
 the world exhibits a relative decline ; for example, in the case 
 of coal, which, as compared with the total production of other 
 countries, fell from a percentage of 53'6 in 1868 to 40*7 in 1883, 
 as also in regard to pig-iron, the production of which declined 
 from 44 per cent, in 1876 to 39 per cent, in 1883.* North 
 America and Germany in particular show in some industries a 
 much more rapid progress than England. But in regard to these 
 calculations, it should not be forgotten, quite apart from the 
 caution with which all these general statistics must be received, 
 that the argument they contain can only claim a relative weight. 
 It is naturally much easier to make strides, expressed by high 
 percentages, in the first stages and starting from small begin- 
 nings, as most of the other countries did until within the last few 
 years, in comparison with the already highly-developed industries 
 and navigation of England. An increase expressed by percentages 
 shows naturally a more rapid progression in the case of small 
 figures than in that of large ones ; and on this account it would 
 be as well to suspend any summary judgment on the so-called 
 decline of England, so long as the absolute bulk of her trade and 
 manufactures, apart from merely temporary fluctuations, still 
 continues, in spite of all competition, to increase. 
 
 This much, however is certain, that foreign competition will, 
 at least, put English supremacy to the proof, and that this 
 supremacy can hardly be maintained to the extent it has been 
 hitherto. Up to a certain point, the free-trade arguments, so pro- 
 minently advanced of late by Mr. Giffen, that the very increase 
 in the production and power of exchange on the part of other 
 countries is a condition of the growth of English manufactures, 
 which require exchangeable commodities as a set-off for their 
 own products, is doubtless correct ; but the danger lies, not in 
 
 * F. X. von Neumann-Spallart : “ Die Yerlegung des wirthschaftlichen 
 Schwerpunktes,” published in the Deutsche Rundschau for July, 1885. 
 
Greater Britain, 
 
 51 
 
 the fact that other nations produce more than they did formerly, 
 but in this, that, as a consequence of that increased production, 
 they either exchange fewer commodities with England than 
 before, seeking, as they do, to buy the raw material direct with 
 their own manufactured goods, and to protect their own market 
 by levying duties, or attempt, with the help of lower w T ages, 
 to underbid English labour in the world’s market, and even in 
 England herself. We cannot obviously enter here into the 
 question as to what prospects other countries have of achieving 
 the success for which they are striving ; but it is undeniable that 
 England is at present placed somewhat at a disadvantage in 
 having limits imposed upon her foreign trade, to which she was 
 formerly a stranger. Mr. Jeans, in his latest work,* cites an 
 array of remarkable statistics. In 1871 England’s exports to 
 Russia were 60 per cent., as compared with those of Germany ; 
 in 1881 the percentage had decreased to 49. In 1873 England 
 exported to Sweden and Norway considerably more than Ger- 
 many ; in 1882 the proportions were reversed. The same was 
 the case as regards Belgium, which in 1872 received £2,000,000 
 more in goods from England than from Germany, while in 1882 
 she took about £1,500,000 more in German than in English 
 wares. Erance imported in 1872 about half as many goods from 
 Germany as from England ; in 1882, on the contrary, her Ger- 
 man, as compared with her English imports, were 65 per cent. 
 The same results are shown in the trade with the United States. 
 In 1872 the English imports thither amounted to 40 per cent, of 
 the aggregate, in 1882 the percentage was only 26. Between 1873 
 and 1882 English exports to Chili showed an absolute decrease, 
 w r hile those of Germany and Italy increased. In the same years, 
 English exports to China exhibit only a small increase, whilst the 
 exports thither from the United States were multiplied sevenfold, 
 those from Europe sixfold, and those from Japan were doubled. 
 
 This state of things has given rise to a movement in England, 
 which aims at supplanting the hitherto unassailed principles of 
 Free-trade by those of what is known as Fair-trade. A Fair- 
 trade League has actually been formed for the propagation of 
 
 * “England’s Supremacy; its Sources, Economics, and Dangers,” by 
 J. S. Jeans, London, 1885. 
 
52 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 a new law of international trade, which, briefly stated, maintains 
 that England should treat other nations like for like, duty for 
 duty, free-trade for free-trade, and retaliate against those 
 countries which impose new or maintain old restrictions against 
 England. The recent appointment by a Conservative Ministry 
 of. a Royal Commission to inquire into the depression of trade 
 and industry originated in fears and desires of this description. 
 We do not belong to those who believe in the success of these 
 endeavours, for it means in its consequences the retrogression 
 of the whole development which has hitherto taken place in 
 England ; and, moreover, notwithstanding all menacing signs of 
 foreign competition, there appears no occasion at present, or for 
 a long time to come, to introduce so great a change, for we can 
 point out in the aspect of the industrial position of England, 
 side by side with those menacing symptoms, also hopeful features. 
 
 A circumstance must first be mentioned, to which our attention 
 has so frequently been drawn in England, not only by theorists, 
 but also by large manufacturers. This is the relative advantage 
 derived by England from the commercial policy pursued by the 
 United States, her most formidable competitor, as well as by the 
 States on the Continent. Jeans has stated this point very clearly 
 in his work already mentioned : — 
 
 “ It may seem a paradox, but we nevertheless maintain it to 
 be true, that England would probably have more to fear from 
 other manufacturing nations if they abolished their protective 
 duties, than she has now that they are in operation. Why is 
 this? Simply because so long as the present system of pro- 
 tection is maintained, protectionist countries are little likely 
 to be able to compete with a free-trade country in neutral 
 markets. But, on the other hand, if countries now protectionist, 
 and equally endowed with ourselves in the matter of natural 
 resources, were to forswear their economic fallacies, and become 
 converted to the true faith, they would be likefy, in course of 
 time, by throwing off the fetters that now impede their proper 
 development, to prove formidable rivals in the markets to which 
 they are now denied access. Suppose for a moment that the 
 United States were able to produce textiles as cheaply as Great 
 Britain, there would, in that case, be no good reason why the 
 
Greater Britain: 
 
 3J 
 
 stuffs of Massachusetts and Connecticut should not successfully 
 compete with the same products made in England, in markets 
 all over the world. It may be said that there is the ocean freight 
 against American manufacturers; but it need cost no more to 
 export the manufactured article than it now does to export the 
 raw cotton whence England produces the manufactures that have 
 secured her a reputation in all parts of the world. It is the 
 same with many other commodities, the raw materials of which 
 are more or less largely imported from America. But it is 
 obvious that so long as the United States artificially keep up the 
 price of their manufactures by high wages, expensive works, 
 dear transportation, and so forth, they cannot hope to obtain 
 an outlet for manufactures that are produced in competition 
 with those that England is happily enabled to supply under a 
 system of Eree-trade, which, if it does not mean high wages,, 
 means perhaps more than equivalent advantages in cheap living, 
 low rents, inexpensive clothing, and other advantages to em- 
 ployer and employed alike. The working man in the very heart 
 of England — in Birmingham, Manchester, or Bradford — is able 
 to purchase breadstuffs as cheaply as the Russian peasant or the 
 Massachusetts cotton operative, while he can purchase most of ’ 
 the luxuries and conveniences of life much more cheaply.” 
 
 We can add nothing to these words to show more clearly the 
 advantage England enjoys in this respect. But a circumstance 
 of far more importance to her industrial position is her relation 
 to her colonies. The unfavourable signs we have referred to above 
 disappear when we turn our eyes from Great to Greater Britain. 
 
 Against the difficulties occasioned by the accumulation of a 
 gigantic population of workers, by the stagnation in her hitherto 
 existing markets, and by her dependence on other countries in 
 regard to raw materials and food, England possesses in her colonies 
 a reserve, the value of which is increasing every year. Mr. 
 Goschen, by no means one of those dreamers of expansion, as are 
 some of his fellow-countrymen, spoke on this subject in 1885 as 
 follows : — “ I think,” he said, 11 that, looking to the picture of 
 industry and commerce now, the chief hope is this, that the 
 teeming millions of the old country may find customers in the 
 teeming and increasing millions in Greater Britain beyond the 
 seas. I should be sorry to be a statesman who would in any 
 
54 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 degree attempt to minimize the value of our colonial possessions, 
 or the value of foreign dependencies. This is not a question only 
 tor statesmen and politicians. It is a question for the working 
 classes of the country ; it is a question for every trader, for every 
 manufacturer, for every merchant. It is there that we may see 
 cause for hopefulness, there where populations are increasing, 
 and we may confidently trust that there we may still maintain 
 our supremacy.” * In reality, there is no subject that engrosses 
 at present more eager attention in England than the relations of 
 the mother-country with her colonies. 
 
 In the first place, those colonies demand consideration as a vast 
 field for labour. British North America, with her 3,372,000 square 
 miles, and Australia, with her 3,104,000 square miles, received 
 respectively, from 1840 to 1883, no less than 1,200,000 and 1,380,000 
 British emigrants, and still offer unlimited space for the surplus 
 labour of the .mother-country. The advantage enjoyed by the 
 Englishman in finding in those territories a climate that allows 
 Europeans not only to live, but also to endure physical labour, 
 and in not only retaining in his new home the language and 
 customs, the religion and laws of his native country, but finding 
 them already established there as the existing order of things, 
 facilitates what has hitherto been called emigration, but what is 
 becoming more and more, in the eyes of Englishmen, a mere 
 transfer of active labour from one portion of the empire to another. 
 It has been justly observed that, owing to modern means of inter- 
 course, Quebec is now for all practical purposes as near Liverpool 
 as Liverpool was near London at the time when General Wolfe 
 stormed the heights of Abraham, and that communication between 
 London and India i6 now easier than it was between London and 
 the Highlands in the middle of the last century. “ The mother- 
 country,” says Professor Seeley, 11 having once for all ceased to 
 be a step-mother, and to make unjust claims and impose annoying 
 , restrictions, — and since she wants her colonies as an outlet both 
 for population and trade, — and since, on the other hand, the colonies 
 must feel that there is risk, not to say also intellectual impoverish- 
 ment, in independence, — since, finally, intercourse is ever increas- 
 ing, and no alienating force is at work to counteract it, but the dis- 
 
 * Speech at a meeting of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, 23rd June, 
 1885. 
 
Greater Britain. 
 
 55 
 
 cords created by the old system pass more and more into oblivion, 
 it seems possible that our .colonial empire so-called may more and 
 more deserve to be called Greater Britain, and that the tie may 
 become stronger and stronger. Then the seas which divide us 
 might be forgotten, and that ancient preconception, which leads 
 us always to think of ourselves as belonging to a single island, 
 might be rooted out of our minds. If in this way we moved 
 sensibly nearer in our thoughts and feelings to the colonies, and 
 accustomed ourselves to think of emigrants as not in any way 
 lost to England by settling in the colonies, the result might be, 
 first, that emigration on a vast scale might become our remedy 
 for pauperism ; and secondly, that some organisation might gradu- 
 ally be arrived at which might make the whole force of the 
 empire available in time of war.” * 
 
 Among the working classes these ideas have made great pro- 
 gress, but those very grades of the working population who are 
 bound to solve in this manner the problem of their existence are 
 destitute of the means of doing so. The well-paid and in every 
 way strong worker in England is scarcely yet compelled to seek 
 for work in New Zealand or Canada, whilst the needy and weaker 
 have not sufficient money, energy, or knowledge to cross the seas 
 without State aid. England will, therefore, be obliged, as was 
 once the Homan Empire, to assist colonisation in the interests of 
 State. Measures of this kind are already emphatically demanded, 
 and those by the very advanced wing of the great English working- 
 men’s party. “A great national measure of colonisation would 
 not only relieve the glut of labour at home, but in time repay the 
 cost to the nation, by turning those who by their competition 
 for work lower the value of labour into future customers for our 
 home manufactures. I do not think there would be any great 
 difficulty in finding the right men willing to leave their poverty 
 behind them, if the Government would decide to establish them 
 in the colonies.” f 
 
 We come now to the second great function performed by the 
 colonies, as markets for English manufactures. As such we have 
 to consider not only the boundless territories of Canada and Aus- 
 
 * “Expansion of England,” p. 298. 
 
 f So speaks a trades-unionist at the Remuneration Conference (Report, 
 p. 154), to which we shall hereafter have occasion to refer. 
 
5<5 
 
 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 tralia, an inexhaustible field for the expansion of the English race, 
 but especially India, as well as England’s minor colonies, depen- 
 dencies, and harbours scattered over the globe, and forming so 
 many outlets for her spirit of enterprise ; — outlets which, if closed 
 in this or that particular quarter, her skill, pertinacity, and 
 courage have, at all events hitherto, succeeded in reopening in 
 another, and thereby drawing new regions and populations into 
 the compass of her trade. 
 
 In forming a judgment, therefore, of the position occupied at 
 present by productive industry in England, it is essential to in- 
 stitute a comparison between the movement in colonial and foreign 
 markets. 
 
 A clear conception on this point is obtained at once by com- 
 paring the totals of English exports to foreign countries and 
 British possessions from 1870 to 1883. The total value of English 
 exports (including British and foreign and colonial produce) to 
 the various foreign countries amounted in 1870 to £188,689,245. 
 During the two years of inflation it increased so rapidly as to 
 amoun t in 1872 to £248,979,616 ; and in 1883 it sank again to 
 £215,036,149, a figure which, roughly speaking, has been main- 
 tained pretty constantly during the last three years, and which 
 may therefore serve as a standard of present expansion.* This 
 means an increase in the total exports since 1870 of about 14 per 
 cent. On the other hand, the total value of exports to British 
 possessions amounted in 1870 to £55,391,332, and since then has 
 increased without any great bounds forward, but almost without 
 any relapse, to £90,400,921 in 1883, being an increase since 1870 
 of about 63 per cent.f 
 
 This parallel will appear the more evident from a comparison 
 of the following tables. They give the exports of specially British 
 produce, firstly, to the six leading commercial countries of the 
 Continent, and secondly, to the five principal colonies, and show 
 the extent of the respective markets for English products. 
 
 * “ Statistical Abstract, 1870-1884,” pp. 38, 39. 
 
 t Note to English Edition . — The value of exports to foreign countries has 
 alien from £215,000 ,000 in 1883 to £186,000,000 in 1886, a decrease of 13*4 per 
 cent., while the value of exports to the colonies in the same years has fallen from 
 £90,000,000 to £82,000,000, a decrease of 8-8 per cent. 
 
Greater Britain. 
 
 57 
 
 Declared Value of British and Irish Produce Exported from 
 the United Kingdom to the folloiving Foreign Countries. 
 
 Year. 
 
 In million pounds sterling. 
 
 Germany. 
 
 France. 
 
 Holland. 
 
 Belgium. 
 
 Russia. 
 
 United 
 
 States. 
 
 1840 
 
 5-57 
 
 2-37 
 
 3-41 
 
 0-88 
 
 1 60 
 
 5-28 
 
 1845 
 
 7-05 
 
 2-79 
 
 3-43 
 
 1-47 
 
 2-15 
 
 7-14 
 
 1850 
 
 7*41 
 
 2-40 
 
 3-54 
 
 1-13 
 
 1-44 
 
 14-89 
 
 1855 
 
 9-79 
 
 6-01 
 
 4-55 
 
 1-70 
 
 — 
 
 17-31 
 
 1860 
 
 13-35 
 
 5-24 
 
 6-11 
 
 1-61 
 
 3-27 
 
 21-66 
 
 1865 
 
 17-74 
 
 9-06 
 
 8-13 
 
 2 93 
 
 2-92 
 
 21-22 
 
 1870 
 
 20-41 
 
 11-64 
 
 11-22 
 
 4-48 
 
 6-99 
 
 28-33 
 
 1875 
 
 23-28 
 
 15-35 
 
 13-11 
 
 5-78 
 
 8-05 
 
 21-86 
 
 1880 
 
 16-94 
 
 15-59 
 
 9-24 
 
 5-79 
 
 7-95 
 
 30*85 
 
 1881 
 
 17-43 
 
 16-97 
 
 8-89 
 
 7-07 
 
 6-15 
 
 29.79 
 
 1882 
 
 18-51 
 
 17-42 
 
 9-37 
 
 8-08 
 
 5-77 
 
 30-97 
 
 1883 
 
 18-78 
 
 17-56 
 
 9-50 
 
 8-32 
 
 5-03 
 
 27-37 
 
 1884 
 
 18-72 
 
 16-74 
 
 10-23 
 
 8-50 
 
 4-99 
 
 24-42 
 
 1885 
 
 16*41 
 
 14-97 
 
 8-87 
 
 7-80 
 
 4-19 
 
 21-99 
 
 1886 
 
 15-67 
 
 13-61 
 
 8-19 
 
 7.12 
 
 4-42 
 
 26-82 
 
 Declared Value of British and Irish Produce Exported from the 
 United Kingdom to the folloiving British Possessions. 
 
 Year. 
 
 In million pounds sterling. 
 
 India (with Ceylon 
 and the Straits 
 Settlements. 
 
 Australia. 
 
 North 
 
 American 
 
 Colonies. 
 
 Cape of 
 Good Hope 
 and Natal. 
 
 Hong 
 
 Kong. 
 
 1840 
 
 6-02 
 
 2-04 
 
 2-84 
 
 0-41 
 
 
 1845 
 
 6-70 
 
 1-20 
 
 3-55 
 
 0-64 
 
 1-53 
 
 1850 
 
 8-02 
 
 2-60 
 
 3-23 
 
 0-79 
 
 0-50 
 
 1855 
 
 10-91 
 
 6-27 
 
 2-88 
 
 0-79 
 
 0-38 
 
 1860 
 
 19-31 
 
 9-70 
 
 3-72 
 
 2-06 
 
 2-44 
 
 1865 
 
 20-39 
 
 13-33 
 
 4-70 
 
 1-70 
 
 1-54 
 
 1870 
 
 22-53 
 
 9-89 
 
 6-78 
 
 1-85 
 
 3-40 
 
 1875 
 
 27-28 
 
 19-49 
 
 9-03 
 
 4-90 
 
 3-59 
 
 1880 
 
 33-70 
 
 16-93 
 
 7-70 
 
 6-62 
 
 3-77 
 
 1881 
 
 32-60 
 
 21-37 
 
 8-41 
 
 7-07 
 
 3-61 
 
 1882 
 
 32-12 
 
 25-36 
 
 6-69 
 
 7-49 
 
 3-03 
 
 1883 
 
 35-22 
 
 24-21 
 
 9-15 
 
 4-55 
 
 2-89 
 
 1884 
 
 33-95 
 
 23 89 
 
 8*65 
 
 4-10 
 
 3-21 
 
 1885 
 
 31-63 
 
 25-16 
 
 7-20 
 
 3-82 
 
 375 
 
 1886 
 
 33-44 
 
 2238 
 
 7-88 
 
 3-30 
 
 2-31 
 
58 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 By these figures it appears that from 1840 to 1870 the exports 
 to the six principal foreign countries increased more rapidly than 
 those to the colonies, hut that after 1870 the proportion began 
 to change. The total value of British produce exported to the 
 above-mentioned foreign countries in 188B is only about 4 per 
 cent, more than in 1870, — namely, £86,598,916 against £83,088,825, 
 while the corresponding exports to the colonies show an increase 
 of about 70 per cent., or £76,043,772 against £44,482,856. The 
 growing importance of Australia is especially striking. The Aus- 
 tralian market has widened since 1870 at such rate of progress — 
 the further course of which it is impossible to foresee, — that at 
 the present day its importance is nearly equal to that of the United 
 States market. 
 
 From these facts and figures, which could be considered from 
 various points of view, and might be supplemented by a host of 
 details, it is plain that the colonial market has shown of late years 
 a relatively far greater power of absorption than the foreign ones, 
 and that the colonies furnish a set-off against the restrictions 
 which England has to experience on the Continent and partly 
 also in the United States. This fact offers a strong counterpoise 
 to those pessimist views of the condition of English industry 
 which have now-a-days become well-nigh the fashion. 
 
 But it is also in their function as suppliers of corn and meat 
 that the colonies are becoming more and more invaluable to the 
 mother-country. How important is the foreign, and especially 
 the colonial, food-supply to the English working-man of the 
 present day we shall demonstrate fully in that portion of our 
 work which treats of Co-operative Societies. 
 
 The supply of colonial bread-stuffs for the working classes was 
 only rendered possible by the enormous increase during the last 
 ten years in the wheat-production of America, Australia, and 
 India, an increase as unexpected as it is seriously felt on the 
 Continent of Europe. England alone, of all the European States, 
 has derived advantage from it, in being able thereby to supply 
 her workmen with cheaper food. “In the six years ending 1882,” 
 says Mi\ Jeans, “ the acreage under corn crops in the United 
 States alone increased from 93 to 126 million acres, or 35 per cent. 
 In the same interval, the total volume of the corn crops produced 
 
Greater Britain. 
 
 59 
 
 rose from 2,178 million to 2,699 million bushels, or nearly 25 
 per cent. The same movement is going on in our colonies and 
 in India. Canada has enormously increased its area under cereals 
 between 1875 and 1884. In South Australia the area under cul- 
 tivation increased from 959,000 acres in 1871 to 1,400,000 acres 
 in 1880. In 'Victoria the quantity of wheat grown has increased 
 from 5,500,000 bushels in 1878 to close on 10,000,000 bushels in 
 1881, — being an increase of nearly 100 per cent., concurrently 
 with which, however, there was only an increase of about 100,000, 
 or 18 per cent., in the population. In Australia, generally, the 
 acreage under wheat was roughly 1,000,000 acres in 1867, and 
 3,500,000 acres in 1882. In India, again, it is stated that suffi- 
 cient corn can be grown, after meeting native wants, to supply 
 the whole population of this country ; and such a claim certainly 
 receives strong corroboration from the fact that, between 1879 
 and 1883, the exports of Indian wheat increased from a little 
 over 1,000,000 to more than 19,000,000 cwts.” 
 
 It is a consequence of these facts that, next to the United 
 States, which still take the lead in the importation of wheat to 
 England, the colonies during the last few years have acquired 
 more and more importance. The two following tables will illus- 
 trate this very clearly : — 
 
 Quantities of Wheat (i.e. Grain , and Flour in equivalent weight of 
 Grain ) in million cwts. Imported from the following Countries. 
 
 Tear. 
 
 Russia. 
 
 Germany. 
 
 Austrian 
 
 Territories. 
 
 Egypt. 
 
 United 
 
 States. 
 
 1840 
 
 1*16 
 
 5-00 
 
 0-37 
 
 0.01 
 
 1-55 
 
 1845 
 
 1*45 
 
 2-53 
 
 0-05 
 
 — 
 
 0-40 
 
 1850 
 
 2*75 
 
 5-47 
 
 0-17 
 
 1-07 
 
 2-34 
 
 1855 
 
 — 
 
 4-29 
 
 0-30 
 
 1-89 
 
 1-93 
 
 1860 
 
 5-65 
 
 6-89 
 
 0-33 
 
 085 
 
 9-31 
 
 1865 
 
 8-09 
 
 7-20 
 
 061 
 
 0-01 
 
 1-49 
 
 1870 
 
 10-32 
 
 4-48 
 
 0-46 
 
 0-10 
 
 15-15 
 
 1875 
 
 10-15 
 
 6-61 
 
 0-42 
 
 2-11 
 
 26-37 
 
 1880 
 
 2-96 
 
 2-82 
 
 1-41 
 
 1-60 
 
 44-78 
 
 1881 
 
 4-09 
 
 3-09 
 
 1-38 
 
 1-07 
 
 45-70 
 
 1882 
 
 9-68 
 
 5-56 
 
 1-97 
 
 0-17 
 
 44-88 
 
 1883 
 
 13-44 
 
 5-28 
 
 2-20 
 
 1-17 
 
 40-21 
 
 1884 
 
 5-52 
 
 3-27 
 
 1-95 
 
 1-00 
 
 35-56 
 
 1885 
 
 12 03 
 
 3-74 
 
 2-35 
 
 on 
 
 3893 
 
 1886 
 
 3-74 
 
 2-33 
 
 1-75 
 
 0-04 
 
 38-93 
 
6o 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 Quantities of Wheat (i.e. Grain and Flour ) in million cwts. Imported 
 from the following British Possessions. 
 
 Year. 
 
 India. 
 
 Australasia. 
 
 British N. America. 
 
 1840 
 
 
 
 0-63 
 
 1845 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1-00 
 
 1850 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 0-35 
 
 1855 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 0-07 
 
 1860 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 1-31 
 
 1865 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 0-52 
 
 1870 
 
 0-008 
 
 0-09 
 
 3-40 
 
 1875 
 
 1-33 
 
 1-26 
 
 4-06 
 
 1880 
 
 3-23 
 
 4-61 
 
 4-54 
 
 1881 
 
 7-33 
 
 3-31 
 
 3-20 
 
 1882 
 
 8-46 
 
 3-08 
 
 3-11 
 
 1883 
 
 11-24 
 
 2-79 
 
 2-42 
 
 1884 
 
 7-98 
 
 5-36 
 
 2-61 
 
 1885 
 
 12-17 
 
 5 44 
 
 209 
 
 1886 
 
 1102 
 
 0-82 
 
 4-04 
 
 These two tables demonstrate also the great change and partial 
 displacement effected in the commercial relations of England. 
 A few years ago it would have been scarcely credible that Eng- 
 land should import in a twelvemonth (1884) very nearly as much 
 wheat from Australasia as from Russia. 
 
 Nor is it less interesting to notice what increased quantities 
 of live stock, meat, cheese, and fish England obtains from her 
 colonies, and especially from Canada and Australia. We quote 
 the following data for comparison from the official statistics for 
 1884.* During this year 139,218 live oxen and bulls, of the 
 value of £3,316,567, were imported into Great Britain from the 
 United States ; 111,424, of the value of £2,234,386, from the 
 Continent ; and 59,054, of the value of £1,260,465, from British 
 North America. Of live sheep and lambs, the Continent supplied 
 853,145, worth £1,948,898 ; British North America, 61,367, worth 
 £127,249 ; and the United States, 30.317, worth £73,237. The 
 most significant figures are those connected with the imports of 
 dead animals, the transportation of which in a fresh or preserved 
 state has been enabled by the recent discoveries in chemistry and 
 
 * “ Annual Statement of the Trade of the United Kingdom for 1884,” com- 
 piled in the Custom House from documents collected by that department. 
 
Greater Britain. 
 
 6 1 
 
 physics. In 1884 Great Britain imported in fresh mutton, from 
 Australasia (by far the largest portion being from New Zealand), 
 804,124 cwts., worth £822,842 ; from Holland, 116,422 cwts., 
 worth £873,096 ; and from the United States, 32,229 cwts., worth 
 £92,802. Of bacon, the United States supplied 1,924,298 cwts., 
 worth £4,371,625 ; the Continent, 665,337 cwts., worth £2,035,292 ; 
 and British North America, 171,636 cwts., worth £390,773. Of 
 meat, preserved otherwise than by salting, 259,853 cwts., worth 
 £714,947, came from the United States ; 128,569 cwts., worth 
 £309,197, from Australasia ; 13,967 cwts., worth £36,057, from 
 British North America ; and 19,573 cwts., worth £228,713, from 
 the Continent. Of cheese, England imported 976,190 cwts., 
 worth £2,479,908, from the United States ; 589,237 cwts., worth 
 £1,496,564, from British North America ; and 358,335 cwts., 
 worth £915,462, from the Continent ; Australasia also contributed 
 a small quantity (2,800 cwts., of the value of £7,900) to the 
 English market. Of cured or salted fish, 258,354 cwts., worth 
 £464,268, came from British North America ; 178,109 cwts., 
 worth £433,113, from the United States; and 377,748 cwts., 
 worth £593,058, from the Continent. 
 
 Beviewing, then, these relations of England with her colonies 
 and the United States, it is clear that she occupies a position in 
 the commercial world widely differing from that of any other 
 European State. "VVe must not forget that, if it is really true 
 that the New World contains the life and energies of the future, 
 England, standing as she does with one foot planted on the Old 
 World and the other on the New, combines the advantages of 
 both. On the other hand, this double position multiplies infinitely 
 the difficulties of governing her enormous empire, and increases, 
 moreover, the dangers incident to her position as well as to her 
 policy. 
 
 This is not the place to frame conjectures as to the possible or 
 probable course oi events ; it is enough for our purpose to have 
 shown that the commercial intercourse between England and her 
 colonies has increased since 1870 to an extent which is too little 
 regarded on the Continent. The future will decide what effect 
 this unparalleled growth in the circulation of commodities will 
 have inside the vast economic territory of the British Empire, 
 
62 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 and what attitude will be adopted in regard to this question by 
 the colonies, some of whom find it to their interest at present 
 to pursue a policy of protection, albeit of mild protection, towards 
 the mother-country. 
 
 It is readily intelligible that on a question which has a political 
 as well as a commercial aspect, there should be diversity of 
 opinion. Thus Imperial Federation is the watchword of those 
 who desire to see the mother-country and her colonies drawn 
 closely together in a vast imperial and customs union, and who 
 quote Burke and Adam Smith to prove the necessity of consti- 
 tuting for this world-wide empire a central Government and, if 
 possible, a central Parliament. A not unimportant movement 
 in this direction has been made by the Imperial Federation 
 League, in which prominent politicians of England and the 
 colonies have taken part. A different and, in our opinion, a 
 deeper judgment on this question of union is formed by those 
 who think that community of interests, not written constitutions 
 or a Parliament, will ultimately form the bonds of federation, and 
 who would prefer to see all efforts directed towards the further- 
 ance of this means. 
 
 We merely mention these political and commercial schemes for 
 the purpose of adding that the working classes are fully alive 
 to their importance. It is certainly remarkable that the annual 
 Congress of Trades-unions, held in 1884 at Aberdeen, passed a 
 resolution in favour of establishing a closer union between Eng- 
 land and her colonies. A similar resolution was passed in 1885 
 at a Conference convened by the London Working-men’s Associa- 
 tion, the terms of which we quote, because they show how 
 correctly the English working-men appreciate the intimate con- 
 nection between the great basis of English production on which 
 they themselves stand, and the colonies. The Association resolved, 
 that, 11 Considering how absolutely the industrial prosperity — nay, 
 the existence — of the population of Great Britain, according to 
 its actual rate of increase, depends upon the maintenance and 
 continued growth of our external trade, — and considering, more- 
 over, how largely (under the present extreme industrial competi- 
 tion and prohibitive fiscal policy of foreign countries) an external 
 trade in products of British manufacture is dependent on our 
 
Greater Britain. 
 
 63 
 
 colonial markets, this Conference recognises the vast importance 
 and imperative necessity of establishing forthwith an inseparable 
 fiscal and political union or federation — analogous to that of the 
 United States — between the mother-country and her colonies, by 
 the complete abolition of all tariffs in restraint of free trade 
 throughout the empire, and by the adequate representation of 
 our colonies and dependencies (according to the amount of their 
 civilized population, and their share of imperial taxation) in a 
 paramount Diet of Parliament of the whole empire, which would 
 constitutionally be authorised to utilise and develop by all needful 
 ways and means the boundless commercial and territorial re- 
 sources of the British commonwealth.” * 
 
 But the part played by the English workman in this question 
 is a more important one than is expressed in resolutions of this 
 sort. Among the social institutions transplanted from the mother- 
 country to her colonies, which serve to strengthen the intellectual 
 ties formed by a common advance in culture and education, and 
 which, next to the community of material interests, constitute 
 the strongest guarantees for the integrity of the empire, are the 
 colonial branches of the various working-men’s associations. In 
 this way every working-man who goes out to the colonies knits 
 closer the bond which, in the interests of England’s home labour 
 for the future, cannot possibly be knit too closely. 
 
 This grandeur of England’s position has had a corresponding 
 effect on the Englishman’s conception of the world in general 
 It has enlarged his desires, widened his view, and strengthened 
 his activity and courage. It has implanted in the people a 
 practical turn of thought, far removed from all Utopias, and 
 decisive as regards the manner in which the social problem is 
 being developed in England. We have, therefore, to deal in Eng- 
 land not only with external relations, but also with individuals 
 wholly different from those on the Continent. 
 
 Times , 15th January, 1885. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Society akd the Individual. 
 
 Social order and individual enterprise. — Ecclesiastical origin of the Guilds. — 
 Physiocracy and Communism in France. — The Statutes of Labourers. — In- 
 dividualism in England. — New popular conception of society. — Carlyle on 
 Work and Wages. — Moral aspect of the question. — Lord Shaftesbury and 
 Canon Kingsley. — Patient attitude of the working classes. — Social tendency 
 of thought in England.— Growing recognition of the duties of the indi- 
 vidual to society. — Social elements of the wage question. — Ricardo. — John 
 Stuart Mill. — “ Habits and requirements” of the working classes. — A “ fair 
 day’s wages for a fair day’s work.” — Capital and Co-operation. — Industrial 
 Remuneration Conference in 1885. — Moral education of the working classes. 
 — Arnold Toynbee. — Growing importance of the Land Question. — Views 
 of George and Wallace. — “ Municipalisation ” of the land. 
 
 In every economic epoch, the same problem invariably recurs. 
 The question is, how to reconcile the interests and the self-seek- 
 ing of the individual with the interests and the common welfare 
 of society. The individual is inclined, in the pursuit of gain, to 
 follow merely his own advantage, while society scans with a 
 critical eye the proceedings dictated by purely personal motives, 
 and represents a moral order, intended to enable its individual 
 members, with their rival aims and businesses, to co-exist in 
 peace. The question, therefore, is always one of the intervention 
 of a moral judgment and will, superior to the individual, and act- 
 ing as a corrective in the sphere of private enterprise. Hence 
 we invariably find in economic history on the one side the impul- 
 sive business energy of the individual, and on the other a higher, 
 governing element, which operates to restrain but also to educate 
 the individual, and which we may term the associative element of 
 economic life. In this way a reciprocal working is established 
 between individual enterprise and social order. In every epoch 
 
 ei 
 
Society and the Individual. 
 
 65 
 
 of culture, though perhaps under varying forms, the one element 
 exercises on the other an influence which may be pernicious and 
 destructive, but which may also be wholesome and edifying. 
 
 In the consideration and right judgment of this economic re- 
 lation of individuals to society, great progress has been made 
 since we have comprehended historically the various changes it 
 has undergone. This method has sharpened our view and shaken 
 off our prejudices. No system of economy has ever recognised this 
 contrariety and the necessity of a higher means of adjustment, 
 though various ways have been suggested in various quarters to 
 arrive at a solution of the problem. The different stages of transi- 
 tion make it difficult to form a proper judgment. Periods of “ organ- 
 isation ” alternate with periods of u disorganisation ” ; intervals of 
 suffering with seasons of comparative calm and compromise. 
 
 As regards the preponderance of the social element in relation 
 to the individual, or the reverse, the history of society shows a 
 series of remarkable vicissitudes. The mediaeval Church, while 
 fully alive to the importance of individualism, nevertheless es- 
 tablished, through her ordinances and her authority in general, a 
 compact system of society, so elaborate and firmly settled, that 
 this idea, even at the present day — or rather just at the present 
 period of uncertainty and transition — still exercises a powerful 
 attraction, although the conditions that underlay it have long 
 since disappeared. It was the ecclesiasticism of the Middle Ages 
 that gave birth to the Guild, in which the powers of the indi- 
 vidual were strictly limited and confined by social and religious 
 ordinances. Later on, when this social system had lost its essen- 
 tially ecclesiastical basis, the State instead undertook to regulate 
 trade and commerce, industries and manufactures, by means of 
 guiding or restricting precepts of every kind, until the gather- 
 ing strength of individualism succeeded in first loosening, and 
 then bursting, the old barriers. This individualism acquired ulti- 
 mately, in the course of the eighteenth century, so powerful a 
 position throughout the whole Western world as to outweigh en- 
 tirely the element of association, and assert a monopoly of power 
 which inevitably led to a reaction. Since then the restoration of 
 the associative element to its proper rights has formed the u social 
 problem ” for the nations of Europe. 
 
 F 
 
66 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 On the Continent, this cycle of change has stamped all its vari- 
 ous stages most sharply on the page of history in France. It was 
 there that the Mercantile System was most nakedly expressed ; it 
 was there that, in the seventeenth century, individual industiy 
 was most fettered by edicts of every kind j but it was there also 
 that the reaction in favour of individualism stepped in, almost 
 suddenly, directly, and as a matter of dogma. Physiocracy is the 
 doctrine of individualism, one-sided as ever a doctrine was, inas- 
 much as it assumes that social order, the necessity of which it 
 neither cared nor was able to deny, underlies the exertions of the 
 individual, and that a pre-established harmony exists between 
 the interests of the community at large and the energies of the 
 individual. “ C’est de l’essence de l’ordre naturel des societes 
 politiques,” declares the physiocrat Mercier de la Biviere, “ que 
 Tinteret particulier d’un seul ne puisse jamais etre separe de l’in- 
 teret commun de tous ” ; and even late in our century he finds 
 an echo in the words of Bastiat, “ les interets abandonnes a eux- 
 memes tendent a des combinaisons harmoniques, a la preponder- 
 ance progressive du bien general.” Extreme, however, as was 
 the transition from the principles of Colbert to these ideas, equally 
 extreme was the reaction experienced by the latter when people 
 once perceived that the “ doctrine ” led to the abandonment of all 
 social order whatsoever. The fruit of this reaction was French 
 Communism, in its way just as one-sided as the doctrine of the 
 physiocrats. In the “ Phalanstery ” of Fourier individual interests 
 were to be merged in those of the community in just as one-sided 
 a fashion as in Bastiat’s “ Harmonies Economiques ” the interests 
 of the community were concentrated in the hands of the individual. 
 
 The course of events in England exhibits in the main the same 
 circle of change. Edward III., in his Statutes of Labourers, was 
 able, while imposing strict limits on individualism, to reconcile 
 the contradiction of which we are speaking by enacting that 
 “ reasonable prices ” should be paid for food and u reasonable 
 wages ” paid for labour ; while Elizabeth, in the famous legisla- 
 tion of her reign, was forced to make substantial concessions to 
 the growing power of individualism, until the latter acquired in 
 England also an unlimited sway. At the present day, on the 
 contrary, England, like the Continent, is again in the midst of that 
 
Society and the Individual. 
 
 67 
 
 reactionary current which is tending to impose on individualism 
 not indeed the old but new restrictions, resulting from the cir- 
 cumstances and requirements of our time. It would be, of course, 
 very tempting to pursue this parallel further, and to inquire in 
 what respects the course of social development in England differs 
 from that on the Continent, notwithstanding that the leading fea- 
 tures of both movements coincide. In doing so we should find, 
 especially as regards the time when individualism was at its 
 height, that social life in England possessed a certain counter- 
 balance in the self-government as well as in the strong religious 
 convictions of the people, and that even the English scientific 
 view of individualism, candidly considered, was in no way tainted 
 with that doctrinaire spirit of one-sidedness which one is accus- 
 tomed to meet with, especially in Germany. It would, further, 
 be a subject of extreme interest to inquire what literary move- 
 ment heralded that reaction against unlimited individualism in 
 England, and how it came to pass that among men of learning, 
 in the press and on the public platform, and finally in Parliament 
 and legislation, ideas gradualty cropped up, and proposals assumed 
 a definite shape, which, taken collectively, represent a new con- 
 ception of society in the popular mind destined to initiate a new 
 stage of civilisation in England. 
 
 To attempt an explanation of these questions lies beyond the 
 scope of this introduction. Since, however, this new conception 
 of society forms a foil, so to speak, to all the variations of the 
 social movement in England, and must be noticed if we are to 
 understand any social institution or social aspiration now existing 
 in England, we would endeavour in this introductory chapter, 
 first, to give a sketch, but not in any w T ay a full history, of this 
 phase of thought, and secondly, to show what effect it has had 
 on u economic laws,” and especially how far it has stood what 
 will always be the crucial test of the English working-man, — namely 
 the question of wages. 
 
 1. The revolution wrought in the views entertained by English- 
 men on the mutual relations of the various classes of the indus- 
 trial community has not been brought about by means of politics 
 or doctrine, but is the fruit of a moral reaction against the evils 
 caused by the one-sided pursuit of industrial gains, evils which 
 
68 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 afflicted a large portion of the working classes, and weighed like 
 a nightmare on the conscience of the English public. The first 
 outcry against these abuses came from men of all ranks in life. 
 Their persistent warnings caused the nation gradually to awaken 
 and to recognise the duty of atoning for its long neglect. It was 
 these men whose personal influence disseminated the moral ideas 
 which they represented, and whose practical example and un- 
 tiring efforts, exerted in large or small circles, embodied those 
 ideas in practical institutions, quickened zeal and secured co- 
 operation. It was they who developed by their words and ex- 
 ample the fundamental power of implanting new ideas in other 
 men, and thereby exercising a reforming influence on their will 
 and conduct. After the year 1840 this movement began to ex- 
 pand. Let us listen to some of those who took part in it. 
 
 At that time Carlyle, in his “ Past and Present,” thus addressed 
 his cotemporaries : “ The time for levity, insincerity, and idle 
 babble and play-acting, in all kinds, is gone by ; it is a serious, 
 grave time. Old long-vexed questions, not yet solved in logical 
 words or parliamentary laws, are fast solving themselves in facts, 
 somewhat unblessed to behold ! This largest of questions, this 
 question of Work and Wages, which ought, had we heeded 
 heaven’s voice, to have begun two generations ago or more, cannot 
 be delayed longer without hearing earth’s voice. 1 Labour ’ will 
 verily need to be somewhat { organised,’ as they say, — God knows 
 with what difficulty. Man will actually need to have his debts 
 and earnings a little better paid by man ; which, let Parliament 
 speak of them or be silent of them, are eternally his due from 
 man, and cannot, without penalty, and at length not without 
 death-penalty, be withheld. How much ought to cease among us 
 straightway; how much ought to begin straightway, while the 
 hours yet are ! ” Carlyle is perhaps the strongest representative 
 of the literary view then rapidly gaining ground in England ; 
 namely, that every social reform is a moral reform, a reform of 
 the individual as well as of the community at large. He appeals 
 with his cry of warning to all classes of society, and demands the 
 fulfilment of duty and inward reform from the workman as strictly 
 as from his superiors in rank. “ The cure,” he says, “ if it is to 
 be a cure, must begin at the heart ; not in his condition only, but 
 
Society and the Individual. 
 
 69 
 
 in himself must the patient be all changed.” The fact that the 
 Englishman had the moral strength to follow in the main this 
 admonition, explains the progress he has made in culture since 
 1839, the year when Carlyle wrote these words. 
 
 First of all, it was the workman himself who followed this 
 advice. “ Hence there was at this period,” says Lloyd Jones, an 
 old combatant from the working classes, “ what may be called a 
 great awakening. National politics, industrial progress, social 
 growths and social neglects of various kinds, had been allowed to 
 take their own course. There was no provision for education, 
 no check to speak of on life-destroying labour, no true recognition 
 of that in man which struggles upwards and lifts him out of the 
 brute condition, giving him what Grod has willed he should have, 
 a life beyond and above that of mere getting and spending. Men 
 had opened their eyes and had seen, not their nakedness alone, 
 but their corruption, their degradation, their rapidly-approaching 
 moral death.” * In treating of the working-men’s associations 
 we shall notice the practical operation of this growing spirit. It 
 was the moral impulse given by the pioneers of the movement 
 that created the institutions which in their turn became the 
 schools for educating later generations in the same ideas. 
 
 But also the upper classes of society — whom, when they fail to 
 fulfil their duties, Carlyle compares to “ a tree planted on preci- 
 pices, from the roots of which all the earth has been crumbling ” — 
 followed the same course, prepared and trained in the principles 
 of self-government, of which for centuries they had been the 
 leaders. A few shining representatives stand out from their 
 ranks at the very beginning of the movement. The name of 
 Shaftesbury is well known on the Continent. The speeches he 
 has delivered since 1838, both in and out of Parliament, are 
 clarion calls addressed to the moral conscience of his cotem- 
 poraries, and especially to the fellow-members of his own class. 
 “ The vast proportion of the evils,” he declared in a reply to the 
 Lancashire Short-time Committee, in 1842, “which affect and 
 endanger this country is not ascribable to physical or commercial 
 
 * « Progress of the Working Class,” 1832-1867, by J. M. Ludlow and Lloyd 
 Jones, London, 1867, p. 87. 
 
70 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 causes — these may have their influence, but in the main the mis- 
 chief is to be traced to a moral origin. Over a large surface of 
 the industrial community man has been regarded as an animal, 
 and that an animal not of the highest order ; his loftiest faculties, 
 when not prostrate are perverted, and his lowest exclusively 
 devoted to the manufacture of wealth. Women and children 
 follow in the train of ceaseless toil and degrading occupation, and 
 thus we have before us a mighty multitude of feeble bodies and 
 untaught minds, the perilous materials of present and future 
 pauperism, of violence and infidelity. . . .” But in the same 
 
 speech he was able already to perceive the common work, which 
 was then in its beginning, in respect to the social problem. 
 “ Political differences are suppressed, and parties of all com- 
 plexions aspire to and may claim an equal share in vindicating 
 the rights of humanity and the character of the nation. Nor may 
 we forget our deep obligations to the public press, which both 
 in the capital and in the provinces exhibited a spectacle neither 
 seen nor imagined in any country but this, the spectacle of the 
 journals of extreme opinions and discordant principles combining 
 to sustain a public man because they believed that, with no private 
 purposes of his own, he was engaged in an honest endeavour for 
 the public good.” Still more confidently did he express himself 
 on this subject two years later. 11 1 dare,” he said, 11 to hope for 
 better things — for restored affections, for renewed understanding 
 between master and man, for combined and general efforts, for 
 large and mutual concessions of all classes of the wealthy for the 
 benefit of the common welfare, and specially of the labouring 
 people. It may not be given to me to pass over this Jordan ; 
 other and better men have preceded me, and I entered into their 
 labours ; other and better men will follow me and enter into mine ; 
 but this consolation I shall ever continue to enjoy — that , amidst 
 much injustice , and somewhat of calumny , we have at last lighted such 
 a candle in England as, by God’s blessing, shall never be put out A 
 We will conclude this series of quotations with a passage 
 written by Canon Kingsley. He was one of those men who, as 
 exponents of Christian sociology, preached so successfully the 
 gospel of duty. Soon after 1860 he was already able to observe 
 a good deal of the effect produced on the general condition of 
 
Society and the Individual. 
 
 7 1 
 
 society by the co-operation of the upper classes. In the preface 
 to 11 Alton Locke,” addressed to the Undergraduates of Cambridge, 
 he writes on this subject as follows: “For thirty years past 
 gentlemen and ladies of all shades of opinion have been labouring 
 for and among the working classes as no aristocracy on earth 
 ever laboured before; and do you suppose that all that labour 
 has been in vain? that it has bred in the working classes no 
 increased reverence for law, no increased content with existing 
 institutions, no increased confidence in the classes socially above 
 them ? If so, you must have as poor an opinion of the capabilities 
 of the upper classes as you have of those of the lower.” 
 
 The foregoing remarks may perhaps give a notion how the 
 co-operation of efforts originating from classes socially different, 
 but directed to the same end, prepared the way for the new con- 
 ception of society. The first thing that strikes one in this respect 
 is the slow and gradual recognition of the new ideas. The oppo- 
 sition of the classes, from whom sacrifices would be demanded 
 through the new order of things, and the passive attitude of the 
 State, explain why a struggle of many years in and out of Parlia- 
 ment was needed to consummate the final change of views. As 
 a consequence of this opposition, the practical results were only 
 slow and gradual. In such a course of things the danger is that 
 reform can never ripen, since those who are most closely inter- 
 ested in the reform — in other words, those who hope that it will 
 better their position — either cannot or will not wait. That such 
 was not the case in England, and that this slowly-completed pro- 
 cess was not interrupted by any violent revolution, is exclusively 
 the merit of the English workman. The self-denial and self- 
 sacrifice of the earlier generation of working-men purchased the 
 progress of their successors of to-day, and even now the English 
 workman quietly endures all the uncertainties and hardships of 
 the present, in the hope that, by slowly but steadily pushing 
 onwards, he may bequeath to his children a good, and possibly 
 to his grandchildren a still better, future. Often, no doubt, he 
 seems to be impatient, and his impatience vents itself, but hitherto 
 he has always returned to his habit of quiet labour, and derived 
 confidence for the future from the successes he has gradually 
 achieved. This patient behaviour has exposed him to much bitter 
 
( * 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 criticism from German and international Socialists ; but it is due 
 to a characteristic deeply-rooted in the English workman in 
 common with all the sons of the Anglo-Saxon race ; namely, the 
 iron tenacity wherewith he clings to his personal independence, 
 which it is his pride to have preserved through periods of hard- 
 ship and oppression. 
 
 The reason why the working-man’s question has been seriously 
 grappled with in England, is not because the working-man has 
 appealed to the State, but because the English nation has made 
 this question their own. One-sided interests, asserted in a one- 
 sided manner, may bring about in a State great changes, upheavals, 
 and displacements of social strata, and even revolutions, but they 
 will leave unsolved all those questions which postulate a change 
 in the opinions, the collective judgment, and the attitude of society 
 at large. The Humanistic movement and the Reformation, the 
 Mercantile System and the Age of Enlightenment are examples 
 of how the entire range of a nation’s ideas was enriched by new 
 material, how that material filled the thoughts and judgments of 
 a whole epoch, revolutionized the entire sphere of intellect and 
 action, created a literature and policy of its own, and gave a new 
 form to society and life, — in a word, introduced a new era of 
 civilization. The social “ idea ” now prevailing — if we may so 
 designate the problem, how to reconcile the intellectual and moral 
 progress of the working classes with the new methods of pro- 
 duction based on machinery and large industries — has, as we have 
 already shown, although originating in causes essentially similar, 
 made its appearance in ? the various States of Europe in very 
 different manners. In those countries where, possibly from the 
 exaggerated views of theorists, or from any other cause, that idea 
 has continued to represent the interests of one class alone, it 
 has no doubt gained adherents, roused opponents, and influenced 
 politics and legislation ; but it has never succeeded in becoming, 
 so to speak, a new life-blood for the age, permeating all the arteries 
 of the nation, and shaping all its thoughts and energies anew. It 
 has never been more than partially understood, and has had only 
 a partial influence on human action. It has become a great power, 
 but a power which has stepped uninvited into the conflicts of the 
 day, and embittered instead of allaying or adjusting them. 
 
73 
 
 Society and the Individual. 
 
 In England, the social idea is, theoretically speaking, decidedly 
 in its infancy, and least a matter of principle, though it appears 
 to have acquired there a broader basis than in any other country. 
 This, as we have already observed, is, in the first place, largely 
 due to the fact that already at an early period — it may be dated 
 from the passing of the first Factory Act in 1833 — attempts of 
 a practical kind were made to remove some of the evils, and 
 that men of all ranks were to be found who urged the neces- 
 sity of opening to the working classes at least a share of the 
 civilization enjoyed by the rest of the community. The unshaken 
 religious faith of the English nation has contributed immensely 
 to the universal application of social ideas, and confirmed the 
 truth of Laveley’s remark, that the Christianity of Penn and 
 Washington formed a better cement for the foundations of a State 
 than the philosophy of a Vergniaud or a Mirabeau. Furthermore, 
 the free expression of opinion in literature and the press has made 
 the English nation familiar with the necessity of a social reform 
 in all directions. And lastly, the very efforts made to obtain this 
 reform have exhibited in England, as in no other country, a series 
 of continual compromises with existing relations, inclinations, 
 opinions, and even prejudices, and thus gained adherents in circles 
 which elsewhere still continue to hold aloof. This much is certain, 
 that the social idea in England no longer takes the shape of pay- 
 ments made in instalments, and at the demand of the working- 
 men, but has become a general standpoint, from which society 
 and the State weigh and determine the position of the working 
 classes in relation to all questions that agitate the nation, whether 
 of education, health, industry and trade, law or taxation, not in- 
 deed for such as stand with noise and urgent clamour at the door, 
 but for those who sit as brethren at the council-table, and repre- 
 sent quietly and confidently their interests, which are recognised 
 on all sides. In this way the social idea in England is not that 
 acid and corroding element, so to speak, that Socialism is on the 
 Continent, but is diffused throughout the whole organism of 
 society, not acting as a solvent to its existing forces and sapping 
 their power, but assimilating itself with them, and preparing their 
 gradual reformation. 
 
 It appears to us hopeless to think of solving what is called the 
 
74 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 social problem until a nation, as a whole, has learnt to think 
 socially on the subject. England’s superiority lies in this, that 
 she is nearer this goal than the Continent is. 
 
 Erom the above remarks, it seems plain that it is impossible to 
 define in any single phrase the entire purport and bearings of 
 this social tendency of thought. No doctrine in England, like 
 the German so-called theory of surplus value, has yet formed a 
 school in literature or even in politics, but the working classes 
 have been left at liberty to put forward what they consider their 
 legitimate claims to a share in the general progress of civiliza- 
 tion, and to advocate those claims with all their innate energy 
 and independence. Of the justice of these claims in general the 
 public has become convinced, and, be their realisation near or 
 distant, has stamped them with a recognition which, as being 
 based on the practical progress and success achieved by all those 
 concerned in them, has been accepted as the starting-point of 
 further development. People in England hitherto have done very 
 little in the way of theoretical, but a good deal in the way of 
 practical Socialism, thanks to an active exhibition of Christian 
 sympathy. “ Communism means barbarism, but Socialism means, 
 or wishes to mean, co-operation and community of interests, sym- 
 pathy, the giving to the hands not so large a share as to the 
 brains, but a larger share than hitherto, in the wealth they must 
 combine to produce, — means, in short, the practical application 
 of Christianity to life, and has in it the secret of an orderly and 
 benign reconstruction.” * 
 
 Of course we do not mean to say that the development is wholly 
 placid and peaceful. The universal recognition so readily con- 
 ceded to the claims of the working classes, is not of itself enough 
 to solve a number of questions which deeply affect the interests 
 of one or the other part of the industrial community. Powerful 
 and diverging forces accordingly confront each other, but these 
 forces do not exhaust themselves in an aimless struggle. Work- 
 ing, we might say, at one and the same point, but in different 
 directions, they move it steadily on in the line of a resultant in 
 the parallelogram of forces. During the last ten years, it is true, 
 
 * Mr. Lowell’s address at the Birmingham Midland Institute, October 6th, 1881. 
 
Society and the Individual. 
 
 75 
 
 the influence of foreign Socialistic doctrines, particularly those of 
 Marx and Lasalle, has undoubtedly increased ; and the heads of 
 many have been turned by the example of the Socialistic measures 
 adopted by Continental States. Nevertheless, we believe that all 
 this will only strengthen the one force in the parallelogram, with- 
 out manifesting that seemingly incurable schism which has been 
 created in other countries by the Socialism of mere doctrinaires. 
 We must, therefore, not allow ourselves to be misled if we meet 
 in England with the most diverse and extreme views and schemes 
 as to the future structure of society. These views and schemes 
 swarm, so to speak, round the real kernel of the matter, which is 
 this, that in England, notwithstanding the fact that individual 
 impulse, and the selfish pursuit of personal advantage, are stronger 
 and keener there than in any other country, nevertheless in her 
 legislation, in the new form of self-government, and in her volun- 
 tary institutions, based on the principle of self-help, a direction 
 has been taken leading to a new organisation of society, in which 
 a new equilibrium will be established between the individual and 
 the community. This thought is strikingly expressed by a modern 
 English writer in the following words : “ The individual,” says 
 Mr. Cunningham, “ who follows his own interest, without regard 
 to the Eamily or the State, is always a social danger ; and a self- 
 seeking which is absolutely unlimited by a regard for these 
 institutions cannot be the basis of a permanent civilisation ; only 
 in a well-established and highly-organized society can such indi- 
 vidualism be suffered to exist at all.” * 
 
 2. The practical results obtained by this intellectual movement 
 in England are obvious to the observer. The working of the 
 English working-men’s associations reveals them in various ways. 
 We will consider at present only the question of wages. 
 
 Whoever pictures to himself the progressive condition of Eng- 
 land and the growth hitherto of her national income, and observes 
 how at the same time the wage-income of the working classes has 
 risen, will involuntarily recall to mind the words of Adam Smith, 
 that 11 it is in the progressive state, while the society is advancing 
 to the further acquisition, rather than when it has acquired its full 
 
 “ Growth of English Industry and Commerce,” p. 251. 
 
76 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 complement of riches, that the condition of the labouring poor, of 
 the great body of the people, seems to be the happiest and the 
 most comfortable. r * At first sight one might suppose that out 
 of the vast reservoir of national wealth, into which flow the 
 profits of trade and industry, and of home and colonial produc- 
 tion, all classes of the industrial community, and, therefore, the 
 working classes also, would be now more abundantly supplied 
 than formerly, inasmuch as the contents of that reservoir increase 
 from one decennium to another. But we should be falling into 
 the errors of the wage-fund theory, were we to ascribe the more 
 equitable distribution of the national income, as regards the 
 working classes, so far as that distribution has been effected 
 already or may be effected in the future, to this increase of pro- 
 duction alone. It is due rather to the fact that the English 
 workman has succeeded in bringing into play, next to those 
 economic laws of supply and demand which ultimately regulate 
 the standard of wages, a new social element — namely, the require- 
 ments of a higher state of life and culture. This is the Archi- 
 medean point, not from which the present social structure will be 
 lifted from its hinges, but from which an impulse will be given 
 for a complete readjustment of all its relations. 
 
 It would be a great mistake to suppose that the English have 
 ever overlooked the social elements of the wage question. Even 
 Ricardo is not open to this charge. As is well known, he calls 
 the “ natural price of labour ” that price u which is necessary to 
 enable the labourers, one with another, to subsist and to perpetu- 
 ate their race, without either increase or diminution ” ; whilst 
 the market price of labour, according to his view, is “ the price 
 which is really paid for it, from the natural operation of the 
 proportion of the supply to the demand.” If, therefore, according 
 to his theory, the market price of labour exceeds its natural 
 price, — that is to say, if the price actually paid, as regulated by 
 supply and demand, exceeds the cost of the necessary means of 
 subsistence, — then the position of the workman is decidedly 
 favourable, though it contains at the same time the germ of a 
 relapse, his very prosperity tending to increase the population, 
 
 * “ TVealth of Nations,” book i. chap. viii. p. 133, ed. 1817. 
 
Society and the Individual. 
 
 77 
 
 and, by thus multiplying the sources of supply, to cause a fresh 
 depression in wages, falling frequently, in consequence of the 
 reaction itself, below the level of the necessary means of subsis- 
 tence. The net result, therefore, of Ricardo’s theory is this, that 
 the market price of labour, in other words, the amount of wages 
 actually paid, “ oscillates like a pendulum ” about the line repre- 
 sented by the necessary means of subsistence, and is the result 
 of a law which excludes human will and operates like a law ot 
 nature, like a kind of economical law of gravitation, continually 
 dragging down the working classes to the level of the bare neces- 
 saries of life. 
 
 And yet Ricardo himself did not mistake the social element in 
 the wage question. u It is not to be understood,” he says, “ that 
 the natural price of labour, estimated even in food and neces- 
 saries, is absolutely fixed and constant. It varies at different 
 times in the same country, and very materially differs in different 
 countries. It essentially depends on the habits and customs of the 
 people. An English labourer would consider his wages under 
 their natural rate, and too scanty to support a family, if they 
 enabled him to purchase no other food than potatoes, and to live 
 in no better habitation than a mud cabin ; yet these moderate 
 demands of nature are often deemed sufficient in countries where 
 1 man’s life is cheap,’ and his wants easily satisfied. Many of 
 the conveniences now enjoyed in an English cottage would have 
 been thought luxuries at an earlier period of our history.” * 
 Thus he declares plainly that the regulation of wages is subject 
 to the operation of another element besides the law of supply and 
 demand. But, as economic theories in England are at all times 
 simply the reflection of existing realities, and the English work- 
 man, at the time when Ricardo wrote, had not the power to make 
 his interests, which consist in the prominent assertion of the 
 social element in the wage-question, prevail, those interests were 
 obscured in real life, and became even in theory a neglected 
 quantity. 
 
 Half a century later the facts, and with them the theories, had 
 changed. That altered tendency of thought, of which we are 
 
 * ‘'Principles of Political Economy,” ed. 1821, chap. v. p. 91. 
 
73 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 speaking, Had found powerful expression. England’s greatest 
 economical theorist of recent days, John Stuart Mill, lived to see 
 the awakening of the working classes, their union into powerful 
 organizations, their resolute efforts to attain a higher standard of 
 life, and the success which those efforts achieved. When speak- 
 ing of the economic laws that regulate their wages, he takes 
 account of the working-man’s wishes, his claims and his require- 
 ments in respect of culture. He devotes the fourth hook of his 
 “ Principles of Political Economy ” to describing the connection 
 between economical and social progress, and his standpoint is 
 characterised by the fact that in this portion of his work he does 
 not speak of the influence of industrial progress on society, but, 
 on the contrary, dwells on the influence of the progress of society 
 on production and distribution. He seeks to show that a society 
 in which man’s power over nature and the security of person and 
 property are increasing, and the “ business capacity ” of work- 
 men, combined for large undertakings, is being trained and 
 developed, may accomplish, concurrently with the increase of 
 production and accumulation of capital, another and a new distri- 
 bution of national wealth. Mill rightly starts with the premiss 
 that it is wrong to consider economical facts simply as fixed, 
 immutable quantities, and in this way to examine their inter- 
 dependence, — in other words, the laws of production, of the em- 
 ployment of capital and labour, of population and of ground-rents, 
 — as though their relations were permanently settled ; but that 
 along with the study of these economic statics must go a study of 
 economic dynamics ; namely, an inquiry into the results furnished 
 by an observation of economical facts in their changes and natural 
 development, in motion as well as in equilibrium, — in a word, into 
 the relative position of landlords, capitalists, and labourers in the 
 state of progressive civilization which England now enjoys. Mill 
 is therefore clearly convinced that the purely economic relation 
 between capital and labour, and therefore between supply and 
 demand, is only one regulator of wages, and that another is at 
 work beside it, which he terms the “ habits and requirements ” 
 of the working classes. 
 
 These habits and requirements, sanctioned as they have been 
 since his time by the ratifying verdict of the nation, have be- 
 
Society and the Individual. 
 
 79 
 
 come a social power which exercises a strong influence on the 
 question of wages. That question has consequently assumed 
 materially more importance in connection with the process of 
 production, and occupies in that respect a very different position 
 at the present day to that which it held when E-ieardo wrote. 
 
 Industrial production in England depends on the possibility 
 to compete in foreign markets. In the days before the repeal of 
 the corn laws the other conditions of national production were as 
 follows. An artificial price of wheat, protected by duties, com- 
 manded a high rent and a low purchasing power of wages. The 
 ordinary profit in industrial enterprise was high, and was main- 
 tained at the cost of labour. As to the rate of wages, the law of 
 supply and demand was pressed to the utmost, and there was 
 little or no margin between the income of the working classes 
 and their “ necessary means of subsistence.” If one of the links 
 in this chain received a blow,- — if, for example, the trade had 
 miscalculated in respect of foreign consumption or foreign 
 competition, or profits had been impaired by technical or 
 commercial mistakes, — the loss by no means always fell on the 
 responsible party, but the shock was felt on all sides, and it was 
 the workman who was the hardest hit, since he not only suffered 
 a reduction of wages, but also lost his employment. But since 
 the English workman is gradually seeking to bring the social 
 regulator — his requirements in point of culture — to bear on the 
 question of wages, he will assuredly, in so doing, place a certain 
 check on the operation of supply and demand. The higher habits 
 and requirements of the working classes, the higher u standard of 
 life ” on which they are insisting, are far from being the simple 
 result of favourable conditions in respect of wages ; but, on the 
 contrary, these habits and requirements constitute a limit which 
 the combined will of the working-man is seeking to impose on a 
 reduction of his wages. 
 
 The question above all is as to an objective standard for the 
 u habits and requirements” which the English workman is at 
 present asserting. Such a standard alone can secure the univer- 
 sal recognition of his standpoint. In spite of many errors and 
 mistakes the English workman has kept to this objective standard 
 in his requirements, and has found a happy formula to express it. 
 
8o 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 What the English workman of to-day requires is to be able to 
 marry and set up a household, to live in health and decency, to 
 give his children a suitable education, and to be in a position to 
 provide against old age, sickness, or accident. He wishes to have 
 access in his spare hours to the means of enlarging his knowledge 
 and cultivation, so as to work in his sphere for the welfare of his 
 class. Eamily, education, provision for the future, the self- 
 government of his associations — these words contain the sum and 
 substance of his “ habits and requirements,” equally far removed 
 from a socialistic Utopia as from indolent submission to a hard 
 lot. The life of English workmen, even in the higher grades, is a 
 serious one. The best among them — who not only take care of their 
 families, but uphold the interests of their class, keep the others 
 together, and form the cement of those associations and unions to 
 which their fellow-workmen are so deeply indebted — lead a life 
 the sole variety of which consists in their passing from one form 
 of work to another, from their work in the factory to their work 
 in the club or at the desk. The artisans of the manufacturing 
 districts in the north of England in particular — the untiring 
 workmen of Lancashire, Yorkshire, Durham, and Northumber- 
 land — are patterns of this kind. They form the picked troops of 
 the entire army of English workmen — men who have trained 
 their comrades to a moral consciousness of what they not only 
 may but must demand. “A fair day’s wages for a fair day’s work” 
 — so runs the formula in which this standpoint is comprised. 
 Originating from the trades-unions, it constitutes now, so far as 
 the wage question is concerned, the fundamental programme of 
 the whole brotherhood of labour in England — a programme also 
 which is generally accepted by modern economical science as 
 containing not only the elements of the wage question, but also 
 an ethical postulate. This formula is a right one, because it 
 expresses not merely what the English workman demands as his 
 right , but what he undertakes as his corresponding obligation; 
 the “ fair day’s wages ” are consequent and conditional upon the 
 “ fair day’s work.” Thus the demand assumes the dignity of a 
 moral claim ; and this moral standpoint constitutes the strength 
 of the working classes in the struggle for higher wages. Now 
 the postulate contained in this formula leads to the practical 
 
Society and the Individual. 
 
 81 
 
 endeavour to make the price of wages as constant a quantity as 
 possible. Hitherto, as we know, not only has it been a variable 
 quantity, but, whenever a miscalculation occurred in the great 
 process of production, the payment of wages has been terminated 
 altogether by a dismissal of the workmen. But the actual raising 
 of wages, no less than these efforts to make wages a constant 
 quantity in the process of production, must naturally cause a 
 displacement in the entire chain of those economical conditions 
 which regulate the production itself. In fact, the efforts made 
 in this direction by the English workman, and especially by the 
 trades-unions, have a corresponding effect on English production, 
 in point of cost, profits, and ability to compete. This reaction 
 explains further why those efforts formerly encountered such 
 stubborn opposition, and why those who were foremost in making 
 them were represented as the enemies of England’s greatness and 
 power. But all this is now changed. The English workman has 
 succeeded in bringing the social element of the wage-question 
 into general recognition, and converting it, at least partially, into 
 a practical reality. 
 
 The manner in which the rise of wages in England has reacted 
 on production, as well as on profits and prices, we shall have 
 occasion hereafter to demonstrate in detail. In doing so, we 
 shall endeavour also to explain how the progressive improvement 
 and adaptation of machinery has effected a saving on another 
 point in the cost of production; and how the higher working 
 capacities of the English workman, which are mainly the fruit of 
 his better way of living, have more than repaid the increased 
 cost of that living, and given a start to England as compared 
 with most of her competitors, which has compensated again for 
 the rise in wages. We shall then be able to show how the 
 working-man has attained, or has a prospect of shortly attaining, 
 the object expressed in his formula of “ a fair day’s wages for a 
 fair day’s work.” 
 
 In saying that the raising of wages is the object of the English 
 workman, we must add at once that it is his nearest object. His 
 common-sense is directed to this object, because he is willing to 
 sacrifice his strength and time to the nearest attainable aim, but 
 not to a mere theory. Still, the theoretical view of wages, even 
 
82 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 in England, and especially since the days of Mill, has taken a 
 large horizon ; it seeks to read the future, and to discover therein 
 a new system of relations between the working classes and 
 national production. We quote from Mill’s “ Principles of 
 Political Economy ” a passage bearing on this point : — 
 
 “ When co-operative societies shall have sufficiently multiplied, 
 it is not probable that any but the least valuable workpeople will 
 any longer consent to work all their lives for wages merely ; both 
 private capitalists and associations will gradually find it necessary 
 to make the entire body of labourers participants in profits. 
 Eventually, and in perhaps a less remote future than may be sup- 
 posed, we may, through the co-operative principle, see our way 
 to a change of society, which would combine the freedom and 
 independence of the individual with the moral, intellectual, and 
 economical advantages of aggregate production; and which, 
 without violence or spoliation, or even any sudden disturbance 
 of existing habits and expectations, would realize, at least in the 
 industrial department, the best aspirations of the democratic 
 spirit, by putting an end to the division of society into the in- 
 dustrious and the idle, and effacing all social distinctions but 
 those fairly earned by personal services and exertions. Associa- 
 tions like those which we have described, by the very process of 
 their success, are a course of education in those moral and active 
 qualities by which alone success can be either deserved or 
 attained. As associations multiplied, they would tend more and 
 more to absorb all workpeople, except those who have too little 
 understanding, or too little virtue, to be capable of learning to 
 act on any other system than that of narrow selfishness. As this 
 change proceeded, owners of capital would gradually find it to 
 their advantage, instead of maintaining the struggle of the old 
 system with workpeople of only the worst description, to lend 
 their capital to the associations ; to do this at a diminishing rate 
 of interest, and at last, perhaps, even to exchange their capital 
 for terminable annuities. In this, or some such mode, the exist- 
 ing accumulations of capital might honestly, and by a kind of 
 spontaneous process, become in the end the joint property of 
 all who participate in their productive employment — a trans- 
 formation which, thus effected, would be the nearest approach 
 
S3 
 
 Society <md the Individual. 
 
 to social justice, and the most beneficial ordering of industrial 
 affairs for the universal good which it is possible at present to 
 foresee.” * 
 
 From this passage we can see how closely even the advanced 
 theoretical opinions of Mill eorrespond with existing facts, and 
 how widely in this respect they differ from the schemes of 
 continental Socialists, however much they may resemble them 
 in their aims. We meet with the same tendency to keep to 
 practical ground — to believe in evolution , and not in revolution 
 in economy — in the efforts made by the English workman. He 
 regards the bettering of his wages as the nearest and therefore 
 most important object to be attained, and hopes in this way 
 gradually to accomplish great changes in the relations of the 
 various classes of the industrial community, as well as in the 
 laws of the State. In this sense must be understood the experi- 
 ments made with productive associations and industrial partner- 
 ship; in this sense the English workman also is a Socialist, 
 though he has hitherto turned a deaf ear to those who preach an 
 uncompromising and sudden revolution of the existing economic 
 order, and whom he designates in plain terms as Communists. 
 
 We cannot give a better picture of these more advanced views 
 and schemes of social reformers in England than by giving a 
 brief account of a Conference held in London, in January, 1885, 
 under the presidency of Sir Charles Dilke, which was composed 
 of delegates of a number of Trades-unions, Co-operative Societies, 
 and Friendly Societies, as well as of other associations for social 
 objects, and in whose proceedings a considerable number also 
 of Members of Parliament, representatives of social science, and 
 some large manufacturers and shipbuilders took part. These 
 proceedings f are of the utmost interest as regards the present 
 question, inasmuch as the Radical wing of the working-man ; s 
 party took the lead in the discussion, and had an opportunity 
 of making their various wishes public. The three questions 
 
 * Yol. ii. p. 374, sixth edition. 
 
 f They have been published in a portly volume, entitled, “ Report of the 
 Proceedings and Papers read at the Industrial Remuneration Conference in 
 Prince’s Hall, Piccadilly, under the Presidency of tnc Right Hon. Sir Charles 
 Dilke,” London, 1885. 
 
8 4 
 
 English Associations of Working Meii. 
 
 around which all the essays read and speeches delivered grouped 
 themselves, were as follows : — 
 
 1. Has the increase of the products of industry within the 
 last hundred years tended most to the benefit of capitalists and 
 labourers, or to that of the working classes, whether artisans, 
 labourers, or others ? and in what relative proportions in any 
 given period ? 
 
 2. Do any remediable causes influence prejudicially (a) the 
 continuity of industrial employment, ( b ) the rates of wages, 
 (c) the well-being of the working classes ? 
 
 3. Would the more general distribution of capital or land, or 
 the State management of capital or land, promote or impair the 
 production of wealth and the welfare of the community ? 
 
 These questions alone suffice to show that the range of dis- 
 cussion was not narrowly restricted, but that ample scope was 
 given for the expression of extreme views. 
 
 The Conference itself brought out opposite opinions into strong 
 relief, but at the same time furnished rich materials to elucidate 
 the points at issue. The most widely differing representatives 
 of labour and of social science gave each their various descriptions 
 of the present state of things, their comparisons with the past, 
 their proposals for the future. Views were expressed, which 
 showed a near affinity to, and were directly influenced by, con- 
 tinental socialism ; but, nevertheless, it was again made evident 
 that a socialistic doctrine, such as could enlist any appreciable 
 portion of workmen under its banner, did not exist in England, 
 because the English workman confines his thoughts to the 
 attainable and practicable, and because his leaders, especially 
 those who represent the great trades-unions, will not hear of 
 State help, and persist in regarding the reformation of the system 
 of employment and the development of their institutions based on 
 the principle of self-help, as the cardinal point of their endeavours. 
 
 Let us hear first Mr. J. G. Hutchinson, a joiner, of Leeds, in 
 an essay on u Labour and its Howard ” : “ The old political 
 economy,” he says, “ that decrees that labour is a commodity 
 that must, equally with the products of labour, be ruled by 
 supply and demand : the old political economy that ordains that 
 the wages of labour will, in the normal order of things, be 
 
Society and the Individual. 
 
 85 
 
 determined by the terms on which the labourer will consent to 
 produce, and will constantly tend to a bare level of subsistence ; — 
 this doctrine, that has been a palliative to salve the consciences 
 of our capitalists and employers, must be abandoned as being 
 out of date and not in accordance with our new religion of 
 humanity. Man’s labour, as the support of his life, cannot, in 
 common fairness, be placed on a par with a bale of cloth. If 
 the man were as inert as the bale of cloth, if he had no require- 
 ments, if he did not need to live, to be clothed and housed, then 
 their positions might be identical. But so long as the man has 
 human aspirations, so long as he is able to discriminate between 
 right and wrong, it is not only unjust, it is cruel, to place his 
 labour as a commodity in juxtaposition with that of an inani- 
 mate article, to be ruled by the inexorable law of supply and 
 demand. Besides, man in his present position does not stand, 
 on equal ground with the capitalist in bargaining for employ- 
 ment ; he cannot, in the great majority of cases, ‘take it or 
 leave it,’ as he is told to do. No ; the work must be his at one 
 price or another, — and often, too often, the man who has the 
 giant’s power, uses it as a giant.” 
 
 These are the views long since expressed and often repeated on. 
 the Continent, and particularly in Germany; only in England 
 it has never been deduced from them that the State immediately 
 is to help, but on the contrary that the workman must help him- 
 self. Mr. John Wilson, a delegate from Durham, and a promi- 
 nent member of the Miners’ National Union, who was chosen 
 as a Member of Parliament at the election of 1885, takes up the 
 gloves at any rate against what another speaker at the Con- 
 ference had termed “ freedom of contract,” and asks what free- 
 dom of contract could there be between “ a highwayman with 
 a pistol in his hand and himself unarmed, or between a capitalist 
 and a workman dependent upon his day’s toil for his day’s 
 living.” After this comparison, however, a rare exhibition of 
 class hatred in England, he immediately added that he did not 
 ask that the law should step in, and as with a knife divide the 
 £1,000 of the capitalist, and give him a share. u As by the force 
 of co-operation, and by the power of their unions, miners had 
 worked their way to the advantageous position they now held, 
 
86 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 so in the future they would work at their social amelioration 
 
 by their own efforts.' 1 '' 
 
 Not less characteristic are the remarks made "by Miss Edith 
 Simcox, the delegate of a dressmakers’ union, in an essay read 
 at the Conference on the “Loss or Grain of the Working Classes 
 during the Nineteenth Century.” She verges on that social 
 ideology which has hitherto been seldom met with in England, 
 but does not dispute the fundamental feature of all social efforts 
 in this country, — namely, the demand for gradual development. 
 
 “A social war,” she says, “would not right the wrongs which 
 a state of social or economic war has produced ; but a revolution 
 may yet be effected in the minds and consciences of the com- 
 munity, which will find its expression in a radical reformation 
 of the theory and practice of the economic world. What we 
 want is, on the part of the many, more wisdom in discerning, 
 more firmness in demanding, their just rights ; on the part of 
 the few, more wisdom in discerning, more courage in discharging, 
 their just obligations. Each step forward on either side will 
 make the next step easier for both, and as the few and the many 
 draw together, the distinction between the two classes will cease 
 to be that between workers and spenders. There will always be 
 a few whom the democracy will delight to honour above the 
 rest ; but these few will be those whose services to the common 
 good outweigh and outnumber the services of their fellows, not 
 those whose only cleverness is to have appropriated to them- 
 selves the largest share of the collective earnings.” 
 
 We purposely cite here the most extreme opinions expressed 
 at the Conference, in order to give an idea of the line followed 
 by the most extreme wing of the so-called working-man’s party 
 in England. To this party Professor Beesly belongs, who, in his 
 essay on the “ Education of Public Opinion,” * writes as follows : 
 “ No serious improvement will take place in the continuity of 
 employment, or the rate of wages, or the well-being of the 
 working classes, until the public opinion treats the wealth of the 
 capitalist as a fund entrusted to him by society, to be administered 
 for the benefit of society, and more especially of that particular 
 
 Page 216. 
 
Society and the Individual. 
 
 8 / 
 
 group of workers for which he is responsible. I say his wealth, 
 not his capital. The introduction of the latter word does but 
 obscure the truth that the whole of his wealth is entrusted to 
 him for the special purpose above mentioned, and not merely 
 that particular portion of it which, according to Adam Smith, 
 1 he expects to afford him a revenue ’ ; or, according to Ricardo, 
 1 is employed in production 9 ; or, according to Mill, ‘ is destined 
 to supply productive labour with the shelter, protection, tools, 
 and materials which the work requires, and to feed and otherwise 
 maintain the labourer during the process.’ Looked at from the 
 social point of view (and any other point of view is here repudi- 
 ated as misleading), this wealth is entrusted to him, not simply 
 for production, but for production securing adequate comfort 
 and dignity to the producers, including himself, he being, as 
 it were, the managing partner for the rest. There need be no 
 fear that public opinion will ever grudge him such reasonable 
 superiority in comfort, and even luxury, as befits his position, 
 as long as the industrial co-operation which he superintends is 
 carried on wisely and prosperously. But it must be understood 
 that the support of the co-operators in as much comfort and 
 dignity as the state of the trust fund will permit is the first 
 charge upon it ; and that they must not be pinched as long as 
 the trustee has carriages, horses, handsome furniture, a cellar 
 of wine, and a staff of domestic servants. The larger profits 
 made during good years, instead of being used for a reckless 
 expansion of the business, or an increased scale of personal 
 expenditure, are to be considered and treated as a reserve fund 
 for providing continuous employment and a steady rate of wages 
 in bad times. It may be asked in what respect our ideal capi- 
 talist of the future will differ from the manager of a co-operative 
 society of the present day ? Chiefly in this. He will not be an 
 elected officer, subject to removal, and more or less fettered by 
 his electors. He will be the hereditary capitalist — as he is now, 
 administering his wealth according to his free discretion — as he 
 does now. Only he will be judged, and he will judge himself, 
 by a different standard of duty.” 
 
 We have quoted this last passage because in many parts of 
 England and Scotland we ourselves have found similar views 
 
83 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 expressed, with all their consequences, even among large em- 
 ployers of labour, but especially among the younger generation 
 of such employers. It must be stated, however, that even these 
 most advanced exponents of social science in England display 
 the peculiar characteristics of the English tendency of mind, — 
 namely, reliance on self-exertion, the awakening of the moral 
 conscience, and a firm adherence to gradual development. 
 
 The sketch we have endeavoured to give of these new ideas 
 would, however, be very incomplete if we failed to refer expressly 
 to a question we have already touched upon. We have said that 
 the English workman is fully conscious that his new rights 
 involve new obligations. The great successes achieved by the 
 working classes in England are due entirely to the fact that 
 the education of those classes to a higher grade of culture has 
 kept pace with the struggle for higher wages. Many years 
 ago the workmen of Paisley, in an address to their employers, 
 very rightly said that whatever circumstances lowered the moral 
 level of a group of workers lowered equally their wages, and that 
 whatever raised that level put the workers in a position to obtain 
 higher wages. 
 
 It is greatly to the credit of English literature, which for the 
 last few decades has been full of the question of the distribution 
 of the national income between the employers and employed, that 
 it has carefully abstained from the dangerous habit of speaking 
 exclusively of the rights of the lower classes. It has consequently 
 been avowed that the moral law which is to influence the rela- 
 tions between masters and workmen, has a double and reciprocal 
 sanction ; in other words, that the right to demand higher wages 
 can be acquired only by admitting the duty of spending those 
 higher wages in a proper manner. What the late Arnold Toynbee 
 says on this point, in his Lectures on the Industrial Revolution 
 in England, accurately expresses an idea which is constantly put 
 before the English workman, which he has laid to heart, and 
 which has helped immensely to counteract one-sided assertions : 
 “ We have no reason to suppose that human nature, as it is now, 
 will always remain the same. We have reason, on the other 
 hand, to suppose that employers, under the influence of the wider 
 and deeper conceptions of which I have spoken, may be willing 
 
Society and the Individual. 
 
 89 
 
 to forego, in the struggle for the division of wealth, some part 
 of that share which would come to them if they chose to exert 
 their force without restraint. It may be said, £ This is chimerical ; 
 human nature will be the same, and always has been the same.’ 
 This I deny, and I instance that great change of opinion which 
 took place in England with regard to slavery. If such a rapid 
 change could take place in our moral ideas within the last 
 hundred years, do not you think it possible that in the course of 
 another hundred years English employers and English workmen 
 may act upon higher notions of duty and higher conceptions of 
 citizenship than they do how ? I am not speaking to employers 
 alone. The matter is as much in the hands of the workman as 
 it is in the hands of the employer. It is not merely a question of 
 the distribution of tuealth ; it is a question of the right use of wealth. 
 You know only too well that many working-men do not know 
 how to use the wages which they have at the present time. You 
 know, too, that an increase of wages often means an increase of 
 crime. If working-men are to expect their employers to act with 
 larger notions of equity in their dealings in the labour-market, 
 it is at least rational that employers should expect that workmen 
 will set about reforming their own domestic life. It is at least 
 reasonable that they should demand that working-men shall 
 combine to put down drunkenness and brutal sports. High wages 
 are not an end in themselves. No one wants high wages in order 
 that working-men may indulge in mere sensual gratification. We 
 want higher wages in order that an improved material condition, 
 with less of anxiety and less of uncertainty as to the future, may 
 enable the working-man to enter on a purer and more worthy 
 life. So far from high wages being an end in themselves, we 
 desire them for the workman just in order that he may be 
 delivered from that engrossing care for every shilling and every 
 penny which engenders a base materialism. Therefore, in deal- 
 ing with the subject of wages, I do not hesitate to insist that you 
 cannot separate it from the whole question of life.” * 
 
 Thus the new social tendency of thought, of which we are 
 speaking, may be summed up in the remark, that another and 
 
 Pages 175, 17G. 
 
90 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 higher conception of duties in respect of the relations between 
 labour and capital is gaining ground throughout England, and 
 finding daily more vigorous expression in associated life, in self- 
 government, and in the legislation of the State. In the bosom 
 of the English economic order of the present day lies a new 
 economic theory, which has not indeed been yet formulated 
 anywhere, but in which important progress has already been 
 made. 
 
 This is perhaps the place to refer briefly to another question 
 which is beginning to play a great part in England, and which 
 actively occupies the labouring classes. We mean the land 
 question. This movement also manifests the characteristic feature 
 of the England of to-day, the desire to admit the great masses of 
 the working classes to a share in those healthy conditions and 
 comforts of life which are enjoyed in such abundance by the 
 middle classes. 
 
 Landed property in England is now confronting the second 
 assault made upon it in the course of this century. The first 
 proceeded from the capitalists and manufacturers, the present 
 one proceeds, in the first instance, from the working-men. The 
 tendency and aim of these attacks are, however, very different. 
 The first attack, in which the assailants gained a complete vic- 
 tory, was directed against the corn duties and the ground-rents 
 guaranteed through their means by the State. That class of society 
 which represents the interests of industrial profit perceived very 
 early that the workman is paid not in money but in commodities, 
 and they succeeded in uniting the low standard of the cost of 
 production with the inevitable increase of wages, by obtaining 
 the unlimited importation of cheap food from abroad, and thus 
 raising the intrinsic value of wages without having to put their 
 hands into their own pockets. The present assaults on landed 
 property are mainly caused, in the first instance, by the pressure 
 of an ever-growing population, by the tying up of landed property 
 in England, and the restrictions which make it difficult and expen- 
 sive to acquire land ; but in their theoretical basis, as well as in 
 the so-called practical schemes put forward by their authors, they 
 go far beyond the previous agitation. The Anti-Corn Law move- 
 ment solved indeed a portion of the bread question at the expense 
 
Society and the Individual. 
 
 91 
 
 of the landlord, but owing to the general economic expansion in 
 England, the latter did not remain uncompensated for the loss 
 he had sustained : the present movement, on the contrary, strikes 
 at the roots of landed property altogether. 
 
 The land question, started already by the Chartists in a radical 
 spirit, treated since the time of Mill, as a subject of orthodox 
 national economy, in a friendly spirit of reform, and incorporated 
 since Mr. Gladstone’s Irish Land Act of 1881 into a practical 
 measure of State, is now the topic of the liveliest discussion in all 
 circles, and especially in those of the working-man. It is as if 
 all socialist ideas, which hitherto, in respect of moveable capital, 
 have been subject to a strict and self-imposed restraint in Eng- 
 land, had launched at once their concentrated forces on the 
 existing form and tenure of landed property. At every working- 
 man’s congress the land question crops up for discussion ; it is 
 canvassed from various standpoints in a host of pamphlets, and it 
 unquestionably now engrosses to a large extent the thoughts of 
 the labouring classes. An English Land Restoration League, 
 a Scottish Land Restoration League, an Irish Land Restoration 
 League, a Land Nationalisation Society, a Land Law Reform 
 League, and a Highland Land Law Association are all actively 
 engaged in proposals of reform; while, on the other hand, a 
 Liberty and Property Defence League has undertaken to defend 
 the existing relations. The entire movement is undoubtedly 
 assuming larger dimensions from day to day, and the whole ques- 
 tion seems pressing forward to a solution, as did that of political 
 reform in 1832, or the free-trade movement, which was ter- 
 minated in 1846. The most widely-differing views are entertained, 
 and the most different schemes put forward. Nevertheless, it is 
 in so far easy to survey the movement in its entirety, as there 
 are two distinct and mutually antagonistic aims pursued. The 
 movement may be traced directly to two books, which have 
 had an extraordinary influence, and around which group them- 
 selves almost all the ideas now current on the subject. These are 
 Henry George’s well-known book on “ Progress and Poverty,” and 
 Alfred Russell Wallace’s “Land Nationalisation: its Necessity 
 and its Aims.” 
 
 The first-named work is already well-known on the Continent. 
 
92 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 Henry George seeks to justify, on grounds of political economy 
 as well as abstract right, the revolution which he holds to be 
 necessary in the land question. On both these heads his line of 
 argument may be traced to very simple conclusions. Making 
 use of Ricardo’s theory of rent, he endeavours, in the first 
 instance, to prove that low wages are caused by high rents, 
 and that the real opposition, therefore, lies not between labour 
 and capital, wages and profits, but between labour and landed 
 property, wages and rents. Now since, in consequence of the 
 growth of population, the improvements in the means of produc- 
 tion, and speculative purchases of land, rents have a constant 
 tendency to rise, wages, for the same reasons, have a constant 
 tendency to fall. Beside this economical deduction, he places 
 another, based on abstract right. The only exclusive title to 
 property is, in his opinion, the title of the producer. A man has 
 no property but what he produces. Land and soil can, therefore, 
 never become private property, because it is a free gift of Nature. 
 Moveable and immoveable property are false distinctions of 
 lawyers ; the natural antitheses are : wealth and land, property 
 and nature. Occupatio and implantatio are not sufficient titles 
 for the acquirement of immoveable property. Mr. George then 
 proceeds to state the practical consequences of these views. He 
 demands a nationalisation of the land, that is to say, the State- 
 management of the entire landed property in the nation ; and he 
 would accomplish this by providing that the State should absorb 
 the ground-rents by means of taxation. The propositions con- 
 tained in this book are indefensible on first principles, but they 
 arrest attention from a certain elevation of thought and an 
 attractive style. No book has been more widely read by the 
 working classes during the last few years. 
 
 Theoretically, Mr. Wallace takes his stand on exactly the same 
 ground. This writer has gained a hearing, though to a far less 
 extent than Mr. George, mainly by his re-advocacy of an ideal 
 system of peasant proprietorship, already foreshadowed by Mill, 
 and by his attempts to convince his fellow-countrymen of the 
 advantages of such a system, by comparing the conditions of 
 land tenure in Great Britain with those on the Continent. The 
 nationalisation of the land, which forms the basis of his argument, 
 
Society and the Individual. 
 
 93 
 
 is his handle for constructing a kind of right of landlordship for 
 the State, while dividing the land itself into portions measured 
 by acres, and granting it to 'what he describes as “occupying 
 owners.” Thus the two divergent elements of his scheme are, 
 on the one hand, the State-management of landed property in 
 the aggregate, and on the other, the establishment of a kind 
 of peasant proprietorship by dividing landed property into 
 shares. 
 
 With the purely agricultural aspect of this question we have 
 here no concern. In two respects, however, the land question is 
 one that immediately affects the industrial workman. The Uto- 
 pian idea of splitting up the land into small peasant holdings 
 differs widely from the scheme of enabling the working classes 
 to obtain, either for use or possession, small pieces of ground near 
 their dwellings, a possibility at present denied to them, except in 
 a comparatively few places, owing to the exclusive and restricted 
 conditions of land tenure in England. Practical experiments 
 have already been made in this direction, and are said to have 
 been made with success. Yet this can only be feasible with re- 
 gard to certain classes of industrial workmen and under peculiar 
 conditions. For if this system were to become general, the 
 English labourer would have to acquire the taste and skill 
 possessed by the French to enable him to cultivate the soil 
 in addition to his regular employment, — a transition he would 
 perhaps find it more difficult to accomplish than those people 
 suppose who regard the change as a new piece of fortune for 
 him ; while, moreover, it would be extremely doubtful whether 
 such a change would be to the advantage of his general way of 
 life. For the English workman’s habits are essentially urban. 
 It is just the more highly educated, more industrious, and more 
 aspiring portion of their members who have hitherto employed 
 their leisure hours in adding to their technical skill and know- 
 ledge, or taking part in the business of their various associations, 
 in enlarging the range of their ideas by the study of books and 
 newspapers, and thereby contributing to the advancement of 
 themselves and their fellow-workmen, — a tendency which they 
 would only neglect to their own loss and detriment. 
 
 Far more general importance, on the contrary, attaches to the 
 
94 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 question, By what means the various municipalities can be en- 
 abled, by acquiring land, to obtain space for the establishment of 
 healthy quarters for the working classes. The recent Acts con- 
 cerning working-men’s dwellings, to which we shall have occasion 
 to revert in the course of this introduction, constitute an im- 
 portant step in this direction. At any rate, the 11 municipalisation 
 of the land,” to use a phrase applied to this movement, stands 
 within nearer and more practicable distance than the “ national- 
 isation of the land.” 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The State, Self-Government, and Self-Help. 
 
 Moral cause of changes in the State system. — Self-government : Municipal and 
 Social. — State-interference and laissez faire . — England and the Continent 
 compared. — Peculiar conditions of State-action in England. — Co-operation 
 of voluntary self-governing associations. — Their importance in this respect. 
 
 1. Legislative and Administrative Action of the State : — Growth of Fac- 
 tory legislation since 1833. — The Factory and Workshop Act, 1878. — Its 
 administration and working. — Vigilant attitude of the Trades-unions. — 
 Alkali, etc., Works Regulation Act, 1881. — Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1872, 
 — Metalliferous Mines Regulation Act, 1872. — Merchant Shipping Acts, 
 1854-1880. — Civil and criminal relations of labour. — Question of Contract 
 of Service. — Master and Servant Act, 1867. — Employers and Workmen 
 Act, 1875. — Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act, 1875. — Laws re- 
 lating to Arbitration. — Employers’ Liability Act, 1880. — Its working and 
 effects. — Employers’ Insurance Companies. — Action of the Trades-unions. 
 — Payment of wages in public-houses. 
 
 2. Old and New Self-Government : — The old magisterial system. — Changes 
 introduced by establishment of large industries. — Increased requirements 
 of modern administration. — Inadequacy of the old system. — Local Boards 
 and Government supervision. — The Poor-law Union. — Public Health Act, 
 1848. — Establishment of the Local Government Board. — Advantages of the 
 new system. — National Education and the Working Classes. — Dark features 
 of social life. — Reformatories and Industrial Schools. — Public Health Act, 
 1875. — Effects of sanitary legislation. — Improvement of Working-men’s 
 dwellings. — Centralisation of the new system. — Division of administrative 
 labour. — Co-operation of the Government. 
 
 3. Self-Government of the Working Classes : — Problems left to the Work- 
 ing-men’s Associations. — Advantages of freedom of association in England. 
 — Self-reliance and mutual confidence displayed in Working-men’s Associa- 
 tions. — Publicity of their proceedings. — Enlargement of their aims. — Their 
 character as voluntary institutions. — Their tendency to centralisation. — 
 Development of official organism. — State supervision and voluntary effort. 
 — Social guarantees against revolutionary change. — Increased cost of pro- 
 duction. — Countervailing advantages enjoyed by England. — Adjustment of 
 labour relations a source of strength in future competition. 
 
 In the last chapter we endeavoured to show how what is called 
 the social element in economic life has been strengthened in 
 
 95 
 
96 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 our time by the moral consciousness of tbe nation, which will 
 lead, and in part has already led, to a wide-spreading revolution 
 in the relations of the various classes of the industrial com- 
 munity and in economic laws. That this movement has altered 
 also the relations of the State to society is obvious. The prac- 
 tical recognition of the fact that the development of English 
 industries has created entirely new conditions of life for the 
 working classes, which necessitate a readjustment of their rela- 
 tions to the community at large, points forcibly also to recon- 
 structive changes in the sphere of English State-life. 
 
 To review and examine these reconstructive changes is not 
 easy, for they cannot yet be considered as in any w T ay complete. 
 It has been said, indeed, that every stage in a nation’s progress 
 may be termed a stage of transition, and that no particular mark 
 or token can therefore be affixed to any epoch. This is true, 
 however, only up to certain point ; for undoubtedly a natio n, and 
 especially also the legislation of a nation, makes more rapid and 
 decisive strides at critical times than in periods of comparative 
 calm, and it is equally indisputable that the present is such a 
 critical time for all nations alike. This explains the fact that, 
 while the changes now being effected in State life in England 
 are easily discernible, their consequences cannot yet be reviewed 
 with any certainty. Nevertheless, the positive results of the last 
 few decades suffice to point out the direction pursued by the 
 State in England with regard to the new demands of society. 
 
 To obtain a co rrect standpoint, however, it must not be over- 
 looked that the State is not the only embodiment of social order, 
 but that national life in all countries finds expression in other 
 forms besides. We refer to those associations of individuals for 
 the attainment of objects differing in kind, but embracing com- 
 mon interests and obligations, which may be designated as self- 
 governing bodies in the widest sense of the term. Generally 
 speaking, it may be said that in proportion as these spontaneous 
 elements in a community increase in strength, and in the com- 
 petence and willingness to exercise public administrative func- 
 tions, the sphere of State action is correspondingly narrowed ; 
 and that where, on the contrary, they are too feeble, incompetent, 
 and unwilling to perform those functions, the necessity of pro- 
 
The State , Self-Government, and Self-Help . 
 
 97 
 
 viding for certain unsatisfied requirements of national life leads 
 to “ State intervention.” This Self-Government in the widest 
 sense is divisible, however, into two classes, — namely, Self-Govern- 
 ment properly so called, and the voluntary associations of a 
 people. The first applies only to those cases where the State has 
 delegated its functions to an administrative body for the purpose 
 of providing for the wants of a particular locality. English 
 11 Local Self-Government ” is perhaps the most perfect kind of 
 this self-government that exists. Even voluntary associations, 
 however, may assume forms which constitute them the represen- 
 tatives of social order. Of course this w’ill not be the case where 
 these associations are simply the strengthened expression of a 
 one-sided interest, of the selfishness of a class or group of persons. 
 But where, on the other hand, they gradually discard this lower 
 and narrow-minded form, and divest themselves of their one- 
 sided character, where they cease to regard themselves as mere 
 centres of self-interest, and impose obligations on their members, 
 pursuing a social object in properly constituted administrative 
 forms, they approach more and more nearly to the regular self- 
 governing bodies, supplement those bodies, and, together with 
 them, constitute those forms of social order which stand outside 
 the strict sphere of State mechanism, but the importance of 
 which must be rightly appreciated to enable one to judge cor- 
 rectly of the action of the State at a given time and in a given 
 society. 
 
 Every nation, in the course of its history, amid struggles and 
 experiments, discovers at length, under the guiding influence of 
 great rulers or statesmen, the formula of public law which denotes 
 the relation of the State to these various bodies. It is this that 
 constitutes the form of State-Government and legislation, which 
 finds expression not only in the administrative functions peculiar to 
 the State, but also in the legally-recognised action of local self- 
 government and of voluntary bodies, as well as in the co-operation 
 of all three factors. What practical shape these forms assume 
 among a people at a certain time is a question to be determined 
 not by any theory, but only by the relative power and capacity 
 of development possessed by the various self-governing bodies. 
 All theory on this point is mere abstraction founded on given 
 
 H 
 
9 3 
 
 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 circumstances, and can only serve as a guide when some void or 
 other is apparent in these mutual relations. Where the social 
 energies of individuals are comparatively weak, theory will rightly 
 push the State into the foreground ; where they are strong, the 
 contrary will he the case. “ It is not possible,” says Thorold 
 Rogers, “ to define the precise limit at which laissez-faire ends and 
 the action of Government, parliamentary or municipal, begins. 
 The efficiency of spontaneous and independent actions varies 
 with the subject, the community, perhaps the age.” * 
 
 The legislation and administration of the central power of a 
 State comprise, therefore, only one part of the great task to be 
 performed ; the other part depends on the spontaneous energies 
 inherent in the people, and both parts must work in harmony 
 together, unless serious defects of management of one kind or 
 another are to occur. If we compare the relations of these two 
 elements at the present day with those that existed only a few 
 decades ago, we must at once admit that an important displace- 
 ment has taken place in favour of State interference. The same 
 cycle of change which we noticed in the last chapter of this in- 
 troduction in connection with the historical relations of economic 
 order to individualism, is found repeated in the historical rela- 
 tions of the State, as the most important representative of econo- 
 mic order, to its subjects. State influence, once so preponderating 
 and all-pervading thoughout the whole of Europe, yielded to a 
 great restriction of its sphere of action, only to resume in recent 
 days its former tendency to expand. The course of this develop- 
 ment in England differs from that on the Continent in the fact 
 that the spontaneous energies of Englishmen imposed much ear- 
 lier and much narrower restrictions on State action than was the 
 case abroad ; but it is again assuming at the present day a con- 
 tinental phase by the extension of this State action. The different 
 manner in which this movement has shaped itself in England and 
 on the Continent is a subject which here we can only briefly 
 point out. 
 
 Under the Tudors strong analogies can be perceived between 
 
 * Address delivered at the Social Science Congress at Huddersfield, 9th Octo- 
 ber, 188B. 
 
The State, Self-Government , and Self-Help. 99 
 
 England and the Continent, as regards the relations of the State 
 to society, inasmuch as there, as well as here, the Government at 
 that time undertook to be the guardian of the people. After that 
 time, however, the course of national life in England more and 
 more diverged from that on the Continent. The “ glorious Revo- 
 lution ” of 1688 formed the decisive and final turning-point. The 
 dethronement of the Stuarts put an end to those ideas of absolute 
 monarchy of which Hobbes, a generation before, had been so 
 stout a champion. When Bolingbroke, in the eighteenth century 
 gave expression in his 11 Patriot King ” to the idea of a monarch 
 ruling over the heads of parliamentary parties, of a personal 
 kingship, a u paternal government,” his views were merely the 
 echo of a time which was rapidly fading into oblivion. While on 
 the Continent the State is continually developing into something 
 outside of and above the nation, entrusted, nay, overburdened 
 with the task of supporting the whole community, and acting as 
 the political and economical guardian of the masses, the State in 
 England is content to grasp only a few attributes of power, and 
 delegates to self-governing bodies all those functions which con- 
 stitute paternal government on the Continent. In the second 
 half of the eighteenth century England and the Continent present 
 two totally different pictures. On the Continent we perceive an 
 enlightened Absolutism, penetrating deeply all relations of society ; 
 in England we see a people who, whether in larger or smaller 
 centres of administration, are essentially self-governing. 
 
 We do not remind our readers of this familiar contrast for the 
 purpose of weighing its advantages and disadvantages. People 
 in England have certainly sacrificed the fate of the weaker 
 elements of the nation and the comfort of living under State 
 care ; but while, under the paternal care and guardianship of the 
 Continent, the spontaneous energies of the people must neces- 
 sarily be stunted, the English nation has succeeded in maintain- 
 ing an unbroken energy, a self-dependence and a self-confidence, 
 which form the basis of her entire system of administration. 
 Prom these few remarks it is sufficiently clear, that if the State 
 in England is beginning to interfere again actively in social rela- 
 tions, it is doing so under conditions wholly different from those 
 on the Continent. It is those peculiar characteristics of the 
 
100 
 
 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 English nation, which we have just mentioned, that form the 
 foundations, in the first instance, of her strong substructure of 
 self-government, and, in addition to that, of a large number of 
 voluntary institutions, which minister to public objects and com- 
 plete the fabric. We have already said that in modern and most 
 recent days the development of voluntarily associated life in 
 England has been absolutely gigantic. It embraces all relations 
 of life, and has grappled with social problems with a strength 
 and power of initiative unparalleled elsewhere. 
 
 To form a judgment as to the action of the State, or more 
 correctly speaking, of the central Government in England, it is 
 indispensable to examine at the same time the action of the 
 regular self-governing bodies, as well as of the voluntary associa- 
 tions in that country. State-action, self-government, and the 
 various associations based on the principle of voluntary self-help, 
 particularly those working-men’s associations which have already 
 been brought into a legal form, constitute a network of adminis- 
 trative regulations and independent institutions, each fitting into 
 and supplementing the other, and in the co-operation of which 
 lies the secret of social progress in England. 
 
 If, then, we see the State at present growing more active, and 
 enlarging its sphere of action under the pressure of wants not 
 satisfied in any other way, are we justified at once in concluding 
 that the two other elements of power — namely, self-government 
 and the voluntary associations — are declining in importance, and 
 becoming too feeble and crippled for coping with the social tasks 
 and requirements of the present day ? 
 
 The answer to this question will be found by considering the 
 working-men’s associations as one of the most important adjuncts 
 to the system of State-fife in England, and as indicating the 
 relations of the working classes to society. At present we pro- 
 pose to give merely a brief summary of the new relations assumed 
 by the Government, the self-governing bodies, and the voluntary 
 associations in regard to social problems and to one another. 
 
 1. Legislative and Administrative Action of the State. 
 
 The Government in England has directly intervened in two 
 ways in the development of the working classes: on the one 
 
The State , Self-Government , and Self-Help . ioi 
 
 hand, by creating new and important departments for the protec- 
 tion of the workman ; and on the other, by giving a new legal 
 meaning to the contract of service. The first object was attained 
 by the Factory Acts, and by analogous codifications of the law 
 respecting the mining industry and shipping. The second object 
 was attained by a series of Acts reforming the status of the work- 
 man in regard to the civil and criminal law. We will consider 
 briefly both these groups of State measures. 
 
 Since the passing of the first effective Factory Act in 1833, 
 more than half a century has now elapsed, which has been occu- 
 pied with gradual legislation on this subject, and during which 
 that legislation has constantly enlarged not only its field of opera- 
 tion, but its aims. At the present day, — reviewing, as we can, 
 the effect of these enactments extending over so long a space of 
 time, — it cannot be doubted that this legislative development has 
 increased to an extraordinary extent the power directly exercised 
 by the State in respect of the relations between the employer and 
 employed, and that the successful results exhibited thereby have 
 contributed more than anything else to modify the views enter- 
 tained in England respecting “ State interference.” There is no 
 branch of English legislation that penetrates more deeply into 
 the domain of private rights, but also none the justice and neces- 
 sity of which at the present day has been more universally admit- 
 ted by all those whose interests it affects. In former years it 
 was no easy task to describe this legislation by gathering mater- 
 ials from the numerous Factory Acts, but the new codification 
 embodied in the Factory and Workshop Act of 1878,* makes it 
 
 * 41 Viet., ch. 16. The preliminary labours of this codification were con- 
 ducted by a Royal Commission appointed in 1875, who had to inspect the 
 numerous special statutes and examine their operation, and for that purpose 
 pursued their investigations in London, as well as in the large manufacturing 
 towns of England, Scotland, and Ireland. The Commission published a report 
 in 1876, which deals exhaustively with the question. It gives a history of this 
 branch of legislation, explains the reasons of the special regulations then exist- 
 ing for the various branches of manufacture, and seeks to trace them back, as 
 far as possible, to common principles. Its concluding resolutions formed the 
 general groundwork of the Bill which was subsequently introduced. The 
 debates that took place in Parliament in 1878 (“ Hansard,” vols. ccxxxvii. and 
 ccxxxviii.) are remarkable for the calmness, practical sense, and intelligence 
 
T02 
 
 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 easy to trace the leading features of factory legislation in Eng- 
 land. These features have since been modified in respect of 
 particular industries by the Factory and Workshop Act of 1883 
 (46 and 47 Viet., ch. 53), but not in any manner affecting general 
 principles. 
 
 The Factory and Workshop Act of 1878, in its present form, 
 extends practically to all factories, — that is to say, to all estab- 
 lishments in which steam, water, or other mechanical power is 
 used to work any machinery ; secondly, to all workshops in which 
 any manual labour is exercised in the making, repairing, or 
 adapting for sale of any article ; and lastly, to domestic work- 
 shops.* The provisions of the Act fall under two heads, the first 
 consisting of regulations for health and safety in the management 
 of factories and workshops, and the second of regulations affecting 
 the persons specially protected by the Act; that is to say, children 
 under fourteen (those under ten are under no circumstances to 
 be employed), young persons under eighteen, and women. With 
 regard to the first head or group, the Act gives full directions for 
 insuring the cleanliness and proper ventilation of factories and 
 workshops, and for preventing overcrowding. Strict provision is 
 made for the fencing of machinery and dangerous vats and struc- 
 tures, to prevent accidents. No children, young persons, or women 
 are allowed to clean any machinery while in motion, or to work 
 between the fixed and traversing parts of any self-acting machine. 
 Notice of all accidents must be sent forthwith to the inspector 
 and the certifying surgeon of the district for the purpose of 
 
 displayed by all parties in Parliament on this question. Mr. Redgrave, the 
 Chief Inspector, has written a very comprehensive commentary, entitled “ The 
 Factory and Workshop Act, 1878 ” (London, Shaw & Sons, 1879). Another 
 commentary is Mr.Notcutt’s “Law Relating to Factories and Workshops ; with 
 Introduction and Explanatory Notes” (London, Stevens & Sons, 1879). With 
 respect to the earlier legislation up to 1870, Dr. von Plener’s work, “ Die Englische 
 Fabriksgesetzgebung (Vienna, Gerold, 1871), is still the best authority. The 
 administration of the Act can be seen from the Annual Reports of the Chief 
 Inspector of Factories and Workshops. 
 
 * Note to the English Edition . — The Act defines these as referring to cases 
 “ where persons are employed at home; that is to say, in a private house, room, 
 or place which, though used as a dwelling, is, by reason of the work carried on 
 there, a factory or workshop within the meaning of the Act ” (§ 16). 
 
The State , Self-Government , Self-Help. 103 
 
 immediate investigation and report. The provisions particularly 
 affecting the protected persons relate to their hours of employ- 
 ment and leisure, their holidays, and the school attendance of the 
 factory children. In regard to the period of their employment, 
 the Act contains a series of distinctions. Speaking generally 
 and without regard to special exceptions, their work, except on 
 Saturdays, proceeds on what is called the “ ten hours’ system,” 
 extending from six or seven in the morning to six or seven in the 
 evening, with intervals for meals or rest amounting altogether to 
 two, and in many cases to one and a half hours. Since half an 
 hour of this aggregate amount of leisure is usually taken at the 
 end of the working ( day, the work ends accordingly at half-past 
 five or half-past six, instead of at six or seven. On Saturdays, 
 however, the period of employment lasts only from six or seven 
 in the morning to one or two in the afternoon, with an interval 
 of an hour, or at least half an hour, for meals ; so that the total 
 number of working hours per week amounts respectively to fifty- 
 six or fifty-nine. Children may only be employed in factories, 
 and workshops either for half a day, i.e., in morning or afternoon 
 sets, or on the alternate day system. For all persons under the 
 age of sixteen a medical certificate of fitness for employment 
 must be obtained by the occupier of a factory (in the case of 
 workshops it is optional), stating that the person in question is 
 not incapacitated by disease or bodily infirmity. With regard to 
 the meals of children, young persons, and women, it is provided 
 that they are to be at regular hours and simultaneous, and all 
 employment during meal- time is absolutely forbidden. Every 
 child, young person, or woman is entitled to have as holidays the 
 whole of Christmas Day, and the whole either of Good Friday or 
 Easter Monday or Whit Monday, and also eight half holidays or 
 our whole holidays in the year, at least half of which must fall 
 between the 15th of March and the first of October. In addition 
 to these general provisions, there are a number of special regula- 
 tions for particular works and factories, forbidding altogether in 
 some cases the employment of children, young persons, and 
 women, and allowing overtime and night work within certain 
 limits and under definite control. 
 
 The persons thus specially protected by the Act have become 
 
104 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 the regulators of the hours of work in general ; for although 
 legislation in England has consistently avoided any regulation 
 of those hours for grown up men, the “ normal day’s work,” so 
 strictly adhered to in the case of children, young persons, and 
 women, indirectly affects all factories and workshops where men 
 are employed together with the protected persons. The change 
 in public opinion, the efforts made by the trades-unions, and the 
 growing power of the working classes in England, altogether, 
 have long since made these regulations the general rule. In 
 addition to this, there is the general Sunday’s rest, strictly in 
 accordance not only with law but also with the habits and re- 
 ligious usages of the people, which, coupled with the practice, 
 now equally general, of leaving off work on Saturday afternoons, 
 leaves the working classes free time from two o’clock on the 
 Saturday till early on the following Monday. This pause in the 
 week’s labour has a vital bearing on the moral and intellectual 
 progress of those who profit by it. The requirements of religion, 
 in the first place, play a great part in England, and occupy a por- 
 tion of the Sunday, and the remainder of the day is a boon to the 
 workman, in proportion as the former widespread mania for drink 
 is decreasing, and his intellectual tastes are tending to expand. 
 
 The regulations of the Factory Act respecting the school 
 attendance of the factory children are of the utmost importance. 
 Children, if employed for one half of the day, must give at least 
 -one attendance during the other half ; and if employed on the 
 alternate day system, must give two attendances on each off day. 
 Further restrictions still may be imposed indirectly on the em- 
 ployment of children in factories by the new Elementary Educa- 
 tion Acts, for the School Boards and the School Attendance 
 Committees are empowered to compel the children in their re- 
 spective districts to attend school twice a day until they have 
 passed a certain standard, thus excluding them from all factory 
 work in the meantime. The occupier of the factory is bound to 
 superintend and keep account of the school attendance of the 
 children he employs ; he must obtain from the teacher a certifi- 
 cate (given weekly) of such attendance, otherwise he is not 
 entitled to keep the child in his employment the following 
 week. In the case of home employment an extension of work 
 
The State , Self-Government , and Self-Help . 105 
 
 hours is allowed ; namely, from six in the morning to nine in the 
 evening, and on Saturdays to four in the afternoon, with an 
 allowance, however, of 4J and 2J hours respectively for meals and 
 absence from work. 
 
 Restricting ourselves in this chapter to general points of view 
 and a summary of English legislation, we have mentioned only 
 the leading provisions of the Eactory Act of 1878. We proceed 
 to advert to the wide influence which that Act has exercised on 
 the relations of the working classes, because it is exactly this 
 branch of administration, taken in hand by the Government in 
 England, which has become a focus for social development, and 
 because to this focus gravitate the thoughts and efforts as well of 
 employers as of all classes of workmen, while the working-men’s 
 associations and their aims are intimately connected with this 
 Act and its administration. 
 
 With regard to the administration and working of this Act, 
 copious information is supplied by the admirable yearly Reports of 
 the Chief Inspector of Eactories and Workshops. In 1883 and 1884 
 we endeavoured, by means of repeated tours with the inspectors 
 of factories, and by making numerous inquiries among employers 
 and workmen, as well as representatives of working-men’s asso- 
 ciations, to complete our opinion of the practical working of the 
 Act. Its administration is conducted by the Elome Office, through 
 the medium of a Chief Inspector in London, five Superintending 
 Inspectors in London, Manchester, Glasgow, and Leeds, and forty- 
 eight other Inspectors distributed over England and Scotland. 
 Part III. of the Act defines the official functions and powers of 
 these inspectors. It is their duty to visit, whenever necessary, 
 all factories, workshops, and schools situated within their re- 
 spective districts, and to ascertain whether all the provisions of 
 the Act are complied with ; for this purpose they are empowered 
 to call for documents and examine witnesses, and require them to 
 sign a declaration of the truth of the matters respecting which 
 they are examined. All offences under the Act are to be prose- 
 cuted, and all fines recovered before a court of summary jurisdic- 
 tion. The Chief Inspector derives his information from the 
 reports which his subordinates are bound by their official direc- 
 tions to furnish him once a week. It is considered, however, 
 
io6 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 most important tliat lie sliould be in constant personal contact 
 with them, satisfy himself of their activity personally and on the 
 spot, and hold frequent conferences of inspectors in London. In 
 this way the whole service is based npon close investigation and 
 prompt decision, the result of which has been that the Inspectors 
 of Factories have become not only a new authority in the State 
 organism, but an active and mediating element between the in- 
 terests of labour and capital. It is largely due to them that these 
 two factors do not confront each other in England with that un- 
 compromising hostility and distrust which they exhibit in other 
 countries. The inspectors are enjoined in their instructions to 
 do their best “ to soften prejudices and further a good feeling be- 
 tween masters and workmen ” : and neither party will deny them 
 the merit of admirably discharging this duty. Their activity at 
 the present day is enormous and astounding, if we consider that 
 the number of factories and workshops under inspection, which in 
 1833 was only 3,094, amounted in 1884 to no less than 132,000 ; * 
 and that the discharge of their official duties involves not only 
 personal visits of inspection, the examination of witnesses, prose- 
 cutions at law, and the compilation of weekly reports, but also a 
 constant round of travelling. The great importance of the in- 
 spectors is due to the fact that, on the one hand, they do not take 
 too narrow-minded a view of their duties, and that, on the other, 
 they do not intermeddle in matters beyond their control.f They 
 
 * G. Shaw-Lefevre : “ Opening Address : Transactions of the National Asso- 
 ciation for the Promotion of Social Science (Birmingham Meeting, 1S84),” 
 London, 1885, Longman, Green & Co. 
 
 + “ I have applications for advice,” says Mr. Redgrave in his Report for 1888 
 (p. 6), “ in almost all the relations between master and servant. One apprentice 
 asks whether, after having worked at his trade, his master can insist upon his 
 cleaning knives and boots in the house ; another, whether he can be compelled 
 to take out parcels ; another, whether deduction can he made from his pay for 
 absence from work ; another, whether on his master owing him six weeks’ 
 wages, his acceptance of one week’s wages would bar his claiming the balance ; 
 then, supposing he proceeded against his master for the balance and the master 
 did not pay, how was he to get his due ? Again, young ladies in dressmakers’ 
 workrooms have applied to know whether their employers could refuse them 
 leave to go and seek other employment ; whether a week’s or a month’s notice 
 to leave was required ; whether they are not entitled to a fortnight’s holiday ; 
 and complaints of insufficient food and ill-ventilated bedrooms. Although I 
 
The State , Self-Government , and Self-Help. 107 
 
 exercise tact and an intelligent influence on employers as well as 
 workmen in a number of questions, which are only indirectly 
 connected with their strictly official duties ; but in this officium 
 boni viri they keep within proper limits, and carefully abstain, on 
 principle, from meddling with questions of wages, or intervening 
 in wage disputes and strikes, since to do so would undoubtedly 
 destroy their authority. From the large employers of labour 
 they meet with cordial and unstinted support. In all matters 
 concerning the health and safety of the workman, the due obser- 
 vance of the prescribed hours of employment, proper accommoda- 
 tion for meals, and the school attendance of the children, most of 
 the English factories, and particularly those of most recent con- 
 struction, are models of careful forethought and arrangement, 
 though certainly, in regard to the small ones, there is still much 
 room for improvement, and ample necessity for exercising strict 
 vigilance and control. 
 
 In connection with the Factory Act, we must not omit to notice 
 the position taken up by the trades-unions. They keep watch over 
 its strict observance with a kind of jealous scrutiny, not only 
 through their organs of the press, but also through their repre- 
 sentatives in Parliament. Their chief wish is that the number of 
 inspectors, each of whom on an average has considerably over 
 2,000 factories and workshops under his superintendence, should 
 be increased, and that some of them should be chosen from among 
 the working-men themselves, as has actually been done in some 
 cases of late years. In reply to this demand, it is urged that it 
 is desirable to continue choosing the inspectors from those circles, 
 particularly officials versed in a technical knowledge . of their 
 duties, whose antecedents have not brought them into alliance 
 with either manufacturers or workmen. 
 
 Y7ith regard, lastly, to the general question, how far the 
 Factory Act of 1878 is strictly enforced, all witnesses concur in 
 stating that the provisions respecting the periods of employment, 
 and the school attendance of children, are at present carried out 
 
 cannot satisfy all my correspondents, it is a pleasing proof that we are looked 
 upon as impartial judges, and our advice sought as that of unprejudiced 
 persons.” 
 
io3 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 satisfactorily. As to illegal overtime, the vigilance of the in- 
 spectors has checked the evil. The number of prosecutions by 
 the inspectors for offences against the Act has amounted of late 
 years to an annual total of from 700 to 900. The particular 
 offences are published in the general reports of the Chief In- 
 spector, together with the names of the employers concerned. 
 
 The great influence exercised by factory legislation on the 
 health of the workman, and his security against accidents, will 
 occupy our attention hereafter in connection with the question 
 of insurance. On the other hand, we feel bound to mention the 
 fact, which is established on all sides, that, as regards the super- 
 intendence of home industry, the Act has remained a dead letter. 
 The inspectors content themselves with inquiring into, and even- 
 tually bringing before the court, some particularly bad case here 
 and there ; but in general these “ domestic workshops,” which 
 are far too numerous and difficult of access for effective control, 
 still elude their influence and authority altogether. 
 
 For chemical factories there is a special measure of protection 
 to the workman in the Alkali, etc., Works Regulation Act of 
 1881 (44 and 45 Viet., ch. 87), the last of a series of enactments 
 on this subject dating from 1863, and containing provisions of a 
 sanitary nature. This Act prescribes, among other things, that 
 noxious and offensive gases in these works must be, as far as 
 possible, condensed; that the best practicable means must be 
 taken for preventing the discharge of such gases ; and that acid 
 drainage or alkali waste shall not be discharged in a manner in- 
 jurious to health. The supervision of these factories is entrusted 
 to inspectors acting under the Local Government Board. Who- 
 ever visits the great chemical factories in Glasgow and Newcastle- 
 upon-Tyne, will be able to observe with interest how the pro- 
 visions of this Act have influenced and changed the technical 
 arrangements of those works, what an impulse they have given to 
 invention, and how materially they have improved the conditions 
 of labour in this dangerously unhealthy branch of industry. 
 
 The same man, to whose increasing efforts is largely due the 
 progress made in factory legislation, gave also the first impulse to 
 the regulation of the mining industry and the protection of the 
 persons employed in it. Lord Ashley (afterwards the Earl of 
 
The State, Self-Government, and Self-Help. 109 
 
 Shaftesbury) succeeded in obtaining the appointment of a Royal 
 Commission to inquire into the employment of children in mines. 
 The result of their labours was the Act of 1842, which prohibited 
 the employment of women and children in mines and the pay- 
 ment of wages in public-houses. The Act of 1860 added further 
 provisions with reference to State inspection. The mining regu- 
 lation s were supplemented by the Act of 18 62. Meanwhile^ the 
 English miners, and especiallythose employed in the collieries, 
 had formed themselves into powerfu l tr- n.cl yylt.ich c om, 
 
 stitut pd Minors* "Nati onal Union: and under the leadership 
 of the late Mr. Alexander Macdonald, himself a former working 
 miner and afte rwards Member for Stafford, st r ove both i n an d 
 ont-of Parliament for further legislative ref orms. Mr. Macdonald , 
 the first President ofTlnsTJnion, was a man who, like Oastler and 
 Sadler, understood how to organize large bodies of workmen and 
 secure a hearing for their legitimate demands. His efforts met 
 with a readier response than was the case in the days of his pre- 
 decessors ; and he received powerful aid not only from the work- 
 men, but from Parliament and the press. At his death, in 1881, 
 he left behind him a common organization of miners, which holds 
 one of the first places in respect of unity, consciousness of pur- 
 pose and success, among the numerous working-men’s associa- 
 tions in England. His efforts for the abolition of the truck 
 system, for the passing' an Employers^ TiiaBiiity Act, and, 
 lastly, forffhffextension and c 0 n s 0 li daH off in 
 
 general, were crowned with great success. The English miners 
 justly regard the Coal Mines Regulation Act of 1872, which forms 
 a comprehensive codification of the law relating to mining, as in 
 a great measure his work. 
 
 This last-named Act (35 and 36 Viet., ch. 76) * contains pro- 
 
 \d si o.n s .respecting the employment of women, chi Id very arid 
 
 young persons, the payment of wages, the powers of inspectors, 
 and regulations for insuring the safety of all employed. Ho boy 
 under ten, and no woman or girl of any age, are allowed to work 
 
 * See M. Peace, “ The Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1872,” London, 1873; 
 L. A. Atherley-Jones’ “ Miner’s Manual,” London, 1882; and, for the working 
 of the Act, the annual Reports of the Inspectors of Mines, which are rich in 
 statistical and other information. 
 
no 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 in any mine below ground ; and boys between ten and twelve are 
 only allowed to work in mines where, by reason of the thickness 
 of the seams, such employment is necessary ; and even then only 
 by special leave of the Secretary of State, and with limitations 
 of the hours of labour. Boys between twelve and thirteen, and 
 male young persons under sixteen, are not allowed to work for 
 more than fifty-four hours in any one week. With regard to the 
 employment above ground of the persons specially protected, to 
 their meals and schooling, the Act contains provisions analogous 
 to those in the f actory an d-Work shop Ac t. A series of minute 
 directions with regard to wages prohibit, among other things, 
 their payment at public-houses, and regulate the mode of pay- 
 ment by weight. The staff of inspectors, consisting of fourteen 
 principal and twelve assistant inspectors for England and Scot- 
 land, is organized similarly to that connected with the factories, 
 though they are insufficient, as is admitted on all sides, for the 
 exercise of a searching supervision and control. The numerous 
 provisions respecting the safety of the mines, the construction of. 
 shafts for working or ventilation, the strict certificates of com- 
 petency required from managers, the obligation to make reports, 
 particularly in case of accidents, the precautionary rules of every 
 kind, the system of signalling, the state of the working shafts, 
 the daily inspection of the condition of the ventilation, the pre- 
 vention of explosions, and so on, are closely connected with the 
 efforts made by science and practical experiment in various 
 directions, — particularly in regard to safety lamps, atmospheric 
 pressure, fire-damp, etc., — to avert the most threatening dangers 
 to which mining operations are exposed, and which, in conse- 
 quence of the increasing depth of the mines, constantly demand 
 greater care and caution. 
 
 Eor metallic mining, the Metallifero us Mines Reg ulation A ct o f 
 _1872^35Land 36 Viet., ch. 77) forms, a n analogous supplement to 
 Idie Act of 1842. With respect to boys' labour its provisions are 
 still stricter, since they prohibit their employment altogether 
 until the completion of their twelfth year. 
 
 Lastly, we must mention here the numerous Merchant Ship- 
 ping Acts, the most important of which, namely, the Act of 1854, 
 has been supplemented by a host of other statutes, the principal 
 
The State, Self-Government , and Self-Help. 
 
 1 1 1 
 
 ones being in 1862, 1863, 1867, 1871, 1872, 1873, and 1876.* 
 These Acts, which still await consolidation, are generally re- 
 ferred to, together with the Merchant Seam en (Payment pf 
 Wages) Act o£18&(Ai i£LJ^.^ 
 
 They have effectually checked the incredible abuses, owing 
 largely to the greed of unscrupulous owners, and consisting in 
 sending unseaworthy ships to sea, in order to make profit out 
 of their loss by means of over-insurance. In addition to these 
 provisions, which will ever be associated with the name of Mr. 
 Plimsoll, these Acts contain a complete code of law with regard 
 to the respective duties of the captain and his crew, the dis- 
 cipline of the seamen, the protection and registration of the 
 crew, the victualling of merchant vessels, the prevention of 
 accidents, and so forth 
 
 All these groups of statutes, which we have thus sketched in 
 outline, are included by Englishmen under the general denomi- 
 nation of “labour protection Acts.” They have contributed 
 immensely to the elevation of the working classes, and one meets 
 with the effects of their operation at every step. One of these 
 effects, however, has been to equalise the position of all manu- 
 facturers in respect to the hours of labour, and thus to impose 
 a check, at least on one side, to unfair competition. Formerly 
 the honest and humane employer was seriously and unfairly 
 handicapped in competing with rivals who screwed the utmost 
 labour out of their workmen ; but since protective legislation 
 has successfully coped with these abuses, the honest employers 
 have profited considerably by the change, and are indeed as 
 staunch supporters of these Acts as the workmen themselves. 
 
 We come now to the second group of statutes,’ which relate 
 to the civil and criminal side of the relations of labour .f 
 
 * Note to the English Edition . — 25 and 26 Viet., ch. 63 (Merchant Shipping) ; 
 26 and 27 Viet., ch. 51 (Passengers in Emigrant Ships) ; 30 and 31 Viet., ch. 
 124 (Medicines, etc.) ; 34 and 35 Viet., ch. 110 (Unseaworthy Ships, Collision) ; 
 35 and 36 Viet., ch. 73 (Emigrant Ships, Registry, etc.) ; 36 and 37 Viet., ch. 
 85 (Merchant Shipping) ; 39 and 40 Viet., ch. 80 (Unseaworthy Ships and 
 Miscellaneous). 
 
 f T. J. Arnold, “ Employers’ and Workmen’s and Conspiracy and Protection 
 of Property Acts,” London, 1875 ; Bojanowski, “ Unternehmer und Arbeiter 
 nach Englischen Becht,” Stuttgart, 1877 ; James Edward Davis, “ The 
 
1 12 
 
 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 With regard to the contract of hiring and service, its obliga- 
 tions and working, there has been a total change of standpoint in 
 English legislation. As is well known, the old legislation, as em- 
 bodied in the Statute of Labourers of ]£dwaxd III., and in those 
 of Elizabeth, rested 'orTanything but the so-called “ freedom of 
 contract.” Their ultimate object was to compel the population 
 to work ; they regarded the labour of the lower classes as indis- 
 pensable to public order, and it was simply a consequence of this 
 view, which, as is well known, was carried out in England with 
 great severity, that neglect to work, the breach of contract, was 
 treated as a breach of public order, as an offence, involving 
 criminal punishment. This view was maintained in English 
 legislation for a remarkably long time, and its J^st^traces were 
 not abolished until the Act of 1875. Even up to 1867, the 
 workman who had committed an intentional breach of contract 
 was liable to imprisonment by a justice of the peace ; while, on 
 the other hand, his right of complaint against his employer was 
 of a purely civil character, and moreover the Lability to im- 
 prisonment incurred by the employer, in the event of his failing 
 to pay the sum eventually awarded to the workman, was scarcely 
 ever practically enforced. In addition to this, the laws respect- 
 ing wages were too often administered in a very one-sided 
 manner by the magistrates, who stood on much closer relations 
 with the employers than with the workmen, and in many cases 
 were actually chosen from the ranks of the former. The neces- 
 sity for reform in these relations led, after the question had been 
 studied by a Select Com mitte e, ■.to_thn.-JUhsi^r Spir ant Act 
 
 of 1867 30 and 31 Vic:., cli. 141). In this Act the simple 
 breach of contract was divested, indeed, of the character of 
 criminality ; but, on the other hand, the penalty of imprisonment, 
 with or without hard labour, was retained for breaches of con- 
 tract of an aggravated character. This distinction, and the cor- 
 
 Labour Laws,” London, Butterworths, 1875 (an admirable commentary) ; 
 A. Fraser, “ Treatise on the Law of Scotland relative to Master and Servant,” 
 second edition, 1882 ; George Howell, “ A Handy-book of the Labour Laws,” 
 London, H. W. Foster, 1876 (a good and comprehensive work) ; J. Hac- 
 donnell, “ Law of Master and Servant,” London, 1883 ; C. Petersdorff, 
 “ Practical Compendium of the Law of Master and Servant,” London, 1876. 
 
The State , Self-Government , and Self-Help . 1 1 3 
 
 responding operation of the Act, gave rise to hostile criticism. 
 It was urged with justice that the discrimination between simple 
 and qualified breaches of contract revived the inequality of 
 treatment, as between the master and workman, which had 
 formerly been contested, and that such a boundary line could 
 not be drawn with any accuracy, and led to an arbitrary 
 administration of the Act. 
 
 To review fully, however, the reform that took place in 1875, 
 we must first refer to some previous statutes dealing with the 
 mutual relations of workmen to their employers, exclusively of a 
 criminal nature. When the Act of 1825 (6 George IV., ch. 129) 
 finally repealed the Combination laws, this repeal was accom- 
 panied with special provisions, by which acts of violence, com- 
 mitted by threats or intimidation to the injury either of person 
 or property, were made criminal offences. But although these 
 provisions were impartially conceived, they practically operated 
 only against the workman. It was intended by them to prevent 
 the freedom of combination from being abused, and on that 
 account penal provisions were directed against exercising com- 
 pulsion on a person to induce him to neglect work, or hindering 
 him from making agreements to work, or forcing him to enter 
 a trades-union, or compelling an employer to make changes 
 in his way of business, or to limit the number of workmen or 
 apprentices, etc. The legal recognition of trades-unions in 
 1871 necessitated another alteration of these provisions. This 
 was done by the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1871 (34 and 
 35 Viet., ch. 32), which was framed also to meet the many 
 objections raised against the loose and vague provisions of the 
 former statute. It was urged, however, even against this new 
 Act, that it was a piece of class legislation, that practically it 
 operated only against the workman, on the ground that the 
 employer was not criminally liable for exercising compulsion 
 on those in his employment, and that the expressions in the 
 Act as to intimidation, molestation, etc., were still ambiguous 
 and obscure. 
 
 Legislation had reached this point when the Conservative 
 Ministry of Mr. Disraeli, in 1875, took up with undeniable ability 
 the work of reform, with the view of giving full, but as we shall 
 
 1 
 
1 14 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 see, not undue effect to freedom of contract, of strictly separating 
 the civil from the criminal element of the law, and of codifying both 
 elements in two distinct Bills. After an elaborate inquiry, con- 
 ducted by a Royal Commission,* this object was realised by the 
 introduction of two Bills, which were piloted through the Com- 
 mons by the then Home Secretary, Sir Richard Cross, and passed 
 into law the same year under the titles of the Employers 
 and Workmen Act (38 and 39 Viet., ch. 90), and the Con- 
 spiracy and Protection of Property Act (38 and 39 Viet., 
 ch. 86). They govern the entire civil and criminal relations 
 between labour and capital, and occupy accordingly one of 
 those main positions of English law which we are bound to 
 notice at this stage, to enable a clear understanding of what 
 follows. 
 
 As regards the Employers and Workmen Act, which relates 
 to the purely civil aspect of the question, it provides that all 
 disputes between an employer and a workman arising out of 
 or incidental to their relation as such, shall be heard and deter- 
 mined by the County Court, or optionally, in case the amount 
 claimed or awarded or the security given does not exceed £10, 
 by a court of summary jurisdiction, thus meeting the objection 
 that non-stipendiary justices of the peace, sitting singly, were 
 not proper judges to decide disputed questions as to wages be- 
 tween labour and capital. The powers of the Court deserve 
 particular notice. The justices in England have at all times 
 intervened judicially in questions concerning wages ; in earlier 
 days, indeed, by directly fixing the amount of what they con- 
 sidered 11 reasonable wages,” but afterwards, and up to 1875, by 
 being invested with authority, not only to decide, but to direct 
 and order. This principle has been adhered to in the Employers 
 and Workmen Act, and the judge is accordingly empowered, 
 
 * See, in particular, the “ Second and Final Beport of the Commissioners 
 appointed to Inquire into the Working of the Master and Servant Act, 1867, 
 and the Criminal Law Amendment Act, and for other purposes,” which 
 contains a summary of earlier legislation and a searching discussion of the 
 whole field of inquiry. A very interesting debate on the Employers and 
 Workmen Bill took place on the second reading in the House of Commons, 
 on June 10th, 1875 (“ Hansard,” vol. ccxxiv. pp. 1668 seq.). 
 
The State , Self-Government , and Self-Help. 115 
 
 according to the circumstances of the case, to adjust and set off 
 against each other all claims on the part either of the employer 
 or of the workman, to rescind contracts, to award damages, or, 
 if the defendant is willing to give security, and the plaintiff 
 consents, to order the performance of the contract. The courts 
 of summary jurisdiction have similar powers as to contracts 
 between masters and apprentices ; they may make orders direct- 
 ing the apprentice to perform his duties, or rescind the instru- 
 ment of apprenticeship itself, and order the whole or part of 
 the premium to be repaid. In this way the Act, restricted as 
 it is to the purely civil side of the relations of labour, is not 
 simply a formal exposition of private rights, but an active and 
 governing element of contract. 
 
 The criminal side of the relations of labour is dealt with, as 
 we have already said, in the Conspiracy and Protection of Pro- 
 perty Act of 1875. This statute formulated comprehensively 
 the “ wilful and malicious ” breach of contract, which had been 
 included in the Master and Servant Act of 1867 in the vague 
 expression, “ qualified breach of contract,” and coupled with it 
 the provisions of the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1871, 
 which reappeared in this new enactment. In the first place, 
 any person who wilfully and maliciously breaks a contract of 
 service or of hiring, in three specified cases, is liable eithei 
 to pay a penalty not exceeding £20, or to be imprisoned for a 
 term not exceeding three, or, in the third case, six months With 
 or without hard labour. The three cases are as follows : — 
 
 (1) Where a person employed by a municipal authority, or 
 
 by any company or contractor on whom is imposed by 
 Act of Parliament, or who have assumed the duty of 
 supptying any place with gas or water, wilfully and 
 maliciously breaks a contract of service, knowing or 
 having reasonable cause to believe that the probable 
 consequences of his so doing will be to deprive the 
 inhabitants wholly, or to a great extent, of their supply 
 of gas or water ; 
 
 (2) Where the probable consequences of the breach of con- 
 
 tract of service will be to endanger human life, or cause 
 
II 6 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 serious bodily injury, or to expose valuable property to 
 destruction or serious injury ; 
 
 (3) Where a master being legally liable to provide for his 
 servant or apprentice necessary food, clothing, medical 
 aid, or lodging, wilfully and without lawful excuse refuses 
 or neglects to provide the same, whereby the health of 
 the servant or apprentice is or is likely to be seriously 
 or permanently injured. 
 
 A penalty not exceeding £20, or imprisonment for a term not 
 exceeding three months, with or without hard labour, is imposed 
 also on certain offences taken from the Criminal Law Amendment 
 Act. They relate to those acts of annoyance, violence, or intimi- 
 dation which arose out of the strikes and the struggle for higher 
 wages, such as hindering others from taking work or compelling 
 them to join in a strike, hiding their tools or clothes (or <{ rat- 
 tening,” as it is popularly called), watching a house or factory 
 to prevent strange workmen going thither during a strike (a 
 practice known as “ picketing ”), following persons about from 
 place to place, and so forth. All these acts are only made 
 punishable where they are done with a view to wrongful and 
 illegal compulsion; no penalties attach to the exercise of per- 
 suasion and wholesome influence. 
 
 These two Acts thus completed for the first time in our days 
 the distinction between civil and criminal offences. They are 
 well adjusted to existing relations, and protect in no narrow 
 or exclusive spirit the interests of the public. 
 
 A series of other enactments regulated further the relations of 
 wages. We should mention first the laws relating to courts of 
 arbitration. The Act of 1824 (5 George IV., ch. 96) had already 
 dealt, to some extent, with this subject, and more recently it has 
 been regulated anew by the Councils of Conciliation Act of 1867 
 (30 and 31 Viet., ch. 105), and the Masters and Workmen 
 Arbitration Act of 1872 (35 and 36 Viet., chap. 46). Inasmuch, 
 however, as the voluntary boards of arbitration and conciliation 
 got a start of legislative efforts in that direction, we propose to 
 consider the purport and operation of these laws in connection 
 with the voluntary institutions in question. 
 
The State y Self-Government, and Self-Help. ny 
 
 A position of great importance, on the other hand, as regards 
 the present law of wages in England, belongs to the Employers’ 
 Liability Act of 1880 (43 and 44 Viet., ch. 42).* This Act., 
 which was to continue in force for seven years, is equally inter- 
 esting in regard to the legal principles it enunciates, as in regard 
 to the operation it has had in various directions. 
 
 The English law as to the liability of employers turns on the 
 notion of u common employment.” It is a general principle of 
 English law that a person is liable only for injuries which he him- 
 self has caused; an exception to this principle occurring when 
 a person acts under commission from another, — as, for example, 
 a workman in the service of his employer. In this case steps 
 in, according to the maxim “ respondeat superior ,” the liability of 
 the employer as against the third party. The English employer 
 is liable therefore for an injury occasioned to the third party by 
 one of his workmen. But if this third party is also in the service 
 of the employer, the latter is not liable by common law. The 
 English law assumes that whoever enters into employment, has 
 naturally been aware of the risks incidental to that employment, 
 and is willing, in consideration of the payment of his wages, to 
 undertake them ; and the practice of the English law further 
 assumes that these incidental risks, thus tacitly undertaken by 
 the workman in entering into his labour contract, include also any 
 injuries to which he is exposed by the negligence of a fellow- 
 workman. If, therefore, a workman suffers injury by the negli- 
 gence of a fellow-workman, he has, according to the doctrine of 
 common employment, no claim to compensation against the em- 
 ployer; whereas, if the injured person is not a workman, and 
 therefore stands outside the relation of labour, he has certainly 
 a claim to compensation against the employer. It is to obtain a 
 
 * The materials for this Act are contained in the Reports of the Select Com- 
 mittee on Employers’ Liability for Injuries to their Servants, 1876 and 1877. 
 The best commentary on the subject is that of W. Howland Roberts and George 
 Henry Wallace, “A Summary of the Law of the Liability of Employers for 
 Personal Injuries,” London, 1882. It contains in particular a clear account of 
 the doctrine of “ common employment.” See also T. Beven : “ The Law of the 
 Employers’ Liability for Negligence of Servants,” London, 1881 ; A. H. Ruegg : 
 ‘‘Treatise upon the Employers’ Liability Act,” London, 1882; and E. R. 
 Turner : “ Employers’ Liability Act,” London, 1882. 
 
1 1 8 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 change in this relation of liability that the efforts of the workmen 
 have been directed. The late Mr. Macdonald was the advocate 
 in Parliament of their demand for the total repeal of the doctrine 
 of common employment, which had thus limited the liability of 
 the employer as against his workmen. The employers, on the 
 other hand, protested against this alteration of the law on different 
 grounds. They declared that it would tend to increase accidents, 
 since the workmen would think rather how to cause than how 
 to prevent them ; and, further, that those whose interest or desire 
 it was to promote every possible occasion of dispute, would take 
 advantage of such accidents to breed ill-will and dissension be- 
 tween the workmen and their employers. The result of these 
 conflicting demands was, as is usually the case in England, a 
 compromise. The doctrine of common employment was not 
 actually repealed, but was virtually restricted in its application, 
 by making the liability of the employer expressly extend to a 
 series of important cases, in which, according to that doctrine, 
 he had formerly been exempt from liability. The five cases are 
 as follows : — 
 
 Where personal injury is caused to a workman 
 
 (1) By reason of any defect in the condition of the ways, 
 
 works, machinery, or plant connected with or used in 
 the business of the employer ; or 
 
 (2) By reason of the negligence of any person in the service 
 
 of the employer who has any superintendence entrusted 
 to him whilst in the exercise of such superintendence ; or 
 
 (3) By reason of the negligence of any person in the service 
 
 of the employer to whose orders or directions the work- 
 man at the time of the injury was bound to conform, and 
 did so conform, where such injury resulted from his 
 having so conformed ; or 
 
 (4) By reason of the act or omission of any person in the 
 
 service of the employer done or made in obedience to the 
 rules or bye-laws of the employer, or in obedience to 
 particular instructions given by any person delegated 
 with the authority of the employer in that behalf; or 
 
 (5) By reason of the negligence of any person in the service 
 
The State , Self-Government , and Self-Help. 119 
 
 of the employer who has the charge or control of any 
 signal, points, locomotive engine, or train upon a rail- 
 way. 
 
 No liability accrues to the employer in cases (1) where the de- 
 fect in the works was not connected with any negligence on his 
 part, or on that of some person in his service appointed to attend 
 to them; or ( 2 ) where the injury did not result from any im- 
 propriety or defect in the rules ; or (3) where the workman knew, 
 but failed to give information of the defect or negligence which 
 caused his injury. The amount of compensation, subject to the 
 deduction of any money payable under penalty, is not to exceed 
 the estimated earnings, during the three years preceding the in- 
 jury, of a person in the same grade employed during those years 
 in the like employment and in the district in which the workman 
 was employed at the time of the injury. Actions for compensation, 
 which must be commenced within a specified time, are triable in 
 the County Court in England, in the Sheriff’s Court in Scotland, 
 and in the Civil Bill Court in Ireland. 
 
 As regards the judicial working of the Act, the experience now 
 of several years enables one to affirm that it has neither confirmed 
 the hopes of the workmen nor the fears of the employers. The 
 number of civil actions brought under its provisions is com- 
 paratively small. The total number of cases tried in the County 
 Courts in 1881, 1882, and 1883 was 443 in England and 234 in 
 Scotland, and the amounts of compensation awarded were £18,124 
 and £4,249 respectively. In 1884 there were 99 cases in England, 
 and 149 in Scotland, the corresponding sums awarded for com- 
 pensation being £8,882 and £2,127. It must not be forgotten, 
 however, that the effect of these, as of all judicial decisions in 
 England, is to serve as precedents and guides for settling analo- 
 gous disputes out of court.* 
 
 Outside the law-courts, however, the Act has brought about all 
 the more active a movement. Above all must be mentioned the 
 effect it has produced on the insurance system. At first many 
 of the assurance societies accommodated their manner of business 
 
 * Returns relating to the Employers’ Liability Act, 1880. Presented to Par- 
 liament, 1884 and 1885. 
 
120 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 to meet the new state of things, by undertaking as risks, in return 
 for the payment of extra premiums by the employer, the possible 
 claims for compensation under the Act, and paying into court, 
 on his behalf, the sum judicially awarded. With the same object, 
 entirely new assurance societies were started, which carried on 
 a fierce competition for custom. But soon many of the employers 
 also, in particular industries, found it to their interest to protect 
 themselves against the possible consequences of the Act by form- 
 ing insurance companies of their own. The first institution of 
 this kind was started by the Iron Trades Employers’ Association, 
 the counter-association to the well-known trades-union of the 
 Amalgamated Engineers. In the insurance company which they 
 established, each employer pays annually for each of his workmen, 
 according to a special scale of risks, one-ninth, one-third, or two- 
 thirds per cent, of his yearly wages, in return for which the 
 Association undertakes to defend him in court, and pay whatever 
 compensation may be awarded. The same system prevails ir 
 other combinations of employers for this purpose, — as, for example, 
 the Master Builders’ Association. Still more important, however 
 is the practice adopted by a number of large concerns, which on 
 the one hand require their workmen to renounce their claims to 
 compensation, or, as it is termed, to “ contract themselves out of 
 the Act ” ; but on the other hand, as compensation for so doing, 
 either establish new associations in union with their workmen 
 for insuring them against accidents, and subscribe up to 25 per 
 cent, of the fund, or give their support to old societies of this 
 kind. This course has been adopted by the London and North 
 Western Railway with nearly fifty thousand of their employes ; 
 and a great movement took place also among the workmen, more 
 especially soon after the passing of the Act, in the coal-districts 
 of Lancashire and Staffordshire, in the direction of “mutual 
 assurance.” On the other hand, numerous cases occurred in which 
 employers compelled their workmen by pressure to renounce their 
 claims to compensation, and this gave the trades-unions a handle 
 for taking up a position hostile to the Act. # At the Trades- 
 
 * See the Eeport on the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth Annual Trades- 
 union Congresses ; printed in Manchester by the Co-operative Printing Society, 
 Limited. Some valuable material respecting the working of the Employers’ 
 
The State , Self-Government , and Self-Help . 
 
 121 
 
 union Congresses in 1881-4 repeated resolutions were passed 
 condemning the “ permissive character ” of the Act. The trades- 
 unions urged, not without justice, that every renunciation by 
 the workman of his legitimate claim to compensation was contrary 
 to the spirit of the Act, and defeated its special object, which was 
 above all preventive, and was intended to compel employers to 
 conduct their business with the utmost possible safety to the lives 
 and limbs of their workmen. The compensation itself, they said, 
 was a secondary consideration ; the main thing was the prevention 
 of accidents; and steps must be taken to prevent an employer 
 from purchasing immunity, by his mere subscription to a benefit 
 society, from the duty, imposed on him by the Act, of providing 
 for the safety of his workmen. Mr. Macdonald, accordingly, intro- 
 duced an amending Bill in 1881 (January 19th), which declared 
 all renunciations of the right to compensation under tho Act to 
 be illegal arrangements. The Bill was withdrawn at the end of 
 the session, without reaching a second reading (August 10th). It 
 was re-introduced in 1883 (February 16th) by Mr. Burt, but was 
 rejected by a large majority (149 to 38), * partly because the House 
 of Commons was not disposed to interfere with freedom of con- 
 tract, and partly because it was deemed advisable to allow further 
 time for ascertaining the working of the Act. Meanwhile, 
 however, the trades-unions got up an agitation to prevent the 
 workmen, as far as possible, from renouncing their rights, and 
 established a fund (the trades-unions of the United Carpenters and 
 Joiners, for example, contributed fourpence yearly per member) 
 for defending their members in any suits brought under the Act. 
 In some cases Trades Councils have paid as much as £150 costs 
 in order to bring important cases before the courts of appeal. 
 
 Summing up the working of this Act, which has been so im 
 portant as regar ’s the relations of the workman to his employer 
 
 Liability Act, as well as the position taken up in regard to it by various classes 
 of workmen, is contained in the Provident , a monthly periodical published at 
 Wigan, in Lancashire, since 1881. 
 
 * Note to the English Edition . — The Government, in supporting Sir J. 
 Pease’s amendment, which proved fatal to the Bill, stated as one of their reasons 
 for so doing, that as the Act had only been passed for seven years, the whole 
 question would shortly be revived. 
 
122 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 we are bound at once to admit that in its present shape its in- 
 fluence has not been favourable, since it has created a new point 
 of dispute between labour and capital, without removing the old 
 one, on which account it has been described in many quarters as 
 a half-step taken on a wrong path. Hence it is difficult to foresee 
 whether, when the seven years of probation have expired, the Act 
 will be renewed in its present form, or whether it will be thought 
 better to settle the whole question either on the ground of insur- 
 ance, or by enlarging the area of liability, and prohibiting all 
 contracting out of the Act. On the other hand, it is not to be 
 denied that the Act has given a great impulse to independent 
 insurance against accident, more especially in the mining industry, 
 as we shall hereafter have occasion to notice in more detail. Just 
 as little can it be denied that the Act has made employers more 
 careful, and thus materially diminished the number of accidents. 
 
 With regard, lastly, to the enactments concerning the payment 
 of wages, we find the Truck and Cottage System prohibited already 
 by two Acts of 1831 (1 Will. IV., ch. 36 and 37). Provisions 
 against the payment of wages in public-houses occur, as we have 
 already noticed, in the Coal Mines Regulation Act of 1872, and 
 the Metalliferous Mines Act of the same year. This prohibition 
 has since been made a general one by the Payment of Wages in 
 Public Houses Prohibition Act of 1883 (46 and 47 Viet., ch. 31). 
 
 2. Old and New Self-Government . 
 
 There was a time when exclusive attention was paid to con- 
 stitutional law, and the question of administration was neglected. 
 At the present day we have to guard against the danger of judg- 
 ing economic relations independently of their connection with the 
 administrative action of the State. An active interchange of 
 functions exists between public government and economic life. 
 The former receives from the latter its prescribed aims, and gives 
 it support and security in exchange. Government, however, 
 must always be considered in two aspects, — namely, according 
 to the outward form which it assumes, and the men who are called 
 on to administer it. 
 
 Nowhere are these two aspects of the question brought more 
 distinctly into relief than in the changes experienced by Self- 
 
The State , Self-Government , and Self-Help. 
 
 123 
 
 Government in England during the course of this century. 
 At the beginning of the century we find it still existing in 
 its ancient forms. What these forms, and what the ancient 
 system were, has been described by Gneist in a historical and 
 systematic manner. This old self-government rests on the old 
 centralised power of the Crown, which delegated particular 
 administrative functions for certain areas — such as counties, hun- 
 dreds and tithings — to unpaid officers, who however were real 
 officers of State, and whose responsibility, therefore, was fully 
 recognised by the law. 11 The objects of self-government are not 
 the private interests of the self-governing bodies, but public 
 duties, — such as service on juries, the administration of police and 
 public safety, the recruitment for the regular army and militia, 
 the poor-law, public health, and public highways, the assessment 
 and apportionment of parochial taxes, and the management of 
 parochial property ; all this regarded merely as means to an end, 
 — namely, the fulfilment of duties towards the State.” * The old 
 system of self-government rests accordingly in the hands of a 
 number of unpaid officers, whose powers and duties are well 
 known. Such are the Lord-Lieutenant of the county, the Sheriff, 
 the Coroner, the Justices of the Peace, High-constables, Way- 
 wardens, Churchwardens, and Poor-law Guardians, — all of whom, 
 with the sole exception of the Coroner, are appointed by the 
 Crown, and bound to take office. 
 
 This side of English self-government gives, however, a very 
 imperfect notion of the institution as a whole. Its practical 
 centre lies rather in the spontaneous activity of the governing 
 classes, to whom these offices are delegated by commission from 
 the Crown, — in the willingness and competency of a sufficient 
 number of persons to discharge these duties conscientiously, as 
 officers of State, without any emolument. “ Such offices require 
 a higher degree of education, a settled independence and secure 
 position in life, and the habit of demanding and obtaining respect 
 from other men; in short, a character which proceeds only from 
 the union of education with personal independence. Self-govern- 
 
 * Gneist: “ Self-Government, Kommunalverfassung und Verwaltungsgerichte 
 in England,” Berlin, 1871, p. 70. 
 
124 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 ment accordingly fills these offices with persons who possess 
 sufficient property to be independent, who employ that property 
 in qualifying themselves by means of a better education for those 
 offices, and who are able to devote their powers, in union with 
 their neighbours, to the community, and thus enlists society, from 
 the top downward, in the service of the State.” * That England 
 possessed the requisite number of men, who were not only fully 
 competent for this task, but who discharged it from the height 
 of an independent position in life and a refined education, has 
 tempted us to regard this old self-government as an ideal, and 
 to overlook its defects. 
 
 The central figure of this old system of self-government, termed 
 by Gneist the “ magisterial,” is the Justice of the Peace, of whom 
 Chief-Justice Coke made the often-quoted remark, that it was an 
 office the like of which, if properly filled, did not exist through- 
 out the whole Christian world. The office attests to this day, 
 though overladen with new and different functions, the great- 
 ness and simplicity of a bygone order of society. The twelve 
 thousand acting justices of the peace now distributed over the 
 various counties in England, and constituting a powerful element, 
 as the immediate representatives of the conscience, the order, and 
 the power of the State, give the clearest notion of the operation 
 of the old system of self-government on the internal stability 
 and union of the English nation. In this respect it has had a 
 world-wide importance in history. “ The education of the nation 
 for State functions,” says Gneist, “laid the foundation for the 
 greatness of England. The details, as in old Roman life, are 
 simple, sober, and business-like, very different from the brilliant 
 pictures once spread throughout Europe by Montesquieu and 
 Delolme. But these simple institutions are solid and enduring, 
 and, when tested by great tasks, they show all the vigour and 
 greatness of a free nation. In the struggle with the American 
 colonies, and still more in the struggle against French revolution, 
 the result clearly showed how this political training of the nation 
 had created within a little island a State which has incorporated 
 Scotland and Ireland, colonised North America, appropriated the 
 
 Gneist, ut upra, p. 900. 
 
The State , Self-Government , and Self-Help. 
 
 125 
 
 most favoured part of Asia and a new continent, become the 
 mistress of the seas, and rivalled the other powers in the glory 
 of her arms.” * 
 
 But just as, since the beginning of this century, the economical 
 and social conditions of English society have experienced a rapid 
 and organic change, so also a transformation has taken, and is 
 taking, place in most of the foundations of her ancient fabric 
 of self-government, in the way of additions, limitations, and 
 modifications, which have already given it a different aspect, 
 and will probably result in further reconstruction, though not in 
 such a manner as to justify, in our opinion, the conclusion 
 arrived at by Gneist, that State-life in England has overpassed 
 its zenith, and that its foundations are now in the nineteenth 
 century beginning to tremble.f 
 
 Mechanical invention, and the consequent establishment of 
 large industries, gave an impulse to a change in self-government. 
 The displacement thus occasioned in the population rent asunder 
 old connections, and the new assemblages of workmen in the 
 towns and manufacturing districts created new wants, which 
 became more urgent every day. The middle, as well as the 
 working classes, put forward new claims upon the Government. 
 We have designated the new grouping of the producing classes, 
 which has been effected in England by modern industry and 
 modern commercial intercourse, as a new form of settlement. 
 This fact shows its consequences in the system of self-government. 
 The Government found itself confronted with a number of pre- 
 viously neglected questions, regarding elementary education, 
 the poor laws, the law of settlement, health, wages, dwellings? 
 and food-supply, as it were in an entirely new society. To solve 
 
 * Gneist, ut supra , p. 61. 
 
 + This last reflection runs like a thread thoughout the whole of Gneist’s 
 book which we have quoted. In his last work, “ Das Englische Verwaltungs- 
 recht der Gegenwart in Yergleichung mit dem Deutsohen Verwaltungssysteme,” 
 Berlin, 1883 and 1884, Gneist is evidently impressed by the remarkable results 
 achieved both by the new system of State- and self-government since 1870, 
 which cannot fail to strike an unprejudiced observer, and is more ready than 
 formerly to acknowledge that, taking existing circumstances into account, the 
 new administrative system in England has made successful progress towards 
 the solution of formerly neglected problems. 
 
126 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 these questions was a task to which the old form of self-govern- 
 ment was unequal, for they demanded an energy, a stability, and 
 a knowledge of technical details such as not only exceeded the 
 amount of work which the old class of unpaid officers usually 
 performed, but went far beyond the business capacities of the 
 old gentry. The country squire of old times, educated at Eton, 
 accomplished by travel, intelligent and impartial, who lived on 
 an inherited estate, and was well acquainted with county matters, 
 who, supported by the traditionary respect due to his family, held 
 the dominant position in the old system of self-government, would 
 never have been able, had his qualities been ever so distinguished, 
 to satisfy these new demands. True it is that from his class have 
 proceeded, not only in, but also out of, Parliament, legislative 
 and other proposals as well as practical efforts of the noblest 
 kind, intended to grapple with the social abuses connected with 
 manufacturing industry. But for carrying out new measures 
 new organs were required, especially permanent authorities with 
 professional knowledge. 
 
 It is true that the growth of manufactures and the spread of 
 trade had created a new middle class. But the manufacturers, 
 merchants, traders, and shipowners, who compose the present 
 industrial community, were still less fitted than the old gentry 
 for acting as the personal organs of self-government in the new 
 order of society, neither their mode of life nor their course of 
 training having qualified them for the task. The pursuit of profit 
 demands all the powers, all the time, and all the thoughts of this 
 class. In the fierce competition of trade none can hope to be 
 successful but those who devote all their energies to their busi- 
 ness ; divided time and divided attention mean only loss. What 
 leisure they have is taken up with technical and commercial 
 questions connected with their business. It would be doing them 
 an injustice not to acknowledge that this middle-class, at the 
 present day, have become more competent and willing, under 
 the influence of new ideas, to co-operate in matters of common 
 social interest, than was the case during the first part of this 
 century. Even in those earlier days we can admit the practical 
 insight, the great energy, and the business ability of this class, 
 very many of whom had raised themselves from the position of 
 
The State , Self-Government, and Self-Help . 
 
 127 
 
 workmen ; and we readily acknowledge that some of them even 
 then had striven in a self-sacrificing spirit, out of love for their 
 fellow-creatures, and from religious feeling, to promote the wel- 
 fare of their workmen. But it was hopeless to think of making 
 them, as a class, the organs of reform. Taken altogether, their 
 training was far too one-sided ; they were far too much engrossed 
 with their own business affairs, and far too removed from im- 
 partiality, to be either qualified or inclined to act as organs of 
 the Government in the conflict between capital and labour, in 
 which they must have been the judges in their own cause. 
 
 These facts sufficiently explain the gradual development of a 
 new form of self-government, which as a new social structure 
 superseded the old magisterial self-government, exercised by the 
 county magnates. 
 
 These new institutions which, appearing in different parts of 
 the organism of self-government, assumed in the course of half 
 a century such large dimensions, and reached a certain climax in 
 1871, are to be met with since the Reform Bill of 1832. They 
 are patent and easily discernible. The administrative unit is no 
 longer the county and district, but the town, the municipality. 
 The functionaries within this limit, for certain purposes, are no 
 longer unpaid officers appointed by the Crown and responsible 
 directly to the State, but a certain category of ratepaying inhabi- 
 tants now elect boards which are intended to administer local 
 affairs, but which are soon obliged to appoint paid officers to cope 
 with the burden of business and confine themselves to passing reso- 
 lutions, issuing directions, and appointing the officers. As against 
 these organizations, however, the central government of the State 
 claimed at once an effective control ; these boards being no longer 
 in any sense the immediate organs of State, but the representa- 
 tives of purely local interests, and their members no longer the 
 depositaries of State power, chosen for their reputation and 
 property, but the champions of interests primarily affecting them- 
 selves. Hence State control became a necessity, and side by 
 side with this new form of self-government there has arisen a 
 new form of State-government by means of central departments, 
 which, after the fashion of the Ministries on the Continent, exer- 
 cise a supervising and guiding authority over the separate 
 
128 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 branches of self-government, through the medium of a widespread 
 staff of inspectors. 
 
 In this manner, first of all, the way was prepared for the 
 reform of the Poor Laws of 1834, after a Royal Commission, 
 appointed in 1833, had brought to light a mass of valuable 
 materials. In place of the parish, as an administrative unit, was 
 substituted a Poor Law Union, consisting of several parishes 
 compulsorily united, with a common workhouse, and the adminis- 
 tration of the Poor Laws was transferred from the justices of 
 the peace and their parish officers to new elective boards of guar- 
 dians, including the justices of the peace, but as non-elected 
 members. At the same time a central authority under the Crown 
 was constituted, consisting of the Poor-law Commissioners (for 
 England and Wales), who exercised their powers through in- 
 spectors. 
 
 These Poor-law Boards formed the model for a number of other 
 boards. The insufficiency of the old system of self-government 
 was shown, in particular, in the management of public health. 
 The justices of the peace were wholly inadequate to deal with 
 it, and the unhealthy condition of the large towms and manufac- 
 turing districts led, in the first instance, to the appointment of a 
 Royal Commission, the results of whose labours were published 
 in 1844 and 1845. Those labours were turned to account in the 
 Public Health Act of 1848 (11 and 12 Viet., cap. 63), by the 
 constitution of Local Boards of Health, entrusted to deal with 
 sewerage, drainage, scavengering, lighting, building, water-supply, 
 the erection of labourers’ dwellings, markets and slaughter-houses, 
 precautions against fire, interment, regulations against offensive 
 and unwholesome trades, and so forth ; and by the appointment of 
 a General Board of Health, as a central State authority, invested 
 with regulating powers and rights of supervision, the latter of 
 which were exercised through inspectors, and clothed with the 
 functions of a court of approval. In the same way the manage- 
 ment of highways was transferred to District Boards. 
 
 After the usual English method of effecting all permanent im- 
 provements by means of a preliminary commission of inquiry, 
 followed by an Act of Parliament, this new form of self-govern- 
 ment was more and more adjusted to circumstances, until at 
 
The State , Self-Government , and Self-Help . 129 
 
 length, since 1870, it has been carried to its full legislative and 
 administrative consequences. By the Local Government Board 
 Act of 1871 the central State authorities appointed to control 
 and supervise the new system of self-government were united 
 into a single body, the Local Government Board, which since then 
 has acted as a Crown department for self-government, especially 
 in relation to the Poor Laws, the management of public health, 
 and regulations as to building and highways. Since 1870, finally, 
 the system of education has been similarly reformed, on the basis 
 of general compulsory attendance at school, by the introduction of 
 School Boards, and receives in the Education Department of the 
 Privy Council a central State authority which exercises the func- 
 tions of a Ministry of Education. 
 
 These new branches of self-government are of the greatest 
 importance to the towns and manufacturing districts. There, 
 especially in the last few decades, an active municipal life has 
 been developed, which is endeavouring to remedy the defects 
 and abuses connected with the Poor Laws, public health, and 
 public education. In strange contrast to the old system of self- 
 government, still prevailing in the rural districts, this new form 
 of self-government has developed with surprising rapidity, and 
 been of decisive importance to the elevation of the working 
 classes. The latter owe to it a systematic management of all 
 matters connected with their health, dwellings, and education, 
 and a support given to their institutions, resting on the principle 
 of self-help, which has powerfully promoted the objects which 
 those institutions are endeavouring to attain. In judging of the 
 present condition of workmen in England, this new municipal 
 self-government forms a most important element. It shows us 
 that what we call the social problem cannot be settled by any 
 special laws or single measures, but that it is a question of dis- 
 covering for a new form of living and settlement a new form of 
 social government and social legislation ; in a word, that the 
 social problem is a question of culture, which can never be solved 
 by dealing only with separate points. 
 
 It will therefore not be out of place, perhaps, to offer some re- 
 marks on those branches of the new system of self-government in 
 England which are strictly connected with the labour question, 
 
 K 
 
130 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 and especially with the progress recently made by English work- 
 men. Let us turn first of all to the question of education. 
 
 The old national schools in England owe their origin and sup- 
 port to the initiative either of private persons or large societies, 
 such as the Nonconformist British and Foreign School Society, 
 established in 1803,* the Church of England National Society, 
 founded in 1811, and other bodies of that kind. The co-operation 
 of the State, which began its first annual grants in 1834 -with a 
 contribution of £20,000 that year for public education, consisted 
 till 1870 of a series of increasing subsidies, the avowed object of 
 which was to promote the education of the children of the work- 
 ing classes, and of a certain degree of supervision over the 
 schools thus subsidized. The Education Acts of 1870, 1873, 1876, 
 and 1880, f by which attendance at school was made a matter of 
 general obligation, dealt with previously existing arrangements as 
 folio ws.J Every child of the statutory age has to attain a pre- 
 scribed minimum of elementary knowledge. Where existing 
 school arrangements suffice to afford the necessary instruction, 
 no change is made in those arrangements; but where they 
 offer no guarantee for the due execution of the new Act, school 
 districts must be established, each administered by a School 
 Board. This dualism between the old National Schools and the 
 new Board Schools is the characteristic feature of the present- 
 system of elementary education in England. These two kinds of 
 schools exist side by side, and although the Board Schools, which 
 w r ere intended to remedy neglect and supply the defects in the 
 previously existing system, are rapidly increasing in number, there 
 is no thought at present of letting all the old schools be absorbed 
 by the new system, but the competition between the two classes 
 
 * Note to the English Edition . — Its original name was the “ Royal Lancastrian 
 Institution,” having owed its origin to the exertions of a young Quaker, Joseph 
 Lancaster, on behalf of the children of the poor. 
 
 t 83 and 3 1 Viet., ch. 75 ; 36 and 37 Viet., ch. 86; 39 and 40 Viet., ch. 79 ; 43 
 and 44 Viet., ch. 23 (Attendance at School). 
 
 JWe have consulted the following commentaries on the English law of ele- 
 mentary education : H. J. Gibbs, “ Handbook of Elementary Education Law,” 
 1877 ; Glen, “ Elementary Education Acts, with Notes,” 1881 ; Hugh Owen, 
 “Elementary Education Acts,” 1870-1880, London, 1884 (a comprehensive 
 work of 698 pages, dealing exhaustively with this entire branch of government). 
 
The State, Self-Government, and Self Help. 13 1 
 
 of schools is regarded rather as a spur to the favourable develop- 
 ment of each. The costs of school instruction have been defrayed 
 hitherto by the school fees (which, however, have been already 
 opposed by the Radicals), as well as by rates and additional grants 
 from the State. The latter now exercises supervision over all 
 schools alike, which it does by means of twelve principal and 112 
 ordinary inspectors. 
 
 The energy with which the State, as well as the municipalities, 
 and especially the large towns, are striving to carry out this 
 new system of education, is remarkable. During 1870 the average 
 number of children attending school in England, Wales, and 
 Scotland amounted to 1,453,531 ; in 1886 it had risen to 3,915,315. 
 The State, which in 1870 contributed £840,336, gave a grant 
 amounting in 1886-7 to £3,945,576. The number of State in- 
 spected schools in 1870 was 10,949; in 1886 it was 22,114, or 
 more than double. 
 
 This system, which has been carried out with a careful re- 
 gard to the interests of different religious denominations, and 
 consequently with the more ready concurrence of those factors of 
 society which are naturally interested in popular education, will 
 assuredly not fail in its effect upon the working classes. But 
 the value of the new elementary schools consists further in this, 
 that it has not been exaggerated in regard to the prosperity and 
 after life of the working-man. The importance of that educa- 
 tion which, as regards the working classes, first begins when 
 they have left school, has never been overlooked in England. 
 Long before the introduction of the new system of primary 
 schools, what is known as u adult education ” played a prominent 
 part, and partly compensated for the defects then existing in 
 popular education. This branch also of national education has 
 within the last few decades been improved and extended. With 
 the assistance of the municipalities, mechanics’ institutes of vari- 
 ous grades, as well as numerous night schools, have been estab- 
 lished in all the manufacturing centres. The larger manufacturing 
 establishments, the railway companies, the principal ship-build- 
 ing yards, and so on, all emulate each other in the establishment 
 of institutions of this kind, which, while improving the skill of 
 their own workmen, elevate their standard in every respect. The 
 
132 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 various working-men’s associations, and especially the co-opera- 
 tive societies, have taken the same direction through their “ edu- 
 cational departments.” We have seen the crowded halls of these 
 institutions in all parts of England, and have listened to the 
 lectures which are held there every night. Everywhere we have 
 found that the young workmen eagerly embrace the opportunity, 
 now so abundantly afforded them, of increasing their aptitude 
 and knowledge. They willingly prolong for this purpose their 
 hours of work, and devote, in particular, their free Saturday 
 afternoons to striving with the tenacity peculiar to the Anglo- 
 Saxon race to attain a higher grade of culture and usefulness, 
 and thus obtaining higher wages and a higher position in life. 
 
 We must mention here another class of institutions, which not 
 only are most deserving of notice on account of the object they 
 have in view, but which testify strikingly to the manner in which 
 voluntary enterprise, local self-government, and the State com- 
 bine and supplement each other in the solution of social prob- 
 lems. We allude to those institutions which provide for the 
 care of children and young persons who have either been driven 
 already upon the road of crime or are in danger of being so driven. 
 This provident care has certainly a larger field for its exercise in 
 England than on the Continent, — nay, a field alarming in its ex- 
 tent. The accumulation of large numbers of poor persons out of 
 work in the large towns and manufacturing districts has created 
 in some places a class of the population who, owing to the build- 
 ing of new quarters in the towns, are still more closely packed to- 
 gether than before, and who lead lives of wretchedness, starvation, 
 dirt, immorality, drunkenness, and crime, such as have given rise 
 from time to time to sensational revelations of the most astound- 
 ing character.* Whoever has had a closer insight than others 
 into this lowest and saddest residuum in the large cities, more 
 especially in London, Liverpool, or Glasgow, will have to wait 
 some time before he can find a countervailing element of social 
 life in England to neutralize the painful impression he has 
 
 * Among the more recent publications of this sort may be mentioned, “ The 
 Bitter Cry of Outcast London,” London, 1883 ; “ Outcast Manchester Series,” 
 Manchester, 1884 ; “ How the Poor Live,” by George R. Sims : London, Chatto 
 & Windus. 
 
The State , Self-Government , and Self-Help . 
 
 133 
 
 formed. Notwithstanding the many improvements wrought even 
 in this respect during the last few years, this melancholy state of 
 things still to a large extent prevails, and it is like a cruel irony 
 of Nature that, even under circumstances such as these, the 
 fecundity of the English race is constantly generating anew this 
 dark residuum of English society. The dissolution of family ties, 
 which is a necessary consequence of this state of things, throws a 
 host of children and young persons literally upon the streets, and 
 it is they who form the object of the noble efforts now being made 
 to rescue this element of the population and insure for them the 
 possibility of an honest existence for the rest of their lives. The 
 institutions engaged in this work are of two kinds ; namely, purely 
 private establishments, and such others as are founded and sup- 
 ported b}' private persons, societies, or self-governing corporations, 
 but are subject at the same time to the supervision and supreme 
 control of the State. The first, particularly the numerous 11 Homes 
 for Destitute Children,” form a branch of English benevolent in- 
 stitutions, which are maintained entirely by private contributions, 
 and which, supported as they are by the personal co-operation of 
 the upper and middle classes and the assistance of large funds, per- 
 form, in spite of many defects in their management, a great work 
 of Christian charity. Our present concern, however, is with the 
 second class of these institutions, — namely, the Reformatory and 
 Industrial Schools ; the former being places for juvenile offenders, 
 and the latter institutions of compulsory education. Both owe 
 their origin to private and voluntary effort, and have only gradu- 
 ally come under State supervision. 
 
 As regards the Reformatories, the first impulse to their estab- 
 lishment proceeded from the Philanthropic Society, which founded 
 an institution of this kind for juvenile offenders, who were lodged 
 there under the Parkhurst Act of 1837-8 (1 and 2 Viet. ch. 82). 
 This institution was removed in 1849 to Redhill, in Surrey, being 
 remodelled partly after the pattern of the Reformatory School 
 founded at Mettray, in 1839, by M. de Metz, and similar ones w~ere 
 afterwards established in all parts of England and Scotland. 
 Here again we meet with the self-denying energy of men and 
 women of the higher classes, all of whom carry on the work with 
 different plans and views, but with equal self-sacrifice and con- 
 
134 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 sistency of purpose. It was, first of all, the Rev. Sydney Turner, 
 afterwards for twenty years the Government Insp ector of Refor- 
 matories and Industrial Schools, who, by organizing the institution 
 at Redhill, prepared the way for further effort. Then came the late 
 Mr. Barwick Lloyd Baker, whose life, devoted to true humanity, 
 has been so charmingly depicted by Holtzendorff in his 11 Country 
 Squire,” and whose Reformatory School, which he established as 
 long ago as 1852 on his property at Hardwicke Court, in Gloucester- 
 shire, formed the model for a whole series of similar institutions. 
 Again, there was Miss Carpenter, who laboured, especially in 
 Bristol, with untiring devotion to obtain the establishment of 
 Female Reformatories ; and many other instances might be cited. 
 
 Along with this went the development of Industrial Schools for 
 vagrant, destitute, and disorderly children, in connection with the 
 movement for Ragged Schools, in which the late Earl of Shaftes- 
 bury took such a prominent part. Owing to the spontaneous 
 efforts of private persons, societies, and municipalities, all these 
 institutions so increased in number and importance that after 
 1854 they began to occupy the attention of the Legislature. In 
 1806 some final and comprehensive enactments were passed, deal- 
 ing with both classes of these institutions ; namely, the Reforma- 
 tory School Act (29 and 30 Viet., ch. 118) and the Industrial School 
 Act (29 and 30 Viet., ch. 117), both for England and Scotland, 
 and, subsequently, the corresponding Acts of 1867-8 (31 and 32 
 Viet., ch. 59, and 31 and 32 Viet., ch. 25) for Ireland. These Acts 
 established the entire system on the following principles. 
 
 Both of these classes of compulsory institutions are subject, 
 as regards their legal basis, to some conditions in common : 
 firstly, that they are under the immediate direction of private 
 persons, societies, or self-governing bodies, and defray a large 
 part of their expenses by means of rates and voluntary contribu- 
 tions ; secondly, that they must be registered and subject to 
 Government inspection; and, thirdly, that the State provides a 
 substantial grant, and also compels the parents to contribute to 
 the extent of their power. Furthermore, their- system of treat- 
 ment has this common feature, that detention is not in the char- 
 acter of detention in a prison but in a school, in which (no doubt 
 under stricter discipline in the Reformatories) school training 
 
The State , Self-Government , and Self-Help. 135 
 
 and the teaching of a trade, or of agriculture, go hand-in-hand. 
 All these institutions find, as far as possible, employment and 
 service for their inmates after leaving, or transplant them to the 
 colonies, especially to Canada ; they exercise a control and super- 
 vision over them for three years after their discharge, and do 
 their best, by means of advice and active help, to settle them in 
 life. Lastly, the object pursued by these institutions is the same, 
 inasmuch as they also aim at the reform of juvenile offenders. 
 The institutions differ only in their conditions of admission, 
 and in the fact that in the Reformatories a criminal element is 
 received, while the Industrial Schools have mainly a preventive 
 mission. 
 
 Detention in the Reformatories is a matter resting with the 
 discretion of a justice, and every admission to a reformatory 
 must be preceded by at least ten days’ confinement in a State 
 prison. Admission into these Reformatory Schools takes place 
 between the ages of ten and sixteen, but detention can last till 
 the age of twenty-one. Certified Industrial Schools receive 
 children coming within any of the following descriptions : namely, 
 those who (being under fourteen) are found begging or receiving 
 alms (whether actually or under the pretext of selling or offering 
 for sale anything), or being in any street or public place for these 
 purposes ; or are found wandering and not having any home or 
 settled place of abode, or proper guardianship, or visible means 
 of subsistence ; or are found destitute, either being orphans or 
 having a surviving parent who is undergoing penal servitude or 
 imprisonment; or who frequent the company of reputed thieves; 
 or whose parents or guardians are unable to control them, or 
 whom the Poor-law authorities represent to be refractory; or 
 those who (being under twelve) have been charged with minor 
 offences punishable by imprisonment or a less punishment, but 
 have not been convicted in England of felony or of theft in 
 Scotland (29 and 80 Viet., ch. 118) ; also the children (being 
 under fourteen) under the care or control of any woman convic- 
 ted of a crime after a previous conviction (Prevention of Crimes 
 Act, 1871, 34 and 35 Viet., ch. 112) ; also children (above five 
 years of age) who habitually neglect to attend school (Elementary 
 Education Act, 1876, 39 and 40 Vic-t., ch. 79) ; and also children 
 
1 36 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 who live with prostitutes or frequent their company (Industrial 
 Schools Act, 1880, 48 and 44 Viet., ch. 15). In recent years the 
 School Boards also have established similar institutions for com- 
 pulsory industrial training ; a fresh class of such schools having 
 existed since 1876, called “ Certified Day Industrial Schools,” in 
 which children are kept only for the day ; as also the “ Truant 
 Schools,” which are specially intended to deal with refractory 
 children and those who habitually neglect school.* 
 
 In 1882 there were in England and Scotland 61 Reformatories 
 and 150 Industrial Schools, containing altogether, at the close of 
 that year, 24,215 children and young persons of both sexes ; viz., 
 19,528 boys and 4,687 girls, of whom 6,601 were in Reformatories, 
 and 17,614 in Industrial Schools. The Treasury grant in 1882 for 
 Reformatories was £87,241, in addition to which £35,585 was 
 derived from rates, contributions by parents, and voluntary sub- 
 scriptions and legacies. The grant for Industrial Schools was 
 £170,472, besides which there were other receipts amounting to 
 £150,222. The work done by these institutions can be measured 
 by some very remarkable figures. Whereas in 1856 the number 
 of commitments of juvenile offenders to prisons in England and 
 Wales was nearly 14,000, a steady decline is observable until 1882, 
 when the number sank to 5,700. t 
 
 * Note to the English Edition. — “The Day Industrial Schools,” says the 
 Inspector in his last Report (for 1886), “ continue generally to meet a great 
 want in a thoroughly practical manner, and I am certain that an extension of 
 such schools would be of the greatest advantage to the country.” Of the 
 Truant Schools he says: “ These schools generally seem doing good work, but 
 I do not think the present number, ten, is sufficient to meet the wants of the 
 country. The result is that many truants are sent to ordinary Industrial 
 Schools.” He recommends that the permission given by the rules of Truant 
 Schools to use the solitary system of confinement on admission should be 
 withdrawn, as being unnecessary, and, in the case of nervous children, in- 
 jurious. — Report , p. 34. 
 
 t See Annual Reports of the Inspector appointed to visit the certified Reform- 
 atory and Industrial Schools of Great Britain. These reports are rich in 
 statistical and other information. Note to English Edition . — In 1886 the total 
 number of schools under inspection in England and Scotland was 226; viz., 58 
 Reformatory Schools, 142 Industrial Schools, 10 Truant Schools, and 16 Day 
 Industrial Schools. The total number of juveniles under detention in the 
 Reformatory and Industrial Schools (including Truant Schools) at the close of 
 
The State , Self- Government^ and Self-Help . 
 
 137 
 
 In this way these establishments are rescuing more and more 
 numbers of the young generation from the residuum of English 
 society to which we have referred, transplanting by degrees the 
 lost and dangerous elements of the community, and becoming 
 links in the chain of those institutions which further the upward 
 progress of the present class-movement in England. 
 
 With regard to health and dwellings, legislation has not been 
 idle since the first Public Health Act of 1848 (11 and 12 Viet., 
 ch. 63), but has been embodied in a systematic form in the 
 similarly entitled Act of 1875 (38 and 39 Viet., ch. 55). This 
 statute, in conjunction with the Public Health (Water) Act of 
 1878 (41 and 42 Viet., ch. 25), and the Act of 1875 against the 
 Adulteration of Food and Drugs (38 and 39 Viet., ch. 63), forms a 
 groundwork for the administrative action which is delegated to 
 local authorities under the control of the Local Government Board 
 in London. The Public Health Act of 1875 includes provisions 
 with respect to sewerage and drainage, water supply, and the 
 regulation of cellar-dwellings and lodging-houses, and deals with 
 the whole subject of nuisances connected with water-courses, 
 offensive trades, furnaces, chimneys, and so on. It deals further 
 with the sale of unwholesome food, with infectious diseases, hos- 
 pitals, and mortuaries, the regulation of streets and buildings, 
 the lighting of streets, public pleasure-grounds, markets, and 
 slaughter-houses. The Act vests the management of all these 
 matters in the local urban or rural authorities, who are to appoint 
 special officers for the purpose, and, in particular, a medical officer 
 of health. There are other provisions relating to rating and 
 borrowing powers, the audit of accounts, the alteration of areas 
 and union of districts, and, lastly, the supervision to be exercised 
 by the Local Government Board. 
 
 Under the influence of this new sanitary legislation an entire 
 revolution is taking place in the manufacturing towns of England. 
 
 the year was 26,940 (viz., 21,971 boys, and 4,969 girls), of whom 6,272 belonged 
 to the former and 30,668 to the latter class of institutions. The Treasury 
 grant in 2886 for Beformatory Schools was £82,400, and for Industrial (includ- 
 ing Truant) Schools, £185,539, as compared with £35,022 and £155,260 respec- 
 tively derived from other sources. In 1886 the number of juvenile commitments 
 to prisons in England and Wales was 4,924. 
 
138 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 Every effort is being made by the local sanitary authorities to 
 retrieve the neglect of former years. What has been already 
 done in this respect at Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 
 Bradford, and many other towns in England, shows a progress 
 which has resulted in benefit to at least a large portion of the 
 working classes, and has materially improved their condition of 
 health. This is evidenced by the general statistics of mortality, 
 the diminution of which is a fact, and which, collectively speak- 
 ing, can only be affected when large masses of the population 
 share in the decrease. Mr. Gr. Shaw-Lefevre estimated in 1884 
 that if the same rate of mortality had prevailed in England during 
 the preceding ten years which had prevailed before, half a million 
 more of men would have died, — in other words, that the nation 
 had retained so much more vital energy than in former years. 
 An interesting calculation was made by Dr. Watt, who estimated 
 the total loss of wages sustained annually by the working classes 
 by illness, at no less than £13, 000, 000.* As we do not know 
 what were Dr. Watt’s materials for arriving at this total, we 
 would attach less importance to the actual figure than to the 
 point of view that led to the calculation. It is no doubt quite 
 correct to say that every case of illness or accident curtails directly 
 and at once the income of the weekly wage-earner, by putting a 
 stop to his employment and therewith his pay, and that, therefore, 
 the improvement of the sanitary conditions under which the 
 present English workman lives, means an increase of his capacity 
 of work, and, therefore, of his total income from wages. But this 
 consideration touches only a part of a general state of things, to 
 which we take an opportunity here of adverting. 
 
 A brisk controversy, as we have already mentioned, is now 
 going on, as to how far the wage income of workmen is larger 
 than it was ten, twenty, or forty years ago. To decide this ques- 
 tion by figures is probably very difficult ; but it is quite certain 
 that the improvement of the conditions of labour, brought about 
 by the Factory Laws, the shortening of work hours, the Em- 
 
 I 
 
 * This and the foregoing statements were made by Mr. G. Shaw-Lefevre in 
 his Opening Address to the National Association for the Promotion of Social 
 Science. — Transactions , 1884, p. 22. 
 
The State , 5 elf- -G overtime /it, and Self-Help. 
 
 139 
 
 ployers’ Liability Act, the Public Health Acts, the abolition of 
 the Truck system and of the payment of wages in public-houses, 
 and the measures against the adulteration of food, and so forth, 
 is equivalent to an indirect raising of wages, which has decidedly 
 raised the condition of the working classes as a whole. Antici- 
 pating what we shall hereafter dwell on more fully, we may 
 remark at once that the raising of wages in England has three 
 forms ; namely, an increase of the amount of wages, an increase of 
 their purchasing power by the cheapening of food and manufac- 
 tured goods, and an indirect increase by the measures taken to 
 ameliorate the social position of the worker. 
 
 We will touch at present on one more branch of legislation 
 and self-government, — namely, that which deals with the ques- 
 tion of working-men’s dwellings. It is well known how intolerable 
 in this respect was the state of things prevailing in the large 
 manufacturing towns when Engels and Yenedey visited England. 
 Since 1851 the Legislature has interfered, though at first with 
 only slight success, by enacting regulations for building which 
 were intended especially to apply to the dwellings of the working 
 classes. The beginning was made by the Acts of 1851, 1866, 
 1867, and 1868, until finally, by the Artizans’ Dwellings Act, 1875 
 (38 and 39 Viet., ch. 36), supplemented by the Artizans and 
 Labourers’ Dwellings Act, 1879 (42 and 43 Viet., ch. 63), and the 
 Artizans’ Dwellings Act, 1882 (45 and 46 Viet., ch. 54), systematic 
 provision was made for the building of dwellings for the working 
 classes. The object of these three Acts, which are referred to 
 collectively as the Artizans and Labourers’ Dwellings Improve- 
 ment Acts, 1875-1882, is to empower and oblige local authorities 
 to demolish and reconstruct on a new scheme houses, streets, and 
 groups of houses which they find to be 11 unhealthy areas.” The 
 local authority has to prepare the improvement scheme, to submit 
 it (after due advertisement and service of notice on all parties 
 affected), in the case of the Commissioners of Sewers or the 
 Metropolitan Board of Works, to a Secretary of State, and in the 
 case of an Urban Sanitary Authority, to the Local Government 
 Board, together with a petition praying that an order may be 
 made confirming the scheme. A Provisional Order is then made 
 by the confirming authority, if they see fit, but is not of any 
 
140 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 validity until confirmed by a Provisional Order Confirmation Act, 
 which finally gives the scheme the force of law. It is a condition 
 of confirming a scheme that new and healthy dwellings should be 
 erected for as many families as will be displaced by the proposed 
 improvement. As a rule, however, the local authority does not 
 itself undertake the work of reconstruction, but entrusts it to 
 building societies or private undertakers, subject, nevertheless, to 
 strict requirements as to the size, form, and arrangements of the 
 new dwellings, as houses for the working classes, and, further, as 
 to sanitary arrangements, water supply, and so forth. We shall 
 re - ert to this branch of the new self-government when dealing 
 with the subject of working-men’s building societies ; suffice it 
 now to state that, although the transformation of English working- 
 men’s towns is not accomplished without temporary disadvantages 
 and hardships, especially to the poor and unemployed population 
 of the large towns, and although a great portion of the work, even 
 as regards the working classes themselves, yet remains undone, 
 still the improvements are everywhere conspicuous, and are uni- 
 versally admitted. 
 
 A glance at the development of this new phase of self-govern- 
 ment shows what rapid progress has been made in this field also, 
 more especially since 1870. No doubt this development is not 
 u organic.” As is well known, Mr. Groschen, one of the best author- 
 ities on the subject of self-government in England, has described 
 the confusion between the old and new self-governing bodies, 
 existing side by side, the mutual overlapping of powers and 
 authorities, and the multiplicity of rates, as a chaos, into which 
 order must be brought by an organic reform of local government, 
 and, at the same time, of local taxation. We cannot here go into 
 these questions ; our only object at present has been to show how 
 this new system of self-government contains elements of public 
 life which contribute actively to the social elevation of the work- 
 ing classes. 
 
 Yet we must attempt here to point out the most important 
 common features of this new system of self-government, not only 
 for the sake of characterising it, but also because the same 
 features recur in those voluntary institutions which form the 
 particular subject of our work. 
 
The State , Self-Government , and Self-Help . 141 
 
 The most conspicuous feature of the new system is its central- 
 isation. We see how, in the place of the old parish hare beem 
 substituted larger administrative areas, such as the Poor-law 
 Union, the School District, the urban and rural Sanitary Districts, 
 and others ; and we perceive also in the large towns (always ex- 
 cepting London, where hitherto special relations exist, which, 
 however, will at any rate lead to centralisation of self-government 
 there) self-governing bodies, which administer to the police and 
 general welfare of hundreds of thousands of inhabitants in a 
 perfectly centralised manner. But just as the social tasks of the 
 present day are pressing everywhere to one form or another of 
 centralisation, to the union of forces and the economy of cost, 
 so they are also leading of necessity to a division of labour . Great 
 progress has been made in this direction already. The large 
 number of technical problems awaiting solution, and the need of 
 stability in administrative action, of the permanence possessed 
 by departments or bureaus , must tend to bring individual branches 
 of self-government practically into the hands of specially-trained 
 and salaried officials ; and the various departments dealing with 
 the Poor Laws, public health and housing, gas and water supply, 
 education, and so on, into which the local authorities are divided, 
 present the greatest possible contrast in respect of the division 
 of labour thus entailed, to the old magisterial system. The third 
 important feature of the new system is the relation which it 
 occupies to the State, or in other words, the Government. We 
 have already pointed out how, although the management of 
 particular branches of administration has been committed to 
 various boards and other local authorities, nevertheless the 
 Government, through the medium of its inspectors and the central 
 departments of State, not only exercises a control, but forms also 
 a court of approval and appeal. On the other hand, the State 
 makes considerable grants to the local authorities, which from 1880 
 to 1883 (apart from the grant for education) amounted to a yearly 
 sum of about £3,000,000.* Of course this co-operation between 
 the local authorities and the Government departments does not 
 take place without frictions occurring, but it undoubtedly contri- 
 
 * “Twelfth Annual Report of the Local Government Board” (1882-3), 
 p. 114. 
 
142 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 butes largely to implanting in the local boards, which are always 
 the embodiment of a certain community of local interests, a sense 
 of public duty. 
 
 3. Self-Government of the Working Classes. 
 
 We come now to those voluntary institutions established by 
 English workmen which form the special subject of our work. 
 Here we will notice merely their position in regard to the Govern- 
 ment and administration in general. 
 
 Notwithstanding that self-government is labouring, as we have 
 seen, to solve a number of administrative questions, especially 
 those connected with the Poor Laws, health and education, it has 
 hitherto taken only partial account of the particular requirements 
 of the working classes. The important tasks of organizing the 
 great mass of the working-classes, enabling them to participate 
 in the progress of culture, increasing their wages, insuring them 
 against sickness, old age, and death, providing them with cheap 
 and wholesome food, and insuring to adults the means of continu- 
 ing their education after leaving school, and also a certain amount 
 of social life, — all these have been left to the associated bodies of 
 the working-men themselves. 
 
 In the development of States existing at the present day no 
 social form has played a greater part than the combination of 
 individuals for the attainment of a common object. In forms 
 of the most different kinds, as guilds, brotherhoods, companies, 
 corporations, and monastic fraternities, as clubs and societies, this 
 idea, whether in a spiritual or a temporal garb, has in public and 
 secret so worked, organized, built up, and destroyed, that none 
 can understand the structure either of the present State or 
 society, or even of present culture, without properly appreciating 
 its importance. This social form has, therefore, been rightly made 
 an object of study, and the admirable works of Eichhorn, Maurer, 
 Wilda, Gierke, Brentano, and others, describe clearly how this 
 idea, which dates from the early middle ages, has permeated and 
 dominated State and society, law and custom, science and art. 
 We must repeat here that this social form has nowhere been more 
 strikingly expressed than in the England of to-day. Our remarks 
 on the English working-men’s associations will lead us into the 
 
The State , Self- Govern men t t and Self-Help. 143 
 
 middle of this riclily-developed associative life; but we must 
 recall here one circumstance, without which those associations in 
 England would never have been thus developed. We have hither- 
 to not spoken of the political freedom enjoyed in England. This 
 is the place to designate it, as we do emphatically, as the sole 
 condition under which it has been possible to develop an associa- 
 tive life such as now exists in England. It was the repeal of the 
 combination laws that formed the turning-point, as cannot be 
 too often repeated, for the development of working-men’s associa- 
 tions, based on the principle of self-help. Eree from all police 
 surveillance , free from every restriction of the right of meeting, 
 and at perfect liberty to express opinions orally or in writing, 
 associative life in England has expanded and increased in order, 
 practical arrangement, systematic management, and nobility of 
 aim. 
 
 The English public has had the courage and strength to leave 
 the working-men’s associations full freedom of movement, at the 
 risk even of temporary excesses and acts of violence, such as at 
 one time stained the annals of trades-unions. It was hoped, and 
 the hope has been realised, that the surest way of purging them 
 of these abuses would be to give publicity to their aims, plans, 
 and organization. Through the exertions of often simple, but 
 consistent, working-men, these associations have been gradually 
 learning to understand and employ the right means, which serve 
 their purpose the best, and, above all, to avoid those faults which 
 formerly misled their energies into excesses, instead of concen- 
 trating them on what was practically attainable. In consequence 
 of this, a great change has taken place in public opinion in their 
 favour. If one compares the opinions now expressed as to Trades- 
 unions, Friendly Societies, or Co-operative Societies, in scientific 
 works, in the transactions of learned societies, and in the press, 
 with those which were held forty years ago ; still more, if one 
 pictures to one’s self the open and secret warfare then maintained 
 by the employers against these institutions, and observes how 
 totally different is their attitude at present, one will recognise 
 the enormous changes which have been effected under a system of 
 absolute freedom. People know that one has no longer to deal 
 with experiments, but with recognised social organizations which, 
 
144 
 
 English Associations of Working Men, 
 
 with all their present need and capacity of development, are 
 already accomplishing a great, positive task, and not only provide 
 for branches of what on the Continent is called public administra- 
 tion, but have succeeded in grappling with, and partly, at least, 
 in solving questions which public government and legislation on 
 the Continent are still puzzled to deal with. 
 
 Under these conditions of freedom the working-men’s associa- 
 tions have developed two qualities which have been of immense 
 value to them ; we mean self-reliance, which abounds in all these 
 associations, and mutual confidence, which prevails in them to a 
 great extent. Self-reliance is at the bottom of the English work- 
 ing-man’s conviction that it is necessary to put his own shoulder 
 to the wheel in order to obtain anything permanent. This 
 conviction forms, in our opinion, a distinguishing feature of the 
 entire social development of England. All the measures, actually 
 accomplished by the State in the form of legislation, or under- 
 taken by self-government, to vindicate the claims of society 
 against the impulses of self-seeking, are intended not to super- 
 sede the activity of the individual, but to strengthen him in his 
 independent struggle to obtain a social equilibrium, and afford 
 him the necessary protection and support. “ Men, not measures,” 
 
 is the common saying in England, where no one believes in a 
 possible inversion of the maxim. 
 
 Not less important is the mutual confidence which prevails in 
 the working-men’s associations, a confidence that never exists 
 in secret, but only in free and open societies, which have nothing 
 to hide either from their members or the world. Putting aside 
 certain petty jealousies, which are to be found wherever men 
 work together, the conduct and management of these working- 
 men’s associations in England, resting as it does on the basis of 
 mutual self-confidence, as also the prevailing unity of effort, are 
 worthy of all admiration. This unity of effort is assisted, no doubt, 
 by a peculiarity of the English people, which offers an interesting 
 phenomenon in national psychology. There is less individuality 
 in England than in any other country. The uniformity — nay, the 
 monotony — of life, of customs, of modes of thought, of views, 
 and of aspirations strikes even the superficial observer of this 
 country ; but it is a marked psychological feature of the nation, 
 
The State , Self-Government, and Self-Help . 145 
 
 and one of the secrets of its strength. If the genius of French- 
 men may be compared to a prism, which breaks up opinions into 
 different rays of light, the genius of Englishmen, on the contrary, 
 may be compared to a lens, which is able to concentrate all the 
 rays into a single point. The many individuals who think and 
 act alike are the strength of England’s institutions ; on them 
 depend not only her compact system of political parties, but also 
 her trade and commerce, her legislation and government — in short, 
 whatever is attempted either in larger or smaller circles, and 
 demands the co-operation of individuals. One may think what 
 one likes about it, but this much is certain, that the result is 
 to exorcise two of the most dangerous enemies to public life, — 
 namely, disunion and confusion of ideas. 
 
 All these circumstances have impressed a peculiar, but also a 
 common, stamp on all the various associations in question. Their 
 management is entirely open, their annual reports are printed and 
 accessible to the public. Their meetings are remarkable for their 
 brevity and the practical relevance of debate ; strict parliamentary 
 forms are observed; there is a dominant respect for opposite con- 
 victions, which manifests the training of the English people for 
 public life, and enables the Tory to work together in harmony 
 with the Whig and the Radical, the Churchman with the Dis- 
 senter. Agreement is sought for on the ground not of purely 
 theoretical discussion, but of practical experiment and practical 
 management. 
 
 This character peculiar to English working-men’s associations 
 has determined the part they play as free governing bodies m the 
 social organism of England. The English working-man has pro- 
 claimed in his associations his intention and wish to convert his 
 materially improved condition into a higher degree of education. 
 Herein lies the crucial point. The mere improvement of the 
 external conditions of life is a useless boon to a class of society — 
 nay, it may easily be turned to their disadvantage, — if it is not 
 the lever to raise the intellect and will of the individual to some- 
 thing better and higher. If this upward progress is once secured, 
 the striving after outward gain and material possessions is fully 
 justified. The useful becomes the ethical. In this manner the 
 working-men’s associations become gradually changed from narrow- 
 
 ly 
 
146 English Associatio?is of Working Men . 
 
 minded representations of self-interest into real brotherhoods of 
 duty, which not only protect the interests of their members, 
 but also impose upon them obligations towards themselves and 
 the association, and also towards the community at large. By 
 this means the associations acquire a public character, and we 
 are justified in designating them as the social self-government of 
 the working classes in England. 
 
 No doubt it might be objected at once that, as purely volun- 
 tary institutions, they cannot be placed on a par with the in- 
 stitutions of self-government, properly so called. But this ob- 
 jection is true only up to a certain point. Eor although it cannot 
 be denied that there is still a large portion of English working- 
 men who do not belong to Trades-unions and Co-operative 
 Societies, and a portion also who do not belong to Eriendly 
 Societies, and that all classes of English working-men do not take 
 an equal part in other associations, on the other hand we must 
 not forget that all these associations have become the governing 
 centre for the various branches of social administration which 
 they manage, and that the influence they exercise on the relations 
 of wages, the system of insurance, the food-supply, and the 
 intellectual training and education of the working-class collect- 
 ively, extends far beyond the association itself, and benefits also 
 those who are outside it. Moreover, it must be observed that 
 admission to these associations is, practically speaking, by no 
 means as voluntary as their form would lead one to suppose. 
 These associations exercise, from their very importance, a power 
 of attraction which is drawing to them a constantly increasing 
 number of the working classes, and which those still outside of 
 them will find it more and more difficult to resist. 
 
 We have already mentioned that the working-men’s associa- 
 tions, in their present state of development, show the same 
 decisive features which we have observed in municipal self- 
 government, — namely, centralisation, the division of labour, and 
 subordination to State supervision. 
 
 As regards centralisation, it is as marked in the Trades-unions 
 as in the Eriendly Societies and Co-operative Societies. Among 
 the Trades-unions of the same trades there is the tendency to 
 “amalgamate” and form associations, with branches ramifying 
 
The State , Self-Government , arid Self-Help . 147 
 
 over the whole of Great Britain. In the next place, the Trades- 
 unions of different trades in the more important manufacturing 
 localities endeavour to keep contact with each other by means of 
 Trades Councils. And lastly, the threads of all the industrial 
 activity of the empire are gathered together in the Parliamentary 
 Committee of the Trades-unions, a council sitting in London, which 
 is elected by the Annual Trades-Union Congress, and is entrusted 
 with the protection of all common interests of Trades-unions. 
 This tendency to centralisation is equally pronounced among 
 the Priendly Societies. In these, the Orders — as they are termed 
 — which consist of associations with numerous lodges, are 
 steadily gaining in importance. The insurance business con- 
 ducted by the English Friendly Societies, as we shall see further 
 on in this volume, is leading to a demand for larger associations, 
 and therefore to concentration. Finally, the Co-operative Societies 
 have to a large extent combined, and possess at Manchester and 
 Glasgow their common large establishments for importation and 
 mercantile purposes. 
 
 The division of labour — that is to say, the formation and de- 
 velopment of an official organism — has made great progress in 
 the working-men’s associations. It is true that the English 
 working-man feels a repugnance to being governed by officials, 
 but the more perfected, efficient, and powerful his associations 
 become, the larger will be the number of those who will have to 
 be permanently entrusted with the management of current busi- 
 ness or of such business as demands special knowledge. 
 
 All the associations of which we are speaking are subject also 
 to a State supervision, resting, however, on voluntary submission, 
 not on compulsion, and differing, in this respect, from the State 
 control to which the local boards are liable. All the Acts which 
 regulate the legal position of working-men’s associations* are 
 based on the same principle ; namely, that they leave the associa- 
 tions concerned at liberty to register themselves, and while 
 making their enjoyment of a number of advantages depend 
 
 * That is to say, theTrades-union Acts, 1871 and 1876 (34 and 35 Viet., ch. 31 ; 
 39 and 40 Viet., ch. 22) ; the Friendly Societies Act, 1875 (38 and 39 Viet., ch. 60) ; 
 the Industrial and Provident Societies Acts of 1874, 1875, and 1877 (37 and 38 
 Viet., ch. 421 ; 37 and 38 Viet., ch. 9 ; 40 and 41 Viet., ch. 36). 
 
148 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 on their registration, on the other hand establish as a conse- 
 quence of such registration, a State supervision, which varies 
 considerably in extent in the different categories of those associa- 
 tions. Consequently, all working-men’s associations resolve them- 
 selves into two kinds — the registered and the non-registered. 
 The State exercises a direct influence only on the former, though, 
 in spite of the facultative character of this supervision, its in- 
 direct influence on the constitution and the progress of the non- 
 registered societies is a growing one. The registrar’s office for 
 all these associations is a central one, situated in London. The 
 head of the office is the Chief Registrar, a post at present filled 
 by Mr. J. M. Ludlow, one of those veterans who has devoted a 
 whole life of constant work and noble unselfishness to the welfare 
 of the working classes 
 
 We shall have later on to speak more particularly of the 
 Registrar’s position, sphere of action, and influence. Here we 
 will merely remark that his office is, so to speak, the head of 
 these associations of the working classes ; that by means of its 
 supervising and administrative action it steadily promotes the 
 completion of this organization ; and that it concentrates all the 
 threads which connect with State supervision the voluntary self- 
 supporting associations of the English working-men. Just as the 
 Local Government Board concentrates in one department the 
 supervision of the laws relating to the public health, the relief of 
 the poor, and local government, and as the Education Department 
 forms a central office for education, so this Registry Office seems 
 intended to become the central State authority for the English 
 working-men’s institutions of self-help, and to raise those institu- 
 tions into real self-governing bodies. In this respect the regis- 
 trar’s office, with its functions embracing the most important 
 relations of the working classes, is one of the most interesting 
 phenomena of State life at the present day. Its jurisdiction is as 
 yet not extensive, for the office is only now beginning to develop ; 
 but its influence would be underrated were it estimated only by 
 its sphere of legal competence. It enjoys outside of this sphere a 
 position of confidence ; and its range of action will be enlarged in 
 the future in proportion as the working classes become convinced 
 of its necessity and usefulness. 
 
The State , Self-Government and Self-Help. 
 
 149 
 
 Thus, among the changed economic and political conditions 
 which have arisen since the first Reform Act, a revolution is 
 being accomplished in the English State, which, especially since 
 1870, is beginning to assume a more and more altered form. The 
 administrative gaps left by the old system in respect of the claims 
 of a new period have been filled up by the central Government 
 with entirely new branches of administration, managed directly 
 by itself, and further by a new form of self-government as well 
 as by voluntary associations. We are far from seeing in this 
 a decay of the State in England, such as Gneist is inclined to 
 assume ; on the contrary, we recognise in these transformations 
 the necessary consequence of those changes which have taken 
 place in the stratification of English society, and in the form and 
 requirements of industry and production ; and we admire the 
 moral impulse, the energy, and the constancy displayed by the 
 English nation in reforming their administration. Anything, of 
 course, like a systematic reconstruction of the old system in its 
 entirety is not to be looked for, because, although systematic 
 measures have been enacted since 1832 in regard to single 
 branches of administration, nevertheless the central government, 
 the new form of self-government, and the voluntary associations 
 have never divided their task according to any preconcerted plan, 
 but have separately, each in its own way, following different im- 
 pulses, sought and found a field of work which forms in its result 
 by no means a systematic organism, but which is, notwithstanding 
 its complicity, a solid frame for public life, in which the sponta- 
 neous energies of the people and the activity of the State com- 
 bine and complete each other in a manner unknown elsewhere. 
 
 The survey of these changes which have taken place in the 
 views of English society, as well as in the forms and aims of 
 public life in England, leave no doubt as to their social signi- 
 ficance. We see in these factors, and more especially in the 
 organization of the English working-men, a guarantee against 
 sudden revolutionary changes. The State in England, which is 
 kept together not by any official hierarchy or by military power, 
 rests practically on the preponderating strength of those elements 
 of the nation which are interested in a peaceful and constant 
 development of society. These elements have, during the last 
 
150 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 few decades, been greatly and, as we believe, decisively 
 strengthened by the formation of the working-men’s associations. 
 We have no fear lest the enemies to the existing order of things, 
 who of late have put themselves forward with such noise and 
 agitation, will succeed in disturbing the balance of the English 
 State, especially as the best, most highly educated, and most 
 powerful portion of the English working-men have nothing to do 
 with such proceedings. 
 
 We cannot conclude this introduction without asking ourselves, 
 What is the collective working of all these factors, their effect, 
 speaking generally, on the economic position of England, which, 
 as we know, is so closely connected with her social progress ? 
 
 At the first glance it is clear that all the social changes of 
 which we have been speaking have raised the cost of production. 
 Directly this is caused by the demand of the working classes for 
 higher wages, but indirectly by almost all the enactments and 
 measures introduced for the protection of labour and the im- 
 provement of the conditions of labour. The shortening of the 
 hours of work, the free Saturday afternoon, and the strictly- 
 observed Sunday’s rest, place important checks on the using up 
 of existing capital, while the statutory regulations as to healthy 
 workrooms and arrangements for safety in factories and mines, 
 materially increase the amount of capital required in starting, as 
 well as the cost of keeping up, the business. In addition to this 
 there is the fact that England has to maintain a competition in 
 foreign markets with rival manufacturers which is constantly 
 becoming more serious, so that not only is she excluded from re- 
 couping the increased cost of production out of the consumer, but, 
 on the contrary, has had also to submit to a not inconsiderable 
 decrease in prices. We cannot here undertake to state a balance 
 of the economic process in England, but we should like to point 
 out what place is occupied in that process by the matters of which 
 we have hitherto been speaking, and which in detail will form the 
 subject of the following pages. 
 
 At the same time there is much to put in to the scale of 
 advantage to England. In the first place, it must not be over- 
 looked that the pecuniary burdens experienced by production in 
 consequence of social regulations have been imposed, in the course 
 
The State, Self-Government, and Self-Help. 151 
 
 of several decades, not at one and the same time, but by de- 
 grees, so that English industry, — already during a period of 
 almost unlimited dominion, and consequently at a time when 
 profits were still superabundant, — has had time and power 
 gradually to adapt itself to the new conditions imposed by her 
 progressive social legislation, and to assimilate itself to these 
 conditions without difficulty ; while, moreover, it must be taken 
 into account that along with these burdens material relief has been 
 afforded by the importation of cheap food and raw products, as well 
 as by the improvement and cheapening of the system of transport. 
 Of the utmost importance, moreover, was the raising of the 
 intensity of labour, not only through the improvements in 
 machinery, — which produces cheaper, if not always better, pro- 
 ducts, — but also through the increased skill of the workmen. 
 These two elements are closely connected with the social legis- 
 lation to which we have referred. The English spirit of invention 
 has sought to neutralize, by the perfecting of machinery, the 
 checks imposed by that legislation on the process of production ; 
 and the stimulus in this respect which is evident in the factory 
 and mining legislation in particular, is distinctly visible in the 
 history of English industry. Nor has the living factor, the work- 
 ing-man himself, gained any less in power and skill by this legisla- 
 tion, but has developed productive qualities which place him indis- 
 putably at the head of the working classes throughout the world. 
 
 We have already stated our opinion that England’s colonial 
 power and colonial possessions form a reserve fund on which she 
 can safely reckon for support, even if, as is to be expected, her 
 commercial and manufacturing supremacy is curtailed. From the 
 consideration of English social legislation and its results, we may 
 draw this further conclusion, that England has made a second and 
 a still more important step in advance of her rivals ; namely, in 
 the order which she has established between her employers and 
 employed. With the combined strength of both she is able to 
 carry on the struggle in foreign markets with foreign competitors, 
 an impossibility for any State that contains in its bosom that 
 Socialism which is hostile to all order at home. 
 
PART n. 
 
 FRIENDLY SOCIETIES. 
 

 
 
 
 
CHAPTER 1. 
 
 Origin and General Character of Friendly Societies. 
 
 Reasons for considering Friendly Societies before Trades-unions. — Divergent 
 aims and character of these two classes of institutions. — Their historical 
 points of contact. — Connection between the Friendly Societies and the 
 Guilds. — Temporary distrust entertained against Friendly Societies. — 
 Their enormous growth during the present century. — Their objects of 
 insurance. — Their course of development. — Reconstruction of their system 
 of insurance. — Legislation a necessity of their growth. — Difficulties and 
 drawbacks in their career. — They have taught the English working-man 
 the necessity of insurance. 
 
 Before beginning to consider the English working-man’s system 
 of insurance, so far as it is contained in the Friendly Societies, 
 we must endeavour to answer a question which has forced itself 
 perhaps upon many of our readers. It may be thought that the 
 task we have proposed to ourselves in these pages, namely, to 
 describe the English working-men’s institutions of social self- 
 help, in their connection not only with each other, but also with 
 the progress made by the English nation altogether in education, 
 morals, legislation, and government, ought in any case to begin 
 with those particular institutions which we may designate as the 
 central point of all these efforts, and which have given the most 
 powerful impulse to the furtherance of the well-being and inde- 
 pendence of the working classes. In this respect the Friendly 
 Societies must yield precedence to the Trades-unions. Mr. 
 Ludlow remarks, with perfect justice, in the book which he 
 wrote in collaboration with the late Mr. Lloyd Jones on the 
 progress of the working classes in England, that if the most 
 experienced workmen in England were to decide which of their 
 organizations they considered the most important, four-fifths 
 or more of them would say the Trades-unions, although it is 
 
 155 
 
156 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 exactly these which were for the longest time ignored by the 
 Legislature. In point of fact, the efforts made by the Trades- 
 unions comprise the most important, most immediate, and most 
 practical of all questions for the working class, — the question of 
 wages. The improvement, however, in their relations as to 
 wages, had not only become, as we have already seen, the basis 
 of all the institutions established by the working-men in England, 
 but constitutes also very frequently the limit drawn, as against 
 the lowest grades of the working class, with reference to their 
 participation in these institutions. 
 
 In resolving, then, after mature consideration to begin with 
 Friendly Societies, some preliminary explanation is needed. The 
 Friendly Societies are not only the first societies that sought 
 to organize a distinct side of the modern social life of the 
 working classes, but after years of experiment and of compromise 
 between independence and the demands of legislation, have now 
 at length entered on a stage, as regards their internal organi- 
 zation and their legal form, which points to a certain definite 
 goal. The consideration of these institutions is, therefore, the 
 best means of enabling one to understand the nature of all the 
 other working-men’s associations which have been developed 
 on analogous principles. In particular, the peculiar form given 
 to Friendly Societies by legislation has served as a type for all 
 other institutions, while the office, which originally served only 
 for the registration of Friendly Societies and Savings Banks, 
 has gradually become a central authority for all the working- 
 men’s associations which we are proposing to describe. 
 
 In addition to this, there is a further reason for considering 
 Friendly Societies first. Speaking of working-men’s insurance 
 in general, the subject is in no way exhausted by these societies. 
 Besides the Friendly Societies strictly so-called, there are to be 
 considered, firstly , the numerous benefit clubs started by the 
 employers, and connected with factories, railway companies, etc., 
 which usually have quite distinctive features, and are combined 
 with subsidiary objects, stamping them as belonging to a wholly 
 separate group. Secondly , since 1829 there has been in existence 
 a system of voluntary State insurance for the working classes, 
 known as the Government Annuity and Insurance system, which, 
 
Origin and General Character of Friendly Societies. 157 
 
 though not in a position to supply the place of the Friendly 
 Societies, nevertheless is of importance as a supplementing ele- 
 ment in the consideration of the question of English working- 
 men’s insurance. And, thirdly , the Trades-unions also conduct 
 insurance business for their members, — and indeed a very special 
 branch of insurance, — by insuring them against the loss of work. 
 With regard, therefore, to the first two of these subordinate 
 branches of English working-men’s insurance, although they 
 form independent groups of insurance societies, they readily fall 
 within the description of Friendly Societies as a whole. With 
 regard to the insurance system of the Trades-unions, the case is 
 very different. The latter has so grown up with the other 
 arrangements of Trades-unions, that it is impossible to separate 
 it from those arrangements, and describe it in connection -with 
 Friendly Societies. 
 
 On the other hand, the insurance business of the Trades- 
 unions can only be properly considered by first obtaining a 
 clearer insight into the system of English working-men’s in- 
 surance in general, of which the centre of gravity lies in the 
 Friendly Societies. On this ground, also, precedence belongs to 
 the Friendly Societies. 
 
 We should have to proceed very differently if the main object 
 of our inquiry were to consider the early history of English 
 working-men’s associations. In this case it would be indispens- 
 able to treat of Friendly Societies and Trades-unions simul- 
 taneously, since their origin and their growth are governed by 
 the same economic and social conditions, and both classes of 
 institutions are only different sides of the same historical pro- 
 cess. Since, however, the main subject of our work is restricted 
 to the present state of English working-men’s associations and 
 their legal rights, and since the two classes of institutions, more- 
 over, have long since diverged in aims and character, and con- 
 stitute self-contained organizations, it is absolutely necessary to 
 consider them apart. 
 
 But while renouncing also the idea of describing the historical 
 connection of these institutions as at present existing, with the 
 earlier development of culture in England, we cannot forbear 
 to cast a general glance at this connection. The few remarks 
 
158 
 
 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 which we shall make on this point may suffice perhaps to show 
 how the two lines on which the development of Friendly Societies 
 and Trades-unions has proceeded, converge all the more as we 
 go back into the past, nay, even touch and meet. 
 
 Both institutions have a common historical origin, — the 
 mediaeval guilds ; both received a new birth at the period of 
 large industries ; both owe their existence to the same powerful 
 reaction of the working-classes against the deterioration of their 
 material condition ; both are among the most conspicuous examples 
 of English self-help ; they work side by side ; they mutaally 
 supplement each other ; they are twin-children of the same' 
 spirit. 
 
 The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries saw the system of guilds 
 in England in full and powerful operation. Toulmin Smith, 
 Thorold Rogers, Brentano, Ludlow, and many others, have fur- 
 nished us on this subject not merely with critically digested 
 material, but with interesting observations of their own. In 
 addition to the Frith-guilds, for the preservation of the public 
 peace, there were in England religious guilds of every kind, 
 which afforded their members material support, and may be desig- 
 nated as the forerunners of Friendly Societies. Besides these 
 there were the guilds of traders and artificers for secular objects ; 
 and these various brotherhoods formed a certain organi- 
 zation of labour, a certain community of religious and social 
 relations, which gave them at that period an economical, and, 
 at the same time, a strictly ethical stamp, only that it must not 
 be forgotten that the early centralisation of State legislation and 
 the peculiar system of self-government gave from the beginning 
 to the development of these institutions in England a direction 
 different to that which they had taken on the Continent. 
 
 The objects now pursued separately by the Friendly Societies, 
 the Trades-unions, and a number of other associations in England, 
 are found united in the guilds. Mr. Ludlow, in treating of the 
 connection between the modern Friendly Societies and the old 
 English guilds, remarks that “ the guilds of the fourteenth cen- 
 tury, under forms to a great extent religious, could frilfil the 
 purposes on the one hand of a modern friendly society, in pro- 
 viding for sickness, old age, and burial ; and, on the other hand, 
 
Origin and General Character of Friendly Societies. 159 
 
 of a modern trade society, by rules tending to fix the hours of 
 labour, and to regulate competition, combined with other friendly 
 purposes.” * 
 
 A complete change in these relations took place at the time 
 of the Reformation. The property of all the spiritual frater- 
 nities was secularised. The Act of 1545 (37 Hen. VIII., ch. 4) 
 was the first step towards this confiscation of the landed property 
 of the religious guilds, which two years later was completed by 
 the Act of 1547 (1 Edw. VI., ch. 14). This was the death-blow 
 to the guilds, for their landed property formed the mainstay of 
 their existence. 
 
 A new legislation now overlaid these decaying forms. As 
 on the Continent, so also in England, the power of the sovereign 
 stepped in, the development of culture in England under the 
 powerful Tudors showing thus once more during its progress 
 an analogy with that on the Continent. The Poor Laws and the 
 Apprentices Act of Elizabeth are the landmarks of this develop- 
 ment. Thenceforth the ways divide. While the States on the 
 Continent, by strengthening the power of the sovereign, and 
 perfecting the bureaucratic system, approached constantly nearer 
 that form which we designate by the name of a police State 
 (Polizeistaat ) ; England, on the contrary, was gradually building up 
 the classical fabric of her Self-government. After the decisive 
 change effected in the political and religious relations of England 
 by the expulsion of the Stuarts, the strong tendency to self- 
 government, self-help, and freedom of movement, which has ever 
 since remained implanted in the English nation, received that 
 impetus which makes it the motive element of all their political 
 and social institutions. Notwithstanding, therefore, the sup- 
 pression of the old forms, spontaneous combinations of handi- 
 craftsmen and labourers, for the purpose of providing against the 
 accidents of life by means of mutual help, certainly never ceased 
 to exist. 
 
 “ I cannot believe,” says Mr. Ludlow, in his article already 
 quoted, 11 that during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries — 
 in which the genius of our people received such an enormous 
 
 Contemporary Review, March, 1873, p. 564. 
 
160 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 development, in which the spirit of association showed itself so 
 rife and daring in many ways — the old English tradition of pro- 
 viding by private fellowship against the ordinary needs of life, 
 without knocking at the door of either State or parish, can have 
 died out. I think it probable that the designation of guild 
 became old-fashioned and popish-looking ; that it might be dropped 
 by some of the existing bodies ; that it was less and less often 
 adopted by those newly formed. But I feel convinced that there 
 is no historical gap between the guild of old times and the 
 modem Friendly Society.” * Mr. Ludlow is of opinion that the 
 transition of the old guilds into the modem form of Friendly 
 Societies was completed in the first half of the seventeenth 
 century, at the period when Puritanism abolished the old forms, 
 as being connected with the Romish religion, and the self-help 
 of the people was called into action in their struggle against 
 absolute monarchy. He cites the example of a guild in Norfolk, 
 whose lands were confiscated by the Act of Henry VIII., but 
 which nevertheless was still continuing in 1650, in the possession 
 of its property, and was not dissolved until that year. In the 
 same essay he mentions two Friendly Societies established in 
 London in 1666 and 1687, and estimates that as early as the 
 second half of the seventeenth, and throughout the whole of the 
 eighteenth century, a not unimportant number of such Societies 
 was already in existence. In his Annual Report for 1883, Mr 
 Ludlow mentions altogether seventy-seven English Friendly 
 Societies, the earliest of which dates from 1687, and the latest 
 from 1780. In Scotland, likewise, there are a number of Friendly 
 Societies still remaining which are between a hundred and two 
 hundred years old, among them a Society of Dyers, at Linlithgow, 
 which was founded in 1679. 
 
 It appears, therefore, that the Friendly Societies are insti- 
 tutions which retain an unbroken connection with the old guilds, 
 and which increased gradually from the latter part of the seven- 
 teenth century, until, at the close of the eighteenth, they had 
 already acquired such importance as to occupy the attention of 
 the Legislature. But although it may be said that they were 
 
 Contemporary Review, April, 1873, p. 738. 
 
Origin and General Character of Friendly Societies. 161 
 
 commonly established in England about that period, the first 
 decided impetus given to Friendly Societies was not until be- 
 tween 1793 and 1819. About this time the Trades-unions first 
 acquired importance. The cause in either case is an economical 
 
 one. 
 
 In treating of Trades-unions, in our second volume, we shall 
 endeavour to show how the modern combinations of workmen— 
 the “ new guilds,” as Brentano calls the Trades-unions — took their 
 origin in that state of disorganization which was brought about 
 by the introduction of machinery, the supplanting of home indus- 
 try, the diminution of male labour caused by the employment of 
 women and children, the abolition of the old system of apprentice- 
 ship, and the lowering of the standard of wages. We shall see 
 that the working-men resorted to combination and passive resist- 
 ance to maintain their position in life. But this period of hard- 
 ship also awakened their self-dependence in this respect, that they 
 began to establish, on a larger or smaller scale, those societies 
 for mutual relief out of which the great institution of Friendly 
 Societies has been gradually developed. 
 
 Since the beginning of the present century the Trades-unions 
 and the Friendly Societies have been developing themselves on 
 separate but parallel lines. Regrets have been expressed in 
 England that the course of events should have led to this separa- 
 tion, and that the legislation of the last and the present centuries 
 has itself contributed to drawing such a sharp line of demarcation 
 between Friendly Societies and Trades-unions in having recog- 
 nised the former at an early period, while ignoring the latter 
 until about eighteen years ago. The explanation of this fact, 
 however, lies in the different nature and objects of these twOr 
 classes of institutions. The Trades-unions were originally fighting 
 societies, and are so, under given circumstances, to this day. 
 Their action was manifested in a rough and often violent manner ; 
 nay, their annals in the present century have not been unstained 
 by bloodshed. With the Friendly Societies it is different. Their 
 objects have always been peaceful ones, which never brought them 
 into conflict with the traditional opinions or interests of other 
 classes, or with the law; their outward conduct has been quiet; 
 all the contests about tables of premiums, the organization of the 
 
 M 
 
1 62 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 system of insurance, questions of administration and the disposi- 
 tion of funds, have no doubt stirred many Friendly Societies to 
 the depths and led to secessions and re-constructions, but all these 
 matters have been merely internal affairs, and showed no aggres- 
 sive front against inherited ideas and existing interests. 
 
 Only in a passing manner have Friendly Societies encountered 
 the distrust of the public. Many of these Societies, particularly 
 the large Orders, shrouded themselves in a certain mystery, 
 endeavouring to add to their attractiveness by aping the forms 
 and usages of Freemasonry. There was frequently also a fear 
 of unjustifiable interference with their funds on the part of the 
 Government, a fear which was probably created by the recollec- 
 tion of earlier confiscations, and which especially induced those 
 Orders to keep their proceedings secret. Moreover, it cannot be 
 •denied that the Trades-unions, in order to promote their efforts 
 undisturbed, frequently constituted themselves as Friendly Socie- 
 ties, so as to be more safe from interference under this innocent 
 disguise ; and that, on the other hand, even the Friendly Societies 
 often assisted their members when involved in a strike. But the 
 Friendly Societies discarded these phases at a comparatively early 
 period ; their organization and aims have been the subject of 
 Parliamentary inquiry, of scientific discussion, and of interest in 
 the press, and their management is at present so open, that there 
 are scarcely any institutions in England into which a stranger 
 finds it easier to obtain an insight. 
 
 The growth and spread of Friendly Societies during the course 
 of the present century is simply enormous. Sufficient statistical 
 data for ascertaining the total number of Friendly Societies exist- 
 ing at the present day are not forthcoming, and could scarcely be 
 collected, since there are a multitude of Friendly Societies which 
 are not registered, and as to which no statistical information 
 exists. Any estimate of the latter is therefore only a vague one. 
 The Fourth Report of the Royal Commission, in 1874,* estimated 
 the total of registered and unregistered Friendly Societies in Eng- 
 land and Wales at 32,000, containing upwards of four million 
 
 * “Fourth Report of the Commissioners appointed to Inquire into Friendly 
 and Benefit Building Societies,” Part I., pp. xvi., xvii. 
 
Origin and General Character of Friendly Societies. 163 
 
 members, besides at least as many more persons (making in all 
 eight millions) interested (as wives, children, etc.,) in the benefits 
 promised by such societies. The funds of these societies were 
 reckoned at over £11,000,000, and it was estimated that their 
 existence saved no less than £2,000,000 annually to the ratepayers. 
 
 In the course of the period which has elapsed since the above 
 calculation was made, all these figures have very considerably in- 
 creased, as we shall be able to show in reference to the most im- 
 portant classes of Friendly Societies. Inasmuch as in recent years 
 the efforts to strengthen the financial basis of these societies have 
 been greatly increased, and have met with considerable success, 
 it is probable that a large augmentation of funds has taken place 
 in relation to the number of members. 
 
 A statement has recently been published by Mr. E. W. Bra- 
 brook, the Assistant-Begistrar, from which it appears that the 
 estimate formed by the Commissioners in 1874 must be far ex- 
 ceeded at the present day, since the number of registered Friendly 
 Societies alone in England and Wales, which had sent in their 
 annual reports to the Begistrar’s office in London, amounted in 
 1880 to no less than 12,867, with thirteen millions of funds and 
 4,802,249 members. It must be taken into account, moreover, 
 that a good third part more of these societies was in arrear with 
 their reports, so that the numbers just given are subject to a far 
 from inconsiderable addition.* Scotland, Ireland, and the Colo- 
 nies are not included in these totals. 
 
 What, then, do these Friendly Societies at the present day seek 
 in general to accomplish ? What, taken altogether, is the course 
 which their development has assumed during the present cen- 
 tury? 
 
 The answering these questions should give us a nearer concep- 
 tion of the task we are endeavouring to perform. 
 
 We cannot describe the general objects of Friendly Societies 
 more succinctly than by terming them insurance societies based 
 on mutual principles. They have principally to deal with the 
 various sections of the working classes, but among their contribu- 
 
 * Journal of the Statistical Society, March, 1885, in an article entitled, “ The 
 Relation of the State to Thrift ; Two Years’ Statistics of Friendly Societies and 
 Similar Institutions,” by E. W. Brabrook. 
 
164 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 tors are many members of the middle and even of the upper 
 classes, whose pecuniary aid and co-operation in their manage- 
 ment, especially in the smaller societies, forms an element not to 
 be undervalued. 
 
 The Friendly Societies insure first of all against disability to 
 work, as to which, as a rule, no distinction is made, whether this 
 disability has been caused by accident or sickness, so that sickness 
 and accident insurance meet in one. Thus insurance against sick- 
 ness includes to some extent insurance against old age and infir- 
 mity, since most of the Friendly Societies identify the notion of 
 il sickness ” with that of “ disability to work,” and accordingly 
 go on paying their allowances, though perhaps on a reduced scale, 
 in cases also of chronic illness and other infirmity. In speaking, 
 therefore, in these pages of sick-insurance generally, we must be 
 understood to include in that term insurance against accident and, 
 in some degree, against infirmity also. It has only recently been 
 attempted to constitute provision against old age as an indepen- 
 dent branch of Friendly Society insurance, and to establish 
 separate accident societies for certain trades and occupations, 
 particularly that of miners. Nearly all the Friendly Societies 
 combine with insurance against disablement insurance against 
 burial expenses, or provision for a limited allowance on the death 
 of a member, or of his wife or child. Besides this, they insure 
 annuities to members’ widows and education allowances for or- 
 phans up to a certain age. Under the name also of “endow- 
 ments,” an insurance can be made for a certain term of payment 
 in favour of a particular person, mostly for settling a son or 
 daughter in life. By the Act of 1875, however, a maximum sum 
 is fixed for insurances in all registered Friendly Societies. No 
 member is entitled to receive more than £200 by way of gross 
 sum, or £50 a year by way of annuity from any one or more of 
 such societies (sect. 27). The life of a child under five years of 
 age cannot be insured for more than £6, nor that of a child under 
 ten for more than £10 (sect. 28). 
 
 In addition to this, there are the insurances for the relief or 
 maintenance of members when on travel in search of employment, 
 or when in distressed circumstances, or in case of shipwreck or 
 loss of or damage to boats or nets ; also for medical attendance, 
 
Origin and General Character of Friendly Societies . 165 
 
 medicines and appliances, etc. (usually in connection with the sick 
 fund) ; and lastly, the insurance of tools and implements of trade 
 against fire. 
 
 A special class of Friendly Societies combines with the objects 
 of insurance those of thrift, by undertaking also the functions of 
 Savings Banks. 
 
 Not all of the Friendly Societies, however, unite in themselves 
 these manifold objects. The largest ones approximate most nearly 
 to a comprehensive system of this kind. Most of the Friendly 
 Societies undertake sickness and burial insurances, though there 
 are a large number which confine themselves to the latter. 
 
 As regards the course of development taken by these societies 
 as a w T hole, it must not be forgotten how they arose. The Friendly 
 Societies were originally institutions of mutual benevolence. They 
 sprang from small bodies of men who, as neighbours, brought to- 
 gether by the same or like occupations and by social intercourse, 
 shared the joys and also the sorrows of their day, and either of 
 their own impulse or at the instigation of clergymen, landlords, or 
 manufacturers, gave each other a helping hand whenever any 
 one of them was ill, or a death in the family occasioned extra 
 expenses. Their desire was to prevent a fellow-workman and com- 
 panion, when ill or aged, from going to the workhouse, or, when 
 he died, to save his widow and children from that fate. They 
 were imperfect but healthy expressions of the spirit of thrift 
 and independence. But the difficulties began when these small 
 beginnings had developed into large and permanent institutions. 
 Mistakes then appeared in the calculation of allowances ; defects 
 of management and personal weaknesses in the managers came to 
 light ; and when by degrees a countless number of these societies 
 had been established throughout the country, and, owing to tin 
 spontaneous force of association, the most widely differing bodies 
 strove to realize the same idea of insuring their comrades against 
 sickness, death, or old age, — then these Friendly Societies found 
 themselves at once confronted with problems of statistics and 
 mathematics, of administration and finance, of which they had 
 never dreamt in their primitive days, and the very importance of 
 which, for the solution of their difficulties, they then gradually 
 learned to understand and admit. 
 
1 66 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 And now began inside these societies a reconstruction intended 
 to adjust their action to the laws of probability, to establish a 
 rational system of insurance, and to introduce a properly regu- 
 lated management of their funds ; in other words, the benevo- 
 lent institutions gradually changed into insurance societies, with 
 tables and rules. The manner, however, in which this reconstruc- 
 tion was effected is characteristic of England. The societies 
 that participated in it took in hand the work of reform of their 
 own motion (with the active co-operation, it is true, of the 
 upper classes, of men scientifically trained and well versed in 
 questions of administration and finance), not in accordance with 
 any preconcerted plan, absolutely without any system, groping, so 
 to speak, tentatively from one experiment to another, imperfectly 
 enough up to the present day, but on the whole with abundant 
 success. 
 
 It would be unjust to undervalue the influence exercised on this 
 course of development by legislation and State supervision, only 
 that influence must be rightly understood. It is not legislation 
 that dictated to the Friendly Societies their line of march, but 
 the efforts of those societies for reform led to facts which re- 
 quired legal regulation, situations arose out of which legislation 
 had to extricate them, and it was not until the last few decades 
 that Parliament gave expression to the idea that these social in- 
 stitutions, which had grown by their own strength into great self- 
 governing bodies, required more supervision from the State. 
 Legislation has not created these institutions, but, on the con- 
 trary, their growth has necessitated legislation. 
 
 It would be just as wrong to shut one’s eyes to the bad conse- 
 quences which this course of things has had in England as to 
 quarrel with them. Spread as they are to an extent which was 
 never guessed or expected, these, as well as kindred institutions, 
 have brought themselves to their present state, by means of the 
 spontaneous energies of the people, supported but not led by the 
 State, through the medium of legislation ; though this has been 
 accomplished not in a gentle order of events, not without internal 
 struggles, not without frequent miscarriages entailing widespread 
 misery and misfortune, not without injustice and hardships to 
 individuals, insomuch that at times all the benefits and bless- 
 
1 
 
 Origin and General Character of Friendly Societies. 167 
 
 ings of these societies threatened to he swallowed up, and there 
 came moments when even strong natures began to doubt of 
 ultimate success. We shall examine all this hereafter more 
 closely and in detail. We must content ourselves here with 
 offering a few general remarks. 
 
 In England, as is well known, the question of insurance plays 
 a much larger part among all classes of society than on the Con- 
 tinent. As regards the upper classes, this fact, no doubt, is to 
 some extent connected with the law of primogeniture, which 
 leaves the landed property to the eldest son, whilst for the younger 
 children allowances are secured by the insurance of capital or 
 rents; but nevertheless, pecuniary provision for the future by means 
 of insurance societies is very common also in those circles which 
 have nothing to do with entail, — the practice of saving and pro- 
 viding for the future having long been general among all classes 
 of society. A great number of insurance companies, conducted 
 either on principles of mutuality or on those of profit, and with 
 enormous capitals and often under exemplary management, 
 minister in this respect to the upper and middle classes. 
 
 To the Friendly Societies belongs the inestimable merit of 
 having propagated the conviction of the necessity of insurance 
 among the working classes. Contributions to sick and burial 
 societies form at the present day in England standing items even 
 in the scanty budget of the working-man ; the imerest taken in 
 Friendly Societies by working-men of all descriptions is universal ; 
 and the knowledge of the proper principles of insurance has — 
 thanks to a number of admirable popular pamphlets and state- 
 ments, to the constant discussion of vital questions at meetings and 
 in the press — increased and extended in a most surprising manner. 
 
 The English workman regards with pride the Friendly Societies- 
 as his own work. With them are connected the labours, the as- 
 pirations, and very frequently the disappointments of his father r 
 but also the progress and success of his children, and on this 
 account he clings with tenacity to the free development of these 
 societies, and has hitherto set his face firmly against any proposal 
 and any attempt to exchange this self-created organization for one 
 created by the State. 
 
 We cannot refrain from quoting here the words of one of those 
 
1 68 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 men who, in practice and in theory alike, as an active member of 
 a Friendly Society, and also an author, takes an effective part in 
 the movement for reform. Mr. Robert W. Moffrey, Past Provin- 
 cial Grand Master of the North London District of the Manchester 
 Unity, in a Prize Essay od the importance of making provision for 
 old age, pays the following just tribute of praise to Friendly 
 Societies : — 
 
 “ Founded by men belonging to the operative class, before the 
 subject of insurance in any shape was understood by even 'hose 
 far above them in the social scale, they have steadfastly kept their 
 object in view, till at the present time these societies have at- 
 tained such a position numerically, — have accumulated such an 
 enormous aggregate capital, — that they have forced on the nation 
 .at large a consideration of the work they are doing. Nor would 
 it be just to them if, in considering their present position, any 
 one were to leave out of sight the manner in which they have 
 risen to it. Let it always be borne in mind that the work at- 
 tempted at their formation was such as would have taxed the 
 ability of great financiers — that they began their work before 
 the least glimmering of knowledge on vital statistics had been 
 -vouchsafed to them — that as it became manifest their position 
 was unsound, they boldly grappled with the difficulties discovered 
 —and that these self-formed and self-governed institutions have 
 given to the world an amount of information that could never 
 Jiave been obtained except by their means. And though they are 
 not yet perfect — what human institution is ? — the amount of 
 suffering they have alleviated is simply incalculable. They have 
 provided means of thrift and self-dependence to a class which 
 would not have been reached by any other agency, and have laid 
 deeply the foundations of provident habits among the mass of 
 our population.” * 
 
 • “ Forster Prize Essays on Friendly Societies,” Manchester, 1874. Essay on 
 “ The Importance of Provisions being made in Conjunction with the Organiza- 
 tion of Friendly Societies, for a Deferred Annuity or Superannuation Allowance 
 in Old Age,” pp. 19, 20. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Different Kinds of Friendly Societies. 
 
 Prefatory remarks. — 1. Dividing Societies : the Union Provident Sick Society* 
 Birmingham. — 2. Local Village and Country Societies : the Hitchin 
 Friendly Institution. — 3. Local Town Societies : the Cannon Street Male 
 Adult Provident Institution, Birmingham ; the Christ Church Provident 
 Institution, Birmingham. — 4. Deposit Friendly Societies : the Abbot’s 
 Ann Provident Society. — 5. County Societies : the Wiltshire Friendly 
 Society. — 6. Burial Societies : (a) Local Burial Societies and Local Sick 
 and Burial Collecting Societies ; (6) General Collecting and Burial 
 
 Societies ; (c) Burial (or Industrial Assurance) Companies. — 7. Ordinary 
 large (or general) Societies : the Hearts of Oak Benefit Society, London. 
 — 8. Particular Trade Societies : the Managers’ and Overlookers’ Friendly 
 Society, Bradford. — 9. Factory Societies and Friendly Societies in connec- 
 tion with large Establishments : Messrs. J. Crossley & Sons, Limited, Hali- 
 fax; Messrs. Platt & Brothers, Company, Limited, Oldham; the Atlas 
 Works, Manchester ; T. Hoyle & Sons, Limited, Manchester ; William 
 Denny & Brothers, Dumbarton; Saltaire. — 10. Railway Company Societies: 
 the G. W. R. Company ; the London and N. W. R. Company ; the Midland 
 Railway Company. — 11. The Working -men's Orders ; the Manchester 
 Unity ; the Foresters ; the Grand United Order of Oddfellows ; the Druids; 
 the Loyal Order of Shepherds (Ashton Unity) ; the National Independent 
 Order of Oddfellows ; the National United Order of Free Gardeners ; 
 other Orders of Oddfellows ; minor Orders. — 12. Societies oj Females and 
 Young Persons : Juvenile Friendly Societies. 
 
 We have already described in our introduction the character- 
 istic tendency of English national life to association. This power 
 of union has covered Great Britain with a network of social 
 institutions, resembling in their wealth and manifold variety 
 organic life, in which from a multitude of germs the elements of 
 strength are gradually developed, in which decay forms the nutri- 
 ment of fresh growth, and in which the form changes but the 
 force remains. 
 
 The Friendly Societies are certainly among the sturdiest mani- 
 
 169 
 
I/O ' English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 festations of this national strength. We have mentioned their 
 total number, and have said that they seek to accomplish their 
 tasks under the most different forms. This is very natural with 
 institutions which owe their origin to the spontaneous energies of 
 the people. 
 
 Much as the large number of Friendly Societies astonishes us, 
 we are no less surprised to see how one and the same object can 
 inspire institutions of the most different kinds. Sprung from 
 immediate practical wants, these societies, determined, as they 
 are, by the local relations, and the standard of wages and educa- 
 tion of their members, assume the widest diversity of form. They 
 meet us now as societies devoted simply to collecting contribu- 
 tions from their members and paying them their insurance bene- 
 fits, now as combinations which, in addition to insurance, seek to 
 wind certain social ties round their members and to pursue the 
 aims of education ; now as local clubs, confined to a particular 
 town, or country district, or even village ; now, on the contrary, 
 as large affiliated orders extending over the entire British Empire? 
 together with its colonies ; now, again, as associations, which 
 pursue strictly limited objects, as, for instance, to provide for the 
 burial expenses of their members j now as organizations which 
 have laboured and are labouring, either by means of the most 
 various systems of insurance, or by uniting insurance with thrift, 
 to elevate the economic position of the working classes. In all 
 these forms and objects is comprised the action of the various 
 Friendly Societies, differing in extent, differing in their manner 
 of business, differing in success, mutually supplementing each 
 other, and partly assisting or competing with one another. 
 
 Our immediate task — namely, to show the peculiar process of 
 development which has been going on inside this multiform world 
 of associative life — makes it necessary to endeavour to give a brief 
 sketch of the different forms of English Friendly Societies. It is 
 precisely the manifold character of these societies, and their im- 
 pulse to independent development, that have determined the way 
 and manner in which the reform inside all these institutions has 
 been effected, the course and present form of legislation, and the 
 measure of success the societies have achieved. Inasmuch, how- 
 ever, as these different forms, in which the Friendly Societies 
 
Different Kinds of Friendly Societies. 1 7 1 
 
 appear, are not stationary but progressive, here decaying and 
 there extending and broadening, we must consider not only the 
 characteristics of these various societies, but also what kinds have 
 outlived their day, and what are destined to pursue with triumph 
 the object of these institutions as a whole. 
 
 If one wished to treat this subject in detail, the description of 
 these Friendly Societies, spread over the whole of Great Britain, 
 would easily fill a volume. We must confine ourselves to giving 
 a general view, as we hope to be able to do by considering the 
 Friendly Societies in groups, supplementing our remarks on the 
 general characteristics of each group by describing some particu- 
 lar society as a type of the group in question. 
 
 We begin with those Friendly Societies which are rather 
 limited in object or local importance, and whose organization, 
 therefore, is simpler, passing on afterwards to those whose sphere 
 of action is larger, and concluding with those great Orders which 
 are not only the most prominent representatives of Friendly 
 Societies in England, but stand to-day at a high point of de- 
 velopment, and are undoubtedly destined to play a decisive 
 part in the English working-man’s insurance in the future. In 
 connection with these independent Friendly Societies we shall 
 speak of the benefit clubs started by employers.* 
 
 1 . Dividing Societies. 
 
 These kinds of Friendly Societies are of a purely local nature. 
 
 * Our chief source of information in describing the different forms of Friendly 
 Societies is the “Fourth Report of the Commissioners appointed in 1871 to 
 Inquire into Friendly and Benefit Building Societies ” (Parti., 1874). As re- 
 gards the external changes made since then in the English Friendly Societies, 
 we have consulted the Reports presented annually to Parliament by the Chief 
 Registrar, besides a multitude of special publications, rules, and yearly reports 
 of the various Societies themselves. I am indebted in this respect for much 
 information, otherwise unattainable, to my conversations and correspondence 
 with Mr. J. M. Ludlow, the Chief Registrar ; Mr. Samuel Shawcross (then at 
 Leeds), the Permanent Secretary of the Foresters ; Mr. J. Collins, at Manches- 
 ter, the Permanent Secretary of the Manchester Unity ; and many other secre- 
 taries and managers of Friendly Societies. 
 
 Much material, industriously compiled, is contained in “ Das Englische 
 Arbeiterversicherungswesen, Geschichte seiner Entwicklungund Gesetzgebung,” 
 by W. Hasbach, Leipzig, 1883. 
 
172 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 Their maimer of business is peculiar. They are very widely 
 spread in England. In their primitive form they are usually 
 known as ct Sharing-out Clubs,” in their organized form as 11 Divid- 
 ing Societies.” 
 
 The Sharing-out Club is the simplest and certainly also the 
 oldest form of a relief society. A fund is accumulated by means 
 of entrance-fees and subscriptions, out of which are defrayed the 
 members’ sickness and burial expenses, and the surplus remaining 
 at the end of the year, or a longer period (for instance, seven years 
 in the case of what are called the “ seven years’ clubs ”), is 
 divided among the members as a bonus. In this primitive form 
 many relief societies still continue to arise and disappear in 
 England. If they succeed in consolidating themselves and accumu- 
 lating annually a proper reserve fund, they pass into the category 
 of Dividing Societies, which, without abandoning the principle 
 of division, are stable institutions. All these kinds of societies 
 have this feature in common, — that they contemplate the periodical 
 payment of a dividend, and thus combine the objects of insurance 
 with those of thrift. The members’ subscriptions must, therefore, 
 be regarded only partly as insurance contributions, but as savings 
 deposits as well. 
 
 With regard to Sharing-out Clubs, in the first place the advan- 
 tages offered by these wholly ephemeral societies are of only a 
 relative kind. But certain advantages can undoubtedly not be 
 denied them. In the case of migratory employments, as with 
 navvies employed in making docks or railways, whose residence 
 in any place is only temporary, their action is beneficial, as being 
 at once sick-insurance offices and savings banks. Eor country 
 labourers also they are not without importance, as the Commis- 
 sioners admit in their Report. The Rev. Fitzhardinge Portman, 
 in his account given to the Commission of a registered society of 
 this kind at Staple Fitzpaine, near Taunton, which had been 
 under his especial supervision for twenty-five years, declared his 
 belief that it had been of the greatest benefit to that class. “ My 
 experience,” he said, “ as a clergyman of more than thirty-five 
 years’ standing, is, that a little 1 lump ’ of money, though it be 
 only twenty-five or thirty shillings, coming in now and then, is 
 a very great boon to our agricultural labourers ; and I have no 
 
Different Kinds of Friendly Societies . 173 
 
 reason to think, speaking generally, that it is improperly or 
 wastefully spent. It much more often goes towards the purchase 
 of a pig, or of shoes, or of some necessary article of clothing .’ 7 
 On the other hand, there are great disadvantages connected with 
 this form of Friendly Societies. When, for example, the older 
 members preponderate in number, the younger ones drop their 
 interest in the society and leave it, having to bear the dispropor- 
 tionate burdens of their seniors. In such cases the Society is 
 broken up, or rather is not renewed, and the older members have 
 to fall back upon the workhouse. It appears also that in most 
 cases of prolonged sickness, entailing heavy expense on the society, 
 an advance is made of a part of the anticipated death benefit, 
 after a certain amount of sick pay has been received, and the 
 member is thereupon excluded. This is called 11 burying alive .’ 7 
 Many of these clubs are got up by speculating publicans, in which 
 case a large share of the funds is consumed in dinners or drink 
 at their meetings. Embezzlement on the part of their treasurers 
 has frequently been ruinous to these clubs. It is plain, therefore, 
 that these Sharing-out Clubs discharge very imperfectly the 
 functions of insurance. 
 
 The case is better with the Dividing Societies, which have 
 obtained a permanent organization, and are not only widely 
 spread but popular. Some of these are among the best-managed 
 Friendly Societies in the country, though they never go beyond a 
 limited sphere of action. In the first place, the combination itself 
 of an insurance society with a savings bank has many friends ; 
 nay, the former object is regarded in many cases as one of second- 
 ary importance, since many members of these Dividing Societies 
 are insured in other Friendly Societies. Furthermore, the Divid- 
 ing Societies, while combining with sick-insurance and dividends 
 the receipt of savings deposits and the advance of loans to mem- 
 bers, which explains, indeed, their popularity, give only a very 
 subordinate place to insurance. Lastly, it cannot be denied, that 
 the very simplicity of their organization is a certain guarantee, 
 a miscalculation of the future being impossible in such societies, 
 since no probabilities come into account, and each year starts with 
 a clean sheet. By this means these societies, so far as they are 
 registered, escape the provisions of the Act of 1875, which compel 
 
I 
 
 174 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 all Friendly Societies that deal with calculations of probability 
 to submit annually for audit a statement of accounts, and this 
 exemption from what is frequently found to be an onerous require- 
 ment of the State, may very likely be connected with their popu- 
 larity. These Dividing Societies, which also go by the name of 
 “Birmingham Societies,” and “Tontines,” are common in the 
 southern and eastern counties of England among the agricultural 
 population, but groups of them are found also in the large towns 
 and, indeed, in the East End of London, at Bethnal Green, and in 
 Birmingham and Newcastle-on-Tyne, as well as in Scotland. It 
 is hardly possible, however, to ascertain positively their number, 
 since most of them are unregistered, and many, as we have said, 
 are of an ephemeral nature.* 
 
 * An example of a Dividing Society which enjoys great stability is the Union 
 Provident Sick Society in Birmingham. This insurance society was founded in 
 1802. Its organization, as appears from the rules last revised in 1880, which 
 lie before us, is as follows : — 
 
 The objects of this society are for the mutual relief of its members in cases 
 of sickness and such other infirmities, whereby they would be unable to work 
 for their support ; to render assistance on the death of a member or his wife ; 
 to defray the necessary expenses of the Society, and to make an annual division 
 of the funds, after providing a reserve fund and after all claims existing upon 
 the society have been met. 
 
 The society does not admit any one who is under the age of 16 or above 31 
 years, nor any one whose trade or occupation may be deemed dangerous or 
 unhealthy by the committee. 
 
 The committee consists of twelve, exclusive of the president, vice-president, 
 trustees, stewards, and auditors, who are cx-ojjicio members. The twelve are 
 chosen by rotation, half of them retiring every quarterly-night, and any mem- 
 ber refusing or neglecting to serve in his turn is fined 2s. 6d. There are 
 regular meetings of the committee, as well as quarterly nights and an annual 
 general meeting, which exercises the ordinary control over the management, 
 alterations of the rules, etc. 
 
 The entrance-fees amount to 3s. 6 d. The fortnightly contributions from 16 
 to 20 years of age, are 6d. to the sick fund and 1 \d. to the management fund, 
 the former of which secures a weekly sick-allowance of 5s. for the first 52 
 weeks and 2s. 6d. for the remainder of sickness. For members over 20 these 
 contributions and benefits are doubled. The sum payable on the death of a 
 member, if between 16 and 20, is £10 (which is raised by a levy) ; and if over 
 20 years of age, £20, and £8 on the death of his wife. 
 
 The overplus, if any, remaining from contributions, fines, and other receipts, 
 after payment of all claims on the society, is divided annually on the 27th of 
 December, when every member receives an equal share in proportion to his 
 
1 75 
 
 Different Khids of Friendly Societies . 
 
 2. Local Village and Country Societies. 
 
 41 In the South of England,” says Sir George Young in his 
 Report to the Commissioners, u there are not many villages with- 
 out a club. There is hardly a village or hamlet of twenty houses 
 and a beershop that has not had its club. There are hardly any 
 where one or more clubs have not failed at need, and disappointed 
 their members, even within the memory of persons now living. 
 The number found competing against each other is often remark- 
 able.”* These clubs meet, according to old usage, at public-houses, 
 and form societies for the relief of their members by means of 
 sick-pay and burial-money. A large proportion of them are on 
 the sharing-out principle. 
 
 These local Village and Country Societies, as they are termed 
 m the Eourth Report of the Commissioners, are among the oldest 
 Friendly Societies in England, and are still pretty common in the 
 agricultural districts and smaller country towns. The Commis- 
 sioners state that no adequate means exist of calculating the 
 
 contributions, but is bound to leave Is. of such surplus in the hands of the 
 treasurer for the reserve fund. 
 
 The rules provide that the society shall never be dissolved but in accordance 
 with the Act 38 and 39 Viet., ch. 60. The financial position of the society during 
 1870-1880 shows great stability, as will be seen from the following figures : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 Number 
 
 of 
 
 Members. 
 
 Receipts. 
 
 Sick 
 
 Pay- 
 
 ments. 
 
 Paid for 
 Medical 
 Aid. 
 
 For 
 
 Burial 
 
 Money. 
 
 Cost of 
 Manage- 
 ment. 
 
 Divided. 
 
 Reserve 
 
 Fund. 
 
 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 1870 
 
 3,800 
 
 7,302 
 
 1,961 
 
 410 
 
 1,198 
 
 325 
 
 3,096 
 
 8,269 
 
 1880 
 
 4,923 
 
 9,179 
 
 3,406 
 
 551 
 
 1,362 
 
 449 
 
 3,262 
 
 15,310 
 
 I am indebted to the Secretary of the society, Mr. H. W. Yarwoo d, for the 
 information that by far the largest portion of the members belong to the work- 
 ing classes. With regard to the amount of wages earned by members on admis- 
 sion, the society makes no inquiries ; it varies from £1 to £3, and averages 30s. 
 per week. About 5 per cent, of the members are manufacturers and tradesmen 
 in good circumstances, who had been working-men, however, when first admit- 
 ted, and have remained on the books. This circumstance is found in very 
 many Friendly Societies, and it secures an admirable element for self-govern- 
 ment. 
 
 * Fourth Report, p. lx. 
 
1 76 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 number and strength of the separate Country Societies from any 
 samples of local experience, inasmuch as they are often of an 
 ephemeral kind, and are started, fused, “divide,” and then come to 
 an end without anything transpiring in public. Speaking gener- 
 ally, it may be said that these Friendly Societies are disappearing 
 before the larger Societies, and especially the affiliated orders, 
 for all of them suffer from the great disadvantage that their most 
 intelligent members turn to the larger societies, where they find, 
 in addition to the pecuniary benefits, a social union calculated to 
 stir and instruct them and bring them together. Thus a class of 
 the population remains behind for these village societies, whose 
 knowledge of insurance calculations and the keeping of accounts 
 is defective, and who have not the strength to make any progress 
 without extraneous aid. This sufficiently explains why wishes 
 are heard expressed by this very class for the interference of the 
 legislature in the affairs of Friendly Societies. 
 
 Although it cannot be doubted, therefore, that the majority of 
 these country societies belong to a dying-out type, still their im- 
 portance is not to be undervalued. It must not be overlooked, 
 that these very incipient attempts at insurance have diffused the 
 interest in, and knowledge of, the objects of insurance among 
 remote circles, and gradually made these circles competent to 
 become members of more perfect organizations, which apparently 
 in no long space of time will have absorbed most of these 
 local institutions. A peculiar position among these country 
 Friendly Societies is occupied by those which are under the 
 patronage and management of the local landlords, clergymen, and 
 gentry. All of them are distinguished by the fact that their 
 meetings are not held at public-houses, that these honorary mem- 
 bers of the locality do their best to prevent abuses, above all, the 
 favourite habit of drink, and that their insurance is conducted on 
 a rational basis. Some of these patronised clubs make provision 
 for the housing of the older members. 
 
 We must notice here a common feature exhibited in recent 
 years by many of these Friendly Societies which are under the 
 patronage of the upper classes. The management of the Friendly 
 Societies established formerly by clergymen, landlords, etc., lay 
 naturally at first in the hands of their founders ; at the present 
 
Different Kinds of Friendly Societies. 
 
 177 
 
 day their management is transferred in manifold ways to the 
 ordinary working-class members, according not only as the 
 society, after several years’ working, has consolidated itself 
 financially, but as the men who have hitherto been its leaders, 
 have laboured to train up the originally inexperienced members to 
 walk by themselves. Unknown by the great public, and devot- 
 ing the silent but consistent activity of a whole life to the task, 
 many landowners in England, and their wives and the country 
 clergymen, have been labouring for these Friendly Societies, as they 
 have laboured for many other institutions of common utility, have 
 been preaching thrift and providence, have set an example for the 
 practical exercise of these qualities by their conscientious co-opera- 
 tion in the Friendly Societies, and have succeeded in diffusing 
 knowledge and forming character. Out of small and very im- 
 perfect beginnings, after many years of labour, after mistakes and 
 experiments, the result has often been to create in this manner 
 safe and stable institutions, the value of which for the working 
 classes would be much undervalued if one were simply to judge 
 them by the actual money value of their benefits paid.* 
 
 * To this category belongs a Friendly Society which is remarkable in more 
 than one respect. This is the Hitchin Friendly Institution , in Hertfordshire, 
 The Commission of 1874 speaks of it as the most remarkable sample of its 
 class, and indeed of the whole body of Friendly Societies, as respects financial 
 prosperity. This prosperity has been increasing ever since. 
 
 The Hitchin Friendly Institution was established in 1827, the organization 
 and capital having been supplied by the clergy and gentry of Hitchin and the 
 neighbourhood. For a long time the management was almost exclusively in 
 the hands of the honorary members, who were mere subscribers and donors, 
 the benefits of the institution being reserved for the ordinary members. In 
 course of years this Friendly Society, which was intended only for Hitchin 
 itself and the immediate neighbourhood, became gradually more consolidated, 
 the number of its members increased, and its management passed from the 
 hands of the honorary members, who were its patrons, into those of the ordinary 
 or benefit members. Nothing is more significant, however, of class-relations 
 in England than the fact that the first use made by the ordinary members of 
 their new power, on acquiring the entire management by an alteration of the 
 rules in 1875, was to invite by unanimous resolution the local clergy and 
 gentry to retain their former posts as president, vice-presidents, treasurer, and 
 trustees, and thus to give them fourteen seats at a board of thirty directors, 
 to whom the management of the society is entrusted. 
 
 This society has the usual organization, regular meetings of members, and a 
 
 N 
 
i 7 8 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 8. Local Town Societies. 
 
 In the large towns, as in the country and villages, a number of 
 societies have existed from old date, which differ from the village 
 clubs and country societies only in so far that they have been 
 
 committee of management consisting of thirty persons, an acting secretary, a 
 treasurer, trustees, and auditors. 
 
 Insurance against sickness, old age, and burial is obligatory on the members 
 in'the sense that every person making an insurance of any weekly allowance in 
 sickness must at the same time make an insurance of a weekly allowance of 
 half the amount, to commence at a certain age, and also a payment on death. 
 
 The members insuring for these combined allowances are divided into no less 
 than ten classes, any one of which a member may select on admission or change 
 at any time with the consent of the directors. 
 
 The principle is that sick benefits exclude superannuation benefits, and vice 
 versa , the former being only assured up to a certain age, after which the latter 
 commence, irrespective of whether the member is well or ill. The boundary 
 line between the two benefits is the age of 65 or 70, at the option of the mem- 
 ber, according to the class he selects. 
 
 The allowances in the first class are 2s. a week in sickness, Is. a week as an 
 annuity after 65 or 70, as the case may be, and £2 on death. The combined 
 sick, superannuation, and death allowances, if the limit of 65 years is chosen, 
 are obtained by the payment of premiums ranging, according to the member’s 
 age on admission, from 6 d. to Is. Ilf d. per month, the premiums varying 
 quinquennially from the age of 15 to that of 50. If the limit of 70 years is chosen, 
 the corresponding monthly premiums range from 5%d. to Is. 5 \d. At the age 
 of 65 or 70, as the case may be, all contributions cease. Any member is at 
 liberty to double or treble these premiums, or to increase them up to tenfold 
 the amount, in return for which he obtains corresponding allowances, according 
 to the ten different classes, subject, however, to the restriction that the sum 
 to be assured in sickness is not to exceed four-fifths of the member’s weekly 
 earnings, calculated on an average of the year next preceding his admission. 
 
 A member is entitled, during the continuance of the same sickness, to full 
 pay for fifty-two weeks, and to half-pay for the remainder of the sickness. 
 Every sick or infirm member who is able to do some work, but not so as during 
 any one week to earn more than half his usual earnings, is entitled to half -pay. 
 No member, however, shall be entitled to full pay until he shall have been 
 altogether off the funds for forty consecutive weeks. 
 
 No person can be admitted as a member who is afflicted with any disorder or 
 constitutional weakness which may tend to shorten his life, or incapacitate him 
 from the performance of his customary occupation. The rules provide also 
 for a transfer of assurances. If a member shall remove to any other place, in 
 which a Friendly Society founded on the same principles as this institution has 
 been established, the directors, at any general meeting assembled, may transfer 
 the member’s assurance, on his application, to any such Friendly Society, and 
 pay out of the funds of this institution such sum of money as shall appear to be 
 
Different Kinds of Friendly Societies. 
 
 179 
 
 established by another class of the population, and frequently 
 bear traces of a narrow-minded spirit. It is precisely this group 
 that shows a wide variety of forms in respect of management ; but 
 one will hardly be wrong in distinguishing two tendencies in these 
 
 a just equivalent for the claims of sucli member. In like manner, any member 
 of such other Society may, on becoming an inhabitant of Hitchin or its vicinity, 
 be admitted a member of this institution, on payment of an equivalent, and on 
 subscribing a declaration prescribed by the rules. 
 
 The following table will show the financial position of the society : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 Number of 
 Members. 
 
 Receipts. 
 
 Expenditure. 
 
 Total Funds 
 in hand. 
 
 Monthly 
 
 Contributions. 
 
 Interest on 
 Reserve Fund. 
 
 Total Receipts. 
 
 Sick Benefits. 
 
 <k 
 
 § 
 
 go 
 
 < 0-3 
 
 Pn 
 
 n 
 
 GQ 
 
 Burial Money. 
 
 Costs of 
 Management. 
 
 Expenditure. 
 
 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ ! 
 
 1828 
 
 35 
 
 39 
 
 — 
 
 43 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 14 
 
 14 
 
 42 I 
 
 1838 
 
 162 
 
 194 
 
 52 
 
 250 
 
 37 
 
 — 
 
 10 
 
 — 
 
 47 
 
 1,298 | 
 
 1848 
 
 280 
 
 330 
 
 194 
 
 538 
 
 109 
 
 — 
 
 20 
 
 13 
 
 183 
 
 4,503 
 
 1858 
 
 268 
 
 286 
 
 361 
 
 653 
 
 155 
 
 114 
 
 12 
 
 12 
 
 313 
 
 8,134 ! 
 
 1868 
 
 285 
 
 315 
 
 571 
 
 893 
 
 158 
 
 111 
 
 — 
 
 53 
 
 324 
 
 12,974 
 
 1878 
 
 343 
 
 388 
 
 778 
 
 1177 
 
 274 
 
 408 
 
 40 
 
 73 
 
 796 
 
 17,511 
 
 1883 
 
 342 
 
 400 
 
 847 
 
 1263 
 
 200 
 
 622 
 
 24 
 
 52 
 
 888 
 
 19,309 
 
 A small increase of members since 1848, as against a rapid accumulation of 
 funds, the interest on which alone almost sufficed in 1888 to cover the expenses 
 of management, cheap management, and a comparatively small demand on sick 
 benefits— such are the features which characterise this society as a conserva- 
 tively managed, self-contained institution, which, although confined to a small 
 section of society, is a model of its kind. 
 
 The tables of premiums for this society have been compiled by Mr. F. G. P. 
 Neison, who has frequently of late years expressed a high opinion of its con 
 dition. The clear knowledge obtained of the state of the insurance account in 
 conjunction with the growing funds in hand enabled the directors in 1869 to 
 increase the sick allowances to all the then members, and also to add a sixth 
 part to the annuities of the twenty oldest of the society’s members. In 1875 it 
 was further resolved to add a sixth also to the annuities of the sixty members 
 wbo had been the next longest in the society when they should become entitled 
 to their annuities ; an arrangement enabled by the fact that the valuation insti- 
 tuted by Mr. Neison in 1873 gave an estimated surplus of £2,925 of assets as 
 compared with liabilities. Nay, more, when in 1883 a new valuation showed a 
 
i8o 
 
 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 town societies. Many of them are decidedly on the way of pro- 
 gress, improve their tables of premiums, institute periodical valua- 
 tions, apply their funds with care and discretion, and altogether 
 keep pace with the development of other Friendly Societies.* The 
 majority, however, especially the smaller societies of this kind, 
 have been ruined by the narrow spirit of a coterie. They date from 
 earlier times, and frequently admit only a limited number of mem- 
 
 surplus of £2,988, an addition of another sixth part was voted for another group 
 of members, amounting to fifty in number. 
 
 These proceedings sufficiently explain the marked increase of sick benefits in 
 the table above. 
 
 With regard to the position in life and earnings of the members of this 
 society, I am informed (June, 1884) by the present secretary, Mr. H. Jeeves, 
 that about a third of them are tradesmen in good circumstances, another third 
 workmen of different kinds, earning on an average 20s. a week, and a third shop- 
 apprentices, mechanics, and about seventy women. 
 
 * To this class belongs the Cannon Street Male Adult Provident Institution , 
 in Birmingham. Established in 1841, its rules, as well as its tables of premiums, 
 have been more than once revised. The society provides for the relief of its 
 members in case of sickness and other infirmities disabling them from work, 
 and for assistance on the death of a member or his wife. No person can be 
 admitted unless he can produce a certificate of health by the society’s medical 
 officer ; nor any one who is under the age of 16 or above the age of 40 ; nor 
 any one whose occupation is deemed dangerous or unhealthy, such as water- 
 gilders, grinders, painters, colour-makers, varnish-makers, pearl-workers, nor 
 such railway servants as engine-drivers, stokers, guards, platelayers, or porters, 
 or any other pernicious or dangerous calling; nor police officers, nor bailiffs- 
 followers. The committee of management decides as to admission, and in 1883 
 rejected no less than 20 out of 541 applicants. 
 
 The committee consists of six members, chosen by rotation, as their names 
 stand on the club books, till the number is complete, and of the president, 
 vice-presidents, and officers, who are elected by the general meeting. 
 
 The funeral benefits, which amount to £5 for a member who has been in the 
 society six months at the time of his decease, and to £20 if he has been a 
 member twelve months (the sums payable on the death of a member’s wife are 
 £2 10s. and £8 respectively), are drawn from the joint stock, which is reimbursed 
 by a quarterly levy. The sick benefit is paid in full for the first fifty-two weeks 
 of sickness ; after that period the member receives one-half of the allowance 
 during the time he continues unable to work ; but after he has been in receipt 
 of this half-pay for six months, the committee are empowered to grant quarter- 
 pay, with permission for him to fellow any business or calling for the ensuing 
 six months. 
 
 A table of premiums for sick insurance, compiled by Mr. John Finlaison, is 
 in force for the older members, which contains somewhat lower payments than 
 
Different Kinds of Friendly Societies. 1 S 1 
 
 bers, but have accumulated proportionally large funds, so that their 
 financial position is very favourable, but their action often remains 
 narrow and exclusive. The Report of the Commission mentions 
 one of these town societies, the Friendly Union Benefit Society, in 
 Bermondsey, established in 1809, the number of which was origin- 
 ally limited to 100 members, afterwards to 130, and was, according 
 to the returns of 1872, only 50. In this society a narrow spirit 
 
 the following one, prepared by Mr. F. G. P. Neison, which has been in force 
 since 1877. 
 
 There are nine classes to choose from, and the sick benefits range from 4s. to 
 20s. per week. 
 
 The contribu- 
 tions vary 
 with the age 
 at admission, 
 and are 
 
 Class 
 
 1 
 
 Class 
 
 2 
 
 Class 
 
 3 
 
 Class 
 
 4 
 
 Class 
 
 5 
 
 Class 
 
 6 
 
 Class 
 
 7 
 
 Class 
 
 8 
 
 Class 
 
 9 
 
 In these classes the sums assured (paid weekly in case of sickness) 
 are as follow : — 
 
 according to 
 the years 
 below, viz. : — 
 
 4/- 
 
 6/- 
 
 8/- 
 
 10/- 
 
 12/- 
 
 14/- 
 
 16/- 
 
 18/- 
 
 20/- ! 
 
 
 Tbe corresponding premiums, payable fortnightly, are as follow : — 
 
 
 s. d. 
 
 s. d. 1 
 
 s. d. 
 
 s. d. 
 
 s. d. 
 
 s. d. 
 
 s. d. 
 
 s. d. 
 
 s. d. 
 
 16 to 20 
 
 0 4£ 
 
 0 6 
 
 — 
 
 | — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 20 „ 24 
 
 0 5 
 
 0 6* 
 
 0 8 
 
 0 10 
 
 0 Hi 
 
 1 1 
 
 1 3 
 
 1 4-i 
 
 1 6 
 
 24 „ 28 
 
 0 
 
 0 7 
 
 0 9 
 
 ! 0 11 
 
 1 1 
 
 1 3 
 
 1 5 
 
 1 7 
 
 1 9 
 
 28 „ 31 
 
 0 5^ 
 
 o n 
 
 0 10 
 
 1 0 
 
 1 2 
 
 1 4i 
 
 1 7 
 
 1 9 
 
 1 11 
 
 31 „ 34 
 
 0 6 
 
 0 8£ 
 
 0 11 
 
 ' 1 li 
 
 1 4 
 
 1 6i 
 
 1 9 
 
 1 lli 
 
 2 li 
 
 2 2 
 
 34 „ 37 
 
 0 6i 
 
 0 9 
 
 1 0 
 
 , 1 21 
 
 1 5 
 
 1 8 
 
 1 11 
 
 2 4 
 
 37 „ 40 
 
 0 7 
 
 0 10 
 
 
 ! 1 4 
 
 1 7 
 
 1 10 
 
 2 1 
 
 2 4 
 
 2 7 
 
 From the balance sheet of this society for 1888 we gather the following : The 
 contributions of members amounted to £12,876, the interest on the reserve fund 
 (£84,540) to £3,256, and the total receipts to £16,133. The sick benefits came 
 to £11,488, the expenses of management were £705, and £1,364 was paid for 
 medical attendance and medicine, the total expenditure being £13,557. The 
 secretary, Mr. C. Cashmore, informs me that the society is almost exclusively 
 composed of working-men of the artizan class, but that there are also servants 
 of various kinds, and a very few members of the middle class. The working- 
 men members earn from 18s. to 40s. per week, and some of the foremen and 
 superintendents more. 
 
 Another of these local town societies is the Christ Church Provident In- 
 stitution , also in Birmingham. It is under the management of the rector of 
 
1 82 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 of corporation prevails. These features suffice to characterise this 
 class of societies, and to show that they have only a relative value. 
 Sir George Young sums up, therefore, correctly his opinions on 
 these town societies by remarking that though their varieties are 
 numerous, their numbers are rapidly diminishing under the stress 
 of the competition of the affiliated orders, and with the exception 
 of a very few, which are established on a sound basis, they are 
 dying out.* 
 
 4 . Deposit Friendly Societies. 
 
 A wholly distinct class of Friendly Societies consist of what are 
 called Deposit Friendly Societies, which unite, in a wholly original 
 manner, the functions of a savings bank with those of a provident 
 society. 
 
 A clergyman, the late Hon. and Bev. Samuel Best, was the 
 originator of a system intended to train the working classes to 
 habits of thrift and providence by connecting the allowances with 
 the savings, and making the former dependent on the latter. His 
 system was certainly ingenious, but it was too artificial to obtain 
 any wide adoption. The first institution established on his prin- 
 
 Christ Church for the time being and of the vicar of St. Barnabas, who are the 
 respective president and vice-president of the society, and of a committee of 
 members chosen at the general meetings, together with a permanent secretary 
 and the necessary officers. 
 
 Its sick insurance arrangements are similar to those of the last-mentioned 
 society, except that there is a separate insurance for medical attendance. A 
 member, by paying twopence fortnightly, is entitled in all cases of sickness to 
 the services of a doctor appointed by the society, and also to medicine gra- 
 tuitously to a certain extent. In 1883 this insurance was made use of by 1,027 
 persons. The total number of members in that year was 1,108, about half of 
 whom were men and half women. 
 
 A savings bank is connected with this society, which pays 2£ per cent, in- 
 terest on deposits. The secretary of this society, Mr .r John Henry Dee, informs 
 me that in this, as in the majority of similar institutions, the chief contingent 
 is composed of factory-hands and workmen in different branches of trade, 
 earning up to 40s. a week, but that there are also a number of small shop- 
 keepers, commercial travellers, etc., on the books. Mr. Dee calculates that out 
 of the 350,000 inhabitants of Birmingham, more than 50,000 persons of the 
 working classes are members of the various Friendly Societies, and he speaks 
 of the progress made in thrift and providence as extremely gratifying. 
 
 * Fourth Keport, p. lx. 
 
Different Kinds of Friendly Societies. 183 
 
 ciples was the Abbots Ann Provident Society, which became the 
 model for several others of the same kind. 
 
 The leading principle of these societies is, that the amount of 
 relief in case of sickness is based not simply on the insurance, but 
 also on the savings deposited in the bank, the arrangement being 
 that the allowances are derived partly from an insurance fund, 
 and partly from the individual member’s credit with the society, 
 but that the claim to such allowances ' practically ceases as soon 
 as the member’s own fund is eshausted. In this characteristic 
 manner the author of the system endeavoured to promote thrift 
 among the members by compelling them to begin by saving a 
 small fund, and never quite exhausting it. At the same time he 
 hoped, and experience has, to some extent, confirmed his expecta- 
 tion, that in societies of this kind the members would abstain 
 from claiming relief except in cases of real necessity, since every 
 allowance meant a proportional diminution of their own fund. 
 These societies possess the further advantage that the classification 
 of risks enables them to admit persons without any limitation, as 
 regards old age or health, and thus to step in and assist where 
 the restrictions imposed by other societies operate as a bar to 
 membership. 
 
 This system, projected by Mr. Best, has its enthusiastic sup- 
 porters, who point to its success as a proof of the advantages it 
 offers. On the other hand, especially among the large affiliated 
 orders, which are established of course on wholly different prin- 
 ciples, it has been fiercely attacked, the objection being, chiefly, 
 that the classification of members is nugatory and fallacious, and 
 that it is contrary to the proper objects of Friendly Societies to let 
 the allowances cease when the savings of the individual members 
 are exhausted.* 
 
 * We can only sketch in outline the constitution of this Provident Society 
 established by Mr. Best, taking for our authority the rules, printed in Part II. 
 of the Fourth Report of the Commissioners (pp. 284-8) and the Report itself, 
 (pp. lxxxiii.-xci.), which deals exhaustively with this institution. The Abbots 
 Ann Provident Society is a savings-bank, a friendly society, and a medical club 
 all in one. Any one is free to join it simply as a depositor, in which case he has 
 a current account, paying in and withdrawing his money, subject to a month’s 
 notice, and receiving interest yearly on his deposits. This feature of the system 
 
184 
 
 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 The Abbots Ann Provident Society formed the model of some 
 larger societies, among others the Hampshire Friendly Society 
 and the Surrey Deposit Friendly Society, the latter of which grew 
 afterwards into a larger institution, the National Deposit Friendly 
 Society, with country agencies. These societies diverge more or 
 less from Mr. Best’s original idea, which other Friendly Societies 
 also took up and endeavoured to realise in various ways. With 
 regard to all the societies of this kind, the Beport makes the fol- 
 lowing very just remarks: “It is perhaps to be regretted,” says 
 Mr. Ludlow, “ that Deposit Friendly Societies should ever have 
 been registered under the Friendly Societies Acts. They are 
 indeed essentially Savings Banks rather than Friendly Societies. 
 That security of provision, which it is of the essence of the 
 Friendly Society to insure, however it may fall short of really 
 doing so, they do not profess to give. They are primarily in- 
 dividual, not social. Were they certified under the Savings Banks 
 Act, all misapprehension of their true character would cease, and 
 
 lias nothing in common with Friendly Societies. Every depositor, however, so 
 long as he has savings deposited in the bank, can share the benefits of the 
 society. A general fund is established for this purpose, distinct from the 
 medical, sick, and old age funds, and to which each member contributes pro- 
 portionally out of his deposits in the savings bank. 
 
 The sick-rate is based on a simple average of sickness during the last five 
 years. 
 
 The allowances are paid partly from the member’s own deposits and partly 
 from the general fund of the society. There are five classes of risks, based on 
 the probabilities of health or sickness according to age, sex, health, and occu- 
 pation, and into which a member is enrolled after medical examination. These 
 classes are as follows : — 
 
 A. Healthy males under 35, having no hereditary complaint in their families, 
 
 and not following an unhealthy trade. 
 
 B. Healthy males under 45, but having an hereditary complaint in their 
 
 families ; and healthy females under 40, having no such hereditary 
 complaint. 
 
 C. Healthy females under 50, having an hereditary complaint in their 
 
 families ; and males under 55, of doubtful health, or following an un- 
 healthy trade. 
 
 D. Females under 60, of doubtful health. 
 
 E. All persons not capable of being included in any of the above classes. 
 
 The first class represents, therefore, those persons who may be considered the 
 
Different Kinds of Friendly Societies. 185 
 
 they would be recognised as an ingenious attempt, from the 
 savings bank ground, to supply most of the objects which are 
 aimed at by Friendly Societies.” 
 
 5. County Societies. 
 
 Hitherto we have dealt with societies which, at least as origin- 
 ally constituted, are purely local. We pass now to a category of 
 Friendly Societies which occupy, to a certain extent, a middle 
 position between the local institutions and those larger organi- 
 zations, some of which extend their branches throughout the 
 British Isles, and others even to the colonies and America. 
 
 The County Societies have, above all, this distinctive feature, 
 that, like the patronised clubs, they do not depend exclusively on 
 the self-help of the labouring classes, but are mainly established 
 and managed under the co-operation of those classes of the com- 
 munity which administer self-government in the counties. These 
 societies are founded either for entire counties, or portions of coun- 
 least likely to require relief, and this likelihood decreases gradually in the suc- 
 ceeding classes, until it reaches a minimum in the fifth, the members of which 
 are most likely to require relief. In the case of sick allowances a peculiar 
 arrangement is made. Members of the first class pay one-fourth of the sick 
 allowance from their own fund (the remainder coming from the sick fund of the 
 society) ; members of the second class one-third ; members of the third class 
 one-half ; members of the fourth class two-thirds ; and members of the fifth 
 class five-sixths. 
 
 Although the premiums, therefore, are the same for all members, old or young, 
 sick or sound, an equitable adjustment is thus made, since those members who 
 are more unfavourably situated are liable, in case of sickness, to a larger pro- 
 portionate deduction from their own fund than the others. 
 
 But the essential point is that when the member is unable to draw the allotted 
 portion from his own fund all claims for sick allowance cease, and this, accord- 
 ing to the projector’s intention, was to be the strong incentive to members to 
 increase their deposits, and keep off relief as far as possible, to avoid “pulling 
 their own fund to pieces.” 
 
 The allowances for old age are subject to analogous rules. Medical attendance 
 is paid for partly by a small annual rate, and partly according to a special 
 scheme. 
 
 The Abbots Ann Provident Society is, as stated in the Report of the Com- 
 mission, a success. In 1873 it had about 791 members, and in Abbots Ann 
 parish itself, out of a population of 700, there were 450 members and depositors. 
 The members were of all classes, from labourers earning 11s. a week (nominal). 
 The amount generally insured for was 8s., and sometimes 10s. a week . — Fourth 
 Jieport of the Commission , pp. lxxxiii.-xci. 
 
1 86 English Associations of Working Me?i. 
 
 ties, for tlie political area of the hundred, or the area of the Poor- 
 law Union. The clergy and county nobility and gentry belong to 
 them as honorary members, and pay yearly subscriptions, with- 
 out, of course, claiming the benefits which the societies promise. 
 Their management lies more or less in the hands of these honorary 
 members. “Some of these societies,” says Sir George Young, 
 “have been founded in pursuance of resolutions taken by the 
 magistrates at quarter sessions, as a means of improving the con- 
 dition of those classes which are in part dependent on the rates, 
 and with the hope of eventually superseding the poor law by their 
 means.” They insure against sickness and old age, provide medi- 
 cal aid, and pay allowances for setting up young persons in life. 
 The Beport of 1874 gives a list of eleven County Societies proper, 
 i.e.j extending over the whole area of a county, but confined to it, 
 with funds amounting to £221,955, and 29,036 members. Count- 
 ing in the societies confined to parts of counties, the total number 
 of members in 1874 was about 40,000. In addition to these larger 
 Eriendly Societies there are a considerable number of smaller ones, 
 whose operation does not extend over the poor-law area, but which 
 must be reckoned in this category, as they are patronised, at all 
 events, by the ruling classes in the county.* 
 
 This kind of societies again meet a definite want. The scattered 
 agricultural and other labourers of the southern and midland 
 counties of England, such as Berkshire, Dorset, Essex, Hants, 
 Hereford, Nottingham, Butland, Shropshire, Wilts, Devon, Glou- 
 cester, Oxfordshire, Somerset, Suffolk, Surrey, etc., where this 
 class of societies is most common, would have failed without the 
 initiative of the county nobility and gentry, to find any point of 
 union; they would not have come into constant contact with each 
 other, and they would never have succeeded, owing to their want 
 of combination and want of knowledge, in organizing any system 
 of insurance, especially as they do not enjoy those higher w*ages 
 which make it easier for the operatives in the towns to put by 
 something for the future. In this respect it is fortunate for these 
 and other country societies that they obtain, through their honor- 
 ary members, a financial support which enables them to require 
 
 * Fourth Beport, pp. zlix.-l. 
 
Different Kinds of Friendly Societies. 
 
 T S 7 
 
 lower payments tlian must otherwise be the case. Hence the 
 County Societies are accessible to a class of labourers who earn 
 only from 10s. to 12s. a week, and who would, therefore, be scarcely 
 in a position to join any of the large affiliated orders. No doubt 
 these advantages are not without certain drawbacks. It is com- 
 plained that the real or benefit members of these Friendly Societies 
 frequently show little interest in them, and that the management, 
 in such cases, lies exclusively in the hands of the honorary 
 members, wdio, although they conduct them, no doubt, on certain 
 safe principles, nevertheless are not in a position, considering the 
 want of co-operation and self-control by the members themselves, 
 to prevent abuses and imposition. Even the secretaries, or agents, 
 who are frequently appointed for conducting their current business, 
 are not always able to exercise an adequate check on reported 
 cases of sickness, so that a special payment is often actually 
 made them by the committee of management if they succeed in 
 keeping down the sick allowances below a certain limit. 
 
 The County Societies are gradually absorbing the village clubs, 
 of which we have spoken earlier ; of course the better ones more 
 quickly than the worse.* 
 
 * The Wiltshire Friendly Society was founded in 1828, and for a long series 
 of years was under the immediate direction of Mr. Sotheron-Estcourt, M.P., 
 who is still its vice-president. We have before us the latest rules of this society, 
 dated 6th May, 1882, and the statement of accounts for 1882. The society is 
 financially very prosperous, but the number of members is diminishing rather 
 than increasing. 
 
 The members are divided into benefit members and honorary members. The 
 former only draw the allowances ; the latter pay an annual subscription, and 
 take part in the management of the society. This was formerly in the sole 
 hands of the honorary members, but gradually, and particularly since 1840, all 
 the members were placed on the same footing in this respect, although the 
 whole institution remained, as before, under the patronage of the Lord Lieu- 
 tenant and the leading clergy and landowners of the county. 
 
 At the meetings of the society all the members have the same right of voting. 
 A committee of management attends to the business of the society, which has 
 one hundred and two branches scattered over the whole county. The branches, 
 which extend over one or more parishes, are under the management of local 
 committees, consisting of all the honorary members resident in the respective 
 parishes, and of three benefit members. 
 
 The three tables of premiums used by the society were compiled by Mr. 
 Alexander Glen Einlaison. The first of these fixes the premiums required to 
 
1 88 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 6 . Burial Societies. 
 
 We turn now to consider a large group of Friendly Societies, 
 differing widely in size, but all of them having this in common, 
 that they are in most part only societies for providing a sum of 
 money in case of death, to defray the expenses of burial, and 
 combine sick insurance as a purely subordinate part of their 
 business. 
 
 There are two distinct groups of Burial Societies, each of which 
 has a very different value, — namely, the local and the general 
 
 assure a certain sick allowance, payable daily, and also a sum of £3 at death. 
 The premiums vary in amount, according to the age of the member at his first 
 payment. The payments last as long as membership continues. An abstract 
 of these tables gives the following figures : — 
 
 To assure a daily sick allowance of 
 
 
 V- 
 
 1/6 
 
 2/- 
 
 Age at first payment. 
 
 As well as a sum of £3 at death, the following 
 monthly premiums are payable, viz.: — 
 
 
 s. d. 
 
 s. d. 
 
 8. d. 
 
 15 years. 
 
 1 0 
 
 1 5} 
 
 1 11 
 
 20 „ 
 
 1 1 
 
 1 74 
 
 2 14 
 
 25 „ 
 
 1 
 
 1 94 
 
 2 4 
 
 30 „ 
 
 1 H 
 
 2 0 
 
 2 8 
 
 35 „ 
 
 1 7 
 
 2 4 
 
 3 04 
 
 40 „ 
 
 1 10i 
 
 2 9 
 
 3 7“ 
 
 45 „ 
 
 2 3 
 
 3 3 
 
 4 
 
 A second table provides for certain allowances (the highest of which is £20) 
 on the death of a member or a member’s wife ; and a third table for an allow- 
 ance, based on contributions beginning with the sixth year of life, and not 
 exceeding £50 as a portion, payable at the age of twenty-one. 
 
 A member, before drawing the sick allowances, must have belonged to the 
 society for six months ; but he is entitled, immediately on his becoming a 
 member, to gratuitous medical attendance. The society has its own medical 
 officers, who are paid according to a scale agreed on with them. There is an 
 arrangement in this, as in many other Friendly Societies, that no member can 
 draw a sick benefit in excess of his usual wages or income. Members, while in 
 receipt of sick benefit, must continue nevertheless to pay their monthly contri- 
 butions. 
 
 Provision is made for the book-keeping, balance sheets, auditing, and perio- 
 
Different Kinds of Friendly Societies . 
 
 189 
 
 burial societies. Only some, perhaps the smaller of these societies, 
 are really social institutions ; while the larger ones do not strictly 
 belong to Friendly Societies at all, although they are registered 
 as such. The general freedom of association in England, coupled 
 with the great energy and self-activity of the people, has pro- 
 duced, no doubt, astonishing results ; but here, together with 
 much light, there are deep shadows. We have to deal in this case 
 with a dark side of the picture. 
 
 {a) The Local Burial Societies , and Local Sick and Burial Collecting 
 
 dical valuation of the liabilities of the society. There is a special branch of 
 the society organized on Mr. Best’s principles, and embracing an elaborate 
 system of superannuation insurance. A fund is constituted for this purpose 
 out of annual contributions, as well as fines and the subscriptions of honorary 
 members. If this fund is found deficient, a levy is made on all the members to 
 supply the deficiency. The superannuation allowance amounts to half of the 
 sick benefit insured for, and is payable after the age of seventy, when the sick 
 benefit ceases. This branch of insurance, however, being arranged on Mr. 
 Best’s system, only half of the superannuation allowance is taken from the 
 fund, and the other half out of the deposits of the insuring member ; and the 
 member ceases to be entitled to any superannuation allowance when his deposit 
 account is exhausted. The members of the society can choose which kind of 
 insurance they will adopt. 
 
 According to the statement of accounts for 1882, the society had 4,S54 
 ordinary, and 821 honorary, members, besides those who belonged to the branch 
 managed on Mr. Best’s system. The receipts of the society for that year were 
 £5,895 Is. 6 d. from premiums and subscriptions of honorary members, £287 5s. 
 from interest on the funds (£41,058), and £1,556 19s. from allowance on income 
 tax; the expenditure being £5,891 2s. 4 d. paid in benefits, and £599 3s. 9 d. for 
 the costs of management. The funds were invested to a small extent in 3 per 
 cent, consols, but most of them in 4 per cent, debentures of English railways. 
 The society, as the secretary, Mr. David Owen, informed me, was originally 
 intended for the agricultural population. The wages of the agricultural labourer 
 are now, owing to the depression of agriculture, much lower than they were six 
 years ago ; he gets only about 10s. or 12s. a week, in cases where he got formerly 
 15s. or 16s. Nevertheless, the agricultural labourers still form the majority in the 
 society, although there are a certain number also of members of other classes. 
 
 Mr. Sotheron-Estcourt, in his evidence given on June 30th, 1871, before the 
 Commission (Second Report, qu. 661), spoke as follows of the social importance 
 of this County Society : “By means,’’ he says, “of what we call festivals (that 
 is to say, a jollification promoted in each parish where we have a branch), a 
 vast amount pf information is distributed, good fellowship, and good under- 
 standing are.f)romoted between different classes ; and, altogether, I should say 
 that a vas^kocial improvement has been carried on by means of our society 
 during twenty or thirty years past.” 
 
 4 
 
190 English Associations of Working Men 
 
 Societies , have for the most part a very primitive origin. Sir George 
 Young states in his Report to the Commission that they have 
 generally grown out of the custom of sending round the hat on 
 the decease of a fellow-workman, who in most cases was a public- 
 house comrade, to collect something for his funeral and family. 
 The first step in the way of organization is to “ keep one death in 
 hand,” so as to avoid the delay of collecting the money when it is 
 wanted. This, however, will involve some trouble and responsi- 
 bility in the collector, and a small subscription is accordingly 
 added, sooner or later, to defray expenses. The next step, which 
 takes place when the club gets large, and the calls in consequence 
 become frequent, is to substitute for the 11 levy ” a regular sub- 
 scription, weekly or otherwise, sufficient to cover the current out- 
 goings and something over, and at the same time to limit the 
 benefit to about the sum to which it has now risen. The benefit 
 thus fixed cannot long be maintained ; but in the meantime the 
 u something over ” of the contribution will often for a short time 
 accumulate ; and it is by no means uncommon to divide a portion 
 of it by way of bonus. In this way the decline of the club is 
 accelerated, until the rapid diminution of stock forces upon the 
 members the conviction that the majority of them will inevitably 
 survive it ; and then the younger and middle-aged majority will 
 force upon the older minority the division of what remains. u The 
 Burial Club,” adds Sir G r Young, “ which survives a generation is 
 an exception.” It is characteristic, however, of the way in which 
 things develop in England, that even flourishing and well-regulated 
 Friendly Societies have grown out of these rude beginnings. In 
 the north of England, in particular, there are Burial Societies 
 founded by the energetic working population of that part of the 
 country, which are well managed and firmly established, and 
 which, as benefit institutions, entirely fulfil their purposes. 
 Groups of such societies exist in Manchester, Preston, and Maccles- 
 field. In Manchester and its connected townships, Mr. Stanley’s 
 Report to the Commissioners gave a list in 1874 of nineteen local 
 Burial Societies, founded between 1818 and 1863, with 110,734 
 members and £41,491 funds. The total cost of management differed 
 widely in these societies, varying from 10J to 30 per cent, of the 
 income from contributions. The Preston group consisted of nine 
 
Different Kinds of Friendly Societies . 191 
 
 societies, with 92,269 members and £19,313 funds ; and in Maccles- 
 field there were ten societies, giving, out of a population for the 
 town and neighbourhood of less than 40,000, a total of 27,731 
 members and £4,186 funds. The total strength of the registered 
 Local Burial Societies for England and Wales, according to the 
 data furnished by the registrar’s reports for 1871-2, was estimated 
 by the Commissioners at 718,249, or, making deductions for double 
 insurance and double membership, in round numbers 550,000, of 
 whom between 330,000 and 430,000 are reckoned as adults, and 
 the remainder as children. 
 
 With regard to these Burial Societies as a whole, it is impos- 
 sible to form any general judgment, for they display both the 
 good and bad features of English combination. The special evils 
 alleged against them are, that in connection with the limited 
 nature of their object, the social element does not operate in a 
 wholesome manner, but that the officials increase the cost of man- 
 agement by swelling the salaries, drinking habits, and dealings 
 with undertakers. Otherwise, the evils which exist in these 
 societies are not only common to them with the general burial 
 societies, but exist only in proportion as the local burial society 
 assimilates itself in type to the general.* 
 
 (b) The General Collecting and Burial Societies differ from the 
 preceding sub-division in that they do not confine their operation 
 to single localities, but canvass in all directions, through the me- 
 dium of an army of agents or collectors, wherever there is a chance 
 of enlisting new members. These societies also are established 
 on the mutual principle, but no good accrues thereby to the 
 members, and the result is frequently just as scandalous a fleecing 
 of the public as in the case of the most precarious insurance 
 societies based on the principle of profit. As a rule they insure 
 only a certain sum, in the event of death, to cover the burial 
 expenses ; in exceptional cases, however, they insure also against 
 sickness, though this is mostfy as a mere advertisement. The 
 management of these societies is in the hands of a committee, 
 chosen by a nominal general meeting, and the committee appoint 
 permanent officers as they think fit. By means of a host of col- 
 
 Fourth Beport, pp. xeii.-cii. 
 
192 
 
 E?iglisk Associations of Working Men . 
 
 lectors, or to give them their proper name, “ touts,” as also by 
 their “ district managers ” or “ superintendents,” these societies 
 are represented everywhere wherever their business makes it 
 desirable they should be. By these organs subscriptions are 
 collected, new members enrolled, and according to circumstances, 
 old members, especially if they are inconvenient, are got rid of. 
 There is no question of anything like a social organization in 
 these societies ; nay, they do not even deserve the name of 
 societies at all, since their members have neither any interest in, 
 nor any knowledge of, their objects. The Report of the Commis- 
 sion cites the case of a society of this kind, in which the average 
 attendance at general meetings was only 700 or 800, out of a 
 membership of 140,000, and states other cases where even a small 
 number of members present at a meeting had to be gathered 
 together by the collectors, as it were by beat of drum, to vote for 
 resolutions of the meaning and importance of which they had not 
 a notion. 
 
 This army of collectors is the pivot of the whole system of 
 these institutions ; they have practically the institutions in 
 their hands, and their spirit — or rather their naked interest — 
 governs the management, and leads, as we shall see, to unheard-of 
 abuses. 
 
 The business done by these societies is very extensive, and the 
 number of their members is surpassed only by that of the affili- 
 ated orders. The Report of the Commission estimates the total 
 number of policies of these General Burial Societies in the United 
 Kingdom at more than 1,450,000, and the capital of the more 
 important bodies of the class at £461,605. Bor England and 
 Wales alone there are about 1,000,000 policies, which are in the 
 hands, making allowance for double insurance, of about 800,000 
 members, of whom a third are children. Some of these societies 
 grant upwards of 100,000 policies, and one of them as many as 
 half a million. They have divided the countiy into districts, and 
 these again into “ collections,” though the members residing in 
 these divisions take no part whatever in the management. This 
 kind of Friendly Societies is pointedly termed in England Trading 
 Friendly Societies, and the Report of the Commission has exposed 
 their doings with the most unsparing publicity. 
 
Different Kinds of Friendly Societies . 193 
 
 That such institutions can exist so numerously in a country 
 where everything in life is based on self-help, watchfulness, and 
 the protection of private interests, shows that there must still 
 exist large classes of the population which are morally and intel- 
 lectually unable to stand on their own feet, but fall victims to 
 extortion. In fact, the extensive “ business ” done by these 
 general burial societies can only be explained by the fact that 
 they recruit their members from the lowest classes of the popula- 
 tion in the large seaport and manufacturing towns, and to a large 
 extent from among the Irish ; and it is an equally laborious and 
 perilous part of the duties of a collector to have to levy contribu- 
 tions and enlist new members in the most squalid, unhealthy r 
 and dangerous parts of Liverpool, the headquarters of these insti- 
 tutions. The clientele of these societies is a very fluctuating one,, 
 for the poor and ignorant population which allow themselves to 
 be enrolled live on low and uncertain wages, but in many of 
 these societies these very fluctuations form part of their calcula- 
 tions, and are furthered by a practice which is termed u dropping” 
 members. It consists in this, that whenever a collector wishes to 
 “ drop ” a member, he abstains from calling for his subscription ; 
 and as every means is taken to make direct payment to the 
 society as difficult as possible, the members thus get into arrear, 
 are struck off the books, and lose — that is the object of these 
 lapses — all their previous payments, as well as all claims to the 
 society’s benefits. Nay, these societies sometimes go still farther, 
 and carry on the lapsing process wholesale, by withdrawing their 
 collectors and agents without notice from districts where it suits, 
 their purposes to do so, and thereby causing all the members in 
 that district to be struck off. The interests of the agents and the 
 societies are on this point identical. The former are frequently 
 remunerated by the entrance fees or the first subscriptions of 
 members, and ,thus it is much more profitable to them to enlist 
 new members than to retain old ones. The Report of the Com- 
 mission states that these general burial societies in many cases 
 absolutely maintain themselves by their lapses. u I always calcu- 
 late,” said the secretary to the Royal London Friendly, u that at 
 least two-thirds of the people who become insured in our office, 
 and in similar institutions, allow their policies to lapse, and con- 
 
1 94 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 sequently deprive themselves of benefit”; and he added, u I believe; 
 that it is possible for a life office, not doing any sick or endow- 
 ment business, to carry on its business without any accumulated 
 fund, considering the lapses.” The cost of management in these 
 societies is enormously high ; the Report of the Commission cites 
 instances in which it has ranged from 40 to 55 per cent., and one 
 case where it was as high as 74 per cent. One witness, a disin- 
 terested one, being an accountant, suggested 40 to 45 per cent, as 
 the amount to which the management fund should be limited by 
 Act of Parliament; and another stated that it was impossible 
 to form any correct estimate from a burial society’s balance-sheet 
 of the true amount of the management expenses. There is goof 
 reason, therefore, for saying, as is said in England, that a member 
 of these societies may think himself lucky if he gets back one 
 halfpenny out of every penny he contributes. The commission 
 paid to the agents and collectors amounts often to 25 per cent, of 
 their receipts, to say nothing of the salaried officers of the society. 
 
 Bearing these facts in mind, it is a pertinent question to ask. 
 how it comes to pass that these societies attract so many members r 
 and how magistrates and legislators in England can tolerate such 
 practices ? The answer to the first of these questions is, that the 
 speculation carried on by these institutions is psychologically 
 sound, since even the poorest man, especially in England, where 
 a pauper’s funeral is a reproach, tries hard to obtain a respectable 
 burial, however listless or powerless he may be as regards the 
 other incidental risks of his existence. Again, it must not be for- 
 gotten that these societies, objectionable as are the means they 
 employ, deal fairly for the most part on one point, namely, in 
 their payment of the sums insured for. The punctual payment 
 of the burial money immediately after death is a patent fact to 
 all ; it is a fact admitted in the Report of the Commission, and 
 universally known ; while the reverse side of their proceedings, 
 the injustice and hardships suffered by individual members, the 
 11 lapses ” and other abuses, affect a class of the population which 
 is not in a position to agitate effectively against them, which is 
 inaccessible to the warnings of th^ press, and which is too weak 
 to enforce their rights in a court of law. The way to the judge — 
 in these cases practically always an arbitrator — is not indeed for- 
 
Different Kinds of Friendly Societies. 
 
 195 
 
 mally barred, and in a few cases in which the matter actually 
 comes to arbitration, the decision is nearly always in favour, of 
 the plaintiff, and against the society, even though the latter may 
 have the strict letter of the rules on its side. But this remedy 
 means expense, and the classes in question are too uneducated, too 
 apathetic, and too helpless to resort to it, or to be able to appeal 
 to public opinion. It is left, therefore, for official inquiry to drag 
 the facts to light, in order to put public opinion into motion, and 
 enable the legislature to take action. 
 
 The Friendly Societies Act of 1875 has dealt with this point 
 Section 80, which applies specially to societies receiving contribu- 
 tions by means of collectors, provides that a copy of the rules, 
 together with a printed policy, duly authorised, shall be delivered 
 to every member on his becoming a member, or insuring ; that no 
 forfeiture shall be incurred for default in paying any contribution, 
 until after a written or printed notice has been delivered to the 
 member, and a reasonable time, not being less than fourteen days, 
 has been allowed him to pay his arrears ; that no collector shall 
 be a member of the committee of management, or take part in the 
 proceedings of any meeting ; that at least one general meeting of 
 the society shall be held in every year, notice of which shall be 
 given to the members by advertisement in the local newspapers ; 
 that a copy of every balance-sheet shall be kept open for inspec- 
 tion for a week before, and presented at, each general meeting, 
 and that the annual returns shall be certified by an accountant, 
 not being an officer of the society. 
 
 These provisions of the law, however, have not prevented the 
 ignominious collapse, in recent years, of a burial society, which in 
 1880 had 181,000, and in 1883 still 154,000 members. The Chief 
 Registrar describes, in his annual report for 1884, how all the 
 efforts made by his office to enable this society to put its man- 
 agement into order were in vain, and how the society, by its 
 misapplication of funds, and by the unscrupulous conduct of its 
 managers, deceived the confidence of many thousands of poor 
 people .* 
 
 * We must notice here a question which has constantly cropped up in Eng- 
 land, and attracted attention from the melancholy picture it reveals. This is 
 the mortality of the numerous children insured in these burial societies. The 
 
196 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 (c) We mention in this place a kind of societies which, although 
 they are registered not as Friendly Societies but as Trade So- 
 cieties, and therefore do not strictly fall within our purview, 
 nevertheless demand notice, since they carry on a keen competi- 
 tion with many Friendly Societies, particularly with the large 
 burial societies, and thereby increase the evils occasioned by the 
 latter. These Burial (or Industrial Assurance ) Companies , as they 
 are called in the Report of the Commission, are conducted with a 
 view to profit; their members are widely scattered, and their 
 business varies in point of success and extensiveness. The type, 
 and perhaps the largest of these societies, is the Prudential 
 Company, which began its industrial insurance business in 1854, 
 and was the first company to take infant lives. “ Its rise of late 
 years,” says the Report of the Commission in 1874, 11 has been so 
 rapid, that whilst on the 31st December, 1867, it had 358,043 
 
 Select Committee of the House of Commons on the Bill of 1854, stated that 
 they had devoted particular attention to the question whether the insuring of 
 burial money offered temptations to child murder, but had come to the conclu- 
 sion that the fears expressed on that subject were groundless. The inquiries, 
 however, made by the Royal Commission of 1874, which went deeper into the 
 matter, reawakened doubts whether those fears, after all, were as groundless as 
 they were supposed to be. The Commissioners took on this point the evidence, 
 in particular, of coroners, to whom they addressed a series of questions. 118 
 coroners replied that they had no reason to suppose that the insurance of burial 
 money had the influence which was apprehended, 75 were unable or unwilling 
 to give any opinion, and 45 answered the question decidedly in the affirmative. 
 “ I have not the slightest doubt in the world,” says the Coroner for Liverpool, 
 Mr. Clarke Aspinall, in his evidence before the Commission, “ that an immense 
 amount of parental neglect of a most scandalous character goes on from day to 
 day in the town of Liverpool, and I am really disposed to think that the neglect 
 is greater than it would be, on account of the prospect, at the end of the child's 
 term of lingering, of the club money, as a sort of consolation to unnatural 
 parents. . . . It is to me a source of intense pain to have my attention 
 
 drawn to a skeleton rather than to a body, and then to find that the investiga- 
 tion results in the death being from natural causes, or from natural causes 
 accelerated either by improper food or by neglect, put in such a way that it is 
 without any fault to anybody, but so putting it that it is simply hopeless to 
 bring negligent parents to justice at all, when you have the moral conviction 
 that they have been scandalously negligent. . . . The criminal law seems 
 
 to me to be defective in dealing with such cases. I judge that to be so from 
 the fact that, if you send a case of that kind, of wasting from gross neglect, to 
 the assizes, it almost invariably ends in an acquittal being got, or the prose- 
 
Different Kinds of Friendly Societies . 
 
 197 
 
 members, it had no less than 1,013,041 by 29th November, 1872, 
 showing that it nearly trebled its numbers in five years. Its 
 insurers are of rather a superior class; and there are certain 
 ‘proscribed streets 5 in some of the large towns from which no 
 lives are taken. 55 As is only natural, such institutions of com- 
 paratively general utility are matched by others entirely bad. 
 Among the latter was the notorious Friend-in-Need Society, 
 which upwards of twenty years ago created such excitement and 
 brought about such misfortune by its failure. As compared with 
 the burial societies, these insurance societies are distinguished by 
 their excellent book-keeping and accurate records of their mem- 
 bers, by the efficient supervision of their collectors, who receive 
 fixed salaries, by the steps they take to check what may be called 
 artificial lapse — i.e., that which is not owing solely to the mem- 
 ber’s own default — by their sound system of insurance, and by a 
 
 cution not being proceeded with” (Fourth Report, p. cxxxv.). Statistics also 
 tell a tale in this matter which does not exclude the suspicion that the evil 
 existed, at any rate in some localities. Children are frequently entered in 
 general burial societies as soon as they are born, and by the rules of most, if 
 not all, of such societies, they can only come into full benefit at the expiration 
 of 52 weeks. The Report of the Commission contains a comparative statement 
 of infant mortality at various ages in eleven large manufacturing and seaport 
 towns, which show an unintelligibly high rate in Liverpool and some other 
 large centres of population for the second year of life. Proof is given, more- 
 over, of the existence of a serious abuse, the insuring of children in several 
 burial societies, thereby multiplying the benefits accruing in case of death. 
 
 It would be a great error to suppose that the seat of this evil is among the 
 real and permanent working class. Such a charge would be wholly unjustified, 
 and has already been frequently repudiated. The evil lies, on the contrary, so 
 far as it exists, with that unhappy class which the observer of social life in 
 England meets with again and again, and whose means of livelihood oscillate 
 between precarious wages and crime. 
 
 So far as a high infant mortality is observable in the working class proper, 
 the fact is due to another reason. In the manufacturing districts, where the 
 mothers return to their work at the factory as soon as possible after their con- 
 finement, their children are very frequently deprived of the necessary care and 
 nurture. This subject was discussed, among others, at a recent Congress of 
 Trades-unions,* when it was proposed that the municipal authorities should 
 establish creches for this purpose, an institution which as yet is comparatively 
 rare in England. 
 
 Report of the Fifteenth Annual Trades-union Congress, p. 37. 
 
198 
 
 English Associations of Workmg Men. 
 
 valuation every five years of their assets and liabilities. Of 
 course they do not fulfil any functions of self-government, being 
 purely business institutions ; but we have been unwilling not to 
 notice them, because they are opposed and sought to be crushed 
 by the better Friendly Societies, especially the large affiliated 
 orders, in the same way and on the same grounds as the burial 
 societies registered under the Friendly Societies Act of 1875.* 
 
 7 . Ordinary Large {or General) Societies. 
 
 There are a number of Friendly Societies — estimated in the 
 Report of the Commissioners in 1874 at 100 — which have the 
 form of large centralised offices for life insurance. They are 
 usually designated as “ ordinary large (or general) societies.” 
 The most important of them are in London. Their organization 
 as well as their system of insurance are simple, but both suffer 
 from serious defects. Their entire management is vested in a 
 central office, which deals with all claims relating to sickness, old 
 age, or burial. These societies have frequently some thousands 
 of members, who pay their premiums to agents, and receive sick 
 pay and other benefits in the same manner. Some of the largest 
 and most centralised societies of this kind employ, however, no 
 agents, but all payments are made and sums received by Post- 
 office order. Members residing at a distance from the society 
 can obviously have little or no voice in its affairs, which are 
 practically in the hands of a committee, on whose sagacity and 
 honesty the welfare of the whole society depends. The control 
 exercised by the annual general meeting is purely nominal. 
 Nevertheless, there are societies of this kind which have been 
 existing for fifty years and upwards, and deservedly enjoy good 
 credit. For what are known as the labouring classes, these 
 societies are not of any great importance; their members are 
 mostly artisans in receipt of high wages, clerks, tradesmen, 
 domestic servants, and others, who look for an investment of their 
 savings u on purely business principles.” The premiums and con- 
 
 Fourth Report, p. cxxviii., sqq. 
 
Different Kinds of Friendly Societies. 199 
 
 tifibutions are also usually higher than in the Friendly Societies 
 of the wage-earning labourers. 
 
 Nearly all of these general benefit societies are registered as 
 Friendly Societies, but in point of character they form already 
 the transition to the numerous insurance companies for the 
 middle class. Their whole business assimilates to that of these 
 companies, which they resemble also in this, that their relations 
 with their members are of a purely business kind, and there is no 
 social bond of union.* 
 
 8 . Particular Trade Societies. 
 
 Nearly all the Friendly Societies of which we have spoken 
 admit of being characterised in a certain manner according to the 
 general employment of their respective members, many of them 
 having been established only by the agricultural population, others 
 
 * Perhaps the largest, and certainly the best managed society of this kind, is 
 the Hearts of Oak Benefit Society , in London. It admits male persons between 
 the ages of 18 and 30, who are of good health, and whose wages are not less 
 than 24s. a week. A large number of specified occupations are excluded ; 
 namely, drug or colour grinders, water gilders, workers in white or red lead or 
 quicksilver, gunpowder, firework, or lucifer-match makers, type-founders, stereo- 
 typers, electrotypers, workers in the manufacture of chemicals, miners, puddlers, 
 sugar-bakers, cigar-makers, brass-founders, gamekeepers, police constables, 
 soldiers, sailors, coast-guardsmen, members of fire-brigades, brewers’ draymen, 
 grinders in dry cutlery, bakers, confectioners, millers, cement-makers, plaster- 
 of-Paris makers, or any other occupation which the committee may conceive 
 dangerous or injurious to health. This society has no graduated scale of pre- 
 miums, but levies a monthly sum of 2s. 4d. for sick insurance from all its 
 members. In return for this payment the member receives a weekly sick 
 allowance : if he has belonged to the society for less than three months, of 6s. ; 
 if for six months, 9s. ; if for nine months, 12s. ; and if for a year, of 18s. 
 These allowances are paid in full for twenty-six weeks, and for the next twenty- 
 six weeks in half. If the sickness, or the consequences of the accident, last 
 beyond the year, the member is placed on the “ superannuated list ” ; that is to 
 say, on the list of invalids. Provision is then made for him, again according to 
 the length of his membership : if the latter is less than six years, he receives a 
 weekly allowance of 2s. ; if more than six and less than eight years, of 3s. ; and 
 if more than eight years, of 4s. A “ pensioner ” continues to reap the benefit, 
 of this allowance, even though he may be able to earn something for himself. 
 
200 
 
 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 mainly by the population in towns or by factory operatives, and 
 others again by the lower middle-class. But very few Friendly 
 Societies are exclusively confined to the members of a special 
 trade or occupation, which, on the contrary, is always the case 
 with Trades-unions. The ruling tendency in Friendly Societies, 
 however, is so strongly opposed to their operation being confined 
 exclusively to a particular trade or occupation, that even those 
 which have adopted such a character of exclusiveness when first 
 founded usually drop it in course of time.* 
 
 provided such earnings do not exceed 12s. per week. For the other insurance 
 purposes, such as, in particular, the burial allowances, rates are levied, calcu- 
 lated quarterly according to the state of finances. 
 
 The institution is managed in London. With the view, however, of giving its 
 numerous members, scattered over the kingdom, an opportunity of taking part 
 in the meetings, all the members are divided into sections of 1000 each, which 
 elect delegates. 
 
 This society has of late years been considerably enlarged, as will be seen 
 from the following table compiled from its annual reports : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 Number of Members. 
 
 Armna.1 Income. 
 
 Funds. 
 
 1805 
 
 10,571 
 
 £20,758 
 
 £40,466 
 
 1870 
 
 21,484 
 
 £40,751 
 
 £67,321 
 
 1875 
 
 64,421 
 
 £117,051 
 
 £179,995 
 
 1880 
 
 — 
 
 £206,357 
 
 £437,772 
 
 1881 
 
 — 
 
 £212,975 
 
 £494,873 
 
 1882 
 
 98,873 
 
 £219,875 
 
 £559,327 
 
 1883 
 
 102,263 
 
 £229, S43 
 
 £627,612 
 
 The “ History of the Hearts of Oak Benefit Society,” by W. G. Bunn, Lon- 
 don, 1879, contains a brief account of the development of this society. 
 
 * Mr. Finlaison stated in his evidence before the Commission in 1874, that 
 the Friendly Societies, as a rule, are composed of working-men of all classes of 
 employment. Occasionally it happened that workmen belonging to a peculiarly 
 dangerous employment in a town joined a Friendly Society, but the contrary 
 was the rule. “ A society,” he says, “ even though originally founded for the 
 members of a particular trade, admits persons from other trades when it be- 
 comes prosperous, and in course of time enlarges itself.” 
 
 The composition, however, of Friendly Societies is naturally always in- 
 fluenced by the local industries or trades. Where the greatest diversity of trades 
 is represented (as in fact happens in all the large manufacturing towns in Eng- 
 land) most of the Friendly Societies reproduce on a small scale this diversity. 
 Where only one or other branch of industry is represented, the Friendly So- 
 
Different Kinds of Friendly Societies. 
 
 201 
 
 Nevertheless there exists in England a large Friendly Society, 
 that of the coal miners, which is made np of several large local 
 societies, and during the last ten years has acquired considerable 
 importance. It is also of peculiar interest, since its main object 
 is insurance against accidents. This union consists of the 
 Friendly Societies of the miners in the coal districts of Northum- 
 berland and Durham, North and South Staffordshire, Lancashire, 
 Cheshire, Yorkshire, North and South Wales, and the Midland 
 Counties. These different societies, and the whole union, form in 
 many respects such a remarkable group of Friendly Societies that 
 we shall devote to them particular attention. 
 
 9. Factory Societies , and Friendly Societies in connection with large 
 Fstablishments. 
 
 There are a very large number of Friendly Societies in Eng- 
 land connected with manufacturing establishments, large under- 
 takings, railway companies, and such like. They are chiefly local 
 institutions, but differ very widely in constitution, in the range of 
 their objects of insurance, and in the mode of management. For 
 
 cieties are for that reason pre-eminently trade societies, though they always 
 exhibit an additional element, consisting either of agricultural labourers, mem- 
 bers of the lower middle-class, or clerks. 
 
 We may mention here a society founded in Bradford about fifty years 
 ago, the Managers and Overlookers ’ Friendly Society which was established 
 exclusively for the managers and overlookers of the woollen, worsted, and silk 
 factories of Yorkshire. This society provides support in illness, burial money, 
 and allowances of from £20 to £50 in the case of members invalided by acci- 
 dent. It has a number of branches, which are united into districts. This 
 society possesses many features of the large orders. The business is transacted 
 at periodical meetings, which serve also as opportunities of social gathering. 
 Strict order is maintained at these meetings. The following penalties, however, 
 taken from the rules of one of the branch societies, give an idea of the tone and 
 manners of an earlier time. 
 
 Every functionary who comes to a meeting drunk, or who takes drink while 
 business is proceeding, pays a fine of 2s., and every ordinary member, in the 
 same case, sixpence. Improper interference with the business, or improper ex- 
 pressions, are punishable in the case of ordinary members by a fine of Is., and 
 in that of a functionary by a fine of 2s. Any member who raises a discussion 
 on politics or religion, or who refuses to be silent after being thrice warned by 
 the chairman, pays Qd. Any member who boastfully extols his own good quali- 
 ties or those of another member, pays Is. 
 
202 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 the most part unregistered, and often not formally qualified 
 for registration, their number is beyond the power of calculation. 
 They form a group of societies differing essentially from the 
 independent associations of working-men for insurance purposes, 
 which are designated as Friendly Societies ; but we must notice 
 them here, since they supplement the Friendly Societies in no 
 unimportant manner, and, indeed, as regards certain classes of 
 working-men, supersede them. 
 
 Many of these societies date back to the beginning of the 
 business with which they are connected ; and, indeed, there is 
 scarcely a single large establishment in England which does not 
 make some provision or other for its employes, whether against 
 accident alone, or for accident, sickness, and burial. The impor- 
 tance of the factory societies in England is still very great, for 
 they are the only means of assistance, in case of need, to a 
 considerable number of operatives. Many of them are admirably 
 conducted, and work in the most humane manner. Their manage- 
 ment is usually in the hands of working-men, while the firm acts 
 as treasurer, exercises a kind of supervision, and represents, at 
 any rate, a preponderating moral influence through its partners 
 or chief officers. 
 
 Notwithstanding, however, the good features of these societies, 
 it cannot be denied that two circumstances combine to restrict 
 more and more their field of action. In the first place, the large 
 working-men’s Orders are gradually drawing away from them the 
 most intelligent and the best-paid of their members; and in 
 the second place, the Trades-unions, for reasons readily under- 
 stood, are their declared enemies. 
 
 Membership in these factory societies is, as a rule, compulsory 
 on all the workmen belonging to the establishment, and the 
 societies are financially supported by the firm. It is not to be 
 denied that yprima facie both circumstances seem of some advan- 
 tage. Compulsion, as regards the lower grades of Workmen, who 
 have not sufficient energy and foresight to join an independent 
 Friendly Society, is frequently beneficial ; the subsidy given by 
 the firm enables these societies to promise substantial benefits 
 in return for small contributions ; their funds are in safe custody, 
 and properly administered ; their management is cheap and, 
 
Different Kinds of Friendly Societies . 203 
 
 indeed, costs next to notliing, since usually the books are kept by 
 the accountants of the firm. And yet, with all this, there are 
 material disadvantages. On one point Sir George Young speaks 
 out very plainly, in his Report to the Commission of 1874 : “ 1 
 believe,” he says, “ that the intention of employers in setting 
 up these clubs has been unduly suspected, and that it was, in 
 fact, exactly the same as that which has forced upon working-men 
 the starting of penny death clubs, broken-bone clubs, and other 
 rude methods of assurance — namely, their own protection against 
 loss by the frequent recurrence of cases of distress in which it 
 was painful for a benevolent man to refuse the help which it 
 speedily became onerous to afford. But no doubt,” he adds, “they 
 admit of being turned into an engine for the preventing of strikes, 
 or other moves on the side of the employed, in the too frequent 
 collisions of capital and labour; and under these circumstances 
 they are liable to abuse.” * These circumstances alone would 
 suffice to explain the hostility of the Trades-unions. There is 
 the further fact, moreover, that these societies decidedly hinder 
 the free relations of the workman, by binding him to his em- 
 ployer. If he leaves him, he loses at once his membership, and 
 with it all the benefits which he has acquired by perhaps many 
 years’ subscriptions. Again, he may happen to be too old to 
 obtain admission into any other Friendly Society, and it will be 
 an exception if he has joined one before. It is due, nevertheless, 
 to the influence of the Trades-unions that many of these factory 
 societies now repay to an outgoing member a portion of his con- 
 tributions, and thereby enable him to purchase admission into 
 another society. 
 
 The second drawback attaching to these societies lies in the 
 very financial support afforded by the firm. This support begets 
 a false confidence that the benefits, which have no intrinsic re- 
 lation to the actual contributions, will be guaranteed in any event 
 by the employer, the result of which is that the society is laxly 
 managed. If, moreover, the additional aid afforded by the firm is 
 a fixed subscription, the increase in the number of members, 
 or their advance in age, disturbs the whole calculation ; and when 
 
 Fourth Report, p. clxiv. 
 
204 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 it is borne in mind tbat this aid has no legal basis, and must always 
 depend on the solvency of the firm, some light is thrown on the 
 precarious character of these institutions, and it is intelligible 
 that the Trades-unions should endeavour, as they do, to draw over 
 the workmen to independent insurance societies. 
 
 The internal constitution of these factory societies offers, there- 
 fore, in itself no guarantee for the solution of the question of 
 insurance, in respect of the working-men immediately concerned. 
 The fact, nevertheless, that so many of such societies exist, in 
 which these evils do not appear, is due not to their constitution, 
 but to the men who manage them. In this respect, however, it 
 is right to admit that perhaps in no country is more done for the 
 workmen by their employers in an unostentatious and honestly 
 well-meaning manner than in England. The effect of this extends 
 far beyond the whole area of Friendly Societies. Pure Christian 
 motives play here a great part. 
 
 The factory society assumes another and special position, and 
 acquires a peculiar value, when it forms part of a comprehensive 
 care for the well-being of the workmen of the establishment. In 
 this respect admirable things have been done at all times by 
 manufacturers and companies. Well situated and healthy dwell- 
 ings for their workmen are built ; dining-halls supply cheap and 
 wholesome food ; schools — especially technical schools of a lower, 
 and even of a higher, kind — are maintained in order to enable the 
 workman, by means of evening instruction, to rise to a higher 
 class or, at least, to let his growing-up children benefit by them. 
 Frequently all these institutions are found united, so that the 
 factory, with its town of operatives, its schools, dining-halls, baths, 
 reading-rooms, libraries, pleasure-grounds, and parks becomes a 
 social organization embracing the entire life of the workmen. 
 
 We refrain here from digressing further from our subject, but 
 having touched already on the social aspect of these factory societies, 
 we may be allowed to say a few words more in this respect. It 
 is an essential condition of the prosperity of such institutions, 
 comprehending, as they do, all the workman’s relations of life, 
 that the employer should live among his workmen. The evils 
 caused by absenteeism on the part of landlords are reproduced in 
 the case of large manufactories. The growth of joint-stock com- 
 
Different Kinds of Friendly Societies. 
 
 205 
 
 parties lias everywhere sharpened the antagonism between capital 
 and labour. Where, on the contrary, as is common enough in 
 England, already the second and third generations of a manufac- 
 turer’s family are living on the spot, and have inherited, together 
 with the business, a certain traditional care for their employes ; 
 where the master — and in such cases he is a personal master, and 
 not a mere impersonal distributor of labour — comes daily into 
 contact with his workmen; where he sits with them every Sunday 
 in church, and, as happens among Presbyterian bodies, administers 
 with them, on a footing of perfect equality, the spiritual and 
 ecclesiastical functions peculiar to the same denomination ; where 
 his wife, sons, and daughters take the lead in the various local 
 institutions of which we have spoken ; where the whole family 
 lead a life in keeping, no doubt, with their means, but none the 
 less honourable ; — under such conditions as these, should any- 
 thing be wrong in the calculations of the society, the accounts 
 are easily balanced, for we have in such cases a place before us 
 where the 11 social question ” is unknown, not because it is solved, 
 but because it has been prevented from arising. We admit that, 
 even presuming that many such places exist, they cannot play the 
 decisive role in the solution of modern problems, but they form 
 an element not to be overlooked in judging of social relations 
 as a whole.* 
 
 * We will give a brief account of a number of these factory societies, with 
 which we made ourselves acquainted on the spot, in the course of 1883 and 
 1884. 
 
 Messrs. John Crossley & Sons , Limited , carpet-weavers in Halifax, employ- 
 ing 4,500 workmen, are insured in an insurance company against any accidents 
 that may happen to their workmen and bring them under the penalties of the 
 Employers’ Liability Act ; whatever the firm pays in such cases, over and 
 above the amount of damages judicially awarded, is a “ matter of generosity.” 
 There is a sick fund, formed out of fines, and supplemented, when necessary, 
 by the firm itself. 
 
 Messrs. Platt & Brothers , Company , Limited , machinists in Oldham, employ 
 about 8,500 workmen. The society attached to the establishment provides only 
 for accident, and for the burial expenses of any workman in case the accident 
 is fatal. Membership is compulsory. The workmen are divided into three 
 classes, and a rate is fixed for each class, which is levied whenever necessary. 
 
20 6 
 
 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 10. Railway Company Societies. 
 
 The Friendly Society system has received an important de- 
 velopment on the part of most of the railway companies. The 
 
 A fund of £80 is always kept in hand. The scale of subscriptions is as 
 follows : — 
 
 Class. 
 
 Subscription 
 each time. 
 
 Weekly 
 
 Allowance. 
 
 Burial 
 
 Money. 
 
 | Workmen under 14 . 
 
 Id. 
 
 2s. 6d. 
 
 £2 
 
 „ between 14 and 18 . 
 
 2d. 
 
 5s. 0 d. 
 
 £5 
 
 ,, above 18 . 
 
 4d. 
 
 10s. Od. 
 
 £10 
 
 The full allowance is paid during twenty-six weeks after the accident, and half 
 for the ensuing twenty-six weeks ; any extra allowances beyond this are matters 
 for the committee to decide according to the circumstances of the case. The 
 committee consists of the operatives, in conjunction with the members and 
 managers of the firm, who act also as president, trustees, and treasurer. 
 The employes are left to insure themselves in other Friendly Societies against 
 sickness and old age, the firm not undertaking this branch of insurance. 
 
 When the Employers’ Liability Act came into force, the firm received offers 
 from various insurance companies to insure them against accidents to their 
 workmen. They have declined, however, all proposals of this kind, and have 
 also refused altogether to put pressure on their workmen, as has been done 
 elsewhere, to contract themselves out of the Act ; a line of conduct which has 
 done very much to maintain good relations between the firm and their em- 
 ployes. 
 
 The Atlas Works, a locomotive factory in Manchester, employs 1,300 workmen. 
 Membership of their society is compulsory, the management is in the hands 
 of the employes, but the firm act as treasurers. The society insures against 
 sickness, accident, and burial. The contributions are deducted weekly from 
 the wages. 
 
 ! Class. 
 
 Entrance ! 
 
 Itonev. Snbscnp- 
 i tion. 
 
 Weekly 
 
 Allow- 
 
 ance. 
 
 Burial Money. 
 
 Disablement 
 I Allowance. | 
 
 On the death 
 of a Member. 
 
 On the death 
 of a Member’s 
 wife and 
 child. 
 
 i 1 
 
 4d. Id. 
 
 2s. 6d. 
 
 £3 
 
 15s. 
 
 £7 
 
 1 2 
 
 8d. | 2d. 
 
 os. Od. 
 
 £6 
 
 £1 10s. 
 
 £14 
 
 3 
 
 Is. ; 3d. 
 
 7s. 6d. 
 
 £9 
 
 £2 os. 
 
 £21 
 
 In case of sickness or accident, the workman receives the appointed allow- 
 
Different Kinds of Friendly Societies. 
 
 20 7 
 
 London and North-Western Railway, the Great Western Railway, 
 the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, the Midland Railway, and 
 other railway companies, have established societies which are 
 
 ance, according to the class to which he belongs, for thirteen weeks in full, and 
 for the next twenty-six weeks in half. After these thirty-nine weeks, the 
 allowances cease. But if he has been disabled by an accident not due to his 
 own negligence, he receives, according to his class, the allowance stated in the 
 last column. There is no provision for old age. 
 
 T. Hoyle <& Sons, Limited, calico-printers in Manchester, are a firm dating 
 back more than a century, probably the oldest manufactory of its kind in 
 England. It was situated, when first established, quite outside the town, which 
 has spread so largely that the building is now in the middle of the town. The 
 firm’s relations with its employes are of a patriarchal kind, and there are work- 
 men who have been in the manufactory for many decades. One of them died 
 some time ago at the age of 101, having worked on the premises since he was 
 twenty till a short time before his death. 
 
 Membership of this society is compulsory on all workmen above 14. The 
 terms are the same as in the Atlas Works, but there is no allowance in case 
 of incapacity for work caused by accident. The society does not insure against 
 old age, but aged workmen, who have been employed for a long time in the 
 manufactory, are provided in one way or other. 
 
 William Denny & Brothers, ship-builders at Dumbarton, on the Clyde, have 
 an accident fund society, membership of which is compulsory. It is managed 
 by a committee of eighteen, one-half of whose members are chosen by the 
 firm, and the other half by the workmen. 
 
 Class. 
 
 Weekly- 
 
 Subscrip- 
 
 tion. 
 
 Weekly- 
 
 Allow- 
 
 ance. 
 
 Allowance 
 in case 
 of death. 
 
 Allowance in case of 
 incapacity for work. 
 
 Workmen with 
 
 wages 1 
 
 Id. 
 
 5s. 
 
 £20 
 
 A sum is fixed by 
 
 under 11s. . 
 
 . • -1 
 
 the Committee 
 
 Workmen with 
 
 wages > 
 
 2d. 
 
 10s. 
 
 £30 
 
 according to the 
 
 between 11s. and 20s. S 
 
 nature of the 
 
 Workmen with 
 over 20s. 
 
 wages j 
 
 3d. 
 
 15s. 
 
 £40 
 
 case. 
 
 The firm always contributes to the funds as much as do the workmen, thus 
 paying half of the insurance money. For sick and old-age insurance the work- 
 men are left to other Friendly Societies. 
 
 One of the most comprehensive of the institutions for working-men, which 
 owe their origin to the initiative of manufacturers, is that at Saltaire, near 
 Bradford, established by Sir Titus Salt. In his alpaca-weaving factory at that 
 place, no less than 3,500 workmen are employed, whose whole relations of life 
 are regulated by a complex system of arrangements. 
 
 Close by the factory is a dining-hall for workmen who do not reside in the 
 
208 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 intended for their employes; and, taken altogether, occupy the 
 same position in the system of working-men’s insurance as the 
 factory societies we have just described.* The wealth and 
 
 place itself, where they can get a mid-day meal with meat for 4 d. or 5 d., and 
 breakfast for 2d. This establishment is self-supporting. Most of the workmen 
 live in cottages built by, and rented from, the firm. These dwellings are dry 
 and healthy. The rent for a parlour, kitchen, and two bedrooms, is 3s. 3d. a 
 week, and for larger cottages of the same description, 5s. The adult male 
 employe earns on an average 25s. a week, and if he has also a couple of chil- 
 dren employed in the factory, who can earn from 4s. to 6s. a week, the family 
 income may easily be increased to 40s. 
 
 The school arrangements at Saltaire are a model of their kind. 6,700 chil- 
 dren receive instruction in the elementary school. There are also a Mechanics’ 
 Institute, an industrial school with evening classes, a library, a reading-room, 
 large rooms for drawing, a chemical laboratory, and a gymnasium. In addition 
 to this, there is a higher technical course, which benefits, however, only the 
 officers and scientific assistants of the firm, and only in exceptional cases 
 the workmen. Provision is made for amusement, in the shape of a theatre, 
 balls, and a cricket club. There are sick and burial insurance societies, and a 
 benefit society for women. Provision is also made for old age, and the pen- 
 sioners live in cottages built for that purpose. No one who visits Saltaire can 
 fail to be agreeably impressed with the whole aspect and arrangements of this 
 working-man’s town, with its church, its public buildings, and its rows of neat 
 and prettily-built cottages. Saltaire has served as a model for a number of 
 similar, though smaller, institutions in England. How dominant an element, 
 however, in the life of the English working-man is the active power of self-help 
 and independence is shown by the fact which has been pointed out to me, that 
 in these cheap and good working-men’s dwellings at Saltaire, notwithstanding, 
 or rather in consequence of, all the care taken for the men, less contentment 
 prevails than in cases in which the English workman acquires for himself 
 these comforts, though to a smaller extent, by his own efforts in the midst of 
 his own self-managed associations. 
 
 * The Great Western Railway Company employ at their large works at 
 Swindon several hundred officials and more than 6,000 workmen. Here are 
 situated the large workshops of the Company for the construction and repair of 
 their rolling-stock and plant, signals, etc. Swindon, therefore, is also the centre 
 of all the institutions, especially the benefit societies, established for the Com- 
 pany’s employes. Of the entire working-man population of Swindon one-half 
 may be regarded as settled there for life, the remainder being of more or less a 
 floating kind. The skilled labourers earn from 15s. to 20s. a week ; the more 
 skilled operatives, on whose training the Company bestow great pains, from 
 25s. to 30s. ; and the best and most skilled mechanics from 30s. to 45 s. 
 
 There are three benefit societies. The oldest of these, which was founded in 
 1844, is the Locomotive and Carriage Department Sick Fund Society. Any 
 member leaving the service of the Company within two years from the date of 
 
Different Kinds of Friendly Societies . 209 
 
 powerful position acquired by the great railway companies in 
 England ; tbe necessity, experienced by all of them alike, of 
 organizing in some manner the servants and workmen of different 
 
 his admission ceases to be a member of the society ; if he has been in the 
 society more than two years, he may be allowed to continue bis membership as 
 a non-resident member subject to certain conditions. The society is registered 
 as a Friendly Society. Its objects are to assist the members when disabled 
 from work by sickness (including accident) or old age, and to insure the pay- 
 ment of a funeral allowance on the death of a member or of his wife or widow. 
 The members are divided into three classes, according to payments and allow- 
 ances. Inside each class the contributions are graduated further according to 
 the member’s age at admission. The contributions to the three classes range 
 respectively from 6 d. to 9 d., from 4 d. to 6 d., and from 2d. to 3d. In the event 
 of any deficiency of funds at any time, the committee are empowered to levy 
 an additional contribution. The sick benefit varies from 4s. to 12s. a week, the 
 full rate being paid for the first thirteen weeks, two-tliirds for the next thirteen 
 weeks, and after that one-half so long as the sickness continues to incapacitate 
 from work. The superannuation allowance varies from 2s. to 6s. a week, and 
 is payable to any member who is sixty years or upwards, and who has been 
 twenty-five years successively in the Society. The funeral allowance varies 
 from £4 to £12 in the case of the death of the member himself, and from £2 to 
 £6 on the death of his wife. The financial results for 1881, 1882, and 1883 are 
 as follows : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 No. 
 
 of 
 
 Members. 
 
 Receipts. 
 
 Expenditure. 
 
 Reserve 
 
 Fund. 
 
 Old Age 
 allowances. 
 
 Sick 
 
 allowances. 
 
 Burial 
 
 money. 
 
 Expenses 
 
 of 
 
 Manage- 
 
 ment. 
 
 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 1881 
 
 5,305 
 
 3,832 
 
 237 
 
 3,020 
 
 456 
 
 176 
 
 2,462 
 
 1882 
 
 3,707 
 
 4,021 
 
 293 
 
 2,463 
 
 369 
 
 179 
 
 3,400 
 
 1883 
 
 6,132 
 
 4,450 
 
 333 
 
 2,743 
 
 482 
 
 131 
 
 3,823 
 
 There is also a Medical Fund Society , established in 1847, the objects of 
 which are to provide medicine and medical and surgical attendance for the 
 members, their wives, and such members of their families, being within the 
 degrees of relationship allowed by the Friendly Societies Act, 1875, Sec. 9, as 
 are dependent upon them. The members consist of six classes, the contribu- 
 tions varying with the rate of wages. This society has established a hospital 
 in Swindon for the treatment of accidents (excepting such as happen through 
 an act of bravado, intoxication, or any fault of the member himself), and 
 also subscribes to different hospitals to enable the sick members to obtain 
 
 P 
 
210 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 categories who are employed in their extensive works ; and, lastly, 
 the peculiar dangers of the occupation, have stamped, however, 
 quite a distinctive character on these railway company societies, 
 
 admission. In 1883 the number of members was 6,829, the receipts, £4,628, 
 and the expenditure £4,534. 
 
 The third of these societies, the Enginemen and Firemen's Mutual Assur- 
 ance, Sick, and Superannuation Society, is very perfectly organized, but is 
 confined to the enginemen, engine-turners, and firemen, and officers who have 
 served as such. The members are among the best paid servants of the Com- 
 pany. The engine-drivers of the expresses, always picked men, are able to earn 
 56s. a week, including the premiums paid for punctuality and care of their 
 engines. The society receives substantial support from the Company. Its 
 objects are : to make a regular allowance to every member while prevented by 
 sickness or bodily injury from following his usual occupation ; to pay a sum of 
 money upon the death of a member to his widow, child, or nominee, or to the 
 member himself in case of permanent incapacity for his ordinary employment 
 through accidental injury, severe sickness, or old age ; to pay a regular allow- 
 ance for life to any member who may be permanently incapacitated by acci- 
 dental injury or old age ; to pay an allowance to the widows of deceased mem- 
 bers, and to pay a sum of money upon the death of a member’s wife. Naturally 
 the contributions which entitle to these comprehensive benefits are corre- 
 spondingly high, and only within the means of this best-paid class of employes. 
 The members consist of two classes. Every new member pays an entrance fee, 
 according to age, and ranging from £1 to £8. No new member is admitted 
 above the age of 35. The entrance fee, as well as the current contributions, are 
 deducted from the member’s wages. 
 
 The weekly contributions are Is. 6 d. for first-class and Is. for second-class 
 members. If any member leaving the Company’s employ shall have belonged 
 to this society for six years or upwards, he has the option of either becoming a 
 “ non-resident ” member, or of claiming the payment of a portion of his con- 
 tribution paid to the society by him. 
 
 The benefits are as follows : — 
 
 1. A weekly allowance for sickness or bodily injury of 15s. in the first class 
 and 12s. 6 d. in the second class, the full amount being paid for twenty-six 
 weeks, and after that period one-half. 
 
 2. Assurance money, amounting to £100 in the first class and £60 in the 
 second class, payable (a) upon the death of a member, to his widow, children, 
 or nominee : (6) upon the permanent disablement of a member by accident or 
 severe sickness, preventing him from pursuing his ordinary occupation, to the 
 member himself; as also (c) on his retiring from his ordinary occupation, 
 having belonged to the society for not less than ten years, and being not less 
 than sixty years of age. 
 
 3. A weekly superannuation allowance of 12s. in the first class and 7s. 6 d. in 
 the second class, under the same conditions as to age and length of service as 
 last stated. 
 
Different Kinds of Friendly Societies. 
 
 211 
 
 so that we shall be justified in considering them here apart from 
 the societies of other large undertakings. 
 
 As regards their attitude and action in relation to the social 
 
 4. A weekly widow’s allowance of 6s. 6d. in the first class and 4s. in the 
 second class. 
 
 5. A wife’s funeral bonus of £5. 
 
 The right to sick benefit ceases, as is natural, with the receipt of an allow- 
 ance for old age or permanent disablement. 
 
 The management of the society is under the control of the Company’s officers. 
 The committee of management is elected from amongst the resident free mem- 
 bers of the society. The financial results of 1881-3 are as follow : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 No. of 
 Members. 
 
 Receipts. 
 
 Expenditure. 
 
 i f 
 
 Reserve* 
 
 Fund. 
 
 Contributions 
 of Members. 
 
 Contribution 
 of the 
 Company. 
 
 Interest. 
 
 Sick 
 
 Benefits. 
 
 Assurance 
 
 money. 
 
 Superannuation 
 
 Allowances. 
 
 Widows’ 
 
 Allowances. 
 
 Expenses of 
 Management. 
 
 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 i £ ! 
 
 1881 
 
 2313 
 
 7708 
 
 1200 
 
 1477 
 
 1902 
 
 1622 
 
 1532 
 
 1513 
 
 164 
 
 | 37,977 
 
 1882 
 
 2439 
 
 8082 
 
 1200 
 
 1569 
 
 1915 
 
 2842 
 
 1622 
 
 1614 
 
 185 
 
 ! 40,117 
 
 1883 
 
 2560 
 
 8337 
 
 1200 
 
 1666 
 
 2345 
 
 2224 
 
 1710 
 
 1841 
 
 175 
 
 j 43,417 
 
 The Railway Company use their influence to induce their employes to join 
 the society, but do not put any pressure upon them, so that many of their 
 workmen belong to free Friendly Societies, especially to lodges of the large 
 orders. Occasionally, also, they insure themselves elsewhere. 
 
 The most important among the institutions established with the aid of the 
 Company for their workmen and officers at Swindon is the Mechanics' Institu- 
 tion , the object of which is the improvement, instruction, and recreation of the 
 members. The library of 12,000 volumes is very much used. In 1883 49,625 
 books were lent out. The reading-room contains 24 daily papers and 154 weekly 
 and monthly publications. Every month there are lectures and musical enter- 
 tainments. The evening and advanced classes of this institute are well attended. 
 In 1883 the latter gave instruction to 255 persons. Arrangements have also 
 been made for singing and dancing classes. The Company arrange annual 
 pleasure trips for the members of the Mechanics’ Institution, by which several 
 hundred officers and workmen are sent, with their families, free of expense, to 
 London, Bristol, and the sea, and elsewhere. 
 
 The Company keep a park in Swindon, intended on Saturday afternoons for 
 cricket and football, in which the workmen take as zealous a part as the 
 officers. , 
 
 When work is over, about 6 o’clock in the evening, the rooms we have men- 
 
212 
 
 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 question in general, the same remarks apply to these railway 
 companies that we have applied to the large manufacturing 
 establishments. The former have not only founded Friendly 
 
 tioned begin to fill, and till 9 or 10 o’clock are the centre of intellectual occupa- 
 tion and social recreation. The institutes of this kind, of which there are a large 
 and increasing number in England, are perhaps the places best adapted to show 
 at a glance to the observer of English working-men’s relations what efforts are 
 being made to bring the workmen, not only in their ordinary habits but also 
 their amusements, into closer contact with other classes of society. 
 
 The London and North-Western Railway have their central works at Crewe, 
 a place which forty years ago was only a farm, where two families resided, but 
 which to-day has a population of 26,000, all of whom are directly or indirectly 
 dependent on the Company for employment. The latter has established here an 
 admirable system of relief, consisting of seven Friendly Societies, as follow : — 
 
 1. The Provident Society is intended for all kinds of workmen employed by 
 the Company. Its object is to provide a weekly allowance in cases of temporary 
 disablement for work, a retiring allowance for disabled members, and a sum at 
 death. The members are divided into two classes, according to the rate of 
 weekly wages. The scheme of insurance will be seen from the following 
 table : — 
 
 1 
 
 ; 
 
 
 Sum insured in case 
 of temporary dis- 
 ablement for work 
 owing to sickness 
 
 
 Retiring Gratuity, according 
 to length of membership. 
 
 
 Weekly 
 
 Payments. 
 
 or to ac 
 cnrred 
 in the 
 of duty 
 any cau 
 vided f 
 Rules c 
 surance 
 
 First 
 26 weeks. 
 
 cident in- 
 while not 
 discharge 
 , or from 
 senotpro- 
 or in the 
 if the In- 
 Society. 
 
 Second 
 26 weeks. 
 
 Sums 
 
 insured 
 
 in 
 
 case 
 
 of 
 
 death. 
 
 After 6 and not 
 exceeding 10 years. 
 
 After 10 and not 
 exceeding 15 years. 
 
 After 15 and not 
 exceeding 20 years. 
 
 After 20 years. 
 
 Class I. 
 
 Members re- 
 ceiving wages 
 of 12s. per 
 week and up- 
 wards . . . 
 
 4 d. 
 
 12s. 
 
 6s. 
 
 £10 
 
 £10 
 
 £20 
 
 £30 
 
 £40 
 
 Class II. 
 
 Members whose 
 wages are 
 under 12s. per 
 week . . . 
 
 2d. 
 
 6s. 
 
 3s. 
 
 £5 
 
 £5 
 
 £10 
 
 £15 
 
 £20 
 
 The Company give an annual contribution, and in case of a deficiency the 
 
Differe 7 it Kinds of Friendly Societies. 213 
 
 Societies, but provided in a comprehensive manner for their work- 
 men. The complexity of all their arrangements for the working- 
 men in their employ presents, indeed, a contrast to the inde- 
 committee may levy a sum not exceeding two additional weekly subscriptions 
 during a period of three months. 
 
 In 1883 the balance-sheet of this society was as follows : — Receipts : Mem- 
 bers’ premiums and cards, £13,472; Company’s annual subscription, £800; 
 fines, collected by the Company and paid in to the funds, £625 ; interest,. 
 £1,239. Expenditure: Death allowances, £1,270; weekly sick allowances, 
 £9,815 ; retiring gratuities, £270 ; special grants, £95 ; expenses of manage- 
 ment, £737. 
 
 2. The Insurance Society , established in 1871, is an accident insurance so- 
 ciety for the employes and workmen, with the exception of the engine-drivers and 
 their assistants. It pays in cases of temporary disablement by accident, whilst 
 in the discharge of duty and in the Company’s service, a weekly allowance 
 during the continuance of such disablement, not exceeding fifty-two weeks ; in 
 case of permanent disablement a retiring allowance, consisting of a lump sum ; 
 a similar sum in case of death arising from accident ; and, lastly, an allowance 
 in case of death not immediately due to accident. The members fall into two 
 categories : those who, in return for the promised benefits, have renounced 
 their claims against the Company under the Employers’ Liability Act of 1880, 
 and those who have not so renounced them. Each of these categories is sub- 
 divided into three classes, according to occupation and rate of wages : — 
 
 Class. 
 
 Weekly 
 
 Payments. 
 
 Retiring Allowance. 
 
 1. In case of permanent 
 
 disablement. 
 
 2. In case of death. 
 
 Weekly Allowance 
 in case of 
 temporary disable- 
 ment. 
 
 Sum insured in | 
 case of j 
 
 death not arising 
 from accident. 
 
 1st 
 
 3d. 
 
 £100 
 
 21s. 
 
 £10 
 
 2nd 
 
 2d. 
 
 £80 
 
 14s. 
 
 £10 
 
 3rd 
 
 Id. 
 
 £40 
 
 7s. 
 
 £5 | 
 
 1 
 
 The second category of members, consisting of those who have not contracted 
 themselves out of the Employers’ Liability Act, pay the same subscriptions, 
 but receive from one-half to two-thirds smaller allowances. In this way the 
 Company have succeeded in inducing most of their employes to renounce their 
 rights under the Act, the society itself being entirely dependent on the Com- 
 pany. In 1883, for instance, while the receipts from members’ premiums and 
 cards amounted to £16,256, and the interest on the reserve fund to £657, the 
 Company’s annual subscription was no less than £13,444. The expenditure 
 during the same year was as follows : Death allowances, £10,189 ; for per- 
 manent disablement, £3,880 ; for temporary disablement, £13,153 ; expenses 
 of management, £1,207. For the administrative purposes of the society the 
 Company’s whole line is divided into twelve districts, five delegates being 
 
214 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 pendent efforts of the working classes themselves, who in England 
 like best to stand on their own feet ; but the beneficent action of 
 the institutions called into life by, and subject to the influence of, 
 
 elected for each. These sixty delegates nominate twelve members of the com- 
 mittee of management, the remaining three being the Company’s nominees. 
 The chairman, deputy chairman, and secretary of the Company are ex ojjicio 
 trustees of the society. 
 
 3. The Mutual Insurance Society (“ Running Department ”) is an accident 
 insurance society, constituted similarly to the preceding, but intended specially 
 for the engine-drivers and their assistants. 
 
 4. The Works Mutual Insurance Society in the same way is an accident in- 
 surance society for the persons employed in the Company's engine and general 
 works, and is conducted on the same principles as the above. 
 
 5. The Pension Fund, established in May, 1883, is an old-age insurance 
 society for all the Company’s workmen earning weekly wages, with the excep- 
 tion of the locomotive staff. It consists of two classes, which entitle to a weekly 
 pension of 10s. and 7s. respectively. The Company give an annual subscrip- 
 tion of from £3,000 to £6,000. As a rule no member is entitled to a pension 
 till he has reached the age of 65. 
 
 6. The Locomotive Department Pension Fund is intended for persons engaged 
 at weekly wages in the locomotive department, and is similar in other respects 
 to the general “ Pension Fund.*’ 
 
 7. The Superannuation Fund Association , established in 1853, is for the Com- 
 pany’s officers, who pay towards it 2J per cent, of their salaries, the Company 
 contributing an equal sum. 
 
 At Crewe there is also a Mechanics’ Institute, with arrangements similar to 
 those at Swindon, but larger and more complete, having been more recently 
 established. Here, also, there is a gymnasium as well as a savings bank 
 attached to the Institute. 
 
 Great efforts have been made by the railway companies to promote the tem- 
 perance movement. Many of their chief officers wear the blue ribbon. At 
 Swindon a quarter of all the workmen are stated to have renounced all spirituous 
 liquors. At Crewe there is not a single public-house in the working-men’s 
 town built by the Company, but there is a large coffee and tea tavern, and also 
 a dining hall. 
 
 The Midland Railway Company have a Pension Fund for their salaried 
 officers. For all their employes, salaried and unsalaried, a society was estab- 
 lished in 1841, which has since been enlarged and registered under the name of 
 the Midland Railway Friendly Society , its objects being to insure against 
 sickness (including accident), to supply medical aid and medicines, and to make 
 provision for old age and burial. Admission is open to all between sixteen and 
 thirty-five, who pay an entrance fee varying, according to age, from 1*. to £1. 
 The premiums also are graduated according to age, but are low in comparison 
 with the benefits, the society being materially supported by the Company. 
 
Different Kinds of Friendly Societies . 
 
 215 
 
 the railway companies is acknowledged even by those who are the 
 most active in asserting the spirit of independence. 
 
 The management of these railway company societies lies in the 
 hands of committees chosen by the parties interested; in other 
 words, by the company’s officers and workmen. The presidents 
 and secretaries, however, are always superior officials of the 
 company, who also keep and administer the funds, so that these 
 societies, inasmuch as they require financially also the support of 
 the company, must be regarded as dependent on the company. 
 This preponderating influence is turned by the companies to 
 various account. While some of them use it with a strong hand, 
 others — and this merit belongs particularly to the Great Western 
 Railway — leave their societies more freedom of action. The 
 question in particular is how to take care that membership, and 
 the claims acquired by long connection with the society and con- 
 tributions to its funds, should not be lost when the member leaves 
 the company’s service ; and that the company, therefore, should 
 not have the means of keeping him in their service against his 
 real interests. Some societies have rules in this respect, which 
 
 Members leaving the Company’s service, provided they are thirty years of age 
 and have been employed at least eight years, can claim a reimbursement of 25 
 per cent, of their contributions, after deduction being made of the allowances 
 which they have actually drawn during membership. If the retiring member is 
 thirty-eight years of age, and has been sixteen years in the Company’s employ, 
 he can continue to belong to the society as an “ out-member,” subject, however, 
 to certain restrictive conditions. Ordinary sick pay amounts to 12s. a week for 
 the first twenty-six weeks, and after that to 6s. a week while the sickness lasts. 
 In case of disablement by accident when in the Company’s service, the members 
 receive accidental sick pay of 15s. and 7s. 6 d. a week ; and, if out-members, of 
 10s. and 5s. The superannuation allowance is payable after sixty-five years of 
 age, and amounts to 6s. weekly. For burial money the society pays — in case 
 the member’s death has occurred in the Company’s service, or in necessarily 
 crossing or traversing a railway in going to or from his duties — a sum of £25 ; in 
 other cases, £12 ; and in the case of the death of a member’s wife, £5. From 
 the statement of accounts for 1883 we learn that the society on 31st December, 
 1883, numbered 18,600 members, and had a reserve fund of £76,846. The 
 receipts for that year include : Entrance fees, £244 ; members’ contributions, 
 £27,891; Company’s subscription, £9,000; and interest on reserve capital, 
 £2,546. Among the largest items of expenditure are sick and accident allow- 
 ances, £16,771 ; medical aid, etc., £3,982 ; burial money, £3,038 ; and super- 
 annuation allowances, £980. 
 
21 6 
 
 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 allow persons who have left the company’s service to continue, 
 though for the most part under certain onerous conditions, as 
 11 non-resident members,” or at least to be partially reimbursed 
 when leaving. 
 
 As regards the extent and objects of insurance, these societies 
 are remarkable in two respects. While, as we have already 
 had occasion to observe, the English Friendly Societies in 
 general recognise no distinction between sick and accident in- 
 surance, the peculiarly dangerous character of some branches of 
 employment connected with railways has caused the railway com- 
 panies to establish special societies for insuring against accident, 
 societies which exist side by side with the sick societies. These 
 accident insurance societies are largely subsidised by the com- 
 panies, who, on the other hand, leave the sick insurance, to a pre- 
 ponderating extent, to the independent working-men’s Friendly 
 Societies, and, above all, to the lodges of the large orders, all of 
 which develop a great activity concurrently with the railway 
 company societies. Some of these last-named societies have done 
 undeniable service by constituting provision for old age and 
 widowhood, a provision which is made possible, on the one hand, 
 by the fact that the company’s servants belong to a large extent 
 to the best paid workmen, and therefore are able to pay the 
 necessary premiums, and, on the other, by the fact that the com- 
 panies themselves give no unimportant contributions. 
 
 As regards the strictly actuarial side of these railway societies, 
 their financial condition differs very widely. As to some of 
 them, we have heard, on good authority, some very unfavourable 
 opinions, and their solvency seems to be doubtful, but the efforts 
 made by all the English Friendly Societies during the last ten 
 years to discover a sound basis of calculation, and introduce a 
 stricter management, have produced a salutary effect also on the 
 railway societies. Some of them are registered, and seek to im- 
 prove their system of insurance by the published experiences of 
 the large working-men’s orders. The transition from the system 
 of levies to a rational system of premiums, which is pursued so 
 conscientiously by the last-named societies, is only beginning to 
 make its way with the railway societies, most of them demanding 
 contributions from their members, which, by themselves would be 
 
Different Kinds of Friendly Societies. 
 
 21 7 
 
 far too small to cover the promised annuities and allowances from 
 the funds, and which have to be supplemented by occasional 
 levies and subsidies from the company. 
 
 These railway societies are therefore, notwithstanding the de- 
 fects to which some of them are liable, an important branch of 
 English working-men’s insurance. Their social importance is 
 enhanced by the fact that they form only a portion of those 
 measures which the English railway companies are taking in 
 hand for their officers and workmen. By the establishment of 
 workmen’s dwellings, schools, mechanics’ institutes, dining halls, 
 lavatories, and baths, by their promotion of temperance societies 
 and savings banks, by their strict observance of the Eactory Acts 
 in their works, by their precautions for safety, etc., many of the 
 large railway companies have, as we have already remarked, 
 materially improved the condition of their workmen. In conse- 
 quence of the higher standard of life, and the better moral conduct 
 of the members, the system of insurance acquires that support of 
 which all provident institutions stand in need. 
 
 11. Tine Working-Men’s Orders. 
 
 We come now to the most important class of Eriendly Societies, 
 the large working-men’s orders. They occupy so prominent a 
 position in the development of the system of working-class in- 
 surance, that we shall not only have occasion hereafter to refer 
 to them frequently in connection with the literary and actuarial 
 side of the question, but must reserve the two leading orders— 
 namely, the Manchester Unity and the Foresters — as the subject 
 of special examination. We propose, in this place, to sketch 
 generally the extension and external structure of these societies.* 
 
 The orders originated, as regards the leading bodies amongst 
 them, in the last or early in the present century, but since then 
 
 * A comprehensive statistical or historical work on the English working- 
 men’s orders does not exist ; the most done in this respect is the accounts given 
 of the Manchester Unity and the Foresters. A good survey of the most import- 
 tant orders, describing their condition in 1870-1872, is contained in the Fourth 
 Report of the Commission, p. xxv. sqq. Since then there has been published, 
 in 1880, a “ Short History of the Chief Affiliated Friendly Societies,” being a 
 collection of anonymous articles which originally appeared in the Leeds Express 
 and were written by a tried friend of Friendly Societies. Copious but very 
 
21 8 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 their number has been increased by secessions and re-organizations. 
 They were constituted as unions of local societies, which carried 
 on the system of relief in different ways, but in addition to that 
 
 scattered material is famished by the periodical and daily press, and especially 
 by the papers and reviews which constitute the special organs of these societies. 
 
 The oldest of the English working-men’s orders is the Odd Fellows. The 
 origin of this order goes back to the first half of the eighteenth century, but the 
 exact date cannot be ascertained. It is now divided into a large number of 
 branches, which form entirely independent orders ; only the older branches 
 exhibit certain common features in their rules. Unquestionably the Odd Fellows 
 during the last century approximated most nearly of all the orders to Free- 
 masonry, and have adopted many of its forms. The various orders of the Odd 
 Fellows, however, are not only wholly independent of each other, but have 
 assumed very different degrees of extension and importance, on which account 
 we propose to consider them separately. 
 
 The place of honour among these orders is now contested by the Independent 
 Order of Odd Fellows, named briefly the Manchester Unity, and the Ancient 
 Order of Foresters. Both of them are far ahead of all other orders. 
 
 The Manchester Unity was founded in 1822, and has since then enormously 
 increased in magnitude. About fifty years ago it numbered 781 lodges, with 
 47.638 members ; at the end of 1886 there were 4,351 lodges, with 617, 5S7 
 members, scattered not only over the whole kingdom, but also through most of 
 the colonies, and in Gibraltar, Malta, Constantinople, Buenos Ayres, and New 
 York. 
 
 This order holds the first place as regards the efforts to improve its actuarial 
 and financial position. The experiences it has made have been of the utmost 
 service to the literature of Friendly Societies. Its example has had a very 
 favourable effect, and its reputation in England stands very high. The head- 
 quarters of the order are at Manchester, but the Annual Moveable Committee 
 (known shortly as the A.M.C.) hold their annual meetings every year in a 
 different town. Since 1824 the order has had a periodical of its own, the 
 Monthly Magazine of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows , Manchester Unity , 
 which is published in Manchester. The highest functionary of the order is the 
 Grand-Master. Each lodge has its own name (such as “ Flower of Kent,” 
 “ Lily of the Valley,” “ Rising . . .”). The motto of the whole order is, 
 
 “ Friendship, love, and truth.” 
 
 The Foresters began in 1745, in Leeds, as the “ Order of Royal Foresters.” 
 This order also, like all the rest, was not spared several internal struggles, 
 secessions, disunion, and financial mistakes ; but since 1834 especially, when it 
 was reorganized and took its present name, the “Ancient Order of Foresters,” 
 it has made increasing progress. In 1845 it numbered 1,456 courts, with 65,909 
 members ; at the end of 1886 it had 5,007 courts, with 667,570 members, and 
 15,652 honorary members, in Great Britain and the colonies. This order also 
 has done great service to the study of insurance statistics. Its popularity has 
 largely increased of late years. The annual meetings of delegates are held 
 
Different Kinds of Friendly Societies. 
 
 219 
 
 —frequently, indeed, as offshoots of, or in imitation of Free- 
 masonry — promoted as their avowed objects the sense of brother- 
 hood and union among their members, by word and deed, by 
 
 yearly, like those of the Manchester Unity, in a different town, but it is a 
 peculiarity of the Foresters that their Central Executive Council also follows 
 these wanderings, and is removed from place to place. The Foresters have 
 published since 1836 a quarterly magazine, entitled, The Foresters' Miscellany , 
 which is always issued from the place where the Executive Council then happens 
 to be sitting. t.. 
 
 The symbols and ceremonial of this order are borrowed from' forestry. In 
 former times the present courts were called swainmotes ( swanemotum ). The 
 presidents of these courts, and of the districts and the High Court, are named 
 respectively Chief Banger, District Chief Banger, and High Chief Ranger, and 
 the vice-presidents Sub-Chief Banger, District Sub-Chief Banger, and High 
 Sab-Chief Banger. Each court has also a Woodward, who is entrusted with 
 the control of the sick insurance. 
 
 The colours of the order are green, and its motto is “ Benevolence, unity, 
 concord.” Of late years the order has abandoned many of the symbols and 
 ceremonies connected with the admission or funeral of a member, so that at the 
 present day little more survives beyond the old-fashioned names, and the fond- 
 ness for recalling forest life as much as possible, on the occasions of their meet- 
 ings and public processions, in the ornaments and emblems. The distinctions, 
 however, worn by the members and office-holders at their official meetings, still 
 remain from the time when the fanciful and mysterious had a fascination for 
 the otherwise practical and sober-minded member. 
 
 Stress has often been laid on the practical value of the pass-word, which is 
 always given out for three months by the executive council of the order (such 
 as “ Be truthful,” “Love and happiness,” and so forth). It is certainly useful 
 as a voucher for members, especially for such as are on their journeyings, and 
 are unknown to the functionaries of the courts where they wish to be intro- 
 duced. There are also certain signs of recognition in use, which serve the 
 same purpose. 
 
 The Grand United Order of Odd Fellows is the third largest of the affiliated 
 orders. Its origin dates back to the last century. The sittings of the Grand- 
 Master were formerly at Leeds, and are now at Manchester. This order also 
 has largely increased in strength of late years : in 1866 it numbered 67,229 
 members, and in September, 1878, no less than 102,657, distributed among 
 1,567 lodges. About one-fifth of these members are in America. The consti- 
 tution of this order is more democratic than that of most of the others, and in 
 America a considerable number of coloured men belong to it. In the United 
 States this order has also 116 women’s lodges, known as the “Household of 
 Ruth,” the object of which is to minister to sick brethren. In England the 
 order assists its brethren who are travelling in search of work with an allow- 
 ance of three farthings a mile, and witji night lodgings by means of 60 stations. 
 
 The Order of Druids was founded in 1858, being the res ult of a split and of 
 
220 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 conviviality, and by mutual advice. Even at tlie present day they 
 pursue both objects, though, as compared with former years, the 
 insurance side of these orders has assumed importance and be- 
 come predominating. These orders consist, then, of a larger or 
 smaller number of single societies, mostly called lodges. The 
 smaller orders have a more local importance and character, the 
 larger ones are spread over all parts of the British Empire, and 
 have lodges in England, Scotland, Ireland, and the colonies. 
 
 It would scarcely be possible to state from statistical works 
 on the subject, or parliamentary reports, the total number of 
 these orders, and give exact figures of their strength, receipts, 
 expenditure, and funds. The writings which lie before us deal 
 only with the more important orders, above all with the Man- 
 chester Unity and the Foresters. The Report of the Commission 
 
 a subsequent union of a part of the Ancient Order of Druids, and has its seat 
 of government at Manchester. It has lodges (called “groves”) both in America 
 and Germany. At the end of 1878 it numbered altogether 72,818 members, in 
 128 districts and 1,285 groves. Half of these members are in Lancashire and 
 Yorkshire. 
 
 The Loyal Order of Shepherds ( Ashton Unity) was founded in 1826, and has 
 its head-quarters in Lancashire and Yorkshire. Formerly it adhered closely 
 to a ceremonial emblematic of shepherd life, and the brethren used to meet 
 attired in aprons of lamb’s wool and broad hats. To this day the grand- 
 master of the order bears the title of Chief Shepherd. In 1883 this order had 
 906 lodges in 105 districts, with 64,525 members. It makes registration com- 
 pulsory on all the lodges. Like the Manchester Unity, the Foresters, and other 
 orders, it has fitted out in 1880 a lifeboat fully equipped and furnished. 
 
 The National Independent Order of Odd Fellows was formerly a branch of the 
 Odd Fellows, but since 1844 has been independent. Its head-quarters are in 
 Yorkshire. In 1888 it numbered 597 lodges, with 47,026 members. By means 
 of an “ Extension Fund ” this order defrays the expenses of establishing new 
 lodges, of which it has some even in New Zealand. 
 
 The National United Order of Free Gardeners originated in 1820, as the 
 re-organization of an old order of Free Gardeners. In 1878 it numbered 691 
 lodges in 94 districts, with a total of 43,144 members. 
 
 The Nottingham Ancient Imperial United Order of Odd Fellows became an 
 independent order in 1810, and in 1883 numbered 41,263 members. In addition 
 to this, there are a British United Order of Odd Fellows , an Independent Order 
 of Odd Fellows ( Kingston Unity), and a Leeds United Order of Odd Fellows. 
 
 Am ong the numerous other minor orders may be mentioned the Order of 
 Rechabites (Salford Unity), whose members are bound to become abstainers. 
 The members of the Sons of Temperance order are also teetotalers. The order 
 of Ahabath Olam is confined to Jews. 
 
Different Kinds of Friendly Societies . 
 
 221 
 
 of 1874, however, publishes a list which, the Commissioners state, 
 comprised, so far as they were aware, all orders numbering at that 
 time more than 1,000 members. The data respecting these orders 
 — thirty-four in number — relate only to England and Wales, and to 
 the period between 1870 and 1872. The total number of members 
 of these thirty-four orders was then 1,252,275, of whom it was esti- 
 mated that ten per cent, at least should probably be deducted for 
 double membership, leaving a total of 1,134,000. On the other 
 hand, an important addition must be made for Scotland, Ireland, 
 and the colonies. During the last fifteen years the strength of 
 these orders has considerably increased. Thus the Manchester 
 Unity, which had in Great Britain and Ireland at the end of 1872, 
 3,551 lodges, with 436,918 members, numbered ten years later, 
 3,565 lodges, with 506,352 members. Within the same period the 
 number of members in the colonies and foreign parts increased 
 from 33,125 to more than 50,000. The Foresters, which had 
 in Great Britain and Ireland in 1872, 3,738 courts and 400,217 
 members, had ten years later no less than 3,957 courts and 531,987 
 members, not including the members in the colonies and foreign 
 countries, who increased in the same period from 21,771 to about 
 50,000. We are only able to give the strength of thirteen out of 
 the above thirty-four orders at the end of 1883. This was alto- 
 gether 1,646,934 members, as against 1,128,000 twelve years 
 earlier. These are figures which afford a proof not only of the 
 general importance of this class of Friendly Societies, but of their 
 rapid growth since the returns published by the Commission of 
 1874. We see also that to the Manchester Unity and the Forest- 
 ers falls the lion’s share in the extension of these orders. 
 
 The orders gave themselves, in earlier days more than at pre- 
 sent, by means of a kind of ritual, consisting of certain names and 
 symbols, passwords and signs, a certain air of mystery, which 
 contributed not a little to attract members. All these external 
 forms have now only a subordinate importance, although certain 
 formulas and passwords are still retained, which, together with 
 the often most eccentric names of functionaries, devices, symbols, 
 and emblems of the order, present a strange contrast to the 
 thoroughly practical and sober objects of insurance against sick- 
 ness and accident. 
 
222 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 The most important point in the whole organization of these 
 orders is the relation of the various lodges to the central govern- 
 ing body. In general, every local branch is independent, has its 
 own rules, receipts, expenditure, and fund. Above them all 
 stands the central body of the order, consisting of an annual as- 
 sembly of delegates from all the lodges, — a kind of parliament, 
 with an executive committee, responsible to the general meeting 
 and elected by the delegates. In the large orders a division into 
 districts is introduced between the branches and the central body, 
 with a district management, composed again of an assembly of 
 delegates and an executive committee. As regards the objects of 
 insurance, the branches were until comparatively recent years 
 entirely independent ; they could institute sick or death insur- 
 ances as well as any others, according as they found it suitable to 
 their purpose ; but latterly, in nearly all the orders, a decidedly 
 centralizing tendency has appeared, inasmuch as the central 
 bodies exercise more and more influence on the business of insur- ‘ 
 ance and the management of the branches, and, moreover, seek to 
 obtain a broader basis for some objects of insurance than that 
 of the comparatively small lodges. Thus many orders leave sick 
 benefits to the branches, but bind them to certain tables of pre- 
 miums and rules of management, while assigning the insurance 
 of funeral benefits to the district bodies. Quite recently the two 
 large orders — the Manchester Unity and Foresters — have insti- 
 tuted an independent insurance against old age, which is to be 
 managed on a purely central principle. In general, it may be 
 said that the central power in nearly all the orders is increasing, 
 although this preponderance is in many respects a moral one, and 
 not one based on any rules. From the central body in nearly all 
 the orders proceeds a strong impulse in favour of improving the 
 tables of premiums, the management and the financial adminis- 
 tration of the lodges and districts ; its executive committee 
 watches over the observance of the general rules of the order, 
 which form the basis for the rules of the various districts and 
 lodges; and lastly, it settles disputes; — all this, however, not 
 without opposition from the local elements, which in these English 
 institutions have such a strong sense of independence that they 
 will only allow a central power to ripen by degrees. 
 
Different Kinds of Friendly Societies . 223 
 
 These orders are destined unquestionably to play an increas- 
 ingly large part among the English Friendly Societies. By de- 
 grees, societies, which were formerly independent, are oither 
 joining these large orders or being re-established as lodges of the 
 order. This power of attraction is very natural, and it is equally 
 natural that just the largest orders exercise it most strongly. A 
 union spread over, the country in many thousand lodges, offers in 
 all those places to its members, whether on travel, or on resettle- 
 ment, advantages which a local society does not possess. The 
 various lodges of the order serve usually as places of payment for 
 each other ; in many orders a member can step from one lodge to 
 another ; and in all cases the lodge in a strange town is a place 
 for every member of the order, where he finds information and 
 advice, conversation, company, and brotherly support. The feel- 
 ing of belonging to a powerful, rich, and large fraternity is not 
 less attractive in its operation, and if frequently the purely ex- 
 ternal manifestation of the order, with its symbols, processions 
 and festivities has an attractive effect, it is certainly just as often, 
 and oftener, a wholesome sense of comradeship that induces 
 members to join. It is precisely the educated workmen, — men who 
 take an active interest in the question of insurance, and aspire to 
 gain knowledge on this subject, and give practical effect to their 
 knowledge, — who turn to the large orders in which the system of 
 insurance forms continually a subject of searching discussion, and 
 one which has given birth to a literature that will mark an epoch. 
 The annual balance-sheets of the branches and districts, as well 
 as the general reports and other publications of the orders, the 
 periodicals issued by many of the orders, the announcement of 
 prizes for essays on important questions, and, above all, the con- 
 tinual discussion at the lodge and district and general meetings, 
 are invaluable opportunities to the members of obtaining know- 
 ledge, extending that knowledge, and preparing themselves for 
 practical activity — first in the lodges, then on the district, and 
 finally on the central executive committee. In this way the order 
 trains up the persons who stand at the head of its affairs; When 
 with this experience, extending over many years, is combined the 
 accumulation of theoretical knowledge, the result is the turning 
 out of those leaders conscious of their aim, to whom the orders 
 
224 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 are indebted for tbeir prosperity. Usually the best articles which 
 we read in scientific publications on questions of working-men’s 
 insurance, proceed from those men who have thus educated them- 
 selves up by practical experience and industrious study. 
 
 Besides these men, self-government in the orders has developed 
 a kind of official class. The hierarchical composition of these 
 unions, the necessity of carrying out large schemes of organization 
 and actuarial business, conducting the publications of the order, 
 and arranging the general meetings, have led to the appointment 
 of permanent secretaries. These are standing salaried officials, 
 who, usually with some assistants, perform the office work of the 
 central body of management. Practically, however, they are 
 far more than mere executive organs of the central committee, 
 since they represent the permanent element of administration as 
 opposed to the changing composition of the committee. In their 
 hands lies the care of all current business ; they answer the in- 
 quiries made by the various lodges, keep up an extensive corre- 
 spondence with the Chief Registrar, collect statistics, prepare the 
 returns which the lodges are required to send in, and altogether 
 attend to all affairs connected, according to the rules, with the 
 central administration of the order. The districts and lodges also 
 have their permanent secretaries, though these are more seldom 
 salaried officers, devoted exclusively to this service. 
 
 As to the financial condition, as well as the management of 
 these orders, we have yet to speak. In forming a general opinion, 
 it must not be forgotten that the separate societies, of which these 
 orders are composed, were established at different times and under 
 different circumstances, and therefore differ widely in their ad- 
 ministration and insurance, and especially in their financial position. 
 The new lodges, which had at their disposal, when founded, all 
 kinds of literary assistance, experience, and model rules, are 
 usually better situated in the last respect than the older ones, the 
 basis of which is frequently defective, and which reform them- 
 selves only by degrees, since it is easier to establish on a sound 
 basis a new apparatus of insurance, than to improve an old and 
 unsound one. 
 
 It cannot be denied that certain drawbacks are connected with 
 the organization of the large orders, which are urged in particular 
 
Different Kinds of Friendly Societies. 
 
 225 
 
 by those who are able to point to well and cheaply-managed inde- 
 pendent societies. The threefold administration of lodges, dis- 
 tricts, and the order naturally occasions great expenses, which are 
 swelled by the travelling expenses of the delegates who attend 
 the general meetings, and increase the amount of the members’ 
 contributions. Moreover, the competition between the separate 
 orders frequently asserts itself in a disadvantageous manner, since 
 the one may take away the ground from the other by establishing 
 lodges in the same locality, and in this way many small Friendly 
 Societies have originated unnecessarily. That complaints should 
 be made of cliqueism is not surprising ; and that the settlement of 
 disputes in these large orders suffers from many defects must be 
 admitted ; but after conceding all due importance to these dis- 
 advantages, the advantages of the large affiliated orders appear 
 largely to preponderate. Certain it is that the best part of English 
 workmen turn to them with increasing interest, and that their 
 influence on the higher grades of workmen is immense, for they 
 have become schools of morals, and of thrift, providence, and 
 business knowledge, such as scarcely exist elsewhere. 
 
 As regards the important question, from what classes of the 
 population and working-men the members of these orders are 
 recruited, proper statistical data unfortunately are wanting. But 
 it may be said with truth that these orders comprise the pick of 
 the English working class, that daily wage-earners and agricul- 
 tural labourers find admission to them only in small numbers, the 
 contributions, as a rule, being beyond their means; while, on the 
 other hand, factory superintendents, artisans, shop-assistants, and 
 members of the lower middle-class, form a strong contingent to 
 them. 
 
 12. Societies of Females and Young Persons. 
 
 Friendly Societies intended exclusively for females do not 
 form a class distinguished by any special features, but exhibit 
 forms entirely analogous to those of the large mass of other 
 Friendly Societies. There are separate societies for females, as 
 well as affiliated orders, such as the Female Foresters, Female 
 Druids, Female Gardeners, Female Rechabites, Odd Females, 
 Odd Sisters, Ancient Shepherdesses, and others. In the north of 
 
 Q 
 
226 
 
 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 England, where burial societies in general are especially numerous, 
 there are also Female Burial Societies, which are sometimes 
 termed u life-boxes.” Many of these female Friendly Societies are 
 dividing societies. The evidence with regard to these female 
 societies, which was collected by the Commission in 1874, was 
 generally unfavourable. Most of them are unregistered. Their 
 financial position is very precarious, the connection of the 
 branches with the affiliated female orders is loose, and the tone 
 and management of these societies are far from satisfactory.* 
 
 Since the Friendly Societies established for men have latterly 
 more and more extended their objects of insurance, and made pro- 
 vision also for the relief of the wives, widows, and orphans of their 
 members, these exclusively female societies seem, as is natural, 
 to be losing importance. Sir George Young is plainly right in 
 saying : “ The best and most obvious provision for the women in 
 a working-man’s family is the man’s own club, if to the usual 
 benefits which are thereby afforded can be added a subscription 
 for medical aid to the whole family, such as has been sometimes 
 attempted among the Foresters, and is frequently provided in clubs 
 started, for that purpose only, by the doctor himself. The Female 
 Friendly Society appears to be of small comparative value. When 
 girls earn wages the conditions are of course altered ; but even 
 here the accumulation of savings in a savings bank, more especially 
 if the limited insurance against sickness provided by Mr. Best’s 
 deposit principle could be secured, appears far preferable to the 
 machinery of an ordinary sick club.” 
 
 We must mention, however, an attempt very recently made 
 (1885) to form a large affiliated female order, the United Sisters 
 Friendly Society (Suffolk Unity) the president of which is the 
 Rev. J. Frome Wilkinson, of Long Melford, in Suffolk. This order 
 is intended to unite registered female branches into a large central 
 association, after the pattern of the large affiliated orders of work- 
 ing-men. The management, so far as is practicable and necessary, 
 lies in the hands of females, as, in particular, the supervision of 
 cases of sickness ; while, on the other hand, the financial and ac- 
 tuarial part of the business is entrusted to several experts. By 
 
 Fourth Keport, pp. cxliii.-cxlv. 
 
Different Kinds of Friendly Societies . 
 
 227 
 
 this means it is hoped that women of the higher classes will join 
 the lodges, and that a favourable co-operation will be effected 
 between the female members of the order and the administrative 
 body, consisting of men.* An important extension of the Friendly 
 Society idea has been made some time ago for young persons, by 
 means of the so-called “ Juvenile Friendly Societies.” The first 
 attempts took their origin from the Sunday schools, in which 
 pupils and teachers contributed to a fund for sickness and burial. 
 By this means habits of providence and thrift have been taught 
 not without success. More recently the large working-men’s orders, 
 particularly the Foresters, have taken in hand the question of 
 juvenile branches for young persons, intended to serve as stepping- 
 stones to admission into their branches.f 
 
 * From the rules of this United Sisters Friendly Society, which have been 
 taken from those of the large working-men’s orders, and whose tables of pre- 
 miums have been prepared by the experienced actuary, Mr. Reuben Watson, we 
 quote the following provisions : — 
 
 The promised benefits are: sick allowance, burial allowance, superannuation 
 allowance after the age of 65, and medical aid and attendance, and also “ tem- 
 porary relief in distress ” can be insured for. The first three benefits are obtain- 
 able under a strict system of premiums. The other expenses are met by levies. 
 The society is open to females between 16 and 45. For sick and burial insur- 
 ance there are four classes, the sick benefit ranging from 4s. to 10s. a week, and 
 the burial allowance from £3 to £6. The “ Sisters ” have the option of insuring 
 themselves against sickness either for life or by another arrangement, according 
 to which the sick insurance ceases at the age of 65, and gives place to a super- 
 annuation allowance. The sick benefit is paid in full for the first six months 
 of sickness, and after that in half. Confinement is not counted as sickness, 
 and a sick allowance can only be drawn after four weeks have elapsed since the 
 delivery. 
 
 f Quite recently the “ Foresters ” have realised a scheme for concentrating 
 their juvenile branches into one great union. The rules of this “Juvenile 
 Foresters’ Federation ” have in view a close connection between the various 
 courts, for the purposes of rendering each other mutual assistance, collecting 
 statistical material, publishing an annual directory, and enabling any juvenile 
 member to remove from one court to another, and, if 18 years of age and up- 
 wards, to enter one of the courts for adults. The central government of this 
 Juvenile Foresters’ Federation is always at the same place as that of the order. 
 
 From the “ Juvenile Foresters’ Directory ” for 1885 we gather that in 1884 there 
 were 1,037 courts for juveniles, with 58,777 members, of which 969 courts, with 
 55,812, were in Great Britain, and 68 courts, with 2,965 members in the colonies 
 (especially Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and Australia) and in the United 
 States. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Reform Movement inside the Friendly Societies. 
 
 ."Benevolence and not insurance the original object of Friendly Societies.— Early 
 causes of collapse. — Evils caused by drinking habits. — Opposite tendencies 
 to Self-help and State supervision. — Legislation a series of compromises. 
 — Threefold objects of reform. 
 
 (A) Friendly Society Literature. Dr. Price’s Northampton Tables of 
 Sickness and Mortality. — The Highland Society’s Tables.— Mr. Ansell’s 
 Tables. — Neison’s “ Contributions to Vital Statistics.”— Quinquennial 
 Returns, 1845-1850. — Mr. A. G. Finlaison’s “ Government Tables.”— Mr. 
 Ratcliffe’s labours for the Manchester Unity.— Mr. Neison and the Fores- 
 ters’ Experiences.— Actuarial value of these investigations. — Other workers 
 in the field. — Mr. Tidd Pratt. — Mr. Charles Hardwick. — Mr. Neison, jun. — 
 Friendly Society publications. — Report of the Commission of 1871-1874. — 
 Reports of the Chief Registrar.— Institute of Actuaries. 
 
 (B) Insurance System. Funeral and sick benefits.— Conditions of the 
 old levy system ; its want of stability. — Gradual transition to the new 
 premium system. — Financial advantages of secessions. — Calculation of 
 average liabilities. — Graduation of premiums. — Causes of early insolvency. 
 — Hindrances to reform. — Elements in calculation of risks. — Question of 
 occupation ; practice of Friendly Societies in this respect. — Valuations. — 
 Fluctuations in Friendly Societies. — Difficulties and prejudices. 
 
 (C) Management. Common features of all Friendly Societies.— Spirit 
 of independence in the working classes; their growing intelligence. — 
 Middle-class co-operation.— Social character of the Societies.— Officers. — 
 Rules. — Question of extent of a society. — Efforts at amalgamation. — Dis- 
 trict Associations. — Equalization. — Amalgamated Societies. — Investment of 
 funds. — Investment Associations. — Expenses of management. — Precautions 
 against shamming sickness.— Settlement of disputes. — Good effects of the 
 Temperance Movement. — Social advantages of the Societies. — Publicity of 
 their arrangements. 
 
 Having made ourselves acquainted with the different forms as- 
 sumed by Friendly Societies in England, we proceed to our main 
 task ; namely, to show how, inside these widespread and multi- 
 form institutions, the difficult questions of actuarial calculation, 
 
 228 
 
Reform Movement inside the Friendly Societies . 229 
 
 financial management, and general government have been dealt 
 with, what progress has been made in these respects, and to what 
 extent, therefore, these societies may be regarded as having 
 achieved the objects of working-men’s insurance. 
 
 We must add here a remark which we have already had occa- 
 sion to make. The Friendly Societies were established in the first 
 instance, in the early part of the present century, as institutions 
 for mutual relief and maintenance ; it was almost unconsciously 
 that they undertook the business of insurance, and it was only 
 by degrees that they changed themselves into consolidated 
 societies, based upon actuarial principles. This process of transi- 
 tion, which even now has not been completed in all these socie- 
 ties, has proceeded very slowly, and the experience acquired has 
 been dearly purchased. 
 
 In earlier days, complaints of abuses in the various Friendly 
 Societies, such as insolvency, dissolution, mismanagement, and 
 even dishonesty, were matters of daily occurrence. No one can 
 take up any old parliamentary report dealing with this subject 
 without finding the heaviest indictments against a large portion 
 of these societies, and it is the very men who devoted all their 
 abilities to assisting them with their statistical and actuarial 
 labours, who have judged them most severely. Their criticisms 
 are only too well founded. The Friendly Societies had under- 
 taken, with wholly inadequate machinery, a task for which, as 
 originally constituted, they were unfitted. 
 
 In their primitive form the Friendly Societies, as we have 
 already seen, consisted of clubs or groups of persons who levied 
 sums to cover the expenses of sickness or burial, when occasion 
 arose. That went on as long as the members were of an age 
 fit to work, and the cases of illness or death were few. But 
 when, as the members grew older, the sums to be levied increased 
 at a high rate of progression, it was all over with the society, and 
 the workhouse was the sad conclusion. But even when monthly 
 or weekly subscriptions were collected, instead of occasional 
 levies, and by accumulating a reserve fund the societies began to 
 show some approximation to a regularly organized system of in- 
 surance, — it was more a matter of accident, especially of favour- 
 able circumstances or of exceptionally cautious management, when 
 
230 
 
 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 they remained solvent for any long period. Usually the payments 
 were small out of all proportion to the benefits, and were the 
 same from all the members, without distinction, whether they were 
 young or old, and represented, therefore, better or worse risks. 
 The obligations of a Friendly Society thus situated could only be 
 discharged by making the contributions of the newly entered 
 younger members cover the expenses occasioned by the older ones. 
 The smaller the society, the more evident this became, and many 
 of them sought to help themselves by insisting that no older 
 member should be admitted, unless he brought a younger one 
 in as well. But, in spite of all efforts, the younger members 
 frequently refused to join the society, or left it to found a new 
 one ; and then, after the reseive fund, seldom a considerable one, 
 was exhausted, the dissolution of the society — combined with 
 what was considered to be scandalous injustice to their oldest 
 members, who now received nothing, after all their years’ con- 
 tributions — was the inevitable result. In these few lines is 
 summed up the fate of many hundreds of Friendly Societies, 
 which have collapsed from sheer want of plan. 
 
 Many societies, however, succumbed to the opposite danger — 
 namely, the attempt, when a considerable fund has been accumu- 
 lated, to divide it among the members, and thus dissolve the society. 
 
 Associated with these were a number of other evils. In every 
 town, and even in villages, there were frequently several Friendly 
 Societies, all of which fished for members and tried to underbid 
 each other. This competition worked very mischievously ; it was 
 very often an occasion for a new society, which sought to induce 
 members to join it, to try to do with smaller contributions than 
 its older rivals, regardless of the probabilities of sickness or death, 
 and regardless also of the age or occupation of its members. The 
 consequences were as inevitable as they were mischievous. 
 
 An inveterate vice, which is complained of over and over again 
 in earlier official reports and in the newspapers of some decades 
 ago, consisted in the habit of most Friendly Societies to make 
 use of their general meetings for drinking bouts, and, indeed, to 
 spend a portion of their receipts in regular libations. Many 
 Friendly Societies were started as a speculation by the publicans 
 themselves, who took care that at the meetings held at their 
 
Reform Movement inside the Friendly Societies. 231 
 
 houses — often as directed by the rules — a certain quantity of 
 spirituous liquor should be consumed. 
 
 The Reports of the Registrar of Friendly Societies from 
 1850 to 1870 contain a multitude of letters, newspaper articles, 
 and reports of cases tried in courts of law, which enable one 
 to see how widespread was this last-named evil among Friendly 
 Societies throughout the country, even at a time when the refor- 
 mation of these institutions had already made great progress. 
 The then Registrar, Mr. Tidd Pratt, inveighs constantly in his 
 Reports, with the zeal of true morality, against the ruin brought 
 on Friendly Societies by habits of drink. He never failed to 
 expose all the worst cases that came under his notice, and if this 
 has been charged against him frequently as an excess of his official 
 duties, it was certainly very largely due to his exertions that the 
 evil since then has been decidedly checked. 
 
 Were we to enumerate the further sins charged against the older 
 Friendly Societies, we ought not to pass over the kind of so-called 
 management, which was frequently nothing but arbitrariness and . 
 disorder. It was frequently complained that the majority of the 
 members illegally dissolved the society, in order to be able to share 
 the funds, excluded without cause members wffio began to be a 
 burden on the funds, and made use of arbitration to get rid of their 
 older members. As to any systematic book-keeping, such a thing 
 was frequently unknown, and the management was in the hands 
 of secretaries who were distinguished for their utter ignorance. 
 
 The farther back we go in the present century, the more un- 
 favourable were the relations in all these respects, and even as 
 late as 1867 the Registrar, Mr. Tidd Pratt, reckons that from 1793 
 to 1867, out of the 38,315 Friendly Societies registered in England 
 and Wales, no less than 13,935 had collapsed, leaving 24,380 still 
 remaining. He estimates that in the same year there were 4,015 
 persons in all the workhouses in England and Wales who had be- 
 longed to Friendly Societies which had been dissolved or collapsed. 
 
 The task of describing the movement of reform, which laboured 
 with undeniably great success to remove these evils, and to purify, 
 secure, and strengthen the institution of Friendly Societies, is 
 quite as difficult as it is to offer, as regards the present, or, indeed, 
 any earlier period, a general opinion, or one based on figures, as 
 
232 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 to the condition of these societies. The reason is that in this 
 field everything depends on voluntary action. We will put aside 
 at present the question how far this course of development has 
 corresponded with its aims, though we shall constantly hereafter 
 have to bring the whole bearings of this question before the 
 reader, since, in fact, everything hinges upon it. 
 
 At all times there have been two tendencies, which are plainly 
 discernible in the history of the development of Friendly Societies, 
 and which run counter to each other. On the one hand, there is 
 the old tendency of Englishmen to self-help, to the undisturbed 
 management of their own affairs by the parties immediately con- 
 cerned, without any State supervision or official interference; 
 and, on the other, there is the view that these multiform unions 
 and societies require an effective State supervision and control, 
 that certain principles must be prescribed to them, and that in 
 this way alone can progress be achieved. 
 
 These opposite tendencies are reflected in the evidence of all 
 the witnesses examined by the Commission of 1874, in the trans- 
 actions of learned societies, in Parliament, in legislation, in the 
 newspapers, and in literature. All the long series of Acts of 
 Parliament, from the first Friendly Societies’ Act of 1793, to the 
 ^consolidated Act of 1875, are in reality so many compromises 
 between these two opposite tendencies. But, although at times 
 the view of those who advocated a stricter supervision of Friendly 
 Societies, and more decisive action by the State in this respect, 
 received a strong support from facts, still, so powerfully has the 
 tendency of self-dependence predominated, that not only has all 
 legislation remained permissive, in the sense of leaving the 
 Friendly Societies to decide whether they will register them- 
 selves, and thereby submit to a certain amount of State super- 
 vision, but that even as regards the registered societies, this 
 supervision has been extended only slowly and by degrees. 
 Practically speaking, these two tendencies are represented most 
 nakedly by the non-registered societies on the one hand, and by 
 the central government of the affiliated Orders on the other. The 
 former are the blunt expression of the old English repugnance 
 to dictation from above ; the latter strive after a firmer organiza- 
 tion of their own societies, and therefore promote registration as 
 
Reform Movement inside the Friendly Societies. 233 
 
 far as possible, although this involves submission to a certain 
 amount of State supervision. 
 
 The elements of compulsion, therefore, which have intervened 
 in the constitution of Friendly Societies, consist simply of this, 
 that the registered societies have to comply, with regard to the 
 management of their insurance business and the disposition of 
 their funds, with certain statutory requirements, and are subject 
 therein to some supervision, and that the large Orders and other 
 affiliated societies have, through the exercise of a more or less 
 vigorous central power, acquired an influence over the management 
 of their branches. In other respects, however, the work of reform 
 lias been effected with entire freedom of action, no doubt at the 
 expense of unity and rapidity, but certainly with advantage to 
 internal strength. 
 
 Advancing step by step, now halting, now, perhaps, retrogres- 
 sive, these numerous Friendly Societies, conducted in accordance 
 with such manifold individual views and interests, are thus gradu- 
 ally developing themselves, and, in general, drawing slowly but 
 surely nearer to the goal. 
 
 What, then, is this goal ? How are they striving to attain it ? 
 and How far has it been already reached ? 
 
 The answering of these questions will occupy us in the follow- 
 ing pages. The aim of the whole development, taken altogether, 
 is threefold. The objects before the Friendly Societies ar q, firstly, 
 to discover the proper transition from the system of levies or 
 incomplete and insufficient contributions, to a safe and well-calcu- 
 lated system of premiums ; secondly , to improve their management 
 by the introduction of rational rules, correct book-keeping, and a 
 safer investment of capital ; and lastly , to perfect the system of 
 working-men’s insurance by a separation and independent con- 
 stitution of its different branches. Out of the general benefit 
 societies have grown by degrees the Friendly Societies, with their 
 various branches of sickness, old age and burial insurance, pro- 
 vision for widows and orphans, and for other subsidiary objects, 
 each of which accumulates its separate experience, makes its 
 separate calculations, and has occasioned a separate management. 
 
 The means by which this threefold aim is furthered, consist 
 in the first place of statistical inquiries and the elaboration of 
 
234 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 statistics ; in other words, of the literature of working-men’s in- 
 surance, which first collected and then diffused the necessary- 
 experience and knowledge. It has enabled those practical efforts 
 which have been made for an improvement of their condition 
 inside the Friendly Societies, and especially in the large orders, 
 and in those societies whose management lies in the hands of 
 highly-educated persons, and which have become the second im- 
 portant element in the whole course of reform. Lastly, there 
 remains to be considered the legislation, which, however little 
 compulsory it has been, still has had a decisive influence on the 
 whole development. The following account will move on these 
 lines, and will endeavour to show how far the literary movement, 
 the practical improvements made by particular Friendly Societies, 
 and lastly, legislation and State supervision, have contributed to 
 bring the Friendly Societies nearer to the wished-for goal. 
 
 (A) Friendly Society Literature. 
 
 In undertaking to give a short sketch of the literature which 
 has exercised a decisive influence on the development of Friendly 
 Societies, we must impose on ourselves a certain limitation. It 
 cannot be our task to describe even in outline the English litera- 
 ture of insurance in general, however closely, as is natural, its 
 efforts and results are connected with the works dealing specially 
 with the insurance system of Friendly Societies. We propose to 
 consider only that literature which has an immediate bearing on 
 the reform of the English Friendly Societies. 
 
 The literature of English working men’s insurance resolves itself 
 into several categories. In the first place, there are a number of 
 scientific publications which contain the results of statistical 
 investigations, and elaborate those results for the purposes of the 
 various kinds of insurance conducted by the Friendly Societies, 
 explain the objects of working-men’s insurance, and, above all, 
 have been of inestimable value in having throughly criticised the 
 defects of existing arrangements from a purely impartial point of 
 view. These works are chiefly theoretical. Closely connected 
 with them are a large number of books, prize essays, and articles 
 in periodicals as well as in the daily newspapers ; also the annual 
 reports of the several Friendly Societies, statistical publications 
 
Reform Movement inside the Friendly Societies. 235 
 
 and occasional pamphlets, all of which are distinguished by tho 
 pains they take to popularise the results of scientific research, and 
 make them adaptable to practice. And lastly, there is a third 
 group of working-men’s insurance literature, consisting of the 
 various reports presented to Parliament. 
 
 In the ranks of those men who, on the authority of a more or 
 less extensive collection of statistical data, and by the application 
 of various mathematical methods, compiled tables of sickness and 
 mortality with the view of giving to the English Eriendty 
 Societies a safer basis, the first in point of time is Dr. E-ichard 
 Price. As long ago as 1789 he sought to introduce graduated 
 tables of contributions for working-men’s insurance, and he was 
 the author of the famous Northampton Tables of Mortality, pre- 
 pared from the lists of births and deaths in the various parishes of 
 that town, which he published in 1780, and which, notwithstand- 
 ing its defects, long enjoyed great repute. # 
 
 To Dr. Price belongs the merit of having first prepared the 
 way, but a generation elapsed before the calculation of reliable 
 tables of sickness and mortality could be made on the basis of new 
 statistical data. In 1824 the Highland Society published tables 
 of the average duration of sickness among persons of various ages, 
 founded on the experience of 73 different benefit societies in Scot- 
 land, and representing 104,218 years of life. The main defect of 
 these tables was that the statistical data emanated from societies, 
 many of whose members had joined them from philanthropic 
 motives, and had never made any claim to their benefits, but 
 simply assisted them with their contributions. About the same 
 time Mr. Ansell published his tables, calculated on the basis 
 of observations extending to about 5,000 members of friendly- 
 societies for five years (1823-1827), and embracing only 24,323 
 years of life. The average duration of sickness, which he 
 reckons from these data, is higher than in the Highland Society’s 
 tables ; but inasmuch as his materials, as regards ages over fifty, 
 were extremely small, his returns on this head are altogether 
 untrustworthy .f 
 
 * From this period dates Sir F. M. Eden’s celebrated work, “ The State of the 
 Poor” (1797), which deals searchingly with the question of Friendly Societies. 
 
 t Charles Ansell, “ A Treatise on Friendly Societies,” London, 1885. 
 
236 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 The above-named works, together with a series of other and less 
 important ones, belong to the period of the first attempts made 
 to give Friendly Societies an incontestable and scientific basis ; 
 but since the materials were inadequate, and the methods of calcu- 
 lation imperfect, they very imperfectly answered their purpose. 
 
 In 1845, however, appeared a work which, as regards both the 
 theory and practice of Friendly Societies, formed an epoch. We 
 refer to the elder Neison’s “ Contributions to Vital Statistics.” * 
 The importance of this work consisted in the fact that it estab- 
 lished a number of new and important principles as to the treat- 
 ment of materials, and espoused the cause of Friendly Societies 
 with equal spirit and power of conviction. Neison’s work, to 
 the third edition of which (1857) we refer in these pages, was not 
 compiled according to any system, but was made up of a series of 
 admirable monographs on the most important questions connected 
 with the statistics of sickness and mortality. In an excellent pre- 
 face the author sums up the results of his separate investigation 
 and points out the defects from which Friendly Societies suffer, 
 as well as the measures by which those defects may be cured. 
 
 The first condition of the safety and stability of a Friendly 
 Society in Neison’s opinion, is that every society should consist of 
 members sufficiently numerous to realise the average results anti- 
 cipated in the calculations on which its tables of contributions and 
 benefits are founded. Secondly , Neison insists on the necessity 
 of instituting a periodical valuation for every Friendly Society 
 and considers it indispensable that every five years there should 
 be a financial adjustment of its assets and liabilities. “ One great 
 mistake,” he adds, u often made by the promoters and managers of 
 small societies, is that they conceive that if a particular society 
 is eminently successful under a given scale of contributions and 
 benefits, those who are residing in another district, and living 
 under different influences, cannot do better than follow the 
 
 * The full title of this work is “Contributions to Vital Statistics: being a 
 development of the rate of mortality and the laws of sickness from original and 
 extensive data; with an inquiry into the influence of locality, occupations, and 
 habits of life on health, an analytical view of railway accidents, and an investi- 
 gation into the progress of crime in England and Wales,” by F. G. P. Neison. 
 Third edition. London, 1857. 
 
Reform Movement inside the Friendly Societies . 237 
 
 example of their neighbours. This impression is natural enough, 
 but no conclusion has of late years been better established by 
 practical research, than the fact of the great disparity which 
 exists between the ratios of sickness among societies established 
 even in adjacent districts.” Thirdly , Neison urges that there 
 should be a regulation by which every society should have a 
 separate and distinct account kept of the receipts and disburse- 
 ments made in respect of each benefit or fund. And fourthly , he 
 insists that “ no member should be allowed to subscribe for a 
 sickness allowance greatly exceeding the average of the benefits 
 allowed to all the members collectively, and never in any instance 
 to subscribe for a sickness allowance which should exceed two- 
 thirds or three-fourths of his usual or average earnings while 
 following his ordinary avocations.” “Were these leading princi- 
 ples,” he concludes, “ strictly observed in the management of 
 Friendly Societies, failure would be next to impossible.” 
 
 Neison was a strong advocate of Friendly Societies ; he has un- 
 sparingly exposed in this, as in other works, their defects ; but he 
 was one of those who, in spite of all that, have steadily stood up for 
 the independence of these institutions and against State inter- 
 ference, and who anticipate a decided change for the better from 
 the extension of actuarial information, and its practical applica- 
 tion to Friendly Societies. “An attentive consideration,” he says, 
 “ of the history of Friendly Societies will satisfactorily show the 
 wonder is, that with so little information, until quite recently, of 
 the real nature and extent of their liabilities, more of them have 
 not broken down. It has been too much assumed, by even the 
 educated classes, and not a few of those distinguished persons who 
 have identified themselves publicly with the interests of these 
 societies, that at best they were but mere pot-house schemes and 
 temporary expedients, as adjuncts to a small parish or congrega- 
 tion, simply calculated to assuage the evils of a day. It has 
 remained for the working classes themselves to demonstrate that 
 their benefit societies are capable of accomplishing much beyond 
 this, and those must be indifferent spectators indeed of the social 
 progress amongst the industrious community, who cannot clearly 
 discern that through one form or other of these institutions, 
 whether in the shape of the ordinary friendly and benefit society, 
 
233 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 the Odd Fellow Lodges, Foresters Courts, and Druid Lodges, the 
 Rechabite Tents, and other descriptions of benefit clubs, the hard 
 working, prudential people of this country have already begun to 
 work out in good earnest their own regeneration and indepen- 
 dence. These associations are therefore certain, before long, to 
 become engrafted with all the essential elements of stability and 
 permanence which have been pointed out.” * 
 
 It is unnecessary to subject to closer examination and criti- 
 cism the several essays of which these “ contributions to vital 
 statistics” are composed. We merely refer to them here to show 
 with what variety of research, while partly laying the ground 
 for all subsequent investigations, Neison worked upon this field. 
 
 The first essay is an inquiry into the duration of life generally 
 in England and Wales. The second relates to the duration of life 
 in various classes of the population. The data for the portion of 
 the inquiry relating to the Friendly Societies were obtained 
 through the then Registrar, Mr. J. Tidd Pratt, and consisted 
 of the Quinquennial Returns for 1836-1840, made under the 
 Friendly Societies Acts. These returns Neison has worked up 
 for calculating the average duration of sickness, the probability of 
 death, and for various other purposes. His leading classification, 
 which has since been adopted in all similar works, consists of a 
 separate calculation of mortality and the duration of sickness 
 among working men in rural districts, town districts, and city 
 districts ; the result he arrives at being that the duration of life in 
 the rural districts is considerably longer than that in city dis- 
 tricts, while as regards sickness the difference is not so great. 
 His comparison of the expectation of life in different trades and 
 occupations is also full of interest. In this respect he compares 
 the members of Friendly Societies with the middle classes, who 
 form the clientele of ordinary insurance companies, as well as with 
 the members of the English peerage, and comes to the often-cited 
 conclusion, that although in the Friendly Societies there is no 
 such careful selection of risks as exists in most of the insurance 
 companies for the other classes of society, one of whose objects 
 is to make a profit out of their business, still the duration of life 
 
 Preface, p. xl. 
 
Reform Movement inside the Friendly Societies. 239 
 
 among the members of Friendly Societies is the highest.* On 
 the 'other hand, he has only as a separate investigation dealt 
 with the expectation of .life among a limited number of occupa- 
 tions, — namely, common labourers, painters, clerks, bakers, and 
 miners. Next follow essays on the duration of life in Scotland, 
 the rate of mortality in the medical profession and of master 
 mariners, the mortality of the provident classes in England and on 
 the Continent, the rate of mortality among persons of intemperate 
 habits,f an analytical view of railway accidents, statistics of 
 
 * Neison (pp. 40, 41) arrives'at the following results : — 
 
 Expectation of Life in Years . 
 
 i 
 
 Age. 
 
 Members of 
 Friendly Societies. 
 
 Members of 
 Insurance Companies. 
 
 Members of the 
 English Peerage. 
 
 20 
 
 43-89 
 
 39-84 
 
 38-47 
 
 30 
 
 37-22 
 
 33T7 
 
 30-87 
 
 40 
 
 30-09 
 
 26-06 
 
 24-45 
 
 50 
 
 22-79 
 
 19-41 
 
 17-92 
 
 60 
 
 16-23 
 
 13-47 
 
 12*56 
 
 70 
 
 10-81 
 
 8-34 
 
 8-15 
 
 80 
 
 6-69 
 
 4-75 
 
 5-08 
 
 With regard to these results, Neison makes the following remark : “ The 
 blessing thus bestowed on the frugal and industrious workmen of the country 
 composing Friendly Societies, in having granted them, as appears by the present 
 inquiry, a prolonged duration of life, must therefore be regarded as a really true 
 and distinctive feature of that class of persons, and is no doubt the result of their 
 simple and uniform habits of life, and the more regular and natural physical 
 exercises to which they are habituated.” This remark, as applied to the higher 
 grades of English industrial workmen, is undoubtedly correct, 
 f On this point Neison has compiled the following table : — 
 
 Age. 
 
 Mortality per cent, 
 among the 
 Intemperate. 
 
 Mortality per cent, of the 
 Population of 
 England and Wales. 
 
 21-30 
 
 4-953 
 
 0-974 
 
 31-40 
 
 4-620 
 
 1-110 
 
 41-50 
 
 5-992 
 
 1-452 
 
 51-60 
 
 6-418 
 
 2-254 
 
 61-70 
 
 7-992 
 
 4-259 
 
 71-80 
 
 18182 
 
 9-097 
 
 81-90 
 
 20-000 
 
 19-904 
 
240 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 crime in England and Wales, and an essay on the influence of 
 locality on sickness. The work concludes with observations on 
 the rates and contributions of Friendly Societies, together with 
 auxiliary tables, and also a criticism of the actuarial system adop- 
 ted by the Manchester Unity, which is not only a masterly work, 
 but powerfully stimulated the movement of reform which has 
 taken place inside this order. In a small pamphlet entitled 
 “ Observations on Odd Fellows and Friendly Societies,” Neison 
 has summed up in a popular form the contents of his larger work, 
 and by means of this pamphlet, which ran through a number of 
 editions, has exercised a great influence. 45 ' 
 
 Neison’s great work gave the impulse to a number of similar 
 labours. Some parliamentary papers were issued by the Govern- 
 ment in 1853 and 1854, consisting of the quinquennial returns 
 made by the registered Friendly Societies, in conformity with 
 Act of Parliament for the five years ended 31st December, 1850. 
 These returns, which related to 3,787 societies, and embraced 
 792,980 years of life, were analyzed by Mr. A. Glen Finlaison, of 
 the National Debt Office, but not very successfully, as is now 
 pretty generally admitted, f Mr. Finlaison divided his material 
 into four classes, — namely, of persons performing heavy and light 
 labour, with and without exposure to weather. But this division 
 led to no results of any practical value, and since, moreover, he 
 laid down a new definition of sickness, which, though perhaps 
 correct from an actuarial point of view, was in opposition to 
 the practice of Friendly Societies, his tables were of little use. 
 
 * The fourteenth edition of this book was published in 1867. Neison criti- 
 cises in it the old tables of sickness, the untrustworthiness of which he seeks to 
 prove. With regard to the Highland Society tables, he refers to the experience 
 of a compositors’ society in Edinburgh, showing that the effective duration 
 of sickness exceeded the duration calculated in those tables by about 12 per 
 cent. He insists on the importance of each society collecting its individual 
 experiences and constructing its tables accordingly. Each society has, in his 
 opinion, a “peculiarity in the law of sickness,” so that societies apparently 
 conducted under exactly the same circumstances, exhibit different experi- 
 ences. 
 
 f Pari. Papers, No. 955 of 1853, and No. 506 of 1854. The former of 
 these returns contains Mr. Finlaison’s calculation. Compare on this subject 
 Neison’s “Observations on Odd Fellows,” p. 42 ; Fourth Report of the Com- 
 mission, p. clxxxii. 
 
Reform Movement inside the Friendly Societies . 241 
 
 Thus he excluded chronic sickness from his calculations, as well 
 as all those cases in which some bodily or mental suffering 
 entailed incapacity for work. But since many Friendly Societies 
 base their practice on this broader definition, and are, therefore, 
 to a larger or smaller extent societies for insurance against dis- 
 ablement, Mr. Finlaison’s tables bring out far too low benefit 
 values. Unfortunately, Mr. Finlaison’s work was published under 
 the authority of the Government, and thus these, to say the least, 
 unpractical and misleading “ Government Tables ” became a 
 weapon in the hands of those who combated Government inter- 
 ference in this field. 
 
 All admirers of self-help in England point with justifiable 
 pride to the actuarial labours of the Manchester Unity. Seldom 
 has at any rate a private society made such strenuous efforts and 
 submitted to such sacrifices as this Society has done on behalf 
 of working-men’s insurance in its country. The Manchester 
 Unity undertook three times in twenty-five years statistical 
 collections, which in extent and soundness surpassed anything 
 that had been done before. These investigations are based on the 
 experience of sickness and mortality among the various lodges, 
 taken out at three different periods, 1846-8, 1856-60, and 1866-70, 
 the first including observations covering 621,561, the second 
 1,006,272, and the third 1,821,048 risks. These returns in each 
 case were classified by Mr. Ratcliffe, the corresponding secretary 
 of the order, and perhaps the most meritorious servant that the 
 Manchester Unity has ever possessed. The cost of the second 
 inquiry amounted to £3,500, and that of the third to between 
 £3,000 and £4,000. Mr. Spry, the historian of the Manchester 
 Unity, states that Mr. Ratcliffe not only conducted and superin- 
 tended this investigation, but worked personally for sixteen or 
 seventeen hours a day at its compilation. With such materials, 
 such means, and such laborious energy, it is no wonder that some- 
 thing important was achieved.* 
 
 * Mr. Ratcliffe’s first two works were entitled, “ Observations on the Rate of 
 Mortality and Sickness Existing amongst Friendly Societies,” Manchester, 
 1850 ; Colchester, 1862. His third work appeared as a “ Supplementary 
 Report,” 1872. Compare, as to his first work, Neison’s “ Observations on 
 
 R 
 
242 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 Mr. Ratcliffe, in the prosecution of these three great inquiries, 
 the results of which were published in 1850, 1860, and 1872, 
 adopted Mr. Neison’s method. His thFee heads of classification 
 are also rural, town, and city districts. To these he adds statistics 
 of sickness and mortality according to occupations and localities. 
 The second and the third of his inquiries, though more limited in 
 extent than the first, shows a great advance as regards the careful 
 selection and classification of his materials. The practical im- 
 portance of these labours has been wholly incalculable, and the 
 Report of the Commission in 1874 was right in saying that Mr. 
 Ratcliffe’s tables were probably the most valuable that had ever 
 been computed. They have certainly effected, as regards the 
 actuarial basis of Friendly Societies, a complete revolution in 
 the views of the parties immediately concerned, as well as in the 
 practice of English Friendly Societies in general. 
 
 Since then the Foresters have instituted a similar investigation 
 respecting the experience of their own Order. They decided in 
 1878 to appraise statistically the data at their command from 
 1871 to 1875, and entrusted the younger Mr. Neison with the 
 elaboration of the materials collected. The same classification 
 into rural, town, and city districts was retained, but the idea was 
 altogether renounced of tabulating the experiences with regard 
 to different occupations. The value of this compilation lies in 
 the careful selection of the materials of observation, in the scien- 
 tific correction of the results obtained, and in the admirable 
 construction of the thirty-one tables, which enable the various 
 societies of the Order to prepare tables of premiums applicable 
 to their different objects. Although Neison calculates a portion 
 of these tables on the supposition of receiving 3J and 4 per cent, 
 interest on the fund, he has done good service in urgently warn- 
 ing societies not to base their calculations on a higher rate of 
 interest than 3 per cent., a requirement which no doubt tends to 
 increase the contributions, but at the same time, in the present 
 state of interest in England, as we shall examine later more in 
 detail, is indispensable.* 
 
 Odd Fellows and Friendly Societies,” pp. 24, 25 ; Fourth Report of the Com- 
 mission, p. clxxxii. ; and Hasbach ut supra , pp. 265, 384. 
 
 * The work of the younger Mr. Neison is entitled, “ The Rates of Mortality 
 
Reform Movement inside the Friendly Societies. 243 
 
 From the above brief summary of the principal works on 
 English working-men’s insurance, it appears clear that the 
 literature on this subject points exclusively in the direction of 
 ordinary insurance business. The tendency of the entire litera- 
 
 and Sickness, according to the Experience for the Five Years, 1871-1875, of the 
 Ancient Order of the Foresters’ Friendly Society,” by Francis G. P. Neison, 
 London, 1882. The following is a short sketch of the contents of the book : — 
 
 The extent of the statistical investigations comprised in this work is indi- 
 cated by its title. All the lodges or courts of the Order, being nearly 4,000 in 
 number, were requested to send in tabulated reports, stating each member’s 
 occupation, age of admission, duration of sickness, and date of death. Alto- 
 gether 2,577 of these reports were made use of. The data contained in them 
 were separately arranged and then carefully compiled. The entire work was 
 conducted, in conjunction with Mr. Neison, by the permanent secretary of the 
 order, Mr. Sliawcross, and his son, and required, as would be expected, the 
 establishment of a separate office to tabulate and work up the figures, as well 
 as a controlling staff to insure the correct compilation of the whole work. 
 The materials would have allowed of taking the different occupations of the 
 members as a basis of compilation, and thus instituting an interesting com- 
 parison in this respect. But it was finally decided to adhere to Mr. Bateliffe’s 
 division into rural, town, and city districts, the towns being taken to contain 
 from 5,000 to 30,000, and the cities upwards of 30,000 inhabitants. 
 
 In this way a table was first prepared which fixed the experiences acquired. 
 It contained the rates of mortality and sickness among all members, arranged 
 in three categories, according to age (extending from 18 to 103), necessitating 
 a large number of columns, since only a portion of the members in question 
 belonged to the various societies throughout the whole of the five years under 
 review, and a more considerable portion formed a fluctuating element. From 
 this first table a second one was worked out, which, by reducing these elements 
 to units, enabled an accurate observation of risks, and exhibited the rates of 
 mortality and sickness at each year of life, according to the three categories 
 above-mentioned. The number of risks thus observed during the five years 
 in question was 1,302,166. 
 
 This statistical material was now improved upon and elaborated by Mr. 
 Neison, the result being the figures which represent his finally revised tables 
 of sickness and mortality. Mr. Neison has turned his materials to account 
 in two ways in particular. First, he calculates the effect produced on the 
 liabilities of the lodges by the secessions, retirements, and exclusions of 
 members, but warns the Societies not to overrate this element in the calcu- 
 lation of premiums (in the five years under observation no less than 57,967 
 members had seceded, retired, or were excluded). Secondly, he calculates 
 the effect produced on the total calculation by the lowering of benefits after 
 a long duration of sickness. The Foresters, for instance, reduce their sick 
 benefit, in cases of prolonged sickness, to one-half, and afterwards to a 
 quarter of the original allowance, but continue to pay this reduced allowance 
 
244 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 ture occupied with this question is to curtail, as much as possible, 
 the system of levies or rates, and to substitute for it a rational 
 system of premiums; in a word, to place friendly society in- 
 surance on the same basis as that on which the insurance com- 
 panies for the upper classes have long been constructed. The 
 actuarial system of the latter institutions has been a model 
 for that of the friendly societies, just as the general insurance 
 literature has been the guide for the special insurance litera- 
 ture dealing with those Societies. 
 
 This special literature has exercised a twofold influence on 
 friendly society reform. In the first place, it is this literature 
 
 in case of chronic illness or incapacity for work, so that the sick benefit becomes 
 in this way a provision against infirmity. 
 
 In treating of the rate of interest, which forms the basis of all calculations 
 as to premiums, Mr. Neison rightly advocates a rate of 3 per cent., and is of 
 opinion that at present a higher percentage can only be obtained in England in 
 exceptional cases. Investments which a few years ago brought in from 4 to 4^ 
 per cent., now return only 3f or 4. Any surplus realised by a society by 
 means of better investments, Mr. Neison would transfer, and rightly, to a 
 special reserve fund, leaving the calculation of premiums based on a rate of 
 3, or, at the highest, 3| per cent. 
 
 The first table contains the present value of an annuity of £1 for each year 
 of life, from 18 to 79, payable either for life or determinable, or commencing 
 at the respective ages of 60, 65, and 70. 
 
 The second table contains the present value, at each year of life from 18 to 
 79, of a death insurance of £1. Besides calculating the corresponding premiums 
 to be paid once for all, the table shows the amounts payable, if the premiums 
 take the shape of annual contributions. 
 
 The third table gives a calculation of the premiums payable in one sum, or 
 by years, months, or weeks, according to the age of the person insuring, in 
 order to secure a sick allowance of £1 a week. This table takes into con- 
 sideration the lowering of the allowance in the case of prolonged sickness or 
 infirmity. 
 
 The fourth table calculates in a similar manner the premiums for a deferred 
 annuity of 2 s. a week. 
 
 The fifth table calculates the premiums payable for annuities and lump 
 sums insured for by married persons. 
 
 The further tables are repetitions of the five preceding ones, based on a 
 calculation of 3£ and 4 per cent, interest on the capital, taking into account 
 secessions and retirements, etc. 
 
 These tables enable the various societies of the Foresters to construct reliable 
 scales of contributions, according to their several requirements, and based on 
 the collective experiences of the Order. 
 
Reform Movement inside the Friendly Societies . 245 
 
 which explains the fundamental and indispensable principles of 
 actuarial science respecting the probability of life and death, the 
 average duration of sickness, the tables of sickness and mortality, 
 and, further, the influence of age and occupation, the effect and 
 calculation of the rate of interest in regard to the contributions 
 of members, the calculation of premiums, and so forth ; and which 
 lias impressed on the managers of the various societies the scien- 
 tific distinction between insurances for life, sickness, and old 
 age. The knowledge of all this has at the same time spread the 
 conviction of the absolute necessity of changing the formless 
 benefit societies into properly regulated unions for insurance. 
 Secondly, and this is quite as great a service, this literature has 
 supplied the practical means of completing this transition, inas- 
 much as all the vrorks we have referred to contain tables, based 
 on carefully worked-out material, which enable at once the cal- 
 culation of reliable premiums. 
 
 Intimately as these works connect theory and practice, in a 
 manner characteristic of English culture, this union has been still 
 more closely cemented by those numerous men who, in their restless 
 labours on behalf of working-men’s insurance, by the combination 
 of theoretical knowledge and practical experience, have decisively 
 guided the progress already made in this respect ; whether as 
 statisticians or actuaries, or, as has more frequently been the case, 
 as founders or managers of Friendly Societies who, by patient 
 and gradual study, have raised their practical knowledge to the 
 level of a science. All these fellow- workers have enriched theory 
 by experience, and in striving, at the same time, by means of 
 theory to improve the general and actuarial management of 
 Friendly Societies, they have happily succeeded in combining 
 these two sources of accurate knowledge. It is equally character- 
 istic of Englishmen, that all these men, many of them belonging 
 to the upper classes of society and the clergy, have devoted them- 
 selves to the care of Friendly Societies, not in any official capacity 
 but from a purely social impulse, and have thus become the 
 centres of the whole movement of reform. Such a man, as we 
 have seen already, was Mr. Ratclifle. So, also, at an earlier 
 period, the Rev. Mr. Becher was not only a theoretical critic of 
 Dr. Price’s tables of premiums, but was himself the founder, in 
 
246 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 1823, of a Friendly Society in Southwell, which was a pattern of 
 its kind. So, again, Mr. Sotheron-Eetcourt was not only an in- 
 defatigable advocate in Parliament of rational legislation in 
 Friendly Society matters, and, in particular, the promoter of the 
 Acts of 1850 and 1855, but was also for many years the soul of 
 one of the best Friendly Societies in England, the “Wiltshire 
 Friendly Society,” and to this day is its president. So, also, the 
 Hon. and Rev. Mr. Best was not only the inventor of a Friendly 
 Society system of his own, but the manager of the model in- 
 stitution of this kind, the “Abbot’s Anne Provident Society.” 
 Mr. Hardwick, similarly, is not only a copious author, the com- 
 piler of an admirable manual on Friendly Societies, but was fcr 
 many years the manager of a large district of the Manchester 
 Unity. These are only a few names, as instances ; but any one 
 who studies the question of working-men’s insurance in England, 
 will be astonished to find how numerous is the class of voluntary, 
 highly-educated, and indefatigable labourers in this field. 
 
 These men are also the representatives of that part of the 
 literature under notice, which we have already characterised by 
 remarking that it undertakes to compile for practical application 
 the results of strictly scientific investigations. The numerous 
 publications, which have been written with this object, are not re- 
 markable for any great originality ; on the contrary, one follows 
 the other, but they understand admirably how to keep the atten- 
 tion and the practical activity of their readers constantly directed 
 to those decisive points which are indispensable conditions of pro- 
 gress. Untiringly do they supply the societies with convenient 
 tables of contributions, untiringly do they insist on the necessity 
 of preparing proper balance-sheets. They show how such balance- 
 sheets must be prepared; and demonstrate the vital importance 
 of dealing separately with the various branches of insurance. 
 Recently the leading subject of discussion has been the constitu- 
 tion of one of the more difficult of these branches, namely, the pro- 
 vision for widows and orphans as well as for old age. This kind 
 of literature is a working en masse of parallel forces. It would be 
 quite impossible, and also unnecessary, to describe it. A few 
 specimens will suffice. The form of these publications is mostly 
 that of pamphlets or of articles in some periodical, but much 
 
Reform Movement inside the Friendly Societies . 247 
 
 useful information has also been given bookwise. Thus the elder 
 Mr. Tidd Pratt, the father of the first Eegistrar of Friendly 
 Societies, wrote a book on the law of these societies, as de- 
 termined by Act of Parliament, which reached four editions. 
 His son, the late Eegistrar, continued this work from 1850 to 1867, 
 in seven new editions, and since his death three more editions 
 have been published by Mr. E. W. Brabrook. No leatned com- 
 mentary, in the continental sense of the term, it is a simple but 
 useful statement of the law.* A model of practical exposition 
 as regards the proper bases of the mathematical and actuarial 
 calculations for insurance, on which a good Friendly Society must 
 be constructed, is Mr. Hardwick’s “ Manual for Patrons and Mem- 
 bers of Friendly Societies”; a small book, containing a mass of 
 practical wisdom in an unpretentious form f To these should be 
 added a book, published by Mr. James Barnes, the Secretary of 
 one of the Foresters’ courts, which is based on the tables compiled 
 by Neison. Taking his stand on the rules of the Foresters’ Order, 
 he calculates, on the footing of a 3 per cent, rate of interest on the 
 contributions, all the tables of premiums necessary for the objects 
 of the various lodges of the Order. In a very valuable appendix, 
 the author seeks to make a valuation of actual assets and liabili- 
 ties so clear, by means of examples, that any secretary of a 
 lodge, only partially acquainted with accounts, may prepare a 
 similar one correctly. £ The younger Neison has recently pub- 
 lished a book, in which he treats lucidly and intelligibly of the 
 
 * “ The Law of Friendly Societies and Industrial and Provident Societies, 
 with the Acts, Observations thereon, Forms or Rules, etc., Reports of leading 
 cases at length, and a copious Index.” Tenth Edition, by Edward William 
 Brabrook. London, 1881. 
 
 f “ The History, Present Position, and Social Importance of Friendly 
 Societies,” by Charles Hardwick. The author indicates his object by explain- 
 ing the title as follows : “A popular exposition of the financial laws necessary 
 to insure future stability, and the method of ascertaining the true value of the 
 assets and liabilities ; a refutation of several popular objections ; suggestions 
 for the equitable adjustment of past error and for future development and 
 expansion.” 
 
 + “ Monetary Tables, Compiled from the Rates of Mortality and Sickness of 
 the Ancient Order of Foresters’ Friendly Societies,” by James Barnes, Secretary 
 of Court 5968 ; Leeds, 1884. 
 
248 
 
 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 question of valuation.* Numerous also and instructive are tlie 
 articles winch have appeared in the 11 Transactions of the National 
 Association for the Promotion of Social Science,” and in the 
 Journal of the Statistical Society , as well as in the monthly 
 and quarterly periodicals, and which deal with various sides of 
 the Friendly Society system. They form the true materials for 
 judging the present condition of this system, since they have 
 depicted most faithfully the defects, the proposals of improvement, 
 and the success of Friendly Societies, no doubt frequently in an 
 optimist spirit ; but, on the other hand, with dispassionateness 
 and frankness. A rich fund of statistical information is supplied 
 further by the annual reports which almost every Friendly 
 Society prints and circulates among its members, but which 
 are easily accessible to the public, and a large number of 
 which we have been able to utilise in describing the various 
 kinds of Friendly Societies. These annual reports which, in 
 the case of the larger Societies, swell into regular volumes, 
 contain, in addition to the statement of accounts, a mass of the 
 most instructive information as to the development, condition, and 
 tendency of the Society concerned; and in addition to this, the 
 larger Orders give Directories of their Orders. 
 
 To the above publications must by added a number of occasional 
 pamphlets and prize-essays, and, lastly, those periodicals which 
 are devoted specially to the affairs of Friendly Societies. To the 
 latter belong the periodicals issued by the larger Orders ; as, also, 
 the Friendly Society Journal , published at Leeds, and dealing with 
 the general interests of these Societies ; the Provident , published 
 at Wigan, which is the chief organ of the Miners’ Societies, and 
 several others. That the English daily press also contains a mass 
 of scattered but valuable material relating to Friendly Societies 
 is notorious to any one who knows with what intense interest all 
 the English newspapers of the present day occupy themselves 
 with social questions. 
 
 A third group of this Friendly Society literature consists of the 
 various Blue Books presented to Parliament. Foremost among 
 these are the proceedings of the Boyal Commissioners in 1871-74, 
 
 * “ Observations on the Efficient Valuation of Friendly Societies,” by Francis 
 G. P. Neison, London, 1SS5. 
 
Reform Movement inside the Friendly Societies. 249 
 
 whose report gives an equally exhaustive and impartial account 
 of the then condition of Friendly Societies. To this must be 
 added the annual reports of the Chief Registrar on the regis- 
 tered Friendly Societies, as well as the statistical publications 
 issued from his office. We shall constantly have occasion to 
 revert to these authorities in the following pages.* 
 
 It will be appropriate here to mention a scientific body which 
 is of great importance to the development of Friendly Societies. 
 We refer to the Institute of Actuaries of Great Britain and 
 
 * The Reports of this Commission to inquire into Friendly and Benefit 
 Building Societies, which was first appointed on 27th October, 1870, and reap- 
 pointed on 17th August, 1871, constitute such important sources of information 
 for the study of English working-men’s insurance, that we must refer to them 
 here more particularly. The Commission was composed of the late Earl of 
 Iddesleigh (then Sir Stafford Northcote), as chairman, together with Sir Michael 
 Hicks-Beach, Sir Sydney Waterlow, Mr. Bonham-Carter, Mr. Evan Richards, 
 Mr. Roundell, Mr. Bireham, and Mr. Pattison. Their secretary was the present 
 Chief Registrar, Mr. J. M. Ludlow. 
 
 Their first report appeared in 1871, and contained the evidence of sixty-six 
 witnesses, representing 8,342 questions and answers. The second report was 
 published in 1872, in three parts. The first part contains, in 105 pages, the 
 elaboration of the materials as to Building Societies collected in the first report, 
 together with the separate reports of particular members of the Commission. 
 The second part contains 130 examinations, taken in London, Edinburgh, 
 Glasgow, Belfast, Dublin, Cork, Manchester, and Liverpool, being an impartial 
 selection of witnesses representing the utmost variety of opinions on Friendly 
 Societies. Part three consists of an admirably compiled index to the preceding. 
 
 The third report appeared in 1873, and contained the examinations of thirty 
 more witnesses on the affairs of Friendly Societies. 
 
 The total number of questions asked and answered was no less than 
 28,714. 
 
 The merit of having drafted the admirable report on the whole of the 
 materials thus collected belongs to the present Chief Registrar, Mr. J. M. Ludlow. 
 This is the Fourth Report of the Commission, Part I. of which appeared in 1874. 
 It contains, in addition to the exhaustive summary of the results of the 
 Commissioners’ inquiries, additional separate reports by certain of the Com- 
 missioners, and an Appendix full of valuable information as to the historical 
 development of Friendly Societies, and their relations to the Poor Law and the 
 State. Part II. contains a further Appendix, consisting of returns from Boards 
 of Guardians, a report, etc., on Burial Societies, and rules of various Friendly 
 Societies in England and Wales. Besides the above, there are the Reports of 
 the Assistant Commissioners, in particular, those of the Hon. E. Lyulph Stanley 
 <uad Sir George Young. 
 
2 50 
 
 English Associations of Working Men 
 
 Ireland, established in London in 1848, as well as the Faculty of 
 Actuaries in Scotland, established at Edinburgh in 1856. The 
 general object of these societies is to promote the mathematical 
 study of insurance, to facilitate the application and improvement 
 of scientific methods in insurance calculations, and to further 
 the interests as well of the ordinary insurance companies as of 
 Friendly Societies, and in so doing to devote their attention also 
 to questions of the rate of interest. The Institute in London 
 publishes statistical data and tables of premiums, and has long 
 done valuable service in this respect through the Journal of the 
 Institute of Actuaries and Assurance Magazine , which has been 
 published for thirty-three years. It seeks further, by means of 
 lectures and examinations, to promote the training of qualified 
 actuaries, and to create a class of scientific experts, who are 
 able to render valuable service to insurance institutions, and, in 
 particular, to prepare trustworthy valuations. 
 
 Since the Act of 1870, relating to Life Assurance Companies, 
 and the Friendly Societies Act of 1875, have imposed on actuaries 
 responsible functions with reference to the examination of the 
 financial condition of these societies, the importance of this Insti- 
 tute has materially increased. The more generally the Friendly 
 Societies complete the transition from the system of levies to 
 that of graduated contributions, the more important it becomes 
 that this Institute should be training a class of thoroughly trust- 
 worthy actuaries, who are able to compile tables as well as to 
 investigate the financial position of a Friendly Society. In this 
 respect the want has been sensibly felt, that persons who devote 
 themselves to this business should acquire and testify their fitness 
 by attending a course of lectures and passing a scientific ex- 
 amination. This want the Institute of Actuaries seeks to supply. 
 In 1884 it obtained its incorporation by Loyal Charter, taking in 
 as fellows the members of the Actuaries’ Club, of older date but 
 constituted for the same objects, regulated its management under 
 the direction of a president and vice-president and a newly chosen 
 council, with fellows, associates, students, honorary members and 
 corresponding members, and now forms a recognised faculty of 
 the science of insurance. 
 
 At the instance of this Institute, Mr. W. Sutton, the Actuary 
 
Reform Movement inside the Friendly Societies. 251 
 
 to the Registry of Friendly Societies, has written the first part 
 of a text-book of the principles of insurance,* which is remark- 
 able for its neatness and accuracy. 
 
 (B) Insurance System. 
 
 We turn now to the insurance business of the Friendly Societies, 
 which has grown up and been perfected by degrees. In doing so 
 we shall notice, first of all, the contrast between the levy system, 
 once generally prevailing in these societies, and the premium 
 system, which they have already either accepted or are striving 
 to adopt. We shall consider further the circumstances that facili- 
 tate the difficult transition from the one system to the other ; 
 and, lastly, we shall show on what kind of actuarial basis the new 
 organization of Friendly Societies rests, and what sort of control 
 has been instituted to direct it aright and keep it in the proper 
 path. 
 
 A Friendly Society, founded on principles of mutuality, must 
 show sufficient means every year to cover the benefits falling due 
 within that period, which it has promised to its members, and also 
 to defray the cost of management. The payments it has to make 
 are of two kinds — either lump sums or periodical allowances. The 
 main item in the first category, as regards the working-men’s 
 insurance societies, is the payment of a burial allowance, or of a 
 gross sum insured in case of the death of a member, or the survival 
 to a certain age of a child or other person, the amount of which 
 is limited by the Friendly Society Act of 1875 to £200 ; while to 
 the second category belong the sick benefits, payable in most cases 
 weekly, and eventually those for old age, as well as others of a 
 temporary kind. Thus the burial allowance is the type of the first, 
 and the sick allowance the type of the second class of obligations 
 incurred by Friendly Societies towards their members. In the 
 remarks that we propose to make we shall confine ourselves, in the 
 first place, to these two objects of insurance; they form, together 
 
 * “Institute of Actuaries’ Text-book of tbe Principles of Interest, Life 
 Annuities, and Assurances, and their Practical Application. Part I.” By 
 ■William Sutton, Actuary to the Kegistry of Friendly Societies. London, 1882. 
 [Part II. of this work, by another author, lias recently been published by the 
 Institute of Actuaries.] 
 
252 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 with accident insurance, which in England is generally included 
 in the sick insurance, the staple and substance of working-men’s 
 insurance in England at the present day. It is on this ground 
 that the process of transition from the old levy system to the new 
 premium system is being accomplished, while for certain other 
 objects of insurance the old system not only still exists, but will 
 in the nature of things continue to exist along with the new system 
 in the future. We shall revert to this point later on. 
 
 In itself it would be possible, no doubt, that the society should 
 collect annually, either by levies or subscriptions distributed among 
 the members, the amount required to discharge its obligations in 
 the shape of benefits falling due within the year ; though even 
 then a certain reserve fund is always indispensable to meet unfore- 
 seen contingencies and extraordinary demands. In former years 
 the Friendly Societies, almost without exception, conducted their 
 business on this basis ; it was done either in the primitive form 
 of levies, the requirements of the year being provided for by the 
 members, share and share alike, or in the more developed form 
 of annual fixed subscriptions, calculated according to a certain 
 show of probabilities, and with a view to the accumulation of 
 a larger reserve fund. Nevertheless, all these subscriptions 
 were not actual premiums, in the sense of ordinary insurance, 
 but in reality mere levies, since the balance-sheet showed simply 
 a statement of receipts and expenditure, without reckoning the 
 liabilities incurred by the society on account of current and 
 proximate risks. 
 
 We must first of all explain the conditions on vrhich the system 
 of levies depends. Foremost of these is the effect produced on 
 the obligations of a Friendly Society by the difference of age 
 among its members. 
 
 It need scarcely be said that the claims on these societies are 
 out of all proportion much larger in the case of their older, than in 
 that of their younger members, in regard not only to death, but also 
 to sickness. If, then, the rate or levy which is intended to cover 
 the current obligations of the society is distributed equally among 
 all the members, it is evident that the younger members must pay 
 a contribution disproportionately greater than the expenses they 
 occasion to the society ; and that this state of things, the higher 
 
Reform Movement inside the Friendly Societies. 253 
 
 we ascend the scale of age, leads to the opposite anomaly, that the 
 oldest members pay the least in proportion to their benefits. 
 This system can only be defended or maintained on one condition. 
 If it is possible in any way to create permanent societies, contain- 
 ing a constant succession of members, approximately equal in age, 
 equally healthy and equally able to pay, then the surplus accruing 
 from the younger classes of members will always supply the means 
 of covering the expenditure occasioned by the older ones, and the 
 arrangement as a whole will have no unfairness in it, since, although 
 the younger members pay to-day for the older ones, they are sure, 
 on the other hand, of being similarly paid for in future by the 
 next generation. If, therefore, it is feasible, by means of a regular 
 influx of young and healthy persons in the place of the members 
 who die off, to maintain a balance between the obligations and 
 contributions, then the only need of a reserve fund will be to 
 enable the society to adjust occasional oscillations, or to meet 
 exceptional demands. 
 
 The history of English Friendly Societies has amply shown, if 
 indeed any further proof were needed, that this levy system, in 
 conjunction with the principle of voluntary membership, is an 
 impossibility. We have already more than once referred to the 
 melancholy results which have arisen from the false confidence 
 excited in this respect by the Friendly Societies. The necessary 
 replacement of old and deceased members by younger ones, the 
 permanent succession which formed the condition of stability, 
 was, in spite of all the efforts made by these societies, never 
 regularly secured, owing to the fluctuations in the number of 
 recruits, and to the conviction that speedily gained ground, that 
 equal levies or equal subscriptions involved injustice to the 
 younger members. The practical eye of the Englishman detected 
 at an early period the weak point of the system, and the direc- 
 tion the reform would take could not be doubtful for a moment. 
 As to bolstering up the old levy system by making membership 
 compulsory, such a question was never mooted in England ; but 
 on the other hand, the hope that the societies themselves would 
 succeed m maintaining the necessary equilibrium, proved delusive, 
 and thus the way was prepared for what has practically been the 
 course of development — namely, a gradual transition to the cover- 
 
254 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 mg of liabilities by means of reserves ; in other words, remodel- 
 ling the societies after the principles of ordinary insurance 
 business. 
 
 In this way the English Friendly Societies have been for some 
 decades in a stage of transition, which though still far from com- 
 pleted, is already well advanced. The first steps in the direction 
 of the new reserve or premium system were feeble and tentative. 
 The contributions were not only fixed on the authority of imperfect 
 tables of sickness and mortality, but also suffered from the defect 
 that they were levied in equal amount from all classes of age and 
 risks, and, generally speaking, were fixed too low in comparison 
 with the promised benefits. The progress of reform was very slow, 
 and there was a time when those who had had most experience 
 of these institutions looked forward to the future with despair. 
 On different sides it was declared, about the middle of this 
 century, that the large majority of these societies were bankrupt. 
 The elder Mr. Neison said this of the lodges of the Manchester 
 Unity ; the late Registrar, Mr. Tidd Pratt, said the same of many 
 Friendly Societies. The remark was repeated in Parliament; 
 and in the House of Lords one speaker went so far as to assert 
 that out of the 20,000 Friendly Societies then existing, not twenty 
 were solvent. From the standpoint of the strict system of cover- 
 ing reserves, this opinion was for the most part only too well 
 founded ; but since insolvency, in this sense, did not yet mean 
 immediate inability to pay, the societies had still time left them 
 to improve their financial basis. Nevertheless, the largest portion 
 of all the Friendly Societies would have collapsed, and most of 
 them broken up, had not a series of circumstances combined to 
 keep them above water. 
 
 In the first place, the conviction, gradually forced on the socie- 
 ties, that it would be impossible to go on permanently with only 
 levies and approximate subscriptions, made them take pains to 
 accumulate larger reserve funds, which in many cases acted as a 
 prop until the old fabric could be replaced by a more solid con- 
 struction. 
 
 Again, the growth of English manufacturing industry in the 
 course of the present century occasioned a large influx of young 
 and vigorous persons into the manufacturing centres ; and if this 
 
Reform Movement inside the Friendly Societies. 255 
 
 influx supplied to a large extent the materials for establishing new 
 Friendly Societies, it nevertheless proved a boon to many of the 
 older ones, who thus filled their ranks with valuable recruits, and 
 acquired support by their means. 
 
 In addition to this came the rise in wages, which enabled the 
 societies either to increase by degrees their premiums, originally 
 fixed too low, or to meet losses by extraordinary levies. Of equal 
 and, in many cases, of decisive importance was the participation of 
 the upper and middle classes in these societies. Landlords, clergy- 
 men, and large employers took part from the beginning in the 
 ‘foundation and management of English Friendly Societies, and 
 supported them by their action and advice. If a society, in which 
 any leading man of the locality or town was interested, got into 
 difficulties, he assisted it in one way or another. Many societies 
 show long lists of honorary members belonging to these classes, 
 whose subscriptions range from 10s. to £5 a year. Not less 
 important in this respect is fhe participation of the lower middle 
 classes as actual, bond fide members. Though entitled to the 
 benefits of the society, this class of members, consisting of small 
 shopkeepers, well-to-do tradesmen, better-paid shop assistants, 
 and so forth, take pride in making no use, as occasion arises, of 
 their right to relief, thus benefiting the society in the manage- 
 ment of which most of them take an active part. Dr. Hasbach 
 quotes a statement of the Grand Master of the Manchester Unity, 
 that in this order, which has a strong admixture of the lower 
 middle class element, no less than 15 to 20 per cent, of the 
 members do not claim their benefits.* If a society has been 
 “ hit ” by some particular accident, a collection is started, and the 
 ever-flowing stream of English benevolence supplies the deficit. 
 In this way many societies have been tided over their difficulties. 
 The entire Friendly Society system, in fact, was the outcome, 
 from the first, of an active spirit of brotherhood, which was often 
 able to make up, by the willing self-sacrifice of the members, 
 what was wanting as regards financial management. 
 
 We cannot, however, here conceal the fact that the Friendly 
 Societies have profited by a circumstance which, in itself, must be 
 
 Hasbach ut supra, p. 205 
 
256 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 regarded as a bad feature of the whole system. We mean the 
 secessions. Apart from the local and more exclusive societies, a 
 fluctuation of membership is taking place even now in all the 
 others, and was very marked in the past, especially in the case 
 of the large affiliated Orders. The cause and effect of this phe- 
 nomenon are equally remarkable. As regards the former, it 
 consists, in the first place, in the fluctuations of the working 
 population in general, as well as in the oscillations of wages and 
 employment; though it must not be overlooked that the very 
 movement of reform inside the Friendly Societies themselves has 
 occasioned many secessions, and that, in the large Orders in par- 
 ticular, the innovations as to tables of premiums and management 
 frequently impelled whole lodges to quit the Order, and caused a 
 number of members to retire from those lodges which remained 
 true to it. The effect, however, of these secessions was a finan- 
 cial gain to the societies, who got rid of their outgoing members 
 by reimbursing a small portion, if any, of their contributions. In 
 this way many societies were saved from an otherwise inevitable 
 collapse, while others were given the possibility of carrying out 
 an improvement of their system of premiums with their reduced 
 number of members.* 
 
 Lastly, we must observe here that the Government before 1844 
 paid interest on the deposits of registered Friendly Societies with 
 the National Debt Commissioners at the rate of more than 4| per 
 cent. ; that is to say, at a rate above the market rate of interest, 
 and thus gave them substantial support. 
 
 Speaking generally, it cannot be denied that the Friendly 
 Societies have availed themselves of all these circumstances to 
 better their method of insurance, to introduce a rational manage- 
 ment, and to make suitable provision for the various benefits they 
 promised. 
 
 What, then, is the method of insurance to which they are gradu- 
 
 * In 1834 the Manchester Unity numbered about 60,000 members ; in 1846 
 the number had risen to 251,727. During this period, however, the first seces- 
 sion took place ; so that, for example, in 1844, although there was a net gain of 
 21,461 members, it was the result of 40,000 new members joining, as against 
 20,000 old members who left the Order. Compare “Observations on Odd Fellows,” 
 p. 25 ; Hardwick’s “ Manual,” p. 51 ; and Second Report, Q. 17, p. 278 sqq. 
 
Reform Movement inside the Friendly Societies. 257 
 
 ally approximating, and which has become the recognised aim of 
 all their endeavours ? 
 
 The rate or levy system, in its ruder as well as in its more 
 perfect form, tries to cover the current exigencies of the society, 
 which, according to experience, move within certain limits. 
 The reserve or premium system, on the contrary, starts with 
 the valuation of contingent liabilities, reduces these liabilities 
 to the value which they represent at the time they were in- 
 curred, and fixes the contributions in the same manner; by 
 which means the present value of prospective contributions — apart 
 from certain additions for the costs of management and for the 
 reserve fund — must be equivalent to the present value of the 
 obligations. This arrangement necessitates a structure built up 
 of statistical data and calculations of probability and the rate of 
 interest. With regard to the particular individual, it is impos- 
 sible, of course, to ascertain beforehand the day of his death, or 
 the duration of a possible illness. But if all these data are 
 observed among a large number of men living under the same 
 general conditions, the observations thus made will supply an 
 average figure which — irrespective of other influences, represents 
 an average probability of death or duration of sickness for each 
 individual of a particular class of age. This is the origin of those 
 tables of sickness and mortality from which a society can ascer- 
 tain what kind of obligations it incurs. These tables thus deter- 
 mine the average liability of the society. On this basis it can be 
 calculated, further, how much a member has to pay, either as one 
 payment or as a current subscription, in order to insure a certain 
 sum of money receivable after his death, or an annuity in case 
 of his sickness or incapacity to work. This calculation is always 
 made on the footing of compound interest. If, again, it is a ques- 
 tion of life insurance, it is possible, having ascertained the length 
 of time from the member’s admission to the period of his probable 
 death, according to the tables of mortality, to calculate the amount 
 he has to pay on joining the society, so that the total interest and 
 compound interest together, accruing a-t the probable date of his 
 death, shall suffice to cover the promised benefit. In place of one 
 payment, the premiums can be paid in the form of yearly, monthly, 
 or weekly subscriptions. In the case of sick insurance the pro- 
 
 s 
 
258 
 
 English Associates of Working Men . 
 
 cedure is practically tlie same. The tables of sickness enable the 
 society to ascertain the extent of its engagements to each indi- 
 vidual member of a particular class of age, and to calculate, as in 
 the case of life insurance, how much the member has to pay, either 
 in a single sum or as continuous premiums, to make his payment 
 or payments cover the liabilities incurred ; in other words, the 
 benefits promised during sickness or disablement. The calcula- 
 tion of liabilities involves a corresponding calculation of assets. 
 If then a table is constructed showing those premiums payable, 
 either at one time, or as yearly, monthly, or weekly subscriptions, 
 by a member of each successive class of age, in order to insure 
 either a capital sum in the event of death, or a certain annuity, 
 usually payable weekly, in the event of sickness or disablement, a 
 graduated rate of contributions is obtained, which enables the 
 society to conduct its insurance on the principles of the premium 
 system. 
 
 Such are the fundamental features of this system, omitting all 
 ■accessory conditions and details. 
 
 We proceed now to consider more closely these component 
 elements of Friendly Society insurance. We must eliminate, 
 however, at present some conditions of insurance, and postpone 
 them until we come to deal with the question of management, 
 with which they are eminently connected. We refer to the 
 expenses of management and the investment of the reserve fund. 
 Both of these questions, from the extent to which they determine 
 the amount of the premiums, are among the most important 
 elements of all insurance, and particularly of working-men’s in- 
 surance, the extension of which depends directly on the possibility 
 of paying the necessary contributions, even when wages are not 
 at the highest. 
 
 So far as the English Friendly Societies have either already 
 completed, or are in course of completing, the transition to the new 
 reserve system, their management of insurance turns substantially, 
 according to the above remarks, on two points. The premiums are 
 computed from certain tables of sickness and mortality, in order 
 to cover the Society’s liabilities according to the requirements of 
 private insurance, and from time to time valuations are instituted 
 — they are now made compulsory by law on all registered societies 
 
Reform Movement inside the Friendly Societies. 259 
 
 — for the purpose of ascertaining how far the calculation is borne 
 out by facts. The result of this control possibly gives an impetus 
 again to changes and improvements as regards both the rate of 
 contributions and benefits, or in the general management of the 
 Society. Calculation and control are thus mutually interlinked. 
 We will examine each of these points more in detail. 
 
 1. The liabilities of the Friendly Society, resulting from the 
 laws of probability, form, as we have seen, the basis of the entire 
 premium system. The first duty, therefore, of every Society is to 
 adjust the premiums and entrance fees according to the liabilities 
 incurred. In doing this, a cardinal question is the age of tha 
 member at admission. This is the decisive point for a system of 
 insurance which depends, on the one hand, on the maintenance of 
 reserves, and, on the other, on the voluntary accession of members. 
 We have, therefore, identified with this premium system the 
 requirement of graduated premiums, which is its necessary out- 
 come and condition.* 
 
 * We will give but one example. From the younger Neison’s work already 
 referred to, containing the experience of the Foresters from 1871 to 1875, it ap- 
 pears that the duration of sickness for a person between 20 and 70 amounts on 
 an average to 884 days. This duration, however, differs greatly in the various 
 decenniums of these 50 years, being as follows : Between 20 and 30 years of age, 
 59 days ; between 30 and 40 years, 74 days ; between 40 and 50 years, 109 days ; 
 between 50 and 60 years, 194 days ; and between 60 and 70 years, 448 days 
 (“Bates of Mortality and Sickness,” p. 59). 
 
 From these figures it appears that the number of days of sickness between 20 
 and 60 does not amount to even one-half of the total, more than half belonging 
 to the period between 60 and 70. These results are of decisive importance in 
 favour of separating old age from sick insurance. But these figures, which cor- 
 respond with the experience of the large working-men’s insurance societies in 
 England, throw a light also on the nature and extent of sick insurance in England. 
 The well-known German actuary, Professor Dr. Karl Heim, has published in a 
 small, but thoroughly scientific work (“ Anzahl und Dauer der Kranhheiten in 
 gemischter Bevolkerung. Funfundzwanzig Jahre Erfahrungen der Versicherungs- 
 gesellschaft Gegenseitigkeit zu Leipzig 2nd edition, Leipzig, 1884), the results 
 of his observations, which we will compare with those of the Foresters. Accord- 
 ing to Dr. Heim, the yearly average duration of sickness, taken from the lives 
 he observed, which ranged from 15 to 79, amounted to 6'99 days ; in other words, 
 each of the persons averaged drew sick allowance for a period of about 7 days 
 a year. The Foresters’ data give a much higher figure, being a corresponding 
 average of more than 17 days for each of the fifty years between the ages of 
 20 and 70, the total days of sickness of the lives observed within that period 
 
26 o 
 
 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 It is intelligible, therefore, that the reformers of Friendly 
 Societies should insist, above all, that these societies should con- 
 duct their insurances on the basis only of tables graduated according 
 to the age of the member at admission, thus seeking to establish 
 what is the primary and indispensable condition of private insur- 
 ance. Ever since the first compilation of tables of sickness and 
 mortality, the necessity of introducing graduated premiums has 
 again and again been urged upon the Friendly Societies. Sir F. 
 M. Eden, to whose excellent work on the poor we have already 
 referred, insists strongly on this point in his “ Observations on 
 Friendly Societies,” published in 1801. The Select Committee of 
 the House of Commons in 1827, whose investigations turned almost 
 entirely on the matter of tables, put this question in the foreground 
 of their report ; all theorists, and all men of practical insight, 
 whose number has rapidly increased, especially since the publica- 
 tions of the Manchester Unity and the Foresters, have advocated 
 with success the introduction of graduated tables of premiums; 
 and yet even the Report of the Commission in 1874 complains 
 that many Friendly Societies still adhered to the false system of 
 levying the same amount of subscriptions from all members alike, 
 and states that very few of these Societies, if any, which charge 
 uniform premiums are solvent.* 
 
 being 884. This higher average, however, gives a remarkable proof of the wholly 
 different and much larger extent of the sick benefits insured by the Friendly 
 Societies in England. In the next place, it must always be remembered that 
 sick insurance includes insurance against accidents. And further, as we have 
 already observed, the definition of sickness, as adopted in all the statistical in- 
 vestigations and practice of English Friendly Societies, is a broader one than 
 that adopted on the Continent, inasmuch as these societies in England pay allow- 
 ances, though on a smaller scale, during chronic illness, including therefore 
 permanent incapacity for work, and thus insure, to some extent, against disable- 
 ment. And lastly, this higher average is largely due to the fact that the English 
 Friendly Societies, and especially the branches of the large orders, are extremely 
 liberal in their selection of lives, being not only insurance societies, but social 
 institutions. These circumstances suffice to explain the large average of 16 days 
 sickness a year, though of course it necessitates higher contributions. No doubt 
 this practice of the English Friendly Societies, which differs from that of insur- 
 ance companies, entails certain difficulties, but, on the other hand, it must be 
 admitted that it has social advantages of extreme importance. 
 
 * The Fourth Report of the Commission (p. clxxix. sqq.) gives the following 
 as the main causes of the widespread insolvency of Friendly Societies : — 
 
Reform Movement inside the Friendly Societies . 261 
 
 A series of circumstances have combined to check progress in 
 this direction. For a long time there existed an inveterate pre- 
 
 1. The inadequacy, mainly owiug to competition, of the rates of premium for 
 the benefits promised. 
 
 2. The erroneous system, still adhered to by many societies, of charging 
 uniform premiums, without regard to the age of the member joining. 
 
 3. The want of any general knowledge of the conditions and data of insurance. 
 
 4. The neglect to consider the various classes of risks. 
 
 As a sample of the inadequacy of the contributions at that time, even in the 
 lodges of the Manchester Unity, the Commissioners quote from the Report of 
 their directors for 1872 the following information, which we subjoin in a tabular 
 form, showing the differences between the various lodges : — 
 
 Lodge. 
 
 Yearly 
 
 Contribu- 
 
 tion. 
 
 Benefits Promised. 
 
 Number 
 
 of 
 
 Members 
 
 in 
 
 Lodge. 
 
 Balance 
 
 Sickness Money. 
 
 Burial Money. 
 
 on 
 
 Valuation. 
 
 A 
 
 £1 ls.8d. 
 
 10s. a week during 
 the first 12 months ; 
 5s. a week during 
 the second 12 
 months; 3s. a week 
 during sickness 
 
 after continuous 
 
 sickness of 2 years. 
 
 £10 at death of 
 member, and £5 at 
 death of member’s 
 first wife. 
 
 151 
 
 £2,120 
 
 
 17 s. Ad. 
 
 Same as Lodge A, 
 years’ sickness the 
 instead of 
 
 except that after 2 
 allowance is 3s. 6d. 
 3s. a week. 
 
 228 
 
 £2,725 
 
 C 
 
 17s. Ad. 
 
 (and some 
 members 
 19s. 6d.) 
 
 10s. a week during 
 the first 12 months ; 
 and 5s. a week dur- 
 ing the remainder 
 of the sickness after 
 12 months. 
 
 £10 at the death of 
 a member; £10 at 
 the death of an old 
 member’s first wife ; 
 £5 at the death of 
 a second wife ; and 
 £5 at the death of a 
 new member’s wife. 
 
 218 
 
 £2,527 
 
 D 
 
 £1 ls.8d. 
 
 12s. 6 d. a week dur- 
 ing the first 12 
 months, and 6s. 3 d. 
 during the remain- 
 der of the sickness 
 
 £12 at the death of 
 a member, and £8 
 at the death of a 
 member’s wife. 
 
 433 
 
 £3,085 
 
 “ The rates of one society,” says the Report, “ are frequently copied from those 
 
262 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 judice against graduated premiums, which in some degree was 
 intelligible, when it is remembered how little reliance could be 
 placed on the first tables of sickness and mortality.* To the un- 
 wholesome competition of the societies we have already several 
 times referred. This competition was here also a serious hindrance 
 to progress, since one society sought to underbid the other in its 
 rates, and to overbid it in its benefits. Besides this, there was 
 the difficulty necessarily entailed on the book-keeping and general 
 management of the society by having to deal with graduated tables 
 of premiums. The societies in earlier days had seldom men at 
 their command who had been trained to this difficult task of ad- 
 ministration ; and although they had long perceived how different 
 in kind was the liability incurred towards members of different 
 ages, still they preferred, instead of introducing graduated tables 
 of premiums, to adopt other expedients, such as levying, for ex- 
 ample, higher entrance fees, or additional payments from members 
 who join at an advanced age.f 
 
 of another without any reference to the amount of sickness which the tables 
 provide for. Society A use a certain table of premiums ; Society B says, ‘ We 
 will try a little lower ’ ; or if the new society is established in a different place, 
 ‘ We will charge the same as Society A.’ Very seldom is any estimate made 
 of the probable amount of sickness, or whether the premiums proposed to be 
 charged will provide the promised benefits. It sometimes happens that tables 
 based upon data wholly inapplicable are used. For instance, the tables prepared 
 by Mr. Finlaison do not provide vfor benefit during chronic sickness, whereas 
 the rules of most societies allow benefit at a reduced rate during such sickness. 
 It is clear that to use these premiums without adopting the rule limiting the 
 benefit must be hazardous.” 
 
 * “ Observations on Odd Fellows,” p. 14. In the Second Keport of the Com- 
 mission, Part II., Q. 19,762, Mr. C. S. Nicholson, Secretary of the Association 
 of Friendly Societies in Manchester, states as follows, in reply to a question as 
 to the general adoption of graduated tables of premiums : — 
 
 “ My individual opinion is that if such a step could be carried out by legislative 
 enactment it would work a great reform in the management of Friendly Societies. 
 There is certainly a prejudice prevailing amongst the majority of branches con- 
 nected with the different Friendly Societies against the graduated scale ; but 
 that prejudice is being gradually removed, and the more intelligent of the mem- 
 bers of Friendly Societies are decidedly in favour of its adoption, as the only 
 sound principle upon which the contributions of the members of Friendly So- 
 cieties can be regulated.” 
 
 t The reason why many of the Friendly Societies resolved not to discontinue 
 the practice of charging the same rate for all members was that it made the book- 
 
Reform Movement inside the Friendly Societies . 263 
 
 Recently, however, marked progress has been made. The large 
 Orders are exercising the greatest influence in the adoption of 
 graduated premiums, and most of them make their adoption the 
 condition of opening a new branch ; a demand which these Orders 
 have only been able during the last few decades to insist upon, 
 since they have supplied the branches with the necessary material, 
 by means of their statistical investigations and the compilation of 
 graduated tables of contributions. It would be unfair, however, 
 to assert that this progress is confined to the large Orders, many 
 isolated societies also having turned to good account the means 
 supplied to them by scientific labours in this field, and adopted 
 trustworthy tables accordingly. On the other hand, the legislature 
 has not interfered on this subject as successfully as it might have 
 done. The Act of 1875 contains an unintelligible defectiveness 
 rn this point, by providing merely (section 11, sub-section 5,) that 
 no society, assuring to any member a certain annuity, shall be 
 entitled to registry, unless the tables of contributions for such 
 assurance have been certified by the actuary to the National Debt 
 Office, or an actuary approved by the Treasury. This section 
 covers, therefore, the case of old age insurance, but leaves the cases 
 of life insurance and of ordinary sickness wholly unprovided for. 
 
 It may, therefore, be said in general that in the English Friendly 
 Societies the adoption of graduated premiums for all kinds of in in- 
 surance, and therewith the realization of the most essential con- 
 dition of the general introduction of the reserve system is in course 
 of progress, although as yet not generally effected. 
 
 But if the age of the member when joining the society remains 
 the most important basis for tables for premiums, it is not by any 
 means the only factor that determines the extent of the liabilities 
 
 keeping so much simpler. Thus, for instance, in the Glasgow Thistle and Kose 
 Society, which admits members of from 20 to 40 years of age, all payments are 
 brought to the uniform age of 30, made equitable to the younger members by 
 the rule that they are entitled to draw an allowance, only having been members 
 of the society during a certain time, and concerning the elder members by an 
 additional payment (Second Report, Part II., Q. 12,707 sqq.). Even in the 
 great Hearts of Oak Society, which in 1883 had no less than 120,263 mem- 
 bers, and a reserve fund of £627,612, the rates are not graduated according to 
 age. The simplicity of the book-keeping is expressly assigned as the reason of 
 this by the secretary of the society (Third Report, Q. 24,366). 
 
264 
 
 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 incurred by the society on his admission. Occupation and habits 
 of life play at least a great part in the question, and influence the 
 member’s health and duration of life. To determine this influence 
 is, however, a difficult matter. In the first place, it must be borne 
 in mind that occupation and habits of life always act and react 
 upon each other. Mr. W. A. Guy says very justly that it is 
 difficult to ascertain the real influence of occupation on health, 
 since, on the one hand, occupations which, so far as danger to life 
 is concerned, are nearly akin, may be united with very different 
 habits of life, different dwellings, and other external circumstances 
 of the working-man’s existence, and, therefore, with totally dif- 
 ferent probabilities of sickness ; while, on the other hand, occu- 
 pations which in regard to immediate danger are widely different, 
 .appear through these accompanying circumstances to approximate 
 each other in their results, as respects Friendly Societies.* Un- 
 healthy occupations may, therefore, through rational and regular 
 habits of life on the part of the working-man, exhibit relatively 
 favourable results ; while inversely, working-men who are addicted 
 to intemperance or vicious habits, or are subject to other influences 
 injurious to health, represent bad risks in respect of sick insur- 
 ance, even though their occupations be healthy. In England, 
 where people have long been forced to the conviction that the 
 modem factory system, and the colossal extension of mines and 
 iron-works, have created entirely new conditions of health and 
 habits of life for a large part of the nation, the influence exercised 
 by different occupations in manufacture upon the health and lives 
 of the working-men has often been made the subject of laborious 
 investigation; but a general comparison and examination of the 
 results on behalf of Friendly Societies has not yet been made.f 
 
 * Journal of the Statistical Society, 1848, p. 197. 
 
 t “ What is needed,” says the Report of the Commission in 1874, “ is an 
 investigation into the sickness experienced by a number of well-conducted so- 
 cieties, and particularly among those which distinguish the occupation of their 
 members, and that from these statistics there should be deduced tables of pre- 
 miums and auxiliary valuation tables .” — Fourth Report, p. clxxxi. See also on 
 this point a number of pertinent essays in the “ Transactions of the Social 
 Science Association ” and in the “ Journal of the Statistical Society,” and also 
 “ The Influence of Occupation upon Health, as shown by the Mortality Ex- 
 perience,” by Francis G. P. Neison, 1872. 
 
Reform Movement inside the Friendly Societies . 265 
 
 The elder Mr. Neison, in his work to which we have already re- 
 ferred, made an important beginning about forty years ago, but 
 the Report of the Commission of 1874 was correct in stating that 
 in spite of that, the classes of risks, based on the influence of dif- 
 ferent occupations, had not yet found any proper discrimination 
 in the practice of Friendly Societies. Even the valuable data, 
 collected by the Foresters from their experiences between 1871 
 and 1875, remained — as we know — unappreciated. It must not, 
 however, be forgotten that the efforts made in England were 
 directed to another side of the question. The classification of 
 dangers was neglected, but the dangers themselves were diminished. 
 The great preventive influence exercised by sanitary legislation 
 and administration, as well as by the Factory Acts and the great 
 change in the health, the habits of life, and the morals of the 
 working classes, have powerfully supported the Friendly Societies. 
 Nor is the influence small which the social element in the Friendly 
 Societies themselves exercises on the sober and regular habits of 
 life of their members. Most of the English Friendly Societies 
 are institutions which not only provide for the insurance of the 
 working classes, but also promote their moral elevation, their 
 education in order and punctuality, and a self-denying, honourable, 
 and industrious course of life. 
 
 It remains to make a few remarks on the practice pursued by 
 the Friendly Societies in regard to the different kinds of occupa- 
 tion. and the difference of risks they involve. In earlier days 
 their rules excluded altogether from membership many occupa- 
 tions against which there existed a frequently unfounded preju- 
 dice that they were particularly unhealthy ; while more lately 
 nearly all these restrictions have been abolished, and it may be 
 said that the Friendly Societies of the present day pursue any- 
 thing but an exclusive tendency, being, on the contrary, easily 
 accessible to all kinds of dangerous occupations. Still, no uniform 
 practice prevails.* In general, it is a common opinion that the 
 different risks of Friendly Societies counterbalance each other, 
 
 * The order of the Druids in Sheffield refuses to admit to their ordinary 
 branches the “dry-grinders,’’ on account of the unhealthiness of their trade, but 
 has formed separate branches for these workmen (Second Eeport, Part II., Q. 
 
266 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 and it is certainly a good sign for the healthy, social tendency of 
 the present societies, that it is preferred to disregard this point 
 rather than allow the social object of the institutions to be de- 
 stroyed. The advantages of graduation, according to different 
 occupations, are admitted in theory, but in practice the societies 
 have refused to deviate from their habit of considering their 
 members as brethren and not as bare risks.* At the same time, 
 the individualization of risks assumes a marked expression when 
 it arises from local causes, or is connected with notorious facts. 
 Thus the workmen in the various iron and steel manufactures in 
 Birmingham and Sheffield establish Friendly Societies for their 
 fellow-operatives, and the same is done by the printers and type- 
 founders, the agricultural labourers, the builders, and the smaller 
 middle classes in the towns, as being naturally thrown together. 
 A separate position is occupied only by those workmen who are 
 engaged in some notoriously dangerous employment, such as, for 
 example, the painters in white lead, and, above all, the miners. 
 These dangerous employments are either (in rare cases) entirely 
 excluded from Friendly Societies by their rules, or made subject 
 to the payment of higher premiums. + The miners have of late 
 years, as we have already observed, established a large accident- 
 insurance society, and, in regard to this branch of insurance, 
 made themselves independent of other Friendly Societies. 
 
 As regards, lastly, the influence of locality on the life and 
 health of the workmen, and, therefore, on the insurance system 
 of the Friendly Societies, we have noticed already how admirably 
 
 17,357 sqq.). The Staffordshire Provident Association, on the contrary, admits 
 the “ dippers ” — an employment considered very unhealthy — on the same terms 
 as its other members {Ibid. Q. 18,964). 
 
 * That this means making the more healthy members pay for the less healthy 
 ones, the lodges of the great Orders, which adjust their tables according to 
 average experiences, are perfectly aware (Second Report, Part II., Q. 27,740. 
 Compare also Questions 404, 25,868 sqq., and 27,592 sqq). 
 
 f Where a particular society has to receive a regular and strong admixture 
 of workmen engaged in dangerous employments, it is forced to suffer from this 
 circumstance. Thus the last general valuation of the Manchester Unity showed 
 that the lodges in the coal districts are mostly in a very bad financial condition 
 (“Valuation Balance-Sheets of the Lodges of the Manchester Unity, as on 
 December 31st, 1880,” by Reuben Watson, Manchester, 1884, p. 229. Compare 
 also Second Report, Appendix, part ii., Questions 985 and 8.662). 
 
Reform Movement inside the Friendly Societies. 267 
 
 the large Orders have turned to account by their investigations 
 their experiences in rural, town, and city districts. The net 
 result of these investigations, however, is determined also to 
 some extent by occupation and habits of life. 
 
 2. While the compilation of a table of premiums is the plan, 
 according to which the society is constituted, valuation is the 
 inquiry how far the plan corresponds with reality.* Mathemati- 
 cally, a valuation consists in this : that the value of premiums 
 receivable is set, for insurance purposes, against the value of 
 benefits payable, in order to ascertain by this comparison whether 
 the society, speaking actuarially, is solvent or not ; that is to say, 
 whether not only its current but also its future liabilities are 
 covered by the contributions and the fund. The basis of such 
 a valuation is formed, on the one hand, by the scale of pre- 
 miums and the rules that govern its application, and, on the 
 other, by the probability of death, sickness, and the other facts 
 corresponding with the various objects of insurance. If all these 
 circumstances were fixed quantities, and a Friendly Society 
 always moved in the same track, a purely mathematical valuation 
 would amply suffice to control the course of these societies. But 
 the fact is rightly recognised in England that a society, which 
 depends on the voluntary accession of its members, is no mechani- 
 cal piece of clock-work, which merely requires regulating from 
 time to time, but a living organism, subject to influences of the 
 most different kind, and the growth and development of which 
 must be carefully watched and, if necessary, guided in a marked 
 direction. A purely mathematical valuation is not enough, — it 
 must be conducted in a broader sense. 
 
 We will endeavour to show this by the deviations to which 
 the English Friendly Societies have been exposed in consequence 
 of their peculiar organization. 
 
 * The best authority on the subject of these valuations is the book published 
 by the Institute of Actuaries, to which we have already referred. Besides this, 
 there is the younger Mr. Neison’s “ Observations on the Efficient Valuation of 
 Friendly Societies,” also mentioned above. Mr. Hardwick’s “Manual ” also, as 
 well as the Reports of the Commission of 1871, and the annual reports of the 
 large Orders, particularly the Manchester Unity and the Foresters, abound in 
 information on this subject. We can only notice them, however, in outline. 
 
268 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 It is scarcely possible that the original plan of a Friendly 
 Society should completely correspond with the actual reality. 
 The labours of the large Orders have, it is true, supplied materials 
 on the basis of which approximately correct calculations can be 
 made, and the individualization of risks, by the division into rural, 
 town, and city districts, is a step in advance ; but we have seen 
 that comparatively little use has yet been made of the statistics 
 of occupation, an element which strongly influences these societies, 
 from their non-exclusive character and conduct. When, therefore, 
 a newly-founded society chooses certain tables and rules as a 
 model, the adjustment to the relations under which it works is 
 never immediately complete. Every Friendly Society represents 
 in a certain respect a peculiar group of experiments, which can 
 be tested only by frequent proof, and must be utilized by repeated 
 corrections or modifications of the original plan. Add to this the 
 fluctuations in the numerical strength of these societies. If the 
 number of members is small, it depends merely on chance whether 
 the practical result is better or worse than the calculation, based, 
 as it always is, on average quantities, which in small societies 
 of 30, 50, or 100 members cannot possibly be realized. Lastly, 
 deviations may be brought about by the retirement of members. 
 In this respect, it is right to take into account, though not to 
 over estimate, the influence exercised in cases where, as happens 
 in England, the retiring member forfeits more or less his previous 
 payments to the society. Experience has shown that, putting 
 aside secessions en masse , to which we have already referred, and 
 which may arise from various specific causes, retirements from 
 these societies take place, as a rule, among the younger members, 
 and being, therefore, of comparatively small pecuniary advantage 
 to the society, must be included in the calculation with great 
 caution. It is not until a society has been existing for some time, 
 that it is possible to learn from experience with any certainty, 
 whether and to what extent, if at all, this element of profit is 
 constantly recurrent. 
 
 Again, the conditions which might have been judiciously taken 
 in account in starting the society, may undergo an alteration, and 
 that to its advantage as well as its disadvantage. In the first 
 place, local influence steps in. Villages have grown into towns; 
 
Reform Movement inside the Friendly Societies . 269 
 
 the older manufacturing towns have had entirely new quarters 
 added to them ; what was a rural district a generation ago, is to- 
 day, perhaps, the centre of a large manufacturing town, and, as 
 such, exposed to injurious influences; while, on the other hand, the 
 standard of health has been raised in many places by the sanitary 
 regulations of the Government or the local authorities. Still 
 more important are the possible changes in the quality of the 
 members of a society, which may deeply disturb the insurance 
 calculations for life as well as for sickness. As regards the latter, 
 we have seen that the English Friendly Societies extend their 
 insurances to relative incapacity for work, the effect of which 
 depends very largely on the nature of the employment. In this 
 respect a society may be subjected to the greatest changes. Then, 
 again, there is the* influence caused by habits of life, which may 
 deteriorate and become injurious to health, or may improve, as, in 
 fact, they have most remarkably improved in England, — a result 
 brought about by the diminution of intemperance, better dwellings, 
 and increased facilities for cleanliness. Again, there are tho in- 
 fluences exercised on the business of the Friendly Societies by 
 the condition of manufacturing industry. Low wages and a 
 depressed state of trade, coupled with a reduction of work-hours, 
 multiply the claims on sick benefits. When the workman is out 
 of employ, a slight ailment or indisposition, which in better days 
 he would have shaken off, is enough to put him on the sick-list ; 
 and the same thing happens if he is stinted in his usual food and 
 worried by the want of work. 
 
 Lastly, the administration of the Friendly Societies, the carry- 
 ing out of the rules as to the admission of members and the certi- 
 fication of sickness and disablement, the control to be exercised 
 over members on the sick-list, the expenses of management, and 
 the investment of funds, — all these are questions which exercise 
 on the financial condition of the society a material influence, and 
 one which is none the less profound because at first it is usually 
 almost unperceived. Lax management easily becomes the slippery 
 road from security to ruin. 
 
 Mr. Hardwick is, therefore, correct in saying that it is clear 
 that notwithstanding all observed and scientifically compiled ex- 
 periences, it is impossible to obtain absolute exactness. Disturb- 
 
27 o 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 ances in the calculation will always occur in particular Friendly 
 Societies, and hence the necessity of a periodical revision and 
 eventually correction, to prevent these disturbances from gradually 
 multiplying errors of calculation. 
 
 The investigation required by a valuation of this kind is, as we 
 have seen, a comprehensive one. Starting with an observation of 
 the experience of the society during the last few years, it exam- 
 ines the management, takes into consideration the occupations of 
 the members and their habits of life, the influence of local rela- 
 tions and the state of industry, then calculates each branch of 
 insurance separately, and finally arrives at a result, which depends 
 not only on a mathematical valuation, but on an analysis of all 
 the elements that affect the stability and growth of the society, 
 on an anatomy of all its vital organs. The younger Mr. Neison, 
 in his recent work, nas expressed this thought very accurately. 
 u A valuation properly conducted,” he says, 11 presents the means 
 of correcting any misconceptions of the risks formed at the start- 
 ing of the society, and this is its most important feature. The 
 purport of valuation is to maintain, as it were, the touch between 
 the risks as they are and as they are assumed to be in the bases 
 of the contracts, and periodically to adjust such differences as 
 may arise. Due effect is thereby given to all local circumstances 
 and features, which may be special to a particular society ; and 
 the skill of the actuary consists not in the performance of so 
 many multiplications of the number of members by the values of 
 specific benefits, for any one with a slight mathematical know- 
 ledge can effect this, but in drawing proper deductions from the 
 varying circumstances of each society as exhibited in its records, 
 and in knowing how much force may safely be attributed to each 
 particular variation in its working. This constitutes the main- 
 spring of an efficient valuation.” * 
 
 It may be asked, what practical effect can be produced by such a 
 valuation ? First of all, a financial one. The case in which liabil- 
 ities and assets show an exact balance does not require any special 
 treatmet, and, moreover, very rarely occurs, there being usually 
 either a deficit or a surplus. The first of these cases, a deficit, 
 
 * “ Observations on the Efficient Valuation of Friendly Societies,” p. 22. 
 
Reform Movement inside the Friendly Societies. 271 
 
 means not, indeed, momentary inability to pay, but at least such 
 a state of finances as will result sooner or later, if no change is 
 made in the constitution or management of the society, in its 
 ceasing to be able to meet its engagements to its members. 
 When, therefore, a deficit is found to exist, the society has still 
 a longer or a shorter time of grace, within which it may restore 
 the necessary equilibrium. And this is what many of the societies 
 have actually done. Valuation, with its inexorable logic of facts, 
 has given the impetus to most of the reforms, and preserved to 
 many societies a life already seriously endangered. In this respect, 
 the institution as a whole has shown remarkable elasticity and 
 vigour. If the evil was admitted, efforts were made to increase 
 the contributions or to reduce the benefits, to keep a tighter hand 
 on the management or to alter the investment of funds. Sacrifices 
 in any case had to be made, and many societies made them with 
 courage and self-denial. 
 
 It is easier, of course, to decide what to do in the much rarer 
 cases of a surplus, and the Friendly Societies have devised various 
 means of applying it to the advantage of their members, while 
 refusing, under any circumstances, to increase the benefits in 
 such a manner that the danger of imposition might arise. * 
 
 Valuation is, lastly, of decisive importance as regards adminis- 
 trative reform. We have yet to learn what are the strong and 
 
 * Another danger, to which we have already referred, consists in societies, in 
 the event of a surplus, allowing themselves to be tempted into distributing the 
 capital among the members, and then dissolving (see “ Second Report,” Appen- 
 dix, part ii., questions 1,896 and 19,802p On this point some detailed evidence 
 as given to the Commissioners iu 1874 by Mr. H. Tompkins, the Chief Clerk 
 in the Friendly Societies’ Registration Office, as follows : — 
 
 “ Q. 1,896. Can you give the Commission any examples of societies having 
 been dissolved from the great temptation that there was to share the funds ? — 
 Yes ; I have looked through the cases mentioned in the Registrar’s Report for 
 the last two or three years, and I have made a list of about twenty or thirty in 
 which the Societies have been broken up, and they have shared among the 
 members amounts varying from £393 per member to £6, £7, £8, £9, and £10, 
 within tlie last two or three years. 
 
 “ Q. 1,897. Have there been many cases of that kind? — I think a consider- 
 able number of those cases arise. 
 
 “ Q. 1,898. Taking the whole number of dissolutions that you have known, 
 what proportion of the whole number have been dissolved, do you think, for 
 
272 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 what the weak sides of the management of English Friendly 
 Societies. It is the merit of valuations that they have thrown 
 much useful light on this subject. 
 
 The valuation of Friendly Societies is one of those questions 
 which occupy at the present day the fore-front of discussion ; it 
 has for a long while, as we have already observed, been advocated 
 by those who desired to see the transition to a regulated and 
 safe reserve system accelerated, and that, indeed, not as an isola- 
 ted scrutiny, but as a regularly recurrent investigation and over- 
 hauling of the society’s position. The diffusion of correct infor- 
 mation respecting the actuarial side of the question is bringing 
 about this end, and the publication of scientific as well as of 
 popular treatises work together in this direction.* 
 
 Legislation also, as we shall see hereafter more fully, has inter- 
 
 that reason? — I should say that from having too large an amount of funds, 
 perhaps one in eight or ten. 
 
 ‘Q. 1,901. How would the danger arise? — When a society has existed for 
 many years, and has amassed a large fund, difficulties are thrown in the way 
 of admission of new members ; as the members die off, the number gets smaller, 
 and the close spirit of the society is increased, until at last the numbers become 
 very few, and they break up the society and divide the fund.” 
 
 * Among the treatises which deserve notice from their generally clear com- 
 position and their extensive operation, are the prize essays repeatedly pub- 
 lished on subjects concerning Friendly Societies. In 1877 the late Mr. W. E. 
 Forster offered a prize for the best essays on valuation and provision for old 
 age. The competition wa3 open only to members of Friendly Societies, and the 
 result was a number of papers written by members of the most different so- 
 cieties. With regard to the essays on valuation, the first prize was taken by 
 Mr. William Crowter, a member of the South of England Mutual Benefit Society; 
 the second by Mr. William Hancox, a brother of the Manchester Unity ; and 
 the third by Mr. W. R. D. Gilbert, a member of the Western Provident Associa- 
 tion. (See “ The Forster Prize Essays on Friendly Societies,” Manchester, 
 1879.) 
 
 Recently the Conservative Member of Parliament for Leeds, Mr. W. L. Jack- 
 son, a member of the Manchester Unity, has similarly offered prizes for the 
 best essay on the contributions to district burial societies, as well as on the 
 defects from which Friendly Societies are still suffering, and the means of their 
 remedy. The best essay on the latter subject was written by Mr. Charles 
 Cowell, a member of the Mutual Provident Alliance ; the second best by Mr. W. 
 C. Eaton, of the Foresters, and the third best by the Rev. R. W. Essington, a 
 member of the Manchester Unity. (See “ The Jackson Prize Essays on Friendly 
 Societies,” Leeds, 1885.) 
 
Reform Movement inside the Friendly Societies . 273 
 
 vened in this matter with success, if not as yet sufficiently. The 
 Act of 1846 (9 and 10 Viet. ch. 27) already contained provision for 
 the valuation of registered Friendly Societies ; but this provision 
 was wholly misunderstood by the then Registrar, who, instead of 
 demanding an actuarial valuation, contented himself with a kind 
 of balance-sheet. The Act of 1875 for the first time made quin- 
 quennial valuations compulsory on all registered Friendly Socie- 
 ties. The annual reports of the Chief Registrar have incessantly 
 endeavoured to give the utmost possible expression to the inten- 
 tion of the legislature.* It is the Manchester Unity of Odd- 
 fellows, above all, which, even before the Act of 1875, effected 
 with energy and not without financial sacrifices periodical valua- 
 tions in their lodges, being also on this point in the van of actuarial 
 reform, f 
 
 * The Appendix to the Report of the Chief Registrar for 1880 contains a 
 “ Memorandum on Valuations,” by Mr. Sutton, from which we quote here a 
 few sentences, since a not unimportant effect has been ascribed with justice to 
 the clear exposition in this memorandum : “ The valuation of a Friendly 
 Society,” says Mr. Sutton, “ is the taking stock of its engagements, and of the 
 means it has for meeting them. Without it a society cannot tell whether it 
 can afford to go on paying the benefits it has promised, or whether it is on 
 the way sooner or later to break up, and leave its members helpless. . . . 
 It is too often supposed that a society which has funds in hand is solvent. If 
 the funds at the end of one year are larger than they were the year before, it is 
 too often supposed that the society must be prosperous. But it is not so. A 
 trader is not necessarily able to pay all he owes because he has a few pounds in 
 his till. The question is whether his stock in trade, his good debts, and other 
 property, cover all he may have to pay. He may have twice as much cash 
 in hand this year as last, and yet have become insolvent in the meantime, by 
 loss of stock, by increase of debts and liabilities. Just so the solvency of a 
 Friendly Society depends not upon the money it has in hand, but upon whether 
 its existing funds, together with the future contributions for benefits which 
 the members are bound to pay, are enough to balance the benefits which those 
 members have a right to receive under the rules, together with any other ex- 
 penses and liabilities. The main object of a valuation is the proper answering 
 of this question, and what can be more important to the members of Friendly 
 Societies than that it should be properly answered ? ” (Appendix B., pp. 56, 57.) 
 
 One sees how these principles, which at least to well-regulated insurance 
 institutions have long been familiar, are inoculated on all sides into the English 
 working man for his societies, and thus these self-governing bodies are being 
 put into a position to reform themselves on the broad basis of a general under- 
 standing of these principles, and further to conduct their management for the 
 future upon the new system. 
 
 f See Appendix A. 
 
 T 
 
2;4 
 
 English Associatio?is of Workmg Men. 
 
 There are prejudices and difficulties of every kind to overcome ; 
 in numberless ways the Friendly Societies clung, and still cling, to 
 their original system of levies, and even to this day views are 
 widely entertained which lead to false estimates of solvency. If, 
 for example, a society has a tolerably large fund, and can show so 
 and so much capital per head of its members, or if the reserve fund 
 exceeds the aggregate yearly income, or if the receipts alone are 
 constantly in excess of the expenditure, or if the Society can point 
 to a long career and a continual accession of recruits, there is 
 great difficulty in convincing it that all these signs are delusive, 
 and that a valuation will perhaps show that measures must im- 
 mediately be taken in accordance with its results to prevent these 
 favourable signs from turning into unfavourable ones. Add to this 
 that a feeling of distrust once prevailed against actuaries which 
 was not altogether unjustified. The valuations often differed 
 widely from each other, and the multitude of conditions to be 
 taken into account led frequently to their differing in one and the 
 same case.* If anything were calculated to promote valuation, 
 it would be uniformity of method, which is wanting to this day. 
 Lastly, there is the cost of valuation, an important item in the 
 question. 
 
 To state the case briefly, we may say that valuation is now kept 
 in view by all Friendly Societies as a necessary means of reform- 
 ing the basis of insurance, but that its application is still delayed 
 by a variety of causes which are gradually disappearing, but must 
 certainly present an obstacle for years to come to progress in the 
 direction of the new system of premiums. 
 
 “ The spirit of investigation now aroused,” says Mr. Hardwick 
 very truly in the preface to his book to which we have frequently 
 referred, “ will continue to grapple with the question, till these 
 valuable institutions shall become purged of all financial error, and 
 
 * A witness examined by the Commission gives an instance of a Friendly 
 Society in South Buckinghamshire, of which it was stated that in October, 
 1862, a surplus was certified of £2,848 ; that four years afterwards Mr. 
 Neison declared a deficit of £1,417 ; and that in the following year Mr. Finlai- 
 son declared a surplus of £3,946. The rate of interest at which the funds are 
 invested and the ratio of secessions mainly account for these variations. (Third 
 Report, Q. 24,566.) 
 
Ref own Movement inside ihe Friendly Societies. 275 
 
 tlieir capabilities for tbe common good consequently more com- 
 pletely and effectually developed.” 
 
 0 . Management. 
 
 We have pointed out in tbe preceding remarks tbe principles 
 of insurance which bave governed tbe development of tbe Friendly 
 Societies. Tbeir actuarial system forms, so to speak, tbe exact 
 matbematical side of tbe institution. It remains to cast a glance 
 at tbe management of these societies in order to see whether it 
 indicates an advance corresponding with that achieved by actuarial 
 labours. I may term this tbe psychological, practical side of tbe 
 question. 
 
 Every actuarial calculation of tbe probable receipts and dis- 
 bursements of a society, however safe may be its basis, forms 
 only a theoretical condition for tbe solution of tbe problem of 
 insurance. It is tbs societies themselves, composed of living 
 men, engaged in the practical management of insurance, who in 
 tbe first instance determine its success by tbe manner in wbicb 
 they solve tbe numerous and difficult questions of administration. 
 
 While tbe strictly technical part of insurance depends on tbe 
 collection and compilation of trustworthy data, and is therefore an 
 intellectual labour, tbe application of theory to practice is a mat- 
 ter of will, of experience, and of character. As such it is com- 
 paratively difficult to describe. To do so involves a -description 
 of character wbicb must always be imperfect. We shall, perhaps, 
 best discharge our task by noticing first tbe leading features of 
 administration shared by Friendly Societies in general, and then 
 explaining a series of particular questions of management wbicb 
 give us in various respects an insight into details. 
 
 Tbe English Friendly Societies are institutions of active and 
 conscientious self-help, wbicb bave originated u from a deep sense 
 of tbe dignity inherent in self-sustaining effort, and the true and 
 lasting independence founded thereon.” * These words of a com- 
 petent judge of these societies form a correct starting-point for 
 considering tbeir management. 
 
 •* “Friendly or Benefit Societies,’’ by Charles Hardwick (“ Transactions of 
 the National Associations for the Promotion of Social Science for 1858,” p. 636). 
 
2y6 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 These institutions during the last few decades, through the in- 
 fluence of scientific research, public criticism, legislation, and 
 State supervision, have experienced a transformation which has 
 raised them into organized associations of self-help. Neverthe- 
 less, it is only their own strength that has moved them. This 
 strength rests in the English working classes. They have im- 
 pressed their stamp on the entire system, and the management 
 of these societies has revealed both their strong qualities and 
 their weaknesses. This class is one that is not easily moved. 
 u The British working man will not be dictated to ; he must be 
 convinced, in some form or other, or he will not move. There are 
 many men amongst them of advanced intelligence, both competent 
 and wishful to effect to the full all necessary reforms ; but it must 
 not be forgotten that they have to wait with patience while they 
 teaoh, step by step, their more humbly educated brethren, and 
 obtain their votes for each successive innovation upon the ‘ an- 
 cient constitution,’ before ever they can effect any substantial 
 progress. Depend upon it, there is as strong an element of con- 
 servatism in the working-man’s club-room as in the House of 
 Lords itself.” * 
 
 This spirit of independent self-help has its advantages and dis- 
 advantages. We have already had occasion to remark how slow 
 in these Friendly Societies has been the progress of reform, and 
 we must repeat that up to the present day it exhibits defects. 
 Where the right men are wanting, there the management of the 
 societies is bad ; in addition to which there is frequently a fatal 
 optimism which, because things have gone on for some years or 
 some tens of years, opposes itself as an obstacle to all energetic 
 action. At the lowest stage, as regards efficient self-activity, 
 stand the societies which are managed by agents, especially the 
 burial societies, which have no social character at all. Again, 
 where the society consists mainly of the less experienced and 
 badly paid workmen, it suffers so seriously from the ignorance, 
 helplessness, and apathy of its members, as to require the active 
 assistance of the upper classes, of the clergy, landlords, and manu- 
 facturers to keep its footing. This remark applies particularly 
 to a portion of the agricultural classes. 
 
 * Ibid., p. 638. 
 
Reform Movement inside the Friendly Societies. 277 
 
 No one, however, can now deny that, taken altogether, the 
 English working-men, and especially the more highly educated 
 manufacturing artisans, display those qualities which are neces- 
 sary for the management of insurance societies, that the members 
 of these societies themselves take part in their management with 
 far keener interest than they did formerly, that they are able to 
 apply practically the knowledge which the literature of insurance 
 has placed in their hands, and that the experience and skill dis- 
 played in the management of the societies have steadily in- 
 creased.* Any one who studies this question in England will be 
 amazed at the silent and uninterrupted labours of those workmen, 
 who devote every leisure hour which is left to them after the 
 
 * The inquiry by the Commission in 1874 contains already a number of testi- 
 monies which agree in stating that the capacity and willingness of members of 
 the Friendly Societies to conduct a properly constituted administration, have 
 materially increased. Mr. John Wood, Secretary of the Equalised Manchester 
 and Salford District of the Order of Druids, gives the following evidence : — 
 
 “ Q. 17,198. Have you observed any marked improvement in the management 
 of the societies arising from growing intelligence and an increased interest on 
 the part of the members, or otherwise? — Yes, there is not the least doubt about 
 that. If we look twenty years back, and look at the present time, we shall see 
 that the improvement is very groat. 
 
 “Q. 17,199. In what respects ? — In financial arrangements as to the expendi- 
 ture. 
 
 “Q. 17,200. Does that arise out of the members taking a greater individual 
 interest in their own concerns, in looking into the balance sheets, and in scru- 
 tinizing the acts of the managing body ? — Yes, with their advice and assistance ' r 
 it is owing to that.” 
 
 Mr. Atherton also, one of the Committee of the Royal Liver Society, of Liver- 
 pool, states as follows : — 
 
 “Q. 1,451. “I may mention, which no doubt gentlemen present know, that 
 the members, as a general rule, in all Friendly Societies are much better in- 
 formed and much more intelligent now ; they demand more, and investigat 
 much more than they did ten or fifteen years ago. At the present time mem- 
 bers at a general meeting are very apt to get up and talk, and make a proposi- 
 tion, and ask very important questions indeed ; they put very pertinent questions 
 to the managers in their own way. Another thing is that they are demanding 
 the immediate removal of all the offices from public houses. Many of the 
 branch societies have been forced by the general will of its members to buy free- 
 hold property and erect offices outside of public houses ; and this has been 
 done simply by moral influence and increase of intelligence in the present 
 members of Friendly Societies. I am certainly of opinion that it is only a 
 work of time ; it is slow, but I think the time is coming about when the mem- 
 
278 
 
 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 now shortened work-day, to enlarging eagerly and assiduously 
 their knoAvledge of the principles of insurance, and manage to the 
 best of their power the societies to which they belong. It is in 
 the branches of the large Orders, but also in many other societies 
 which embrace the higher grades of the working classes and to 
 a greater or less extent also the lower middle classes, in the 
 towns, that the greatest progress has been made in organization 
 and management. In this way self-activity, if often slow in ripen- 
 ing, has nevertheless borne safe fruit. 
 
 This fundamental character of English Eriendly Societies as 
 working-men’s associations is not changed in any way by the fact 
 that, as we have already more than once observed, they have been 
 tempered with the different elements of the middle and upper 
 classes. This co-operation, which has taken place at all times, is 
 a great advantage to these societies. It takes place in the most 
 different forms. 
 
 As for the patronised societies in rural districts, the members 
 of the upper classes have at all times been their founders and 
 directors. Among the clergy in particular many have been in- 
 spired b}r that high conception of duty which has been thus ex- 
 pressed by the Hon. and Bev. Mr. Best in a paper read in May, 
 1871, at a meeting of the Friendly Societies Association : 11 1 re- 
 member how once a fellow-clergyman said, in reply to a question 
 of mine as to the friendly society existing in his parish, that he 
 only served the table of the Lord. I need hardly say how to- 
 tally I differ from this view, and how earnestly I feel that the 
 clergy who are true to their calling are bound to show that the 
 promotion of the temporal welfare and social improvement of the 
 people is just as much their duty as are the higher and more un- 
 loubted objects for which they have been ordained.” As regards 
 the Friendly Societies in the towns, on the other hand, they are 
 benefited in particular by the element of the small independent 
 tradesmen and shopkeepers, shop-assistants, and others, who ren- 
 ters of Friendly Societies will make a greater stride than they have done in the 
 last ten years.® 
 
 2k> one will be able to deny that this evidence, given before the Commission 
 in February, 1871, has since been abundantly confirmed. 
 
Reform Movement inside the Friendly Societies. 27 9 
 
 der good service by undertaking the book-keeping and accounts. 
 Lastly, if we glance at the directories of the large working-men’s 
 Orders, — above all, that of the Manchester Unity, — we find a goodly 
 number of Members of Parliament, — indeed most of the leading 
 statesmen in England belong to one or more branches of the 
 Odd Fellows, Foresters, and other Orders, as well as representa- 
 tives of science, merchants, shipowners, and manufacturers. These 
 members have, it is true, no immediate influence on the manage- 
 ment of the various branches or Orders, but they take the opportu- 
 nity, at their meetings and festivities, of testifying their member- 
 ship of the Order, and of keeping touch with the 11 brethren ” by 
 acting as presidents, by making speeches on special occasions, 
 and by cultivating social intercourse with their fellow-members. 
 This class of members strengthens materially the social position 
 of the working-men’s Orders. They are the connecting links be- 
 tween the social life of these Orders and public life in England, 
 the peculiarity of which is that all practical efforts disembogue 
 into it. 
 
 Putting aside the burial societies, most of the Friendly Socie- 
 ties are anything but mere insurance institutions, admission to 
 which is determined by purely actuarial considerations ; on the 
 contrary, it is the very method and manner of admission that 
 stamps the social character of these societies, and at the same 
 time determines the spirit in which their management is con- 
 ducted. The best among them are not only social self-governing 
 bodies, but also real brotherhoods, in which just as much is asked 
 about character and habits of life as about age and health. This 
 double character is most strongly marked in the large Orders ; 
 thus in the Foresters no one can be admitted (whether as an 
 honorary or financial member) 11 who bears a bad character, who 
 leads a dissolute life, frequents bad company, is guilty of habitual 
 intoxication, or is of a quarrelsome behaviour.”* Among the 
 Orders the admission of a “ brother ” is always made a matter of 
 some importance or ceremony, even if the pomp of freemasonry has 
 
 * Article 63 of the General Laws of the Ancient Order of Foresters Friendly 
 Societies, as amended in 1884, Leeds. Published and sold by the Executive 
 Council. 
 
280 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 entirely disappeared. Many societies insist, as a further guarantee 
 of fitness on the part of the candidate, that he should have earned 
 for a certain time a minimum amount of weekly wages, and re- 
 quire this proof of his independence and capacity to work before 
 admitting him. When the exclusiveness of the societies goes no 
 further than these tests, it is, in the case of institutions depen- 
 dent for their existence on the self-help of their constituent forces, 
 perfectly justifiable. Still, the fact undoubtedly comes out that 
 many societies in a financially sound position, form narrow-minded 
 and exclusive coteries , which very imperfectly fulfil their social 
 mission. 
 
 Outwardly, the management of Friendly Societies exhibits great 
 similarity of form. The conduct of business is usually vested by 
 the rules in a Committee of Management, called sometimes a 
 Board of Management or Board of Directors, with a President 
 and a vice-President at the head. Every society’ must have its 
 trustees, as organs for its legal competence to act and, in addition 
 to this, auditors and arbitrators are usually appointed, and many 
 societies have also their Patron and several vice-Patrons. The 
 functionary, however, which no society can dispense with, and 
 who, in most of them, is the soul of the whole concern, is the 
 Secretary. He is the real manager of its business, a salaried 
 officer in the larger societies, and in many of them entrusted ex- 
 clusively with this office. The secretaries of the Friendly Socie- 
 ties are the bureaucratic element of the institution, and the 
 tendency undoubtedly is to strengthen their position and to in- 
 crease their influence, but also their responsibility to the Society. 
 The bureaucratic apparatus has been largely developed, particu- 
 larly in the large Orders. The Secretary attends to the current 
 business of the society, and especially the correspondence. More 
 important matters are disposed of at the committee meetings 
 and reported or submitted in the form of resolutions to the mem- 
 bers at their general meetings. Most of the societies have a 
 “ members’ evening ” once a week or once a fortnight, the first 
 part of which is devoted to business and tho rest to social 
 intercourse. The Orders have also periodical meetings for the 
 representatives of districts, and of course general meetings. 
 
 The rules of the Friendly Societies, which formerly were often 
 
Reform Movement inside the Friendly Societies. 281 
 
 very clumsy compilations, have been drawn up more recently in 
 a much improved form.* The Manchester Unity and the Foresters 
 have compiled model rules for their branches, with a view to obtain 
 the utmost possible uniformity, as also to facilitate registration. 
 These model rules were submitted before publication to the chief 
 registrar, and simplified by him, so that the branches which adopt 
 them avoid all difficulties in registration. 
 
 One of the most important questions affecting working-men’s 
 insurance is the extent of the Society. On this point the tran- 
 sition from the levy system to the premium system has occasioned 
 a great change. We know that although Friendly Societies have 
 arisen in large numbers, most of them constitute small groups. No 
 doubt this is partly due to the spirit of independence common to 
 all institutions of self-help in England. But it is also due to the 
 very general conviction that a Society cannot permanently protect 
 itself against shamming and malingering in cases of sickness, 
 unless the number of its members is not unduly large, and the 
 control exercised in all cases by the medical and other officers, 
 specially appointed for the purpose, is strengthened by the fact 
 that the members themselves are personally acquainted with each 
 other, and superintend among themselves the due execution of the 
 rules. Moreover, the larger societies, especially in earlier days, 
 when the form and means of management were very simple, did 
 not show themselves manageable. In this respect, however, the 
 transition to the new system of insurance has wrought a thorough 
 change. As regards management, it was soon found that in such 
 small societies there was frequently a want of the necessary 
 number of members competent and willing to attend to the com- 
 plicated duties of administration and of book-keeping ; and it was 
 also soon made evident that the application of tables of sickness 
 and mortality was only suitable to larger societies, since the com- 
 puted averages could only be realized when a sufficient number 
 of lives were included in the insurance. Hence the now pretty 
 general conviction that a middle position, in regard to numbers, 
 is the most advantageous for a society. As to the proper number 
 of members, opinions differ, as is natural. Mr. Neison thinks a 
 
 Second Report, Q. 58, sqq. 
 
282 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 society should consist of at least 300 ; Mr. Hardwick demands 
 from 500 to 1000. Although many independent societies or branches 
 of a large Order have reached, or indeed exceeded this latter 
 figure, still, as a general rule, the average strength of the 
 societies at present is under the figure which Mr. Neison requires. 
 The enlargement of these societies has become therefore the sub- 
 ject of attention and active effort. The amalgamation of the 
 smaller societies has been advocated and partly carried out ; the 
 large Orders have abandoned the vanity of showing on their lists 
 as many branches as possible, and, on the contrary, are now work- 
 ing to strengthen the numbers of their existing branches, without, 
 however, having as yet succeeded in attaining on an average that 
 middle position which Mr. Neison recommended. Nevertheless, 
 great progress has been made in the last few years. While, 
 for instance, in 1871 the lodges of the Manchester Unity counted 
 an average of 122 members, this figure rose in 1886 to 142, the 
 corresponding increase in the case of the courts of Foresters being 
 from 107 to 138. 
 
 Li general, however, it must be said, that the efforts made by 
 the societies to secure a larger number of members have not met 
 with any decisive success, and that there is still a great splitting 
 up of forces. Recently, however, more strenuous attempts have 
 been made to demand for the Friendly Societies a broader basis 
 of insurance, and that by a union of single societies. This pro- 
 blem has been taken in hand in very different ways. 
 
 Above all, it must here be mentioned that the large Orders havo 
 endeavoured to form associations for certain branches of insurance 
 out of their districts, which always contain a large number of 
 branches. This is now being done almost universally with regard 
 to burial allowances, so that as a rule the various branches have to 
 deal only with sick insurance, and the larger district association, 
 by means of a system of contributions from the branches or from 
 the members of the branches, is made the machine for insur- 
 ing funeral benefits. Many of the districts have gone farther, 
 by establishing funds to relieve members in case of disablement 
 by accident, to assist individual branches, which have been over- 
 burdened by sick benefits, to supply medical aid and medicines, 
 and for other purposes. During the last few years in particular, 
 
Reform Movement inside the Friendly Societies. 283 
 
 strenuous attempts have been made to obtain in the Orders the 
 broader basis of the district for some sorts of insurance, and tc 
 give a stronger support to the branches, either by assisting them 
 pecuniarily in case of need, or relieving them of certain kinds 
 of insurance.* 
 
 A radical change would be effected in the relations between the 
 various lodges if another step, known as “ equalisation,” which 
 was first tried by the trades-union of the Amalgamated Society of 
 Engineers, and has hitherto been followed only here and there 
 by the Friendly Societies, were to meet with more general adop- 
 tion.f This equalisation consists in the branches of a district 
 consolidating themselves in regard not only to death-claims but 
 also liabilities accruing from sick insurance, by instituting among 
 
 * We quote the following provisions from the rules of the Sheffield and 
 Hallamshire District of the Foresters, bearing date 1884. The objects of the 
 District shall be as follow : — 
 
 “ Assuring sums of money payable at the death of members, and for the 
 funeral expenses of members’ wives and deceased members’ widows ; providing 
 relief to widows 'and orphans of deceased members; the assistance of members 
 in distress , the assistance of Courts whose funds may become exhausted by the 
 claims of their sick members ; providing medical attendance and medicine ; the 
 payment of weekly sick allowance , and the payment of a sum of money for the 
 funeral expenses of members' children ” (Rule 1). 
 
 It will easily be seen how this broader basis of the district enables a corre- 
 sponding extension of the objects of insurance. 
 
 Every court belonging to this district sends one delegate to the district 
 meeting, and courts with more than 300 members send two (Rule 13). The 
 immediate relations between this district society and the various courts of the 
 district and their members are as follows : sick insurance is left to the courts, 
 which are subject, by the rules of the district society, to certain normal regula- 
 tions, particularly in regard to premiums, the observance of which is super- 
 intended by the district executive. As regards the above-named objects of the 
 district, the members of the courts are also members of the district (Rule 14, 
 etc.). These provisions indicate a strong advance to centralisation. 
 
 The Sheffield and Hallamshire District undertakes sick insurance, as we have 
 seen, for members’ children. An interesting and, so far as we are aware, a still 
 isolated attempt to relieve the branches of sick insurance altogether, was made 
 some years ago by the Preston District of the Manchester Unity. This “ sick 
 union” is said to have proved a success. Compare Hardwick’s “Manual,” 
 pp. 87 sqq. 
 
 t See the Friendly Societies' Journal , December, 1884, p. 148 sqq. ; “ A Short 
 History of the Chief Affiliated Friendly Societies, p. 29 sqq., and the Second 
 Report of the Commission (1872), Questions 2,398, 17,002 sqq., 18,336 sqq. 
 
284 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 themselves a quarterly settlement of accounts, when the branches 
 which have a surplus pay it into a common district fund, which 
 goes to relieve the branches which show a deficit. As against the 
 undeniable advantages of equalising risks and thus keeping many 
 of the smaller branches alive, it is urged, as a main objection, that 
 the individual branches, when merged in such a large union, must 
 lose their interest in keeping a sharp watch over their sick-list, 
 and become more and more lax in their management. So far, 
 however, as the system has been carried into practice, these fears 
 do not seem to be justified. The Druids Order in 1879 had no 
 less than 25 equalised districts, containing altogether 258 lodges, 
 with 15,624 members. The information we have since gathered 
 (August, 1884) at Leeds as to equalised districts concurs in 
 stating that the system, wherever it has once been introduced, 
 proves not only that it lessens the cost of management and leads 
 to uniformity in the treatment of members in the various branches, 
 but also tends to reduce the number of sick claims, some of these 
 districts showing the lowest expenditure on sick benefits of the 
 surrounding neighbourhood. Be this, however, as it may, the 
 same obstacle interferes with the formation of equalised districts 
 that interferes with the fusion of individual Friendly Societies, 
 namely, the different financial position of the various branches, the 
 worse off of which have naturally an interest in amalgamation, 
 while those which are better off have not. Various methods have 
 been tried to give effect to amalgamation, but without succeeding 
 as yet to any considerable extent in surmounting the difficulties. 
 Hitherto, therefore, equalisation has mostly been confined to those 
 cases where it was possible to amalgamate brand new branches, 
 established on the same principles of insurance and financially in 
 a virgin condition. 
 
 A third kind of union of Friendly Societies otherwise indepen- 
 dent has been brought about in the following manner. When Par- 
 liament, in 1870, occupied itself actively with these societies, and 
 shortly afterwards the Royal Commission undertook its inquiry 
 and reported a number of recommendations for a reform in the law, 
 associations were formed among the Friendly Societies in various 
 parts of England, with the object of watching the proceedings in 
 Parliament on this subject, and safeguarding, as far as possible, 
 
Reform Movement inside the Friendly Societies . 285 
 
 the interests of the societies.* The immediate efforts of these 
 associations were to protect their independence against the re- 
 commendations of the Commission, which called for vigorous 
 action on the part of the Government. After the Consolidating 
 Act of 1875 had brought legislation in this matter to a conclusion, 
 the associations continued their existence, and thenceforth aimed 
 at protecting generally the common interests of Friendly Societies, 
 diffusing useful information in this respect, and promoting the 
 common cause by means of their reports, their active co-operation, 
 and the discussion of burning questions. They have certainly 
 done very much to soften the formerly strong jealousy between 
 the various societies, — nay, to convert mutual jealousy into the 
 opposite feeling, and to awaken the sentiment of solidarity in 
 societies ministering to the same objects. In addition, to that, 
 they can point to the achievement of great practical results in 
 having given rise, in the first instance, to arrangements 'which 
 have since been gradually matured, and are bringing about at any 
 rate a union of several societies for the attainment of one and the 
 same object of insurance. Such are the Medical Aid Associations, 
 of which there were 42 in May, 1884, containing 164,000 mem- 
 bers.f These associations ensure medical aid and dispensing in 
 case of sickness by means of a common organization, framed to 
 admit either entire societies or single persons, being members of 
 some Friendly Society, and even women and children. Their 
 value, in thus ministering to sick insurance, is undeniable, it 
 being, as a rule, difficult, if not impossible, for small, isolated 
 societies to find competent medical men who will perform this 
 service without disproportionately high payment. By uniting, 
 however, a large number of members for the purposes of medical 
 relief, and by reducing, in consequence, the cost per head, these 
 associations are able to reduce the corresponding premiums, and 
 the net result is that the medical treatment is better, the test of 
 
 * Examples of this kind were the Newcastle Friendly Society Amalgamated 
 Society, the Glasgow Friendly Society Association, and the Leeds Amalgamated 
 Friendly Society. See the Friendly Societies' Journal , February, March, and 
 June, 1884, and Second Keport of the Commission, Question 19,740. 
 
 f Friendly Societies' Journal , May, 1884. 
 
286 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 disablement is more uniform, and tlie benefits offered by tbe 
 associations can be extended to tbe members’ families.* 
 
 We have mentioned these attempts of the Friendly Societies 
 to become more centralized than before, and thus to obtain a 
 broader administrative basis, because they relate in fact to an 
 important point in their development. The transition to the 
 premium system, with its great tables of average sickness and 
 mortality, compels the centralization of the hitherto scattered 
 societies. As regards old age insurance in particular, its proper 
 management requires these larger associations. We shall revert 
 to this point hereafter. This much is certain, that the move- 
 ment towards centralization can never be arrested or diverted, 
 and that either the now innumerable small clubs must amal- 
 gamate into groups, or some kind or other of organized asso- 
 
 * Thus, for example, the object of the Leeds Amalgamated Friendly Societies' 
 Medical Aid Association , as appears from the rules (1881), is to provide 
 medicine and medical aid and attendance during sickness to the members, their 
 wives, families, and parents, and their widows and orphans after their death, 
 The Association is open either to Friendly Societies, as entire bodies, — each of 
 which, in that case, has to submit to the Association quarterly a list of its mem- 
 bers and pay an annual contribution of 3s. for each member, — or to persons 
 singly, as individual members (provided they belong to som’e Friendly Society), 
 who have to pay 4s. a year. The additional contributions payable annually for 
 a members’ wife are 4s., for his children, irrespective of number, 5s ; for the 
 widow and orphans of a deceased member, 6s. ; for the widow alone, 2s. ; and for 
 a members’ parents, 5s. A working-man’s family, consisting of husband, wife, 
 and even several children, can obtain medical attendance and medicine for the 
 annual sum of 13s. The Association appoints the necessary number of medical 
 officers, who receive a fixed salary and give their services exclusively to its 
 members. 
 
 This Association comprised in 1883, as appears from the annual report of 
 that year, 80 Friendly Societies, and a total of 8,117 members. In the course 
 of 1883, a far from healthy year at Leeds, there were 23,180 medical visits, and 
 70,713 consultations and prescriptions. 
 
 We need scarcely repeat here, that this Association also makes no distinction 
 between sickness and accident, and that the same premiums apply, therefore, 
 to both contingencies. 
 
 There is another large Medical Aid Association in York, which, in 1883, 
 numbered 9,361 members, and showed an income of £2,842, as against expenses 
 amounting to £2,647. It has built its own sick-house ; it keeps three doctor, 
 and a chemist, and in 1883 its report showed 17,581 visits, 23,640 consultations 
 and 51,437 prescriptions . — Friendly Societies' Journal , March, 1884. 
 
Reform Movement inside the Friendly Societies. 287 
 
 ciations must be created. The large Orders are promoting this 
 development, to the best of their power, by endeavouring to 
 centralize the various branches of insurance; but they have to 
 reckon with the strongly marked individualism of their branches, 
 which are anything but pliant in this matter. It will be still 
 more difficult to make these ideas penetrate into the various inde- 
 pendent societies, though even these will be forced to conduct 
 their insurance business on a broader basis, without which the 
 premium system would lead to worse consequences than the old 
 system of levies. 
 
 We will now notice briefly a few more elements in the manage- 
 ment of English Friendly Societies. I11 the first place there is 
 the mode of investing the funds. This was formerly much easier 
 than at present. We have already mentioned that the Govern- 
 ment, through the National Debt Commissioners, for a long time 
 guaranteed the Friendly Societies a higher rate of interest on 
 their deposits than that prevailing in the market. In addition to 
 this, however, it was possible formerly in many other ways to 
 obtain a higher rate of interest than at present; so that the 
 Friendly Societies were able to realize 5 per cent, and even more, 
 even while remaining within the limits of strict safety. No 
 doubt the societies were frequently unable to withstand the 
 temptation of speculating with their surplus funds. Some who 
 succeeded in this way in making their reserve capital particularly 
 productive, and thus improved the financial position of the society, 
 or by a lucky throw saved it from dissolution, set a seductive 
 but unwholesome example to others to invest their funds in profit- 
 able but uncertain securities or speculations in land, the success 
 or failure of which sealed the breaking up of the society. In this 
 field also the Friendly Societies have had to pay dearly for their 
 experience. 
 
 It was the introduction of the premium system that on this 
 point compelled the English Friendly Societies to practise greater 
 caution. The accumulation of reserve funds by means of com- 
 pound interest forms a fundamental principle of the new system 
 of insurance. The reserve fund, or the capital of the society, is 
 no longer now, as it was formerly, the more or less accidental 
 surplus of the year, but, on the contrary, the rate of interest at 
 
288 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 which, the contributions can be invested, in other words, the 
 process of accumulating the capital is one of the essential 
 elements in calculating the amount of those contributions. In 
 this respect the societies have undoubtedly had to contend with 
 a growing difficulty during the recent period of a falling rate of 
 interest. As we have already noticed, it was possible, only a few 
 decades ago, to compile a tariff of premiums on the footing of 
 5 per cent, interest. At the present day this cannot be done 
 with perfect safety on a footing of more than 3 per cent., which 
 practically means a not inconsiderable increase in the amount of 
 premiums. There is, further, the special difficulty of finding a 
 safe investment for small amounts, the consequence of which is, 
 that the small societies are frequently unable to realize more on 
 an average than 2 or 2| per cent, on their capital. In this respect 
 also, successful attempts at centralization have recently been 
 made by the establishment of so-called “Investment Associations,” 
 — that is to say, associations of several Friendly Societies for the 
 purpose of lumping their disposable moneys together and invest- 
 ing them cumulatively.* These associations receive amounts of 
 five pounds and upwards from the different Friendly Societies for 
 investment, divide the interest pro rata ) and, moreover, make it 
 superfluous for the societies to keep in hand large cash amounts 
 to meet the current expenses, being ready at all times to make 
 advances to them for this purpose. 
 
 A further point is the cost of management. Want of economy 
 in this respect has brought many a Friendly Society to ruin. A 
 marked distinction, however, must be drawn between the various 
 classes of these societies. Those which, although based on prin- 
 ciples of mutuality, are not self-administering bodies, but are 
 managed, like an institution based on profit, by a large number of 
 officers, agents, collectors, and so forth, naturally show high, and 
 often extravagant, costs of management, amounting to from 30 to 
 50 per cent, of the gross receipts. Since the book-keeping and 
 balance sheets of such societies are in no way adapted to make 
 this point come out clearly, it is often not at all easy to ascertain 
 the extent of the costs of management proper from their annual 
 
 Friendly Societies' Journal, June and August, 1884. 
 
Reform Movement inside the Friendly Societies. 289 
 
 reports. Nevertheless, a notion of the expensiveness may he gained 
 by knowing that in some of these societies the collectors of the 
 subscriptions get a commission of up to 25 per cent, on their gross 
 receipts. But a totally different standard must be applied to 
 those Friendly Societies which alone really deserve the name, 
 since they keep down the costs, by means of a real self-manage- 
 ment, to a relatively small amount This amount, of course, 
 varies considerably, according as to whether men are forthcoming 
 who manage the business entirely or to a large extent without 
 remuneration, or whether a paid secretary has to be appointed, 
 and some compensation given to the trustees and members of 
 the committee for their loss of time and travelling expenses. 
 Moreover, very different views prevail as to what expenses should 
 be reckoned and treated as costs of the society, some societies, 
 for example, including in the general costs of management all 
 expenditure occasioned by medical aid, while others treat the 
 remuneration of the doctors as insurance money, which is made 
 up to their members in the form of medical treatment. It is, 
 therefore, very difficult to state any figure applicable generally 
 to all societies, or even to any considerable portion of them. It 
 may serve, however, to assist in forming an estimate on this 
 question to know that the cost of management in the lodges of 
 the Manchester Unity, exclusive of medical payments, and also 
 exclusive of the payments of officers as well as the expenses 
 occasioned by an annual festivity, amount to only 5 or 6 per cent, 
 of the total sum paid in benefits. This is a standard which may 
 apply to many Friendly Societies, and which shows to what an 
 extent the management of these societies is conducted gratuitously 
 by means of the self-activity of their members. 
 
 The costs of management are defrayed either by fixed contribu- 
 tions or, as also frequently happens, by levies, in addition to 
 which there are the numerous fines. 
 
 One of the most important questions of management is the 
 checking of the abuses, with which societies are threatened, 
 either by shamming in cases of sickness, or by false or forged 
 certificates of birth or death with regard to life insurance. In- 
 asmuch as the system of registration in England is very imperfect 
 abuses in the latter respect, especially in the large burial societies 
 
 u 
 
290 
 
 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 are of not unfrequent occurrence. A question of much greatei 
 importance, however, is the prevention of shamming in cases of 
 sick insurance. The Friendly Societies have adopted a series 
 of measures to obviate this evil, which crops up more or less 
 everywhere, but increases in times of bad trade, and gives trouble 
 to those societies in particular which have to do with the lower 
 and morally weaker grades of English workmen. The means em- 
 ployed to prevent this danger are substantially as follows : — 
 
 (a) According to the opinion generally prevalent in England, 
 which is consistent with nearly all local experience, the most 
 effective means of preventing a sick insurance society from being 
 defrauded is to limit its extent. The principle of limitation is 
 based on the experience that it is impossible to maintain an 
 effective watch over sickness, its intensity and duration, unless 
 the whole mode of life and habits of the member are known 
 inside the society to which he belongs. This experience forms 
 also the ever-recurring argument against the management of sick 
 insurance by the State, which has absolutely no means at its 
 command to exercise an effective scrutiny over persons for whose 
 sick insurance it undertakes to provide. 
 
 {b) The Friendly Societies seek further, by means of a series 
 of checks, to prevent personation. The certificate necessary to 
 draw the sick allowance is written by the medical officer. Every 
 large society, however, has a special functionary — commonly called 
 a steward — who is entrusted with the supervision of the sick 
 members ; and a visiting committee also is usually appointed for 
 the same purpose, consisting of members of the committee of 
 management, who exercise a supreme control. At the weekly 
 meetings of the committee of management or of the branches, 
 reports are given of the various cases of sickness, and filed as 
 matter of record. The weekly sick allowances are only paid on 
 the production of a certificate attesting the continuance of the 
 illness, and signed either by the doctor or steward. 
 
 (c) The member in receipt of sick-pay is obliged, apart from 
 the directions of the doctor, to observe a certain mode of life. 
 He can only go out within certain hours of the day, and if found 
 engaged in any profitable employment or in a public-house, or 
 even after certain hours in the evening outside his home, he 
 
Reform Movement inside the Friendly Societies. 291 
 
 is punished with a fine, and in the event of his repeating the 
 offence, with the partial or entire withholding of his sick allow- 
 ance. 
 
 (1 d ) It is a principle observed as rigidly as possible in all 
 English Friendly Societies, that no sick or accident allowance 
 shall reach the full amount of the wages usually earned by the 
 member when in health. Only in very rare cases, when a work- 
 man contributes to several societies, is an exception made to this 
 rule. 
 
 (e) Lastly, a deterrent influence is exercised b}^ the rigour with 
 which the societies expel any members who obtain certificates of 
 sickness by fraud, or who practise personation to the injury of the 
 society. 
 
 Disputes arising in a Friendly Society are settled, according to 
 most of the rules, by arbitration. They relate usually to claims 
 of members against the society. Opinions differ as to the effi- 
 ciency of this system. It is alleged against it that, whether 
 the tribunal dgj composed of members of the society or branches 
 themselves, or of strangers, the selection of the (permanent) ar- 
 bitrator by the committee of management, or even by the general 
 meeting, does not give a substantial guarantee for an impartial 
 award, and that it is very difficult for any single member to en- 
 force his rights against the society. Those who take this hostile 
 view suggest, therefore, that it would be desirable to settle all 
 disputes before the ordinary courts of law, on the ground that the 
 expenses of so doing are not greater, and that the decision will 
 be speedier and at the same time impartial. The great majority 
 of persons, however, are opposed to litigation. They admit, 
 indeed, that abuses crop up in arbitration, but consider it, never- 
 theless, the best and cheapest means of settling disputes inside 
 Friendly Societies. The large Orders have endeavoured to com- 
 pensate for these abuses by instituting a formal appeal from the 
 award of the branches to the arbitration of the district and the 
 central body of the Order.* 
 
 We have already had occasion to observe that the charge very 
 commonly brought in former days against Friendly Societies t of 
 
 See Second Report, Questions 8,803, 8,850, 9,348, 9,743, 12,183, etc. 
 
292 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 letting their meetings degenerate into drinking bouts, was a well- 
 founded one.* But in this respect also a great change has taken 
 place within the last few years. The greatest danger always was 
 the fact that nearly all the Friendly Societies formerly held their 
 meetings at public-houses, and stood in a kind of connection with 
 the landlord, so that drinking was unavoidable. The new rules, 
 especially those of the large Orders, expressly forbid any portion 
 of the contributions being devoted at their weekly meetings to 
 liquor, as was once so frequently the case. The societies, and 
 foremost again the Orders, impose heavy fines on members who 
 get drunk at meetings, and summarily expel notorious drunkards. 
 Any member found intoxicated while in receipt of relief forfeits 
 his benefit at once. The bad habit of paying room-rent to the 
 publican in the form of liquor has for the most part, indeed, been 
 abandoned, and given place to payments in money. Many societies 
 avoid altogether holding their meetings at public-houses, and 
 choose either schoolrooms or other suitable places for that pur- 
 pose. 
 
 The principles of management now pursued by the Friendly 
 Societies, in regard to questions of temperance, may have failed 
 perhaps as yet to remove all abuses, but they have effectually 
 furthered the progress of the institution as a whole. Along 
 with the improvement in the system of insurance, by the sub- 
 stitution of premiums for levies, goes the change from the 
 old carousings at the public-house to a better and more refined 
 kind of social intercourse, which has done an immense deal not 
 only to better the management of the societies themselves, but 
 also to raise the moral and intellectual level of the working- 
 men. Any one 'who has attended one of the festive gatherings 
 of the Orders or larger societies, such as a dinner to celebrate 
 an anniversary or to do honour to a specially deserving member, 
 and seen how the English working-men of the present day be- 
 
 * In this respect also the Burial Societies are still exposed to serious abuses. A 
 witness stated before the Commission that the Humane Sick and Burial Society 
 at Ashton- under-Lyne consumed in one year, at their quarterly meetings, 
 about £112 in spirituous drinks. (Q. 17,857.) It appeared also that in the 
 Mortality Association Burial Society, 30 per cent, of the entire expenses was 
 wasted in liquor. (Q. 18,271.) 
 
Reform Movement inside the Friendly Societies. 293 
 
 have, and heard them speak, will come away with the conviction 
 that the habits of social intercourse now observed by these 
 societies, so far from being injurious to the institution, are a 
 powerful lever for promoting the spirit of good-fellowship, for 
 quickening every kind of effort, and for developing the social 
 education of the working classes. Experience has taught that 
 those branches of Orders which cultivate in a proper manner the 
 social union of their members, are also the most favourably situated 
 as regards their system of insurance, or have made the greatest 
 progress in that direction. 
 
 It will be appropriate here to point out, in general terms, how 
 the Friendly Societies, while reflecting in their management the 
 moralit}", the intelligence, and the culture of the English working- 
 man who, under the guidance of his leaders, is labouring untir- 
 ingly to improve them, have themselves become an excellent 
 school for his training and advancement.* Considered purely as 
 insurance institutions, they undoubtedly still leave much to be 
 desired, notwithstanding all their efforts after reform. But who- 
 ever looks upon the various social arrangements of a people not 
 as isolated measures, but as parts of a new social edifice, will 
 admit that tables of premiums and investments of funds alone 
 can never realise that great social object which working-men’s 
 
 * Mr. J. Shepherd, a member of one of the lodges of the Druids, gives the 
 following picture of the social life in the lodges : “ We who are in such a 
 society look upon a lodge as a small family party. The lodge to which I belong, 
 and have belonged for the last thirty years, consists of about fifty or fifty-two 
 men. We all know each other directly or indirectly, and come in contact with 
 each other; we are all interested in each other’s welfare in regard to health, and 
 sickness, and misfortune. There is a sympathy created connected with those 
 societies which does not at all belong to the other class of societies ; there is 
 an adhesiveness and a kindly feeling, and a sort of mutual educational influence 
 to a certain extent connected with those lodges which would surprise you. 
 When I first commenced having anything to do with those societies, it was a 
 difficult thing to find working men who could be quiet and civil to each other 
 when they met, but these societies have so far educated them up in that respect, 
 that the greatest amount of kindness is manifested towards each other in the 
 timer of need, and there is a kindly sympathy. When a person is sick, a man 
 goes to visit him, not as a matter of espionage, but as a friend, to talk with 
 him, and they feel quite delighted to see any brother, as they are pleased to 
 term him, for it is as near Freemasonry as anything can be.” (Second Deport, 
 Q. 2,396 ) 
 
294 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 insurance has to fulfil, — that even compulsion and fines can never 
 take the place of good-will ; but that these institutions can only 
 grow and prosper if inside the body, created either by the rules 
 of the society or the law, there lives a spirit which attracts the 
 members gradually but steadily, without weakness, but honestly, 
 to habits of providence, labour, and temperance, and a readiness 
 for self-sacrifice. Where such a spirit is actively at work, it not 
 only compensates for many practical defects, but is also most 
 certainly able gradually to remove them. In this way the 
 Friendly Societies have had an extraordinary influence on the 
 character and conduct of the working classes in England. We 
 cannot express this better than by quoting the words of Mr. Hard- 
 wick, who thus describes the social advantages of these societies : 
 11 If the self-governed Friendly Societies,” he says, “ presented no 
 greater contribution to the cause of social progress than the 
 •practical education afforded to the members by periodical legisla- 
 tion, and the continued exercise of the executive function, they 
 deserve the support of every true friend of law and order, and of 
 moral and intellectual advancement. The social prosperity and 
 peace of England depend not at the present day upon the blind 
 routine worship of existing authority, but upon the moral and 
 intellectual appreciation of the necessity of law and order for the 
 protection of the property, and the personal liberty and rights, 
 of even the humblest of our fellow-citizens. The improved tone, 
 in this respect, which has been exhibited during the past few 
 years, may be fairly ascribed, to a considerable extent at least, to 
 the operation of the principle of self-government in the Friendly 
 Societies established by provident working-men. It is an old 
 maxim, that if you wish to make a good commander, you must 
 teach him how to obey ; and it is equally true, if cheerful sub- 
 mission to law and orderly conduct be desired from a free man, 
 you must, to some extent, teach him how to govern. These 
 societies have done this both in theory and practice, both by 
 precept and example. Truly, every member of a Friendly Society 
 has a 1 stake in the country ’ of immense value to himself, and 
 therefore a direct pecuniary interest in the prevention of anarchy, 
 and in the preservation of order. He has been practically taught 
 that obnoxious enactments are not to be repealed or amended by 
 
Reform Movement inside the Friendly Societies. 295 
 
 violence, but by intellectual and moral suasion, exercised within 
 the limits prescribed by existing law ” (p. 167). 
 
 In conclusion, we must notice another circumstance, which has 
 reference to the entire management of the Friendly Societies. This 
 is the absolute publicity of their arrangements. All independent 
 societies, and even all the societies connected with private under- 
 takings, multiply printed copies of their annual balance-sheets, 
 and make them, as well as their rules, accessible to members and 
 even non-members. While freely admitting that this grouping 
 of figures does not always succeed in making clear the position 
 of the societies, still, on the whole, in this matter also, publicity 
 has done much to explain and elucidate. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Law of Friendly Societies. 
 
 Two-fold character of Government intervention. — General character of early 
 legislation. — Necessity of compromise. — Permissive character of legislation. 
 — Position of the unregistered Societies. — Reasons for non- registry. — Regis- 
 tered Societies. 
 
 1. Friendly Society Legislation up to the Act of 1875. The Act of 1793. — 
 Act of 1819. — Parliamentary inquiries 1825-27. — Act of 1829. — Act of 
 1834. — Loan Societies Act, 1835. — Benefit Building Societies Act, 1836. — 
 Act of 1846. — Its “ Frugal Investment ” clause. — Industrial and Provident 
 Societies Acts, 1852 and 1876. — Registration opened to the affiliated So- 
 cieties. — Consolidation Acts, 1850 and 1855. — Reports of the Chief Regis- 
 trar. — Royal Commission of 1871-74. — Outline of its recommendations. 
 
 2. The Friendly Societies Act, 1875. Provisions relating to insurance. — 
 ■Conditions and results of registration. — Extent of Government supervision. 
 —Powers of the Chief Registrar. — Results of Government supervision. — 
 Annual returns. — Quinquennial returns. — Quinquennial valuations. — 
 Diffusion of actuarial knowledge. — Cancellations and suspensions of regis- 
 try. — Advantages and privileges of registered Societies. — Their various 
 methods of investment. — Public officials. — Arbitration. — Peculiar condi- 
 tions of legislation in England. — Question of Government control. — Assist- 
 ance offered to the Chief Registrar by the large Orders. 
 
 The G-overnment in England has intervened in two ways in the 
 matter of working-men’s insurance. It has done so, in the first 
 place, by having gradually given a definite legal form and status 
 to the numerous Friendly Societies which owed their origin to 
 the social spirit of the people, and having subjected these social, 
 self-governing bodies to its supervision. But in addition to this 
 it has established an independent, or at any rate voluntary, in- 
 stitution in its system of Government annuities, an experiment 
 intended to make the benefits of insurance accessible to the 
 working classes in a form differing from that adopted by the 
 Friendly Societies. We shall treat of this system in the next 
 
 29G 
 
297 
 
 The Law of Friendly Societies. 
 
 chapter, when we propose also to notice some views — at present 
 purely theoretical — which would appear to connect it with the 
 principle of compulsory insurance by the State, an idea which, 
 under the influence no doubt of German notions and legislation, 
 has of late been frequently discussed in England, but which is so 
 alien to English character as to have no prospect of being carried 
 into effect, however useful it is in familiarizing Englishmen with 
 new aspects of the great question of insurance. 
 
 We will begin, then, by giving a sketch of the legislation deal- 
 ing exclusively with Friendly Societies, which was consummated 
 by the Act of 1875. This legislation has pursued a double aim : 
 to establish the legal status and competence of these societies, 
 and to institute a system of State supervision.* 
 
 Any one who should seek to measure the importance of this 
 legislation, its development, and especially the extent which 
 State supervision has reached up to the present day, simply from 
 the single sections of the various Acts which have been passed 
 on this subject, would form a very incorrect judgment of English 
 Friendly Societies. Looking at these Acts alone, there is much 
 apparently to justify the conclusion arrived at by German writers 
 like Hasbach, who, in common with others, laments and denounces 
 
 * The most important sources of information as to the administration and 
 working of the English Friendly Societies Act of 1875, is to be found in the 
 annual Reports of the Chief Registrar since 1876. They contain a rich fund of 
 statistical information, showing how the Friendly Societies have gradually 
 submitted to the Act, and what progress has been made in the directions con- 
 templated by its various provisions. We have made use of these reports, 
 including that for 1886, for our account. With regard to the Act itself, Mr. 
 Brabrook’s re-edition of Mr. Tidd Pratt’s earlier work contains, in addition to 
 a good introduction, a number of valuable remarks. 
 
 For the history of Friendly Society legislation in England abundant material 
 is furnished by the Report of the Royal Commission in 1871. The Fourth 
 Report, Part I., Appendix No. 1, contains an historical sketch of the course of 
 legislation, entitled “Legislation and Parliamentary Inquiries relating to Friendly 
 Societies, and other Societies with which the Registrar is connected,” written by 
 Mr. Ludlow, the Secretary to the Commission. 
 
 I have to thank the present Chief Registrar, Mr. Ludlow, as well as liis 
 actuarial colleague, Mr. W. Sutton, for a quantity of valuable information. A 
 small book by Mr. Francis G. P. Neison, “ Legislation on Friendly Societies,” 
 London, 1871, contains also a number of important observations. 
 
298 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 the fact that the State in England has not interfered with far 
 more energy in the affairs of Friendly Societies, that the societies 
 have repeatedly succeeded in Parliament in baffling any attempts 
 at such interference, and that the progress of reform and consoli- 
 dation has thus been unjustifiably delayed. But deeper-lying 
 causes than these have dictated in reality the course of English 
 legislation, though we are far from saying that, in the interests 
 of the working classes, it ought not to have been more rapid, or 
 \denying that the Act of 1875 contains many halting and imperfect 
 provisions. 
 
 We have to deal in this matter with two powerful tendencies, 
 to which we have already referred, and which, in other matters 
 also, have decided the course of legislation in England. On the 
 one hand, there is the desire for independence and the jealousy 
 of State interference, which has been an inborn sentiment of 
 Englishmen from of old, and is a lively characteristic of English 
 working-men. On the other hand, there is the conviction that, 
 however strong may be the spontaneous energy of the people, the 
 problems of modern society can never be solved on an extensive 
 scale without some further intervention by the State. The whole 
 of Friendly Society legislation, including the Act of 1875, has 
 been a continual compromise between these two opposite ten- 
 dencies, and can only be understood by grasping this fact. As 
 such, therefore, it shares the fate of all compromises ; namely, of 
 being judged adversely from the most different points of view. 
 While some critics are of opinion that Government supervision is 
 carried too far and has tended to weaken local responsibility, 
 others regard it as a serious shortcoming that less has been done 
 than is necessary in bringing State influence to bear on the 
 management of the Societies.* 
 
 * Here also we find proofs of the spirit of independence, so deeply implanted 
 in English history and in English character. We quote a passage from a prize 
 essay by Mr. Cowell, a member of the Mutual Providence Alliance at Leeds, 
 written on the subject of “ The Defects of Friendly Societies, and How to Re- 
 medy Them,” and published in the Jackson Prize Essays on Friendly Societies, 
 Leeds, 1885. The author says, on page 62 : “ The history of the past fifty years, 
 however, has especially shown both the strength and the weakness of these 
 systems of aid to the provident poor ; and although both the one and the other 
 have in turns been made the stalking-horse for both friend and foe to further 
 
The Law of Friendly Societies. 
 
 299 
 
 The result of these two tendencies is the permissive character 
 of the entire legislation. The application of the Act of 1875 de- 
 pends on voluntary registration. We have already had occasion 
 to observe that powerful factors — such as, in particular, the 
 working-men’s orders — have ranged themselves unreservedly on 
 the side of State supervision, and do their best to promote 
 registration; and that the indirect influence exercised by the 
 Registrar's office, through its activity and particularly its publi- 
 cations, on the non-registered societies, is steadily increasing. 
 Thus registration is gradually gaining ground, and it may be said 
 at the present day with confidence, that the large majority of 
 Friendly Societies have consented to be registered. 
 
 Nevertheless, this is perhaps a fitting place to refer to the non- 
 registered societies. A consideration of their legal status will 
 form the best introduction to the account of the progress and 
 present state of the legislation, whose sphere of action extends 
 only to registered societies. 
 
 The legal position of the non-registered Friendly Societies is 
 altogether peculiar.* In England there is full freedom of asso- 
 ciation; combinations of any kind can be formed and develop 
 their activity unmolested by political interference. But if they 
 wish to obtain a legal competence to act, they must fulfil, accord- 
 ing to their respective objects, the conditions which the law 
 prescribes for joint-stock companies, insurance companies, benefit 
 societies, and so forth. In point of civil law this competence 
 attaches only to those Friendly Societies which are registered. 
 
 some pet theory — chiefly of Parliamentary interference —it is now felt that the 
 laws imposed by moral suasion are likely to be more beneficial and permanent 
 than any other. When arbitrary authority — either local, municipal, or Parlia- 
 mentary — usurps the place of voluntary effort and personal exertion, it tends to 
 enervate the moral tone of a nation, and weaken that sense of social dignity 
 which every man ought to encourage, but which can only be maintained by 
 those who are least dependent upon the favours of others. Any effort, therefore, 
 to improve and extend Friendly Societies so as to adapt them to the new in- 
 fluences now at work, and as far as possible so as to meet the wants of the 
 whole body of the working classes, deserves the earnest consideration and 
 assistance of all workers in the great social vineyard of the nation.” 
 
 * See Fourth Keport, p. cliii., on “Unregistered Societies,” and George 
 Howell’s “ Handbook of the Labour Laws,” p. 168 (on Bussell Gurney’s Act of 
 1868). 
 
300 
 
 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 The noii-registered societies, while absolutely free from inter- 
 ference, have no corporate character ; the}' cannot acquire or hold 
 property, or sue or be sued as corporations. The property they 
 hold has no statutory recognition, but is simply trust property in 
 the hands of trustees, against whom the societies have no right of 
 action. No member can institute a suit against them, and the 
 authority of the arbitrators appointed by these societies depends 
 merely on voluntary submission. But in regard to the criminal 
 law also the non-registered societies are without protection. Up 
 to 1868 they had no power to prosecute their officers, trustees, or 
 members for any misuse of the society’s funds, even though it was 
 a matter of a crime, such as larceny, embezzlement, or breach of 
 trust. A great sensation was caused at that time by a judicial 
 decision, by which the Secretary of a Friendly Society who had 
 embezzled £4,000 was acquitted on the ground that a non- 
 registered society had no legal persona standi. By what is com- 
 monly known as B-ussell Gurney’s Act of 1868 (31 and 32 Viet., 
 c. 116), all associations of fellowship, although they have not the 
 character of legal personalities, are empowered to prosecute for 
 larceny or embezzlement any of their members wrongfully in 
 possession of their funds. Partial as was the remedy thus pro- 
 vided, even the applicability of this Act to non-registered societies 
 does not appear to be undisputed. 
 
 The legal status of the non-registered Friendly Societies is, 
 therefore, a precarious one. Nevertheless, we know that a large 
 number of such societies exist, and probably in Scotland, though 
 certainly not in England, they form the majority. The funds in 
 their possession amount to many millions of pounds; and the 
 number of members and their relatives interested in them is un- 
 questionably very large, although the very existence of these 
 institutions is based simply on mutual confidence. This confirms 
 a fact which we have had occasion to urge in our introduction. 
 Notwithstanding the laments now so commonly expressed in 
 England, that the old confidence in dealings between man and 
 man is disappearing, one would seek in vain for another example 
 of a social institution, so extensive and important as that of 
 these non-registered societies, continuing to exist in a form abso- 
 lutely unrecognised by law, and simply as a matter of personal 
 
The Law of Friendly Societies. 
 
 301 
 
 trust, and never failing to find an increasing number of influential 
 advocates to plead its cause. 
 
 The immediate question is twofold : What are the real reasons 
 why so many Friendly Societies still refuse to be registered? 
 and What is the nature of these non-registered societies ? 
 
 The objection to registration arises, no doubt, in many cases 
 from a desire to remain free from the inconveniences of State 
 supervision in respect of the traditional mode of management, the 
 investment of funds in a manner not sanctioned by law, and the 
 customary application of certain sums to dinners and festivities 
 and other improper purposes. Many of the societies which, from 
 these and kindred motives, renounce the advantages offered by 
 registration, are also in a very bad position. It would be unfair, 
 however, not to admit that many even of the non-registered societies 
 are admirably managed, can point back to a long and honour- 
 able past, and make a pride of continuing to conduct their affairs 
 as they have done for many years. Non-registered societies are 
 to be found in nearly all the groups which we have described 
 in the second chapter of this book. Most frequently they ap- 
 pear as dividing societies, or as societies connected with some 
 particular branch of industry. On the other hand, there is now 
 scarcely any working-men’s Order which would not systemati- 
 cally further the registration of its lodges. Speaking generally, 
 all societies with branches, and conducting an extensive busi- 
 ness, are being gradually compelled to register; and in future 
 it will be only the local and smaller ones — comparatively remote 
 from modern habits of intercourse, with their demands for a 
 security based on legal recognition and not mere personal trust 
 — which will be able to continue as non-registered societies. Up 
 to the present day, however, the non-registered societies still con- 
 stitute, as was shown very clearly in the Fourth Report of the 
 Commission, a class by themselves, which finds no place in official 
 publications, and of which, though information can be gathered 
 here and there, no one even in England can give an approximately 
 accurate account. 
 
 As opposed to these non-registered societies, there is the grow- 
 ing number of registered ones. The latter enjoy, both civilly and 
 criminally, the protection and rights of legal personae. In con- 
 
302 English Associations of Working Me?i. 
 
 sideration of this boon, as well as from the proper conviction that 
 a rationally conducted system of State supervision is not an ob- 
 stacle but a furtherance to their growth and progress, they have 
 submitted to that supervision by being registered, though only 
 because it neither claims nor has the power to interfere in a petty 
 and thwarting spirit of officialism, but desires, above all, to in- 
 form, to encourage, and to educate, and recognises in these objects 
 its proper sphere of action. Nevertheless, even among the regis- 
 tered societies great difference of opinion prevails as to the 
 necessary extent of State supervision; and any further advance in 
 this direction can only take place slowly and gradually, since an 
 Englishman always prefers to err on the side of freedom rather 
 than of tutelage. 
 
 In proceeding now to describe the law of Friendly Societies, 
 we will begin by giving a brief account of the legislation previous 
 to the Act of 1875, which sums up the present state of the law. 
 
 1. Friendly Society Legislation up to the Act of 1875. 
 
 The first step taken by the legislature on the subject of 
 Friendly Societies was an Act of 1793 (33 George III. c. 54), long 
 known as Bose’s Act. Since that time to the Act of 1875 (38 and 
 39 Viet. c. 60), more than twenty Acts have been passed, in which 
 the law has been gradually developed. The characteristic position 
 taken up by the Legislature towards these societies was shown 
 already by the Act of 1793. This Act applied only to those 
 societies which voluntarily consented to be registered ; by regis- 
 tration a fixed status in law was given to societies which pre- 
 viously were as good as outside the pale of law, and in addition to 
 that they enjoyed certain advantages, but were obliged to submit 
 to supervision on the part of the State. The Act of 1793 refers 
 only to Friendly Societies formed for raising a stock or fund for 
 the mutual relief and maintenance of the members in old age, 
 sickness, and infirmity, or for the relief of widows and children of 
 deceased members The rules of such societies were to be exhi- 
 bited to the justices in quarter sessions, who were only to allow 
 and confirm them if “ conformable to the true intent and meaning 
 of the Act,” after which they were to be filed with the clerks of 
 
The Law of Friendly Societies. 
 
 303 
 
 the peace. Registration gave these societies certain exemptions 
 from the stamp duties (then heavy), certain summary legal reme- 
 dies against officers or amongst the members ; a preferential right 
 for the societies’ claims against the estates of deceased officers, 
 power to refer disputes to a binding arbitration, and finally the 
 right of suing and being sued through their officers, in whom the 
 property of the societies was to be deemed vested. From these 
 beginnings has been built up in the course of the present century 
 a structure of law, which was codified in the Friendly Societies’ 
 Act of 1875, and a system of State supervision has been developed, 
 which is conducted by a State organ, as we have already seen, the 
 Chief Registrar in London. 
 
 We will abstain from following all the phases through which 
 legislation has passed, and must renounce any idea of describing 
 the various changes of opinion, and the bills and proceedings in 
 Parliament, our only object being to sketch so far the course of 
 legislation as to explain the present law by the history of its 
 development. This is all the more important since from the 
 Friendly Societies, as from a parent stem, have been thrown off in 
 the course of this century a number of vigorous offshoots, and the 
 legal form which those societies have been made to assume has 
 served as a type for a series of later institutions, — such as the loan 
 societies, the benefit building societies, and more recently, the co- 
 operative societies, — all of which have risen into importance in a 
 comparatively short time, and while rich in independently ac- 
 quired results, have essentially the same legal basis as their pro- 
 totype. For all these unions for social purposes the various Acts 
 relating to them provide for optional registration and the super- 
 vision of the Chief Registrar. 
 
 The next important step in Friendly Society legislation was the 
 Act of 1819 (59 George III. c. 128). Between 1793 and 1819 a 
 great number of Friendly Societies had come into existence, and 
 the question of the calculation of premiums came gradually to the 
 front. The Act of 1819 introduced two substantial changes in the 
 law. Firstly, it required the justices not to 11 confirm and allow 
 any tables of payments or benefits, or any rules dependent upon 01 
 connected with the calculation thereof,” unless they were satis- 
 fied that the tables and rules were such as had been “ approved by 
 
304 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 two persons at the least, known to be professional actuaries or 
 persons skilled in calculation.” And secondly, it gave to Friendly 
 Societies the privilege of direct investment with the National 
 Debt Commissioners, on the same footing as savings banks. 
 
 In doing this, the State gave a considerable advantage to regis- 
 tered societies by offering them a higher rate of interest than 
 that which was current in the market. The attempt, however, 
 then made to introduce a real control over the actuarial business 
 proved an utter failure. The statistical materials required for 
 calculations of probability, and the compilation of trustworthy 
 tables, were not yet sufficiently advanced to render possible any 
 effective scrutiny of the tables exhibited by the Societies ; and 
 moreover, the justices at quarter sessions took too formal a 
 view of their duty, it being stated that they contented them- 
 selves in many cases with the certificates of schoolmasters and 
 small accountants. 
 
 In 1825 the question of Friendly Societies was considered by a 
 select committee of the House of Commons, which was reap- 
 pointed in 1827. The whole question assumed a broader aspect 
 through the evidence then taken, and the recommendations put 
 forward. While on the one hand it was insisted that no re- 
 straints should be imposed on the freedom of Englishmen to 
 combine for useful purposes, and that legislation must, therefore, 
 remain optional, on the other hand the Committee of 1825 ex- 
 pressed an opinion that no society should consist of fewer than 
 200 members, that Friendly Societies should, like savings banks, 
 furnish periodical returns to the National Debt office in a pre- 
 scribed form, and that wherever a society desired to avail itself 
 of the Government debentures, the rules and tables should be 
 transmitted to the National Debt office for the actuary to examine 
 and certify, making such observations and suggestions as he might 
 think useful. In 1829 a new Act was passed (10 George IV. c. 
 56), which made some important additions to the law. The first 
 provisions related to registration. With a view to making the 
 examination of the rules of Friendly Societies more effectual, it 
 was enacted, after the example of the Savings Bank Act of the 
 previous year, that societies desiring to be registered must have 
 a transcript of their rules submitted in England and Wales and 
 
The Law of Friendly Societies . 
 
 305 
 
 Ireland to a "barrister-at-law appointed for that purpose, and in 
 Scotland “ to the Lord Advocate, or any of his deputies,” who 
 were to subject them to a kind of preliminary revision before 
 being confirmed, as before, by the quarter sessions, and certified 
 as registered by the clerk of the peace. This was the first step 
 to the establishment of a central authority for registration. Fur- 
 thermore, the Act required registered societies to institute an 
 annual audit and submit to their members an annual statement of 
 their funds, receipts, and expenditure, and also to deliver to the 
 clerks of the peace quinquennial returns of sickness and mortality, 
 such returns to be by them transmitted to one of the Secretaries 
 of State, and then laid before Parliament. Finally, the Act con- 
 ferred on registered societies various legal privileges, such as 
 allowing minors to be members, and enabling the distribution of 
 intestates’ effects under a given sum without letters of adminis- 
 tration and to persons appearing only to be next of kin. Another 
 Act, that of 1834 (4 and 5 William IV. c. 40), deserves notice 
 as having extended the specified purposes for which Friendly 
 Societies might be formed, to “ any other purpose which is not 
 illegal,” — a provision which enlarged their scope of action as 
 well as the possibility of registration. These Acts, gave birth 
 to two of those offshoots of Friendly Societies which we have 
 mentioned above. The first of these were the Loan Societies, the 
 object of which is to obtain cheap credit for the' working classes, 
 and which received a formal legal sanction by the Loan Societies 
 Act of 1835 (5 and 6 Will. IV. c. 23). With regard to the framing, 
 certifjdng, enrolling, and altering of their rules, the provisions of 
 the Friendly Societies Acts were made directly applicable. The 
 same was done by an Act of 1836 (6 and 7 Will. IV. c. 32), with 
 regard to Benefit Building Societies, a peculiar kind of Building 
 Societies, whose legal status was at first closely connected with 
 that of Friendly Societies, but since then has been established by 
 a series of independent enactments. 
 
 We have seen how about the middle of the present century the 
 principles of actuarial science were largely improved by statistical 
 and mathematical labours. The works of Finlaison, Neison, Rad- 
 cliffe, and others, had thoroughly explored the entire field of insur- 
 ance, once purely empirical, and the results of their labours began 
 
 x 
 
306 
 
 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 gradually to exercise an influence on the management of the 
 societies. About this time legislation also made further steps. 
 First, an Act of 1846 (9 and 10 Viet. c. 27) introduced a material 
 addition as regards the legal status of the societies. The 11 bar- 
 rister or advocate appointed to certify the rules of Friendly 
 Societies,” was to be styled the “ Registrar of Friendly Societies,” 
 and was to be appointed by the National Debt Commissioners, and 
 paid henceforth by salary instead of fees. This swept away the 
 local registration by the justices, who had not shown themselves 
 at all suitable organs for the purpose, and transferred it to the 
 Registrar, thus completing the centralisation of State supervision. 
 The Registrar was required not to certify any new society unless 
 the tables had been certified by the actuary to the Commissioners 
 for the Reduction of the National Debt, or by some person duly 
 approved, who had been at least five years actuary to some life 
 assurance company in London, Edinburgh, or Dublin. With re- 
 gard to the purposes for which Friendly Societies could be estab- 
 lished, the Act contained a 11 Frugal Investment ” clause, allow- 
 ing those societies also to be registered which undertook to 
 enable their members u to purchase food, firing, clothes, or other 
 necessaries, or the tools or implements of their trade or calling,” 
 in warehouses belonging to the society, and thus to make frugal 
 investments by receiving part of the profits accruing on the sale 
 of these commodities in the shape of dividends on their shares. 
 This clause opened out registration for the first time to co-opera- 
 tive societies, and thus enabled them to acquire a legal status. 
 The famous Rochdale Pioneers were registered at that time under 
 this clause. Very soon, however, the scope thus afforded to these 
 co-operative societies was found to be too narrow ; they increased 
 so rapidly in importance, extent, and number, that a distinct legal 
 status was given to them a few years later by the Industrial and 
 Provident Societies’ Act of 1852 (15 and 16 Viet. c. 31), and thus 
 a new offshoot of Friendly Societies was completed, with which we 
 shall deal hereafter more in detail. This offshoot led to an elaborate 
 organization of the supply of food and necessaries to the working 
 classes, which has become at the present day one of the most effi- 
 cient instruments of their advancement, and has received a definite 
 legal shape in the Industrial and Provident Societies’ Act of 1876. 
 
The Law of Friendly Societies. 307 
 
 Reverting to the Act of 1846, we pass over, in this as in suc- 
 ceeding statutes, all details, since the law has been comprehen- 
 sively embodied in the Act of 1875. We confine ourselves, there- 
 fore, to noticing those salient provisions which seem to mark 
 distinct stages in the history of legislation. The Act of 1846 
 initiated, if it did not successfully carry out, an important step in 
 regard to the affiliated societies. The large Orders, of which even 
 then some had many hundreds of branches, and which had gradu- 
 ally been acquiring more importance, were previously to this Act 
 excluded from registration, in consequence not only of the Corres- 
 ponding Societies’ Act (39 Geo. III. c. 79), which rendered all 
 societies with branches illegal, but also of the Seditious Meeting 
 Act (57 Geo. III. c. 19), which prohibited certain meetings of more 
 than fifty persons if held without notice. The Act of 1846 now 
 declared that the provisions of these two Acts should not apply to 
 Friendly Societies, thus opening to the affiliated societies, at least 
 in principle, the door to registration. Still, other difficulties pre- 
 vented the admission of the large Orders within the pale of the 
 law relating to Friendly Societies, since they had undertaken- to 
 provide for other objects besides those declared lawful by the 
 Friendly Societies Acts, particularly for the relief of members 
 seeking for employment, and had thus pushed their purposes 
 beyond the then proper scope of registered Friendly Societies. 
 When, therefore, it appeared that these Orders, notwithstanding 
 the theoretical provision of the Act of 1846, were unable to 
 register either collectively or as separate lodges, except under, 
 certain circumstances and in isolated cases, the fact led to further 
 inquiry and proposals of legislation. 
 
 In 1850 a new Act was passed (13 and 14 Viet. c. 115), framed 
 as a Consolidation Act. The material provisions, which were 
 important as a further development of the law, are as follow.' 
 The benefits of the Act were limited to societies which should not 
 insure more than £100 in one sum, £30 a year annuity, or 20s. a 
 week in sickness, a limitation advantageous to the interests of 
 the life insurance companies which competed with the Friendly 
 Societies in the amount of their allowances. To promote registra- 
 tion, an attempt was made in the Act to divide Friendly Societies 
 recognised by the law into two classes: “certified” Friendly 
 
30 S English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 Societies, being those whose rules and tables had been certified by 
 an actuary (as defined in the Act of 1846), or furnished to the 
 society by the Registrar ; and “ registered ” Friendly Societies, 
 being those whose rules and tables had not been so certified. 
 In later enactments, however, this distinction has rightly been 
 abolished. But the most important feature of the Act was the 
 express recognition in many of its provisions of “ branches ” of 
 Friendly Societies ; thus finally enabling affiliated societies to 
 claim the protection of the law. The Act of 1850 contained for 
 the first time the requirement, since then rigidly adhered to, that 
 all registered societies should make annual returns to the Regis- 
 trar, under penalty of being disqualified to sue. Finally, the 
 interest payable to Friendly Societies by the National Debt Com- 
 missioners was reduced to 3 per cent., it being considered unne- 
 cessary any longer to guarantee to their reserve fund out of State 
 resources an interest higher than that of consols. 
 
 Another Consolidation Act of 1855 (18 and 19 Viet., c. 63) is 
 interesting, as regards the development of legislation, in more 
 than one respect. It gives an idea of how varying in point of 
 details has been the course of legislation, how the preponderance 
 now of one, now of another, of those tendencies, to which we have 
 referred, did not allow proper provisions, contained in an earlier 
 Act, to have full effect ; but how gropingly, now advancing and now 
 receding, has been established both the law respecting Friendly 
 Societies and State supervision. First of all, the Act of 1855 en- 
 abled Friendly Societies to extend the purposes of their insurance,* 
 which meant a strengthening of their position as against the life 
 insurance companies. The limitation of sick pay was omitted ; 
 the maximum of life insurance was fixed at £200. The dis- 
 tinction between “ certified” and “ registered” societies generally 
 was swept away, and all fees for registration were abolished. 
 
 * These purposes had been limited since the Act of 1819 to those “ of which 
 the probability may be calculated by way of average.” This limitation, as Mr. 
 Ludlow points out, had been cumbering Friendly Society legislation ever since, 
 “ inasmuch as the progress of statistical science is every day restricting the range 
 of contingencies which are not so calculable, and tends to induce the belief that 
 the law of average would be of universal application, wherever a sufficient num- 
 ber of instances could be procured.” (Fourth Report, Appendix I. p. 8.) 
 
The Law of Friendly Societies . 309 
 
 Friendly Societies were empowered to purchase, hire, or lease any 
 building or land (not exceeding an acre) for erecting thereon a 
 building for holding their meetings. The requirement of annual 
 returns from registered societies to the Registrar was still, with a 
 slight alteration, retained, though, strange to say, the penalty for 
 not sending in these returns was omitted, although the omission 
 has since been cured. 
 
 In 1857 began the publication of the yearly reports of the Re- 
 gistrars of Friendly Societies for the preceding year, in compliance 
 with the Act of 1855. They form an unbroken series of official 
 records, equally valuable from the statistical material they contain 
 as from the influence they have had on public opinion, and on the 
 various Friendly Societies themselves. We have noticed already 
 the instructive labours of the then Registrar, Mr. Tidd Pratt. Since 
 then, however, as regards the arrangement of the material, the 
 grouping of figures, and the enunciation of fundamental principles, 
 these annual reports of the Registrar’s office have considerably 
 improved, and rank now among the best compiled Parliamentary 
 reports. 
 
 In the long interval between 1855 and 1875, putting aside some 
 less important Acts, such as those of 1858 (21 and 22 Viet., c. 101) 
 and of 1860 (23 and 24 Viet., c. 58), no change was made in the 
 legal status of Friendly Societies. All the more important, how- 
 ever, about this very time was the internal development of these 
 societies. Reforms in many directions, which had been prepared 
 at an earlier time, were now vigorously promoted, and the improv- 
 ments in the system of insurance, in the mode of management, 
 and in the investment of capital, have been, as we have seen, 
 extremely marked. While the legislature, therefore, made a long 
 pause, other incentives to progress were actively at work, and 
 this period must be considered as having been fully occupied with 
 the task of reform in the self-governing societies, which continued 
 to labour consistently and quietly in improving their tables, re- 
 moving abuses, and perfecting their management. No doubt this 
 spirit was not everywhere equally powerful ; many societies 
 lagged behind, or broke up during this period, and others dragged 
 along with them their errors and abuses, but in a large number a 
 decided change for the better set in, and it was the great Orders 
 
3io 
 
 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 in particular, among them always the Manchester Unity and the 
 Foresters, who improved their organization, and took the lead. 
 Ultimately, the Government, after several bills had fruitlessly 
 engaged the attention of Parliament, initiated a step which did 
 more than any bill to further the cause of Friendly Societies, 
 namely, the appointment of a Royal Commission to inquire 
 into all questions connected with these societies, with the view 
 of being able to legislate with safety on the basis of their con- 
 clusions. 
 
 The proceedings of this Commission, with the evidence and 
 recommendations contained in its reports, not only enabled the 
 preparation of a comprehensive bill, but produced an immediate 
 practical effect, which deserves especial notice. Evils of various 
 kinds, and frequently of a gross character, were discovered and 
 unsparingly exposed ; the results of good and bad management 
 were made apparent; clear proof was given of the blessings 
 afforded by well-conducted societies, and on the other hand, no 
 concealment was made of the mischief caused by negligence or 
 actual dishonesty to those who had wasted their confidence on 
 ^bankrupt concerns. By these means a rich fund of information 
 was supplied, which was turned to good account by the press and 
 public discussion, and while morally strengthening those societies 
 which were striving after reform, broke the opposition which pro- 
 ceeded from thoughtless defenders of existing evils and abuses. 
 It is certainly not too much to say, that this Commission, to 
 whose valuable labours we have so frequently had occasion to 
 refer, exercised more influence from the publicity of its proceed- 
 ings, its unsparing truth, and lastly, by the admirable digest of 
 evidence in the report drafted by its secretary, Mr. Ludlow, than 
 many an earlier Act of Parliament. 
 
 As was to be foreseen, the reports of the Commission excited 
 again the liveliest discussion as to the necessary extent of State 
 supervision. The Commission made a series of recommendations, 
 which we will endeavour briefly to review, since they may be 
 regarded as the deliberate opinions, based on facts brought before 
 them, of men thoroughly conversant with the subject, who, while 
 fully respecting the spirit of independence, nevertheless thought 
 it necessary to advocate an effective system of supervision by the 
 
The Law of Friendly Societies . 31 1 
 
 State. These recommendations, however, were only partially em- 
 bodied in the Act of 1875.* 
 
 The Commissioners did not hesitate to affirm that the notion of 
 a compulsory State supervision of all the English Friendly So- 
 cieties would encounter general opposition. They took their 
 stand, therefore, on the ground of optional registration ; but for 
 the registered societies they sought to carry out a strict State 
 supervision, as well as certain settled principles of insurance and 
 management. Their recommendations may be grouped under four 
 heads. They relate to registration and the official duties of the 
 Registrar, to the directions regarding the actuarial basis of the 
 societies, to the principles of management, and to a number of 
 miscellaneous details. 
 
 With regard to registration and the powers of Registrars, the 
 Commissioners were of opinion that the whole country should be 
 divided into a certain number of registration districts, with a 
 Deputy-Registrar in each, at whose offices the rules, tables of 
 premiums, annual returns, and balance-sheets of the various 
 Friendly Societies should be collected for public inspection. The 
 District Registrar had to see whether the conditions of registra- 
 tion were fulfilled, subject to an appeal to the Chief Registrar, 
 and from the Chief Registrar himself, on legal points, to a court 
 of law. The office of the Chief Registrar was to be an important 
 one. He was to supervise all registered Friendly Societies, pre- 
 pare and publish tables of premiums, and compile proper statis- 
 tics. He was to have more effective powers to prosecute dis- 
 honest or negligent officers of Friendly Societies, to have authority, 
 on the application of a certain number or prescribed proportion of 
 members, to appoint inspectors of accounts and to call special 
 meetings of societies, and to make a binding award either for the 
 dissolution of the society, or for the adjustment of contributions 
 
 * They are printed in the Fourth Report, p. ccxiii., and those of the minority 
 on p. ccxvii. We cannot here enter at length into the extensive discussion to 
 which these recommendations gave rise in the press, in periodicals, and in 
 various publications. An excellent paper on the advantages of registration, as 
 well as the disadvantages attaching to it, in consequence of the Act of 1855, is 
 written by Mr. Charles Cameron in the “ Transactions of the National Associa- 
 tion for the Promotion of Social Science, 1874,” entitled, “ What Legislation 
 should follow upon the Report of the Commission on Friendly Societies ? ” 
 
312 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 and benefits. To bis central office in London were to be attached 
 one or more Assistant-Registrars, and a competent actuarial staff. 
 
 With regard to insurance, the recommendations of the Commis- 
 sioners were twofold. As to the tables of premiums, they declined 
 to recommend the compulsory introduction of tables compiled or 
 approved by the Giovernment, but they suggested that the Chief 
 Registrar should cause the tables prepared by him, which were 
 to be adjusted as closely as could be to the different requirements 
 of the societies, to be made as accessible as possible to the 
 societies, and to promote their adoption by his moral influence. 
 The Commissioners rightly laid great stress on the compulsory 
 introduction of quinquennial valuations, the importance of which 
 we have already explained in full, and which, as we know, have 
 now been enacted by law. 
 
 With respect to the management of Friendly Societies, the 
 Commissioners laid down in the first place the principle, that the 
 “management fund should be kept distinct from the benefit fund.” 
 Their investigations had brought to light serious evils in this 
 respect. They recommended further that every registered society 
 should be bound to have its accounts and balance-sheet audited 
 every year by a competent auditor, who should also be respon- 
 sible, under penalties, for superintending the proposed limitation 
 of investments. Among the recommendations on separate ques- 
 tions of detail, it may be mentioned that the Commission sug- 
 gested that the law should be so amended as to remove the restric- 
 tions which then practically excluded the dividing societies, and 
 also the affiliated orders, from registration. They recommended, 
 further, certain restrictions on the insurance of burial-money for 
 children, and also the grant of facilities for acquiring land for the 
 societies, etc. 
 
 A minority of the Commissioners proposed to go further as 
 regards the influence of the Chief Registrar on the actuarial part 
 of the question, and made recommendations aimed at guaranteeing 
 as far as possible the accuracy of the tables used by the societies. 
 
 How far these labours of the Commissioners formed the basis 
 of the Act of 1875, in what form and with what limitations their 
 recommendations reappeared in that Act, a short review of its 
 most important provisions will enable us to see. 
 
The Law of Friendly Societies. 
 
 313 
 
 2. The Friendly Societies’ Act , 1875 (38 and 39 Viet., c. 60). 
 
 We are aware that the Act of 1875 extends only to Friendly 
 Societies which have voluntarily applied to be registered. For 
 the purpose of registry, they must conduct their business within 
 the objects declared admissible by the Act, conform their rules 
 and management to its provisions, and permit the exercise of a 
 control which may even be a direct interference in their existence, 
 in return for which the Act secures to them a number of powers 
 and facilities. 
 
 We will sum up in the following remarks the essential pro- 
 visions of the Act. 
 
 (1) The Act applies to what are termed in it Friendly Societies. 
 All such societies can be registered under it which are established 
 to provide by voluntary subscriptions of their members, with or 
 without the aid of donations, for the following objects, viz. : — 
 
 (a) For the relief or maintenance of the members, their 
 
 husbands, wives, children, fathers, mothers, brothers or 
 sisters, nephews or nieces, or wards being orphans, during 
 sickness or other infirmity, whether bodily or mental, in 
 old age (which shall mean any age after fifty) or in 
 widowhood, or for the relief or maintenance of the orphan 
 children of members during minority. 
 
 (b) For insuring money to be paid on the birth of a member’s 
 
 child, or on the death of a member, or for the funeral 
 expenses of the husband, wife, or child of a member, or 
 of the widow of a deceased member, or, as respects per- 
 sons of the Jewish persuasion, for the payment of a sum 
 of money during the period of confined mourning. 
 
 (c) For the relief or maintenance of the members when on 
 
 travel in search of employment, or when in distressed 
 circumstances, or in case of shipwreck, or loss or damage 
 of or to boats or nets. 
 
 ( 1 d ) For the endowment of members or nominees of members 
 at any age. 
 
 (e) For the insurance against fire to any amount not exceed- 
 ing fifteen pounds of the tools or implements of the trade 
 or calling of the members. 
 
314 English Associations of Workmg Men. 
 
 The provisions as to registiy extend, further, to a number of 
 societies not immediately connected with the objects of Friendly 
 Societies, such as cattle insurance societies, benevolent societies, 
 and working-men’s clubs, and to societies for any purpose which 
 the Treasury may authorize as a purpose to which the powers and 
 facilities of the Act ought to be extended. To these working- 
 men’s clubs we propose to revert when we come to the second 
 volume of our work. 
 
 The above provisions, which are taken verbatim from the Act 
 (Sect. 8), trace the limits of working-men’s insurance very wide. 
 They allow registered Friendly Societies to extend sick (including 
 accident) insurance to members’ husbands, wives, and relatives, 
 and to make provision not only against old age and disablement, 
 but for the relief of members’ widows and orphans. We have 
 already seen that the extension of the definition of “ sickness ” to 
 cases of chronic illness, made sick insurance include to some 
 extent infirmity. Furthermore, in addition to burial insurance, 
 these societies are allowed to insure the lives and funds of their 
 members, in order to secure a sum of money to the working-man’s 
 family, either on the birth of a child, the death of the member 
 himself, or one of his family, or as a portion on the marriage of 
 his son or daughter. To this are added the insurance of the 
 members’ tools or implements of trade, and for his relief or main- 
 tenance “ in distressed circumstances,” which scarcely come with- 
 in the strict limits of actuarial insurance, and in reality are based 
 upon the levy system, though they strikingly exhibit the spirit 
 of brotherhood prevailing in the English Friendly Societies. In 
 tracing these limits, however, the Act has simply recognised all 
 the functions of the different societies. No doubt even the best 
 organized societies scarcely fulfil all these functions ; but the latter 
 indicate, nevertheless, the extent to which the great task of 
 working-men’s insurance has been inaugurated in England, by 
 means of the parallel action of different societies, and its realiza- 
 tion thus brought all the nearer. The Act leaves, of course, each 
 society to decide how far it will fulfil this practical maximum of 
 working-men’s insurance, — whether it will provide for only one 
 or all of these objects of insurance, whether it will be constituted 
 as a separate society or as a lodge belonging to a larger union, 
 
The Lazo of Friendly Societies . 315 
 
 and whether it shall be established permanently or only tempo- 
 rarily. Nevertheless, the Act imposes on registered societies 
 certain maximum limits in respect to the amounts insured. 
 
 We have already once mentioned that the amounts of insurance 
 for registered Friendly Societies have been limited by law, the 
 intention being to separate entirely their business from that of 
 the other insurance companies, and restrict it to sums correspond- 
 ing to the manner of life of the working classes. Accordingly, 
 the gross sum insured is not to be more than £200, and the an- 
 nuity more than £50 a year, which includes all sums received 
 from “ any one or more such societies.” The life of a child under 
 live years of age cannot be insured for more than £6, and that of 
 a child under ten for more than £10. 
 
 (2) The duty of registration is now vested in the Chief Regis- 
 trar, who has one or more Assistant Registrars for England, and 
 another Assistant Registrar for Scotland and Ireland respectively. 
 In addition to this, a skilled actuary is attached to the office ; he 
 attends to the actuarial part of the business and assists the Chief 
 Registrar, who must be a barrister of not less than twelve years’ 
 standing. This staff forms, together with the necessary clerks, 
 the Registry Office. To obtain registration, a Friendly Society 
 must fulfil a number of conditions.* It must consist of seven 
 persons at least, and its tables, if it grants annuities, must bo 
 certified by a Government official, either the actuary to the 
 National Debt Commissioners, or some actuary approved by the 
 Treasury. In the event of the Registrar either refusing to 
 register a society or cancelling or suspending its registry, an 
 appeal lies open to certain courts of law. The Act removes all 
 impediments to the registration of the various branches either of 
 lodges or of the affiliated societies ; nay, it goes farther, and with 
 a view to avoiding the expense and trouble of registration by 
 branches, allows Friendly Societies with branches to be registered 
 as entire societies, provided they have a fund under the control 
 of a central body, to which every branch is bound to contribute. 
 The Act of 1876 (39 and 40 Viet., c. 32) provides still further 
 facilities for the registration of branches. 
 
 Section 11 of the Act 
 
3 16 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 The rules may, of course, differ according to the objects and 
 organization of the society ; but they must state in all cases the 
 name and place of office of the society, the whole of the objects 
 for which the society is established, the purposes for which the 
 funds are applicable, the terms of admission, the conditions 
 entitling to benefits, the fines imposed on members, the mode of 
 holding meetings, and certain details as to management and the 
 investment of the funds, and also provide for the keeping of the 
 accounts, the yearly audit of accounts, and the settlement of 
 disputes between the society and its members. They must, 
 further, make provision for the preparation of annual returns to 
 the Registrar of the receipts, funds, effects, and expenditure and 
 number of members, and not only enable any person interested in 
 the society to inspect its books, but also insure to a certain 
 number of members the statutory right to apply to the Chief 
 Registrar for an investigation of the affairs of the society, or 
 for winding up the same. 
 
 The guarantees, therefore, of solidity and stability required 
 by the State as a condition of registration, consist in the rules 
 and tables of premiums being made conformable to law. 
 
 As regards the results of registration up to the present day, 
 the first question, considering its permissive character, is this: 
 Do the Friendly Societies make use of their right to apply for 
 it ? Are they gradually regarding their admission into the pale 
 of law as an advantage ? Are they overcoming the fear of State 
 control ? and do those societies which have accepted this control, 
 together with the corresponding privileges conferred on registered 
 societies by the Act of 1875, exhibit that progress after which 
 they are striving? No satisfactory answer, in point of figures, 
 could be given to this question, unless the total number of all 
 the Friendly Societies were known. As to this total, however, 
 there are only approximate estimates, of which we have already 
 mentioned that which was made by the Commission in 1874, 
 which gave 32,000 for England and Wales. But even the number 
 of registered societies out of this total cannot be ascertained 
 with exactness, there being always a number of societies on the 
 register which have ceased to exist. The annual reports of the 
 Chief Registrar merely show the number of societies registered 
 
The Law of Friendly Societies . 
 
 317 
 
 every year. From 1876 to 1886, the total of all the Friendly 
 Societies admitted to registration amounted yearly to between 
 959 and 2,767. In addition to this, there were every year the 
 applications under the Act of 1875 for the registry of alterations 
 in the rules, which may be regarded altogether as a decidedly 
 favourable movement in the sense of progressive registration.* 
 With regard to the total number of Societies on the register, the 
 report of the Chief Registrar for 1884 states that at the end of 
 1883 there were registered between 13,000 and 14,000 indepen- 
 dent Friendly Societies, t and between 11,000 and 12,000 branches. 
 The strongest movement in favour of registration is inside the 
 large working-men’s Orders. All newly established lodges have 
 to be registered, and the central body does all it can to induce 
 the old ones to do the same. Of the lodges of the Manchester 
 Unity and the Foresters, numbering in each Order over 4,000, 
 full two-thirds have already been registered. 
 
 (3) The State supervision established for the registered 
 Societies by the Act of 1875 may be comprehended under two 
 points of view.^ In the first place, a series of provisions 
 insures the full publicity of their arrangements, with a view not 
 
 * The progress of registration since 1877 may ba gathered from the following 
 table, taken from the reports of the Chief Registrar for the respective years 
 
 Year. 
 
 No. of 
 Newly- 
 Registered 
 Societies. 
 
 No. of 
 Newly- 
 
 Including Lodges of 
 
 No. of formerly 
 Independent 
 Friendly 
 Societies and 
 now Branches 
 of Registered 
 Societies. 
 
 Total. 
 
 No. of 
 Registered 
 Altera- 
 tions of 
 Rules. 
 
 Registered 
 
 Branches 
 
 of 
 
 Affiliated 
 
 Societies. 
 
 The 
 
 Manches- 
 
 ter 
 
 Unity. 
 
 The 
 
 Foresters. 
 
 1877 
 
 182 
 
 127 
 
 17 
 
 20 
 
 775 
 
 1084 
 
 1534 
 
 1878 
 
 170 
 
 337 
 
 28 
 
 37 
 
 1709 
 
 2216 
 
 2520 
 
 1879 
 
 173 
 
 616 
 
 57 
 
 60 
 
 1978 
 
 2767 
 
 3100 
 
 1880 
 
 173 
 
 558 
 
 39 
 
 61 
 
 1522 
 
 2080 
 
 2895 
 
 1881 
 
 168 
 
 547 
 
 66 
 
 50 
 
 1044 
 
 1759 
 
 2580 
 
 1882 
 
 149 
 
 478 
 
 47 
 
 75 
 
 811 
 
 1438 
 
 2312 
 
 1883 
 
 159 
 
 551 
 
 35 
 
 55 
 
 562 
 
 1272 
 
 1970 
 
 1884 
 
 165 
 
 485 
 
 47 
 
 70 
 
 535 
 
 1185 
 
 2267 
 
 1885 
 
 198 
 
 807 
 
 45 
 
 48 
 
 367 
 
 1372 
 
 2104 
 
 1886 
 
 186 
 
 504 
 
 38 
 
 39 
 
 269 
 
 959 
 
 1997 
 
 f Compare Mr. Brabrook’s estimate (p. 163 above) of the number of indepen- 
 dent Societies, an estimate based on the returns sent in. 
 
 £ Compare Sections 14 and 24 sqq. of the Act. 
 
3 i8 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 only of giving a sufficient insight to the Chief Registrar, but 
 also of enabling the members themselves to satisfy themselves 
 as to the course of business and the management in general. In 
 the second place, the Chief Registrar is authorized and bound 
 to intervene either on the demand of a portion of the members, 
 or by virtue of his office, whenever the society commits irregu- 
 larities or breaches of the Act. 
 
 With regard to the first point, every Friendly Society is bound 
 to notify to the Registrar where its registered office is situated, 
 it having formerly been the case — particularly with societies 
 whose relations with their members are conducted through 
 agents — that the members of a society never knew where the 
 office was. The society is bound, further, to appoint one or more 
 trustees, and to send a copy of the resolution appointing them 
 to the Chief Registrar. Once at least in every year a society 
 must have its accounts audited and verified, either by a public 
 auditor appointed as in the Act, or by two or more persons 
 appointed as the rules of the society provide. Every society has 
 to send in three kinds of reports to the Chief Registrar, namely, 
 an “ annual return,” a “ quinquennial return ” of the sickness 
 and mortality experienced by the society during the previous 
 five years, and a u quinquennial valuation ” of its assets, liabilities, 
 etc. Since 1881, however, the “ quinquennial returns ” have been 
 dropped. The annual return has to be sent in before the first of 
 June, and must contain a statement of the receipts and expenditure, 
 and funds and effects, as audited. This statement must show, 
 separately the expenditure in respect of the several objects of 
 the society, and be accompanied by a copy of the auditor’s report, 
 if any. If the audit has been conducted by a public auditor, it 
 is sufficient to give his name; but if by any other person, his 
 address and calling or profession must also be stated. The 
 returns must be given in a form prescribed by the Chief Registrar 
 If any registered society fails to send in any such return, oi 
 “ wilfully refuses or neglects ” to furnish any information re- 
 quired by a registrar for the purposes of the Act, or wilfully 
 furnishes any false return or information, or does anything for- 
 bidden by the Act, it is liable to a penalty as an ordinary offence 
 of not less than £1, and not more than £5, recoverable at the 
 
The Law of Friendly Societies . 319 
 
 suit of the Registrar, or of any person aggrieved, in a Court 
 of summary jurisdiction. The penalty may be increased to £50, 
 if any false entry, erasure in, or omission from, any balance- 
 sheet, or collecting-book, or return be wilfully made, with intent 
 to falsify the same, or to evade any of the provisions of the Act. 
 Every society is bound to allow any member or person having 
 an interest in its funds to inspect the books, and to supply him 
 gratuitously, on his application, with a copy of the last annual 
 return. 
 
 The direct intervention of the Chief Registrar in the affairs 
 of Eriendly Societies takes place in the following cases : Corre- 
 spondingly with the right as to registration, and, therefore, as 
 to the admission of a society to the provisions of the Act, the 
 Chief Registrar is empowered, if satisfied by proof that the 
 registry has been obtained by fraud or mistake, or that a society 
 exists for an illegal purpose, or has wilfully violated the Act 
 or ceased to exist, to cancel the registry. In the same cases he 
 may, instead of cancelling, suspend the registry for any term 
 not exceeding three months, not less than two months’ previous 
 notice of such cancelling or suspension being given to the 
 society, and published in the Gazette or in some newspaper cir- 
 culating in the county in which the society’s registered office is 
 situated. A society may appeal to the courts, as provided in 
 the Act, from such cancelling or from any suspension of the 
 registry which is renewed after six months. Eurther, upon the 
 application of a minority, consisting of one-fifth of the whole 
 number of members of a registered society, or of 100 members 
 in the case of a society of 1,000 members and not exceeding 
 10,000, or of 500 members in the case of a society of more than 
 10,000 members, the Chief Registrar may, with the consent of 
 the Treasury, either appoint inspectors to examine into the 
 affairs of the society, or call a special meeting and direct what 
 matters shall be there discussed and determined (Sect. 28).* He 
 
 * These inspections bring to light even now incredible abuses. Thus the 
 Chief Registrar, in his annual report for 1881, says as follows with reference 
 to the inspection of one of the Friendly Societies : — 
 
 “ The management of the Society appears by the inspector’s report to have 
 been far from satisfactory. The books had disappeared, and the late secretary 
 
320 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 may also prosecute officially any person who obtains by fraud 
 or witholds or misapplies any property of the society (Sect. 16). 
 The Chief Registrar has also very distinct powers with respect 
 to the dissolution of a society. Many of these societies in earlier 
 times had dragged on an existence for years, although their funds 
 and contributions were too small to be able permanently to meet 
 their liabilities. The later the inevitable break up ensued, the 
 i more mischievous and grievous it became as regards the older 
 ^members of the society. The Act now gives the Chief Registrar 
 ihe right, on the application of a minority (constituted as above 
 in the case of inspection) setting forth that the funds of the 
 society are insufficient to meet the existing claims, or that the 
 contributions are insufficient to meet the benefits assured, to 
 investigate, either by himself or by any actuary or public auditor, 
 the affairs of the society, and if satisfied that such insufficiencies 
 exist, he may, if he considers it expedient, award that the society 
 shall be dissolved, and its affairs wound up, giving nevertheless 
 not less than two months’ previous notice to the society in ques- 
 tion. The Chief Registrar may suspend, however, his award for 
 such period as he may deem necessary to enable the society to 
 make such alterations as will prevent the award of dissolution 
 being made. Every award, however, when once made, is final 
 and conclusive. Notice of every award for dissolution must be 
 duly advertised in the Gazette or county newspaper, and the 
 society is legally dissolved from the date of such .advertisement 
 (Sect. 25). In the case of the more recently established societies, 
 
 * suspected they had been stolen from the Club box, which had been broken 
 open.’ He entirely repudiated the balance-sheets, as not representing the 
 accounts which he had prepared. A trustee, one of the applicants, could 
 neither produce any books nor supply information about the accounts. None of 
 the members were able or willing to account for the disappearance of the books. 
 According to the published statements, as examined by the inspector, there 
 was a balance unaccounted for of £537 3s. Id. A new Committee had, how- 
 ever, been appointed, with a fresh staff of officers, and it appeared to be the 
 general feeling that it would be unwise and almost impracticable to institute 
 proceedings against the secretary or any other members. The inspector 
 thought it only justice to the members to state that they were principally 
 agricultural labourers, and quite incapable of managing or checking accounts ” 
 (p. 25). 
 
 I 
 
The Law of Friendly Societies. 
 
 32i 
 
 whose tables have been compiled on tho basis of new experience 
 and scientific investigation, and whose rules correspond to the 
 requirements of rational management, the Chief Registrar is 
 seldom, indeed, called upon to make use of these powers, but 
 there still exist societies of earlier date, whose bad and partly 
 mischievous condition has been exposed by these very later 
 advances in actuarial science, and as regards these, legislation 
 in England has not hesitated to empower an organ of the Govern- 
 ment to put a summary stop to abuses. 
 
 Let us glance now at the results of this State supervision. 
 
 The annual returns are intended to enable the Chief Registrar 
 to control the financial arrangements of the societies. Experience 
 shows, in this matter, how difficult it is to bring institutions 
 under discipline, which have grown up in absolute independence, 
 and how reluctantly they submit to inspection and regulation, 
 and yet how necessary, under certain circumstances, such con- 
 trolling authority becomes. More than ten years have now 
 elapsed since the Act of 1875, which required these annual re- 
 turns to be compiled in a prescribed form, and the results obtained 
 may be summed up by stating that, while a wholesome effect 
 has been produced by these returns, so far as the Chief Registrar 
 has succeeded in obtaining them, it has been impossible to obtain 
 them in even approximately full numbers. A few details will 
 suffice to show how difficult it is to make head with a reform 
 of this kind in opposition to institutions founded on self-help, 
 and how the chief efforts must be centred on inoculating them 
 with certain sound principles, as guarantees for a good adminis- 
 tration. These details will, perhaps, convince many persons, 
 who might be inclined, from a Continental point of view, to 
 condemn English government as feeble and defective, and Eng- 
 lish legislation, on account of its tardy intervention, as timid, 
 that to the State in England, which has no subordinate admin- 
 istrative machinery, in the sense of that existing elsewhere, but 
 has to keep touch with thousands of institutions through the 
 medium only of central departments, correspondence, and, per- 
 haps, also inspectors, one course alone is open, namely, to strive 
 by degrees, but with inflexible consistency, to bring about in 
 these self-governing societies a change of views, a higher sense 
 
 Y 
 
322 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 of duty, and a keener perception of their own interests ; in a 
 word, to work for moral results and renounce all idea of that 
 precision of administrative mechanism which is frequently at- 
 tained in bureaucratically-governed States, but is frequently 
 merely superficial. Whoever, therefore, judges of the data fur- 
 nished by the Chief Registrar’s reports from 1876 to 1884, from 
 the standpoint of a stiffly organized civil government, will no 
 doubt be much disappointed at the statistical results, and yet the 
 Act has not failed to supply a lever for effecting much useful 
 improvement. In 1876, the first year after the passing of the 
 Act, which sharpened the provisions respecting these annual 
 returns, the number sent in by the registered societies in Eng- 
 land and Wales was 11,282, leaving 14,805 in arrear. In the 
 next year the proportion somewhat improved, 12,338 societies 
 having sent in returns, against 12,896 which failed to do so. 
 After that, the number of societies which complied with the 
 statutory requirement increased but slowly, and the Chief 
 Registrar stated * that during the quinquennium 1875-80, the 
 proportion which sent in their returns regularly amounted to only 
 21 per cent, of all the registered societies. In 1883 the number 
 •of returns rose to 14,545. On this point, also, the affiliated 
 societies have been the Chief Registrar’s allies. In 1884 no less 
 than 70 per cent, of all the registered branches sent in returns, 
 the lodges of the Manchester Unity having sent in 2,182 out of 
 a possible total of 2,681, and the Foresters as many as 2,518 
 out of 2,669. Some of the smaller Orders exhibited no arrears. 
 These results have been attained through the action of the central 
 bodies, which ordered the lodges of the Order to send in the 
 returns, and then forwarded them to the registry office. This 
 action has had a good effect as regards also the quality of the 
 returns, which at first, after the passing of the Act, were decidedly 
 bad. In 1876 the Chief Registrar had to return for correction 
 5,000 out of the 11,282 returns received during that year. He 
 states that the returns were found to be so imperfectly filled up, 
 that it was impossible to reduce them to any satisfactory degree 
 of correctness. Of those received, even after many of them had 
 
 Keport for 1882,” p. 7. 
 
The Law of Friendly Societies . 
 
 323 
 
 been sent back for correction, less than two-thirds were in proper 
 form. In a vast number of cases no attempt was made to fill 
 up the inner pages of the sheet containing the amounts of receipts 
 and payments for benefits and management, but only the front 
 page, stating the number of trustees,, number of members, etc. 
 In some instances it was candidly stated that the accounts had 
 not been audited. In one case a clergyman, sole auditor to a 
 society without treasurer or trustees, sent in a return, including 
 a balance-sheet, only filled up as respects the assets, and with 
 a note written on it showing that he had not the most remote 
 conception of what a friendly society’s balance-sheet meant. 
 The means suggested by the Chief Registrar for remedying these 
 defects, are first, the liberal diffusion of information on the sub- 
 ject * second, a sufficient staff at the registry office to carry out 
 fully the work of examination and correspondence with the 
 societies for the amendment of their returns, and third, the 
 systematic prosecution of societies which refuse or do not care 
 to fulfil the requirements of the law. This last means of remedy 
 is one which he employs to some extent every year, but it is 
 obviously impossible to prosecute all societies in arrear. The 
 last few years show an average of only 41 prosecutions a year, 
 most of which, however, were successful. Wherever a con- 
 viction was obtained, it always produced some local effect, and 
 the Chief Registrar accordingly made a practice of selecting the 
 worst cases, for the sake of setting an example where most 
 required. From 1878 inclusive, the quality of the returns im- 
 proves, though as many as 2,287 in 1881, and 2,484 in 1882, had 
 to be sent back for correction. The Chief Registrar qualifies, 
 however, these high figures by observing that the examination 
 of these returns in the registry office had become much more 
 strict. “This examination,” he says, in his Report for 1880, 
 u though it is not and cannot be an audit, has had the best of 
 consequences in improving both the book-keeping of societies 
 and the auditing of their accounts, and in checking illegal mis- 
 applications or investments of funds.” At the same time he 
 laments that, in spite of all his efforts, a very large number of 
 societies and branches still failed every year to make their 
 annual return. 
 
324 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 Of the greatest importance, as regards the calculation of future 
 tables of premiums and the revision of those actually in use, is the 
 compilation of the “ quinquennial returns ” of sickness and mor- 
 tality, as required by the Act of 1875. More than 10,000 of these 
 returns were sent in between 1871 and 1875, and the Chief Regis- 
 trar speaks of many of them as very able productions. Since then 
 the Friendly Societies (Quinquennial Return) Act of 1882 (45 and 
 46 Viet., c. 35) has discontinued the compilation of further returns, 
 on the ground that those already sent in had furnished the neces- 
 sary materials. The Chief Registrar says of them in his Report 
 for 1881 as follows : — 
 
 “ Results of the highest accuracy and importance, some perhaps 
 at present unforeseen, may be expected from the scientific treat- 
 ment of so vast a body of data, the equivalent to which may very 
 probably never be again collected ; and the Chief Registrar ventures 
 to hope, in the interest of Friendly Societies and of the industrious 
 classes generally, that means will be supplied, in no niggardly 
 spirit, for the carrying out of a work, the maximum cost of which 
 will probably not reach that of a single piece of ordnance of the 
 largest calibre ” (p. 6). His expectation has been fulfilled, and the 
 statistics of sickness and mortality in Friendly Societies, embracing 
 upwards of six million risks, has been begun, and the first volume 
 already published. When this work is once completed, and the 
 experiences thus collected are made accessible in the practical form 
 peculiar to Englishmen, we may anticipate a further strengthening 
 of the actuarial basis of the societies.* 
 
 The most important returns, however, which the Friendly So- 
 cieties have to send in to the Chief Registrar are the quinquennial 
 valuations of assets and liabilities. Their practical value, as re- 
 gards the societies themselves, consists in their compelling them 
 to subject their financial position to strict actuarial examination, 
 and in this respect they constitute one of the most effective instru- 
 ments of reform, by the pressure they exercise on the societies to 
 
 * This official publication (817 pages folio) contains a statement of the ex- 
 periences of sickness and mortality in registered societies between 1855 and 1875. 
 It is entitled “ Abstract of the Quinquennial Returns of Sickness and Mortality 
 experienced by Friendly Societies for the periods between 1855-1860, 1860-1865, 
 1865-1870, and 1870-1875 respectively. Part I., 365. Session 2, 1880. : 
 
The Law of Friendly Societies. 
 
 3 2 5 
 
 “ put their houses in order.” In addition to this, however, they 
 supply the means of testing generally the position of these societies, 
 both from a financial and an actuarial point of view. The results 
 furnished by the first quinquennial valuations under the Act of 
 1875 give a picture of this position.* 
 
 Let us look first at the figures. To begin with, we must repeat 
 that many of the registered societies had not sent in their returns, 
 so that the totals relate only to a portion. On the other hand, 
 many of them, including all dividing and burial societies, are dis- 
 pensed from the requirement of the Act in this respect, on the 
 ground that their business involves either very simple calculations 
 
 * The first quinquennial valuations of the Friendly Societies were published 
 in 1883, in a Blue-book of 1185 pages, consisting of two volumes, and entitled 
 “ Reports of the Chief Registrar of Friendly Societies for the year ending 31st 
 December, 1880. Part II. (A) and (B). Part A gives in a tabulated form the 
 registered number, name, and registered office of each society, its date of estab- 
 lishment, number of members, total assets, and total receipts and expenditure 
 for 1880. Part B gives the date of valuation, rate of interest per cent. (£.«., as 
 used in valuation and as realized), amount of funds, present value of benefits 
 and contributions, other liabilities and assets, if any, and surplus or deficiency. 
 
 These tables, although not including all registered societies, are a marvellous 
 example, in the case of many thousands of them, of making their financial status 
 public. People in England have not been afraid to lay bare their position, as 
 far as materials could be obtained, in the proper hope and expectation that this 
 very publicity would be the surest and most effective stimulus to reform. Every 
 detail has been fearlessly exposed, and so far from any fears being entertained 
 as to the consequences of this exposure, it has been regarded as something per- 
 fectly natural. This investigation and compilation has enabled the Registry 
 Office to obtain a comprehensive view of the subject in a manner beyond the 
 reach of Continental Governments, and has achieved a work from which all 
 Governments which are confronted with the task of creating a new basis for 
 existing but financially unsound institutions, ought to take example. As to 
 the number of valuations sent to the Chief Registrar’s office every year according 
 to the Act, there is a marked increase, comparing the result of the second quin- 
 quennium after the Act with the first. There were received in — 
 
 1876 
 
 . . . . 8 valuations. 
 
 1881 
 
 .... 4,856 valuations. 
 
 1877 
 
 .... 18 
 
 99 
 
 1882 
 
 .... 3,755 
 
 »» 
 
 1878 
 
 .... 40 
 
 99 
 
 1883 
 
 .... 2,930 
 
 »» 
 
 1879 
 
 .... 948 
 
 99 
 
 1884 
 
 .... 1,448 
 
 
 1880 
 
 .... 3,542 
 
 99 
 
 1885 
 
 .... 2,802 
 
 
 
 4,556 
 
 
 
 15,791 
 
 
 The number of valuations received in 1886 was 3,209. 
 
326 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 or none at all. Bearing these facts in mind, the tables in question 
 give an admirable insight into the slowly but steadily progressive 
 consolidation of the Friendly Society system. As regards England 
 and Wales, the valuations are given of 6,567 societies. Of these 
 1,537 show funds amounting in all to £4,002,070, with a surplus 
 of £885,382. On the other hand, 5,030 societies, with funds 
 amounting altogether to £4,378,781, exhibit larger or smaller de- 
 ficits, the total of which is no less than £5,155,816. From Scotland, 
 where relatively fewer societies are registered than in England 
 and Wales, 247 Valuations are returned, 78 of which show a favour- 
 able result, being in fact a total surplus of £84,362, while 169 
 exhibit deficits amounting in all to £158,792. In England, there- 
 fore, one-fourth, and in Scotland one-third, of these societies are in 
 a very favourable position, even more so than the strict require- 
 ments of actual solvency demand; while three-fourths and two- 
 thirds respectively do not appear, judging actuarially, to be within 
 the limits of these requirements.* 
 
 * Mr. William Sutton, in his evidence before the Select Committee of the 
 House of Commons in 1885, on National Provident Insurance (of which we shall 
 have to speak hereafter), gives the following opinion as to the extension of ac- 
 tuarial knowledge. Question 1829 : “ Under the Friendly Societies Act, as it 
 at present stands, registered Friendly Societies are required, as business con- 
 cerns, to make to the Registry of Friendly Societies’ Office audited annual 
 returns, and every five years to make valuation returns, the latter serving to 
 show whether they are likely or not, in the future, to be in a financial position 
 which will enable them to meet all the claims upon their funds. On this matter 
 I should like to say that during my nine years at the Friendly Societies’ Office, 
 and having had the proud privilege of first carrying out the actuarial duties of 
 that office, I am pleased to say that I see now a much better prospect in the 
 future. It is remarkable in the course of those nine years how a more or less 
 accurate and extensive knowledge of actuarial matters has become diffused 
 among the leading spirits connected with the Friendly Society system.” And 
 in Question 1831 he repeats this opinion, in speaking of periodical valuations, 
 though he admits that the Registrar’s Office has still to contend with much 
 ignorance and opposition. “ Speaking from my official experience,” he says, 
 “ I have no hesitation in saying that in many respects the working of the Act 
 has been highly satisfactory. If it has done nothing else, it has gone far towards 
 impressing upon societies that they are business undertakings, to be conducted 
 on business principles. The all-important provision as to periodical actuarial 
 valuations was, it should be remembered, previously only known to lodges of 
 the Manchester Unity and a few well-managed societies, and the requirement 
 of the Act was to the vast majority of societies an entirely new departure. A 
 
The Lazv of Friendly Societies. 
 
 32 ; 
 
 These results afford a basis for forming an opinion as to the 
 movement of reform recently set on foot inside the Friendly So- 
 cieties. Far as these societies are, as a whole, from havijig attained, 
 actuarial solvency, a substantial advance has been made as com- 
 pared with the time when it was said with truth that scarcely a 
 Friendly Society in England was solvent. This progress, speaking - 
 generally, has been made within the last twenty-live years, and the 
 not inconsiderable number of societies which in 1883 were not only 
 fully solvent, but in possession of a surplus, were the fruit of the 
 efforts which the societies themselves have made, and which we have 
 described above. We readily admit that this result in itself seems, 
 modest, considering the deficits that burden the majority of the 
 societies ; but, nevertheless, it derives importance from a number 
 
 large number of societies have faithfully complied with the Act without any 
 pressure being put upon them, and another large number have complied with 
 the Act with more or less willingness. Societies appear to be slowly, but surely* 
 recognising the fact that periodical valuations are intended to be for the benefit 
 of the members, and for the information of intending members. In connection 
 with this remark, I thought it might interest the Committee if I brought with 
 me a letter which is only one of thousands, I might say, that one has received 
 on the subject of valuations. That letter came to the office yesterday. It is. 
 addressed from the Tideswell General Funeral Society, wherever that may be, 
 to the Chief Registrar of Friendly Societies : ‘ Sir, I am requested by decision 
 of the trustees and committee of management, at a meeting held at the office of 
 the aforesaid society on the 11th day of July, to write you the following resolu- 
 tion ; viz., That it is the unanimous opinion of the said trustees and committed 
 that to have a certified actuary to value the assets and liabilities of the society 
 would only mean a waste of so much of the funds of the society. We have no 
 property of any description, our funds consisting in money, the amount being 
 £234 8s. ; invested in the Sheffield and Rotherham Bank the sum of £231 4s. 10 d . ; 
 in treasurer’s hands, £3 3s. 2 d . ; members’ total, 70. We therefore hope that 
 you may be able to see your way to register the amended rules as presented to 
 you.’ Now that is an interesting instance of the difficulty that our Chief Regis- 
 trar mentioned in his evidence of diffusing information. Year after year 
 pamphlets and announcements of all kinds have been sent to nearly every society 
 by our office, and here, nearly ten years after the passing of the Act, we have 
 a letter of that kind ; and that is only one of hundreds. Sooner or later they 
 will see that it is for their own interest that these valuations should be as well 
 made as actuarial skill can make them. At present there is in the great majority 
 of cases a desire, not altogether without explanation, to look upon making valu- 
 ation returns as a troublesome duty imposed by the Act, to be got over at the 
 least expenditure of trouble and money.” 
 
3 28 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 of concomitant circumstances to which we have already referred. 
 We have seen, for instance, how the statistical and actuarial con- 
 ditions of reform are becoming more and more reliable, and being 
 gradually more widely made known and applied. We have seen, 
 further, how the necessity is being more generally recognised of 
 obtaining for societies based on voluntary membership a rational 
 system of premiums and reserves instead of the obsolete system 
 of levies. And lastly, we have seen how the will to achieve these 
 reforms is growing stronger, and entitling one to assume that it 
 will gradually surmount the barriers interposed by indolence and 
 apathy. We might point again to the consolidation of the Man- 
 chester Unity, as an example of what these elements of progress 
 can achieve. The other large Orders have followed resolutely in 
 its footsteps, and it is not too sanguine a prophecy to make that 
 the remaining societies also, including even those which are not 
 registered, will eventually, if more tardily, do the same. Speak- 
 ing of this movement, however, as an unprejudiced observer, we 
 would repeat a remark already made in our introduction with 
 reference to working-men’s associations in general. Their financial 
 basis and. financial consolidation directly depend on the wage 
 question and the favourable or unfavourable state of things as 
 regards production. The high and constant wages at the beginning 
 of 1870-1880 gave a powerful impulse to Friendly Societies ; any 
 permanent state of depression in production would decisively check 
 their progress, nay, actually make it go back. If, therefore, a new 
 statement of the results of valuation shall be made in future years, 
 it will not only enable us to see how far these societies will have 
 had the capacity and consistency to pursue the course begun, but 
 will form a mirror of the economic relations of England, and a 
 means of testing whether and to what extent institutions based on 
 voluntary self-help, and drawing their resources entirely from the 
 working-men’s pockets, will have been able to pay their further 
 way. 
 
 It remains to mention a few facts, showing how far the Chief 
 Registrar has made use of his power to interfere directly in the 
 affairs of Friendly Societies by cancelling or suspending their 
 registry, appointing inspectors, summoning special meetings, and 
 issuing his award of dissolution. Every year there are a certain 
 
The Law of Friendly Societies. 
 
 329 
 
 number of cancellings (there were eleven in 1884) and suspensions, 
 mostly on the ground that the society had not sent in the required 
 valuation. In 1883 the registry of 75 societies was suspended. 
 The reports of the last few years show further that every year 
 some inspections into the financial state of a society, or into cases 
 of alleged mismanagement, are applied for to, and granted by, the 
 Chief Registrar. These inspections frequently bring to light gross 
 abuses. Occasionally also the Chief Registrar receives an application 
 to summon a special meeting, the cause being not unfrequently 
 some petty quarrel in the society. But in both these cases the 
 power of the Chief Registrar is limited to causing an investigation 
 to be made by an impartial person appointed by himself, and de- 
 termining which party has to bear the cost. He can further 
 summon the special meeting and appoint the business of the day. 
 If he finds that no breach of the law has taken place to occasion 
 any further proceedings, his jurisdiction ceases. By these means, 
 however wanting they may seem in respect of vigorous and search- 
 ing authority, the minority of a society are enabled to obtain a 
 clear decision through the investigation of the point at issue, or 
 to bring the matter to discussion at a special meeting. In both 
 these respects the interests of the minority are thus protected. 
 Wanton complaints are checked by the provision as to costs, fre- 
 quently not inconsiderable, which the Chief Registrar may impose 
 at his discretion according to the circumstances of the case. 
 
 (4) The advantages and privileges which the registered societies 
 enjoy in abundance may be divided into three classes. First, there 
 is exemption, in the case of certain documents, from stamp duties, 
 together with a number of other privileges connected with civil 
 law and procedure ; secondly, extensive protection as regards the 
 criminal law ; and thirdly, certain advantages with respect to the 
 investment of their funds.* 
 
 The exemption from stamp duty is not now as important a 
 privilege as it was formerly, the duties not being as high as they 
 were. 
 
 The privileges connected with civil law and procedure are of 
 various kinds, and embrace a number of technical details. The 
 
 * Compare Sections 15, 16, 17, 20, and 22 of the Act. 
 
330 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 essential point is that the registered societies acquire a personal 
 status in law, and have the right of sueing and being sued, a right 
 which has been extended by the amending Act of 1876 to all 
 branches of affiliated societies. We have noticed already the great 
 legal advantages attached to registration, and we will merely add 
 at present that the Act of 1875 allows a member of a registered 
 society to nominate any person not belonging to the society (in- 
 cluding therefore his wife or children) for the receipt of benefits 
 not exceeding £50, and admits minors over sixteen as members 
 (Sect. 15). And lastly, all registered societies have power to hold 
 land and vest property in trustees by mere appointment (Sect. 16). 
 
 The protection afforded to registered societies, in respect of the 
 criminal law, consists in this, that any person guilty of withholding 
 or misappropriating their property, or committing any breach or 
 abuse of trust, so far as the offence is not subject to any heavier 
 punishment, is liable on summary conviction to a penalty of £20, 
 or to be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, for three months 
 (Sect. 16). 
 
 With respect to the investment of funds the societies are left by 
 the Act of 1875 very free. They can, so far as is conformable with 
 law, invest their money as they choose, only not on personal securit}?-. 
 There are certain Friendly Societies, called Loan Societies, which 
 advance loans to their members, as allowed by statute, and these 
 societies also can be registered, only the Act requires that the loan 
 must not exceed one half of the amount of an assurance on the life 
 of a member of at least one full year’s standing, and that there 
 must be two satisfactory sureties for repayment. If a society j 
 however, has a separate loan fund, a member may borrow to the 
 amount of £200. On the other hand, the Act, as indeed had been 
 done before, affords to societies the possibility of a safe and suitable 
 investment. They may invest their funds not only in the Post Office 
 Savings Bank, or in any registered savings bank, but also directly 
 in Government securities. We have pointed out already that the 
 Government guaranteed to Friendly Societies a higher rate of 
 interest on their deposits at the National Debt Office than was 
 current in the market. This privilege is abolished by the Act of 
 1875, which allows only 3 per cent, on such deposits, an amount 
 corresponding with the average rate. No reduction, however, is 
 
The Law of Friendly Societies. 
 
 33i 
 
 made in the case of moneys deposited before the Act, which leaves 
 the higher rate of interest in such cases undisturbed, subject to 
 a graduated series of provisions (Sect. 17) ; a measure originating 
 quite as much from the English regard for prescriptive rights as 
 from the proper and practical consideration that the societies had 
 actually based their financial arrangements on the higher rate of 
 interest, and that to destroy this basis suddenly would involve 
 many of them in disaster. 
 
 The report of the Chief Registrar contains a statement of the 
 various investments of the registered societies, which shows what 
 different methods are adopted. Erom the statistical table he 
 subjoins, taken from the returns of assets sent in to the Registry 
 Office, it appears that 4T98 per cent, of the total funds of these 
 societies is invested in first-class securities, such as Trustee 
 Savings Ranks, the Post-office Savings Bank, public funds, and 
 the National Debt Commissioners ; 3007 per cent, in land, offices, 
 buildings, etc., mortgages, and other real securities ; 1026 per 
 cent, in railway, bank, and other debentures, and 8’69 per cent, in 
 various other, including illegal, investments.* The failure of banks 
 has caused much distress to a number of Friendly Societies, which 
 had improperly left their funds in their hands, and the Chief 
 Registrar warns against such investments. In the case of a bank 
 at Rochdale, it appeared that over forty bodies, which seemed 
 
 * The list of investments, in order of priority as to amount, is as follows : — 
 
 Eeal Securities 
 
 25-13 per cent. 
 
 With the National Debt Commissioners 
 
 15-07 
 
 ,, 
 
 In Trustee Savings Banks .... 
 
 13-65 
 
 55 
 
 Local Securities 
 
 10-85 
 
 55 
 
 Post Office Savings Bank .... 
 
 7-18 
 
 „ 
 
 Public Funds and Government Securities 
 
 6-08 
 
 55 
 
 Land, Offices, and Buildings 
 
 4-94 
 
 
 Illegal Investments (being in the nature of 
 personal security) 
 
 4-09 
 
 55 
 
 Stocks and Shares ...... 
 
 3-52 
 
 55 
 
 Cash in hand . . . 
 
 3*39 
 
 55 
 
 Bailway and other Debentures . . 
 
 3-20 
 
 55 
 
 Miscellaneous 
 
 2-90 
 
 55 
 
 The investments vary considerably in different counties. In the agricultural 
 county of Devonshire, the deposits with the National Debt Commissioners 
 amount to 50 per cent., while in Lancashire, a county rich in joint-stock under- 
 
333 
 
 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 from their titles to he unregistered Friendly Societies, were 
 among the creditors to the bank.* The comparatively recent 
 failure of the West of England Bank proved disastrous to many 
 Friendly Societies. 
 
 (5) The Act has created a number of officers and public duties, 
 intended to assist the societies in the discharge of their statutory 
 obligations. We have already mentioned the appointment of an 
 actuary attached to the Registry Office. He attends to the sta- 
 tistics of sickness and mortality, constructs or examines tables 
 of premiums, prepares forms, etc., and being thus in constant 
 official communication with the registered societies obtains, by 
 comparing the returns they send in, a general oversight and 
 experience, which renders his action very useful and effective in 
 dealing with societies that apply to the central office for informa- 
 tion and advice. In addition to the actuary, there are public 
 auditors and public valuers. These are not, indeed, permanent 
 officials, but are appointed and paid for their services from time 
 to time by the Treasury, and their duty is to conduct, according 
 to prescribed forms and scales, the calculations and the valuations 
 
 takings, they are only 0-75 per cent, of the total assets, of which no less than 
 26 per cent, are invested in local securities. 
 
 The following statement (1886) shows the investments of £8,486,465 16s. 7 d. 
 of the funds of the Order of Foresters, and how they are disposed: — 
 
 £ s. d. 
 
 Post Office Savings Bank .... 480,183 18 1 
 
 Other Savings Banks 425,466 14 2 
 
 The Public Funds 107,821 8 4 
 
 With the Commissioners for the Keduction 
 of the National Debt .... 22,281 9 2 
 
 Government Securities in Great Britain and 
 
 Ireland 13,401 17 4 
 
 Upon Pveal Securities in Great Britain and 
 
 Ireland 2,029,516 5 11 
 
 Land 33,076 2 0 
 
 Offices and Buildings 123,107 19 4 
 
 Otherwise Invested and Disposed . . . 120,197 18 0 
 
 Treasurers’ hands 131,462 4 3 
 
 £3,486,465 16 7 
 
 * The Chief Kegistrar explains this by the fact that unregistered Friendly 
 Societies are not recognised by the Savings Banks Acts. 
 
The Law of Friendly Societies. 
 
 333 
 
 of the societies that apply to them. It does not appear, indeed, 
 that there is any great demand for their services; but, as the 
 Chief Registrar states in his report for 1876, they have introduced 
 greater order and regularity into the whole business of auditing, 
 the method prescribed to them having frequently served as a 
 model for imitation. 
 
 (6) With regard to arbitration, the Act of 1875 (Sect. 22) 
 provides that every dispute between a Friendly Society and 
 a member is to be decided in the manner directed by the society’s 
 rules, and there is to be no appeal therefrom to a court of law. 
 The decision so made is to be enforced by the County Court. As 
 a rule, these arbitrations have to decide as to claims of members 
 against the society, or the reverse. The object of an amending 
 Act, passed in 1885 (48 and 49 Viet., c. 27), was to clear up a 
 doubt as to the construction of the section just referred to. The 
 County Court Judge at Wrexham had decided to the effect that 
 the provisions of the Act of 1875 were limited to disputes 
 between individual members of branches or societies on the one 
 hand, and the branches or societies of which they were members 
 on the other. The amending Act accordingly declared that the 
 County Court judge has jurisdiction, as it was plainly contem- 
 plated that he should have, to enforce an award in the case of 
 ^disputes arising between a society and a member, or between two 
 branches of a society. The parties to a dispute may by consent, 
 under the Act of 1875 (unless the rules of the society expressly 
 forbid it), refer such dispute to the Chief Registrar, who has 
 power to administer oaths, examine witnesses, and hear and deter- 
 mine it. In addition to this, every registered society is at liberty 
 to direct by its rules that disputes shall be referred to justices, in 
 which case they are determinable in a court of summary juris- 
 diction. Where the rules contain no direction as to the settle- 
 ment of disputes, or where no decision is made on a dispute within 
 forty days after application to the society for a reference under 
 its rules, the member or person aggrieved may apply either to the 
 county court or to a court of summary jurisdiction (Sect. 22).* 
 
 Were we to conclude this sketch by offering briefly an opinion 
 
 See Appendix B. 
 
334 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 of the Act of 1875 in general, we should notice first certain 
 relations between the State and society, as well as certain pecu- 
 liarities of national character, which all legislation in England 
 has to take into account. In a country where, as there, freedom 
 of association so extensively prevails, any State interference is 
 much more difficult, and will encounter greater opposition than 
 under relations where the action of associations is weaker, and 
 the nation is accustomed not only to constant supervision, but to 
 a position of tutelage. Add to this, that the executive in Eng- 
 land moves within much narrower limits than on the Continent, 
 that the English law-courts decide claims and questions of public 
 as well as of private law, and that the preponderating element 
 of judicial authority, which is one of the characteristic features 
 of the English State-system, tends to restrict any inquisitorial or 
 aggressive action on the part of the Government. All this is the 
 expression of the spirit of independence peculiar to the Anglo- 
 Saxon race, of that self-reliance to which we have so frequently 
 had occasion to refer, in order to explain institutions which, from 
 a Continental point of view, are unintelligible and incapable of 
 being grafted on Continental relations. 
 
 Out of the many opinions expressed in England as to the pos- 
 sible and necessary extent of State supervision over Friendly 
 Societies, it is not at all easy to discover the right one. We dis- 
 regard at once those objections to regulation and control which 
 proceed from interested motives. We have heard, however, 
 Englishmen entitled to weight, and anything but blind or bigoted 
 adherents of old ways, declare their belief that the Act of 1875 
 is the utmost limit of what can be demanded from or accomplished 
 by State supervision. For the reform which they admit to be 
 necessary in these societies, they look to the trainiDg and educa- 
 tion of their individual members ; they point out that the ex- 
 perience gained by actuarial knowledge has supplied sufficient 
 material for discovering correct principles of management, and 
 that any further State interference is needless. Any further 
 extension of it they think would prove a failure from the fact that 
 the management of these societies is mostly in the hands of men 
 who receive no remuneration ; who, moreover, have only reluc- 
 tantly undertaken the labour imposed upon them by the Act of 
 
The Law of Friendly Societies . 335 
 
 1875, and who would, therefore, resent any attempt to burden 
 them still more. 
 
 An opposite view is shared by those who, while basing their 
 chief hopes of reform on the progress of actuarial and financial 
 knowledge, nevertheless consider it necessary that the course of 
 development to which we have referred in previous pages should 
 be superintended and stimulated ; who demand, therefore, that the 
 scope of State action should be enlarged, and regard such an 
 extension of authority as the necessary guarantee for the protec- 
 tion of inexperienced members against reckless or improper 
 management, and the encouragement of delusive hopes. They 
 demand, in particular, that the Chief Registrar should be em- 
 powered, as is done by the Government in other departments of 
 administration, to satisfy himself as to the position and financial 
 management of all Friendly Societies by means of regular in- 
 spectors, who should report how far the returns sent in correspond 
 with the societies’ books, and thus enable him to exercise a direct 
 personal influence upon the various managers. The present Chief 
 Registrar certainly does all that he can under the Act. He is inde- 
 fatigable in the work of correspondence ; he endeavours, by means 
 of written communications, through the information he imparts 
 through the publication of his annual reports, through his advice, 
 and through the legal prosecutions he institutes, to further the 
 diffusion of knowledge, to stimulate the will to improve, and to 
 facilitate the due discharge of duties and the correct conduct 
 of business, and no one can deny that his efforts have been suc- 
 cessful. Nevertheless, it is plain that an office such as his, which 
 has no organs enabling it to interfere directly and personally, and, 
 if necessary, on the spot itself, can obtain only slow and imperfect 
 results. The Chief Registrar receives the most substantial sup- 
 port from the large Orders. We have seen already how, in the 
 questions of tables of premiums, valuations and management, they 
 are marching at the head of all the other Friendly Societies. 
 They are also the Chief Registrar’s staunchest allies in carrying 
 out the Act of 1875. They conduct the registration of their 
 branches, and superintend the sending in of their returns, and are 
 as zealous in removing abuses as the Chief Registrar himself. 
 These Orders have now advanced to the position v of organized self- 
 
336 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 governing bodies, and their business at headquarters being con- 
 ducted by permanent officials, the relations between them and the 
 registry office are the more regular, systematic, and accommodat- 
 ing on both sides. The Chief Registrar works hand in hand with 
 the secretaries of the large Orders. “ He takes pleasure,” he 
 says in his Report for 1876, “ in stating that his relations with 
 the executive bodies of the various Orders with whom the pro- 
 visions of the Act, as to societies with branches, have brought 
 him into correspondence or contact, have been uniformly friendly 
 From the two great Orders, in particular, the Manchester Unity 
 and the Foresters, the office has continued to receive real assist- 
 ance. It would be unjust not to record the fact that, in carrying 
 out the new Act, the Order of Foresters has been more especially 
 successful. The signature of Mr. Shawcross, its permanent secre- 
 tary, affords an almost perfect guarantee that documents offered 
 by him for registry are in due form.” 
 
 The support thus accorded to the Chief Registrar by these 
 working-men’s associations assists one in forming an unprejudiced 
 judgment of the Act of 1875. The more fully these associations 
 devoted to insurance, realise their important mission, the more 
 closely must they resemble real self-governing bodies. In this 
 development lies the perfecting of an efficiently organized system 
 of State supervision, such as exists at present with regard to 
 factories, schools, and sanitary administration. Towards this 
 end the Act of 1875 signifies only a stage, a definite step in 
 advance.* 
 
 * Mr. Reuben Watson, the actuary to the Manchester Unity, in his evidence 
 before the Select Committee on National Provident Insurance (Q. 893), has thus 
 accurately summed up the results of the Act of 1875 : “ The Act of 1875 has done 
 great good ; it has discouraged the formation of new societies on the unsound 
 principles of former times. The central office has come into more immediate 
 communication with the societies, and useful comment and instruction is dis- 
 seminated by it. But more legislation will be needed from time to time, perhaps 
 even more stringent legislation but certainly legislation which will strengthen 
 the hands of executive bodies.” 
 
 The correctness of this opinion has been strikingly illustrated by a case which 
 the Chief Registrar’s Office had recently to examine and determine, and which 
 was published in a paper laid before Parliament. (“ Determination of the 
 Chief Registrar of Friendly Societies on an application for the dissolution of 
 
The Law of Friendly Societies. 
 
 337 
 
 the Independent Mutual Brethren Friendly Society by award, and Report by 
 the Actuary of the Central Office to the Chief Registrar ” C. — 4,988.) Ac- 
 
 cording to this Report, the society was started in London about 1873, by an 
 individual named Scotting, and in 1877, when it undertook sick-pay business, 
 its fortunes advanced rapidly, the members increasing from 1,019 in 1878 to 
 18,646 in 1881. A bait of taking in members of advanced age at the same 
 contributions as young members, on condition that they paid in cash down an 
 extra entrance fee of 5s. , 6s., or 7s. for each year of age over 50, seems to have 
 proved most successful. The money coming into the society’s coffers appeared 
 to have been literally squandered in the most reckless manner. One man 
 dabbled in house property and land with the society’s money, having it con- 
 veyed to him, and depositing the deeds with himself and his assistants as 
 trustees or officers of the society. Wm. Dalby, a co-trustee, was installed in 
 a public-house, called the Railway Arms, Hornton Street, Kensington, and 
 F. Jude, a former trustee, in another public-house, at Dunstable, known as 
 the White Hart Inn. A man named Coalston was appointed secretary, at a 
 salary of no inconsiderable amount. Harry Hill, another trustee, received 
 a loan, and C. Anderson, a member of committee, purchased his house, borrow- 
 ing the money from the society. Towards the end of 1883 the tide began to 
 turn. The society’s annual return to the Registrar for 1882 had been sent 
 back to be corrected ; there was no ready money available to meet sick-pay 
 claims, etc., and in consequence, a general levy on the members had to be pro- 
 posed. It was not, however, carried out at a general meeting, which, instead, 
 appointed a committee of investigation, “ the members having lost all confi- 
 dence in the management,” and at a subsequent meeting the committee was 
 asked to resign. Various lawsuits followed, and affairs culminated in the 
 general meeting of May, 1885, when the auditors for the accounts of 1884 dis- 
 covered all kinds of frauds in the previous annual returns of the society. 
 The dissatisfaction regarding the management caused the younger and healthy 
 members to leave by the thousand, and in May last an investigation into 
 the society’s affairs was demanded by one hundred members, and acceded to 
 by the Chief Registrar. As the result of that investigation, the actuary found 
 (1) that the funds of the society were insufficient to meet the existing claims 
 thereon ; and (2) that the rates of contribution fixed by the society were insuffi- 
 cient to cover the benefits assured to be given by the same. Inasmuch, how- 
 ever, as immediate award for dissolution would debar the trustees or other 
 persons interested from taking proceedings, which they might possibly be advised 
 for obtaining an account and recovering assets belonging to the society, he 
 suggested that no such award should be for the present made. The Chief 
 Registrar accordingly determined, under the date of the 19th February, that he 
 did not consider it expedient at present to award that the society should be 
 dissolved. 
 
 Z 
 
CHAPTER Y. 
 
 Government Working-Men’s Insurance in England. 
 
 i. The Government Annuity System. Schemes in the last century. — Pitt’s pro- 
 posal of a “ parochial fund.” — Parochial Benefit Societies Bill, 1818. — 
 Friendly Society Savings Bank Act, 1833. — Lord Shelburne’s Bill of 1882. 
 — The Government Annuities Act of 1864. — Mr. Gladstone's Speech on the 
 Bill. — Opposition in Parliament to the measure. — Its material provisions. 
 — Its inoperative character. — Select Committee of Inquiry on the subject. — 
 The Act of 1882. 
 
 2. Schemes of Compulsory Working-men's Insurance. Recent influence 
 of German ideas and legislation. — The English Poor-Law system. — Pitt's 
 view of Friendly Societies and Poor Relief. — Connection between Friendly 
 Societies and the Poor Law. — Origin of recent schemes of national in- 
 surance. — Canon Blackley’s scheme of compulsory Insurance. — Rev. Mr. 
 Stratton’s scheme. — Select Committee on National Provident Insurance, 
 1885. — General results of the inquiry. — Attitude of the Friendly Societies. 
 — National objections to compulsion.— Voluntary insurance under State 
 supervision. 
 
 In the preceding pages, while convinced that the Friendly Society 
 system in England is in a state of progressive improvement, we 
 have not concealed its shady sides. These societies, as a whole, 
 are imperfect in two respects. They do not reach equally, as we 
 know, all grades of the working classes, while for the more help- 
 less and the poorer portion of them they provide only imperfect 
 forms of insurance ; and then, they are not yet sufficiently consoli- 
 dated to prevent the insurance, purchased perhaps by the sacrifices 
 of many years, from being frustrated by insolvency, an eventuality 
 to which the poorer working-men are necessarily more exposed 
 than their brethren who can afford to join the sound societies. 
 
 Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that, in spite of 
 all the Englishman’s trust in self-help, proposals should have been 
 mooted even in England advocating the interference of the 
 
 338 
 
Government Working-Men's Insurance in England. 339 
 
 Government in some form or another, with a view to assure 
 the benefits of insurance to all the working classes alike. 
 
 Experiments in this direction have been made for a loDg time in 
 England, with regard to life and old-age assurance by the State, 
 but hitherto, at any rate, without any comprehensive results. The 
 Government annuity system, however, is a remarkable attempt 
 to supplement the action of voluntary societies. We propose, 
 therefore, to sketch in this chapter the introduction of Govern- 
 ment insurance for the working classes, the causes of its small 
 extension up to the present day, and its prospects for the future. 
 
 The Government annuity system is State-managed but optional, 
 and therefore it is far from being analogous to the German 
 system of compulsory State insurance. No practical attempt in 
 the direction of compulsion has yet been made in England, and 
 all schemes and proposals tending to that end have hitherto been 
 decisively rejected. We do not believe in their realization in the 
 immediate future, but they serve to complete the picture, and we 
 propose, therefore, to consider them later on. 
 
 1 . The Government Annuity System. 
 
 As long ago as 1771, a scheme was proposed by Baron Maseres 
 for establishing life annuities in parishes for the benefit of the 
 poor inhabitants, each annuity not to exceed £20 per annum, and 
 to commence at an age not exceeding 50 for males, and 35 for 
 females; any deficiency in the funds to be made up out of the 
 parish rates. A bill for this purpose was introduced in 1773, 
 and again in 1789, but failed on each occasion to pass. In 1798 
 Mr. Pitt proposed the establishment of a “ parochial fund,” which 
 was to be raised from voluntary subscriptions and the rates, and 
 to be applied to relief in old age or chronic sickness, and to the 
 support of widows and children of deceased members. His idea, 
 however, was never realised, and a bill introduced in 1818 for the 
 establishment of u Parochial Benefit Societies ” proved abortive. 
 The first attempt to introduce a system of State insurance in 
 another direction was made by the Act of 1833 (3 and 4 Will. IV., 
 c. 14). This Act allowed the purchase of annuities, either im- 
 mediate or deferred, through the medium of savings banks or of 
 societies, which were to be authorised to be established in places 
 
340 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 where there were no savings hanks (sect. 37), the maximum 
 amount of such annuities being fixed at £20, and the minimum 
 at £4, and thereby laid the foundation of the Government annuity 
 and insurance system, which has since then been further deve- 
 loped. 
 
 It was Lord Shelburne who, in 1862, made an attempt to give 
 effect to an idea traceable, in the first instance, to the preamble 
 to a section in the Act of 1819 (59 Geo. III., c. 12), by introducing 
 into the House of Lords a bill “ to promote the establishment of 
 Friendly Societies,” the main object of which was to create 
 Friendly Societies for the agricultural population, which, as being 
 subject to the control of the Government and based on authorised 
 tables, should afford better security than the public-house clubs 
 and dividing societies, at that time the only societies at the com- 
 mand of the country labourers. But this attempt to bring sick 
 insurance under State management proved a failure, like the rest, 
 and has never since been revived.* 
 
 On the other hand, the Government Annuity and Insurance 
 system, above mentioned, received a further development through 
 the Act of 1864 (27 and 28 Viet., c. 43), as well as the more recent 
 Act of 1882 (45 and 46 Viet., c. 51). 
 
 A most interesting light was thrown on the whole development 
 of this system during the debates in the House of Commons in 
 March, 1864.f The bill then before the House was the one which 
 ultimately, though in a substantially altered shape, became the 
 Act of 1864. Mr. Gladstone, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
 then submitted a scheme to Parliament, which aimed at construct- 
 ing, side by side with the Friendly Societies, a system of State 
 insurance. Sick insurance was to be left entirely, as before, to 
 voluntary societies, but Mr. Gladstone proposed to establish a 
 system of Government annuities and life insurance in connection 
 With the Post-office Savings Banks, not as a compulsory institu- 
 tion, but simply as a Government department competing with 
 existing societies. His intention, therefore, was far removed from 
 
 * With reference to these earlier attempts, see Fourth Report of the Com- 
 mission, pp. cxcii.-iii., and Appendix (I.). 
 
 t See Hansard, 3rd Series; vol. clxxiii. (4 and 7 March), vol. clxxiv. (17 
 March), and vol. clxxv. (20 June, 1864). 
 
Government Working-Men s Insurance in England ’ 341 
 
 the idea of State Socialism in the sense in which it is sought at 
 the present day in Germany and Austria to solve the question 
 of working-men’s insurance ; but, nevertheless, as a protest against 
 the axiom of laissez faire , still prevailing almost unrestrictedly in 
 England, Mr. Gladstone’s idea and, still more, the firm footing 
 he gave it, was an early and remarkable sign of the change of 
 popular opinion in regard to social questions. Owing to the 
 vigorous opposition he encountered, his original ideas were only 
 partly embodied in the Act ; but the debate in the House of 
 Commons on the bill not only clearly showed the position taken 
 up by Mr. Gladstone and his opponents, but largely influenced the 
 movement of reform inside the Friendly Societies, the rotten 
 character of which, in many cases, was exposed to publicity. We 
 will state briefly, for these reasons, the essential points of the 
 debate. 
 
 In a great speech delivered on the 7th of March, 1864, Mr. 
 Gladstone defended the fundamental principles of his bill. “It 
 had been occasioned,” he said, “ by the abuses and violations ,of 
 trust on the part of the Friendly Societies.” His indictment was 
 not in accordance with facts, as being too sweeping and general. 
 The evils he denounced were confined to a portion of these 
 societies, more particularly the large burial societies ; but instead 
 of discriminating between the bad ones and the good, he included 
 them all in the same category, stating that his bill had been ren- 
 dered necessary in consequence “ not only of the wholesale error 
 prevailing in the Friendly Societies, but of the deception, fraud, 
 and swindling perpetrated upon the most helpless portion of the 
 community, who find themselves without protection and without 
 defence. It is foolish,” he said, “ to talk of Government inter- 
 ference with private trade and private enterprise. The Friendly 
 Societies have long been virtually and substantially subsidized by 
 the Government ; first, by the positive payment to them of money 
 grants every year, in the shape of a rate of interest which we 
 are compelled to pay, and which we cannot make. The rate 
 of interest which at the National Debt office we are compelled 
 to pay to such Friendly Societies as existed before 1828 is £4 11s. 
 upon every £100 of their money. Secondly, I contend, without 
 the least fear of contradiction, that all exemptions given to 
 
342 
 
 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 Friendly Societies are grants. . . . Societies under the Friendly 
 Societies Act are exempted from payment of stamp and probate 
 duty absolutely under £50, and from £50 up to £200, if any party 
 chooses to exercise the right of nominating a relative before he 
 dies, he is exempted from stamp and probate duty. That being 
 so, the two main questions which we have now to consider are 
 these : first, is the plan we propose a safe plan ? and secondly, 
 does it involve injustice? If our plan is both safe and fair, I 
 hold it ought to be adopted.” As to the first point, he admitted 
 that every life assurance office was bound to examine the lives 
 which it undertook to insure, and that every society was exposed 
 to the danger of being the victims of deceit and personation. But 
 he contended that, in the case of the working classes, age, occupa- 
 tion, and habits of life supplied sufficient data for estimating the 
 quality of the risks undertaken, and that the Government had 
 natural allies, in these matters, in all those persons who were 
 best acquainted with the condition of the labouring classes 
 throughout the country — namely, the clergy, the dissenting minis- 
 try, the magistrates, the poor-law guardians, the registrars, and 
 lastly, the employers of labour. He proceeded to state at length 
 the relations between his proposed Government insurance office 
 and the larger and smaller insurance companies, as well as the 
 Friendly Societies. The principal assurance offices, he declared, 
 had nothing to fear from Government competition; as for the 
 minor ones, which resorted to every means of profit, and those 
 Friendly Societies which, like them, extorted insurance money 
 from the working classes by means of tricks and abuses of every 
 kind, by advertisements, touting agencies, 11 lapses,” etc., they 
 would undoubtedly suffer from such competition, the object of 
 which was to substitute for these unsound institutions — which 
 pocketed the working-man’s savings of many years, to destroy, 
 by their collapse, all the fruit of his laborious providence — a 
 secure system of Government insurance at least against death 
 and old age. 
 
 This scheme of Mr. Gladstone’s met, as we have said, with the 
 liveliest opposition, and the weak points in his arguments in 
 favour of the bill were effectively turned against him. He had, 
 for instance, failed, as we have seen, to direct his criticism in 
 
Government Working-Men's Insurance in England. 343 
 
 sufficiently clear terms against those societies only which were 
 the really bad ones, and were branches of the institution scarcely 
 capable of improvement, but had launched his invectives against 
 them all, and thus provoked the opposition of those societies 
 which could boast with justice of being sound and the legitimate 
 offspring of the working-men’s spirit of independence. In ad- 
 dition to this, his scheme aroused opposition in all those quarters 
 where State interference in matters of private enterprise is 
 always regarded with the utmost jealousy. The most strenuous 
 attacks came from those who insisted that the bill unfairly 
 crippled the business of the insurance companies. It was not 
 an annuity bill at all, they said, but a scheme that aimed at 
 nothing short of giving the State a monopoly of life insurance. 
 The Government, said the champions of the Friendly Societies, 
 sought to deprive those societies of the best and safest branch of 
 their business, — life insurance, — and leave them only sick insur- 
 ance, the most difficult and unsafe one. This was unfair competi- 
 tion, which would only do injury and not benefit any one, since 
 the State was wholly unable to protect itself against fraud, and 
 the Post Office was unfitted to conduct a business of this kind. 
 “ In fact, the Post-office Savings Banks were pure trust,” said 
 one speaker, “but the new insurance system would be pure trade.” 
 It was objected further to the bill, that it was calculated to sap 
 the spirit of self-reliance among the working classes, and that 
 these classes were the best judges of their own interests and, 
 therefore, looked with jealousy and apprehension on any State in- 
 terference. A few speakers only formed a calm and correct judg- 
 ment of the whole question. “ The debate,” said Mr. Newdegate, 
 “ might be a means of bringing about this result, that the great 
 mass of the contributors to those institutions might see that there 
 was great need of additional regulations in their internal manage- 
 ment, and that the Legislature should by law assure to them a 
 better security than that which they at present possessed. That, 
 he must confess, would be a result infinitely preferable to passing 
 the second reading of the bill.” Mr. Sotheron Estcourt, speaking 
 with the weight due to his practical experience of Friendly 
 Societies, predicted rightly that they had nothing to fear from the 
 bill with its purely permissive character. “ I do not believe,” he 
 
344 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 said, 11 that the working classes, scattered as they are over the 
 face of the country, will take advantage of the bill, if it should 
 become law. I do not believe that those classes enter into 
 Friendly Societies or clubs for the sake of the benefits of such 
 societies so much as for companionship.” 
 
 The bill came out of Committee in a materially altered shape. 
 It met now with no great opposition, the provisions most obnoxious 
 to the Friendly Societies having been expunged or modified, and 
 Mr. Gladstone himself receded from his earlier position, and con- 
 tented himself with the hope that the proceedings which had 
 taken place, and the bill as finally amended, would prepare the 
 way for satisfactory reform. 
 
 The most material provisions of the Act of 1864* are as 
 follows : The management of Government insurance was left to 
 the National Debt Commissioners through the medium of the 
 Post-office Savings Banks, which, during the three years of their 
 existence, had amply justified their establishment. It was hoped 
 to turn to good account in this manner the services of an institu- 
 tion which stood in close and active contact with the thrifty 
 portion of the population. The Act gave facilities for the pay- 
 ment of premiums, entrusted the framing of tables on certain 
 principles to the Treasury, with directions to calculate them at 
 the rate of £8 per cent, interest on the reserve fund, and enabled 
 an insurer, after five years’ payment of premiums, who wished to 
 surrender his policy or made default in payment, to receive at 
 his option either a sum of money, not being less than one-third 
 of the premiums paid, or a paid-up policy of assurance, or an im- 
 mediate or deferred life annuity equivalent in value to the sum 
 which would be paid in money. Certain maximum and minimum 
 limits of insurance were imposed, with a view to prevent over- 
 competition between the insurance companies which dealt with 
 large sums, and the Friendly Societies which insured for only 
 small ones. No annuity was to exceed £50; no sum of money 
 insurable on death was to exceed £100 or be less than £20, and 
 
 • 27 and 28 Viet., c. 43, entitled, “ An Act to grant additional facilities for 
 the purchase of small Government Annuities, and for assuring payments of 
 money on death.” 
 
Government Working-Metis Insurance in England. 345 
 
 no contract of insurance was to be entered into by or on bebalf 
 of any person under sixteen or over sixty years of age (sect. 5). 
 
 The organization created by the Act of 1864 came into working 
 in the following year, though not for some time to any great 
 extent. During the seventeen years ending with 1882, only 6,524 
 contracts for life assurance and 11,646 for annuities were made 
 through the medium of the Post-office Savings Banks, * and the 
 system, as appeared from these figures, had failed to take root, 
 and, as regards the great question of working-men’s insurance, 
 played a wholly subordinate part. Mr. Sotheron Estcourt’s pre- 
 diction had been justified. And yet the blame of this failure cer- 
 tainly did not lie only on the limited organization of the system. 
 Notwithstanding its purely permissive character and the disad- 
 vantages from which it laboured, the system would have gained 
 more ground among the working classes in England had it not 
 been for the energetic and successful efforts made during that 
 period by the Eriendly Societies, and particularly by the large 
 Orders, which so materially improved their position. The debates 
 in Parliament in 1864, however, undoubtedly did much to initiate 
 that movement of internal reform which we have described at 
 length in a previous chapter ; and in this respect an important 
 service was done indirectly, however small a one directly, by the 
 Act of 1864 to the cause of working-men’s insurance. 
 
 This great movement of reform is also the reason why the 
 Government Annuity system was allowed to remain in its imper- 
 fect shape until 1882. It was manifestly the impression pro- 
 duced in England by German efforts and legislation in favour of 
 compulsory insurance by the State which in 1882 revived the 
 question, and led to the appointment of a Select Committee of 
 the House of Commons to inquire into the causes why the Act of 
 1864 had remained as a whole inoperative. 
 
 These causes were explained very clearly by the Committee, 
 although they were able to show that the Post-office Savings 
 Banks offered lower premiums than most of the Eriendly Societies, 
 and that their tables were admirably constructed. But notwith- 
 
 * Report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons appointed to 
 inquire into the operation of the Acts 27 and 28 Viet., c. 43. 1882. 
 
346 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 standing these advantages, the Committee brought to light some 
 circumstances which accounted for the ill-success of the entire 
 scheme. In the first place, the minimum limits imposed on 
 Government insurance were a decisive bar to their ability to com- 
 pete. The minimum limit of £20 for life insurance (burial money) 
 was fixed far too high for the working classes, who need societies 
 in which they can insure a much smaller amount. An equally 
 fatal limitation was the exclusion by the Act of insurers under 
 sixteen years of age, the working classes in England being almost 
 universally accustomed to insure the lives of their children. It 
 was shown, further, that the number of post offices in which 
 insurances could be effected was too small, being only one-seventh 
 of all the post offices together. Moreover, certain complicated for- 
 malities had to be gone through to insure, which kept the work- 
 ing men away. The main reason alleged for failure, however, was 
 the total absence of personal motive and effort in Government 
 insurance offices. Both the private insurance companies and the 
 Friendly Societies enlist members, whether through agents in the 
 interests of pure business, or through “ brothers ” in the interests 
 of companionship. Against this influence the Post-office Savings 
 Banks have nothing to oppose, any more than they can compete 
 with Friendly Societies in the matter of social attractions. With 
 regard to this last defect, the Committee could propose no remedy 
 in the way of improving the existing system. They recommended, 
 however, that the number of Post-office Savings Banks should be 
 largely increased, and kept open later in the evening, and that 
 the maximum and minimum limits should be abolished or at least 
 materially modified, and the formalities required on insuring made 
 as simple as possible. A proposal to extend the action of the 
 Government to sick insurance was decisively rejected by the 
 Committee, who declared it to be simply impossible. 
 
 The bill which was introduced as a sequel to this inquiry, and 
 came to a second reading on the 25 th of July, 1882, embodied a por- 
 tion of the recommendations of the Committee.* The Government 
 failed, indeed, in the face of the opposition raised by the insurance 
 companies, to carry through their proposed raising of the maximum 
 
 * See Hansard, vol. cclxxiii. p. 872 sqq., and vol. cclxxvi. p. 1818 sqq. 
 
Government Working-Men's Insurance in England. 347 
 
 in the case of life insurance to £200 ; hut the Act * contained a 
 series of provisions enlarging the scope of Government insurance, 
 and attaching to it certain advantages with a view to securing 
 the extension of the system. 
 
 In the first place, the age at which annuities can be granted is 
 reduced to five years, and the minimum limit both for life assur- 
 ance and annuities is abolished. The Act contains also a provision 
 calculated to make Government insurance peculiarly attractive, 
 but very questionable from a strictly insurance point of view. 
 Section 6 of the Act enables life assurances to be effected for 
 sums not exceeding £25 without the requirement of any medical 
 examination or certificate, and to be forfeitable only when the 
 insurer dies within twelve months after entering into his con- 
 tract of assurance. The very proper objections that this provision 
 tended to encourage fraud, imposed a serious burden on the State, 
 and, on the other hand, was a hardship if death occurred unex- 
 pectedly within the period in question, were disregarded. The 
 Act contains, further, a series of facilities and advantages, in- 
 tended as special attractions on behalf of Government insurance, 
 such as those respecting the payment of premiums, the alteration 
 of the original contract, etc. It also enables an insurer to obtain, 
 after paying his premiums for two instead of five years, as in 
 the Act of 1864, the benefits guaranteed to him on the surrender 
 of his policy. 
 
 The penalties imposed by the Act of 1882, to protect the State 
 against fraud and imposition, are significant. Any person making 
 a false declaration on entering into a contract of assurance is liable 
 to forfeit the whole of his assurance money, and if he makes it 
 knowing it to be false, to twelve months’ imprisonment, with or 
 without hard labour. If any one receives any annuity after the 
 death of the person at whose death such annuity is to cease, or 
 any insurance payable at the death of a person before such death, 
 he is liable to pay double the amount received, and if the same is 
 done with intent to defraud, to twelve months’ imprisonment, with 
 or without hard labour. 
 
 * 45 and 46 Viet., cap. 51, entitled, “ An Act to extend the Acts relating to 
 the purchase of small' Governmeot Annuities, and to assuring payments of 
 money on death.” 
 
348 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 As regards the working of the Act of 1882, time is wanted to 
 decide. So far as can he judged from figures, not much more use 
 is made now than formerly of this system of Government insur- 
 ance. Some generally favourable evidence, it is true, was given 
 on this point by Mr. James C. Cardin, Assistant Receiver and 
 Accountant-General of the Post Office, before the Select Commit- 
 tee of the House of Commons on National Provident Insurance, 
 whose first report was published in 1885; but the statistics he 
 himself put before the Committee, showing the extent to which 
 Government insurance has been taken up by the public before 
 and after the Act of 1882, exhibit only a slight increase. * During 
 the five years preceding the Act of 1882, the average number of 
 contracts issued for annuities (immediate and deferred) was 942, 
 amounting altogether to £15,864. During the first twelve months 
 that the new system, dating from June, 1884, was in operation, 
 the corresponding averages were 1,101 and £20,140. The contracts 
 for life insurances, in the first case, were 225, amounting to 
 £20,439, and, in the second case, 526, amounting to £35,390. 
 While, therefore, the number of annuities showed scarcely any 
 increase, the increase in life assurances also is not an important 
 one. These figures show, further, to what a slight extent this 
 system of Government insurance has been made use of altogether, 
 and how unimportant are its results as compared with those 
 obtained by the Insurance Companies and Friendly Societies. 
 For this reason we believe that even if the advantages and facili- 
 ties offered by the Act of 1882 lead to an increased adoption of 
 the system, it will never become the general medium of working- 
 men’s insurances in England. Mr. Gladstone’s original idea was 
 only a half-measure, which was curtailed still more by the Act of 
 1864, and not cured of its defects in point of principle by the 
 Act of 1882. If the State takes its stand on the ground of purely 
 private contracts of insurance, and not on that of insurance based 
 on public law ; if it creates an institution of this kind on mere 
 permissive principles, and not on those of compulsion, its sphere 
 of action will always be cramped and confined. In England 
 
 * Keport of the Select Committee on National Provident Insurance, 1885, 
 Q. 1619 sqq and Appendix No. 1. 
 
Government Working-Men's Insurance in England 349 
 
 especially the State is not in a position to compete effectively 
 with energetic Insurance Companies or with the Friendly Societies, 
 pulsating with all the vigour of social life ; and still less can it 
 so compete when hampered by restrictions which handicap its 
 powers. This explains the failure of the Government annuity 
 system in England. The fact that the Act of 1882 met with far 
 less opposition from the Friendly Societies than the Act of 1864. 
 is in no way a sign that the idea of Government insurance had 
 gained ground in England ; on the contrary, since 1864 the 
 Friendly Societies have so increased in strength, and the large 
 orders, in particular, who have now taken incontestably the lead 
 in public life among all the institutions resting on the principle of 
 voluntary self-help, have acquired a position of such security, that 
 they have less to fear from Government competition than ever. 
 The Government annuity system may possibly, in its new shape 
 under the Act of 1882, obtain a wider field of action and solve the 
 vexed questions of annuity and life insurance for many classes of 
 the population in England, such as, in particular, the smaller 
 middle-class, domestic servants, shop-assistants, and so forth, but 
 as a comprehensive means of insurance for the working-men, it 
 will never, in its present shape, play any decisive part. 
 
 2. Schemes of Compulsory Working-men s Insurance. 
 
 We will now proceed to show in what direction and to what 
 extent the idea of compulsory insurance has been mooted in Eng- 
 land. We have already expressed, and must repeat our belief, that 
 there is no prospect of this idea being realised at present, since it 
 runs directly counter to the entire vigorous development of the 
 system of voluntary Friendly Societies, and is far too feeble at 
 present to overcome the national antipathy to compulsion. We 
 propose, however, to notice these schemes, as they have recently 
 come under consideration and been officially discussed. To 
 Germans it is interesting to observe how Bismarck’s vast design 
 of compulsory working-men’s insurance occupies the minds of Eng- 
 lishmen. For many years Germany stood to England, as regards 
 public affairs, in the relation of one who received. It speaks elo- 
 quently for the powerful development of public law and public 
 life in the new German Empire, that German influences are now 
 
350 
 
 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 beginning to affect in more than one direction the growth of public 
 opinion in England, and that German ideas gain respect among a 
 people formerly so exclusive as the English. Only a few years ago 
 the various schemes of compulsory insurance which were mooted 
 in England failed to meet with any serious attention ; but in 1885 
 we find a Select Committee of the House of Commons specially 
 engaged in considering the question of National Provident Insur- 
 ance, based on the principle of universal compulsion. This fact 
 clearly shows that the idea is at least examined into at the present 
 day, and for this, if for no other reason, we shall be justified in 
 turning our attention also to the movement. 
 
 The starting-point of this movement lies in the peculiar con- 
 stitution of the English Poor Law system, the historical develop- 
 ment and present form of which have recently been exhaustively 
 described by Dr. Aschrott.* He has shown how every person can 
 rely upon the Poor Law for protection against the worst con- 
 sequence of poverty, namely, starvation, but knows at the same 
 time that the relief will be granted only in anything but an 
 agreeable manner, f He points out very well how this very relief, 
 administered in scanty measure, serves to counteract the evil con- 
 sequences which would otherwise arise if a sense of dependence 
 upon the Poor Law were to supplant individual energy and fore- 
 thought. 
 
 Possibly Dr. Aschrott underrates the evil effects produced by 
 this system, and indeed still more by the administration of the Poor 
 Law in England, on the self-reliance and providence of the lower 
 classes. The English themselves, however, attach more serious 
 importance to them, and have always been anxious to mitigate 
 them. At any rate, it is a noble and manly feature in the English 
 character, and one which is very marked in the educated working- 
 man, to regard going into the workhouse as a disgrace, and to 
 consider it a reproach to the Poor Law system that it tends to 
 discourage independence and providence. 
 
 As a consequence of this, efforts have been made at all times 
 
 * “Das Englische Armenicesen in seiner historischen Entwicklung und in 
 seiner heutigen Gestalt by Dr. P. F. Aschrott. Leipsic, Drinker and Humblot 
 1886. 
 
 f Ibid., p. 383. 
 
Government Working-Men's Insurance in Engla?id. 351 
 
 in England to establish other institutions beside the Poor Law 
 system, with a view to limiting its bad effects. The Friendly 
 Societies also have been regarded as a possible means of pro- 
 viding against distress or destitution in a manner more consistent 
 with self-respect than was done by the workhouse. 
 
 William Pitt, in a speech made in Parliament on the 12 th of 
 February, 1796, thus accurately described this connection between 
 the Friendly Societies and the question of providing relief for the 
 poor : “ If such means could be practised as that of supplying the 
 necessities of those who required assistance by giving it in labour, 
 or affording employment, which is the principle of the Act of 
 Queen Elizabeth, the most important advantages would be gained. 
 They would thus benefit those to whom they afforded relief, not 
 only by the assistance bestowed, but by giving habits of industry 
 and frugality, and in furnishing a temporary bounty, enable them 
 to make permanent provision for themselves. By giving effect to 
 the operation of Friendly Societies, individuals would be rescued 
 from becoming a burden upon the public, and, if necessary, be 
 enabled to subsist upon a fund which their own industry contri- 
 buted to raise.” # The great statesman was right also on this 
 point. Many years, it is true, had to pass before his wishes were 
 realised, for it was the great expansion of manufacturing industry 
 during the present generation, and the introduction of the new 
 relations of labour which we have already described, that for the 
 first time put at least a large portion of the classes dependent on 
 manual labour in possession of those means, which they employed 
 partly to establish and perfect their Friendly Societies; and a 
 further change still in the relations of wages must take place 
 before the possibility of giving effect to Pitt’s words will be further 
 increased. 
 
 In proportion as the Friendly Societies grew in number and im- 
 portance, the more generally were they regarded as an effective 
 means of alleviating the pressure of the poor rates, and a moral 
 corrective of the Poor Law system, and as such were discussed 
 and dealt with in connection with the Poor Laws. 
 
 * Speeches of the Right Hon. William Pitt in the House of Commons. 
 London, 1806. Vol. ii. p. 871. 
 
352 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 The Fourth Report of the Commission of 1871 devoted a chapter 
 to the subject of this connection, to a few points of view in -which 
 we will refer, not only as helping to explain the attempts made 
 in England to secure compulsory insurance, but on account of their 
 general importance.* 
 
 The preamble of 33 Greo. III., c. 54 (1793), recites that this, the 
 first Act for the encouragement of Friendly Societies, was passed 
 “ in order to promote the happiness of individuals, and at the same 
 time to diminish the public burthens.’ 7 It has been frequently 
 alleged that no less a sum than £2,000,000 is annually saved to 
 the ratepayers by the operation of Friendly Societies. The other 
 view, that the Poor Laws have interfered with the extension of 
 these societies, has long since been entertained and publicly ex- 
 pressed. It has been stated that the minimum of subsistence now 
 afforded, but afforded in a more tolerable form than before, by 
 the improved administration of the Poor Laws at the present day, 
 has hindered the lower grades of labourers from joining Friendly 
 Societies, a feeling tersely expressed by a witness before the Com- 
 mission, who remarked that “ the Poor Law is the best benefit 
 club, because everything is taken out, and nothing paid in.” The 
 chief complaints, however, were directed against the administration 
 of the Poor Laws in the case of members of Friendly Societies 
 who apply for relief, as exhibiting irregularities of practice, vary- 
 ing principles of treatment in respect of applicants, and often gross 
 contradictions. Some boards of guardians, it was stated, never 
 recognised in granting relief the weekly income received by the 
 applicant from a club ; others only did so to half the amount of 
 the sick pay ; others treated the whole sum as means of subsist- 
 ence, like any other kind of property, and diminished the relief 
 given accordingly. In some unions medical relief only was granted 
 to members of Friendly Societies ; in others, the sick pay was 
 regarded as specially intended for the benefit of the head of the 
 family, and the ordinary amount of parish relief was given to the 
 wife and children. The Commissioners in their Report rightly 
 endeavour to check these irregularities of practice by maintaining 
 
 * Fourth Report, chapter vi. : “ On the Connection between the Poor Law 
 and Friendly Societies,” p. clxxxix sqq. 
 
Government Working- Merits Insurance in England. 353 
 
 that tho Poor Law system must not he so mixed up with that of 
 Friendly Societies as to treat poor relief as merely subsidiary to 
 the insurance benefits paid by these societies and the Poor Law 
 system as an institution intended to supplement the action of in- 
 dependent self-support in this respect. “We may remark,” they 
 say, “ that, on the one hand, the best managed Friendly Societies 
 object most strongly to any connection with Poor Law adminis- 
 tration ; and, on the other, that it would be difficult to conceive a 
 system more dangerously adapted to pauperise the flower of the 
 working classes by stamping their very efforts at independence 
 with the mark of the Poor Law.” They state, however, elsewhere, 
 that a large number of the lower classes were only too disposed to 
 throw themselves upon the poor rate, and that although a portion, 
 of the labouring class strove hard to maintain a dignified indepen- 
 dence, another portion became reckless and improvident, having 
 always the workhouse to look to as a sure refuge in old age.* So 
 
 * Among the witnesses examined by the Committee on National Provident 
 Insurance was a cab-driver, Charles Symes, who was known to have taken part 
 in discussions at meetings on the scheme of general compulsory insurance. 
 Among other questions, he was asked his opinion whether, as things are, the 
 prospect of becoming a pauper is regarded with indifference by a large number 
 in the poorer classes ? His answer shows, by the very contradictions it contains, 
 how those classes oscillate between dread of the workhouse and a resigned self- 
 abandonment to a pauper’s fate. “Yes,” was his reply, “there is a great 
 indifference in the minds of large numbers of the poorer classes about becoming 
 paupers. I have long maintained that the Poor Law system of this country 
 does holdout a certain amount of inducement for people to become paupers _ 
 It is only the wretchedness of the pauper’s existence after he has become a 
 pauper that deters a great number from taking the advantage which the Poor 
 Law offers. I do know about that from my experience. My personal experience 
 of a pauper’s life commenced just fifty-seven years ago. ' When I was three years 
 old I was put into a workhouse, and I remained there until I was thirteen or four- 
 teen years of age. That was some few years before the union took place, and 
 at that time there were nothing but old men, old women, and young children 
 in the ouse. A young man, a strong and able-bodied man, was not known ; a 
 married man in the house, able to work, was not known then ; but when the 
 union took place, I am sorry to say that the character of the house was altogether 
 changed, and from my experience of a pauper’s life, all the boys that were in 
 that house then, and the young girls that were in that house then, if it were 
 positively declared to them that they would become paupers when they were 
 sixty years of age, would say : “ I hope some means will be adopted whereby 
 
 I shall be prevented from having to endure this life again when I become sixty.” 
 
 A A 
 
354 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 long, of course, as the Friendly Societies are financially unable to 
 count with certainty on meeting their obligations — and voluntary 
 associations so variously constituted as the Friendly Societies will 
 never be fully able to do so — this connection between them and 
 the Poor Law must necessarily to some extent continue to exist. 
 hi 1882 a return was issued, on the motion of Lord Lymington, 
 showing the number of pauper inmates of workhouses who had 
 formerly been members of Friendly Societies. This return showed 
 a total of 11,804 adult male paupers in all the unions in England 
 who had belonged to Friendly Societies, of whom 3,913 had been 
 in societies that had broken, a figure corresponding, absolutely 
 speaking, with that which Mr. Tidd Pratt in his time had estimated 
 -for the year 1867, though relatively a less favourable sign of the 
 stability of these societies than in the former year, considering 
 the extraordinary increase since then in the total number of their 
 members. Nevertheless, it is exactly the best Friendly Societies, 
 and, above all, the large Orders, who keep these facts most steadily 
 
 I speak from my experience again of a pauper’s life in later life, not ranging 
 •within twenty-eight years, because during that time I have not had any ex- 
 perience of a pauper’s life, but just before that. I have had to endure a pauper’s 
 life in four workhouses, brought about through being subject to what is termed 
 rheumatic fever. Hospitals did not care about taking me in, and I had to resort 
 to the infirmary in connection with the poor-house. . . . I am convinced 
 
 that there were a large number of men in the workhouses then that would have 
 gladly availed themselves of the opportu.' . . _ __nng out if they had had 
 means, such as 4s. or 5s. a week would afford them ; and I know now that a 
 large number of men would gladly step out if they could only be sure that they 
 would get lodgings. They can pick up bits of bread and bits of clothes, but 
 cannot pick up their lodging ; and I maintain that the Government allowances 
 which this national scheme proposes as the sum which the Government would 
 be called upon to afford, would be sufficient to afford men lodgings ; and under 
 that state of things the men would not apply to become inmates of workhouses, 
 and have a pauper’s life. I might further mention what it is that keeps a great 
 number of our men out of the poor-houses now. They ought to be in the poor- 
 house ; their condition is of such nature that they really would be much better 
 off in the poor-house ; but they say : ‘ If I were to go into the house, I could 
 not come out again ; I should have nothing but a pauper’s clothes to come out 
 in again, and I should not like to appear in the public streets, or so to visit my 
 daughter or son, or at my brother’s house with a pauper’s clothes on ; they 
 would not like me to come to visit them with a pauper’s clothes on, and there- 
 fore I should be compelled to stop in ; and therefore under that state of things 
 I prefer to stop out now that I am out, and as long as I can only keep where I 
 
Government Working-Men's Insurance in England. 355 
 
 in view. They are doing their best to keep the working classes 
 from the workhouse and out-door relief, and to make a different 
 and more dignified provision for them against sickness, disable- 
 ment, and old age, by perfecting their system of insurance. All 
 their publications, all occasional notices of their proceedings re- 
 peatedly express the idea of making the Friendly Societies the 
 basis of relief for the working classes, and emancipating them 
 from the prospect of a fate considered, in the eyes of all English- 
 men, a personal degradation, — dependence on the Poor Law. 
 
 The combination of these two circumstances — on the one hand 
 the strong abhorrence of pauperization, and on the other the in- 
 ability of the Friendly Societies at present to protect their mem- 
 bers against it — explains the origin of those schemes which have 
 been recently propounded, and of which we propose to give a brief 
 account. 
 
 First and foremost comes the Eev. William Lewery Blackley, 
 vicar of King’s Sombome, in Hampshire, and an honorary canon 
 of Winchester, with his scheme of national compulsory insurance. 
 
 can move about, I will not go in.’ I think that that is a terrible state of things 
 for a country like this. The Government boast that they provide the Poor Law ; 
 but the treatment that men receive there is such that others have an abhorrence 
 to it after having heard what is going on in the workhouses. It is just like 
 putting the food in the cupboard, and locking the cupboard door. I am quite 
 convinced that the Poor Law system does not induce people to become thrifty. 
 It deters some from becoming paupers, and compels some, no doubt, to make 
 provision for themselves ; but it holds out no inducements to thrift, rather the 
 reverse. Many men say, ‘ I shall spend all my earnings ; I care not what be- 
 comes of my earnings, because I know that when it comes to the worst, I can 
 go into the house, and nothing can keep me out.’ That is the reason why you 
 see such sights as you do in all our rural localities. Men are spending their 
 money in carelessness, because they know that when it comes to the worst they 
 can go into the house. It would be a good thing if some means were adopted 
 whereby it would be made almost punishable on their part if they made appli- 
 cations for relief after they arrive at a certain age. I am terribly at a loss to 
 know what scheme could be brought about that would necessarily prevent any 
 one from becoming a pauper, because I know very well that there is a large 
 number of people who belong to the class called the lame, the halt, and the 
 blind : from their childhood up they are like that, and they cannot labour ; and 
 I do not know whether any scheme that the Government could adopt would 
 afford these men sufficient remuneration or means of living without becoming 
 inmates of the pauper house.” 
 
356 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 He has expounded this scheme, together with his general views as 
 to the progress of the working classes, in a pamphlet entitled “Thrift 
 and Independence.” * He begins by affirming that thrift and provi- 
 dence are a personal, social, and national duty which has hitherto 
 been neglected in England, and that notwithstanding all Savings 
 Banks, Penny Banks, and Friendly Societies, no sufficient means 
 have yet been offered to the people for the practical exercise of 
 these qualities. He finds fault in particular with the Friendly 
 Societies, as offering no certain means of provision in consequence 
 of their imperfect constitution, their want of proper principles, and 
 the ignorance displayed in their management. He points among 
 others to the agricultural labourers, who are too helpless to establish 
 safe societies of their own, and at the same time cannot afford to 
 pay the high subscriptions demanded • by the large Orders. He 
 considers the Poor Law not only an injustice to the ratepayers, as 
 making the burden of maintaining the unthrifty and idle fall on 
 the thrifty and industrious, but also a hardship to the pauper, who 
 looks on the workhouse as a pandemonium. Thrift and indepen- 
 dence must, therefore, be taught from early youth, and this can 
 only be done by compulsory organization. 
 
 Mr. Blackley has laboured hard for years on the platform and in 
 the press, to promulgate, explain, and justify his scheme of 
 national insurance. Heady in discussion, and enthusiastic with 
 his pen, he has gradually gained a hearing, and even if nothing 
 comes of all his proposals, he cannot justly be denied a share in 
 the progress made by the working classes in their perception of 
 the close connection between thrift and independence, any more 
 than the merit of having caused the question of working-men’s 
 insurance to be regarded from a new point of view, and made the 
 subject of public interest and discussion. 
 
 * “ Thrift and Independence : A Word for Working Men.” By the Rev. W. 
 L. Blackley. London, 1884. He has explained his scheme also in a number of 
 articles, and in a very detailed manner before the Committee of the House of 
 Commons on National Provident Insurance, 1885. The most remarkable of his 
 articles on the subject are those on “ National Insurance,” in the Nineteenth 
 Century for November, 1878 ; and on “ Compulsory Providence,” in the Con- 
 temporary Review for July, 1879. The large Orders, in their quarterly journals 
 and otherwise, are Mr. Blackley’s unflagging opponents. 
 
Government Working-Mens Insurance in England. 357 
 
 What then is the scheme which he puts forward under the title 
 of National Insurance? Mr. Blackley proposes that every indi- 
 vidual in the nation, rich or poor, man or woman, shall be liable 
 by law, after reaching the age of 18 years, to contribute, either in 
 one sum or by instalments, £10, or thereabouts, to a National Sick 
 and Pension Benefit Society, which would secure, he contends, to 
 him or her, when prevented by sickness from earning his or her 
 usual wages, a sum of 8 s. a week until 70 years of age, and after 
 70 years of age a pension for life, in lieu of sick pay, of 4*. a week. 
 He proposes that this fund should be paid into and distributed 
 by the Post Office under proper certification, thus giving to every 
 contributor the advantage of claiming his sick-pay or pension at 
 whatever spot in the United Kingdom might be most convenient 
 to himself, and that the money should be invested under the 
 authority of a board elected, if desired, by the contributors them- 
 selves, but restricted in their power of investment by special 
 Parliamentary directions. 
 
 Mr. Blackley considers that his proposed pension would be a 
 great boon to the working classes, and therefore includes it in his 
 scheme of compulsory providence, on the ground that no adequate 
 provision is made for this branch of working men’s insurance by 
 the voluntary institutions. He would take in the whole nation, 
 because by doing so the payments of the poorer classes would be 
 reduced ; while on the other hand nobody could tell whether he 
 would not come some day into the category of wage-earners, and 
 thus the scheme would provide a real insurance for the upper 
 classes also. As to fraud, malingering, and simulation, he thinks 
 there would be an effective safeguard in the fact that the general 
 public would have an interest in counteracting such practices and 
 insisting on the strict management of the insurance, and he fails to 
 see any reason why more personation and fraud should take place 
 under a system of State insurance than in any society or club. 
 He considers his institution absolutely secure, for he assumes that 
 if a deficit were to occur, it could be made good by raising the 
 £10 to £10 5 s. or £10 15.?. He does not believe that his scheme 
 would supersede or injure the good Friendly Societies, especially 
 the large Orders, to whom he does full justice ; on the contrary, he 
 points out how the effect of his scheme would be to kill the bad 
 
353 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 Friendly Societies and get rid of them with all their evils. In this 
 respect he has especially in mind the agricultural population, to 
 whom the good societies are less accessible, and whom he would 
 wish to preserve from being victimized by the bad ones. Ulti- 
 mately he hopes that his system of national insurance will super- 
 sede that of the Poor Laws, and thus help to raise the moral 
 character of the nation. 
 
 As regards the carrying out of his scheme, Mr. Blackley pro- 
 poses that the £10 should be collected by the employer, deducting 
 it in small instalments from the wages earned by the working 
 men between 18 and 21 in his employ, and that in the case of 
 people with means it should be collected by the usual method 
 of the tax-gatherer. Mr. Blackley does not require any State 
 guarantee, since he believes that any deficiency may be made 
 good without pressing hard on the individual, by simply raising 
 the £10 ; but he requires that the State, through the agency of 
 the Post Office, should have the entire management of compulsory 
 insurance. 
 
 Another system of National Insurance has been advocated by 
 the Rev. John Young Stratton. He desires the establishment of 
 a voluntary self-supporting institution, under the supervision and 
 management of the Government.* Like Mr. Blackley, he would 
 work his National Friendly Society through the Post Office, 
 and hopes that the security thus offered by the Government 
 would induce the majority of working men voluntarily to join it. 
 He also defends his proposals by pointing particularly to the 
 agricultural labourers, who get but little benefit from the 
 existing system of friendly societies, and that in a very unsafe 
 manner. 
 
 Only a few years ago, these and such-like proposals would have 
 scarcely gained a hearing, much less an examination. It is the 
 lively movement now going on in all grades of society in England 
 
 * He gave evidence before the Committee on National Provident Insurance in 
 1885, and has also explained his views in various writings, amongst others in 
 his “ Method of Improving the Labouring Classes by Altering the Conditions of 
 Poor Relief, and Providing them with a System of Insurance through the Post 
 Office ” (London, 1872), and “ Friendly Societies, State Action, and Poor Law ” 
 (London, 1882). 
 
Government Working-Men s Insurance in England. 359 
 
 for the elevation of the working classes and the general improve- 
 ment of their condition, and also, we repeat it, the influence 
 exercised by the measures introduced in Germany in the sense ol 
 compulsory insurance for working men, which have brought this 
 question into general discussion in England. A National Provi- 
 dence League has been formed for the promotion of national com- 
 pulsory insurance against destitution arising from sickness, in- 
 firmity, and old age, which advocates these ideas, in the manner 
 characteristic of Englishmen, by holding meetings, publishing 
 pamphlets, and so forth. This league includes men of all political 
 opinions, and the late Earl of Shaftesbury was one of their presi- 
 dents. A quarterly publication, The National Providence Reporter r 
 helps to promote the same cause. 
 
 In this way the advocates of a scheme of compulsory insurance 
 succeeded in 1885 in obtaining the appointment of a Select Com- 
 mittee of the House of Commons, for the purpose of inquiring 
 officially, for the first time in England, into “ the best system of 
 national provident insurance against pauperism.” The leading 
 witnesses in favour of universal insurance were Canon Blackley 
 and the Rev. Mr. Stratton; while among others who gave evi- 
 dence in favour of the free Societies were Mr. Reuben Watson, the 
 Actuary of the Manchester Unity, Mr. Thomas Balan Stead, the 
 High Chief Ranger of the Order of Foresters, and Mr. Shawcross, 
 the Secretary of that Order. The evidence given by Mr. Ludlow,, 
 the Chief Registrar, and Mr. William Sutton, the Actuary of the 
 Friendly Societies Registry Office, is especially valuable* The 
 examination of Dr. Aschrott, of Berlin, formed an interesting 
 episode in the proceedings. He endeavoured to explain to the 
 Committee the German system of State insurance against sick- 
 ness and accident. 
 
 The general result of the inquiry was to show that the advocates 
 of compulsory insurance for working men were few in number. 
 The most determined opposition came from the large working- 
 men’s Orders, who regarded the idea as chimerical and unworthy 
 of notice. Less stiffly hostile were the country clubs, not yet 
 affiliated with the large Orders. We shall give the best idea of 
 the different views advanced on the subject of national insurance, 
 by endeavouring to state the various objections raised against the 
 
3&o English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 scheme of Canon Blackley, into the examination of which, as the 
 report says, the inquiry practically narrowed itself. 
 
 Canon Blackley’s proposal to insure the wage-earning classes by 
 means of contributions levied from all subjects of the State was 
 met on all sides with the objection that it was wholly unfair to 
 limit the benefits of insurance to the wage earner, and that if 
 framed upon a national basis, they must be extended to all alike, 
 without distinction. On the other hand, it was urged with justice 
 that, inasmuch as the scheme would materially diminish the poor- 
 rates, the burden of which at present was borne exclusively by 
 persons of means, all that this system of insurance would mean, 
 was a partial though most important transfer of this burden to the 
 needy themselves, since every one alike would have to pay his 
 quota of £10. 
 
 Mr. Ludlow described the scheme as an addition to the Poor 
 Law, a very heavy addition out of taxation to the poor rate for 
 the administration on a large scale of out-door relief in the case of 
 sickness and old age. It sought, moreover, to lay a burden upon 
 a class of persons who were totally devoid of civic rights ; the 
 poll tax was to be paid by minors, who had no voice in the State. 
 If ever there was taxation without representation, this was a case. 
 It would be a hard matter for these men, on entering life, to pay 
 the £10, and they were weighted at the outset.* 
 
 The gravest objection to his scheme, however, is the impossi- 
 bility of checking fraud and simulation. Canon Blackley has 
 faith in the effectiveness of a control which would result, in his 
 opinion, from the fact that every one would be interested as a con- 
 tributor in the proper management of the whole institution. To 
 this, however, a witness replied that what is everybody’s business 
 is nobody’s business ; that nobody had any interest in protecting 
 a fund any deficiency in which would have to be covered by the 
 next generation ; that it was as much already as the Friendly 
 Societies could do to protect themselves, even in their small 
 bodies, against simulation ; that, on this account alone, a sick 
 insurance managed by the Post Office would be an utter impossi- 
 bility ; and that, lastly, the question of identity would present 
 
 * Questions 1423, 1549* 
 
Government Working-Men' s Insurance in England. 361 
 
 un surmountable difficulties in receiving and paying out the 
 money. 
 
 To these objections in point of principle were added a number 
 of others dealing with particular points in the execution of the 
 scheme. Competent authorities assured the Committee that the 
 Post Office was utterly unable to act as the medium for general 
 compulsory insurance without a disproportionate increase of its 
 staff, which, however, would so increase the cost of the whole 
 undertaking as to vitiate altogether Canon Blackley’s computa- 
 tions. All the spontaneous, voluntary, and gratuitous work done 
 by the organs of the Friendly Societies, would have to be per- 
 formed by well-paid officials. Attention was drawn to the con- 
 tradiction involved in the fact, that those who disliked work, and 
 would never voluntarily agree to the payment of the £10, would 
 have to be kept in the union to work out the sum, and thus the 
 workhouse, from which this scheme was to deliver the labouring 
 classes, would necessarily appear a more odious institution than 
 ever. It was further shown that it was impossible to limit the 
 number of persons insured with any proper reference to temporary 
 employment and want; that the Government had no means of 
 compelling those persons to pay the £10 who were neither taxed 
 nor belonged to the working classes, and whose subscriptions, 
 therefore, could neither be levied by additional taxation, nor by 
 deductions from their wages. 
 
 We cannot here go further into the details of the question, we 
 will only add that Mr. Sutton, in some notes printed in the 
 Appendix to the First Report of the Committee, criticises the 
 actuarial basis of Canon Blackley’s scheme, and demonstrates 
 clearly, in our opinion, its impracticable nature. 
 
 The only important matter left to notice is the attitude of the 
 Friendly Societies with regard to this scheme, and the judgment 
 pronounced upon it by the Chief Registrar, Mr. Ludlow. Canon 
 Blackley’s own idea is to work hand in hand with the large good 
 Friendly Societies, especially the affiliated Orders, regarding, as he 
 does, his system as a kind of minimum of insurance, and hoping 
 and anticipating that the working men will resort for other branches 
 of insurance to sound Friendly Societies. To this it is objected 
 that his system would deprive these societies of their best mem- 
 
362 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 bers, namely, young persons between 18 and 21, who would have 
 to pay their £10 for national insurance just at this age, and would 
 scarcely be able, therefore, to contribute the necessary amount to 
 a voluntary Friendly Society as well. The Foresters, for example, 
 can point to 60,000 juvenile members under 16 years of age, many 
 of whom — there were 5,000 in 1884 — enter the lodges afterwards 
 as ordinary members ; an addition to the funds of the Order which 
 a system of national insurance would at least interfere with if not 
 seriously endanger. 
 
 We have endeavoured, in describing the Friendly Societies in 
 England, to show the close connection in various ways between 
 the system of working-men’s insurance and the national character, 
 and its progressive improvement, because we recognise in working- 
 men’s insurance one of the most important means of at least par- 
 tially liberating the working-man from anxiety as to his material 
 future, and thereby raising his courage and enabling him to labour, 
 like other classes of society, methodically and with a prospect of 
 success, at his own intellectual and moral improvement, without 
 having to fear that all his exertions may be rendered vain by 
 some untoward accident, and he himself thrown back into his 
 former miserable condition. The great aim of working-men’s 
 insurance must, therefore, be to afford to the working classes, 
 towards the pursuit of an object in life, some part at least of that 
 comparative security which is enjoyed by other classes of the 
 community. But to attain this aim, the working classes them- 
 selves must also put forth their own strength, since State institu- 
 tions alone can never accomplish it ; and the effect, therefore, 
 produced by these institutions on the self-supporting efforts and 
 providence of the working-men is a question of the utmost im- 
 portance. We have already referred to the compulsory system of 
 insurance in Germany and Austria, introduced with the view of 
 preparing the way for a settlement of the question, and certainly — 
 assuming that the new laws are administered conscientiously, con- 
 sistently and wisely — a good piece of work has been done socially. 
 No one, however, can foretell at present what influence these insti- 
 tutions, even framed as they are, in the spirit of prudent tutelage- 
 will have in the long ran on the independence and self-reliance of 
 the working classes. From the standpoint of English history and 
 
Government Working-Men s hisurance in England. 363 
 
 of English character, so far as history has developed it, a very 
 decided answer is given to this question, and was repeatedly 
 given to the committee. It was objected to Canon Blackley’s 
 scheme that u it would be sapping the independence of men gen- 
 erally ” ; * that the spirit of brotherhood, which was so active in 
 the Friendly Societies, and contributed so much to their prosperity, 
 would be lost, and that the educational element, which played 
 such an important part in these societies, and so enhanced their 
 value as means of furthering the progress of the working classes, 
 would cease to operate at all in the case of a State institution. 
 
 The connection of all these matters with the general conviction 
 that undeniably prevails among English working-men, with regard 
 to insurance, is very evident. The English working-man, by his 
 sense of independence, his spirit of clanship, so to speak, and 
 his growing intelligence, and by the ability afforded him, under 
 a free government, of turning these qualities to account, has 
 gained for himself by his own exertions a better position and 
 higher wages, wdiich are gradually enabling him to pay for his 
 insurance himself, and for that purpose to keep the management 
 of his insurance in his own hand. It is natural, therefore, that 
 these strong and independent societies should not listen to any 
 notion of compulsory insurance by the State ; while, on the other 
 hand, those weaker elements of the working class, which we have 
 never omitted to take into account in judging the Friendly Society 
 system as a whole, have not so flatly rejected the scheme. Never- 
 theless, while they express themselves in favour of carrying out 
 the scheme in one shape or another, they have no immediate pros- 
 pect of seeing their views carried out. The contrary opinion 
 decidedly prevails, as is shown by the evidence given before the 
 committee by Mr. Reuben Watson, the Actuary of the Manchester 
 Unity. u Perhaps the worst effect,” he says, “ of the proposed 
 national insurance system would be the creation, in another form, 
 of some of the evils which it seeks to exterminate. There are 
 multitudes of high-minded, intelligent working-men, who pride 
 themselves on the honour of maintaining their individual in- 
 dependence. Sucb men would see in the proposed system of 
 
 Question 724. 
 
364 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 national compulsory insurance, an attempt to assist them in pro- 
 viding their sickness and annuity benefits by compulsory enforce- 
 ment of contributions from the wealthy and well-to-do classes ; 
 and, as these would never themselves require the benefits insured, 
 it would be looked upon as a system of enforced pauperism, and 
 could not therefore be received with favour by such persons. 
 Almost one-half of the contributors must be independent of the 
 benefits stated; for otherwise these could not be provided for 
 £ 10 .” * 
 
 No one, however, has shown how closely the question before us 
 is connected with the whole progress of education among the 
 working classes more clearly and convincingly than the Chief 
 Registrar, Mr. Ludlow, in his evidence before the Committee. “ It 
 is perfectly clear to me,” he says, “ whatever Canon Blackley’s 
 friendliness to Friendly Societies may be, that this scheme must 
 cut at the very roots of Friendly Societies’ insurance, for the 
 simple reason that the young men of 18 to 21 are the very 
 best paying class of members to Friendly Societies ; and certainly 
 those who now join Friendly Societies would not do so if they 
 had to pay £10 during those three years. That simple fact quite 
 explains the opposition of Friendly Societies to it. But I think 
 that, supposing the scheme were carried out in its entirety, it 
 would be the most dangerous thing to the real interests of this 
 country that could be imagined. I am convinced that it could 
 not be carried out without ruining existing Friendly Societies, 
 and I think that that would be one of the most fatal steps that 
 could possibly be taken. I believe that our almost total exemp- 
 tion, with the exception of a few large towns, from the social 
 democracy or the anarchic socialism of the Continent turns en- 
 tirely upon this : that our working-men have been allowed, and 
 have been accustomed, to manage their own affairs in those matters 
 that most closely concern them, in their Trade Societies and their 
 Friendly Societies ; and if you dispense them from that, the 
 active-minded amongst them will turn to other matters, and will 
 go entirely into politics ; and, whilst those -who have been trained 
 in the present system will carry into politics all the good sense 
 
 Question 886. 
 
Government Working-Mens Insurance in England . 365 
 
 that our own working-men do carry there at present, those who 
 would be trained under a State insurance system would become 
 as visionary and as mischievous as the like class on the Continent, 
 where either State provision is made for these purposes, or where, 
 as in France, Friendly Societies are hampered in a number of 
 ways which they could not bear in this country. I cannot con- 
 ceive, I say once more, of anything more fatal to this country than 
 to take out of the hands of the working classes the management 
 of their own affairs in these matters of sickness and labour in- 
 surance. I may say, once more, that I think the Friendly Societies 
 are developing very rapidly, and it is possible that they might 
 develop more rapidly under better conditions ; and that certain 
 alterations might be made in the law ; and I should be very sorry 
 indeed for anything which turned the voluntary associative thrift 
 of this country into a mere system of compulsory providence.” * 
 
 At present, as we have seen, there is no prospect of this. At 
 the same time we are far from saying that the Englishman may 
 not learn some wholesome lessons for the improvement of his 
 own institutions, by comparing those on the Continent. He has, 
 indeed, every reason for doing so, as we have observed when con- 
 sidering the law of Friendly Societies. The further reform of 
 this law, and the development of a rational system of State 
 supervision, are matters yet to be accomplished by him, and a 
 comparison of the institutions of other countries can but aid him 
 in the task. 
 
 The notion of a voluntary system of insurance under State 
 management met with far less opposition before the Committee. 
 It was looked upon as settled, it is true, that there could be no 
 question of sick insurance being conducted by the Post Office or 
 by any other Government department; but it is very character- 
 istic that Mr. Ludlow himself was in favour of making death and 
 even burial insurance a matter of State control.f The question of 
 compulsion by the societies was also discussed, but it was evident 
 from what was said by the spokesmen of the great Friendly 
 Societies that they had not yet made up their minds on this point. 
 It is opposed to the social spirit of the Friendly Societies, the 
 
 Question 1,458. 
 
 f Question 1,415. 
 
3 66 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 best of* which insist on regard being paid to the personal character 
 and respectability of candidates for admission. We do not 
 believe that the English Eriendly Societies will be inclined, nor 
 do we think they would do wisely, to abandon this principle in 
 favour of compulsion, which, although it would bring them many 
 new members, would also bring them many doubtful and un- 
 desirable ones, who might prove extremely dangerous to their 
 social spirit. 
 
 To sum up our opinion as to all these efforts, it is impossible, 
 we think, that institutions which owe their origin to entirely 
 different principles, should be grafted on each other, since in all 
 human institutions the good is closely blended with the bad. 
 What the spirit of Englishmen has done in their working-men’s 
 associations, it has done by the spontaneous, independent develop- 
 ment of its own strength ; if any attempt is made to remedy the 
 defects of this development by crippling it by means of compul- 
 sory institutions, the defects would probably not be removed, and 
 the power of development would certainly be paralysed. Thus 
 the course to be pursued in future by working-men’s insur- 
 ance in England seems to be marked out by certain special 
 conditions, the practical application of which may indeed be 
 modified by some necessary correctives, but which will not 
 admit of these institutions being led into an entirely different 
 path. 
 
 Note. — When I wrote the above chapter, only the first of the Reports (1885) 
 from the Select Committee on National Provident Insurance had appeared. 
 Since then two more have been published (1886 and 1887), by which the parlia- 
 mentary investigations on this subject have been concluded. I find no occa- 
 sion to change the judgment I have given. According to my opinion, the Com- 
 mission has, in its final reports, decided rightly. I have already declared that 
 the sick and accident insurance, according to Canon Blackley’s scheme, would be 
 an impossibility. It would undoubtedly be desirable that young people should 
 be taught economy and a knowledge of insurance in the schools. The necessary 
 development of the Act of 1875 is to render more strict the conditions under 
 which the Friendly Society will be registered, as well as to extend the official 
 powers of the Chief Registrar. A system of compulsory insurance for the 
 officers of the Crown is likewise a question under discussion. Lastly, it is very 
 important that in England people should also be convinced that the super- 
 annuation question cannot be solved by the Friendly Society alone. We add 
 here the “ Conclusions,” as they were adopted by the Committee : — 
 
Government Working-Men's Insurance in England. 367 
 
 “ Conclusions. 
 
 “ 27. The actuarial and administrative difficulties in the way of universal 
 insurance against sickness and accident are sufficient to prevent your Committee 
 from recommending the adoption of a compulsory scheme of that nature ; but 
 they desire to urge on the Legislature the duty of encouraging and regulating 
 the efforts of those, whether Friendly Societies or private employers of labour, 
 who are at present endeavouring to facilitate provident insurance by working- 
 men ; and, further, of watching with a careful eye the development of compul- 
 sory industrial assurance in Germany, and of special inquiry from time to time 
 into the success of its administration, and its effect on the working classes in 
 that country. 
 
 “ 28. Your Committee are of opinion that it is highly desirable that the 
 Legislature, which has made education compulsory, should cause instruction in 
 sound principles of thrift and insurance to form part of that education. An 
 elementary text book in the principles of provident insurance, such as is recom- 
 mended in Mr. H. S. Tremenheere’s Paper (Appendix 1 [1887] , Section 10), 
 might, in Mr. Sutton’s opinion, be comprised in a few pages, and if introduced 
 by the Education Department into the routine of elementary schools, prove of 
 infinite advantage to the whole mass of the population, and ultimately, by the 
 diffusion of knowledge, sap the evils of improvidence and imprudent investment 
 to which so many miseries have been ascribed in the evidence before your Com- 
 mittee. 
 
 “ 29. The present system of registration of Friendly Societies cannot be 
 considered satisfactory. Societies are allowed to register without any require- 
 ment on the part of the Registrar that their scales of contribution are adequate 
 for the benefits promised. Your Committee would suggest that, when the 
 actuarial tables which are being prepared in the Registrar’s office are complete, 
 a minimum contribution for a given benefit should be fixed when the constitu- 
 tion of the society will admit of this, and no society in future should be 
 registered with less than that minimum ; and that it be provided by the rules, 
 that the contribution be raised or the benefit reduced after valuation, if neces- 
 sary, on pain of suspension of registry. Your Committee are aware that such 
 a plan would be accompanied with considerable difficulties, but they believe 
 these difficulties could be surmounted. 
 
 “ Were this plan carried out, and greater powers given to the office of the 
 Registrar of Friendly Societies than it at present possesses in connection with 
 the registration of societies’ rules, and with a view to the securing an efficient 
 audit, the proper investment of funds, and the protection of benefit funds from 
 any inroads upon them for management expenses, it is believed that registration 
 would be of far greater value to the members of these societies than under the 
 present arrangements. It is desirable also that the facilities for the prosecution 
 by a public authority of societies or officials, especially when fraudulent prac- 
 tices have taken place, should be enlarged. Your Committee think that the 
 appointment of a Select Committee to inquire into the working of the Friendly 
 Societies’ Acts might lead to very useful results. 
 
 “ 30. Your Committee are of opinion that all persons hereafter appointed to 
 
368 
 
 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 the service of the Crown, whether civil or military, whose service at present 
 counts towards pension, should contribute towards that pension by a per- 
 centage deducted from salaries or pay. The steady aud rapid growth of the 
 pension list points to a proximate revision of the entire policy df burdening 
 the public with the provision of pensions ; the enterprise of private individuals 
 and firms (such as has been witnessed to by Sir Edward Walter and Mr. Aird) 
 indicate the advantage of compulsory self-help (which it might be proper to 
 supplement with State-help) ; and your Committee recommend that not only 
 in service, counting under the present system towards pension, but also in the 
 police and other unpensioned branches of the public service, contribution to a 
 pension fund should be made obligatory. But in order to obviate the hardship 
 inseparable from loss of contribution upon death or leaving the service, the 
 insurer in the latter case, his representatives in the former, should be entitled 
 to receive his total contribution with interest. 
 
 “ 31. The financial objections to be urged against Canon Blackley's proposals 
 for national insurance do not press with such force against the deferred annuity 
 part as against the sick-pay part of his scheme. As regards the principle of 
 compulsion, there would possibly be quite as strong objections raised in this 
 case as in the case of sick pay. But, bearing in mind that deferred annuities 
 can be purchased early in life for comparatively small amounts, it would appear 
 to be eminently desirable to give every reasonable opportunity and encourage- 
 ment to young persons to purchase those annuities ; thus, at all events, securing 
 to them provision for their wants when past the age for labour. It was pointed 
 out in evidence (1,840, 1,847, [1885]), that the present Government system of 
 deferred annuities is capable of very considerable improvement, and in this 
 direction the Committee are of opinion that much good might be done. 
 
 “ 32. Another great objection from which this part of the proposal is entirely 
 free is that of interference or competition with any existing organization what- 
 ever. No voluntary organization, even if providing the method, can attract 
 the membership to such a fund. 
 
 “ Thus, although the Manchester Unity possesses calculated rates of pay- 
 ment, and actually has established a paid-up superannuation, one of its 
 directors, Mr. Holmes, stated (767 [1885] , that two years after its establishment 
 only four members out of 600,000 had joined it. 
 
 “ The provision of a pension, superannuation, or annuity, was most strongly 
 urged by several witnesses, and. in fact, apart from general objections to com- 
 pulsion, which were little pressed throughout, the objections brought against 
 Canon Blackley’s proposals were exclusively directed against the sick-pay 
 portion of the scheme, and not at all against the provision of pensions. 
 
 “ 33. Your Committee are, however, disposed to wait for the further develop- 
 ment of public opinion, which they believe would ensue upon the carrying out 
 of the recommendations contained in paragraphs 27, 28, and 20, before advising 
 the adoption of a general obligatory system of superannuated pay. 
 
 “Your Committee, although unable to recommend the adoption of Canon 
 Blackley’s scheme, feel that they cannot conclude their Keport without record- 
 ing their sense of the disinterested patience and energy with which he has 
 
Government Working-Men's Insurance in England \ 369 
 
 laboured to remove the causes which tend to drive the poor into the workhouse. 
 He has brought to light an immense deal of information on a subject which 
 lies at the root of the happiness and welfare of large masses of the population, 
 information which cannot fail to prove useful in any future legislation which 
 may be undertaken ; and his proposals, though in the opinion of your Com- 
 mittee they appear objectionable in some respects, and impracticable in others, 
 contain more valuable suggestions, and seem to be based on more extended 
 knowledge, than any of the other schemes which have been brought under their 
 attention.” 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Two Great Orders. 
 
 Pre-eminence of the Manchester Unity and Foresters. — Their growth in Num- 
 bers and Capital. — Distribution of Districts and Lodges. — Financial Statis- 
 tics. — Admission of new Lodges. — Suspension and Expulsion of Members. 
 — “ Clearances.” — Education Value of the Organization. — The Districts. — 
 General Meeting of Delegates.— Executive Council. — Secretary. — Sick In- 
 surance. — Burial Allowances. — Classification of Sick Benefits and Premiums. 
 Widow and Orphan Insurance. — Relief to distressed Members.— “ Travel- 
 ling cards.” — Funds administered by the Central Body. — Assistance to 
 distressed Lodges. — Superannuation Insurance. — Social importance of the 
 Orders. 
 
 Hitherto we have discussed the origin and various forms of the 
 English Eriendly Societies and the great movement of internal 
 reform. We have considered, further, the attitude of the State 
 and legislation in relation to the question of working-men’s insur- 
 ance in England, and particularly the influence exercised by legis- 
 lative measures on the development of the Eriendly Societies. In 
 adding to our general observations two studies of detail, namely, an 
 inquiry into the two great Orders, which forms the subject of this 
 chapter, and also into the system of accident insurance adopted 
 by the miners, which will form the subject of the next one, we 
 do so in the belief that, having placed before our readers all the 
 leading conditions which are guiding the development of the 
 Eriendly Society system as a whole, we shall best enable this 
 institution to be fully understood by considering, in their growth, 
 connection, and results, the administrative organism and actuarial 
 principles of some great associations, which represent the most 
 modern forms of the system of English working-men’s insurance.* 
 
 * See “The Friendly Society Movement; its origin, rise, and growth; its 
 social, moral, and educational influences,” by the Rev. John Frome Wilkinson. 
 London : Longmans, Green & Co., 1886. Mr. Francis G. P. Neison has 
 
 370 
 
The Two Great Orders. 
 
 371 
 
 The two great working-men’s Orders, to which we have already- 
 had frequent occasion to refer, namely, the Manchester Unity and 
 the Foresters, are extremely important in several respects. The 
 great Orders, in general, are those associations in which the vari- 
 ous purposes of insurance are provided for in the most rational 
 way, and in which the system of working-men’s insurance is being 
 more and more concentrated ; they are gradually absorbing the 
 hitherto isolated societies ; they are the literary leaders of the 
 whole movement of reform, and their widely ramifying connection 
 with public affairs also, and especially with Parliament, makes 
 them the foremost representatives of all the independent Friendly 
 Societies. Of all these Orders, the Manchester Unity and the 
 Foresters are, both numerically and financially, by far the most 
 important, and on all the points we have mentioned they take the 
 undisputed lead. 
 
 We propose, therefore, to consider first the growth, extension 
 present position, and financial operations of these two Orders, with 
 a view of passing on then to examine their internal management, 
 and seeing how far they fulfil their purposes of insurance. 
 
 written two small works on the Manchester Unity and the Foresters which are 
 full of valuable information, viz. : “ The Manchester Unity of Oddfellows,” 
 second edition, London, 1871, and “ Some Statistics of the Affiliated Orders of 
 Friendly Societies (Oddfellows and Foresters),” printed in the Journal of the 
 Statistical Society, March, 1877, and also published as a separate book. Lon- 
 don, 1877 : Harrison & Sons. 
 
 We have also consulted the official publications of the two great Orders. 
 First there are the “ Buies of the Independent Order of Oddfellows, Manchester 
 Unity, Friendly Society,” 1884, Manchester (published and sold by the Grand 
 Master and Board of Directors at their offices, Grosvenor Street, Chorlton-upon- 
 Medlock), consisting of no less than 88 elaborate articles ; and the “ General 
 Laws of the Ancient Order of Foresters Friendly Society, as amended at the 
 H. C. M. 1884,” Leeds, 1884, containing 116 articles. Besides these, there are 
 the quarterly reports prepared and published by the central bodies of each 
 Order from the materials furnished by the reports of the various lodges with 
 regard to their financial condition, number of members, and other objects of 
 importance ; as well as the compiled statements of the financial returns, which 
 are annually submitted to the general assembly of delegates, and contain, in 
 addition to the actual figures, interesting comparisons with previous years. 
 Lastly, we have before us the model rules and a number of rules and balance- 
 sheets of various lodges and districts. A valuable supplement to these materials 
 is supplied by the essays in the periodicals published by the Order. 
 
372 English Associations 'of Working Men. 
 
 In point of figures both of these Orders present at present an im- 
 posing appearance. At the close of 1884 the Foresters had a total 
 of 623,288 members and funds of £3,584,105, out of which 584,600, 
 members, representing £3,223,276 capital, belonged to the United 
 Kingdom alone. The Manchester Unity, at the same period, had 
 593,850 members, and no less than £6,034,587 funds, including, for 
 the United Kingdom alone, 531,576 members, and funds amounting 
 to £4,817,678. Each of these two Orders had over 4,000 lodges 
 (called 11 Courts ” in the Foresters), the majority of which are 
 registered. It is interesting to survey the origin and growth of 
 these Orders, and the fluctuations they have each experienced. It 
 gives us an idea how, along with the expansion of English manu- 
 factures, and the increase of the manufacturing population, the 
 latter have combined to form powerful associations, to fight with 
 their united forces for the improvement of their material position. 
 We have quoted figures in our introduction to show the progress 
 of English industries; we will quote now, as a corollary, some 
 figures which will show the progress of these Orders. 
 
 Let us take first the Manchester Unity. This Order originated 
 in 1812, and in 1822 was constituted under its present title in 
 Manchester, with a strong leaning to the usages and tendencies 
 of Freemasonry. One of their first honorary members was Henry 
 (afterwards Lord) Brougham. From the North of England the 
 Order gradually extended over the whole island, as well as to 
 Ireland and foreign countries. In 1832 it numbered 31,042 mem- 
 bers, in 561 lodges and 82 districts. After that the number 
 rapidly increased. In 1857 there were 229,049 members ; in 1865, 
 353,556 ; in 1870, 442,575 ; in 1883, 593,850 : and at present there 
 are more than 600,000. We are aware that in earlier days this 
 -growth was anything but peaceful and steady, but that the very 
 movement of reform and the sacrifices it imposed on the lodges 
 and individual members, led to numerous secessions. The exten- 
 sion, therefore, of this, as of all the other Orders was subject more 
 or less to occasional fluctuations. Since 1848 the annual number 
 of new members has varied from 4 to 9 per cent., the losses by 
 death from 1 to 1*3, and of withdrawals from 3 to 5*50.* These 
 
 Neison : “ Some Statistics,” etc., p. 49. 
 
The Tzvo Great Orders. 
 
 373 
 
 withdrawals were either those of entire lodges or of individual 
 members from the lodges. To a certain extent such fluctuations 
 will occur in all voluntary societies, and the value of consolidation 
 consists in this, that the coming and going of members from one 
 lodge to another is made as constant a quantity as is possible. 
 Looking back over several years, we see that the secessions from 
 the Manchester Unity have been significantly numerous. Thus, 
 between 1848 and 1875 the Order lost no less than 1,215 lodges, 
 either by dissolution, suspension, expulsion from the Order, or 
 withdrawal.* As regards the extension of this Order, its strongest 
 position, relatively speaking, is in the South of England. In 1876 
 it numbered in the southern counties 136,000 members, in the 
 midland counties 110,000, and in the manufacturing north 166,000, 
 and in the Conservative south was growing more vigorously than 
 in the north. 
 
 In the colonies the Manchester Unity obtained a footing long 
 ago. In Australia it has existed since 1840 ; on the Australian 
 Continent it numbered 15,887 members in 1864, and 44,295 in 
 1884, and in New Zealand 2,006 and 9,091 members in the cor- 
 responding years.f 
 
 The growth and extension of the Foresters’ Order has been still- 
 more rapid. This Order contained, in 1832, more than 10,000 mem- 
 bers in 358 lodges, and has now between 600,000 and 700,000. 
 The following table shows the rate of increase during 40 years.^ 
 
 * Ibid., p. 58. 
 
 f See Appendix C. 
 
 X It is taken from the Directory published by the central body of the Order. 
 
 Tear. 
 
 Members. 
 
 Districts. 
 
 Courts. 
 
 Average 
 Members 
 per Court. 
 
 1845 
 
 65,921 
 
 146 
 
 1456 
 
 45 
 
 1850 
 
 80,089 
 
 165 
 
 1553 
 
 52 
 
 1855 
 
 105,753 
 
 164 
 
 1725 
 
 61 
 
 1860 
 
 168,576 
 
 181 
 
 2239 
 
 75 
 
 1865 
 
 301,077 
 
 225 
 
 3493 
 
 86 
 
 1870 
 
 376,663 
 
 249 
 
 3931 
 
 96 
 
 1875 
 
 491,196 
 
 275 
 
 4323 
 
 114 
 
 1880 
 
 555,062 
 
 298 
 
 4585 
 
 121 
 
 1884 
 
 633,288 
 
 296 
 
 4866 
 
 130 
 
 1886 
 
 667,570 
 
 295 
 
 5007 
 
 133 
 
374 English A.ssociations of Working Men. 
 
 These figures show that the total number of members has in- 
 creased tenfold during the last forty years, and we have therefore 
 every reason to assume that the extension of this Order not merely 
 keeps pace with the extension of commerce and the increase of 
 the working classes, but far surpasses their development, and has 
 gained important ground. It is true that this is not altogether 
 new ground, the Order having gradually absorbed a number of 
 societies which formerly were independent ; but nevertheless it 
 cannot be doubted that this Order, and with it the other, has suc- 
 ceeded in establishing a rational system of insurance for different- 
 grades of the working-classes which forty years ago either knew 
 nothing at all about Friendly Societies or were forced to be con- 
 tent with the most insecure public-house clubs. 
 
 The number of districts and courts belonging to the Foresters 
 has not increased, however, at the same rate as that of members, 
 the districts having only doubled and the courts more than trebled 
 during this period. There is a steady increase in the average 
 number of members in each court, and consequently a steady im- 
 provement in the actuarial basis of the various societies, whose 
 vitality depends not only on their being supported for certain 
 purposes of insurance by the districts, but also obtaining for the 
 sick insurance business, which they exclusively conduct, a field of 
 operation which, if limited in extent, is nevertheless sufficient to 
 furnish them with average experiences. 
 
 The following table shows the distribution of members in 1884 : 
 
 In England .... 
 
 504,451 members, 210 districts, 3,616 lodges. 
 
 „ Scotland .... 
 
 36.419 
 
 20 „ 
 
 194 „ 
 
 „ Ireland 
 
 2,186 
 
 2 „ 
 
 31 „ 
 
 „ Wales 
 
 29,398 
 
 25 „ 
 
 285 „ 
 
 „ the Colonies . . . 
 
 37,326 
 
 24 
 
 426 „ 
 
 Abroad (chiefly in the 
 United States) . . . 
 
 22,508 
 
 15 „ 
 
 314 „ 
 
 Let us glance now at the financial operations of these two great 
 Orders. 
 
 The following statement will show the financial operations of 
 these two great Orders in the United Kingdom for 1884 : 
 
The Two Great Orders. 
 
 375 
 
 Orders. 
 
 Number 
 
 of 
 
 Members. 
 
 Total 
 
 of 
 
 Capital. 
 
 Yearly 
 
 Income. 
 
 Annual Expenditure in 
 
 Sick Fund. 
 
 Burial 
 
 Fund. 
 
 Foresters . . . 
 
 Manchester Unity 
 
 584,600 
 
 531,576 
 
 £ 
 
 3,223,276 
 
 5,519,000 
 
 £ 
 
 641,444 
 
 843,595 
 
 £ 
 
 395,070 
 
 467,867 
 
 £ 
 
 96,940 
 
 117,847 
 
 The above figures * speak most plainly for the importance of 
 these two great Orders. We will quote again from Mr. Wilkin- 
 son the statements of receipts and expenditure for the ten years 
 1873-1888, which will show even more clearly the work which 
 these Orders have done. 
 
 The income of the Manchester Unity during this period was as 
 follows : — 
 
 Subscriptions from members, £5,438,000 1 
 Interest on capital . . . £1,670,000 ) ^ * 
 
 The expenditure amounted to — 
 
 Sick money ...... £3,838,000 j ^ qqq 
 
 Burial money £1,075,000 ) ’ * 
 
 The capital in 1873 amounted to £3,412,000, being more than 
 £7 per head, and in 1883 to £5,519,000, or £9 10s. per head. 
 
 The income of the Foresters during these ten years was as 
 follows : — 
 
 Subscriptions from members, £4,678,000 1 
 Interest on capital . . . £686,000 ) 
 
 The expenditure amounted to — 
 
 Sick money £3,193,000 1 
 
 Burial money £851,000 1 
 
 £5,364,000. 
 
 £4,044,000. 
 
 The capital in 1873 amounted to £1,673,000, or about £4 per 
 head ; and in 1883 to £3,584,000, or about £6 per head. 
 
 From these figures it is evident that the Manchester Unity is 
 financially in a better position than the Foresters ; the reasons 
 very likely being that the former began to reform its tables of 
 premiums at an earlier period ; that in Mr. Batcliffe they possessed 
 
 Wilkinson, p. 116. 
 
376 
 
 E?iglisk Associations of Working Men . 
 
 a servant whose aid was invaluable in this matter, and that they 
 were able to raise their subscriptions, since their members be- 
 longed not only to the flower of the working classes, but also 
 to the smaller middle class. It would be unfair, however, not to 
 recognise that the Foresters have made great efforts during the 
 last twenty years to strengthen their financial basis.* 
 
 The machinery of management and the actuarial system of the 
 two great Orders are substantially the same. 
 
 The broad basis of the whole organization is formed by the 
 lodges, some of which have been founded in connection with the 
 Order, and others have been received into it, having previously 
 been isolated Friendly Societies. The foundation or admission of 
 a lodge takes place on a “ dispensation ” being given by the Board 
 of Directors. By this the lodge is made subject to the general 
 rules of the Order ; it undertakes the obligation imposed by the 
 Act of 1875, of being registered within twelve months, and is 
 bound to submit to the decrees of the Annual Moveable Commit- 
 tee and the decisions of the Board of Directors. Both Orders have 
 compiled model rules, intended to facilitate the constitution of 
 new lodges, and to bring their rules gradually into general accord. 
 With regard to the relations of the lodges to the Order, we must 
 repeat what we have stated before, that the lodges are societies 
 independent of each other. Their connection with the Orders was 
 
 * The following table is compile! from the Foresters’ Financial Returns for 
 Great Britain and Ireland : — 
 
 1 
 
 Income. 
 
 Expenditure. 
 
 Funds. 
 
 j 
 
 1 
 
 Year. 
 
 Contribu- 
 tions from 
 Benefit 
 Members for 
 Sick and 
 Funeral 
 Allowance. 
 
 Interest. 
 
 Entrance 
 
 Fees. 
 
 Sick Al- 
 lowances. 
 
 Funeral 
 
 Allow- 
 
 ances. 
 
 Court Sick 
 and Burial 
 Funds. 
 
 ■ 
 
 Districts 
 Burial 1 
 Funds. 
 
 ] 
 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 1865 
 
 244,195 
 
 20,536 
 
 13,924 
 
 153,540 
 
 50,836 
 
 723,869 
 
 75,732 i 
 
 1870 
 
 332,047 
 
 34,767 
 
 13,284 
 
 220,724 
 
 77,784 
 
 1,166,877 
 
 129, 56C 
 
 1875 
 
 427,110 
 
 52,676 
 
 14,918 
 
 282,165 
 
 83,111 
 
 1,695,962 
 
 184,825 
 
 1880 
 
 477,568 
 
 74,517 
 
 9,560 
 
 341,015 
 
 86,073 
 
 2,254,980 
 
 248,489 
 
 1883 
 
 523,276 
 
 87,444 
 
 8,175 
 
 382,507 
 
 94,722 
 
 2,607,330 
 
 293,565 
 
 1886 
 
 569,436 
 
 101,751 
 
 6,628 
 
 452.505 
 
 i 
 
 104,425 
 
 I 
 
 2,955,167 
 
 349,916 
 
The Tivo Great Orders . 
 
 377 
 
 formerly but a loose one, but latterly they have been striving to 
 make it closer and more binding ; and their efforts in this direc- 
 tion, notwithstanding all complaints of 11 centralization,” continue 
 to make steady progress, owing to the urgent demand for the 
 concentration of once scattered forces made by actuarial reform. 
 Their powers of self-government, however, are still very exten- 
 sive, and the central authorities of the Order are neither able nor 
 willing to enforce the compulsory provisions of the general rules 
 against negligent or refractory lodges, never resorting, unless 
 absolutely compelled, to suspension or expulsion from the Order. 
 Every lodge elects its own officers, its committee of management, 
 and its trustees; is bound, as regards its new members, by the 
 official tables of premiums authorised by the Order, and defrays 
 the costs of management by a rate ; these costs, as well as those 
 of all the various branches of insurance, having to be stated in 
 strictly separate accounts, none of which is allowed to supply any 
 deficit in another. 
 
 The enforcement of all these requirements by the central 
 government of the Order is limited by a due regard to the spirit 
 of independence so strongly stamped on the individual lodges. 
 The same remark applies to the rules respecting the admission of 
 new members to the lodges, a matter depending on age (the limits 
 being 18 and 40), as well as good character, and a medical certifi- 
 cate of health. On the latter point, however, many lodges are 
 lax. 
 
 The rules as to the suspension or expulsion of members from 
 the lodges are important. The commonest reason is non-payment 
 of the contributions. On this subject, the rules of the great 
 Orders, as well as those of most Friendly Societies, contain pro- 
 visions intended to prevent a member’s temporary inability to 
 pay from causing his immediate expulsion, and the consequent 
 forfeiture of all the benefits to which he has entitled himself by 
 a membership of perhaps many years. The lodges of the Man- 
 chester Unity and Foresters provide that a member for his first 
 default of subscriptions shall pay a fine, and for his second default 
 be suspended for twelve months, during which time he shall 
 receive no benefits, but that he can regain all his rights on paying 
 up all arrears. His expulsion from the lodge, involving the for- 
 
37S English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 feiture of all his claims to benefits, does not take place until a 
 year and a quarter after bis arrears commenced. 
 
 Expulsion from the Order follows if a member has been con- 
 victed of certain criminal offences in a court of law, or on an 
 award of the Arbitration Committee, finding that he has been 
 guilty of u any disgraceful conduct or offence calculated to bring 
 disgrace upon the Order.” 
 
 Erom a social and political point of view, great importance 
 attaches to the means adopted by the Orders for promoting the 
 free movement of their members. It is a result, as Carl Marx 
 has rightly observed, of the increased division of labour and the 
 fluctuations in production, that workmen skilled in only one 
 branch of trade fall into circumstances into which they find them- 
 selves without occupation and without the means of removing to 
 another place of residence, and thus “ fall victims to the im- 
 mobility caused by the division of labour.” We shall find this 
 matter taken up by the Trades-unions, but we must remark here 
 that it has not escaped the notice of the large Orders, though as 
 yet they have only begun to settle it. Among other means of 
 dealing with it is the system of what are known as 11 clearances ” 
 and “ travelling-licenses.” The object of a clearance is to enable 
 a member residing at a distance from his lodge to transfer his 
 membership to another lodge. Clearances can only be granted 
 by the Board of Directors, and according to the circumstances of 
 the case ; any lodge to which a member desires to remove may 
 refuse to receive him; no clearance can be granted to any one 
 over 40 years of age, and the member, previous to admittance, 
 must be re-examined by a doctor — all restrictions which have 
 hitherto prevented the arrangement from being acted on to that 
 extent which the interests of working-men’s migration demand. 
 The Manchester Unity has, during the last few years, granted 
 annually between 600 and 1,000 clearances, and the Foresters 
 somewhat over 1,000,* certainly small figures compared with the 
 large aggregate of members. The want, which would demand 
 a complete carrying out of this management, is partly met by the 
 
 * Neison, “ Some Statistics,” p. 78. In 1886 the Courts of Foresters granted 
 in the whole 1,143 clearances, and 677 licenses to members in search of em- 
 ployment. 
 
The Two Great Orders. 
 
 379 
 
 fact that one lodge serves as a place of payment for another, 
 so that, if a member changes his place of residence to another, 
 where there happens to be a lodge, he can pay into it his contri- 
 butions, and receive from it his benefits, both being placed to 
 the account of the lodge to which he belongs. 
 
 Official life in the lodges forms a particularly valuable school 
 for practical discussion, and for a business-like treatment of often 
 difficult questions. The members of the lodges are bound, under 
 penalties, to undertake official duties ; the officers are renewed 
 every year, with the exception of the secretary, who forms, in 
 every lodge, the permanent element of administration. 
 
 The meetings of the lodges of the great Orders, like those of 
 most of the [Friendly Societies, were formerly occasions of much 
 drinking. Both the Manchester Unity and the Foresters have set 
 a good example in putting down also this abuse. They have 
 removed, with their lodges, from the public-house to other places 
 of meeting, and have often built or hired rooms of their own for 
 the purpose. Many of their lodges have lately identified them- 
 selves with the temperance movement. The Foresters, in 1880, 
 had 678 Temperance Courts, containing 112,049 members, most of 
 them total abstainers, at whose meetings all spirituous liquors were 
 forbidden. In 1884, the number of these lodges increased to 
 801, with 138,812 members, being nearly one-fourth of the whole 
 Order. It is interesting to notice — and the fact speaks more 
 eloquently than all reflections on this movement — that, since 1880, 
 the funds of the temperance courts have increased by 37 per cent., 
 as against 16 per cent, in the case of the other courts, while the 
 corresponding increase in the number of members has been 21 as 
 against 13 per cent.* 
 
 We come now to the districts of the great Orders. These 
 associations are links between the central body of the Order and 
 the various lodges. No lodge is compelled to join a district branch, 
 and there are a number of lodges in both Orders which have 
 remained independent, preferring to be subject directly to the 
 central body. The advantages, however, of these intermediate 
 branches are so great, and they afford to the lodges such valuable 
 
 * The Foresters ’ Miscellany and Quarterly Review , No. cxi., vol. xiv., p. 417. 
 
3 So 
 
 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 financial support, that no doubt in time there will b& only a few 
 isolated lodges, remaining outside the districts. 
 
 Every lodge sends a delegate to the quarterly district meetings, 
 which elect the district officers. The district has special rules, 
 which must conform, however, with the general rules of the 
 Order. 
 
 The district, as the link between the central body and the 
 lodges, serves as an intermediate court of appeal, and as a super- 
 vising authority over the lodges. 
 
 The lodges are bound to send in yearly balance sheets and 
 reports, as well to the district as to the central body, and the 
 districts have the special duty of satisfying themselves from their 
 perusal that the lodges have complied with the rules of the 
 district and the general rules of the Order. The district com- 
 mittee has accordingly the right of superintending the manage- 
 ment of the various lodges, examining their accounts and books, 
 and directing such arrangements and improvements to be made 
 as may be deemed necessary. The rules of the Manchester Unity 
 provide that the district committee shall elect annually one or 
 more competent members to examine the lodge books in the 
 district, and that the books of every lodge in the district shall 
 be examined at least once in two years. If the accounts, as 
 stated by the lodges, are found to be incorrect, the district can 
 direct that a proper audit shall be conducted at the expense 
 of the lodge, and the books taken away for that purpose. The 
 district can expel any lodges not complying with their rules, 
 reserving the mode of procedure to the decision of the central 
 body, founded on information given by the district. The district 
 itself can be suspended for disobeying the central body, and 
 eventually expelled from the Order, as has actually been done in 
 some cases by the two great Orders. 
 
 At the head of the whole organization, comprising all the 
 districts and lodges, stands the central management of the Order. 
 This consists, first, of an Annual General Assembly of Delegates 
 (called in the Manchester Unity, the “Annual Moveable Com- 
 mittee,” and in the Foresters, the “ High Court ”), which forms 
 the supreme legislative body, the parliament of the Order; 
 secondly, of an Executive Committee (called in the Manchester 
 
The Two Great Orders . 
 
 38i 
 
 Unity, the “Board of Directors,” and in the Foresters, the 
 “Executive Council”), under the presidency respectively of the 
 Grand Master and the High Chief Hanger ; and, lastly, of the 
 standing Secretary, called respectively the “ Corresponding Secre- 
 tary” and the “Permanent Secretary,” who is the soul of the 
 entire management. 
 
 The General Assembly of Delegates of the Manchester Unity 
 is held annually on Whit-Monday, and that of the Foresters on 
 the first Monday in August. It generally lasts a week, is opened 
 with Divine service and a sermon suited to the occasion, and 
 affords, during the course of its proceedings, by means of common 
 excursions, social meetings, festive processions, and so forth, not 
 only recreation from business, but also various opportunities for 
 the interchange of ideas and experiences between members from 
 all parts of the United Kingdom, and sometimes even from foreign 
 lodges. The business conducted at these general meetings relates 
 to alterations in the rules of the Order, and scarcely a meeting 
 passes without some amendment being made. Again, there are 
 the resolutions to be considered which have been submitted by 
 the Executive Council, as well as proposals made by the districts 
 or individual delegates ; and further, the business of the Execu- 
 tive Council and the general condition of the Order, the invest- 
 ment of funds, the requirements and observance of the Friendly 
 Societies’ Act of 1875, the accounts of the various lodges, and 
 so forth. Of late years the question of superannuation has 
 excited the liveliest interest at the general meetings of both the 
 great Orders. The proceedings also regularly include the vote 
 of a charitable contribution to the hospital of the town where 
 the meeting is held. They conclude with the election of the 
 Grand Master, the Executive Council, and the appointment of 
 auditors and arbitrators for the coming year. 
 
 The Executive Committee holds a meeting every week, at which 
 the permanent Secretary reports, and the Council decides. Very 
 much depends on the secretary, as we have more than once had 
 occasion to observe. The Foresters regard with great esteem 
 and gratitude their Secretary, Mr. Samuel Shawcross, who has 
 laboured untiringly at his duties for more than forty years, and 
 conducted the most extensive statistical inquiries, and whose 
 
382 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 quiet, constant, and devoted labours have been invaluable for the 
 progress of the Order. The Manchester Unity is similarly in- 
 debted to the services of its Corresponding Secretary, Mr. 
 Thomas Collins. 
 
 The most important duty of the Executive Committee is the 
 superintendence of the management of the districts and lodges. It 
 is authorised and bound to examine the books and accounts, 
 to protect the minority in the lodges, and to watch over the ob- 
 servance of the rules of the Order. The annual reports, which 
 all the lodges are required to furnish, enable it to obtain a com- 
 plete view of their condition. From these reports is compiled 
 a general directory, containing not only statistical information, 
 but also the addresses of all the lodges, districts, and officers. 
 Every annual report must be accompanied by a valuation of the 
 property of the lodge, and from the many thousand documents 
 thus furnished, the Secretary prepares his Compiled Statement of 
 the financial returns, which supplies an excellent summary on all 
 material points. The Executive Committee also arranges the 
 general meetings of delegates, and appoints the order of business, 
 for no subject can then be discussed unless the Executive Council 
 has been previously acquainted with it. 
 
 We proceed to ask how has this machinery of government ful- 
 filled the purposes of working-men’s insurance ? This question has 
 been substantially answered in the foregoing chapters. We have 
 seen the efforts made by the great Orders for the furtherance of 
 actuarial science, and the success those efforts have achieved; we 
 have seen how the various purposes of insurance are more and more 
 differentiating, and being distributed among larger or smaller 
 societies ; and we have seen, lastly, how the financial condition 
 of the Orders has improved, and thus the whole institution acquired 
 more stability and social importance. It remains to complete this 
 picture, and, in order to do so, it will be necessary to repeat some 
 observations already made. 
 
 Sick insurance is conducted exclusively by the lodges. It has 
 been attempted, indeed, to extend sick risks to the districts by 
 means of equalisation, and the attempt in some cases has not been 
 unsuccessful ; but the general fact remains, that the close and 
 personal control demanded by this branch of insurance must con- 
 
The Two Great Orders. 
 
 383 
 
 tinue to restrict it to the small social societies. As regards the 
 extent of sick benefits, their amount varies in the large Orders from 
 65 . to 14s, a week. The Orders have prepared tables of correspond- 
 ing premiums, with the view of enabling their members to select 
 from them according to their wishes and means, and, comformably 
 with the practice of many other Friendly Societies, they have 
 adopted the principle of reduced benefits for a prolonged duration 
 of sickness or of the consequences of an accident. For a certain 
 time — varying from six to twelve months — the member receives 
 the full amount, for a subsequent period two-thirds or one-half, 
 and after that, irrespective of time, and therefore in the case also 
 of chronic illness or of permanent disablement caused by a serious 
 accident, often one-half, but usually one-quarter. This graduation, 
 indeed, is frequently objected to, on the ground that it is exactly 
 a long illness which completely exhausts the means of the working- 
 man’s family, and that it is an anomaly and hardship, therefore, 
 to reduce his benefit in proportion as his need increases. It must 
 not be overlooked, however, that this assessment of sick benefits 
 includes, to some extent, a provision against permanent infirmity, 
 and that the benefits could only be maintained at their full original 
 amount by increasing the premiums, a thing as yet impracticable. 
 And lastly, sick insurance includes also accident insurance, though 
 many lodges of the Manchester Unity and the Foresters now re- 
 quire higher premiums from persons who are exposed to extra- 
 ordinary risks.* 
 
 * On this point Mr. Keuben Watson, the actuary to the Manchester Unity, 
 gave the following evidence in 1885 before the Select Committee on National 
 Provident Insurance ; — 
 
 “ Q. 956. Upon the whole, is the scale of payments now adopted by the 
 Manchester Unity a safe one ? — Yes, perfectly safe, so far as they apply to or- 
 dinary occupations ; but in the Manchester Unity, as in other societies, it has 
 been the practice in mining districts, and in districts where people are engaged 
 in quarries and very heavy labour, and so on, to only pay by the same tables. 
 The Board of Directors of the Manchester Unity are now endeavouring to remedy 
 that by supplying tables adapted to the experience of these more hazardous 
 occupations ; but you know that when they try to say, * You must pay more 
 money,’ the difficulty is tremendous. 
 
 “ Q. 957. Therefore a new branch established in a mining district would 
 have a higher scale of payments to make than in an agricultural district ? — 
 Yes.” 
 
384 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 The management of sick insurance in the lodges is as follows : 
 The official entrusted with the control of the sick fund performs 
 his duty usually for a nominal remuneration (in the Foresters’ 
 Courts it is only threepence a week). Within two days after re- 
 ceiving notice of a case of sickness he is required to visit the 
 member in question, and so long as the sickness continues — except 
 in infectious cases — to satisfy himself personally once a week as 
 to the patient’s condition, to consult, if necessary, the doctor, and 
 to report all cases and their progress at the meetings of the lodge. 
 Every lodge appoints one or more medical officers, who receive a 
 fee for attendance, and, as the case may be, for medicine or medical 
 appliances, calculated generally by the number of ordinary mem- 
 bers of the lodge ; for instance, in one of the Foresters’ Courts at 
 Manchester it is 2s. 8cZ. annually per head. These medical officers 
 are bound to attend the patients, as the nature of the case demands, 
 either in hospital or at their own houses, and to certify to the 
 secretary when the patient does not require, in their opinion, any 
 further treatment and support, after which the matter is decided 
 at the next meeting of the lodge. 
 
 The insurance of burial money, or of a sum payable at death, so 
 far as it falls under the purview of Friendly Societies under the 
 Act of 1875, is at present still a matter managed mostly by the 
 lodges. As a rule the tables of premiums are so compiled as to 
 include sick and burial allowances in one and the same scale of 
 payments.* A tendency, however, is undoubtedly apparent to 
 transfer the funeral benefit to the districts, against which no 
 objection exists on the score of insufficient control, and which 
 offer for this branch of insurance the decided advantage of a 
 broader basis. As a proof of this tendency, which, although at 
 present in its infancy, may nevertheless produce decisive effects 
 when developed, it may be mentioned that in the Foresters the 
 district funds for burial insurance (in Great Britain and Ireland) 
 in 1865, amounted together to £75,732, and in 1886 to no less 
 than £349,918. 
 
 Widow and orphan insurance is as yet in its earliest stages. It 
 is just now the subject of much study and various proposals, but 
 
 * We give here the tables of the Manchester Unity, contained in the rules 
 of the Order, and which relate to sick (inclusive of accident) insurance, as also 
 
The Two Great Orders. 
 
 385 
 
 nothing of an effective and safe kind will be done until the matter 
 is taken up by the district and not the lodges. In 1886 the 
 Foresters’ lodges in Great Britain and Ireland, which undertook 
 this insurance, showed receipts of £7,001 for this purpose, £5,810 
 expenditure, and funds amounting to £43,518. 
 
 Much importance belongs to the benefits offered by many lodges 
 for temporary relief to members in distressed circumstances, and 
 for assisting them when compelled to travel in search of employ- 
 ment. These benefits are obviously incapable of any actuarial 
 calculation, and the matter is simply one of what funds the lodges 
 can raise for this purpose by means of larger or smaller levies. The 
 total sum annually expended by the lodges of the free Orders for 
 the relief of distressed members is not large, but, considering its 
 increase, is not to be underrated. In the Foresters’ Order it rose 
 from £5,108 in 1872, to £13,397 in 1882. Of course, in the face 
 of a great crisis, with its general distress and the consequent 
 
 insurance of burial money. These tables are accepted by all the newly-formed 
 lodges of the order; the old lodges, however, confine them for the most part to 
 new members. 
 
 These tables show five classes of insurers, graduated as follows, according to 
 the amounts of sick and burial allowances : 
 
 Class I. Sick benefit of Is. per week ; £7 at the death of a member, and 
 £3 10s. at the death of a member’s wife. 
 
 Class II. Sick benefit of 8s. per week ; £7 at the death of a member, and £4 
 at the death of a member’s wife. 
 
 Class III. Sick benefit of 9s. per week ; £9 at the death of a member, and 
 £4 10s. at the death of a member’s wife. 
 
 Class IV. Sick benefit of 10s. per week ; £10 at the death of a member, and 
 £5 at the death of a member’s wife. 
 
 Class V. Sick benefit of 12s. per week ; £12 at the death of a member, and 
 £6 at the death of a member’s wife. 
 
 (The Foresters’ have seven such classes in their tables, there being also a 
 lower class, with 6s. per week for sick benefit, and £6 payable at a member’s 
 death, and a higher one with corresponding benefits of 14s. and £14.) 
 
 Inside these classes the amounts of the premiums vary with the length of 
 sickness insured against, and the age of the member on insuring, higher 
 premiums being naturally demanded in the case of insuring for prolonged 
 illness or more advanced age. The reduction of sick benefits according to the 
 duration of sickness can be effected according to the most various modes of 
 graduation ; and the Manchester Unity have appended five tables of premiums 
 to their rules, giving different combinations, so as to enable the members of 
 the lodges to choose between the higher and the lower scales of payment. 
 
 c c 
 
386 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 inability of the working classes to contribute, this source of relief 
 would speedily dry up, but in normal times it has certainly had a 
 wholesome, if only a limited, effect. The same remark applies to 
 the relief of members travelling in search of employment. This 
 relief is assured in the form of “ travelling cards,” which the 
 
 Each of these five tables, which we give below, corresponds with the five classes 
 above mentioned, and is graduated according to the age of the member. 
 
 Table I. 
 
 Sick benefit in full for the first 12 months' sickness . 
 
 „ „ in half for the whole subsequent period of sickness. 
 
 Class I. 
 Sick benefit, 7s. 
 Burial money, 
 £7 
 
 £3 10s. 
 
 Class II. 
 Sick benefit, 8s. 
 Burial money, 
 £8 
 £A 
 
 Class III. 
 Sick benefit, 9s. 
 Burial money, 
 £9 
 
 £4 10s. 
 
 Class IV. 
 Sick benefit, 10s. 
 Burial money, 
 £10 
 £5 
 
 Class V. 
 
 Sick Benefit, 12s. 
 Burial Money, 
 £12 
 £6 
 
 Age. 
 
 Contri- 
 
 bution 
 
 per 
 
 month. 
 
 Age. 
 
 Contri- 
 
 bution 
 
 per 
 
 month. 
 
 Age. 
 
 Contri- 
 
 bution 
 
 per 
 
 month. 
 
 Age. 
 
 Contri- 
 
 bution 
 
 per 
 
 month. 
 
 Age. 
 
 Contri- 
 
 bution 
 
 per 
 
 month. 
 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 
 s. d. 
 
 18 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 18 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 18 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 18 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 18 
 
 1 9 
 
 19 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 19 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 19 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 19 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 19 
 
 1 9 
 
 20 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 20 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 20 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 20 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 20 
 
 1 10 
 
 21 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 21 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 21 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 21 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 21 
 
 1 10 
 
 22 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 22 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 22 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 22 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 22 
 
 1 11 
 
 23 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 23 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 23 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 23 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 23 
 
 1 11 
 
 24 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 24 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 24 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 24 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 24 
 
 2 0 
 
 25 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 25 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 25 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 25 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 25 
 
 2 0 
 
 26 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 26 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 26 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 26 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 26 
 
 2 1 
 
 27 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 27 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 27 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 27 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 27 
 
 2 2 
 
 28 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 28 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 28 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 28 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 28 
 
 2 2 
 
 29 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 29 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 29 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 29 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 29 
 
 2 3 
 
 30 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 30 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 30 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 30 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 30 
 
 2 4 
 
 31 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 31 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 31 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 31 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 31 
 
 2 5 
 
 32 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 32 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 32 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 32 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 32 
 
 2 6 
 
 33 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 33 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 33 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 33 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 33 
 
 2 7 
 
 34 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 34 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 34 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 34 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 34; . 
 
 2 8 
 
 35 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 35 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 35 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 35 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 35" 
 
 2 9 
 
 36 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 36 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 36 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 36 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 36 
 
 2 10 
 
 37 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 37 
 
 1 11 
 
 37 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 37 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 37 
 
 2 11 
 
 38 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 38 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 38 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 38 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 38 
 
 3 1 
 
 39 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 39 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 39 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 39 
 
 2 
 
 7 
 
 39 
 
 3 2 
 
 40 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 40 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 40 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 40 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 40 
 
 3 3 
 
 41 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 41 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 41 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 41 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 41 
 
 3 4 
 
 42 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 42 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 42 
 
 2 
 
 7 
 
 42 
 
 2 
 
 11 
 
 42 
 
 3 6 
 
 48 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 43 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 43 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 
 43 
 
 3 
 
 0 
 
 43 
 
 3 9 
 
 44 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 44 
 
 2 
 
 7 
 
 44 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 44 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 44 
 
 3 7 
 
The Two Great Orders . 
 
 387 
 
 travelling member can deliver gradually (as a rule once a day only 
 is allowed) at the lodge of the Order. In this way the Manchester 
 Unity, between 1863 and 1873, gave relief amounting to £4,156 to 
 94,476 travelling members.* It must be borne in mind that these 
 cards, in addition to their entitling to pecuniary relief, serve as 
 
 Table II. 
 
 Sick benefit in full for the first 6 months' sickness, 
 
 „ „ in half for the whole subsequent ‘period of sickness. 
 
 Class I. 
 Sick benefit, 7s. 
 Burial money, 
 £7 
 
 £3 1 Os. 
 
 Class II. 
 Sick benefit, 8s. 
 Burial money, 
 £8 
 £4> 
 
 Class III. 
 Sick benefit, 9s. 
 Burial money, 
 £9 
 
 £4 10s. 
 
 Class IV. 
 Sick benefit, 10s. 
 Burial money, 
 £10 
 £5 
 
 Class V. 
 Sick benefit, 12s. 
 Burial money, 
 £12 
 £6 
 
 Age. 
 
 Contri- 
 
 bution 
 
 per 
 
 month. 
 
 Age. 
 
 Contri- 
 
 bution 
 
 per 
 
 month. 
 
 Age. 
 
 Contri- 
 
 bution 
 
 per 
 
 month. 
 
 Age. 
 
 Contri- 
 
 bution 
 
 per 
 
 month. 
 
 Age. 
 
 Contri- 
 
 bution 
 
 per 
 
 month. 
 
 
 S. 
 
 d. 
 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 18 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 18 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 18 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 18 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 18 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 19 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 19 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 19 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 19 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 19 
 
 1 
 
 8 • 
 
 20 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 20 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 20 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 20 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 20 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 21 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 21 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 21 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 21 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 21 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 22 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 22 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 22 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 22 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 22 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 23 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 23 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 23 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 23 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 23 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 24 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 24 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 24 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 24 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 24 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 25 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 25 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 25 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 25 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 25 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 26 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 26 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 26 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 26 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 26 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 27 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 27 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 27 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 27 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 27 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 28 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 28 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 28 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 28 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 28 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 29 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 29 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 29 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 29 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 29 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 30 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 30 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 30 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 30 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 30 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 31 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 31 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 31 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 31 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 31 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 32 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 32 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 32 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 32 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 32 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 33 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 33 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 33 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 33 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 33 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 34 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 34 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 34 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 34 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 34 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 35 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 35 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 35 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 35 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 35 
 
 2 
 
 7 
 
 36 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 36 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 36 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 36 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 36 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 37 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 37 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 37 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 37 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 37 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 
 38 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 38 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 38 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 38 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 38 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 39 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 39 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 39 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 39 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 39 
 
 2 
 
 11 
 
 40 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 40 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 40 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 40 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 40 
 
 3 
 
 0 
 
 41 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 41 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 41 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 41 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 41 • 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 42 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 42 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 42 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 42 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 
 42 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 43 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 43 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 43 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 43 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 43 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 44 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 44 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 44 
 
 2 
 
 7 
 
 44 
 
 2 
 
 11 
 
 44 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 Neison : “ Some Statistics,” p. 79. 
 
388 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 means of introduction to other lodges, being only given to trust- 
 worthy brothers, and after ascertaining the object of travel. 
 
 A double importance attaches to the funds for relief, which are 
 coilected by the supreme authorities of the Order, and the applica- 
 tion of which is determined by the Executive Committee, and, 
 eventually, by the general meeting of delegates. In 1848 the 
 
 Table III. 
 
 Sick benefit in fall for the first 12 months' sickness. 
 
 „ „ in half for the next 12 months. 
 
 t , „ one quarter for the whole subsequent period of sickness. 
 
 Class I. 
 
 Sick benefit, 7s. 
 Burial money, 
 £7 
 
 £3 10s. 
 
 Class II. 
 Sick benefit, Ss. 
 Burial money, 
 £8 
 £4 
 
 Class III. 
 Sick benefit, 9s. 
 Burial money, 
 £9 
 
 £4 10s. 
 
 Class IV. 
 Sick benefit, 10s. 
 Burial money, 
 £10 
 £5 
 
 Class V. 
 Sick benefit, 12s. 
 Burial money, 
 £12 
 £6 
 
 
 Contri- 
 
 
 Contri- 
 
 
 Contri- 
 
 
 Contri- 
 
 
 Contri- 
 
 Age. 
 
 bution 
 
 per 
 
 Age. 
 
 bution 
 
 per 
 
 Age. 
 
 bution 
 
 per 
 
 Age. 
 
 bution 
 
 per 
 
 Age. 
 
 bution 
 
 per 
 
 
 month. 
 
 
 month. 
 
 
 month. 
 
 
 month. 
 
 
 month. 
 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 
 S. d. 
 
 18 
 
 0 11 
 
 18 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 18 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 18 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 18 
 
 1 7 
 
 19 
 
 0 
 
 11 
 
 19 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 19 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 19 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 19 
 
 1 8 
 
 20 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 20 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 20 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 20 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 20 
 
 1 8 
 
 21 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 21 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 21 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 21 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 21 
 
 1 8 
 
 22 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 22 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 22 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 22 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 22 
 
 1 9 
 
 28 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 23 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 23 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 23 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 23 
 
 1 9 
 
 24 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 24 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 24 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 24 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 24 
 
 1 10 
 
 25 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 25 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 25 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 25 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 25 
 
 1 10 
 
 26 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 26 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 26 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 26 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 26 
 
 1 11 
 
 27 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 27 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 27 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 27 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 27 
 
 1 11 
 
 28 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 28 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 28 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 28 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 28 
 
 2 0 
 
 29 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 29 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 29 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 29 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 29 
 
 2 0 
 
 30 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 30 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 30 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 30 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 30 
 
 2 1 
 
 31 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 31 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 31 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 31 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 31 
 
 2 2 
 
 32 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 32 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 32 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 32 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 32 
 
 2 3 
 
 33 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 33 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 33 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 83 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 33 
 
 2 4 
 
 34 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 34 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 34 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 34 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 34 
 
 2 5 
 
 35 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 35 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 35 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 35 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 35 
 
 2 5 
 
 36 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 36 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 36 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 36 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 36 
 
 2 6 
 
 37 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 37 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 37 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 37 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 37 
 
 2 7 
 
 38 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 38 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 38 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 38 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 38 
 
 2 8 
 
 39 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 39 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 39 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 39 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 39 
 
 2 10 
 
 40 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 40 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 40 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 40 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 40 
 
 2 11 
 
 41 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 41 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 41 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 41 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 41 
 
 3 0 
 
 42 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 42 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 42 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 42 
 
 2 
 
 7 
 
 42 
 
 3 1 
 
 43 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 43 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 43 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 43 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 43 
 
 3 2 
 
 44 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 44 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 44 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 44 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 
 44 
 
 3 4 
 
The Two Great Orders. 
 
 389 
 
 High Court Meeting of the Foresters resolved that members of 
 seceding or expelled lodges, who had remained loyal to the Order, 
 and had failed to obtain admission to any other lodge, should be 
 considered as members immediately belonging to the Order, and 
 entitled to relief by the Order in return for their contributions, 
 The central government was able gradually to obtain for these 
 
 Table IV. 
 
 Sick benefit in full for the first 6 months ’ sickness. 
 
 » „ in half for the next 6 months. 
 
 „ „ one quarter for the whole subsequent 'period of sickness. 
 
 Class I. 
 Sick benefit, 7s. 
 Burial money, 
 £7 
 
 £3 10s. 
 
 Class II. 
 Sick benefit, 8s. 
 Burial money, 
 £8 
 £4 
 
 Class III. 
 Sick benefit, 9s. 
 Burial money, 
 £9 
 
 £4 10s. 
 
 Class IV. 
 Sick benefit, 10s. 
 Burial money, 
 £10 
 £5 
 
 Class V. 
 Sick benefit, 12s. 
 Burial money, 
 £12 
 £6 
 
 Age. 
 
 Contri- 
 
 bution 
 
 per 
 
 month. 
 
 Age. 
 
 Contri- 
 
 bution 
 
 per 
 
 month. 
 
 Age. 
 
 Contri- 
 
 bution 
 
 per 
 
 month. 
 
 Age. 
 
 Contri- 
 
 bution 
 
 per 
 
 month. 
 
 Age. 
 
 Contri- 
 
 bution 
 
 per 
 
 month. 
 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 
 $. d. 
 
 18 
 
 0 10 
 
 18 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 18 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 18 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 18 
 
 1 6 
 
 19 
 
 0 11 
 
 19 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 19 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 19 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 19 
 
 1 6 
 
 20 
 
 0 11 
 
 20 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 20 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 20 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 20 
 
 1 6 
 
 21 
 
 0 11 
 
 21 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 21 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 21 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 21 
 
 1 7 
 
 22 
 
 0 
 
 11 
 
 22 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 22 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 22 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 22 
 
 1 7 
 
 23 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 23 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 23 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 23 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 23 
 
 1 8 
 
 24 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 24 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 24 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 24 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 24 
 
 1 8 
 
 25 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 25 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 25 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 25 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 25 
 
 1 9 
 
 26 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 26 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 26 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 26 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 26 
 
 1 9 
 
 27 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 27 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 27 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 27 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 27 
 
 1 9 
 
 28 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 28 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 28 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 28 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 28 
 
 1 10 
 
 29 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 29 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 29 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 29 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 29 
 
 1 10 
 
 30 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 30 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 30 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 30 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 30 
 
 1 11 
 
 31 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 31 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 31 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 31 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 31 
 
 2 0 
 
 32 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 32 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 32 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 32 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 32 
 
 2 1 
 
 33 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 33 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 33 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 33 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 33 
 
 2 1 
 
 34 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 34 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 34 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 34 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 34 
 
 2 2 
 
 35 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 35 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 35 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 35 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 35 
 
 2 3 
 
 36 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 36 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 36 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 36 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 36 
 
 2 4 
 
 37 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 37 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 37 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 37 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 37 
 
 2 5 
 
 38 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 38 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 38 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 38 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 38 
 
 2 6 
 
 39 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 39 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 39 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 39 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 39 
 
 2 7 
 
 40 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 40 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 40 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 40 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 40 
 
 2 8 
 
 41 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 41 
 
 1 10 
 
 41 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 41 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 41 
 
 2 9 
 
 42 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 42 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 42 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 42 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 42 
 
 2 10 
 
 43 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 43 
 
 1 11 
 
 43 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 43 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 43 
 
 2 11 
 
 44 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 44 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 44 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 44 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 44 
 
 3 0 
 
390 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 loyal members, in cases of secession, a proportionate share of the 
 funds of the seceding lodges, the amount of which went to the 
 High Court Sick and Funeral Fund, analogous to what is termed 
 in the Manchester Unity the Unity Sick and Funeral Fund. The 
 two Orders did not stop here Since 1872 the Foresters have had 
 a High Court Relief Fund (called the Unity Relief Fund in the 
 
 Table V. 
 
 Sick benefit in full for the first 6 months sickness. 
 
 „ „ three-fourths for the next 6 months. 
 
 „ „ half for the whole subsequent period of sickness. 
 
 Class I. 
 Sick benefit, 7s. 
 Burial money, 
 £7 
 
 £3 10s. 
 
 Class II. 
 Sick benefit, 8s. 
 Burial money, 
 £8 
 £4 
 
 Class III. 
 Sick benefit, 9s. 
 Burial money, 
 £9 
 
 £4 10s. 
 
 Class IV. 
 Sick benefit, 10s. 
 Burial money, 
 £10 
 £5 
 
 Class V. 
 Sick benefit, 128. 
 Burial money, 
 £12 
 £6 
 
 Age. 
 
 Contri- 
 
 bution 
 
 per 
 
 month. 
 
 Age. 
 
 Contri- 
 
 bution 
 
 per 
 
 month. 
 
 Age. 
 
 Contri- 
 
 bution 
 
 per 
 
 month. 
 
 Age. 
 
 Contri- 
 
 bution 
 
 per 
 
 month. 
 
 Age. 
 
 Contri- 
 
 bution 
 
 per 
 
 month. 
 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 18 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 18 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 18 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 18 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 18 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 19 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 19 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 19 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 19 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 19 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 20 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 20 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 20 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 20 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 20 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 21 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 21 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 21 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 21 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 21 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 22 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 22 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 22 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 22 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 22 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 23 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 23 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 23 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 23 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 23 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 24 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 24 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 24 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 24 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 24 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 25 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 25 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 25 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 25 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 25 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 26 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 26 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 26 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 26 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 26 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 27 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 27 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 27 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 27 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 27 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 28 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 28 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 28 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 28 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 28 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 29 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 29 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 29 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 29 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 29 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 30 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 30 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 30 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 30 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 30 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 31 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 31 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 31 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 31 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 31 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 32 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 32 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 32 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 32 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 32 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 33 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 33 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 33 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 33 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 33 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 34 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 34 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 34 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 34 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 34 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 35 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 35 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 35 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 35 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 35 
 
 2 
 
 7 
 
 36 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 36 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 36 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 36 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 36 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 37 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 37 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 37 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 37 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 37 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 
 38 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 38 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 38 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 38 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 38 
 
 2 
 
 11 
 
 39 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 39 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 39 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 39 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 39 
 
 3 
 
 0 
 
 40 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 40 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 40 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 40 
 
 2 
 
 7 
 
 40 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 41 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 41 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 41 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 41 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 41 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 42 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 42 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 42 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 42 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 
 42 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 43 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 43 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 43 
 
 2 
 
 7 
 
 43 
 
 2 
 
 11 
 
 43 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 44 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 44 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 44 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 44 
 
 3 
 
 0 
 
 44 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 7 
 
The Two Great Orders. 
 
 39i 
 
 Manchester Unity, the object of which is to assure relief to lodges 
 in difficulties. The need of such intervention by the central 
 government is only too frequently apparent. Many of the older 
 lodges, which have never yet, since the time of their formation, 
 had the resources at their command that now make it possible to 
 establish a Friendly Society on a solid actuarial basis, are in a 
 pitiable plight, through no fault of their own, even their later 
 efforts to restore solvency having very often proved insufficient 
 to remedy past errors. Moreover, an exceptionally bad period 
 of sickness or accidents may bring small lodges — of which 
 there are still a large number — to a state of embarrassment, 
 from which not all the self-denying efforts of their members will 
 avail to extricate them without extraneous aid. It would be a 
 practical exhibition of a genuine spirit of brotherhood, were the 
 supreme authorities of the Order to take individual lodges in such 
 cases under their protection. The means for so doing, however, 
 are extremely slender. In the Foresters every member pays one 
 halfpenny a year to this Relief Fund, representing, with 600,000 
 members, a total sum of £1,250. The material results of this 
 arrangement can as yet, therefore, be but inconsiderable ; between 
 1878 and 1883 relief was given from the fund, in larger or smaller 
 sums, only in 16 cases. The Executive Council of the Order 
 proceeds on the sound principle of only granting relief on a 
 guarantee being given by the lodge for its proper application. If 
 the large Orders could succeed in affixing such strict conditions to 
 the relief, and instituting when necessary a sufficiently searching 
 inquiry, to prevent the danger of the lodges trusting blindly to 
 assistance, and consequently becoming laxer in their management, 
 and if they could also succeed in collecting large sums for this pur- 
 pose, and thus intervening effectively from above to promote the 
 systematic consolidation of distressed lodges, this management 
 might be a most important step towards securing stability. This 
 question is now frequently discussed in the Orders. At a meeting 
 held at Sheffield in the summer of 1885, by the Foresters of 
 Yorkshire, the then Grand Master of the Order, Mr. T. B. Stead, 
 rightly designated the treatment of distressed lodges as the burn- 
 ing question of the day. The more fully the Orders develop, the 
 more striking is the contrast between these outwardly so powerful 
 
392 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 and numerically so important associations, and tlie insecurity and 
 want of orderly management in the individual lodges ; and it is 
 very natural that the leaders of these Orders should have a grow- 
 ing feeling of responsibility for still existing abuses, and look about 
 for some remedy. Various remedial measures have been suggested, 
 but this much is certain, that there can be no question of any 
 re-insurance on the part of the lodges, such an expedient being 
 excluded by the peculiar nature of the sick insurance which they 
 chiefly conduct. A general re-insurance would not abolish the 
 existing evils, but increase them, by weakening the impulse, which 
 is necessarily shared by every benefit society, to prevent the abuse 
 of sick insurance by means of a sharp and vigilant control, and 
 which is kept alive solely by the conviction that the society itself 
 will have to bear the consequences of laxity and remissness ; in 
 this respect it would be fatal to let the interests of brotherhood 
 prevail against those of economic prudence. This suggestion, 
 therefore, can never be carried out except as a form of temporary 
 assistance, to be granted always after full inquiry into the special 
 case, and under certain definite conditions. Mr. C. J. Radley, 
 in an essay in the Foresters ’ Miscellany ,* has sketched the out- 
 lines of a scheme of this kind, which appears to us to treat the 
 matter very properly. He requires that no relief shall be granted 
 to any distressed lodge until the lodge has made a serious effort 
 to help itself, and has done so on principles sanctioned by the 
 Order ; that relief shall not have the character of a dole to meet 
 the exigencies of the moment, but be granted with an eye to the 
 future consolidation of the lodges ; and that the order shall make 
 a principle of restricting relief to those lodges which have already 
 introduced a rational, and in particular, a graduated system of 
 contributions. Finally, he advocates the uniting the two separ- 
 ately administered funds of the central government, which we 
 have mentioned above, into a common Relief Fund of the Order. 
 
 In such a way as this, perhaps, the Orders will in time develop 
 out of these beginnings a new and important branch of the great 
 social system of working-men’s insurance. At present, as we have 
 
 • No. xc. vol. xiv. : “ High Court Relief : its Present Position and Future 
 Possibilities.” 
 
The Two Great Orders . 
 
 393 
 
 said, these beginnings are pecuniarily of slight importance, but 
 we cannot conclude our remarks on this subject without observing 
 that, even in their present modest shape, they have already formed 
 an effective means of fortifying the central power of the great 
 Orders. The fact that they enable the Order to secure the attach- 
 ment of the loyal members of seceding lodges, and to give pecuni- 
 ary support to lodges in distress, strengthens the influence of the 
 central body, and welds all the parts of the Order more closely 
 together. 
 
 We come now to superannuation, the most recent branch of 
 insurance taken up by the two great Orders. The Foresters began 
 by appointing a committee, at the general meeting of delegates 
 held at Weymouth, on 9th August, 1882, for the purpose of 
 inquiring into and formulating proposals respecting the question 
 of old age insurance, a subject then altogether new to the Order. 
 This committee presented the next year, at a general meeting at 
 Birmingham, a report (1) on a system of old age insurance, along 
 with but independent of sick insurance ; (2) on a system of old 
 age insurance after 65 years of age, in substitution for sick insur- 
 ance after that period ; and, finally (3), on the mode in which the 
 existing sick insurance could be changed into one against old age 
 after 65. The committee submitted at the same time a table of 
 premiums. The report gave rise at the meeting to a lively dis- 
 cussion. By some the proposed premiums were objected to as 
 too high ; others were anxious that, inasmuch as only the minority 
 of the young men, who were intended to insure themselves against 
 old age, had a prospect of exceeding the age of 65, old age insur- 
 ance ought to be connected in some form or another — whether as 
 a pension for the survivors of a deceased member or otherwise — 
 with life insurance ; and a further suggestion was put forward to 
 combine old age insurance with sick insurance, and make this 
 combination obligatory. Mr. Radley, as a member of the com- 
 mittee, defended the scale of premiums, as being based on correct 
 actuarial data, and combated the tendency, which displayed itself 
 here, as it has done so often in English Friendly Societies, to 
 attempt to get on with lower payments. He rejected the proposal 
 to amalgamate old age and sick insurance, as well as that to make 
 the combination obligatory, rightly observing that many members 
 
394 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 of the Order had already made provision in other quarters — allud- 
 ing to the superannuation societies of the Trades-unions — against 
 old age. The question was referred for further consideration 
 to the Executive Council, who in 1884 submitted to a general 
 meeting of delegates at Manchester a scheme of insurance which 
 was then accepted and added as Art. 35a to the rules of the Order. 
 This scheme is substantially as follows : — The “ Order Superan- 
 nuation Eund ” is open to every member of the Order to subscribe 
 to up to the age of 50. The fund is under the control of the 
 Executive Council, and is intended to fructify in manner pro- 
 vided for; all contributions are collected by the courts and 
 districts, and forwarded to the Executive Council. Every mem- 
 ber subscribing to the superannuation insurance, which takes the 
 place of sick insurance after the age of 65, can demand a corre- 
 sponding reduction of his sick premiums, which had been calcu- 
 lated originally without reference to superannuation, the reduction 
 being made according to Mr. Neison’s “Foresters’ Experience, 
 1871-1875.” Evidence of identity must be given to the Executive 
 Council by every member claiming his superannuation allowance 
 Any member six months in arrear with his contributions, must 
 pay up the arrears with interest at 5 per cent. ; if twelve months 
 behindhand he is debarred from any participation in the benefit, 
 and can only continue his contributions as a new member.* 
 An essentially similar scheme has been adopted by the Man- 
 chester Unity. In both Orders, however, the results have to be 
 awaited.f 
 
 In concluding this sketch of the system of insurance in the two 
 great Orders, we must revert to a subject which we have already 
 dealt with at length, but which requires a few supplementary 
 observations, that may be introduced with propriety here. 
 
 * The table of contributions for superannuation, as settled by the Foresters’ 
 High Court meeting at Manchester, gives a superannuation allowance of 5s. a 
 week after the age of 65 ; it calculates the contributions which every member 
 has to pay according to his age at entrance, fixing the amount in one sum as 
 well as by annual contributions (see table on page 395). 
 
 f At the end of 1886, after an experience of nearly three years, there were 
 only two contributing members to the Foresters’ superannuation fund. In 
 the Manchester Unity also the scheme has hitherto been a failure. 
 
The Two Great Orders. 
 
 395 
 
 In stating our judgment of the actuarial principles of the 
 English Friendly Societies, we described their present character- 
 istic feature to be their attempts to substitute for the old and 
 more or less irregular system of levies a rational system of pre- 
 miums and reserves. We are aware also that the transition to 
 the new system is not yet completed. Thus, for example, in the 
 case of the District Funeral Funds, which are constantly increas- 
 ing in number, the decision has not yet been always in favour 
 of the new system, and even this branch of insurance still finds 
 numerous supporters of the really indefensible system of levies. 
 
 Age at 
 entrance. 
 
 Premiums 
 in one sum. 
 
 Annual Premiums, 
 payable 
 
 quarterly or monthly. 
 
 
 £ s. 
 
 d. 
 
 £ s. 
 
 d. 
 
 18 
 
 8 4 
 
 5 
 
 0 9 
 
 0 
 
 19 
 
 8 12 
 
 4 
 
 0 9 
 
 0 
 
 20 
 
 9 0 
 
 7 
 
 0 10 
 
 1 
 
 21 
 
 9 9 
 
 1 
 
 0 10 
 
 8 
 
 22 
 
 9 18 
 
 1 
 
 0 11 
 
 3 
 
 23 
 
 10 7 
 
 8 
 
 0 11 11 
 
 24 
 
 10 17 
 
 6 
 
 0 12 
 
 7 
 
 25 
 
 11 7 
 
 11 
 
 0 13 
 
 5 
 
 26 
 
 11 18 
 
 10 
 
 0 14 
 
 2 
 
 27 
 
 12 10 
 
 1 
 
 0 15 
 
 1 
 
 28 
 
 13 2 
 
 1 
 
 0 16 
 
 1 
 
 29 
 
 13 13 
 
 7 
 
 0 17 
 
 1 
 
 30 
 
 14 7 
 
 3 
 
 0 18 
 
 2 
 
 31 
 
 15 1 
 
 0 
 
 0 19 
 
 4 
 
 32 
 
 15 17 
 
 5 
 
 1 0 
 
 7 
 
 33 
 
 16 13 
 
 10 
 
 1 2 
 
 0 
 
 34 
 
 17 10 
 
 2 
 
 1 3 
 
 7 
 
 35 
 
 18 6 
 
 7 
 
 1 5 
 
 2 
 
 36 
 
 19 5 
 
 9 
 
 1 7 
 
 0 
 
 37 
 
 20 4 
 
 11 
 
 1 9 
 
 0 
 
 38 
 
 21 6 
 
 7 
 
 1 11 
 
 2 
 
 39 
 
 22 8 
 
 9 
 
 1 13 
 
 7 
 
 40 
 
 23 13 
 
 4 
 
 1 16 
 
 2 
 
 41 
 
 24 17 
 
 11 
 
 1 19 
 
 2 
 
 42 
 
 26 5 
 
 4 
 
 2 2 
 
 5 
 
 43 
 
 27 12 
 
 8 
 
 2 6 
 
 0 
 
 44 
 
 29 2 
 
 9 
 
 2 10 
 
 0 
 
 45 
 
 30 15 
 
 7 
 
 2 14 
 
 8 
 
 46 
 
 32 11 
 
 2 
 
 3 0 
 
 0 
 
 47 
 
 34 9 
 
 6 
 
 3 5 
 
 9 
 
 48 
 
 36 7 
 
 9 
 
 3 12 
 
 7 
 
 49 
 
 38 11 
 
 7 
 
 3 19 11 
 
 50 
 
 40 18 
 
 1 
 
 4 8 11 
 
39 & English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 In genera], however, we shall not be wrong in predicting the 
 ultimate triumph in these respects of the new system. 
 
 The case is different, however, with regard to other objects of 
 insurance, which from their very nature can only be fulfilled, as 
 we have said, by the levy system. Such are the relief of dis- 
 tressed members or members travelling in search of employment, 
 the grants made by the Order to supply deficiencies arising in 
 lodges from no fault of their own, etc. These purposes can only 
 be met by means of levies, and just because, as is hoped, they 
 will be further extended and more completely fulfilled, the levy 
 system must continue to exist along with the premium system. 
 The costs of management also are mostly defrayed in English 
 Friendly Societies, not by an addition to the premiums but by 
 levies, and we believe that these societies are wise in doing so, 
 a levy being a far more effective and urgent means of promoting 
 economical management than a mere addition to the premium. 
 Actuarially, therefore, the principles of English Friendly Societies 
 will always be a mixture of the old and new systems. 
 
 The foregoing remarks will, we believe, suffice to give an idea 
 how these two great Orders have increased during the last few 
 decades in extent and power. This fact confirms our assertion 
 that the force of union has received an immense impetus among 
 the working classes of England. The causes of this we need not 
 further consider. We know how the unrestricted freedom of 
 combination, the growing education of the working classes, the 
 diffusion of actuarial information, and of the knowledge of its use, 
 are daily enlisting new members of the Friendly Societies. But 
 while this circumstance is more or less an advantage to all of 
 these societies, the ascendency of the great Orders is established 
 by their perfect organization and by the social spirit which they 
 typify and cultivate. Any one who has attended the large or 
 small meetings of the brothers of the Order in a town, district, or 
 county, at which strict business and serious discussion always 
 find a place beside social converse and good-fellowship, will have 
 learned to understand the spirit prevailing in these associations. 
 It is from these social meetings that the members derive impulse, 
 education, and advice ; here that feeling of solidarity is awak- 
 ened which links members and lodges together to the extent 
 
The Tivo Great Orders. 
 
 397 
 
 even of affording each other material support;* here is aroused 
 that emulation for sound and rational improvement among the 
 various societies which has done so much during the last few 
 decades for the consolidation of the great Orders ; here the ways 
 and means are considered for perfecting the institution which all 
 serve ; here, lastly, are found not only the cradle of new ideas, 
 but also the soil from which springs the moral impulse that gives 
 effect to those ideas, and leads to efforts and sacrifices for the 
 common cause. 
 
 From politics the great Orders, like all the Friendly Societies, 
 rigidly abstain. No member, no lodge, no district of an Order is 
 allowed, as such, to issue any religious or political circular.f All 
 conversation on these subjects is forbidden at the meetings. Ac- 
 cordingly, men of the most different religious and political opinions 
 work harmoniously side by side. 
 
 * A remarkable instance of this was given by Mr. J. J. Holmes, a director of 
 the Manchester Unity, in his evidence before the Select Committee on National 
 Provident Insurance : — 
 
 “ Q. 732. In the South London District of the Manchester Unity we have 
 two old lodges, two of the oldest lodges, and the other lodges having been 
 valued, and having surpluses, many of the lodges have given these two lodges 
 a certain sum of money arising from their surplus, that surplus being caused 
 by good investments of capital. For instance, when I tell you that during the 
 last eleven years the average rate of interest has been £5 2s. 9 d. per cent, upon 
 the investments, you will see that that realises a surplus to the good lodges. 
 They have given £100 each in three or four instances to these two lodges ; and 
 from the district funeral fund we give £200 a year to these two lodges, which 
 is gradually bringing them to a state of solvency.” 
 
 t Rule 116 of the Foresters’ Rules, entitled, “Neutrality of the Order,” runs 
 as follows : “ For the purpose of preserving the acknowledged neutrality of the 
 Order in all matters connected with party politics or religious creeds, no district, 
 court, or members shall take part as Foresters in any meeting or gathering, or 
 in any other way, for the advocacy or promotion of political or sectarian religious 
 objects ; but this law shall not apply to the customary attendance of members 
 in their capacity as Foresters at any place of worship, in connection with anni- 
 versary gatherings, or on occasions when such attendance is in aid of some 
 public hospital, infirmary, or charity of an unsectarian character. No district, 
 court, or member, as such, shall issue any circular to any court or district of the 
 Order upon any subject, political or otherwise, outside the objects of the Order 
 or the General Laws. Any district, court, or member violating this law, shall 
 be expelled from the Order or pay a fine not exceeding £10, as the High Court 
 may decide, upon a charge being preferred by the Executive Council for the 
 offence.” 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 miners’ permanent relief societies. 
 
 Recent origin of these Societies. — Relation between sick and accident insurance. 
 — Foreign distinction in this respect. — Special risks attaching to mining. 
 — Colliery catastrophes. — Legislative efforts to prevent accidents. — Royal 
 Commission on Accidents in Mines. — Statistics of mortality. — Early “ Pit- 
 Clubs.”— Appeals to public charity. — Proposed schemes of insurance. — 
 Northumberland Durham Miners’ Permanent Relief Fund. — The late Mr. 
 Alexander Macdonald. — Staffordshire Permanent Relief Fund. — Lancashire 
 and Cheshire Permanent Relief Society. — West Riding of Yorkshire Per- 
 manent Relief Society. — North Wales Permanent Relief Society. — Midland 
 Counties Permanent Relief Fund. — Monmouthshire and South Wales Per- 
 manent Provident Society. — Midland District Society. — Objects and man- 
 agement of these Societies. — Their actuarial system. — Their early diffi- 
 culties. — Their financial position and prospects.— Question of Re insurance. 
 — Conferences of the Central Association. 
 
 The Permanent Relief Societies, established by the miners as a 
 provision against accident, are a new phenomenon among English 
 Friendly Societies. Their origin dates from recent years, and 
 we find in them the first attempt yet made in England to 
 separate accident from sick insurance on a large scale, by the 
 formation of independent societies for the former purpose only. 
 This circumstance, as well as the growing importance of these 
 societies to the mining population of England, justifies us in 
 considering them apart. 
 
 English Friendly Societies have hitherto, as we have already 
 often observed, treated disablement arising from sickness and 
 disablement caused by accident as altogether the same. And in 
 fact, there is no reason in itself why sick and accident insurance 
 should be so sharply divided as is the case in Germany and 
 Austria. On the contrary, if we look at the causes that lead to 
 
Miners' Permanent Relief Societies. 
 
 399 
 
 temporary or permanent disablement with the manufacturing 
 workman of the present day, we are confronted with a totally 
 different distinction, and we see that it is only external circum- 
 stances and not any reason arising from the nature of things, that 
 have led to the separation we have mentioned. The nature of 
 things, indeed, that is to say, the position occupied by the working 
 man in relation to the process of production, leads to a very 
 different distinction. Disablement may arise from hereditary or 
 casual illness, or from an accident wholly unconnected with the 
 patient’s employment ; on the other hand, it may have been caused 
 by his employment, either from an illness, contracted through the 
 influences to which the workman is exposed, or from some injury 
 which he has suffered when at work. If a distinction, therefore, 
 were to be made on internal grounds, we should have to place on 
 the one side all sickness and accident unconnected with occupation, 
 and on the other, not only sickness, but also accident directly 
 caused by the exercise of a particular occupation. Such a dis- 
 tinction would be easily defensible from a most important ethical 
 point of view, which may fairly be taken into consideration in 
 this question, — namely, the point of view of responsibility. For 
 the specific effects of modern manufacture on the lives and limbs 
 of the workmen — in other words, for sickness and accident con- 
 nected with occupation — the occupation would have primarily to 
 answer ; for sickness and accident not so connected, the individual 
 himself. Simply to separate accidents which the workman has 
 suffered in the course of his occupation is irrational, for a separ- 
 ation of this kind must clearly extend also to sickness connected 
 with occupation, which certainly plays a larger part in the life 
 of a workman than accident. 
 
 We must admit, however, that this distinction, based on re- 
 sponsibility in regard to sickness and accident, is much easier to 
 make in theory than in practice. The greatest practical difficulties 
 are those presented by sickness ; for although there are distinct 
 illnesses, the original connection of which with a particular 
 occupation cannot be mistaken, at the same time we have already 
 had occasion elsewhere to observe how much the workman’s habits 
 of life may either mitigate or intensify the injurious influences of 
 his employment, and how, in consequence, the causes of sickness 
 
400 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 or health, which the principle of responsibility might seek to 
 separate, in reality are often inseparably interwoven. This is 
 less the case with injuries caused by accidents, and it was there- 
 fore possible in Germany and Austria to construct two separate 
 systems of working-men’s insurance on the intrinsically untenable 
 distinction between accident and sickness. 
 
 But things were very different in a country like England, where 
 working-men’s insurance has never been an institution created 
 by authority and according to a preconcerted plan, but is the fruit 
 of the voluntary association of those who share its benefits and, 
 as such, is regulated by nothing but existing need. The English 
 working men, thrown back, as they were, almost entirely on self- 
 help, had indeed no occasion to distinguish between sickness 
 connected with occupation and any other kind of sickness, between 
 accidents suffered in or out of their ordinary employment, and 
 thus they extended the benefits of their societies, without distinc- 
 tion, to both cases alike. Hence, sick and accident insurance were 
 always dealt with as one, nor was there any actuarial reason for 
 treating the consequences of accident otherwise than as sickness. 
 The old levy system sought, as far as it went, to cover all the 
 engagements of the society, from whatever of these two causes 
 they might have arisen. 
 
 With the transition to the premium system came, of necessity, at 
 least a partial change in this respect, the evidence of mathematics 
 revealing the great difference between the actuarial risks of the 
 various occupations, according as they involved greater or less 
 liability to accident. We need only refer in this respect to what 
 we have already observed in previous pages. The Orders have 
 been made aware by periodical valuations, how impossible it is 
 for those of their lodges which are recruited from classes of work- 
 ing men who, like the miners in particular, are exposed to great 
 danger of accident, to get on with premiums calculated on the big 
 averages of the whole Order, and they have been forced, there- 
 fore, to levy certain additional amounts. Hence the fact, already 
 noticed, that the great railway companies have established 
 separate accident funds for that portion of their staff which is 
 exposed to special risk of accidents. And the same thing, as 
 we have also seen, has been done by some factory societies. 
 
Miners Permanent Relief Societies. 401 
 
 Far more important, however, and of wider bearings than all 
 these attempts to treat accident as a separate class of risk, are 
 the Accident Insurance Societies of the miners, and particularly 
 of the coal miners, which were first established in 1862, and are 
 now united into a vast association. They are, as regards the 
 specializing of their object, a new element in English working- 
 men’s insurance, and have certain characteristic features of their 
 own. They owe their origin to the recognition of the fact that 
 mining is exposed to greater risks of accident than other indus- 
 tries, and requires therefore a separate actuarial treatment, and 
 also to the deep impression created on mine owners and miners 
 alike by the melancholy series of catastrophes which have occurred 
 during the last few decades. 
 
 The great revival of English manufacturing industry gave a 
 powerful impetus also to coal-mining, and the excellent quality of 
 English coal has made it an important article of export. The 
 English miner is incessantly penetrating deeper and deeper into 
 the bowels of the earth, and his work has become more and more 
 laborious and intense. This ransacking of the earth for its 
 treasures of coal has been the cause of a series of catastrophes, 
 such as rarely occur on the Continent, but which in England, fol- 
 lowing each other, as they have done, in quick and startling 
 succession, opened the eyes of the nation to the terrible dangers 
 incident to coal-mining on such an extensive scale. On 1st Dec., 
 1860, 142 lives were lost in the Black Vein Colliery in Mon- 
 mouthshire ; and on 6th Jan., 1862, 204 persons were buried 
 alive by the collapse of the ventilation shaft. On 12th Dec., 1866, 
 an explosion in the Oaks Colliery, in Yorkshire, killed 334 men 
 and boys, and 28 searchers perished from a fresh explosion the next 
 morning. On 8th Nov., 1867, 178 men lost their lives in the Fern- 
 dale Colliery, in South Wales. On 6th Dec., 1875, 143 perished 
 in the Swaith Main Colliery, Yorkshire ; and on 22nd Oct., 1877, 
 an accident in the Blantyre Colliery proved fatal to 207. Ex- 
 plosions in 1878 killed 189 in the Haydock Colliery, Lancashire, 
 on 7th June, and no less than 268 in the Abercorn Colliery, Mon- 
 mouthshire, on 11th Sept. And in 1880, 164 lives were lost by 
 an accident in the Seaham Colliery. These are only the chief 
 calamities ; but not a year has passed without a large number of 
 
 D D 
 
402 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 other accidents, representing a loss of life each time ranging as 
 high as seventy-six. 
 
 The dreadful lesson taught by these events was not forgotten. 
 Even if it is found impossible as yet to put an end to such catas- 
 trophes altogether, science has investigated their causes, and 
 legislation and the Government have devised and enforced preven- 
 tive regulations, calculated to give greater security to the miners. 
 And, at the same time, the spirit of self-help among those who 
 suffer from these calamities has sought to fninimise their disastrous 
 economic consequences, as regards the injured and the survivors 
 of the dead, by the establishment of accident insurance societies. 
 So far as all these efforts have been hitherto successful, the 
 result is due to the co-operation of all the factors we have men- 
 tioned. Science with her investigations, legislation with its 
 enacting regulations, the Government by means of its inspectors, 
 all contribute to limit the dangers of this industry and to narrow 
 the field of action which the Eriendly Societies have to embrace ; 
 while, on the other hand, the action of these societies and the 
 fact of their self-government help to diffuse among the miners the 
 knowledge of their special dangers and of the necessary measures 
 of precaution, and also to increase that sense of personal responsi- 
 bility which is such an all-important requisite in mining. 
 
 To consider all these facts here at length would lead us beyond 
 our limits. We would refer generally to what we have already 
 remarked on this subject, adding merely one observation. 
 
 The Legislature, as we stated in our introduction, has introduced, 
 through the Coal Mines Regulation Act of 1872 and the Metal- 
 liferous Mines Regulation Acts of 1872 and 1875, a series of 
 important preventive measures, contained in the rules and 
 elaborate provisions of the various sections. For the purpose of 
 supervising the observance of these directions, the whole of Great 
 'Britain is divided into twelve mining districts, each under an 
 inspector. The number of these inspectors is confessedly far too 
 small, it is true, to enable the supervision to be thoroughly 
 effective. Nevertheless, their reports not only give a picture of 
 the unwearying activity of these officials, but have a high scien- 
 tific and moral value. They furnish rich materials for the study 
 of accident statistics, every accident — which must be reported to 
 
Miners' Permanent Relief Societies. 403 
 
 the inspector being classified according to its cause, and the results 
 stated, examined, and explained by percentages, diagrams, etc. 
 Among other things, every inspector prepares a cert ificate, printed 
 with the report, of all the accidents, whether fatal or not, occur- 
 ring in his district, stating the date and cause, the name and 
 occupation of the sufferer, and the name of the person or firm 
 that employed him. The reports contain also full information 
 respecting the means for preventing accidents, and show clearly 
 how strenuously the inspectors endeavour, though as yet with but 
 imperfect success, to enforce the provisions of the Acts. 
 
 Valuable, however, as is the series of these Reports of the 
 Inspectors of Mines since 1872, nevertheless there was a growing 
 conviction of the necessity of a more comprehensive and, above 
 all, a scientific inquiry into the causes and preventibility of 
 accidents in mines. This conviction led, in 1879, to the appoint- 
 ment of a Royal Commission, which was directed to inquire and 
 report — u Whether the resources of science furnish any practi- 
 cable expedients, not now in use, which are calculated to prevent 
 the occurrence of accidents in mines, or to limit their disastrous 
 consequences.” The Commissioners issued in 1881 a preliminary 
 report, containing the evidence of a large number of witnesses, 
 and in 1886 concluded their seven years’ labours with their final 
 report of that year.* They occupied themselves principally with 
 the coal mines, the causes of colliery accidents, and all the pre- 
 cautionary measures and arrangements, either already instituted 
 or proposed, with a view to preventing them. As, in earlier days, 
 Faraday and Lyell had given the assistance of their experience 
 and authority in the consideration of these questions, so now the 
 Commission had the aid of men like Tyndall and Abel. Evidence 
 was taken from persons, concerned in coal-mining, belonging to 
 the most different classes and all parts of the country, from the 
 simple Welsh miner, who required an interpreter to enable the 
 Commissioners to understand him, to the educated and experienced 
 managers of the great colliery undertakings ; thousands of experi- 
 ments were made, not only in the laboratory, but on a large scale 
 
 * Final Report of Her Majesty’s Commissioners appointed to inquire into 
 Accidents in Mines, and the possible means of preventing their occurrence of 
 limiting their disastrous consequences; 1886. 
 
404 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 in the mines themselves ; and the comparative progress made in 
 tins field on the Continent, and particularly in Prussia, where 
 experiments have reached the same pitch as in England, was care- 
 fully investigated. In their final report the Commissioners have 
 stated in detail the results of their inquiries. 
 
 According to a statistical statement at the beginning of this 
 report, the total number of deaths in coal-mines between 1875- 
 1884 was 11,165, of which 2,562 were from explosions of fire- 
 damp, 4,582 from falls of roof and sides, and 4,021 from miscel- 
 laneous causes. The investigation of these different causes, and 
 the examination of the means of preventing them, form the subject 
 of the Commissioners’ inquiry. The Report considers the method 
 of working and ventilation, the various methods for preventing 
 falls of roof and sides, spontaneous combustion, and the other 
 causes of accidents in mines (chap, i.-iv.). It gives an exhaustive 
 statement of the results of experiments in connection with fire- 
 damp (chap, v.) and coal-dust (chap. vi.). A further chapter (chap, 
 vii.) is devoted to explosive agents, and the numerous attempts 
 made to render blasting with gunpowder and dynamite harmless, 
 or to substitute for it blasting by means of compressed air or lime 
 cartridges. But the most important experiments and inquiries 
 are those contained in chapters viii. and ix., which relate to safety- 
 lamps and the lighting of mines. A large number of safety-lamps, 
 constructed on the principle of that invented by Sir Humphry 
 Davy, were examined and tested by the Commissioners, and their 
 merits and demerits carefully compared. The Report says rightly 
 that the illuminating power, safety, and handiness of the lamps 
 are of the greatest preventive importance, and the improvement 
 of the lighting of the mines is a matter that has occupied the 
 active attention of all parties interested in mining. The use of 
 the electric light will, perhaps, lead to a revolution in this respect. 
 The Commissioners examined in detail the results of the electric 
 experiments already made, which seek to solve a number of the 
 most difficult problems. They express their sanguine expectation 
 that the facilities already existing, and which cannot fail to be 
 further and importantly developed within a brief period for the 
 safe application of the glow-lamp underground, will lead to a 
 gradual extension of permanent lighting installations in mines. 
 
Miners' Permanent Relief Societies. 
 
 405 
 
 Another and much more difficult problem is how to apply the 
 electric light to the lamps which the miner is obliged to carry 
 with him, their portable character making it impossible to connect 
 them with a wire and generating station ; and the utmost that 
 any efforts in this direction can accomplish, is either to give the 
 miner small, portable batteries, or to store his lamp with accumu- 
 lated electricity sufficient to last for a certain number of hours. 
 In both these respects, people in England have not yet got beyond 
 the stage of experiment, and the difficulties are increased by the 
 fact that the electric lamps are wanting in what forms an im- 
 portant peculiarity of oil lamps — namely, their indicating by 
 certain signs in their manner of burning the presence of danger- 
 ous gases. For this reason, the Commissioners took pains to 
 examine some instruments, called “ fire-damp indicators,” which 
 were intended as necessary adjuncts to the electric lamp. 
 
 We have allowed ourselves this digression, being anxious to 
 show how, since the Coal Mines’ Regulation Act of 1872, and the 
 Metalliferous Mines’ Regulation Acts of 1872 and 1875, the legis- 
 lature and the Government, as well as science and practical 
 experiment, have been working together, with concentrated forces, 
 to lessen the number of those whom coal-mining claims as its 
 victims. 
 
 The effect of all these endeavours, or, more correctly speaking, 
 the beginning of their effect, N has already been apparent in a 
 visible diminution of the comparative number of deaths. The 
 total of these, taken in proportion to the total output of coal, 
 shows that whereas between 1869 and 1873 one life represented 
 on output of 113,234 tons, it represented during the following 
 quinquennium, 122,925 tons, and between 1878 and 1883 a further 
 increase of 154,156 tons, being at least a diminutiou in the sad 
 price paid.* The following table exhibits this decrease of mor- 
 tality by means of other figures, from which it appears that the 
 number of deaths in proportion to the number of persons enployed 
 in coal-mining, has been reduced to nearly one-half of what it was 
 twenty-five years ago : — 
 
 * Reports of the Inspectors of Mines to Her Majesty’s Secretary of State for 
 the year 1883, p. 67. The table that follows in the text is also taken from 
 these Reports. 
 
40 6 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 Quinquennium. 
 
 Average number of 
 Workmen Employed 
 in Coal-mines 
 during each Year. 
 
 Average number of 
 Fatal Accidents 
 per Year. 
 
 Average number of 
 Fatal Accidents 
 per 1000 Workmen. 
 
 1859-1863 
 
 282,325 
 
 1,057 
 
 3*78 
 
 1864-1868 
 
 326,097 
 
 1,184 
 
 3-63 
 
 1869-1873 
 
 399,501 
 
 1,105 
 
 2*76 
 
 1874-1878 
 
 510,377 
 
 1,169 
 
 2-29 
 
 1879-1883 
 
 494,377 
 
 1,085 
 
 2-19 
 
 This table also shows that, notwithstanding the relative de- 
 crease in the absolute number of accidents, in consequence of the 
 constant extension of mining, no actual decrease has taken place. 
 It seems impossible to prevent even the greatest catastrophes, 
 and they follow one another as before, though, perhaps, at longer 
 intervals. Friendly Societies are, therefore, now as necessary as 
 ever. Even in this respect, those great catastrophes, which are 
 mentioned above, have given a powerful impulse, which will ulti- 
 mately lead to the establishment, by the initiative and energy of 
 the working-men themselves, of a number of institutions for syste- 
 matically insuring against accident. 
 
 It has long since been a practice in the English colliery dis- 
 tricts, on the occasion of accidents, to make provision for the 
 injured or survivors of the killed, by means of contributions, not 
 only from the workmen, but also from the employers. The pro- 
 ceedings in earlier days were the same as those in Friendly 
 Societies of the primitive form. Collections were first started to 
 meet each case as it arose ; in course of time, regular subscrip- 
 tions were levied, and a fund was thus established, which, how- 
 ever, invariably proved inadequate when any great catastrophe 
 occurred. These societies, or “ pit-clubs,” as they were called, 
 being as a rule restricted to the workmen in a particular colliery, 
 could not possibly, thus isolated as they were, bear the risks of 
 any accident of magnitude. The consequence of this was, that as 
 soon as any calamity took place, involving the loss of many lives 
 and necessitating the relief of many families, they were compelled 
 to appeal to public benevolence. These appeals were mostly suc- 
 cessful, for such calamities stirred the heart of the whole nation, 
 and subscriptions flowed in, frequently bringing more money than 
 
Miners' Permanent Relief Societies . 
 
 40 / 
 
 could be spent. More than £85,000 was collected after the Hartley 
 Colliery accident, and the Lord Mayor had to declare the Mansion 
 House Fund closed. But this very superfluity of charity, on 
 special occasions, led to an unfairness ; for, while full pecuniary 
 compensation was given to the survivors in the case of great catas- 
 trophes of this kind, the necessary aid was often wanting in the 
 numerous instances of smaller or individual accidents, which, as 
 figures plainly show, form no less than three-fourths of all mining 
 accidents together. Add to this the fact, that between 1860 and 
 1870 an unusually large number of great catastrophes occurred, 
 the very frequency of which tended to slacken the efforts of public 
 charity, and thus made the necessity of systematic relief all the 
 more sensibly felt.* 
 
 Various projects were mooted immediately after the Hartley 
 Colliery accident. One of these proposed to provide the means of 
 insurance against accident by an addition per ton to the cost of 
 coal; another proposed to levy compulsory premiums from the 
 miners, and thus establish a quasi-national insurance. All these 
 schemes, however, remained on paper, and the question was again 
 left for self-help to settle. This was done by the establishment 
 of a number of Permanent Relief Societies, intended to provide 
 for workmen either temporarily or permanently disabled by acci- 
 dent, as well as for their widows and orphans in case of death, 
 this object being secured by means of regular tables of premiums, 
 the larger portion of which was to be contributed by the workmen 
 themselves, and the smaller by their employers. Eight of such 
 
 * For the account of the origin and extension of the Permanent Relief 
 Societies, I have consulted, above all, the rules and annual reports of these 
 societies, which have been kindly furnished to me by the secretaries, and, 
 further, the following two small publications, both extremely instructive as 
 regards the origin and object of the whole movement : “ Miners’ Insurance 
 Funds : their Origin and Extent,” by Mr. George L. Campbell, the Secretary 
 of the Lancashire and Cheshire Miners’ Permanent Relief Society, to whom I 
 am indebted also for a valuable amount of oral information ; and “ Miners’ 
 Permanent Relief Funds : a Series of Letters,” by Mr. William Watson, the 
 Secretary of the West Riding Miners’ Permanent Relief Fund Friendly Society. 
 The periodical entitled The Provident , to which I have already alluded, may 
 be regarded as the organ of these societies : it is edited by Mr. George Camp- 
 bell, and always abounds in information on this subject. 
 
408 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 societies have been in existence in the colliery districts of England 
 and Wales since 1862, when the first of them were started in 
 Northumberland and Durham. 
 
 The coal-miners of these two counties were thus the pioneers 
 of this idea. In each of these counties coal-mining has long since 
 been a most important industry ; at the present day no less than 
 50,000 or 60,000 colliers are actively employed within a radius 
 of twelve miles from Durham. These miners are a typical race, 
 who, in their settlements round the various coal-pits, lead a life 
 quite apart. Not without a leaning to play and sport, these hard- 
 working, strong, and healthy miners of the north possess a fund 
 of qualities which have made them among the best-trained 
 champions of the higher rights, higher duties, and better material 
 condition of the working classes. The Miners’ Union of this 
 neighbourhood have their headquarters in Durham, and possess 
 there a house of their own, where all their business is conducted. 
 Their Secretary, Mr. William Crawford, himself a former miner, 
 is now a Member of Parliament. Once a year regularly these 
 men flock from all sides into Durham, and march with music and 
 banners, often 40,000 or 50,000 strong, to their annual meeting 
 where they listen with perfect freedom, but with marvellous order 
 and quiet, to the speeches addressed to them, and show their 
 spirit of brotherhood to all the world. When their leaders meet to 
 dine, all spirituous liquors are forbidden, as an example to the 
 great mass of members, among whom there has always existed 
 a strong propensity to drink, in consequence of both climate and 
 custom, a propensity, however, which active efforts are made to 
 check. Strong and powerful in their Trades-unions, these men 
 have also rapidly developed their societies for insurance against 
 accident.* The first annual report of the Northumberland and 
 
 * I have never had a clearer illustration of the inner connection between all 
 the efforts made in England for the improvement of the working classes, than 
 at a meeting held at Durham in 1883, on the occasion of unveiling a memorial 
 erected by the Miners’ Union to their late leader, Mr. Alexander Macdonald. 
 Many thousand coal-miners were assembled. Nearly all their leaders were 
 present, men who took the lead in their various associations, Trades-unions, 
 Co-operative Societies, and Friendly Societies, as well as in the Permanent 
 Belief Fund, among them several who had recently been elected to Parliament. 
 And these leaders are as conscious of their objects as their followers are loyal 
 
Miners' Permanent Relief Societies. 
 
 4 C 9 
 
 Durham Miners’ Permanent Relief Fund, for 1863, showed a total 
 of 4,000 members, with receipts from contributions amounting to 
 £904, and payments of £141 for burial money, £53 for widows’ 
 and orphans’ annuities, and £10 for disablement allowances. In 
 
 in their obedience. One institution depends on the other, not materially, but 
 as a simultaneous and active expression of the strength of the working class, 
 kept together by their leaders. The latter, risen almost exclusively from the 
 ranks of ordinary working men, have acquired by their self-education the ability 
 and art of guiding the great mass. 
 
 On the occasion of this meeting at Durham, Mr. Lloyd Jones, a lately 
 deceased veteran of the working-men’s movement in England, whom I have 
 accompanied on so many of his tours, wrote a biographical sketch of Mr- 
 Macdonald in the Newcastle Daily Chronicle of 17th November, 1883, which 
 testifies better than anything else to the forces at work in promoting the 
 elevation of the lower classes in England, and a portion of which we propose, 
 therefore, to quote : — 
 
 “ The fast-increasing demands,” says Mr. Lloyd Jones, “ upon the resources 
 of the elder Macdonald, as his progeny came into the world, did not allow him 
 to give his son Alexander the advantage of more than the merest rudiments of 
 education. At that period the hand of the reformer had not begun to sweep 
 away the customs which called upon women and children of tender years to 
 undertake unsuitable labour. The cry for bread drowned the then feeble cry 
 for education, and Alexander Macdonald, when only eight years of age, was 
 sent to work in the coal mine. Though employed for many hours each day in 
 the mine, he was yet enabled, with the assistance of his mother, to make an 
 effort to compensate for the deficiencies of his education. At what sacrifices, 
 and under what difficulties he essayed to carry on the work of self-culture, may 
 be imagined, his circumstances being such that they must have called for more 
 than ordinary courage and perseverance. As years passed by, he, like many 
 Scotch lads, became ambitious of following a course of instruction at the 
 nearest University. While yet earning his own livelihood, and doing something 
 towards that of his brothers and sisters, he decided to add to his education in 
 this way, and carried his resolve to a successful issue. Though working in the 
 mine fifteen hours a day, he set himself to the task of preparing for his visit 
 to the University by making himself master, not only of the elements of 
 education, but also of the first stages of the dead languages and of the sciences. 
 His mother, entering with ambition equal to his own into the project, gave him 
 all the aid in her power. It was, however, only after a struggle lasting several 
 years, and when he had reached the age of twenty-five years, that he achieved 
 his great aim. In the year 1846 he began his studies at the University of Glas- 
 gow, but he was not yet entirely released from his labours in the mine. When 
 the session closed, instead of, like his fellow-students, indulging in the luxury 
 of a well-earned holiday, he returned home, donned his pit clothes, and set 
 himself to the task of wielding his pick to obtain the money to carry him 
 through the next session. His courage never faltered, however, and his 
 
4io English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 1885 this society numbered no less than 86,866 members, and 
 showed payments of £1,793 for burial money, £16,435 for widows’ 
 and orphans’ annuities, £20,930 for disablement allowances, and 
 £17,494 for superannuation. The establishment of this accident 
 insurance society was soon followed by that of others. It was 
 the efforts of Sir Lovelace Stamer that succeeded in inducing the 
 mine-owners and miners of North Staffordshire to found one of 
 these societies in 1869. In 1873 followed the establishment of a 
 society for Lancashire and Cheshire ; and in 1877, that of another 
 for the West Hiding of Yorkshire. In the last-named district 
 attempts to realize this idea had been made since 1866, till at 
 length in 1877, under the impression created by the great 
 catastrophe in the Swaith Main Colliery, the Hev. H. J. Lay, 
 Hector of St. Mary, Barnsley, together with Mr. William Watson, 
 the present Secretary of the Society, succeeded in forming the 
 
 indomitable perseverance was crowned with marked success. When he had 
 obtained the education he had coveted, he laid aside his pick, and starting life 
 afresh as a school teacher near Glasgow, he was employed in that capacity for 
 seven or eight years. But while ardently engaged in securing education, he yet 
 found time in which to observe and to meditate upon the condition of the 
 people amongst whom he lived. At an early age he had begun to take a lively 
 interest in public affairs ; his information on political subjects being almost 
 entirely gained from the newspapers, which he read with avidity. His views 
 on the various questions that arose were formed from reading the speeches of 
 the leading politicians and public men of the day. When he was only nineteen 
 years of age, he had the courage to raise his voice in denouncing the employ- 
 ment of women in the mines for a mere pittance as slavery. Other and more 
 powerful voices were then raising the same cry, and two years later the Act 
 prohibiting the employment of women in the mines was passed. This victory 
 having been obtained, his energies were turned to the advocacy of the claims 
 of the men of his own class to better pay for their dangerous and arduous 
 labours in the bowels of the earth. From 1842, movements, having for their 
 object the amelioration of the condition of the miners of Scotland, were begun, 
 and smarting as he then was under the hardships of his own lot, he entered 
 into them with all the ardour of youth. The masters were prepared to make 
 a fight of it, and nothing was left for the men to do, if they wished to win, but 
 to take the serious step of organizing a strike. Such a project at that period, 
 when the men were not banded together in societies, and had not funds on 
 which to rely for support, was a desperate one ; and such it proved. The 
 Lanarkshire miners, Alexander Macdonald, of course, amongst them, came out 
 on strike for an increase of wages, but the contest was an unequal one ; and at 
 the close of the struggle the men returned to work little benefited by their 
 
Miners' Permanent Relief Societies. 411 
 
 West Biding of Yorkshire Miners’ Permanent Belief Fund. 
 “As to the efforts put forth,” says Mr. Watson, “for making 
 the miners acquainted with the society, it may be said that 
 almost every occasion has been embraced to explain to them its 
 objects, its principles, and its work, through the press, by public 
 meetings, by reports, and such like means. As becomes me in 
 fulfilling my office, I have gone to any and every place at any 
 likely time where and when there seemed to be an opportunity to 
 impart a knowledge of, and induce interest in our mission both 
 among r t miners, colliery officials, or owners, or outsiders either. 
 We have also had a goodly number of friends, ministers of 
 religion, and others, who have gladly and freely lent their 
 generous and unpaid assistance in spreading intelligence respect- 
 ing the cause from the platform and in various other ways.” 
 
 In 1878 followed, in North Wales, the establishment of another 
 
 effort. The masters, not content with having been ^victorious, stooped to 
 revenge themselves upon the leaders of the movement, and though then only 
 twenty-two years of age, Macdonald had taken such a prominent part as to 
 become one of the marked men. Though dismissed from employment in the 
 mine in which he had passed through the grades from the trapper to the 
 hewer, he managed to obtain employment in the district. In 1851, while yet 
 studying at the University of Glasgow during the session, and working in the 
 mines during the recess, his advocacy of the claims of the miners had made 
 him known as a leader all over the west of Scotland. He was frequently seen 
 on the labour platforms, and he advocated not only the advance of the wages 
 of the miners, but also the passing of new laws for the regulation of mines. It 
 can easily be conceived that with an experience such as his, he could speak on 
 such subjects with peculiar eloquence and power. It would be impossible in 
 a brief notice such as this to follow Mr. Macdonald in all his labours towards 
 this end, or to describe all the movements for the amelioration of the condition 
 of his class, not only in Scotland but also in England, that received his aid. 
 . . . In 1857 he relinquished his scholastic duties near Glasgow, and 
 entered upon the duties of miners’ agent, a post, it need hardly be said, that 
 he filled with credit to himself and with advantage to those whom he served. 
 As time advanced, his influence increased, while he attained a prosperity of 
 which in his early years he would hardly have dared even to dream. He now 
 became anxious to urge the cause which had become his life’s mission directly 
 upon those in power ; and the general election that followed the passing of the 
 Reform Bill of 1868, found him a candidate for a seat in Parliament as repre- 
 sentative for the Kilmarnock Burghs. He was unsuccessful ; but in 1874 he 
 was returned as the member for Stafford, and sat for that borough until his 
 death.” 
 
412 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 society of this kind; in 1879, in the Midland Comities; in 1881, 
 in Monmouthshire and South Wales ; and, finally, in 1883, in 
 the Midland District, the last of which, however, restricts its 
 insurance to fatal accidents. This movement has met with 
 support on all sides. Among the honorary members of these 
 societies, who have taken a prominent part in their establishment, 
 and still hold the office of president, are large landowners like 
 Earl Fitzwilliam, Viscount Halifax, and the Earl of Wharncliffe ; 
 the nobility and gentry in some counties have taken the matter 
 up warmly ; the mine-owners themselves give annual subscrip- 
 tions, and manage the collection of the members’ contributions 
 for the society by deducting them from the wages of the work- 
 men in their employ ; and the officers and managers of the large 
 collieries are also members of these societies, and make common 
 cause with the workmen. 
 
 In this manner a network has been gradually spread of terri- 
 torially-limited societies, the members of which at present form 
 already one- half of all the miners of England. The way in which 
 the numbers and business of these societies have increased 
 during the last few years, will be best ascertained by the follow- 
 ing table, the figures in which relate collectively to all of the 
 eight societies we have mentioned : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 Number 
 
 of 
 
 Members. 
 
 Revenue. 
 
 Funds. 
 
 Number 
 
 of 
 
 Deaths. 
 
 Number of 
 Disable- 
 ments. 
 
 Number 
 
 of 
 
 Widows 
 
 relieved. 
 
 Number of 
 Orphans 
 relieved. 
 
 1878 
 
 98,884 
 
 £ 
 
 68,198 
 
 £ 
 
 87,633 
 
 
 
 
 
 1879 
 
 113,796 
 
 80,581 
 
 104,198 
 
 254 
 
 20,594 
 
 667 
 
 1,351 
 
 1880 
 
 125,448 
 
 88,704 
 
 122,866 
 
 241 
 
 21,653 
 
 774 
 
 1,561 
 
 1881 
 
 140,372 
 
 104,285 
 
 141,762 
 
 490 
 
 23,542 
 
 942 
 
 2,013 
 
 1882 
 
 155,404 
 
 118,220 
 
 162,199 
 
 416 
 
 30,183 
 
 1,130 
 
 2,302 
 
 1883 
 
 183,140 
 
 137,177 
 
 183,845 
 
 439 
 
 33,454 
 
 1,307 
 
 2,664 
 
 1884 
 
 197,203 
 
 156,960 
 
 209,334 
 
 408 
 
 32,871 
 
 1,401 
 
 2,818 
 
 1885 
 
 209,306 
 
 161,815 
 
 234,485 
 
 446 
 
 34,878 
 
 1,564 
 
 3,064 
 
 1886 
 
 221,339 
 
 163,185 
 
 247,852 
 
 501 
 
 34,803 
 
 1,793 
 
 3,300 
 
 The numerical strength and importance of these eight societies, 
 of course, differ, and we will, therefore, subjoin a comparative 
 statement for the year 1885, showing, as far as data have been 
 
Miners' Permanent Relief Societies . 
 
 4*3 
 
 forthcoming, the number of members, revenue, expenditure, and 
 funds for each : — 
 
 Name of Society. 
 
 Number of 
 Members. 
 
 Receipts. 
 
 Burial 
 Money paid. 
 
 Disablement 
 
 Allowances. 
 
 Widows’ and 
 Orphans’ 
 
 1 Annuities. 
 
 Superannua- 
 
 tion. 
 
 Funds. 
 
 Northumberland and Durham 
 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 Permanent Relief Fund 
 North Staffordshire P. R. 
 
 86,866 
 
 69,574 
 
 1,793 
 
 20,930 
 
 16,435 17,494 
 
 1 
 
 116,916 
 
 Society 
 
 Lancashire and Cheshire P. 
 
 5,044 
 
 3,793 
 
 — 
 
 2,023 
 
 1,379 
 
 — 
 
 5,572 
 
 R. Society 
 
 West Riding of Yorkshire P. 
 
 38,232 
 
 39,479 
 
 900 
 
 17,283 
 
 9,202 
 
 — 
 
 42,880 
 
 R. Society 
 
 15,374 
 
 9,752 
 
 299 
 
 5,146 
 
 2 , 2 S 3 
 
 615 
 
 23,904 
 
 North Wales P. R. Society . 
 
 10,568 
 
 6,603 
 
 — 
 
 2,054 
 
 2,000 
 
 — 
 
 7,584 
 
 Midland Counties P. R. Fund 
 Monmouthshire and South 
 Wales P. Provident Society 
 
 1,743 
 
 1,361 
 
 
 499 
 
 581 
 
 28 
 
 493 
 
 37,459 
 
 27,746 
 
 
 . . 20,206 . 
 
 
 29,678 
 
 Midland District 
 
 14,020 
 
 3,507 
 
 • ■ 
 
 • • 
 
 “ • 
 
 • * 
 
 7,456 
 
 It is evident from the above that the development of these 
 societies has been rapid, that the society first established in 
 Northumberland and Durham is still far ahead of all the others, 
 but that the idea has already gained a strong footing in the rest 
 of the coal-mining districts of England. 
 
 It remains now to sketch the main features shared in common 
 by these societies. All of them have taken as their model the 
 one first started by the miners of Northumberland and Durham. 
 We will state shortly the scope of their insurance, their actuarial 
 basis, the attempts made to amalgamate them under a supreme 
 union, and, lastly, their machinery of administration. 
 
 The object of these societies is to mitigate, as far as possible, 
 the economic consequences of mining accidents, as regards not 
 only the sufferers themselves, but also the survivors, irrespective 
 of whether the accident occurred from the imprudence of the 
 workman himself, insufficient supervision, defective machinery, 
 or by pure chance. The system of insurance extends, accordingly, 
 to making a provision in the first place for the disabled workman 
 himself, who receives from 5 s. to 85. per week. This relief is 
 either temporary or permanent, according to the consequences of 
 
\ 
 
 414 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 the accident. In this matter the various societies proceed in 
 different ways. While, for example, the Northumberland and 
 Durham Society pays 5s. per week for the first twenty-six weeks 
 of disablement, and 8s. per week after that period and in case of 
 total disablement, the North Staffordshire has a different scale, 
 paying 4s. per week for the first five years, 2s. per week for the 
 next five years, and after that discontinuing the relief alto- 
 gether. In the rules of all these societies, however, power is 
 given to the committee of management to pension off with a lump 
 sum a member permanently disabled. If a member is killed, 
 burial money is payable, varying from £20 to £23, an amount 
 more than sufficient therefore to cover the actual expenses of 
 interment, and comprising a sum for life assurance besides. The 
 burial money for married members is only £5, there being also a 
 provision in this case for the widow and orphans. The widow of 
 a member receives as a rule 5s. per week “ so long as she remains 
 his chaste widow, and conducts herself generally with becoming 
 propriety to the satisfaction of the society ” ; and each of the 
 children 2s. or 2s. 6d. a week to the respective ages of 10 and 12 ; 
 and, if deprived of both parents, Is. a week more. Some of these 
 societies transfer the widow’s pension, if there is no widow, to 
 some other near person who had been dependent on the deceased 
 member during his life-time, as, for example, his parents who 
 are past work, or other needy relatives. The Northumberland 
 and Durham Society, as also that of the West Riding of York- 
 shire, combine superannuation with accident insurance ; and the 
 Lancashire and Cheshire Society provides also medical aid and 
 medicines for the injured, and allows wider limits to insurance in 
 case of death. 
 
 We will consider now the actuarial position of these societies. 
 The statistics of accidents, the first basis of actuarial calculation, 
 have been only partially forthcoming. So far as fatal accidents 
 are concerned, a rich mass of material has already been collected 
 by the Inspectors of Mines in their annual Reports ; but it is 
 different as regards the knowledge of the number and gravity of 
 those accidents which involve temporary or permanent disable- 
 ment. Here, as we have remarked also in the case of other 
 Friendly Societies, it is necessary to proceed at first on purely 
 
Miners' Permanent Relief Societies . 
 
 415 
 
 approximate results, until these results have been gradually recti- 
 fied. by experience, and can be converted, after a number of 
 observed years, into at least relatively fixed quantities. A work 
 published by Mr. Francis Gr. P. Neison on this subject may be 
 regarded as the first step taken to obtain firm statistical ground 
 for the calculation of accident insurance/* Mr. Neison takes for 
 his authorities, on the one hand, the Reports of the Inspectors of 
 Mines, and, on the other, the published experiences of the per- 
 manent societies, and arrives at substantially the following re- 
 sults. Compared with the total number of persons employed in 
 mining, there has been a steady diminution in the number of 
 fatal accidents during the last twenty years. The most frequent 
 causes of accident are the falls of coal or roof. The number as 
 well as the nature of accidents differ very much in particular 
 districts, those in one district being often twice as many as those 
 in another. The number of non-fatal accidents per 1,000 work- 
 men varies from 1,400 to 1,900 annually; those involving a dis- 
 ablement of more than six months’ range from 30 to 25 ; and of 
 every 100 miners killed, 60 on an average were married and left 
 two children. 
 
 We have mentioned already that these societies, the most 
 modern creations of the Friendly Society movement in England, are 
 endeavouring to carry out the new system of premiums and re- 
 serves. The large field taken in by these societies, through their 
 making provision for widows and orphans, made high premiums a 
 necessity from the beginning, and hence they have always en- 
 deavoured to secure extraneous aid. This aid has been freely 
 given them by the large employers, and Mr. Neison is able to say 
 in consequence of the permanent societies : 11 These organizations, 
 supported by the joint subscriptions of the employers and em- 
 ployed, are based on the principle that all the incoming risks of 
 each year shall be met by a contribution equivalenfito the capital- 
 ised value of the accruing liabilities.” 
 
 But however clearly and definitely the necessity was kept in 
 
 * “ The Rate of Fatal and Non-Fatal Accidents in and about Mines and on 
 Railways, with the Cost of Insurance against such Accidents,” by Francis G. P. 
 Neison. London : Harrison & Sons, 1880. 
 
416 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 view, when these societies were first established, of giving them 
 a firm actuarial basis, there have always been great difficulties to 
 surmount. As will readily be understood, benefits were pro- 
 mised at the commencement of an amount, and under conditions, 
 fulfilling, no doubt, if not entirely, at least to some extent satis- 
 factorily, their special objects, but not only without any adequate 
 means, from the want of statistical data, of accurately calculating 
 the full premiums payable, but also without any wish or inten- 
 tion to impose them in full on the members, the societies calculat- 
 ing as a rule on a subscription of 20 per cent, from the employers. 
 All of these societies ha''e suffered more or less heavy losses in 
 this respect, these subscriptions having fallen short of what was 
 expected. The employers, it is true, have long supported the earlier 
 existing societies of miners; but a circumstance has arisen in 
 more recent years which has checked, at least for a while, their 
 co-operation. This was the passing of the Employers’ Liability 
 Act of 1880. Many employers, in consequence of this Act, re- 
 duced or entirely withdrew their subscriptions, being unable, 
 they declared, to foresee what liabilities its provisions would 
 entail ; others compelled their workmen to 11 contract out of the 
 Act,” which caused much bad blood; and it is only in a few 
 places that workman and employer have agreed to ignore the Act 
 and keep to the old relations. In general, however, here also the 
 Act has brought about, however indirectly, a recognition of the 
 fact that the question can only be settled by insurance. A further 
 difficulty, as regards these societies, arises from the tendency 
 displayed at so many of their general meetings to increase as 
 much as possible the benefits without reference to the premiums. 
 This tendency, is kept in check, it is true, by the more prudent 
 and discerning element at the general meetings ; but it interferes 
 with the consolidation of the societies.* The safest means of 
 estimating the financial position of these societies, all of which have 
 
 * The following tabular statement is taken from the annual reports of the 
 Northumberland and Durham Permanent Belief Fund, with the view of show- 
 ing the growth of this Society. But even in this, the most wealthy of the 
 accident insurance societies, the future alone will show whether the reserves 
 will suffice to meet the rapidly increasing liabilities of widow, disablement, and 
 superannuation insurance. With regard to the promised superannuation 
 
Miners' Permanent Relief Society. 417 
 
 been registered under the Act of 1875, will be given by the valu- 
 ations prescribed by the Act. With the results of these we are 
 not yet acquainted ; but the Lancashire and Cheshire Society, as 
 we gather from the annual report, has an actuarial deficit of 
 £30,000. This result, after what we have said, will surprise 
 nobody : and we are probably therefore not wrong in conjecturing 
 that other societies also — on account of the precarious and fluctu- 
 ating subscriptions of the employers ; the difficulty of carrying out 
 the reduction of the benefits, and the raising where necessary of 
 the premiums ; and, lastly, the heavy obligations imposed all at 
 once by some great catastrophe on societies most of which are 
 still young, and have neither sufficient members nor a large 
 enough reserve fund at their disposal — have yet to attain full 
 actuarial solvency. On the other hand, we do not wish to under- 
 value the importance of the voluntary contributions given to the 
 societies by public benevolence on the occasion of a great mining 
 calamity. Thus the Northumberland and Durham Permanent 
 
 allowance of 4s. per week, the rules already provide for its discontinuance if 
 necessary. 
 
 Year (ending March). 
 
 Number of Members. 
 
 Receipts. 
 
 Expenditure. 
 
 Fund. 
 
 Contributions of 
 Members. 
 
 Subscriptions and 
 Donations of Employers 
 and Honorary Members. 
 
 Interest. 
 
 Burial Money. 
 
 . 
 
 Widows’ and Orphans* 
 Annuities. 
 
 Disablement Annuities. 
 
 Superannuation. 
 
 Costs of Management. 
 
 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 1863 
 
 4,000 
 
 904 
 
 15 
 
 2 
 
 141 
 
 53 
 
 10 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 739 
 
 1865 
 
 7,000 
 
 1,664 
 
 33 
 
 157 
 
 284 
 
 626 
 
 342 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 2,191 
 
 1870 
 
 12,556 
 
 4,094 
 
 507 
 
 358 
 
 428 
 
 2,295 
 
 844 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 10,904 
 
 1875 
 
 44,008 
 
 24,033 
 
 3,938 
 
 835 
 
 844 
 
 5,174 
 
 7,518 
 
 206 
 
 3,394 
 
 33,588 
 
 1880 
 
 70,633 
 
 37,380 
 
 5,255 
 
 2,849 
 
 1,011 
 
 9,687 
 
 14,288 
 
 8,722 
 
 4,637 
 
 78,970 
 
 1881 
 
 75,255 
 
 44,055 
 
 8,210 
 
 3,049 
 
 2,953 
 
 11,816 
 
 15,428 
 
 9,306 
 
 5,196 
 
 89,532 
 
 1882 
 
 77,302 
 
 46,144 
 
 6,806 
 
 3,538 
 
 2,401 
 
 13,729 
 
 17,135 
 
 10,091 
 
 5,630 
 
 97,032 
 
 1883 
 
 81,603 
 
 53,050 3,423 
 
 3,824 
 
 1,946 
 
 15,429 
 
 17,962 
 
 12,837 
 
 6,482 
 
 102,671 
 
 1884 
 
 84,648 
 
 59,103 
 
 4,777 
 
 3,777 
 
 1,679 
 
 15,846 
 
 19,259 
 
 15,533 
 
 6,791 
 
 111,221 
 
 1885 
 
 86,866 
 
 61,175 4,378 
 
 4,020 
 
 1,793 
 
 16,435 
 
 20,930 
 
 17,494 
 
 7,225 
 
 116,916 
 
 E E 
 
41 8 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 Society .showed extraordinary receipts of this hind, amounting, in 
 1881 to £5,030, in 1882 to £489, and in 1888 to £384. 
 
 It would be of much greater importance, however, for the 
 future stability of these societies were it possible to carry out a 
 scheme, which has been mooted for some years and already partly 
 realized, but which in its essential point still awaits completion. 
 This scheme is the combination of all these societies into a 
 supreme association, intended, among other things, to distribute 
 the risks by a kind of re-insurance upon a broader basis. An 
 attempt was first made in 1878 by representatives of the societies 
 then existing, to form a central association. For this purpose a 
 conference was held at Manchester, under the presidency of the 
 High Sheriff of Lancashire and the Bishop and Lord Mayor of 
 Manchester, in which the scheme of a general association was 
 discussed. At a second conference, held at Manchester in 1880, 
 this central association was formed, which has since been joined 
 by all the societies.* Its objects, as stated in the rules, are to 
 confer on matters of common interest, particularly the application 
 of the Friendly Societies Act of 1875 ; to follow the proceedings 
 in Parliament on this subject; to promote the establishment of 
 new societies for insurance against accidents; and to study the 
 question of the re-insurance of the various societies of this kind, 
 A third conference was held in London in 1881, at which the 
 establishment of re-insurance was demanded on all sides. It was 
 clearly recognised that institutions based on voluntary member- 
 ship, and unable moreover to cover all their obligations, might be 
 seriously endangered — nay, possibly ruined — by great catastro- 
 phes ' r and that a mode must therefore be devised of giving in- 
 dividual societies greater support by means of a central associa- 
 tion. This plan was also not open to the objection alway urged 
 against re-insurance in the case of sick insurance, simulation being 
 
 * The Provident regularly reports the proceedings of the Conferences of the 
 Central Association. The scheme of re-insurance is contained in the Report 
 of the Fourth Conference, “Central Association for Dealing with Distress caused 
 by Mining Accidents : Report of the Proceedings at the Fourth Annual Con- 
 ference.” London: Harrison & Sons, 1882. The President of the Association 
 ii the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres. Among the Yice-Presidents are many 
 of the largest mine- owners in England. 
 
Miners' Permanent Relief Society. 
 
 419 
 
 almost impossible in that of accidents. Mr. Neison was accord- 
 ingly commissioned to prepare a report on the actuarial arrange- 
 ment of such a scheme of re-insurance, and he submitted his 
 report at the next conference. His proposal was that this re- 
 insurance should apply only to fatal accidents, and only to such of 
 these as involved the loss of at least five lives ; Mr. Neison’s view 
 being that ordinary risks might be borne by the societies inde- 
 pendently, and that only extraordinary accidents required extra- 
 ordinary aid. For this purpose he recommended the collection of 
 a central fund by levying a rate from all the members of the 
 individual societies, varying, according to his calculation, from 
 6cZ. to 2s. per year, and graduated according to the risks in the 
 various mining districts. Out of this fund every society, which 
 was “ hit ” by an accident proving fatal to more than five persons 
 received an allowance of £100 per death. This scheme was 
 approved in principle by the conference, and referred to the 
 committee of management to take the necessary steps for carry- 
 ing it out ; but since then the whole matter has hung fire. The 
 dread of the financial sacrifices which this re-insurance would 
 demand from each member ; the aversion to anything that even 
 only seemed to cramp the independence of the various societies ; 
 a certain jealousy between the societies themselves ; and, finally, 
 the circumstance that it was only the rich ones which had suffered 
 of late years by the great mining catastrophes, have hitherto 
 interfered with further action. 
 
 The Central Association, however, has been looking about since 
 its formation for other means of aid for the permanent societies. 
 The sums collected on the occasion of the great mining calami- 
 ties have frequently proved more than sufficient to provide for 
 the survivors of the victims. There are several such funds in 
 existence, administered by trustees, which from time to time 
 grant money out of surpluses in their hands to benefit societies 
 infirmaries, and educational, and other institutions intended for 
 the miners. It has been rightly pointed out, however, that these 
 surpluses could be more rationally applied to purposes of in- 
 surance, and that the present mode of spending them frequently 
 tends to fritter away the resources. The Central Association 
 have therefore laid it down in their rules as one of their objects 
 
420 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 to discover where such colliery explosion funds surpluses exist, 
 and reclaim them for the permanent societies. Their efforts have, 
 for instance, already succeeded in getting altogether £11,800 for 
 these societies from the Hartley Colliery Fund. There are cer- 
 tain legal difficulties, however, in the way of any general appli- 
 cation of such surpluses to this purpose, the trustees hesitating 
 to part with the capital of sums entrusted to them for a special 
 object. The Central Association accordingly resolved at their 
 conference in 1885 to introduce a bill for this purpose into 
 Parliament 
 
 The administrative machinery of these societies is the same m 
 all. Each society’s sphere of operations is territorially limited, 
 each of them being intended, as stated in the rules, for a parti- 
 cular mining district. Actuarially speaking, all the members of 
 a society form a unit, and the risk is equally divided among them 
 all. For the purposes of management, however, they are dis- 
 tributed among lodges, a lodge being composed of the workmen 
 employed in one or more adjacent pits.* 
 
 * The best insight into the administrative machinery of these societies is 
 given by the rules of one of them, the rules of the others being substantially 
 the same. We quote therefore at length the rules of the Lancashire and 
 Cheshire Society. See Appendix D. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Treatment of sick and accident insurance. — Improvements affected by sanitary 
 legislation. — Question of decrease of accidents. — Old age insurance. — Diffi- 
 culties attending a large scheme of superannuation. — Financial consolida- 
 tion of Friendly Societies. — Disadvantages and defects of these Societies. — 
 Their preponderating advantages. — Question of further State supervision. 
 Self-government of the working classes. — Hopeful prospects. 
 
 We will endeavour, in conclusion, to sum up the results obtained 
 in the course of our account of the Friendly Societies. 
 
 Let us first bear in mind the practical extent of the various 
 purposes of insurance embraced by the Friendly Societies. The 
 immediate object of most of these societies is the insurance of a 
 sick allowance and burial money ; their further objects differ in 
 extent and form. Sick insurance is, in several respects, in process 
 of development. One important feature of this development is the 
 provision made by the societies directly for medical attendance 
 and medicines. The conviction is gradually gaining ground, that 
 this insurance for medical aid is to the interest of both the insured 
 and the society. The establishment of Friendly Society dis- 
 pensaries and infirmaries is a further and useful extension of the 
 idea of providing sick benefits not only in money, but also in 
 medical treatment. Again, the sick benefit in the Friendly 
 Societies has been made to go beyond its originally narrow limits, 
 by extending, though to a lesser degree, to chronic cases and per- 
 manent disablement, and has thus become, at least partially, an in- 
 surance against infirmity. It is exactly on this point, however, that 
 new regulations will probably be required in future, connecting 
 the latter branch of insurance with that of superannuation pensions. 
 
 421 
 
422 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 And lastly, as we have repeatedly observed, sick insurance in the 
 Friendly Societies covers accident insurance. It is only in respect 
 of certain great and exceptional risks that it is contemplated to 
 deal with accidents as a separate and independent object of insur- 
 ance. This, so far from leading to an intrinsically unnatural 
 divorce of these two branches of insurance, will only further the 
 consolidation and extension of the societies at present exclusively 
 devoted to accident insurance, which have to deal with special 
 and preponderating risks. 
 
 To the assistance given, in a preventive sense, to sick and 
 accident insurance in England by sanitary measures, and the pro- 
 visions of the Factory and Mining Regulation Acts, we have 
 frequently had occasion to refer. The working classes are now 
 gradually experiencing the effects of the change produced in the 
 large towns by improved sanitary arrangements and better dwell- 
 ings. Of the greatest importance, however, are the efforts made 
 directly to study and put an £nd to the illnesses due to particular 
 occupations, and to prevent trade accidents. The reports of the 
 factory inspectors are now principally occupied with these 
 questions; the regulations intended to counteract influences 
 injurious to health or guard against accidents, form at present an 
 important branch of mechanical science ; and any one who has 
 recently visited the large factories in England, will meet with 
 these preventive measures wherever he goes. Certain under- 
 takings — as, for example, the great chemical works — have entirely 
 transformed their mode of business in consequence of these new 
 arrangements. It will be appropriate here, perhaps, to offer a few 
 remarks on the question whether the number of accidents in 
 English factories has lately increased or diminished, if only by 
 way of supplementing what we have said already with regard to 
 the mining industry in this respect. But, unfortunately, this 
 question, notwithstanding the information furnished annually by 
 the reports of the factory inspectors, is not so easy to answer. In 
 1874 there appear to have been altogether 3,614 accidents in 
 England, Scotland, and Wales, a total which rose steadily to 8,964 
 in 1884, and diminished only in 1885 to 7,623. The opinions of 
 the factory inspectors are not quite unanimous as to whether this 
 
Conclusion. 
 
 423 
 
 numerical progression represents an actual increase of accidents. 
 It must be taken into account — quite apart from the extension 
 which many branches of industry have experienced since 1874 — 
 that since that year a number of industries have been brought for 
 the first time within the range of factory legislation, and that it 
 is only since the Factory Act of 1878 that the inspectors have been 
 able to obtain full returns. On the other hand, great weight is 
 laid on the fact that the extreme rapidity with which the 
 machines are driven, and the practice — prohibited, no doubt, but 
 not always prevented — of cleaning the machinery when in motion, 
 have become the sources of increased danger ; and accordingly it 
 is insisted that, notwithstanding all the preventive measures, the 
 number of accidents has relatively increased. Although we agree 
 with those who take the contrary view, we are not in a position 
 to prove our case by statistics ; but we have been assured by com- 
 petent authorities that the figures exhibiting an increase have 
 been taken from returns which were formerly very imperfect, and 
 which have only been strictly compiled during the last few years.; 
 and that the measures to ensure safety, which have been prose- 
 cuted with energy during the last ten years, have effected a. 
 diminution in the number of accidents. But, even if we leave it 
 quite uncertain whether there has been a decrease altogether or 
 not, we must mention a fact which has been vouched for to us on 
 all sides, and which we may regard as the main result of all pre- 
 ventive measures. The number of severe cases, in proportion to 
 the total number of accidents of all kinds, has considerably 
 diminished ; and even if this total is as great now as it was 
 formerly, or greater, the sum of injuries caused by all the accidents 
 to the workmen’s physical ability to work is certainly smaller at 
 present than it was. If this fact is correct, an injury at present 
 involves on an average a shorter period of disablement, and the 
 number of cases of protracted infirmity is relatively smaller than 
 previously ; and the Friendly Societies have experienced in this 
 respect an important diminution of their liabilities. 
 
 Superannuation insurance with the working classes of England 
 is, as we have said, still in its infancy. We have seen that some 
 well-situated Friendly Societies conduct this business, that many 
 
424 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 employers provide for their workmen in old age, and that the 
 large Orders have taken up schemes of superannuation, and we 
 shall have to notice in our second volume what the Trades-unions 
 have done in this respect. But nothing of any complete character 
 has yet been accomplished in this field. In fact, the question has 
 been how to mark out a suitable field for this purpose ; again, 
 it was the new premium system that gave the impulse to the 
 movement. The Friendly Societies had observed that their 
 practice of continuing sick allowances when a sickness, or an 
 accident, was followed by chronic illness or permanent disable- 
 ment, contained elements of danger. Although the tables ol 
 premiums took account of these continued payments, there was 
 still no reliable basis for calculation. Mr. Ratcliffe himself admits, 
 as regards his own calculations, which were made on the broadest 
 statistical basis it was possible to obtain, that his tables cannot 
 guarantee perfect accuracy in respect of the higher ages, owing 
 to the fluctuations in all observed experiences. It is exactly 
 among the working classes that the impossibility exists of dis- 
 tinguishing, at an advanced time of life, between sickness and 
 natural bodily decay, since very often premature decline inter- 
 venes ; and even the consequences of many occupations, which in 
 early life affect health only, slowly, and scarcely perceptibly, 
 assume a marked phase past the age of sixty, as cases of chronic 
 illness and disablement, thus baffling any attempts of a society to 
 calculate precisely its contingent liabilities under this head. Add 
 to this that those Friendly Societies which proceed on the prin- 
 ciple of extending the benefits to chronic illness and permanent 
 disablement, caused by sickness or accident, are not always too 
 rigorous in their application of these benefits, so that there is good 
 ground for the warnings addressed to them on this point. Accord- 
 ingly, it has been proposed — and the proposal has been recom- 
 mended by the Actuary of the Registry Office, Mr. Sutton — that 
 the age of sixty-five should be adopted as the limit at which the 
 sick benefit should terminate, and the superannuation pension 
 should begin. We have already observed* what support and 
 
 Supra , p. 259. 
 
Conclusion. 
 
 425 
 
 sanction the experiences of the large Orders, as regards the dura- 
 tion of sickness, have given to this proposal. For example, accord- 
 ing to the statistics collected by the Foresters, out of the total 
 number of days’ sickness up to the age of seventy, not half occurs 
 previously to sixty, the majority being during the last ten years 
 ending with seventy. Against this proposed limitation it is urged 
 that the workman, who fell really ill at the higher age, would be 
 worse off under the present system, since he would have to meet 
 the expenses of his illness with the far smaller superannuation 
 allowance. 
 
 All schemes of superannuation on a large scale are exposed to 
 two difficulties — the one of a material, and the other of a psycho- 
 logical kind. So long as old age insurance, as is the case in 
 England, is made to rest on the condition that the working classes 
 shall pay the premiums out of their wage-income alone, and with- 
 out any additional assistance, these premiums must remain beyond 
 the reach of by far the largest portion of working men, no matter 
 whether they are calculated independently or in connection with 
 sick insurance. To obtain a weekly superannuation allowance of 
 5^. after the age of sixty-five, the working man must begin at 
 twenty-five with an annual payment, according to the Foresters’ 
 tables, of 135. 6rZ., and, according to the Manchester Unity tables, 
 of 175. ; and even this does not cover the expenses of management. 
 If he insures at a higher age, these premiums, of course, increase ; 
 for instance, at the age of thirty he will have to pay annually 
 I 85 . 2 d. in the Foresters, and £1 25. in the Manchester Unity. 
 Although these contributions, in case of the above-mentioned 
 combination and separate treatment of old age and sick insurance 
 would be somewhat lessened, it is, nevertheless, clear that only 
 the best-paid classes of workmen could participate in such an 
 insurance, and even these at the risk, in the event of their becom- 
 ing unable to continue their contributions through loss of work 01 
 infirmity, of ultimately getting nothing. The second difficulty 
 consists in pushing an institution, membership of which is to be 
 optional, and which depends for its existence on the working man 
 being convinced in early life of its necessity, and having the 
 strength to make great sacrifices accordingly. It is admitted, 
 
426 
 
 E?iglish Associations of Working Men. 
 
 however, that the members of Friendly Societies have not yet 
 been educated np to this degree of providence, and that, to say 
 nothing of the money question, they have not in many ways 
 sufficient discernment and strength to incur onerous obliga- 
 tions in the present, for the sake of anticipating a remote need, 
 which, moreover, will occur at a period of life when many of them 
 will not be living. For this reason it has been proposed to com- 
 bine sick and superannuation insurance, and make the combina- 
 tion obligatory, thus disenabling any one to effect the former 
 without the latter, a proposal however which, in our opinion, 
 would fail really to meet either of the two difficulties we have 
 mentioned. Old age insurance is, therefore, still a problem in 
 England. 
 
 The main features of the Friendly Societies are now clearly 
 discernible. Established as voluntary bodies, and at the working- 
 men’s own expense, they have developed themselves into an 
 elaborate institution, not systematically according to a plan, but 
 as necessity dictated, and as far as the material and moral force 
 of the working-class sufficed, and they have done this in the most 
 different forms, and with the utmost variety of combination as 
 regards insurance. But the most prominent feature in the 
 present condition of the institution is the efforts being made to 
 consolidate these societies financially under a growing system of 
 State supervision. This, as we have seen, is being done by the 
 transition from the old levy system to a rational system of 
 premiums and reserves. Since, however, some objects of the 
 Friendly Societies, such as, in particular, the temporary relief of 
 members in distress, the providing of medical aid and attendance, 
 and the grant of assistance to lodges unable to meet their engage- 
 ments, as well as the defraying of the costs of management, must 
 always be met by means of levies or rates, it is plain, as we have 
 already observed, that the financial system of these societies in 
 the future, even if the transition from levies to premiums should 
 be completed as regards the main branches of insurance, will 
 remain a mixture of the old and new systems. Financial reform 
 is giving the impetus to further changes in the condition of these 
 societies. The greater security which, not only the legislature 
 
Conclusion. 
 
 427 
 
 and Government, but also the insight and will of the working- 
 classes are striving to obtain for the societies, imposes on them 
 entirely new demands. It is principally owing to these demands 
 that the large associations are taking the place of the numerous 
 small independent societies ; that the great Orders hold the field, 
 and are absorbing many of the formerly isolated clubs ; and that 
 in various ways, by transferring certain branches of insurance 
 to the district or the central body, by the district relieving 
 necessitous lodges, by equalisations, and so on, attempts are being 
 made to enlarge the basis of insurance. Side by side with these 
 endeavours is going on the differentiation of the various branches 
 of insurance, and here also the impetus proceeds in the first 
 instance from the results of actuarial labours. 
 
 In calling attention to the advantages of Friendly Societies, 
 we have not omitted to mention their disadvantages. Their 
 greatest disadvantage appears to us to be this, that while the 
 higher, better-paid, and therefore, in that respect, stronger grades 
 of the working class in England are able to join the better 
 societies, the weaker and more helpless elements of that class 
 have not yet succeeded in effecting any system of consolidated 
 societies ; nay, more, that they always run the chance of being 
 victimized, particularly by the large Burial Societies. This, un- 
 doubtedly, is the shady side of the entire institution, based, as 
 it is, on the principle of self-help. It is equally undeniable that 
 in the Friendly Society system in England there is still a great 
 splitting up of forces, and that most of the societies are far too 
 small to maintain an independent existence, an evil which can 
 only be removed by a general extension of the district system. 
 The very isolation of these numerous small societies adds to the 
 difficulties of reform, and in the absence of any compulsory inter- 
 ference by the Legislature, the progress of reform must necessarily 
 be slow. This applies, in particular, to the establishment of the 
 actuarial solvency of the societies. 
 
 Nevertheless, we believe that the advantages of the Friendly 
 Societies — their good and bright sides — abundantly outweigh 
 their disadvantages. Thanks to the Friendly Societies, the con- 
 viction of the necessity of making provision, by way of insur- 
 
428 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 ance, against the dangers incident to life, and the time of 
 physical disablement for work, has been carried home to all 
 classes of working-men ; and, during the last few decades in par- 
 ticular, the knowledge of the system of insurance principles, and 
 the determination to perfect it, have made amazing progress. 
 Though in many respects the ways and means are still wanting 
 to give full effect to this idea, it has nevertheless been every- 
 where awakened, and will not sleep till it has been realized. 
 We must further admit that, wherever the institution has once 
 planted a firm foot, it is able to adapt itself much more closely 
 to existing wants than any great Government insurance institu- 
 tion could do. An}' one can make provision in the Friendly 
 Societies for himself or his family, in the manner that suits 
 himself best, and this very circumstance has contributed im- 
 mensely to the extension of the Friendly Society system in 
 England. Again, notwithstanding that thousands of Friendly 
 Societies in earlier days have collapsed, and that the solvency 
 of many of them even now is doubtful, it would be wrong to 
 under-rate the practical work done by these societies, or dis- 
 regard the vitality possessed by an institution which, only 
 scantily supported by the Legislature, has developed the internal 
 vigour required to make such great progress as it has done in 
 every respect. But the greatest advantage of these societies, in 
 our opinion, is the social element they contain. We have already 
 stated in our Introduction that it might be shown how the 
 cooperation of the various working-men’s associations has acquired 
 for them a new position in the social life of England, and how 
 it rests, therefore, with all these associations to decide not only 
 how they are to fulfil their particular material objects, but also 
 what share they are to take in the improvement of the moral 
 power and economic position of the working-classes in general. 
 The influence exercised in this respect by the Friendly Societies, 
 as voluntary fraternities, cannot possibly be over-estimated. 
 They are accomplishing a great work of education, they are 
 enlarging working-men’s knowledge, they are teaching him thrift 
 and providence, they are elevating his personal sense of duty 
 towards himself and his family. But they are also increasing 
 
Conclusion. 
 
 429 
 
 the cohesion of the working-class, and welding together elements 
 — which, taken separately, are destitute of strength or influence — 
 into a social power, by creating a union based on brotherly 
 support. “ The very object of the Order,” so states the Preface 
 to the Foresters’ Pules, “and its immediate aim and ultimate 
 end, are those of mutual and social assistance.” 
 
 We have, therefore, good reason to assume that the English 
 Friendly Societies contain within themselves the power neces- 
 sary to develop further the system of working-men’s insurance 
 in their country. We might easily state the circumstances on 
 which a happy solution of this problem will in future depend. 
 Should the institution remain what it has been hitherto, an 
 example of self-government by the working classes, the working 
 classes themselves must contribute the material, moral and in- 
 tellectual means for perfecting the fabric. A distribution of 
 the national income favourable to these classes, the elevation 
 of their moral level, and the enlargement of their knowledge, 
 form the conditions and means of progress. This fundamental 
 character of the institution would not be effaced, even should it 
 become necessary to claim assistance from the employers, as to 
 some extent has actually been done, in order to supplement, for 
 certain branches of insurance, the contributions of the working- 
 men insurers. Just as little would the independence of the work- 
 ing classes — which has hitherto done everything in this field — be 
 injured if their moral and intellectual efforts were supported by 
 further legislation in the sense of a stricter and more effective 
 supervision by the State. It is not a question, of course, of 
 tutelage, but of placing the supervising authority and jurisdiction, 
 already possessed by the Chief Registrar, on the same footing 
 as that which the State has applied in the case of factories, 
 public health, and education. 
 
 We hope to have established the view already expressed in 
 our Introduction, that the Friendly Societies form an important 
 branch of the self-government of the working classes. This self- 
 government does not possess, of course, that uniformity which 
 perhaps might be obtained, on the field of working-men’s in- 
 surance, by a State-managed system. But, notwithstanding the 
 
430 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 defects inherent in a system of working-men’s insurance based 
 on the voluntary principle, the working-men of England are 
 convinced of its advantages, and firmly resolved to adhere 
 to it. 
 
 Certain it is that the social organism is everywhere experi- 
 encing a change. As to what forces and processes will ultimately 
 bring this change to completion, is a subject on which we have 
 our wishes and our hopes — but no certain knowledge. At any 
 rate, it is a fortunate thing for a country, when the development 
 of reform proceeds principally from the moral and orderly strength 
 of that very class whose condition of life it is the main object 
 of this reform to organize and improve. 
 
APPENDICES. 
 
APPENDIX A. 
 
 The most brilliant example of the movement of reform inside the 
 Friendly Societies is given by the history of the Manchester 
 Unity. The gradual improvement of their system of insurance, 
 by the transition to a rational system of premiums and reserves, 
 has been effected by this great Order with an amount of vigour 
 and moral energy which can already boast of a remarkable 
 success, though even in this Order, consisting of the elite of the 
 English working class, a portion of the work of reform still re- 
 mains to be accomplished. We desire to notice here this course 
 of development in the Manchester Unity, because it is precisely 
 to its periodical valuations that the Order has been indebted for 
 a knowledge of its true position, and has made this knowledge, 
 during the last few decades, the starting-point of its reform. 
 
 u The Manchester Unity,” says Mr. Hardwick in his “ Manual n 
 (p. 9), “ is at the present time the most extensive Friendly Society 
 in the world ; yet there are members now living who recollect 
 the time when the lodges were little more than ‘ free-and-easy 5 
 or convivial clubs in and about the cotton metropolis. Collec- 
 tions were occasionally made for the relief of brethren in distress, 
 but there existed no regular reserved sick or funeral fund. A 
 kind of humble attempt to imitate the mystery and pomp of 
 Freemasonry was adopted, for the purpose of giving them a little 
 imaginary importance, and for exciting public curiosity.” After 
 this account, no one will wonder that Neison, in the first edition 
 of his “ Contributions to Vital Statistics ” (1845), should regard, 
 as he does, from his strict actuarial standpoint, the dissolution of 
 the Order as inevitable, unless some radical change were intro- 
 duced in the system of contributions and allowances, and the 
 Order were thoroughly reorganised. He reckoned at that time 
 
 433 FF 
 
434 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 that the deficit of all the lodges together amounted to over 
 £9,000,000, an estimate, however, which afterwards proved to be 
 too high. The sweeping but strictly practical criticism which 
 Neison gave expression to in his great work, as well as in his 
 “ Observations on Friendly Societies and Odd-Fellows,” gave the 
 impulse to the great movement of reform in the Manchester 
 Unity. How this Order laid the foundations for a proper system 
 of premiums, by means of comprehensive statistical investiga- 
 tions, and the elaboration of their results, under the indefatigable 
 labours of Mr. Ratcliffe, has been noticed by us already in the 
 chapter on Friendly Society literature. .Side by side with these 
 literary labours went the efforts made to induce the independent 
 lodges to adopt rational principles of insurance. 
 
 At the general meeting of the Order, held at Glasgow in 1845, 
 it was decided to increase the contributions ; and the introduction 
 of graduated premiums followed at the general meeting at Preston 
 in 1853. These measures of reform led at once to a great ferment 
 in the lodges of the Order ; and Mr. Ratcliffe announced, in 1858, 
 that no less than 69,307 members seceded during the decennium 
 ending with that year. By this means not only was a check put 
 to the opposition against the new measures, but the financial 
 position of the Order was also improved. At the general meeting 
 at Birkenhead, in 1864, new tables of premiums were adopted, in 
 accordance with the experiences of the Order between 1856 and 
 1860, as worked out by Mr. Ratcliffe ; and in 1860, at the general 
 meeting at Burton-on-Trent, this tariff was declared binding on 
 all new lodges and the new members of old ones. 
 
 Since 1871 the Manchester Unity has thrice undertaken the 
 great task of instituting, through the central administration of 
 the Order, a valuation of all the lodges collectively, and publish- 
 ing the result. The three publications for the years 1871, 1875, 
 and 1880 lie before us, and give an instinctive picture of the 
 progressive consolidation of the lodges. 
 
 The valuation for 1871 comprised 3,163 lodges, with 376,580 
 members ; that for 1880, 3,452 lodges, with 472,388 members. 
 The cost of the last valuation amounted to £4,000. The results 
 of these valuations, as well as the circumstances that accompanied 
 and explained them, are full of interest. 
 
Appendices. 
 
 435 
 
 The valuation for 1870 was based on a general rate of interest 
 •at 8 per cent, on the reserves, and yielded a result which was 
 
 anything but favourable. 
 
 The net value of the liabilities of all 
 
 the lodges amounted to £10,767,889 
 
 The net value of premiums .... £6,865,657 
 
 „ „ invested capital . . 2,558,735 
 
 Total assets £9,424,392 
 
 showing a total deficit of £1,343,466. 
 
 In the year 1875 the general valuation of the lodges showed a 
 
 much more favourable result : — 
 
 The net value of liabilities amounted 
 to £11,9 36,279 
 
 The net value of premiums .... £7,956,984 
 
 „ „ invested capital . . 3,607,126 
 
 Total assets £11,564,110 
 
 making a total deficit of £372,168, or more than £1,000,000 less 
 than in 1870. Eor this surprising result the Order is partly, no 
 doubt, indebted to the unwearying labours of reform in many 
 of the lodges, which took advantage of the period of high wages 
 between 1871 and 1874 to increase their previously inadequate- 
 premiums and effect savings. At the same time, the reason of 
 this large diminution of deficit as compared with 1870 consists 
 also, to a great extent, in the fact that in 1875 *56 of all the 
 lodges received interest at the rate of 4 per cent., and only the 
 remaining '44 of them at the rate of 3 per cent. 
 
 In the year 1880, in the last respect, another basis of calculation 
 was again adopted, with a view to approximate as nearly as possi- 
 ble to the actual relations as regards interest, which differ in the 
 various lodges. '66 of all the lodges were valued on the footing 
 of a rate of interest at 3 per cent., T8 on that of 3J per cent., 
 
43 6 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 and only *16 of them on that of 4 per cent., and the following 
 result was obtained : — 
 
 The net value of liabilities amounted 
 
 to £13,313,682 
 
 The net value of premiums .... £8,435,480 
 
 „ „ invested capital . . 4,250,382 
 
 Total assets £12,685,862 
 
 making a total deficit of £627,820. Though it is difficult to insti- 
 tute a proper comparison between these three financial statements 
 of results, on account of the difference in the rate of interest, yet 
 there are other figures which support the conclusion that the situa- 
 tion of the Order in 1880 was materially better than in 1871. 
 While the number of members in all the lodges under valuation 
 had increased during this period by 27 per cent, (in round numbers 
 from 376,000 to 472,000), the funds of these lodges showed an 
 increase of 66 per cent, (in round numbers from £2,550,000 to 
 £4,250,000). The extent of the improvement becomes still more 
 manifest if we consider the financial position of the individual 
 lodges. In the year 1871 only 26 per cent, of the lodges under 
 valuation were actuarially solvent, or in possession of a surplus, 
 whereas in 1880 no less than 40 per cent, of them had a surplus, 
 and Mr. Reuben Watson, who conducted the valuation in 1880, 
 affirms that, altogether, 60 per cent, of all the lodges of the 
 Manchester Unity might be fairly regarded as either absolutely 
 solvent, or at least in a position, actuarially speaking, closely 
 approximating to solvency. 
 
 The figures given above are taken from the valuations published 
 by the Manchester Unity. The one for 1880 appeared at Man- 
 chester under the following title : Valuation Balance-sheets of the 
 Lodges of the Manchester Unity , as on December 31s£, 1880 ; giving 
 the number of members in each lodge , and the rate of interest on 
 which each valuation has been computed ; the estimated values of rich- 
 ness benefits , and of the funeral benefits of members and members' 
 wives ; giving also the annual income and the present value of the 
 
Appendices. 
 
 43 7 
 
 contributions , and the amount of capital. The surplus or deficiency 
 is also stated , and the amounts eliminated on account of negative 
 values ; the totals for each district and county; concluding with an 
 explanatory report by Reuben Watson, Actuary to the Manchester 
 Unity , Public Valuer under the Friendly Society Act. Compare 
 “ Fourth Rep:rt cf the Commissioners,” p. xxxviii., and the 
 Friendly Societies’ Journal , June, 1884, p. 76. 
 
 With regard to the other lodges, which are not solvent, Mr. 
 Reuben Watson states as follows : “ It cannot be denied or con- 
 cealed, that in various respects most unpleasant revelations were 
 made. Some lodges were found in a state of financial disorganisa- 
 tion which is hopeless, and portends certain ruin. It must not, 
 however, be supposed that ruin is in every case unavoidable ; this 
 is true of only a very few lodges. There is elasticity enough in 
 the Friendly Society system ; the process of decline is slow, and 
 may be checked, as has been done so often, when intelligent and 
 far-sighted leaders have obtained a hearing, and their advice 
 has been attended to. . . . It is the opposition to sound prin- 
 
 ciples that in most cases is the chief cause of large deficits, and, 
 unfortunately, open opposition still exists in a few small districts, 
 while in others it continues to work in secret ” (p, 229) 
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 The object of the Friendly Societies’ Amendment Act, 1887, is to 
 introduce certain amendments of detail into Friendly Society legis- 
 lation. The Act extends the provisions of Section II. of the prin- 
 cipal Act of 1875, and aims at preventing a society from being regis- 
 tered under a name likely to disguise its real character. Under the 
 old law societies and branches consisting wholly of persons under 
 age might be registered, provided that all their members were 
 under 16 years of age. The maximum age is now raised to 21. 
 Previously the expenses of an inspection into the affairs of a 
 Friendly Society had to be defrayed either by the members who 
 applied for the inspection, or out of the society’s funds. Authority 
 is now given to make past officers and members liable for these ex- 
 
43^ English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 penses. Certain collecting societies are prevented from evading the 
 provisions as to inspection by constituting themselves societies with 
 branches. The restriction is removed which prohibited a society 
 from holding land in a county in which it had no office. A very 
 important provision was inserted, through the influence of the 
 Affiliated Orders, to check secession. It enacts that a registered 
 branch shall not be registered as a society except on production 
 to the Registrar of a certificate under the hand of the chief secre- 
 tary or other principal officer of the society, that the branch has 
 wholly seceded, or has been expelled from the society, giving an 
 appeal from the refusal or omission (after one month’s notice) to 
 give such certificate, similar to that from the Registrar’s refusal 
 to register. 
 
 APPENDIX 0. 
 
 I am indebted to Mr. Edmund Mason, Registrar of Eriendly 
 Societies and Trades’ Unions at Wellington, New Zealand, for the 
 knowledge of his Reports of Eriendly Societies in New* Zealand 
 for 1887 and 1888. From these it appears that the development 
 of Eriendly Societies in New Zealand on the basis of the Eriendly 
 Societies’ Act passed there in 1882, has been analogous to that in 
 England. It is especially noticeable that particular attention has 
 been paid to valuations, and this with much success. We gather 
 from these Reports that the position of the Eriendly Societies in 
 New Zealand, 1886, was as follows : — 
 
 
 Number 
 
 Number of 
 
 Number of 
 
 
 Friendly Societies. 
 
 of 
 
 Lodges 
 
 Members on 
 
 Funds. 
 
 Districts. 
 
 (Courts). 
 
 December 31, 1886 
 
 
 Manchester Unity 
 
 14 
 
 127 
 
 9,620 
 
 £ 
 
 206.025 
 
 Foresters . 
 
 7 
 
 91 
 
 5,606 
 
 6,453 
 
 79,050 
 
 Other F. S. 
 
 
 156 
 
 49,600 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 The following table also, taken from the Report for 1887, may 
 be of interest as compared with the corresponding figures and 
 conditions in England 
 
Appendices . 439 
 
 Percentages and Averages deduced from the statistics of New 
 Zealand Friendly Societies for the years 1881-1885. 
 
 1 
 
 Description of Percentage or Average. 
 
 
 
 Years. 
 
 
 
 1881. 
 
 1882. 
 
 1883. 
 
 1884. 
 
 1S8& 
 
 Mortality of members (rate per 1000 members) 
 
 733 
 
 6-90 
 
 7-30 
 
 7-05 
 
 739 
 
 Mortality of wives ...... 
 
 3-90 
 
 3-65 
 
 4"51 
 
 4-57 
 
 4-20 
 
 Percentage of members sick .... 
 
 14-80 
 
 15*16 
 
 15-18 
 
 15-78 
 
 1626 
 
 Average number of weeks’ sickness per member 
 Average number of weeks’ sickness per mem- 
 
 1-03 
 
 0-99 
 
 099 
 
 100 
 
 104 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ber sick 
 
 6-96 
 
 6‘56 
 
 651 
 
 6-32 
 
 6-38 
 
 Ratio to total sickness (per cent.) of — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1. Sickness experienced during first 6 months 
 
 6753 
 
 66-44 
 
 64-53 
 
 71'02 
 
 68-05 
 
 2. ,, „ „ second 6 ,, 
 
 9-17 
 
 8-89 
 
 6-33 
 
 5-19 
 
 8-05 
 
 3. „ „ after 12 months 
 
 23-30 
 
 24-67 
 
 29-14 
 
 23-79 
 
 23 90 j 
 
 Average contribution per member to Sick and 
 
 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 Funeral Funds 
 
 £1-35 
 
 £1-35 
 
 £1-35 
 
 £1-34 
 
 £1-35 
 
 Average sick pay per member .... 
 
 15s. 6d. 
 
 14s. 9 d. 
 
 14s. 6d. 
 
 15s. 4d. 
 
 15s. lOd. 
 
 
 £5"66 
 
 £531 
 
 £5-20 
 
 £5-22 
 
 £5-22 
 
 Funeral donations, average per member . 
 
 3s. 3d. 
 
 3s. Id. 
 
 3s. 4d. 
 
 3s. 5 d. 
 
 3s. 8 d. 
 
 Average contribution per member to medical 
 and management expenses funds (including 
 
 
 £135 
 
 £1-35 
 
 
 
 levies) 
 
 £1-45 
 
 £1-38 
 
 £1-36 
 
 Medical expenses, average per member . 
 
 19s. 
 
 18s. 
 
 18s. lid. 
 
 19s. 
 
 19s. Id. 
 
 Management expenses of lodges (including 
 levies to Management Fund of central 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 bodies), average per member 
 
 12s. 2d. 
 
 11s. 4d. 
 
 10s. 9d. 
 
 10s. lldJ 
 
 10s. lid. 
 
 Ratio to total assets (per cent.) of — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1. Investments at interest .... 
 
 62-32 
 
 57T6 
 
 58-43 
 
 59-64 
 
 59"70 
 
 2. Value of land and buildings . • 
 
 26-20 
 
 31-91 
 
 31-49 
 
 31-03 
 
 31-27 
 
 3. Cash not bearing interest 
 
 7-45 
 
 694 
 
 6-87 
 
 5-82 
 
 5-61 
 
 4. Value of goods, etc. .... 
 
 3-03 
 
 2 '85 
 
 2-87 
 
 2-83 
 
 2-99 
 
 5. Other assets 
 
 100 
 
 0-64 
 
 0-34 
 
 0-68 
 
 0*43 
 
 I Ratio to total investments at interest (per 
 cent.) of — 
 
 1. Amount on deposit with the Post Office 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Savings Bank 
 
 7-25 
 
 9-70 
 
 6-38 
 
 7-05 
 
 621 
 
 2. Ditto with other banks . . . 
 
 22-78 
 
 20-80 
 
 21-63 
 
 19-49 
 
 17-16 
 
 3. Ditto with companies and building societies 
 
 2-10 
 
 0-56 
 
 0-97 
 
 2-32 
 
 3-39 1 
 
 4. Amount on mortgage of freehold property 
 
 58-37 
 
 59-01 
 
 60-89 
 
 61-67 
 
 6456 
 
 5. „ in Government and municipal 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 debentures .... 
 
 5-41 
 
 5*71 
 
 5-69 
 
 4*91 
 
 5-60 
 
 6. ,, in shares in companies 
 
 3-68 
 
 3-63 
 
 3-58 
 
 3-67 
 
 2-01 
 
 7. Amount of other investments . 
 
 0-41 
 
 059 
 
 0-86 
 
 0-89 
 
 107 
 
 Ratio to total number of members (per cent.) of 
 
 
 
 
 
 1. No. of members under 20 years of age . 
 
 3-42 
 
 4-21 
 
 4'37 
 
 5-19 
 
 4-76 
 
 2. ,, ,, from 20 to 30 ,, 
 
 34-56 
 
 36-69 
 
 36-87 
 
 36-16 
 
 35(30 
 
 3. ,, , , ,, 30 to 40 ,, . 
 
 34-18 
 
 33-74 
 
 33-16 
 
 32-90 
 
 33-54 
 
 4. „ „ „ 40 to 50 „ 
 
 20-64 
 
 19-70 
 
 1981 
 
 1953 
 
 19-79 
 
 5. „ „ „ 50 to 60 „ 
 
 3-83 
 
 390 
 
 4-04 
 
 458 
 
 540 
 
 6. ,, ,, ,, 60 to 70 „ 
 
 0-39 
 
 0-49 
 
 0-66 
 
 0-58 
 
 0-58 
 
 7. „ ,, ,, 70 upwards . . . 
 
 007 
 
 0-08 
 
 0-09 
 
 0-08 
 
 o-io 
 
 8. „ „ of unspecified ages . 
 
 2-91 
 
 119 
 
 1-00 
 
 098 
 
 0-23 
 
440 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 APPENDIX D. 
 
 RULES OP THE LANCASHIRE AND CHESHIRE MINERS' 
 PERMANENT RELIEF SOCIETY 
 
 I. — Constitution of Society. 
 
 1. The Society is a Friendly Society, composed of an unlimited 
 number of Ordinary and Honorary Members, and its operations 
 shall be confined to the Lancashire and Cheshire Mining District. 
 
 H. Name of Society and Place of Registered Office. 
 
 2. The Society shall be called “ The Lancashire and Cheshire 
 Miners' Permanent Relief Society.” 
 
 Its Registered Office is in England, and is in the Arcade, 
 Wigan, in the County of Lancaster. 
 
 In the event of any change in the situation of the Registered 
 Office, notice of such change shall be sent within fourteen days 
 thereafter to the Registrar, in manner and form provided by the 
 Regulation in that behalf. 
 
 III. — Objects and Purposes. 
 
 3. Objects for which the Society is established. — The object of this 
 Society is the raising of funds by contributions from the Ordinary 
 Members thereof, and by voluntary subscriptions and donations 
 from Honorary Members, to provide a sum in case of death by 
 accident ; and in case of accident, not fatal, but where the Member 
 is disabled, to make suitable provision for him, including medical 
 attendance, as hereinafter provided ; and in case of the death of a 
 Member by accident, to procide for the relief or maintenance of 
 his widow and children ; or of his father, mother, brother, or sister, 
 during sickness or other infirmity, whether bodily or mental, in 
 old age (which shall mean any age after fifty) or in widowhood. 
 
 4. Purposes for which the Funds shall be applicable. — All moneys 
 received on account of contributions, donations, admissions, or 
 otherwise, shall be applied towards carrying out the objects of the 
 Society according to the rules and tables thereof ; and any Officer 
 or Member misapplying the funds, shall repay the same, and be 
 
Appendices. 
 
 441 
 
 expelled the Society, without prejudice to his liability to prose- 
 cution for such misapplication. 
 
 IV. — Terms of Admission of Members. 
 
 5. Ordinary Members . — All persons shall be eligible for admissiou 
 as Ordinary Members who are employed in or about coal or other 
 mines in the district ; and on payment of the entrance fee and con- 
 tributions hereinafter set forth they shall be Ordinary Members, 
 and entitled to the benefits of the Society. 
 
 6. Honorary Members . — All persons who shall assist in support- 
 ing the Society with an Annual Subscription of not less than One 
 Pound, or a Life Donation of not less than £10, and all Coal 
 Owners who shall subscribe Fifteen per cent, on the amount paid 
 by the Ordinary Members and Half-members in their employment, 
 shall become Honorary Members. 
 
 Honorary Members may take part in the proceedings at any 
 meeting of the Local Agency with which they are connected; they 
 shall also be able to hold any office (local or general) in the Society ; 
 but they shall have no claim to any benefit or emolument from 
 the funds of the Society. 
 
 V.— General Management. 
 
 7. Constitution of the Board of Management . — The affairs of the 
 Society shall be conducted by a Board of Management, to be ap- 
 pointed at each Annual General Meeting of the Society, and shall 
 consist of twelve Ordinary and ten Honorary Members, one half 
 to retire each year, but to be eligible for re-election. No person 
 under 21 years of age shall be eligible to serve on the Board. 
 Persons to be Members of the Board, shall be first nominated by 
 some of the Representatives present. If no more than the exact 
 number required are nominated, the Chairman shall declare these 
 to be duly elected ; but should there be more persons nominated 
 than are required to fill the vacancies, the required number shall 
 be elected by ballot. Should any vacancy occur during the year, 
 either by death, expulsion, removal, or any other cause, the Board 
 shall have power to fill up such vacancy. The President and 
 Treasurer shall be ex-officio Members of the Board in addition. 
 
 8. Duties of the Board of Management . — The Board shall meet at 
 least once a quarter, for the purpose of transacting the general 
 
442 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 business of the Society, seven to form a quorum. At the first 
 meeting of the Board after election to office, they shall proceed to 
 elect from their number a Chairman and a Vice-Chairman. The 
 Chairman, if present, or in his absence the Vice-Chairman, shall 
 preside at all Meetings. In the absence of both, a Chairman shall 
 be chosen for the occasion by a majority of those present. All 
 questions at Meetings shall be decided by a majority of the 
 Members present ; or in case of equality, the Chairman may give 
 a second or casting vote. 
 
 The Board shall have power to superintend and conduct the 
 business of this Society according to the rules provided for the 
 government thereof, and shall in all things act for, and in the name 
 of the Society, and all acts and orders under the powers delegated 
 to them shall have the like force and effect as the acts and orders 
 of the Society at any General Meeting. 
 
 .9. Special Meetings . — A Special Meeting of the Board may at 
 any time be called by the Chairman and General Secretary on 
 their own responsibility in cases of emergency or necessity ; or, 
 on the requisition of any five Members of the Board, transmitted 
 to him in writing, it shall be the duty of the General Secretary 
 to call a Special Meeting, provided always that the purpose for 
 which any Special Meeting is called shall be stated in the requi- 
 sition and in the notice convening it. 
 
 10. Expenses.— Each Ordinary Member of the Board shall be 
 paid for loss of time five shillings, and his travelling expenses, for 
 each occasion on which he attends a meeting of the Board, and 
 takes part in the transaction of business ; but no Member will be 
 entitled to this payment who is not in attendance within fifteen 
 minutes of the time announced for the meeting. No money is 
 
 , ever to be taken from the funds of the Society to be spent in enter- 
 tainment by the Board at any of their meetings. 
 
 VI. — General Meetings. 
 
 11. Annual Meeting . — A General Meeting of the Society, con- 
 sisting of Honorary Members and Representatives from the various 
 Agencies connected with the Society, shall be held annually on 
 the third Saturday in March of each year, at such hour as may 
 be fixed, when a Statement of the Society’s transactions and position 
 
Appendices. 
 
 443 
 
 shall be laid before the Meeting. The Meeting may decide and 
 determine upon all matters connected with the Society. 
 
 12. Special Meetings. — The General Secretary shall call forth- 
 with, giving at least fourteen clear days’ notice, a Special General 
 Meeting of Honorary Members and Representatives whenever he 
 is so directed by resolution of the Board or by a requisition signed 
 either by a majority of the Board of Management, or by the Local 
 Officers of one-third of the Agencies in connection with the Society ; 
 provided always that the purpose for which any Special Meeting 
 is called shall be stated in the requisition and in the notice con- 
 vening it. 
 
 13. Proceedings at Meetings . — The President of the Society shall, 
 if present, preside at all General Meetings. In his absence a 
 Chairman shall be chosen for the occasion by a majority of those 
 present. All questions at Meetings, whether Ordinary or Special, 
 shall be decided by a majority of the Members present; or in case 
 of equality, the Chairman may give a second or casting vote. 
 
 VII.— Appointment and Removal of General Officers. 
 
 14. President and Vice-Presidents. — At each Annual General 
 Meeting a President and two Vice-Presidents shall be chosen from 
 among the Honorary Members ; such election to be conducted in 
 the manner prescribed for the election of Members of the Board of 
 Management in Rule 7. 
 
 15. Trustees. — There shall be at all times five Trustees to the 
 Society ; they shall continue in office during the pleasure of the 
 Society, and be removable by vote of the majority at a General 
 Meeting. All moneys, goods, chattels, and effects whatsoever, and 
 all securities for moneys and other effects, shall be vested in their 
 names, for the use and benefit of the Society. 
 
 Whenever it shall be deemed advisable to invest, sell, transfer, 
 or otherwise dispose of any part of the Society’s funds or pro- 
 perty, the Board of Management shall direct the General 
 Secretary to give the Trustees notice thereof. 
 
 Any vacancy or vacancies occurring in the number of Trustees 
 shall be filled up at the General Meeting next ensuing. 
 
 A copy of every resolution appointing a Trustee or Trustees 
 shall be sent to the Registrar of Priendly Societies in England, 
 
444 
 
 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 within fourteen days after the date of the meeting at which such 
 resolution was passed in the form prescribed by the Regulation 
 in that behalf. 
 
 In case any Trustee, being removed, shall refuse or neglect to 
 assign or transfer any property of the Society as the Board of 
 Management shall direct, he shall (if he be a Member) be expelled 
 the Society, and shall cease to have any claim on the Society, on 
 account of any contributions paid by him, without prejudice to 
 any liability to prosecution which he may have incurred. 
 
 16. Treasurer . — A Treasurer shall be appointed, who shall be 
 responsible for all moneys paid into his hands on account of the 
 Society, and also for the investment or application of the same, 
 under the authority of the Board of Management and Trustees, 
 and in such manner as they may direct. At each Annual Meet- 
 ing, and also when required by a majority of the Trustees or 
 Board of Management, or a General Meeting, he shall render a 
 true account of all money received and paid by him on account of 
 the Society ; he shall also, when required by a General Meeting, 
 or by the Trustees or Board of Management, upon demand made 
 or notice in writing given to him or left at his usual or last 
 known place of residence, pay over all moneys remaining in his 
 hands, assign and deliver all securities and effects, books, papers, 
 and property of, or belonging to the Society, in his hands or 
 custody, to such person or persons as they shall direct. He shall, 
 before taking upon himself the execution of his office, give 
 security pursuant to the Friendly Societies Act, 1875. 
 
 17. General Secretary . — A General Secretary shall be appointed, 
 who shall give his attendance at all meetings of the Society ; he 
 shall record correctly the names of the Board of Management 
 present, and the minutes of their proceedings, which he shall 
 transcribe into a book, to be authenticated by the signature of 
 the Chairman, as the proceedings of the meeting. Demands by 
 Agencies for advances of money under Rule 23, must be made 
 through him. All payments made by Agencies shall be reported 
 to him quarterly, a report of which shall be laid by him before 
 the Board of Management at their next meeting. He shall 
 keep the accounts, books, documents, and papers of the Society, 
 in such manner and for such purposes as the Board of Manage- 
 
Appendices . 
 
 445 
 
 ment may order, and sliall prepare all returns and other docu- 
 ments required by the Friendly Societies Act, 1875, or the 
 Treasury Regulations to be sent to the Registrar ; and if any 
 money comes into his hands he shall at once pay the same to the 
 Treasurer. He shall also keep a correct account of all moneys 
 paid on account of the Society, and attend to the Society’s 
 business and correspondence generally ; he must balance the 
 accounts at the end of each quarter for the examination of the 
 Board of Management, and at the end of each year for the 
 examination of the Auditors. The General Secretary shall, on 
 all occasions, in the execution of his office, act under the super- 
 intendence, control, and directions of the Board of Management. 
 He shall receive for his services from the funds of the Society, 
 a salary to be fixed at a General Meeting upon a report of the 
 Board of Management. 
 
 18. Vacancies. — The Treasurer and Secretary shall be removable 
 by the Board of Management, who shall have power in case of a 
 vacancy from any cause, to appoint a Treasurer or Secretary to 
 act until the next Annual General Meeting. 
 
 19. Officer to sue and be sued. — The General Secretary shall be 
 the Officer of the Society to sue and be sued. 
 
 VIII. — Local Management. 
 
 20. Constitution of Local Agencies. — In any Colliery or Mine in 
 connection with the Society, a Local Agency shall be formed, or 
 two or more neighbouring Collieries or Mines may unite and form 
 an Agency. A Committee with a President and Secretary shall 
 be elected annually for each Local Agency at a Meeting of the 
 Members belonging to it, and they shall undertake to forward the 
 interests of the Society. 
 
 The Board of Management shall have power, with the consent 
 of a General Meeting of the Society from time to time to make 
 Orders as to the mode of keeping accounts and conducting the 
 business of the Local Agencies. 
 
 21. Medical Men. — Each Local Agency, or a group of Local 
 Agencies, shall appoint one or more duly qualified medical men, 
 to act for the Members, at such salary or allowances as shall from 
 time to time be approved of by the Board of Management. 
 
44<5 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 22. Representative . — Each Local Agency shall have the power 
 of nominating, electing, and deputing one Representative to the 
 General Meetings of the Society. Such Representative to be 
 furnished with a certificate of his election, signed by the President 
 and Secretary of the Local Agency. 
 
 23. Duties of Secretary of Local Agency . — The Secretary of a 
 Local Agency shall be correspondent between the Local Agency 
 and the Board of Management ; and he shall at all times forward 
 to the General Secretary such information regarding the Local 
 Agency and its Members, as he may require. The Secretary of a 
 Local Agency shall register the name, age, and condition (whether 
 married or single), of each Member of the Local Agency, in a 
 form to be prescribed by the Board of Management. He shall 
 also forward quarterly a statement of the accounts of the Agency, 
 and of the numbers of Members in such form as the Board of 
 Management shall direct. He shall also, on the first Wednesday 
 in every month pay to the Treasurer the balance, if any, remain- 
 ing in his hands, to the credit of the Society. In case the funds 
 for the time being in his hands shall not be sufficient to meet the 
 demands of the Local Agency, he and the President of the Local 
 Agency must make a demand upon the General Secretary for 
 what is required to supply the deficiency, and the Board of 
 Management shall then issue an order upon the Treasurer to 
 provide him with the amount. 
 
 The Local Secretary shall also when required by the Board 
 of Management, upon demand made or notice in writing given to 
 him or left at his usual or last known place of residence, pay over 
 all moneys, and deliver all books or property for the time being in 
 his hands or custody, to the General Secretary, or to such other 
 person as the Board of Management may appoint. 
 
 IX. — Expenses of Management. 
 
 24. The necessary Expenses of Management shall be provided 
 for by the Honorary Members’ Subscriptions, or if these be 
 insufficient, then by a separate levy to be made at such time 
 and to puch an amount as the Board of Management shall deem 
 necessary. 
 
Appendices . 447 
 
 X. — Entrance Fees and Contributions. 
 
 25. Entrance Fees. — Any person becoming an Ordinary Member 
 of this Society shall be charged an entrance fee according to the 
 following scale, as provided by the Society’s previously registered 
 Rules : — 
 
 Full Member over 14 years of age . . . Is. 
 
 Half-member under 14 „ ... 6d. 
 
 And on payment thereof shall be entitled to a copy of these 
 rules. 
 
 26. Contributions. — Each full Ordinary Member employed at 
 collieries, the Owners of which are Honorary Members, shall pay, 
 or cause to be paid to the Secretary of the Local Agency of which 
 he is a Member, as follows : — If incurring underground risk, the 
 sum of fourpence weekly, or eightpence fortnightly ; if incurring 
 surface risk only, the sum of threepence weekly or sixpence 
 fortnightly ; and each Half-member shall pay, or cause to be paid 
 as aforesaid half these sums respectively. Each full Ordinary 
 Member employed at collieries, the Owners of which are not 
 Honorary Members, shall pay, or cause to be paid to Secretary 
 of the Local Agency of which he is a Member, as follows : — If 
 incurring underground risk, the sum of fivepence weekly, or 
 tenpence fortnightly ; if incurring surface risk only, the sum of 
 threepence halfpenny weekly, or sevenpence fortnightly ; and 
 each Half-member shall pay, or cause to be paid as aforesaid, half 
 these sums respectively ; in respect of which he will be entitled 
 
 , to ten shillings per week disablement pay for Full Members, and 
 five shillings per week for Half-members. Females may elect 
 whether they will be full or half-members. 
 
 27. Any Member removing to another colliery or mine in the 
 district may continue a Member by sending his name, residence, 
 and contributions to the Secretary of the Local Agency at the 
 colliery or mine whence he removed. 
 
 XI. — Benefits. 
 
 28. Ordinary Members, or their relatives, shall be entitled to 
 relief in respect of such accidents only as may happen in or about 
 the working of coal and other mines. 
 
 29. Disablement. — When a Member is laid off work from an 
 
448 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 accident which, has happened to him in or about the working of 
 coal or other mines, he shall have a claim to relief as a disabled 
 Member. 
 
 Every Member claiming such relief shall procure a certificate 
 from the Surgeon attending him, and forward it, together with 
 any other certificates that the Board of Management may require, 
 to the Secretary of the Local Agency, within three days of the 
 occurrence of the accident, who, on receiving authority from the 
 Local Committee and the General Secretary, shall pay to him the 
 sum of 4?. for the first week, and afterwards &>•. a week if a whole 
 Member, or of 2 s. for the first week, and afterwards 4'?. a week 
 if a Half-member, out of the funds of the Society, to continue 
 during the whole period that he is unable to work from the 
 effects of the accident. In cases where Colliery Proprietors 
 contribute twenty-five per cent, upon their Workmen’s Contribu- 
 tions, the Disablement Allowance shall be 5 s. a week for Full 
 Members, for the first week, and afterwards 10s. a week, and 
 2s. 6d. a week for Half-members for the first week, and afterwards 
 5s. a week. 
 
 The Board of Management shall have power to grant to a dis- 
 abled Member a fixed sum in discharge of all further claim upon 
 the Society. 
 
 Any Member injured shall, in addition to the relief herein 
 mentioned, be entitled to the medical attendance and services of 
 the Surgeon of the Local Agency, and to medicines ordered by 
 him ; or to relief at an Infirmary or Hospital, to be approved of 
 by the Board of Management. 
 
 30. Fatal Accidents. — Persons having a claim to relief in cases 
 of fatal accident, shall make their demands to the Secretary of 
 the Local Agency on one of the forms supplied by the Society, 
 and he shall forward the same, together with such certificates as 
 the Board of Management shall require, to the General Secretary, 
 who shall, if such claim be a valid one, at once make, or authorise, 
 payment in respect thereof accordingly. 
 
 31. Widows and Special Allowances . — When any Member of this 
 Society meets with an accident causing loss of life, subject to the 
 provisions of Rule 33, the Funeral Allowance shall be £5 ; and 
 there shall be allowed in addition for an unmarried member, £15 : 
 
Appendices. 
 
 449 
 
 Half-member, £5 ; and to the widow of a married Member the 
 sum of 5 . 5 . per week, the allowance to continue so long as the 
 recipient remains his chaste widow and conducts herself with 
 becoming propriety, to the satisfaction of the Society. 
 
 In case any application for relief, by reason of an accident, 
 which may have happened in or about the working of coal or 
 other mines, not provided for by these rules shall be made, the 
 Board of Management shall have power if they think fit to give 
 such relief (if any), as they in their absolute discretion may think 
 proper under the special circumstances of each case. 
 
 32. Commutations . — Notwithstanding the foregoing scale of 
 allowances, the Board of Management shall have power under 
 special circumstances and at their absolute discretion, on the 
 application of the person interested, to commute the above allow- 
 ances for such fixed sum as they may think reasonable. 
 
 33. Children’s Allowances . — Each child of any married Member, 
 whose life may be lost through fatal accident, shall receive an 
 allowance from the funds of the Society of 25. 6d. per week. In 
 case the Member leave no widow or widower, or the widow or 
 widower shall die during the time that any child is dependent 
 on the funds, the person undertaking the care of the child or 
 children may be allowed, at the discretion of the Board of 
 Management, and during their approval, an extra sum of two 
 shillings per week for one child, one shilling and sixpence for the 
 second child, and one shilling and sixpence for the third child, so 
 long as the children remain chargeable to the fund, but in no case 
 shall this extra allowance exceed five shillings per week. The 
 payments to children to continue until the age of thirteen years. 
 
 34. Allowances to Widows , etc., of Disabled Members . — Should 
 any Member who has been receiving an allowance from the 
 Society as a disabled Member, die from the effects of his accident, 
 and leave a widow, child, or children, or other person entitled to 
 benefit, they shall receive the weekly allowance from the funds 
 of the Society, in accordance with Buies 30 and 33. 
 
 35. Registrar’s Certificate . — No money shall be paid by the 
 Society upon the death, otherwise than at sea, of a Member or 
 other person whose death is, or ought to be, entered in any 
 register of deaths, except upon the production of a certificate of 
 
 G G 
 
450 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 such death under the hand of the Registrar of deaths, or other 
 person having the care of the register of deaths in which such 
 death is or ought to be entered. 
 
 XII. — Arrears of Contributions, Fines, Forfeitures, Etc. 
 
 36. Arrears . — If any Member allow two fortnightly contribu- 
 tions to be in arrear, he shall cease to be a Member of the Society, 
 but shall be eligible for re admission on payment of a fresh 
 entrance fee. Should any Member be unable to follow his em- 
 ployment, in consequence of sickness, not the result of accident, 
 for a period of fourteen days, he may, by depositing a certificate 
 from his medical attendant with the Secretary of the Local 
 Agency, and paying up all arrears to that time be relieved from 
 the payment of further contributions so long as such illness lasts ; 
 but he must recommence to pay his contributions at the first 
 collection of the Local Agency with which he is connected after he 
 commences work, or he will be debarred all benefits of this Society. 
 
 37. Conditions to be observed by Disabled Members . — Should any 
 Member be proved to have been out of his house or lodgings 
 before six o’clock in the morning, or after seven o’clock in the 
 evening, between the 25th day of September and the 25th day of 
 March, and after nine o’clock in the evening during the other 
 portion of the year, or to have been engaged in gaming of any 
 description, or to have been in a state of intoxication, while 
 receiving an allowance as a disabled Member, he shall for the 
 first offence be fined one week’s pay, for the second offence be 
 fined two weeks’ pay, and for the third offence be expelled from 
 all benefits from the Society. 
 
 38. Disabled Members wishing to try Work . — As soon as it is 
 satisfactorily proved that a disabled Member is able to work, the 
 Secretary of the Local Agency shall stop his allowance from the 
 Society. Any disabled Member wishing to try work, must first 
 send notice to the Secretary of the Local Agency of his intention 
 to do so, when he will be allowed four weeks’ trial ; and if unable 
 to continue at work from the effects of his accident, his allowance 
 shall be continued. If he commences work without giving notice 
 of trial, he shall have no further claim on the Society. 
 
 39. Any person being in receipt of relief from the funds of this 
 
Appendices . 451 
 
 Society, being convicted of felony, shall forfeit all claim to further 
 benefit from the funds of the Society. 
 
 XIII. — Copies of Rules. 
 
 40. It shall be the duty of the Board of Management to provide 
 the General Secretary with a sufficient number of copies of the 
 rules to enable him to deliver to any person on demand a copy of 
 such rules on payment of a sum not exceeding Is. for non-mem- 
 bers, and 6 d. for members, and of the General Secretary to deliver 
 such copies accordingly. 
 
 XIV. — Keeping and Auditing of Accounts. 
 
 41. The Board of Management shall cause the accounts of the 
 Society to be regularly entered in proper books. Separate 
 accounts shall be kept of all moneys received or paid on account 
 of every particular fund or benefit assured by the Society, for 
 which a separate table of contributions payable may be adopted, 
 distinct from all moneys received and paid on account of any 
 other benefit or fund. A separate account shall also be kept of 
 the expenses of management of the Society, and of all contribu- 
 tions on account thereof. 
 
 42. The Board of Management shall once at least in every year 
 submit such accounts, together with a general statement of the 
 same and all necessary vouchers up to the 30th of December then 
 last, for audit, either to one of the public auditors appointed 
 under the Friendly Societies’ Act, 1875, or to two or more persons 
 appointed as Auditors by the Members at the meeting next before 
 each yearly meeting of the Society, and shall lay before every such 
 yearly meeting a balance sheet (which either may or may not be 
 identioal with the annual return, but must not be in contradiction 
 to the same), showing the receipts and expenditure, funds and 
 effects of the Society, together with a statement of the affairs of 
 the Society since the last ordinary meeting, and of their then 
 condition. The Auditors shall have access to all the books and 
 accounts of the Society, and shall examine every balance sheet 
 and annual return of the receipts and expenditure, funds and 
 effects of the Society, and shall verify the same with the accounts 
 and vouchers relating thereto, and shall either sign the same as 
 
452 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 found by them to be correct, duly vouched, and in accordance 
 with law, or shall specially report to the Meeting of the Society 
 before which the same is laid in what respects they find it 
 incorrect, unvouched, or not in accordance with law. 
 
 A printed copy of such report and balance sheet shall be given 
 to each Colliery or Mine connected with the Society. The 
 Auditors shall receive for their trouble such compensation as 
 the Board of Management deem adequate. 
 
 The Auditors shall, one or both of them, every quarter, inspect 
 the accounts of each Local Agency. 
 
 XV. — Annual Returns. 
 
 43. Every year before the 1st of June, the Board of Manage- 
 ment shall cause the General Secretary to send to the Registrar 
 the annual return, in the form prescribed by the Chief Registrar 
 of Eriendly Societies, required by the Friendly Societies’ Act, 
 1875, of the receipts and expenditure, funds and effects, of the 
 Society, and of the number of members of the same, up to the 
 31st December then last, inclusively, as audited and laid before 
 a General Meeting, showing separately the expenditure in respect 
 of the several objects of the Society, together with a copy of the 
 Auditor’s report, if any. 
 
 44. Such return shall state whether the audit has been con- 
 ducted by a Public Auditor appointed under the Friendly 
 Societies’ Act, 1875, and by whom, and if such audit has been 
 conducted by any person or persons other than a Public Auditor, 
 shall state the name, address, and calling or profession of each 
 such persons, and the manner in which, and the authority under 
 which, they were respectively appointed. 
 
 45. It shall be the duty of the Board of Management to pro- 
 vide the General Secretary with a sufficient number of copies of 
 the annual return or other document allowed by 39 and 40 Vic., 
 cap. 32, for supplying gratuitously every member or person in- 
 terested in the funds of the Society, on his application, with a 
 copy of the last annual return of the Society, or of such other 
 document, for the time being, and it shall be the duty of the 
 General Secretary to supply such gratuitous copies on application 
 accordingly. 
 
Appendices . 453 
 
 XVI.— Quinquennial Returns. 
 
 46. Within six calendar months after the expiration of every 
 five years succeeding the 31st December, 1875, the Board of 
 Management shall cause a return, in the form prescribed by the 
 Chief Registrar, of mortality experienced by the Society during 
 the five years preceding the 31st December then last past, to 
 be sent by the Secretary to the Registrar. 
 
 XVII.— Valuations. 
 
 47. Once at least in the five years next following the 1st 
 January , 1876, and so again within six calendar months after 
 the expiration of every five years succeeding the date of the first 
 valuation to be made under these rules, the assets and liabilities 
 of the Society (including the estimated risks and contributions) 
 shall be valued in manner provided by the Friendly Societies’ 
 Act, 1875. 
 
 It shall be for a special meeting of the Board of Management 
 to be summoned for that purpose, to decide whether the valuation 
 shall be made by a valuer to be appointed by the Society (whom 
 such meeting shall have power to appoint), or by an actuary to be 
 appointed by the Registrar. 
 
 If a valuer is appointed by the Society, it shall be his duty, at 
 the cost of the Society, to make a report to be signed by him, 
 and which shall also state his address and calling or profession, 
 on the condition of the Society, and also an abstract of the 
 results of his valuation, in the form prescribed by the Chief 
 Registrar. 
 
 On receiving such report, it shall be the duty of the Board of 
 Management to call forthwith a Special General Meeting of the 
 Society, for the purpose of receiving the same, and to lay such 
 report, and the abstract thereof, before such meeting ; to cause 
 the General Secretary to forward such report and abstract to 
 the Registrar within the six months aforesaid, together with a 
 return containing such information with respect to the benefits 
 assured and contributions receivable by the Society, and to its 
 funds and effects, debts and credits, as the Registrar may from 
 time to time require. 
 
454 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 If the Society is to be valued by an actuary appointed by the 
 Registrar, it shall be the duty of the Board of Management to 
 cause the General Secretary to send to the Registrar a return, 
 in the form prescribed by the Chief Registrar, of the benefits 
 assured and contributions receivable from all the Members of the 
 Society, and of all the funds and effects, debts and credits, accom- 
 panied by such evidence in support thereof as the Chief Registrar 
 shall prescribe. 
 
 XVIII.— Inspection, etc., of Books. 
 
 48. The books and accounts of the Society shall be open to 
 inspection of any Member or person having an interest in the 
 funds of the Society at all reasonable times, at the Registered 
 Office of the Society, or at any place where the same are kept, 
 and it shall be the duty of the General Secretary to produce them 
 for inspection accordingly. 
 
 The accounts and other books of the Society, and any papers or 
 documents affecting its interests, shall be kept in such manner, 
 and at such place as the Board of Management shall approve. 
 The General Secretary shall be held responsible for their safe 
 custody, but duplicate books, when thought necessary by the 
 Board, together with copies of such papers or documents, duly 
 attested as correct, shall be under the custody of one of the Hon- 
 orary Members. The book in which the account of the Society’s 
 funds and property is kept, is always to be laid before the Board 
 of Management at their Quarterly Meetings, for their satisfaction, 
 also any other books or papers they may call for. The General 
 Secretary shall enter every item in the books previous to the 
 Quarterly Meetings. 
 
 It shall be the duty of the Board to keep a copy of the last 
 annual balance sheet of the Society, for the time being, together 
 with the report of the Auditors, if any, and of the last quinquen- 
 nial valuation for the time being, always hung up in a conspicuous 
 place at the Registered Office of the Society. 
 
 XIX.— Investment of Funds, Holding of Land, /etc. 
 
 49. So much of the Society’s Funds as may not be wanted for 
 immediate use, or to meet the usual accruing liabilities, shall, with 
 
Appendices. 
 
 455 
 
 the consent of the Board of Management, or of a majority of the 
 Members of the Society present and entitled to vote at a General 
 Meeting, be invested by the Trustees in such of the following 
 ways as such Board or General Meeting shall direct : namely, in 
 any Savings Bank, in the Public Funds, or with the Commissioners 
 for the Reduction of the National Debt, or upon Government or 
 real securities in Great Britain or Ireland, or upon debentures, 
 mortgages, or securities of any company, incorporated by Charter 
 or Act of Parliament, and paying a dividend on its ordinary share 
 capital, or upon the security of any County, Borough, or other 
 Rates authorised to be levied and mortgaged by Act of Parliament, 
 or in the purchase of land, or in the erection or alteration of offices 
 or other buildings thereon as after mentioned. 
 
 The Board of Management, with the consent of a Special Meet- 
 ing of the Society called for the purpose, may in the name of the 
 Society, purchase, or take on lease, in the names of the Trustees, 
 any land, and may sell, exchange, mortgage, lease, or build upon 
 the same (with power to alter and pull down buildings, and again 
 rebuild), and no purchaser, assignee, n*ortgagee, or tenant shall be 
 bound to inquire as to the authority for any sale, exchange, mort- 
 gage, or lease by the Trustees, and the receipt of the Trustees 
 shall be a discharge for all moneys arising from or in connection 
 with such sale, exchange, mortgage, or lease. 
 
 Mortgages or other assurances for securing money to the Society 
 may be vacated by a receipt endorsed, signed by the Trustees, and 
 countersigned by the General Secretary, in the form contained in 
 the third schedule of the Friendly Societies’ Act, 1875. 
 
 The interest arising from the amount so invested shall go to the 
 General Fund of the Society. Should it be necessary to reconvert 
 any portion of the amount so invested, the General Secretary shall, 
 by circular, inform each Member of the Board of Management 
 that such question is to be discussed at the next meeting. The 
 Board of Management shall then have the power of directing the 
 revocation of so much of the sum invested as may be found neces- 
 sary, and a copy of such resolution shall be forwarded to the 
 Trustees for their guidance. 
 
456 
 
 English Associations of Working Men. 
 
 XX. — Nominations. 
 
 50. Each Local Secretary shall keep a book in which he shall 
 register all nominations made by Members of the Society aged 16 
 years or upwards, by writing, signed by them, delivered or sent 
 to him, of any person or persons not being officers or servants of 
 the Society, except as allowed by 89 and 40 Vic., c. 32, sec. 10, 
 to whom any moneys payable by the Society on the death of such 
 Members not exceeding £50 shall be paid. 
 
 The Local Secretary shall in like manner record or register all 
 revocations or variations of such nominations by the nominator, 
 made in writing, and signed and delivered or sent as aforesaid. 
 
 The nominator shall pay 3d. to the management fund for the 
 receiving or registering of every such nomination, revocation, or 
 variation. 
 
 The Local Secretary shall cause to be exhibited in a conspicuous 
 place, where contributions are received, a notice requesting Mem- 
 bers to nominate. 
 
 All nominations, revocations, or variations to be in the following 
 form : — 
 
 (1) Nomination . 
 
 Friendly Society, registered pursuant to the 
 Friendly Societies’ Act, 18 
 
 I hereby nominate , in the 
 
 county of , to receive the money payable at 
 
 my death under the rules of the Society above-named. 
 
 Signature. 
 
 Witness. 
 
 (2) Revocation. 
 I hereby revoke the above nomination. 
 
 Witness. 
 
 Signature. 
 
 18 
 
 (3) Variation. 
 
 I hereby vary the above nomination as follows 
 I nominate , of , in 
 
 the county of , to receive [one half] of the 
 
Appendices . 
 
 457 
 
 money payable at my death as aforesaid in lieu of the above- 
 mentioned. 
 
 Witness. 
 
 Signature. 
 
 18 
 
 XXL— ‘ Voluntary Dissolution. 
 
 51. The Society may at any time be dissolved by the consent 
 of five-sixths in value of the Members, including Honorary Mem- 
 bers, if any, testified by their signatures to some instrument of 
 dissolution in the form provided by the Treasury Regulations 
 in that behalf, and also by the written consent of any person for 
 the time being receiving or entitled to receive any relief, annuity, 
 or other benefit from the funds of the Society, unless the claim 
 of such person be first duly satisfied, or adequate provision made 
 for satisfying such claim ; the value of Members to be ascertained 
 by giving one vote to every Member, and an additional vote for 
 every five years that he has been a Member, but to no one Mem- 
 ber more than five votes in the whole. 
 
 XXII. — Application for Inspection, Special Meetings, 
 or Dissolution. 
 
 52. It shall be the right of one-fifth of the total number of 
 Members, or if the number of Members shall at any time amount 
 to 1,000, and shall not exceed 10,000, it shall be the right of 100 
 Members, or if the number shall at any time exceed 10,000, it 
 shall be the right of 500 Members, by an application in writing 
 to the Chief Registrar, signed by them in the forms respectively 
 provided by the Treasury Regulations in that behalf — 
 
 (a) To apply for the appointment of one or more inspectors 
 to examine into the affairs of the Society, and to report thereon. 
 
 (b) To apply for the calling of a Special Meeting of the Society. 
 
 Either such application to be made upon such notice to the 
 
 Society, and to be supported by such evidence for the purpose 
 of showing that the applicants have good reason for requiring 
 such inspection to be made or meeting to be called, and that they 
 are not actuated by malicious motives in their application, as the 
 Chief Registrar shall direct. 
 
458 
 
 English Associations of Working Men . 
 
 (c) Or to apply for an investigation into tlie affairs of the 
 Society with a view to the dissolution thereof. 
 
 Such application as the last aforesaid to set forth that the funds 
 of the Society are insufficient to meet the existing claims thereon, 
 or that the rates of contribution fixed in the rules of such Society 
 are insufficient to cover the benefits assured, and the grounds 
 upon which such insufficiency is alleged. 
 
 XXIII. — Arbitrators. 
 
 53. For the settlement of all disputes that may at any time 
 arise between any Member or person claiming under or on account 
 of any Member, or under the rules of the Society, and the 
 Trustees, Treasurer, or other officer of the Society, or the Board 
 of Management thereof, relative to any alleged breach of rules, or 
 withholding the benefit of, or expelling any Member therefrom, 
 or on any account whatsoever, every such dispute or difference 
 shall be referred to arbitration. 
 
 At the first General Meeting after this rule is registered, five 
 arbitrators shall be named and elected, none of them being directly 
 or indirectly beneficially interested in the funds of the Society, 
 and in each case of dispute the names of the arbitrators shall be 
 written on pieces of paper and placed in a box or other vessel, 
 and the three whose names are first drawn out by the complaining 
 party, or some one appointed by him or her, shall be the arbitra- 
 tors to act in the matter. These Arbitrators shall, as soon as 
 possible thereafter, proceed to hear the matter in dispute, and the 
 several parties concerned therein, and may require the production 
 of any books or evidence by them deemed requisite, and within 
 ten days after such hearing, they shall give their decision in 
 writing, and deliver the same to the Secretary, which decision 
 shall be final. 
 
 In case of the death, refusal, neglect, or incapacity of any or 
 all of the said arbitrators, there shall, at the next General Meet- 
 ing, be named and elected one or more arbitrators to act in the 
 place of the arbitrators disqualified as aforesaid. 
 
 XXIV. — New Rules and Alterations of Rules. 
 
 54. No new rule shall be made, nor any of the rules herein 
 
Appendices. 
 
 459 
 
 contained, or hereafter to be made, shall be amended, altered, 
 rescinded, unless with the consent of a majority of those present 
 at a General Meeting specially called for that purpose. 
 
 XXV.— Table of Contributions and Benefits. 
 
 CONTBIBUTIONS. 
 
 Entrance Fees, under 14 years of age Os. 6d. 
 
 Do. above 14 years of age Is. 0 d. 
 
 Weekly Contribution at Agencies where Colliery Proprietors are Honorary 
 Members : — 
 
 Surface Members, under 14 years of age Os. 14d. 
 
 Do. above 14 years of age Os. 3d. 
 
 Underground Members, under 14 years of age Os. 2d. 
 
 .Do. above 14 years of age Os. 4d. 
 
 Weekly Contribution at Agencies where Colliery Proprietors are not Honorary 
 Members : — 
 
 Surface Members, under 14 years of age Os. If d. 
 
 Do. above 14 years of age Os. 3£d. 
 
 Underground Members, under 14 years of age Os. 2£d. 
 
 Do. above 14 years of age Os. 5 d. 
 
 Benefits. 
 
 Accidental Death. 
 
 Half-Member £10 
 
 Whole Member, leaving no dependent relatives £20 
 
 Do. leaving dependent relatives : — 
 
 Funeral Allowance £5 
 
 Widow, per week 5s. 0<1. 
 
 Each Child under age, per week 2s. 6 d. 
 
 Disablement. 
 
 At Agencies where Colliery Proprietors contribute 15 per cent. : — 
 
 Half-Member, first week 2s. Od. 
 
 Do. per week after first week 4s. Od. 
 
 Whole Member, first week 4s. Od. 
 
 Do. per week after first week 8s. Od. 
 
 During the whole period he is unable to work from the effects of 
 the Accident. 
 
 At Agencies where Colliery Proprietors contribute 25 per cent. 
 
 Half-Member, first week 2s. Od. 
 
 Do. per week after first week 5s. Od. 
 
 Whole Member, first week 5s. Od. 
 
 Do. per week after first week 10s. Od. 
 
 During the whole period he is unable to work from the effects of 
 the Accident. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abbots Ann Provident Society, The, 
 182-5. 
 
 Abuses in Societies, Precautions 
 against, 289. 
 
 Acts of Parliament : Rose’s Act (1793), 
 802— Act of 1819, 303— Act of 1829, 
 304 — Savings Bank Act (1833), 339 
 — Act of 1S34, 305 — Loan Societies’ 
 Act (1835), 305— Benefit Building 
 Societies’ Act (1836), 305 — Act of 
 1846, 306— Consolidation Acts(1850) , 
 307, and (1855), 308 — Industrial and 
 Provident Societies’ Acts (1852), 
 306, and (1876), 315, 330— Act of 
 1858, 309— Act of 1860, 309— An- 
 nuities Act (1864), 340-44 — Friendly 
 Societies’ Act (1875), 303, 313, 317 
 —Act of 1882, 340-9. 
 
 Actuaries, Institute of, 250. 
 
 „ Faculty of, in Scotland, 250. 
 
 Actuary of Friendly Societies, Ap- 
 pointment of, 315 — Duties of, 332. 
 
 Adulteration of Food and Drugs Act 
 (1875), 137. 
 
 Africa : English Settlements on the 
 West Coast of, 28 — Transfer of 
 Negro Labour from, to the West 
 Indies, 29 —English Acquisitions by 
 the Treaty of Utrecht, 32 — and by 
 the Treaty of Vienna, 33 — British 
 Exports to 57. 
 
 Ahabath Olam, Order of, 220 note. 
 
 Alkali, etc., Works Regulation Acts, 
 108. 
 
 Amalgamated Engineers, 120. 
 
 America, Importance of the Discovery 
 of, 26 — Contest of European Powers 
 for Possession of, 26 — Early Indif- 
 ference of England, 27 — Foundation 
 of English Colonies in, 28— Declara- 
 tion of Independence, 32— Her trade 
 with England, 51 — with China, ib. 
 — Increase of Wheat Production in, 
 58. 
 
 I Annuity and Insurance System (Gov- 
 ernment), 339-49. 
 
 Annuities Act (1864), 340-44— (1882), 
 347. 
 
 Ansell, Mr., his Tables of Sickness, 
 235. 
 
 Anti-Corn-Law League, The, 38, 90. 
 
 Apprentices Act, 159. 
 
 Arbitration, Boards of, 23, 116 — Rules 
 of, 333. 
 
 Arnold, T. J., his “Employers’ and 
 Workmen’s and Conspiracy and 
 Protection of Property Acts,” 111 
 note. 
 
 Artisans’ Dwellings Acts, 139. 
 
 Aspinall, Mr. Clarke, on the Evils of 
 Burial Insurance in the Case of 
 Children, 196 note. 
 
 Aschrott, Dr., his Work on the Eng- 
 lish Poor Law System, 350 — His 
 Examination before the Select Com- 
 mittee (1885), 359. 
 
 Associations of Working Men, Early 
 Effect of, in Altering the Condi- 
 tions of Labour, 11 — Their Value, 
 as consisting of the Aristocracy of 
 Workmen, 20 — Their Voluntary 
 Origin and Character, 142-3 — Pub- 
 licity of their Proceedings, 143, 145 
 — Advantages of Freedom of, 144 — 
 Growth of Self-reliance and Mutual 
 Confidence in, ib . — Acts Regulating 
 Legal Position of, 147 note — Regis- 
 tered and Non-Registered, 148. 
 
 Associative Life, Development of, in 
 England, 142-3. 
 
 Atlas Works, Manchester, Factory So- 
 ciety in connection with, 206 note. 
 
 Austria, Wheat Imported from, 59. 
 
 Australia, British Exports to, 57 — 
 Growing Importance of the Austra- 
 lian Market, 58— Increase of Wheat 
 Production in, 58 — Wheat Imported 
 from, 60 — Meat Imports from, 61. 
 
 460 
 
Index . 
 
 461 
 
 Bacon, Imports of, 61. 
 
 Baker, Mr. B. L., his Efforts on be- 
 half of Juvenile Beformatories, 134. 
 
 Balance of Trade, Theory of, 29 — Its 
 Economic Value, 30. 
 
 Bank of England, Establishment of, 
 32. 
 
 Barnes, James, his “ Monetary Ta- 
 bles,” 247. 
 
 Bastiat, his “ Harmonies Econo- 
 miques ” referred to, 66. 
 
 Beef, Imports of, 44. 
 
 Beesley, Professor, his “ Education of 
 Public Opinion ” referred to, 86. 
 
 Belgium, British Exports to, 51, 57. 
 
 Benefit Building Societies— see Build- 
 ing Societies. 
 
 Benefit Building Societies’ Act (1836), 
 305. 
 
 Bermondsey, Friendly Union Benefit 
 Society at, 181. 
 
 Best, Hon. and Rev. S., his System 
 of Deposit Friendly Societies, 182-5 
 — His Services to Friendly Societies, 
 246 — On the Duty of the Clergy, 278. 
 
 “ Birmingham Societies,” 174. 
 
 Birmingham, Union Provident Sick 
 Society at, 174 and note — Cannon 
 Street Male Adult Provident Insti- 
 tution at, 180 note — Christ Church 
 Provident Institution at, 181 note. 
 
 Blackley’s, Canon, Scheme of Com- 
 pulsory Insurance, 355-358 — His 
 works, 356 note — Attitude of Friend- 
 ly Societies with regard to his 
 Scheme, 361. 
 
 Blake, 28. 
 
 Bojanowski,his Work on the “ Law of 
 Employers and Workmen ” referred 
 to, 111 note. 
 
 Bolingbroke, his “ Patriot King ” re- 
 ferred to, 99. 
 
 Brabrook, Mr. E. W., on the Number 
 of Friendly Societies in Existence, 
 163 — On the Law of Friendly So- 
 cieties, 247. 
 
 Brentano on Trades Unions, 161. 
 
 British and Foreign School Society, 
 130. 
 
 British North America, Wheat Im- 
 ported from, 60 — Imports of Live 
 Stock, etc., 60, 61 
 
 Building Societies, Origin and Charac- 
 ter of, 13, 14 — Legal Status of, 305. 
 
 Burke, his Enlarged Idea of the Eng- 
 lish State, 35— On Imperial Federa- 
 tion, 62. 
 
 Burial Clubs, Primitive Origin of, 190. 
 
 Burial Insurance, Abuses of, in the 
 case of Children, 195 note. 
 
 Burial Societies, 188-98. 
 
 Burt, Mr., 121. 
 
 Cameron, Mr. Charles, his Paper on 
 Registration, 311. 
 
 Canada, Acquisition of, by England, 32. 
 
 Cape of Good Hope, Acquisition of, by 
 England, 33. 
 
 Capital, Counterpoise offered by La- 
 bour to the Accumulation of, 14 — 
 Closer Relations of, with Labour, 
 22— Its Relations with Co-opera- 
 tion, 82. 
 
 Cardin, Mr. James C., his Evidence 
 in Favour of the Annuities Act of 
 1882, 348. 
 
 Carlyle, Thomas, his “Past and Pre- 
 sent ” referred to, 68 — On the Duties 
 of the Upper Classes. 69. 
 
 Carolina, Settlement of, 28. 
 
 Carpenter, Miss, her Efforts on behalf 
 of Female Reformatories, 134. 
 
 Cashmore, Mr. C., 181 note. 
 
 Ceylon, Acquisition of, by England, 
 33. 
 
 Charles II., Feeble Government of, 28. 
 
 Chartism, 5. 
 
 Chartists, their Treatment of the Land 
 Question, 91. 
 
 Chatham, Lord, on the British Colo- 
 nists in America, 34. 
 
 Cheese, Imports of, 61. 
 
 Chemical Works, Legislation respect- 
 ing, 108. 
 
 Children, Restrictions on Employment 
 of, in Factories, 103— In Mines, 109, 
 110 — Provision for the Destitute, 
 
 133. 
 
 Children, Abuses connected with Burial 
 Insurance of, 195 note. 
 
 Chili, her Trade with England, Ger- 
 many, and Italy Compared, 51. 
 
 China, her Foreign Trade, 51. 
 
 Christianity, Social Value of, 73. 
 
 Clive, Lord, his Conquest of India, 32. 
 
 Coal Mines Regulation Act (1872), 109, 
 122, 402. 
 
 Coal Miners, Wages of, in Scotland, 
 18. 
 
 Cobden, Mr., 38. 
 
 Colbert, his Labours on behalf of 
 French Industry, 7, 32, 66. 
 
 Coke, Chief Justice, on the Office of 
 Justice of the Peace, 124. 
 
462 
 
 Index. 
 
 Collectors of Burial Societies, 192. 
 
 Colonies (English), Early Expansion 
 of, in America, 2S — Change of Po- 
 licy in regard to, 34 — Importance of, 
 to England, 53-6 — British Exports 
 to, 57. 
 
 Columbus, his Discovery of America, 
 26. 
 
 Combination Laws, Repeal of, 11, 113, 
 143. 
 
 Common Employment, Doctrine of, 
 117, 118. 
 
 Commission, Royal (on Friendly So- 
 cieties), to Inquire into the Employ- 
 ment of Children in Mines, 109 — To 
 Inquire into the Working of the 
 Master and Servant Act (1867), 114 
 — To Inquire into Accidents in 
 Mines, 403 — Second Report referred 
 to, 262 note , 265 note, 266 note, 271 
 note, 281 note, 293 note — Third Re- 
 
 S ort referred to, 263 note — Fourth 
 .eport referred to, 162, 171 note, 183 
 note, 191, 198, 217 note, 240 note, 
 248, 249 note, 260 note, 264 note, 
 297 note , 299 note, 308 note, 311 
 note, 340 note, 352. 
 
 Communism, Origin of, in France, 66 
 — Distinguished from Socialism, 74. 
 Compulsory Insurance, Canon Black- 
 ley’s Scheme of, 355 — National Ob- 
 jections to, 365. 
 
 Conciliation, Boards of, their Growing 
 Importance, 23. 
 
 Consolidation Acts (1850), 307, and 
 (1855), 308. 
 
 Conspiracy and Protection of Property 
 Act (1875), 114r-16. 
 
 Contract, Freedom of — The Term de- 
 nounced as Inapplicable to Work- 
 men, Opposed to Capitalists, 85 — 
 The Principle not Observed in Early 
 Legislation, 112. 
 
 Contract of Service, Strict Enforce- 
 ment of, in Earlier Legislation, 112. 
 The Master and Servant Act (1867), 
 ib. — Conspiracy and Protection of 
 Property Act (1875), 115. 
 
 Cook, Captain, takes Possession of 
 New South Wales, 32. 
 
 Co-operative Societies, Distributive 
 and Productive Functions of, 13 — 
 Their Value as Teaching Business 
 Life to the Working Classes, 20— 
 J. S. Mill on, 82 — Tendency to Cen- 
 tralization in, 147. 
 
 Corresponding Societies’ Act, 307. 
 
 Cotton, Exports and Imports of, since 
 1840, 42, 43. 
 
 Councils of Conciliation Act (1867), 
 116. 
 
 County Societies, 185-7. 
 
 Cowell, Mr. C., his Prize Essay on 
 Friendly Societies, 272 note. 
 
 Creches, Proposed Establishment of, 
 for Children of Factory Workers, 
 197 note. 
 
 Criminal Law Amendment Act (1871), 
 Its Provisions respecting Contract 
 of Service, 113, 115 — Commission of 
 Inquiry into the Working of, 114 
 note. 
 
 Crossley, Messrs. J., & Sons, Limited, 
 their System of Factory Insurance, 
 205 note. 
 
 Crowter, Mr. W., his Prize Essay on 
 Valuations, 272 note. 
 
 Cunningham, W., on the Navigation 
 Act, 29, 30— On the Balance of 
 Trade, 30 — On the Instability of 
 English Industries, 48 — His “Growth 
 of English Industry and Com- 
 merce ” referred to, 75. 
 
 Davis, J. E., his Commentary on the 
 Labour Laws, 111 note. 
 
 Day Industrial Schools, 136 and note. 
 
 Dee, Mr. J. H., 182 note. 
 
 Delaware. Capture of, from Holland, 28. 
 
 Denny, W., & Brothers, their Acci- 
 dent Fund Society, 207 note. 
 
 Deposit Friendly Societies, 182-5. 
 
 Deposits (of Friendly Societies) — see 
 “ National Debt Commissioners.” 
 
 Disputes in Societies, Settlement of, by 
 Arbitration, 291. 
 
 Deputy Registrar of Friendly So- 
 cieties in districts, Duties of, 311. 
 
 Dividing Societies, 171-4. 
 
 “ Domestic Workshops,” the term de- 
 fined, 102 note — difficulties of ef- 
 fective legal control over, 108. 
 
 Drinking habits, Prevalence of, in 
 Earlier Friendly Societies, 231. 
 
 “ Dropping ” Members, 193. 
 
 Druids’ Order, The, 219-20 note, 265 
 note. 
 
 Dunkirk, Capture of, 28. 
 
 Eaton, Mr. W. C., his Prize Essay on 
 Friendly Societies, 272 note. 
 
 Eden, Sir F. M., his “ State of the 
 Poor,” 235 note — His “Observa- 
 tions on Friendly Societies,” 260. 
 
Index. 
 
 463 
 
 Education (Elementary), Early Ef- 
 forts on behalf of, 130 — Government 
 grants for, 130-1 — Legislation Re- 
 specting, 130 — Commentaries of 
 the Law respecting, 130 note. 
 
 Egypt, Wheat imported from, 59. 
 
 Elementary Education Act (1876), 135. 
 
 Elizabeth, Queen, Condition of Eng- 
 land under, 26, 27 — Concessions to 
 Individualism, 66. 
 
 Emigration, Progress of, 54 — Consi- 
 dered as a remedy for pauperism, 
 55. 
 
 Employers, Associations of, 23. 
 
 Employers’ Insurance Companies, 
 120. 
 
 Employers’ Liability Act (1880), 117 
 — Commentaries on, 117 note — Its 
 working and effects, 119 — Action of 
 Trades Unions with regard to, 121 
 — Kesults from Passing of, 416. 
 
 Employers’ Liability Act (1880) 
 Amendment Bill, 121. 
 
 Employers and Workmen Act (1875), 
 114. 
 
 Engels, F. , his account of the English 
 Working Classes, 3, 5. 
 
 England, Depressed Condition of, forty 
 years ago, 4, 5 — Elaborate Charac- 
 ter of her Social System, 6 — Modern 
 increase of National Wealth, 10 — 
 More Equitable Distribution of the 
 National Income, 10 — Development 
 of Associative Life, 11 — Three 
 Causes of Social Development in, 
 24 -Historical Aspect of Industrial 
 Production, 25 — Her Possession of 
 the New World, 26 — Merchant Ad- 
 venturers of, 27 — Her Maritime 
 Apprenticeship, ib. — Three Periods 
 of her Expansion, ib . — Imitation of 
 the Dutch Commercial System, 28 
 — Contest with France, 33 — Estab- 
 lishment of her Naval Supremacy, 
 
 33 — Old and new Colonial Systems, 
 
 34 — Progress of Industrial Produc- 
 tion since 1840, 39 — Statistics of 
 Exports and Imports, 41 — Increased 
 Consumption of Foreign Food, 44 — 
 Growth of the Population, 45 — Pre- 
 ponderating Importance of Manu- 
 factures, 46 — Increase of the 
 National Wealth, 48 — Industrial 
 Dependence on Foreign Countries, 
 48 — Over-Production and Depres- 
 sion of Trade, 49 — Foreign Com- 
 petition, 50 — Colonial Trade, 59-61 
 
 — Imperial Federation, 62 — Reac- 
 tion against Individualism, 67 — 
 Modern Social Tendency of Thought 
 in, 72-4 — Modern Views of advanced 
 Social Reformers, 83 — Historical 
 Relations of the State to Society, 
 98 — Old and New Systems of self- 
 government in, 122-142 — National 
 want of Individuality in, 144. 
 
 Essington, Rev. R. W., his Prize 
 Essay on Friendly Societies, 272 
 note. 
 
 Estcourt, Mr. Sotheron, M.P., his 
 Services to Friendly Societies, 187 
 note, 246 — His Evidence Referred 
 to, 189 note. 
 
 Exports, Statistics of, 41 — British and 
 Foreign compared, 51 — Foreign and 
 Colonial compared, 56-8. 
 
 Factory Act (1833), Period of Reform 
 inaugurated by, 73, 101. 
 
 Factory Inspectors, Value of their Re- 
 ports, 3 — Their Annual Reports, 
 105 — Their Duties and Powers, 105, 
 107. 
 
 Factory Legislation, Practical Charac- 
 ter of, 101 — Growth of, since 1833, 
 ib. 
 
 Factory Societies, 201-5. 
 
 Factory and Workshop Act (1883), 
 
 102 . 
 
 Factory and Workship Act (1878), 
 Origin of, 101 note — Its leading 
 Provisions, 102-105 — Its Adminis- 
 tration and Working, 105-8, 423. 
 
 Fair Trade Movement, The 51. 
 
 Females, Friendly Societies of, 225-7. 
 
 Fiulaison, Mr. A. G., his Tables of 
 Premiums, 187 note — his Compila- 
 tion of Vital Statistics, 240 — Defects 
 of his Tables, 241, 262 note. 
 
 Finlaison, Mr. J., his Tables of Pre- 
 miums for Sick Insurance, 180 note. 
 
 Fish, Imports of, 61. 
 
 Florida, Cession of, to Spain, 32. 
 
 Fonblanque, his “How we are Gov- 
 erned ” referred to, 33. 
 
 Food, Increased Consumption of 
 Foreign Articles, 44— Importance of 
 the Colonies, 58 — Provisions against 
 Sale of unwholesome, 137. 
 
 Foresters, The, 218-19 note — Juvenile 
 Branches of, 227 note — Their Col- 
 lection of Sickness and Death Sta- 
 tistics, 242, 259, 265 — Improvement 
 in Organization of, 310 — Registra- 
 
4<H 
 
 Index. 
 
 tion of, 317 — Importance of, 371 — 
 Origin and Growth of, 373 — Finan- 
 cial Statistics of, 374 — Foundation 
 of Lodges, 376 — Suspension or Ex- 
 pulsion of Members, 377 — Clear- 
 ances, 378 — Official Life of, 379 — 
 Increase of Temperance in, 379 — 
 Districts of, 379 — Meetings of Dele- 
 gates, 380 — Annual Beports of, 380 
 — Central Management of the Order, 
 380 — Sick Insurance, 382 — Burial 
 Allowances, 384: — widow and orphan 
 insurance, 384; Temporary Belief 
 to Members, 385 — Travelling Cards, 
 386 — Funds for Belief, 388 — High 
 Court Belief Fund, 390 — Superan- 
 nuation Insurance, 393 — Social 
 Spirit of, 396. 
 
 Forster, Bight Hon. W. E., his Prize 
 for Essays on Friendly Societies, 
 272 note. 
 
 Fourier, his “ Phalanstery,” 66. 
 
 France, Industrial Bevolution in, 7 
 — Her Contest for the Possession 
 of America, 26 — Her Trade with 
 England and Germany compared, 
 51 — British Exports to, 57 — Society 
 and the Individual in, 66 — National 
 Genius of, Compared with that of 
 Englishmen, 144. 
 
 Fraser, A., his “ Treatise on the Law 
 of Scotland relative to Master and 
 Servant,” 112 note. 
 
 Free Gardeners, National United Order 
 of, 220 note. 
 
 Free Trade, Origin and Progress of 
 the Movement, 36-8. 
 
 Friendly Societies, The Oldest Form 
 of English Working Men’s Associa- 
 tions, 12 — Their Importance as 
 Schools of Thrift and Providence, 
 20 — Tendency to Centralisation in, 
 147 — Beasons for Considering them 
 before Trades Unions, 155 — Histori- 
 cal Connection with Trades’ Unions, 
 158 — With the Early Guilds, ib., 160 
 — Their Peaceful Development, 161 
 — Temporary Distrust of, in the Pop- 
 ular Mind, 162 — Enormous Growth 
 of, during the Present Century, ib . — 
 Their Objects of Insurance, 163-4 — 
 Their Origin, as Institutions of 
 Mutual Benevolence, 175, 228 — 
 Early Difficulties of Finance and 
 Administration, ib., 254 — Their 
 Lessons of Thrift to the Working 
 Classes, 167-8 — Different kinds of, 
 
 169-227 — Early Causes of Collapse, 
 229 — Evils caused by Drinking 
 Habits in, 230-31 — Opposite Ten- 
 dencies to Self-help and State-con- 
 trol, 232— Threefold Aim of their 
 Development, 233 — Literature of, 
 234-51 — Insurance System of, 251- 
 275 — Causes of Early Insolvency, 
 260 note — Prize Essays on, 272, note 
 — Management of, 275-295 — Their 
 Extent, 281 — District Associations, 
 282 — Equalisation, Investment of 
 Funds, 287 — Cost of Management, 
 288 — Social Advantage of, 293 — 
 Publicity of their Arrangements, 
 295, 317 — Legislation concerning, 
 297 — Question of Friendly Societies 
 Considered by Parliament in 
 1825, 27,304 — Internal Development 
 of, — 309 — Arbitration in, 333 — Con- 
 nection between them and the Poor 
 Laws, 352 — Their attitude with 
 regard to Canon Blackley’s Scheme, 
 361 — Sick and Accident Insurance 
 in, 421 ; Main Features of, 426 — 
 Advantages and Disadvantages of, 
 427. 
 
 Friendly Societies’ Act (1875), Sectiou 
 30 referred to, 195 — Defective Pro- 
 visions of, respecting graduated 
 Premiums for Life Insurance, 263 
 — Provisions relating to Insurance 
 of, 313. 
 
 Friendly Societies’ Savings Bank Act 
 of 1833, 339. 
 
 Friendly Society Journal, The, 248. 
 
 Friend-in-Need Society, The, 197. 
 
 Frith-Guilds, 158. 
 
 Funeral Benefits — see “ Burial Insur- 
 ance.” 
 
 Gama, Vasco de, 27. 
 
 General Collecting and Burial Societies, 
 191-2. 
 
 George, Henry, 21 — his “ Progress and 
 Poverty,” 91. 
 
 German Empire — Becent Economic 
 Development of, 7. 
 
 Germany, British Exports to, 51, 57 — 
 Wheat Imported from, 59. 
 
 Gibraltar, Cession of, to England, 32. 
 
 Giffen, Mr., his estimate of the num- 
 ber of the working classes in Eng- 
 land, 45 — his Theory of Foreign 
 Exchange, 50. 
 
 Gilbert, Mr. W. B. D., his Prize Essay 
 on Valuations, 272 note. 
 
Index. 465 
 
 Gladstone, Mr., his Scheme for a 
 System of State Insurance, 340 — his 
 Speech on the Bill, 341 — Opposition 
 in Parliament to his Scheme, 342. 
 
 Glasgow Thistle and Bose Society, 263 
 note . 
 
 Gneist, On Self-Government in Eng- 
 land, 123-5 — His views of the decay 
 of the State in England, 149. 
 
 Good Hope, Cape of, British Exports 
 to, 57. 
 
 Goschen, Bight Hon. Mr., On the Im- 
 portance of England’s Colonies, 53 — 
 On the confusion between the old 
 and new systems of Local Self- 
 Government, 140. 
 
 Great Western Bailway Company, 
 Their Benefit Societies at Swindon, 
 208-12 note. 
 
 Greater Britain, Origin of, 27. 
 
 Guilds, Their Ecclesiastical Origin, 15 
 — Early Constitution of, Determined 
 by the form of Labour, 16 — Histori- 
 cal Connection with Eriendly 
 Societies, 158 — Effects of the Be- 
 formation on, 159. 
 
 Guy, Mr. W. A., On the Influence of 
 Occupation on health, 264. 
 
 Hampshire Friendly Society, The, 184. 
 
 Hancox, Mr. W., his Prize Essay on 
 Valuations, 272 note. 
 
 Hardwick, Mr. C., his Services to 
 Friendly Societies, 246 — His Literary 
 Works, 247, 267 note — On the 
 
 Actuarial Calculations, 269 — His 
 “Friendly or Benefit Societies,” 275 
 note , 276 — On the Social Advantages 
 of Societies, 294. 
 
 Hasbach, W., his Work on English 
 Friendly Societies, 171 note , 242 
 note , 254 ; on State Interference, 297. 
 
 Health, Boards of, 128 — Legislation 
 respecting, 137 — Influence of Occu- 
 pation on, 264. 
 
 Hearts of Oak Benefit Society, 199 
 note , 263 note. 
 
 Heim, Dr. Karl, his Observations of 
 the Average Duration of Sickness, 
 259 note. 
 
 Heligoland, Acquisition of, by England, 
 33. 
 
 Highland Society, Their Tables of 
 Sickness, 235. 
 
 Highway Boards, Origin of, 128. 
 
 Hitchin Friendly Institution, The, 
 177 and note. 
 
 Hobbes, his Championship of Absolute 
 Monarchy, 99. 
 
 Holidays, Provisions in Factory Aots 
 Bespecting, 103, 104. 
 
 Holland, her Contest for the Possession 
 of America, 26 — Her Bivalry with 
 England, 28 — British Exports to, 57 
 — Imports of Fresh Mutton from, 61. 
 
 Hong-Kong, British Exports to, 57. 
 
 Howell, G., his “ Handy-book of the 
 Labour Laws,” 112 note. 
 
 Hoyle & Sons, Messrs T., their System 
 of Factory Insurance, 207. 
 
 Hudson’s Bay, Cession of, to England, 
 32. 
 
 Humanistic Movement, 72. 
 
 Humboldt, his “ Cosmos ” Beferred to, 
 26. 
 
 Huskisson, Mr., his Financial Be- 
 forms, 37, 38 — On the Importance 
 of Free Trade, 39. 
 
 Hutchinson, Mr. J. G., On “Labour 
 and its Beward,” 84. 
 
 Hyndman, Mr., 22. 
 
 Imperial Federation League, 62. 
 
 Imports, Statistics of, 41. 
 
 India, Clive’s Conquest of, 32 — British 
 Exports to, 57 — Increase of Wheat 
 Production in, 58 — Wheat Imported 
 from, 60. 
 
 Individualism, Belations of, to Society, 
 64, 65 — Social Beaction Against, in 
 England, 67 — Growing Becognition 
 of the Duties of the Individual to 
 Society, 75. 
 
 Industrial Production, Historical 
 Aspect of, in England, 25 — Enor- 
 mous Advance in, since 1840, 39. 
 
 Industrial and Provident Societies’ 
 Act (1852), 306— and (1876), 306, 
 315, 330. 
 
 Industrial Bemuneration Conference, 
 83. 
 
 Industrial Schools, 134 — Statistics Be- 
 specting, 136. 
 
 Industrial Schools Acts, 134, 136. 
 
 Insurance, Objects of, among Friendly 
 Societies, 163-4 — Importance of the 
 Question of, in England, 167 — 
 System of, in Friendly Societies, 
 251, sqq. — Question of Occupation, 
 Habits of Life and Locality in Con- 
 nection with, 264-6 — Becommenda- 
 tions of Commissioners Bespecting, 
 312 — For Begistered Friendly 
 Societies, 315 — Origin of Schemes 
 
 H H 
 
466 
 
 Index. 
 
 of, 355 — Canon Blackley’s Scheme 
 of Compulsory, 355 — Rev. J. W. 
 Stratton’s Scheme, 358 — Voluntary 
 Insurance under State Control dis- 
 cussed before the Select Committee 
 on National Provident Insurance, 
 365 — Sick and Accident, 421 — Super- 
 annuation, 423. 
 
 Insurance of Working Men — see 
 “ Working Men’s Insurance.” 
 
 Investment Associations, 288. 
 
 Irish Land Act (1881), 91. 
 
 Iron, Modern Improvements in Re- 
 fining Process, 40 — Exports of, since 
 1840, 41. 
 
 Iron Trades Employers’ Association, 
 
 120 . 
 
 Jackson, Mr. W. L., his Prize for 
 Essays on Friendly Societies, 272 
 note. 
 
 Jamaica, Conquest of, 28. 
 
 Japan, her Trade with China, 51. 
 
 Jeans, J. S., his Estimate of the Num- 
 ber of Wage-earning Workmen en- 
 gaged in Manufactures, 45 — His 
 Statistics of British Exports, 51 — 
 On the Advantages offered to English 
 Commerce by the Protectionist 
 Policy of Other Countries, 52— On 
 the increase of Foreign and Colonial 
 Wheat-production, 58. 
 
 Jeeves, Mr. H., 180 note. 
 
 Jones, L. A. Atherley, his “ Miners’ 
 Manual ” referred to, 109 note. 
 
 Jones, Mr. Lloyd, his “Progress of the 
 Working Class ” referred to, 69. 
 
 Justices of the Peace, Former im- 
 portance of the Office, 124 — Their 
 Inadequacy to deal with Modern 
 Local Requirements, 128. 
 
 Jute, Exports and Imports of, 43. 
 
 Juvenile Friendly Societies, 227. 
 
 Juvenile Offenders — see “ Reforma- 
 tories ” and “ Industrial Schools.” 
 
 Kingsley, Canon, on the Social Duties 
 of the Upper Classes, 70. 
 
 Konsum-Vereine compared with Co- 
 operative Societies, 13. 
 
 Labour (in England), Its higher value 
 and new form, 8, 9 — Social and 
 Material Counterpoise to the Ac- 
 cumulation of Capital, 14 — Modern 
 Differentiation of, 16, 17 — Closer 
 Relations of, with Capital, 22 — 
 
 Natural and Market price of, 76 — 
 Protective Legislation respecting, 
 103-111— Civil and Criminal Rela- 
 tions of, 111, sqq . — Beneficial Effect 
 of Improved Conditions of, on the 
 wage-income of the working classes, 
 139 — Division of, under the new 
 Centralised System of Self-Govern- 
 ment, 141. 
 
 Labourers, Statutes of, 66, 112. 
 
 Labrador, Early Voyages of Merchants 
 to, 27. 
 
 Lancaster, Joseph, 130 note. 
 
 Land Question, Present Aspect of, in 
 England, 90-4. 
 
 Lapse of Policies, Frequency of, in 
 Burial Societies, 193-4. 
 
 Lasalle, 75. 
 
 Lassalle, 7. 
 
 Laveley, On the Social Value of Chris- 
 tianity, 73. 
 
 Lefevre, G. Shaw, his Remarks on 
 Factory Inspection, 106 — On the 
 Reduction of Mortality by recent 
 Sanitary Legislation, 138. 
 
 Legislation of Friendly Societies, 296- 
 312 — Peculiar Conditions of, in Eng- 
 land, 334. 
 
 Levi, Professor Leone, his “ Work 
 and Pay ” referred to, 40 — His Esti- 
 mate of the total of the working- 
 classes in England, 45. 
 
 “Levies,” Origin of, 190, 252 —see 
 “ Levy System.” 
 
 Levy System (of Insurance), Conditions 
 on which it Depends, 252 — Its want 
 of Stability, 253 — Distinguished from 
 the New Premium System, 257. 
 
 Liabilities, Calculation of average, 
 257-8 — Importance of adjusting 
 Premiums to, 259. 
 
 List, Frederick, on the Connection of 
 Political Economy with Politics, 25, 
 26 — His defence of the Methuen 
 Treaty, 31 — On the Growth of 
 English Commerce, 36. 
 
 Loan Societies, 305-330. 
 
 Loan Societies’ Act (1835), 305. 
 
 Local Authorities, State Co-operation 
 with, 143. 
 
 Local Burial Societies, 189-90. 
 
 Local Sick and Burial Collecting 
 Societies, 189-90. 
 
 Local Town Societies, 178-82. 
 
 Local Village and Country Societies, 
 175-7. 
 
 Local Government Board, Establish- 
 
Index . 467 
 
 of, 129 — Its Supervision of Sanitary 
 Administration, 137 — Report of, re- 
 ferred to, 141. — Concentration of 
 duties in, 148. 
 
 Local Self-Government. The term ex- 
 plained, 97 — Old and new systems 
 of, 122-42 — Establishment of a 
 Central Board, 129— Confusion be- 
 tween the old and new systems of, 
 140. 
 
 London and North-Western Railway 
 Company, their system of insur- 
 ing their workmen against accidents, 
 
 120 — Benefit Societies at Crewe, 
 212-14 note. 
 
 London Working-Men’s Association. 
 Resolution of Conference in 1885 in 
 favour of Imperial Federation, 62. 
 
 Lowell, Mr. Russell, his Address as 
 President of the Midland Institute, 
 21 . 
 
 Lowell, Mr., on Socialism and Com- 
 munism, 74. 
 
 Ludlow, Mr. J. M., his “Progress of 
 the Working Class ” referred to, 69 
 — His services on behalf of the 
 working -classes, 148— Importance 
 of his office, as Chief Registrar of 
 Friendly Societies, ib. — On the im- 
 portance attached by working-men 
 to Trades’ Unions, 155— On early 
 English Guilds, 159-60 — On De- 
 posit Friendly Societies, 184 note— 
 Report of the Royal Commission on 
 Friendly Societies drafted by, 249 
 note 310 — Annual Reports of, 297 
 note — Describes Canon Blackley’s 
 scheme, 360 — His judgment upon 
 it, 364. 
 
 Macclesfield, Burial Societies in, 190. 
 
 Macdonnell, J., his “ Law of Master 
 and Servant,” 112 note. 
 
 Macdonald, Mr. Alexander, 109, 118, 
 
 121 — Biographical sketch of, 409. 
 
 Machinery, Effect of, on the form of 
 
 modern labour, 9 — Differentiation 
 of employment produced by, 17 — 
 Economy of power, space and time 
 effected by modern improvements 
 in, 40 — Effects of mechanical inven- 
 tion on self-government, 125 ; and 
 on the process of production, 151. 
 
 Macpherson, his “Annuals of Com- 
 merce ” referred to, 31 note. 
 
 Malta, Acquisition of, by England, 
 33 . 
 
 Malthus, his “ Essay on Population ” 
 referred to, 46. 
 
 Management of Friendly Societies, 
 275-295 — Cost of, 288— Recom- 
 mendation of Commissioners re- 
 garding, 312. 
 
 Managers’ and Overlookers’ Friendly 
 Society, The, 200 note. 
 
 Manchester, Burial Societies in, 190. 
 
 Manchester Unity, The, 218 note — 
 Their Collections of Sickness and 
 Death Statistics, 241 — Former In- 
 solvency of its Lodges, 254 — Se- 
 cessions from 256 note — Statistics 
 of, 261 — Bad Financial Condition 
 of the Lodged in the Coal Districts, 
 266 note — Improvement in Organi- 
 zation of, 310 — Registration of, 317 
 — Importance of, 371 — Origin and 
 Growth of, 372 — Financial Statistics 
 of, 374— Foundation of Lodges, 
 376— Suspension or Expulsion of 
 members, 377 — Clearances, 378 — 
 Official Life of, 379 — Increase of 
 Temperance in, 379 — Districts of, 
 379 — Meeting of Delegates, 380 — 
 Annual Reports of, 380 — Central 
 Management of the Order, 380 — 
 Sick Insurance, 382— Burial allow- 
 ances, 384— Widow and Orphan In- 
 surance, 384 — Temporary Relief to 
 Members, 385 — Travelling Cards, 
 386 — Funds for Relief, 388 — High 
 Court Relief Fund, 390 — Super- 
 annuation Insurance, 393 — Social 
 Spirit of, 396. 
 
 Marx, Carl, his Theory referred to, 4 
 — His Want of Influence over the 
 English Working-classes, 21, 75. 
 
 Master Builders’ Association, 120. 
 
 Master and Servant Act (1867) — Pro- 
 visions of, Respecting Breach of 
 Contract, 112-115 — Commission of 
 Inquiry into the Working of, 114 
 note. 
 
 Masters and Workmen Arbitration 
 Act (1872), 116. 
 
 Mauritius, Acquisition of, by England, 
 33. 
 
 Meat, Imports of, 61. 
 
 Mechanics’ Institutes, Establishment 
 of, 131. 
 
 Medical Aid Associations, 285. 
 
 Mercantile System, The — Epoch of, 
 28, 29 — The System relatively right, 
 29— In France, 66. 
 
 Merchant Adventurers, in England 27. 
 
468 
 
 Index. 
 
 Merchant Navy (British), Develop- 
 ment of, since 1840, 39. 
 
 Merchant Shipping Acts, 111. 
 
 Metalliferous Mines Regulation Acts, 
 110, 122 ; (1872 and 1875), 402. 
 
 Methuen Treaty, 31. 
 
 Mettray, Reformatory School at, 133. 
 
 Midland Railway Friendly Society, 
 214-5 note. 
 
 Mill, J. Stuart, on Skilled and Un- 
 skilled Labourers, 17 — On the Social 
 Elements of the Wage-question, 78 
 — On the Co-operative principle, 82. 
 His Doctrines of Evolution, 83. 
 
 Mines, Royal Commission to Inquire 
 into the Employment of Children 
 in, 109 — Royal Commission to In- 
 quire into Accidents in, 403 — Ac- 
 cidents in, 401 — Statistics of Deaths 
 in, 404. 
 
 Miners’ Accident Insurance Societies, 
 401. 
 
 Miners’ National Union, 109. 
 
 Miners’ Permanent Relief Societies, 
 398 — Origin of, 398 — Risks of Coal- 
 mining, 401 — “ Pit-clubs,” 406 — 
 Northumberland and Durham, 408 
 — Staffordshire, 410 — Lancashire 
 
 and Cheshire, 410 — West Riding of 
 Yorkshire, 410 — North Wales, 411 
 — Midland Counties, 412 — Mon- 
 mouthshire and South Wales, 412 — 
 Midland District, 412 — Increase of, 
 
 412 — Objects and Management of, 
 
 413 — Actuarial Position of, 414 — 
 Table from Annual Reports of the 
 Northumberland apd Durham, 416 
 note — Financial Position of, 416 — 
 Conferences of Central Association, 
 418. 
 
 Minorca, Cession of, to Spain, 32. 
 
 Moffrey, Mr. R. W., his Essay on 
 Friendly Societies, 168. 
 
 Monk, 28. 
 
 Mortality, Diminution of, in Conse- 
 quence of Modern Legislation, 138 
 — Among Children, 196 note— Tables 
 of, 235. 
 
 Mutton, Imports of, 61. 
 
 Natal, British Exports to, 57. 
 
 National Debt Commissioners, In- 
 terest on Deposits of Registered 
 Friendly Societies with, 256. 
 
 National Deposit Friendly Society, 
 The, 184. 
 
 National Income. More Equitable 
 
 Distribution of, in Modern Times, 
 10 Influence of the Associative 
 Element, 14. 
 
 National Provident Insurance, Select 
 Committee on (1885), 348, 359- 
 General Result of the Inquiry, 359 
 — Reports of, 366 — Conclusions 
 adopted by the Committee, 367. 
 
 National Providence League, 359. 
 
 National Providence Reporter , 359. 
 
 National Schools, Origin of, 130 — 
 Competition with Board Schools, ib. 
 
 National Wealth, Modern Increase of, 
 
 10 . 
 
 Navigation Acts, Success of the Policy 
 of, 29. 
 
 Navy (British), Captures effected by, 
 in the War with France, 33. See 
 also “ Merchant Navy.” 
 
 Neison, Mr. F. G. P. (the Elder), his 
 Tables of Premiums for Sick Insur- 
 ance, 181 note — His “ Contributions 
 to Vital Statistics,” 236-40, 265. 
 
 Neison, Mr. F. G. P. (the Younger), 
 his Compilation of Sickness and 
 Death Statistics for the Foresters, 
 242, 247 — His “ Observations on the 
 Efficient Valuation of Friendly 
 Societies,” 247-8, 259 note, 267 note 
 — On the Conditions of an Efficient 
 Valuation, 270. 
 
 Neumann-Spallart, Professor, his 
 Estimate of English Commerce, 50. 
 
 Newfoundland, Early Voyages of Mer- 
 chants to, 27 — Cession of, to Eng- 
 land, 32. 
 
 New South Wales, Captain Cook takes 
 Possession of, 32. 
 
 New York, Capture of, from Holland, 
 28. 
 
 Nicholson, Mr. C. S., on the adoption 
 of graduated premiums, 262 note. 
 
 Nonconformists — see “Protestant Dis- 
 senters.” 
 
 Non-registered Friendly Societies, 148 
 — Legal position of, 299 — nature of, 
 301. 
 
 Northampton Tables of Mortality, 
 235. 
 
 Norway, British Exports to, 51. 
 
 Notcutt, Mr., his “ Law relating to 
 Factories and Workshops,” 102 
 note. 
 
 Nova Scotia, Cession of, to England, 
 32. 
 
 Oastler, 109. 
 
Index. 469 
 
 Occupations, Dangerous and un- 
 healthy, 199 note — Question of, in 
 connection with Insurance, 264-6. 
 
 Old Fellows, British United Order of, 
 220 note. 
 
 Odd Fellows, Grand United Order of, 
 
 219 note. 
 
 Odd Fellows, Independent Order of, 
 (Kingston Unity), 220 note. 
 
 Odd Fellows, Leeds United Order of, 
 
 220 note. 
 
 Odd Fellows, National Independent 
 Order of, 220 note. 
 
 Odd Fellows, Nottingham Ancient 
 Imperial United Order of, 220 note. 
 
 Orders — see “ Working Men’s Orders.” 
 
 Ordinary Large (or General) Societies, 
 198-9. 
 
 Paris, Treaty of (1763), 32. 
 
 Parkhurst Act (1837-8), 133. 
 
 Parochial Benefit Societies, 339. 
 
 Parochial Fund, proposed by Pitt, 339. 
 
 Particular Trade Societies, 199-201. 
 
 Payment of Wages in Public Houses 
 Prohibition Act (1883), 122. 
 
 Peace, Mr., his “ Coal Mines Regula- 
 tion Act ” (1872), 109 note. 
 
 Peel, Sir Robert, on the English Colo- 
 nies, 34, 36— on the Results of Free 
 Trade, 38. 
 
 Pennsylvania, Settlement of, 28. 
 
 Percy, John, his work on Metallurgy 
 referred to, 40. 
 
 Petersdorff, C., his “ Practical Com- 
 pendium of the Law of Master and 
 Servant,” 112 note. 
 
 Physiocracy, the Doctrine Ex- 
 plained, 66. 
 
 Pitt, William, his Speech in Parlia- 
 ment (Feb. 12th, 1796) on the con- 
 nection between Friendly Societies 
 and Poor Relief, 351. 
 
 Platt, Messrs., Brothers & Company, 
 their Factory Society, 205 note. 
 
 Plener, Dr. von., on Factory legisla- 
 tion in England, 102 note. 
 
 Plimsoll, Mr., 111. 
 
 Political Economy, Historical aspect 
 of, 25, 26. 
 
 Poor Law Unions, Origin of, 128. 
 
 „ ,, System (English), 350. 
 
 Porter, G. R., his “ Progress of the 
 Nation ” referred to, 33, 47. 
 
 Portman, Rev. F., his evidence on 
 Friendly Societies, 172. 
 
 Portugal, her contest for the posses- 
 
 sion of America, 26 — Methuen 
 Treaty with, 31. 
 
 Premium System (of Insurance) — 
 Gradual transition to, 253-4 — Dis- 
 tinguished from the old Levy Sys- 
 tem, 257 — Graduation of Premiums, 
 260. 
 
 Preston, Burial Societies in, 190. 
 
 Prevention of Crimes Act (1871), 135. 
 
 Price, Dr. Richard, his Tables of 
 Mortality, 235. 
 
 Production, Vast increase of, since 
 1840, 40 — Effects of Modern Social 
 Changes on, 150. 
 
 Productive Associations, 83. 
 
 Protection, Advantages offered to 
 England by protectionist policy of 
 other countries, 53. 
 
 Protestant Dissenters, their early ef- 
 forts on behalf of Education, 130. 
 
 Provident , The, Monthly periodical, 
 referred to, 121 note , 248. 
 
 Public Health Act (1848), 128. 
 
 Public Health Acts, 137. 
 
 Public Houses, Payment of Wages in, 
 109, 110, 122. 
 
 Public Officials, Creation of, by Act of 
 1875, 
 
 Puddlers, Wages of, at Darlington, 18. 
 
 Ragged Schools, 134. 
 
 Railways, Development of, in Eng- 
 land, 39. 
 
 Railway Company Societies, 206-17. 
 
 Ratcliffe, Mr., his investigation of 
 the rates of Sickness and Mortality, 
 241. 
 
 Rate System (of Insurance) — see 
 “ Levy System.” 
 
 Rechabites, Order of (Salford Unity), 
 220 note. 
 
 Redgrave, Mr., his Commentary on 
 the Factory Act (1878), 102 note — 
 On the Duties of Factory Inspectors, 
 106 note. 
 
 Reform Act (1832), Depressed condi- 
 tion of England at the time of, 4. 
 
 Reformation, Period of the, 72 — Its 
 secularisation of Religious Guilds, 
 
 159. 
 
 Reformatories, Juvenile, 133 — Statis- 
 tics Respecting, 136. 
 
 Reformatory School Act, 134. 
 
 Registered Friendly Societies, 148 — 
 Favourable rate of interest allowed 
 by the Government to their de- 
 posits, 256 — Legal protection of 
 
470 
 
 Index. 
 
 302 — Number of, 316-17 — State 
 supervision of, established by Act of 
 1875, 317 — Results of State super- 
 vision of, 321 — Annual Returns of, 
 321 — Quinquennial Returns of, 324 
 — Quinquennial Valuations, 324 sqq. 
 — Advantages and Privileges of, 329 
 — Investment of Funds of, 330 — 
 Question of Government Control, 
 334. 
 
 Registrar of Friendly Societies, ap- 
 pointment of, 306 — Yearly Reports 
 of, 309 — Office of, 311— Report of, 
 for 1884, 317 — Intervention of, in 
 affairs of Friendly Societies, 319 sqq. 
 
 Registrar, Chief, Report of, for 1881, 
 in reference to inspection of one of 
 the Friendly Societies, 319 note — 
 Further powers of, 328 — Report of, 
 containing statement of invest- 
 ments of Registered Societies, 331 — 
 Support received by him from the 
 large Orders, 335. 
 
 Registration of Friendly Societies, 
 Causes of objection to, 301 — Privi- 
 leges conferred by, 303 — Provisions 
 relating to, 304 — Proposals of Com- 
 mission with respect to, 311 — Con- 
 ditions of, 315 — Results of, 316 — 
 Tables of, 317 note. 
 
 Registry Office, Staff of, 315. 
 
 Reserve Fund, Question of its manage- 
 ment and investment, 258. 
 
 Reserve System (of Insurance) — see 
 “ Premium System.” 
 
 Ricardo, on the Natural and Market 
 Price of Labour, 76. 
 
 Riviere, Mercier de la, on Society and 
 the Individual, 66. 
 
 Rochdale Pioneers, 306. 
 
 Rogers, Professor Thorold, his work, 
 “ Six Centuries of Work and Wages,” 
 referred to, 18 — On State-interven- 
 tion and laissez faire, 98. 
 
 Rose’s Act of Parliament (1793), 302. 
 
 Russia, British Exports to, 51, 57 — 
 Wheat Imported from, 59. 
 
 Sadler, 109. 
 
 Saltaire, Factory Society at, 207 note. 
 
 Sanitary Legislation, 137. 
 
 Savings Bank Act (1833), 339. 
 
 Schanz, Dr. G., on the Early Mer- 
 chant Adventurers in England, 27. 
 
 School Attendance, Provisions in 
 Factory Acts respecting, 104. 
 
 School Boards, Origin of, 130— Recent 
 
 efforts on behalf of Industrial 
 Training, 136. 
 
 Scotland, Wages of Coal-workers in, 
 18. 
 
 Secessions (from Friendly Societies), 
 256. 
 
 Seditious Meeting Act, 307. 
 
 Seeley, Professor J. R., his “Expan- 
 sion of England ” referred to, 26, 
 35, 55. 
 
 Select Committee of House of Com- 
 mons to consider the question of 
 Friendly Societies (1825), 304. 
 
 Select Committee of House of Com 
 mons to inquire into the causes of 
 the Inoperative State of Act of 1864, 
 345. 
 
 Select Committee of House of Com- 
 mons on National Provident Insur- 
 ance (1885), 348, 359. 
 
 Self-Government, Two-fold Definition 
 of the Term, 97 — Old and New 
 System of, 122-42. 
 
 Senegal, The, Cession of, to France, 
 32. 
 
 Shaftesbury, Earl of, on the Social 
 Duties of the upper Classes, 69 — 
 His Efforts on Behalf of Children 
 Employed in Mines, 109 — and of 
 Ragged Schools, 134. 
 
 “ Sharing-out Clubs ” — see “ Dividing 
 Societies.” 
 
 Shawcross, Mr., Witness in favour of 
 the Free Societies, 359. 
 
 Shelburne, Lord, Bill of 1862, to 
 Promote the Establishment of 
 Friendly Societies, 340. 
 
 Shepherds, Loyal Order of (Ashton 
 Unity), 220 note. 
 
 Shop Clubs — see “ Factory Societies.” 
 
 Sick Insurance, a distinct Type, 251 — 
 Its general Procedure, 258. 
 
 Sick and Accident Insurance, Treat- 
 ment of, 421 — Influence of Sanitary 
 Measures on, 422. 
 
 Sickness, etc., Tables of, 235-44 — 
 Origin of, 257 — Calculations of 
 average Duration of, 259 note. 
 
 Simcox, Miss Edith, on the Working 
 Classes, 86. 
 
 Smith, Adam, his defence of the 
 Navigation Acts, 29 — Condemnation 
 of the Methuen Treaty, 31 — on 
 Foreign and Inland Trade, 46 — on 
 Imperial Federation, 62 — on the 
 Progressive State jof Society, 75. 
 
 Social Movement in England, 24. 
 
Index. 
 
 471 
 
 Social Reformers, Advanced Views of, 
 in England, 83. 
 
 Socialism, Different Character of, on 
 the Continent to that^in England, 
 72-3 — Distinguished "from Com- 
 munism, 74 — Hostile to Domestic 
 Order, 151. 
 
 Socialism, Unpopularity of, among 
 the English Working Classes, 22 
 
 Society, Relation of, to the Individual, 
 64 — Modern Idea of, 72-75 — Dark 
 residuum of, in the large cities, 
 132, 137. 
 
 Sons of Temperance Order, The, 220 
 note. 
 
 Spain, her Contest for the Possession 
 of America, 26 — National Torpor in 
 the 17th Century, 27 — Defeat of the 
 Armada, ib. — Acquisitions of, by 
 the Peace of Versailles, 32. 
 
 Staffordshire Provident Association, 
 266 note. 
 
 State, The, Relations of, with Self- 
 governing Bodies, 97 — State inter- 
 ference and laissez faire, 98- 
 Legislative and Administrative Ac- 
 tion of, 100-22 — Intervention of, 
 298. 
 
 Stead, Mr. T. Balan, Witness in favour 
 of the Free Societies, 359. 
 
 Steel, Exports of, since 1840, 41. 
 
 Stratton, Rev. J. W., his Scheme of 
 National Insurance, 358 — in favour 
 of Universal Insurance, 359. 
 
 Sugar, Imports of, 44. 
 
 Surplus value, Theory of, in Germany, 
 74. 
 
 Surrey Deposit Friendly Society, The, 
 184. 
 
 Sutton, Mr. W., his “ Institute of 
 Actuaries Text Book,” 251, 267 
 note — His “ Memorandum on Valua- 
 tions,” 273 note — His Evidence 
 before the Select Committee of 
 House of Commons (1885) on Na- 
 tional Provident Insurance, 326, 
 359 — Criticises Canon Blackley’s 
 Scheme, 361. 
 
 Sweden, British Exports to, 51. 
 
 Tea, Imports of, 44. 
 
 Temperance Movement, Good Effects 
 of, 292. 
 
 “ Ten Hours’ System,” The, 103. 
 
 Tidd Pratt, Mr., on the Evils caused 
 to Friendly Societies by Drinking 
 Habits, 231 — his Work on the Law 
 
 of the Friendly Societies, 247 — on 
 the Insolvency of Early Friendly 
 Societies, 254 — Registrar in 1857, 
 309. 
 
 Tobago, Cession of, to France, 32. 
 
 Tomkins, Mr. H., on Dissolutions of 
 Friendly Societies, 271 note. 
 
 Tontines, 174. 
 
 Toynbee, Arnold, on the Industrial 
 Revolution in England, 88. 
 
 Trades’ Councils, 147. 
 
 Trades’ Unions, Historical Develop- 
 ment of, 12 — their Economic Im- 
 portance, 20— Their jealous Scrutiny 
 of Factory Legislation, 107— Legal 
 Recognition of, 113 — their Action 
 with Regard to the Employers’ 
 Liability Act, 121 — Tendency to 
 Centralisation in, 146 — Importance 
 Attached to* by the Working Classes, 
 155 — Compared with Friendly 
 Societies, 157. 
 
 Trades’ Union Congress : Resolution 
 in 1884 in favour of Closer Union 
 with the Colonies, 62. 
 
 Truant Schools, 136. 
 
 Truck System, 4. 
 
 Truck and Cottage System, Prohibition 
 of, 122. 
 
 j Turner, Rev. Sydney, his Efforts on 
 Behalf of Destitute and Criminal 
 | Children, 134. 
 
 I United Carpenters and Joiners, 121. 
 j United Sisters Friendly Society, 226-7. 
 
 United States — see “ America.” 
 
 United States, British Exports to, 57 
 — Wheat Imported from, 59 — Im- 
 ports of Live Stock, etc., 60-1. 
 
 Utrecht, Treaty of (1713), 31 — English 
 Acquisitions by, 32. 
 
 Valuations, 267-74 — Legislation Re- 
 specting, 273. 
 
 Venedy, J., his Account of the English 
 Working Classes, 3. 
 
 Versailles, Peace of (1783), Results of, 
 to England, 32. 
 
 Vienna, Treaty of (1815), 32, 33. 
 
 Wage Fund Theory, Errors of the, 76. 
 
 Wage Question, Social Elements of 
 the, 76-81. 
 
 Wages, Former Depressed State of, 9 
 — Improved Views of the Relations 
 of, 22-3 — Judicial intervention Re- 
 specting, 114— Enactments Concern- 
 
472 
 
 Index. 
 
 ing Payment of, 122— Estimated 
 Loss of, through Illness, 138. 
 
 Wallace, Mr. A. R., his “ Land 
 Nationalization,” 91, 92. 
 
 Watson, Mr. Reuben, on the Act of 
 1875, 336 — Witness in favour of the 
 Pree Societies, 359 — His Evidence 
 given before the Select Committee 
 (1885), 363,383. 
 
 Watt, Dr., his Estimate of the Losses 
 of the Working Classes sustained by 
 Illness, 138. 
 
 Wealth, Increase of the National, 48. 
 
 Weaving, Modern Mechanical Improve- 
 ments in, 40. 
 
 West Indies, Transfer of Negro Labour 
 to, from Africa, 29. 
 
 Wheat, Increased Imports of, 44, 47, 
 58, 59. 
 
 "Wilkinson, Rev. J. F., 226. 
 
 Wilson, Mr. J., on so-called Freedom 
 of Contract, 85. 
 
 Wiltshire Friendly Society, The, 187 
 note. 
 
 Women, Restrictions on Employment 
 of, in Factories, 102-3 — in Mines, 
 109 — Friendly Societies for, 225-7. 
 
 Wood, Mr. J., his Evidence Referred 
 to, 277 note. 
 
 Wool, Statistics of Exports and Im- 
 ports since 1840, 42. 
 
 Wollen Trade, the basis of English 
 Prosperity, 36. 
 
 Working Classes (in England) : their 
 Deplorable Condition Forty Years 
 ago, 3, 4 — Revolution in their con- 
 dition since then, 5 — Causes of this 
 Revolution, 6 — its Spontaneous 
 Character, 7 — Complexity of the 
 Movement of Reform, 8 — Altered 
 Conditions of Labour, ib . — Economic 
 and Social Elements of Progress, 10 
 — Development of Associative Life, 
 11 — Counterpoise offered to Power 
 of Capital, 15 — Limitations to 
 
 General Advance in Culture, ib.— 
 Stratification of, determined by the 
 Technical means of Production, 16 
 — Skilled and Unskilled Labourers, 
 17, 18 — Effects on, of Fluctations of 
 Trade and Industry, 18 — Formation 
 of Aristocracy of Workmen, .20 — 
 Practical Character of their Aspira- 
 tions, 21 — Their distaste for Social- 
 istic Schemes, 22 — Moderation of 
 their Demands, ib. — their Growing 
 Intelligence and Public Spirit, 23 — 
 Number of Industrial Workmen in 
 England, 45 — Patience and Forbear- 
 ance of, 71 — their Spirit of Indepen- 
 dence, 72 — Improved Habits and 
 Increased Requirements of, 7 6-80 — 
 Aversion to doctrinaire Theories of 
 Socialism, 74, 83 — Moral Education 
 of, 88 — Protective Legislation on 
 behalf of, 100-105 —Elementary 
 Education of, 131 — Estimated loss 
 of Wages of, through Illness, 138 — 
 Improvements in Dwellings of, 139 
 — Importance of Friendly Societies 
 to, 167-8 ( see “Friendly Societies”) ; 
 Self-Government of, 142-51 — Spirit 
 of Independence in, 298 — Opinion 
 of some in Favour of State Inter- 
 vention, 298. 
 
 Working-Men’s Insurance, Govern- 
 ment Intervention in, 296 — Provi- 
 sions as to, in Act of 1875, 314 — 
 Schemes of Compulsory Insurance, 
 349 — Influence of German Ideas, 
 350. 
 
 Working-Men’s Clubs, 13. 
 
 Working-Men’s Orders, 217-25. 
 
 Young, Sir George, on Local Village 
 and County Societies, 175 — on 
 Local Town Societies, 182 — on 
 County Societies, 186 — on Burial 
 Clubs, 190. 
 
 Yarwood, Mr. H. W., 175 note.