Chapter XIX: , page 276 (3)

(2) to follow the progress of charitable work and make an
index and collection of all literature relating to the
subject;

(3) to give information and advice in reference to
philanthropic endeavor when requested to do so;

(4) to make reports to the state at short intervals in
reference to the development and progress of the work in the
nation at large;

(5) to draw up opinions and make proposals for the improvement
or better organization of the charity propaganda in part or as
a whole;

(6) to take charge of the development of the work in any
section;

(7) to assist in putting in operation any suggestions or plans
which may be made or worked out for the improvement of social
conditions.

SOCIAL BETTERMENT: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1900-1909.
The National Civic Federation.
Its Origin.
Its Purposes.
Its Organization.
Its Work.

The Federation was organized in 1900, in Chicago, after a
succession of national conferences had been held upon such
subjects as Primary Election Reform, Foreign Policy and Trusts
and Combinations. It consisted of an advisory council of five
hundred members and an Executive Committee. On the Executive
Committee were several of the members of the present National
Executive Committee, including Franklin MacVeagh, Archbishop
Ireland, Samuel Gompers, John Mitchell, D. J. Keefe, John W.
Stahl, and Benjamin Ide Wheeler. The prospectus, published at
the time, stated the purpose of the organization to be as
follows:

{614}

"… To organize the best brains of the nation in an educational
movement toward the solution of some of the great problems
related to social and industrial progress; to provide for
study and discussion of questions of national import; to aid
thus in the crystallization of the most enlightened public
opinion; and, when desirable, to promote legislation in
accordance therewith."

"Fifteen national subjects were named, and it was expected
that from time to time the formation of committees would
result having as their special province the consideration of
the subjects suggested.

"By vote, it was decided to take up for discussion, through
national conferences, the three subjects of industrial
arbitration, taxation and municipal ownership. The first
conference, that on industrial arbitration, was held at
Chicago, in December, 1900, and resulted in the organization
of the Industrial Department, with A. C. Bartlett, of Chicago,
chairman. In the following June a national conference on
taxation was held in Buffalo, resulting in the formation of
the Department on Taxation, with Edwin R. A. Seligman as
chairman. It was the intention to hold the Conference on
Municipal Ownership in New York the following December, but in
the meantime a number of large strikes, especially the Steel
Strike, the National Machinists’ strike and a threatened
Anthracite Coal Strike absorbed so much of the energy and
attention of the active members of the Federation at that time
that the Public Ownership Conference was postponed for the
time being.

"Through the work done by the committee in connection with the
coal and steel strikes, Senator Hanna became interested in the
organization, and in December of that year was made President
of the organization. His selection for that office, together
with the appointment of other men of national reputation on
the committee, attracted the attention of the country to the
organization. For two years following that department was the
only one prominent before the public, and its work in the
prevention of strikes and lockouts was naturally regarded as
the only purpose of the organization. The conferences held
during this period were naturally confined to the subject of
conciliation and collateral phases of the work. As national
labor disturbances then became less frequent after two years
of this special work the organization was able to resume its
original programme, holding itself, however, in readiness to
concentrate its energies on the industrial work at any time
the need might arise.

"It was at this time that the national conference on
immigration was called, and the Department of Immigration
organized. After that a national commission on Municipal
Ownership was formed, and by that time the public began to
take interest in the broader aspects of the organization.
Later came the establishment of the Industrial Economics
Department, which has taken up some of the most important
problems of the day, including Socialism and Trusts and
Combinations. The holding of a national conference on
Political Reform resulted in the organization of a department
especially devoted to these subjects.

"While the subjects to be taken up by the organization are
determined by the Executive Committee, the fact is here
emphasized that in devoting itself to other matters than
questions relating to strikes and lockouts, the organization
has not deviated from, but has returned to, its original
lines."

_The National Civic Federation Review,
March, 1909._

The following additional particulars of the organization and
operations of the Federation are drawn from a pamphlet
statement of 1909:

"The membership of the Federation is drawn from practical men
of affairs, whose acknowledged leadership in thought and
action makes them typical representatives of the various
elements that voluntarily work together for the general good.
Its National Executive Committee is constituted of three
factors: the general public, represented by the church, the
bar, the press, statesmanship and finance; employers,
represented by large manufacturers and the heads of great
corporations, and employers’ organizations; and labor,
represented by the principal officials of national and
international organizations of wage-earners in every important
industry.

"There are useful organizations of farmers, manufacturers,
wage-earners, bankers, merchants, lawyers, economists and
other distinct but interacting elements of society, which hold
meetings for discussion of affairs peculiar to their own
pursuits and callings. The Federation, in addition to its
Departments for the accomplishment of specific purposes,
provides a forum where representatives of all these elements
of society may meet to discuss national problems in which they
have a common interest.

"Twelve national conferences have thus been held upon such
subjects as Primary Election and Ballot Reforms, Foreign
Policy, Trusts, Conciliation and Arbitration, Taxation, and
Immigration. These conferences have usually been attended by
delegates appointed by Governors of States and by
representatives selected by various commercial, industrial,
and educational bodies.

"The present activities of the Federation are exercised
through the following agencies:

"Trade Agreement Department,
"Industrial Conciliation Department,
"Industrial Economics Department,
"Industrial Welfare Department,
"Public Employés’ Welfare Department,
"The Woman’s Department,
"Public Ownership Commission,
"Immigration Department,
"Political Reform Department.

"The Trade Agreement Department [John Mitchell, Chairman]
consists of employers and representatives of workingmen, who
make agreements as to hours, wages and conditions of
employment. The membership of the department is equally
divided between employers and labor leaders, the employers
being officers of steam and street railway companies, coal
operators, the publishers of large daily papers, building
contractors, brewers, stove manufacturers, shippers’
associations, while labor is represented by officials in
corresponding crafts. …

"The Conciliation Department [Seth Low, Chairman] deals
entirely with strikes, lock-outs and arbitration. The services
of this department have been enlisted in about five hundred
cases, involving every conceivable phase of a problem
interwoven with or underlying an industrial controversy. Its
membership extends to every industrial centre, and includes
representatives of leading organizations of employers and of
wage-earners. Through this membership information of any
threatened trouble between capital and labor usually reaches
the headquarters, from one side or the other, in advance of
any public rupture. …

{615}

"The Department of Industrial Economics [Nicholas Murray
Butler, Chairman] was formed to promote discussion of
practical economic problems. Its membership is composed of
leading economists, including the heads of the departments of
political economy in universities, lecturers and economic and
legal authors; editors of the daily press, of politico-social
magazines, of trade papers and of labor journals;
representatives of the pulpit; large employers and
representatives of labor. This department has arranged a
programme for the discussion, by the ablest experts to be
procured, of each of the vital and frequently irritating
questions that arise in the Conciliation Department in
connection with the prevention or settlement of controversies.
…

"The Industrial Welfare Department [the work of which is
conducted by a number of sub-committees, at the head of one of
which is the President of the United States, William H. Taft,
as Chairman of the committee which studies the welfare of the
Public Employés of the country, and the general Chairman of
which is William H. Willcox] is composed of employers of labor
in stores, factories, mines and on railroads. It is devoted to
interesting employers in improving the conditions under which
employés in all industries work and live. In extending the
practice of Welfare Work the department has found of especial
value conferences of employers, held under its auspices in
different parts of the country, for the interchange of
experiences. Illustrated literature is widely distributed, and
stereopticon lectures are given. A bureau of exchange is
maintained at headquarters, where descriptive matter, plans
and photographs relating to betterments in different
industries may be obtained by employers.

"Some of the subjects involved are;

"Sanitary Work Places:
Systems for providing pure drinking water;
for ventilation, including the cooling of super heated
places, and devices for exhausting dust and removing gases;
for lighting work places;
and for guarding machinery;
wash rooms with hot and cold water, towels and soap;
shower baths for molders and stationary firemen;
emergency hospitals;
locker rooms;
seats for women;
laundries for men’s overalls or women’s uniforms;
the use of elevators for women, and luncheon rooms.

"Recreation:
The social hall for dancing parties, concerts, theatricals,
billiards, pool or bowling;
the gymnasium, athletic field, roof garden, vacations and
summer excursions for employés, and rest rooms or
trainmen’s rest houses.

"Educational:
Classes for apprentices;
in cooking, dressmaking, millinery;
first aid to the injured;
night classes for technical training;
kindergartens and libraries.

"Housing:
Homes rented or sold to employés, and boarding houses.

"Provident Funds:
For insurance, pensions, savings or lending money in
times of stress.

"The Woman’s Department [of which Mrs. William H. Taft is
Honorary Chairman, Mrs. Horace Brock, Chairman, and which has
a strong corps of other officers] "is composed largely of
women who are themselves stockholders or who are financially
interested in industrial organizations (including railroads,
mills, factories, mines, stores and other work places) through
family relationships, and who therefore naturally should be
interested in the welfare of workers in enterprises from which
they draw their incomes; there are also, among other
influential members, the wives of public officials.

"The object of this department is: ‘To use its influence in
securing needed improvements in the working and living
conditions of women and men wage-earners in the various
industries and governmental institutions, and to co-operate,
when practicable, in the general work of the Federation.’ …

"The Public Ownership Commission [Melville E. Ingalls,
Chairman], appointed by the Executive Council of the
Federation, is composed of one hundred prominent men
representing practically every shade of opinion on the
subject. …

"The Department of Immigration [Franklin MacVeagh, Chairman]
is composed of men selected to represent every locality in the
Union affected by the admission of aliens.

"This Department was organized at the request of the National
Immigration Conference, held in New York City, December 6-8,
1905, this conference being attended by more than five hundred
delegates appointed by Governors of States, leading
commercial, agricultural, manufacturing, labor and economic
organizations, and by prominent ecclesiastical and educational
institutions. It undertook an investigation of all important
phases of the immigration problem, the Department being
organized into seven distinct committees. …

"Largely through the work of the Immigration Department,
Congress was induced to appoint a Commission on Immigration,
which commission has, with unlimited funds at its disposal,
undertaken a large part of the work that had been planned by
the Federation’s department. In fact, two members of that
department are on the commission and have utilized all the
material gathered by the Federation’s experts, relating to
both white and Oriental immigration. …

"The organization of a Political Reform Department was the
practical outcome of a National Conference on that subject
held in New York City, March 6 and 7, 1906, under the auspices
of The National Civic Federation. The Conference was attended
by delegates from all parts of the country, appointed by
congressmen, governors, mayors, municipal and political reform
bodies, and representing all shades of political opinion.

"It is the purpose of the Political Reform Department to teach
practical politics, and especially to organize the young men
of the country and induce them to participate actively,
through their respective party organizations, in governmental
affairs--Federal, State and municipal."

{616}

SOCIAL BETTERMENT: A. D. 1904-1909.
The American Civic Association.

"Organized effort for the systematic making of a beautiful
America did not manifest itself until within comparatively
recent years. Prior to 1904 there had been various short-lived
state associations, a few interstate societies and two
national organizations, working with the same general objects
in view. But at St. Louis, in 1904, the year of the great
exposition, a merger of the two national organizations brought
forth the American Civic Association which, since that time,
has carried on with increasing success and popular support the
greatly needed work for a 'More Beautiful America’; and since
that time it has been recognized as the one great national
agency for the furtherance of that work. With its purpose as
stated in its constitution clearly before it, it has
constantly widened the circle of its usefulness until recently
they were grouped under fifteen general departments, each
department headed by an expert in his or her particular
specialty.

"In classifying its varied activities, the Association
announces that it aims ‘to make American living conditions
clean, healthful, attractive; to extend the making of public
parks; to promote the opening of gardens and playgrounds for
children and recreation centers for adults; to abate public
nuisances—including objectionable signs, unnecessary poles and
wires, unpleasant and wasteful smoking factory chimneys; to
make the buildings and the surroundings of railway stations
and factories attractive; to extend the practical influence of
schools; to protect existing trees and to encourage
intelligent tree planting; to preserve great scenic wonders
(such as Niagara Falls and the White Mountains) from
commercial spoliation.’

"So vigorously has it pursued these activities that it has
seen some of them develop to such proportions that they were
ready to swing off from the parent circle into spheres of
their own. Such was the case with the playground movement,
which for years was fostered most energetically by the
American Civic Association until it grew into an independent
organization known as the National Playground Association, and
which is now an agency of splendid achievements in its one
specialized function."

_Richard B. Watrous,
The American Civic Association
(The American City, October, 1909)._

SOCIAL BETTERMENT: A. D. 1907.
The Sage Foundation for the Improvement of Social
and Living Conditions.

One of the most notable of gifts from private wealth for the
endowment of undertakings to promote the general welfare of
mankind was made by Mrs. Russell Sage, in 1907, when she
placed a fund of $10,000,000 in the hands of trustees, to be
administered under the name of The Russell Sage Foundation. On
the announcement of this endowment, Mrs. Sage, through her
counsel, Mr. Henry W. de Forest, authorized the following
statement, which explains clearly and fully the purposes
contemplated:

"I have set aside $10,000,000 for the endowment of this
foundation. Its object is ‘the improvement of social and
living conditions in the United States.’ The means to that end
will include research, publication, education, the
establishment and maintenance of charitable and beneficial
activities, agencies, and institutions, and the aid of any
such activities, agencies and institutions already
established.

"It will be within the scope of such a foundation to
investigate and study the causes of adverse social conditions,
including ignorance, poverty and vice, to suggest how these
conditions can be remedied or ameliorated, and to put in
operation any appropriate means to that end. It will also be
within the scope of such a foundation to establish any new
agency necessary to carry out any of its conclusions, and
equally to contribute to the resources of any existing
agencies which are doing efficient and satisfactory work, just
as the present General Education Board, organized to promote
higher education, is aiding existing colleges and
universities. While its scope is broad, it should preferably
not undertake to do within that scope what is now being done
or is likely to be effectively done by other individuals or by
other agencies with less resources. It will be its aim to take
up the larger and more difficult problems, and to take them up
so far as possible in such a manner as to secure co-operation
and aid in their solution. In some instances it may wisely
initiate movements with the expectation of having them
maintain themselves unaided after once being started. In other
instances it may start movements with the expectation of
carrying them on itself. Income only will be used for its
charitable purposes, because the foundation is to be permanent
and its action continuous. It may, however, make investments
for social betterment, which themselves produce income.

"While having headquarters in New York city, where I and my
husband have lived and where social problems are most pressing
and complicated, partly by reason of its extent and partly
because it is the port of entry for about a million immigrants
a year, the foundation will be national in its scope and in
its activities. I have sought to select as my trustees men and
women who are familiar with social problems and who can bring
to their solution not only zeal and interest, but experience
and judgment.

"The bill for incorporation of the endowment further provides:
The corporation hereby formed shall have power to take and
hold, both by bequest, devise, gift, purchase, or lease,
either absolutely or in trust, for any of its purposes, any
property, real or personal, without limitation as to amount or
value, except such limitation, if any, as the legislature
shall hereinafter impose, to convey such property and to
invest and reinvest any principal, and deal with, and expend
the income of the corporation in such manner as in the
judgment of the trustees will best promote its objects."

SOCIAL BETTERMENT: A. D. 1907-1908.
The Pittsburg Survey.
A remarkable Investigation of Living Conditions in
a great Industrial Center.

"Under the name of the Pittsburgh Survey, Charities
Publication Committee has carried on a group of social
investigations in this great steel district. In a sense we
have been blue-printing Pittsburgh. Our findings will be
published in a series of special numbers … covering in order:

"I.—The People;
"II.—The Place;
"III.—The Work.

"Full reports are to be published later in a series of Volumes
by the Russell Sage Foundation, and, throughout, the text will
be reinforced with such photographs, pastel, maps, charts,
diagrams and tables as will help give substance and reality to
our presentations of fact. …

{617}

"The Pittsburgh Survey has been a rapid, close range
investigation of living conditions in the Pennsylvania steel
district. It has been carried on by a special staff organized
under the national publication committee which prints this
magazine. It has been financed chiefly by three grants, of
moderate amount, from the Russell Sage Foundation for the
Improvement of Living Conditions. It has been made practicable
by co-operation from two quarters,—from a remarkable group of
leaders and organizations in social and sanitary movements in
different parts of the United States, who entered upon the
field work as a piece of national good citizenship; and from
men, women and organizations in Pittsburgh who were
large-minded enough to regard their local situation as not
private and peculiar, but a part of the American problem of
city building.

"The outcome has been a spirited piece of interstate
co-operation in getting at the urban fact in a new way. …

"The main work was set under way in September, 1807, when a
company of men and women of established reputation as students
of social and industrial problems spent the month in
Pittsburgh. On the basis of their diagnosis, a series of
specialized investigations was projected along a few of the
lines which promised significant results. The staff has
included not only trained investigators but also
representatives of the different races who make up so large a
share of the working population dealt with. Limitations of
time and money set definite bounds to the work, which will
become clear as the findings are presented. The experimental
nature of the undertaking, and the unfavorable trade
conditions which during the past year have reacted upon
economic life in all its phases, have set other limits. Our
inquiries have dealt with the wage-earners of Pittsburgh (a)
in their relations to the community as a whole, and (b) in
their relation to industry. Under the former we have studied
the genesis and racial make-up of the population; its physical
setting and its social institutions; under the latter we have
studied the general labor situation; hours, wages, and labor
control in the steel industry; child labor, industrial
education, women in industry, the cost of living, and
industrial accidents.

"From the first, the work of the investigations has been
directed to the service of local movements for improvement.
For, as stated in a mid-year announcement of the Survey, we
have been studying the community at a time when nascent social
forces are asserting themselves. Witness the election of an
independent mayor three years ago, and Mr. Guthrie’s present
fight to clear councils of graft. Within the field of the
Survey and within one year, the Pittsburgh Associated
Charities has been organized; the force of tenement inspectors
has been doubled and has carried out a first general housing
census, and a scientific inquiry, under the name of the
Pittsburgh Typhoid Commission, has been instituted into the
disease which has been endemic in the district for over a
quarter of a century. A civic improvement commission,
representative in membership and perhaps broader in scope than
any similar body in the country, is now in process of
formation.

"A display of wall maps, enlarged photographs, housing plans,
and other graphic material was the chief feature of a civic
exhibit held in Carnegie Institute in November and December,
following the joint conventions in Pittsburgh of the American
Civic Association and the National Municipal League. The local
civic bearings of the Survey were the subject of the opening
session of these conventions. Its economic aspects were
brought forward at a joint session of the American Economic
Association and the American Sociological Society at Atlantic
City in December."

_P. U. Kellogg,
The Pittsburgh Survey
(Charities and the Commons, January 2, 1909)._

See (in this Volume),
CRIME AND CRIMINOLOGY;
CHILDREN, UNDER THE LAW;
LABOR PROTECTION, ETC.;
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT;
PUBLIC HEALTH;
POVERTY, PROBLEMS OF;
ENGLAND: A. D. 1907-1908.

SOCIAL DEMOCRATS.

See (in this Volume)
SOCIALISM: ENGLAND, AND FRANCE;
also GERMANY: A. D. 1903;
RUSSIA: A. D. 1905-1907;
DENMARK: A. D. 1906.

SOCIAL REVOLUTIONISTS.

See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1905-1907, and 1906-1907.

SOCIALISM: AT LARGE: A. D. 1909.
The Socialist Press in all Countries.

According to a list of the Socialist Press, in the world at
large, published in November, 1909, by the International
Bureau of Socialists, at Brussels, fifty-seven Socialist daily
newspapers are published in Germany. English Socialists have
three weekly publications, and one that appears monthly. There
is a daily Socialist journal in the Argentine Republic, a
weekly review in Australia, and in Austria two daily
publications and a bi-weekly review. The Socialists in Belgium
publish four daily organs; those of Bulgaria support two
bi-weekly reviews; and those of Canada one weekly review. One
daily Socialist newspaper circulates in Denmark, and four
weekly publications in Spain. In the United States there are
four daily and eight weekly publications and a monthly
magazine. France has two daily Socialist newspapers and ten
weekly Socialist periodicals. In Greece the Socialists support
a weekly publication, in Holland a daily one, and in Hungary
both a daily and a weekly one. In Italy there are four daily
Socialist newspapers; and a single one in Norway, Poland, and
Sweden respectively. Socialists living in Switzerland have
three daily and three weekly organs; while those in Russia
have 20 monthly or bi-monthly ones, most of which are
published secretly. In Rumania and Sweden there are also
Socialist publications.

SOCIALISM: AUSTRALIA:
Government Ownership of Railways.

See (in this Volume)
RAILWAYS: AUSTRALIA.

SOCIALISM: AUSTRIA: A. D. 1903.
Adoption of a Resolution against Alcoholic Drinking by
the National Convention of the Social Democracy.

See (in this Volume)
ALCOHOL PROBLEM: AUSTRIA.

SOCIALISM: BELGIUM: A. D. 1904.
Socialist Losses in the Belgium Elections.

See (in this volume)
BELGIUM: A.D. 1904.

SOCIALISM: DENMARK: A. D. 1905-1909.
Socialists Contending for Disarmament.

See (in this Volume)
DENMARK: A. D. 1905-1909.

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SOCIALISM: ENGLAND: A. D. 1909.
The Principal Socialist Organizations of the Present Day. --

"There are four principal organizations actively engaged in
gaining adherents to the cause of Collectivism as a practical
policy, all over the kingdom. They are:
(1) The Social Democratic Party, formerly Social Democratic
Federation, and familiarly known as S. D. F.;
(2) the Fabian Society;
(3) the Independent Labour Party or I. L. P.;
(4) the Clarion Fellowship and Scouts.

There are several others of minor importance, though not to be
ignored, for they all represent the spread of the central idea
of Socialism. Among them is the Church Socialist League, which
is significant as being a society of convinced Socialists
within the Church of England holding that the ‘community
should own the land and capital collectively and use them
co-operatively for the good of all.’"

The oldest organization "began as the Democratic Federation in
1881, became the Social Democratic Federation in 1883, and has
recently changed its name to the Social Democratic Party. Its
object, according to the programme as revised in 1906, is:

"‘The socialization of the means of production, distribution,
and exchange, to be controlled by a democratic State in the
interests of the entire community, and the complete
emancipation of labour from the domination of capitalism and
landlordism, with the establishment of social and economic
equality between the sexes.’

"It demands a large number of ‘immediate reforms,’ including
the following:

"Abolition of the Monarchy.
Abolition of the House of Lords.
Payment of members of Parliament and administrative
bodies.
Adult suffrage.
Referendum.
Legislative and administrative independence for all
parts of the Empire.
Repudiation of the National Debt.
Abolition of indirect taxation and a cumulative tax on
all incomes exceeding £300.
Elementary education to be free, secular, industrial,
and compulsory for all classes.
Age for school attendance to be raised to 16.
State maintenance of all school children.
Abolition of school rates.
Nationalization of land, of trusts, railways, docks,
and canals.
Public ownership of gas, electric light, water supply,
tramways, omnibuses, &c., food and coal supply;
State and municipal banks, pawnshops, restaurants,
public ownership of hospitals, cemeteries, and the
drink traffic.
A legal eight-hours day;
no employment under 16 years;
public provision of work for unemployed at trade union rates;
free State insurance against sickness, accident, old age,
and disability;
a _minimum_ wage of 30s. a week;
equal rates of pay for both sexes.
Compulsory construction of healthy dwellings by public bodies.
Free administration of justice and legal advice.
Judges to be ‘chosen by the people.’
Abolition of capital punishment.
Disestablishment and disendowment of all State Churches.
Abolition of standing armies and establishment of
national citizen forces. …

"The Social Democratic Party is the most downright and
straightforward of the larger Socialist organizations. It is
more outspoken and consistent, less hazy and opportunist, than
the Independent Labour Party or the Fabian Society. It derives
its inspiration from the Social Democrats of Germany and
boldly upholds the ideal of revolutionary Socialism."

The Fabian Society, which comes next "in point of age, is at
the opposite end of the scale in regard to policy. It was
founded in 1884, on American inspiration, as a sort of mutual
elevation society, but adopted Socialistic principles from
Germany. Its ‘basis’ is thus stated:

"‘The Fabian Society consists of Socialists. It therefore aims
at the reorganization of society by the emancipation of land
and industrial capital from individual and class ownership and
the vesting of them in the community for the general benefit.
In this way only can the natural and acquired advantages of
the country be equitably shared by the whole people.

"‘The society accordingly works for the extinction of private
property in land and of the consequent individual
appropriation, in the form of rent, of the price paid for
permission to use the earth, as well as for the advantages of
superior soils and sites.

"‘The society further works for the transfer to the community
of the administration of such industrial capital as can
conveniently be managed socially.’

"It is not surprising that thorough-going Socialists denounce
the Fabians as make believe, Socialism-and-water ‘comrades,’
and hardly worthy to be called ‘comrades’ at all, an honour
which the Fabians, for their part, show no desire to claim.
Nevertheless, the Fabians are a very influential element in
the Socialist movement. … The Fabian Society is numerically
small, but growing rapidly, and that largely by the formation
of provincial branches. The headquarters are in London, where
it had in March last [1908] 1085 members out of a total of
2015. … Eleven Fabians are members of Parliament, and the
society supports the Labour party; but its real work lies
outside of politics, and is carried on chiefly by the
distribution of literature and by lectures. It contains
several well-known writers, and may almost be called a
literary society. The output of tracts and leaflets sold and
distributed last year was over 250,000. … Among the best-known
Fabians are Mr. Granville Barker, the Reverend R. J. Campbell,
the Reverend Stewart D. Headlam, Mr. Chiozza-Money, M. P., Mr.
Bernard Shaw, Mr. Sidney Webb, and Mr. H. G. Wells, who has,
however, recently seceded. Many members belong also to other
Socialist organizations. …

"The third large organization on the list is the Independent
Labour Party. It is considerably younger than the Social
Democratic Party and the Fabian Society, but much larger and
politically far more powerful than either or both together. In
character it comes between them, being more opportunist and
supple than the former, less nebulous and elusive than the
latter. It was formally inaugurated at Bradford in 1893, under
the leadership of Mr. Keir Hardie. The following are the
principal [demands] in the official prospectus, revised for
1908-1909:

"‘1. A _maximum_ of 48 hours working week, with the
retention of all existing holidays and Labour Day, May 1,
secured by law.

"‘2. The provision of work to all capable adult applicants at
recognized trade union rates, with a statutory _minimum_,
of sixpence per hour.

{619}

"‘In order to remuneratively employ the applicants, parish,
district, borough, and county councils to be invested with
powers to

(_a_) Organize and undertake such industries as they may
consider desirable.

(_b_) Compulsorily acquire land; purchase, erect, or
manufacture buildings, stock, or other articles for carrying
on such industries,

(_c_) Levy rates on the rental values of the district and
borrow money on the security of such rates for any of the
above purposes.

"‘3. State pensions for every person over 50 years of age, and
adequate provision for all widows, orphans, sick, and disabled
workers.

"‘4. Free secular, moral, primary, secondary, and University
education, with free maintenance while at school or
University.

"‘5. The raising of the age of child labour, with a view to
its ultimate extinction.

"‘6. Municipalization and public control of the drink traffic.

"‘7. Municipalization and public control of all hospitals and
infirmaries.

"‘8. Abolition of indirect taxation and gradual transference
of all public burdens on to unearned incomes with a view to
their ultimate extinction.

"‘The Independent Labour Party is in favour of adult suffrage,
with full political rights and privileges for women, and the
immediate extension of the franchise to women on the same
terms as granted to men; also triennial Parliaments and second
ballot.’ …

"The most prominent individuals in the Independent Labour
Party are Mr. Keir Hardie, M. P., its father and guide; Mr.
Ramsay Macdonald, M. P., who pulls the political strings; Mr.
Philip Snowdon, M. P., who is an active pamphleteer; and Mr.
Bruce Glasier, who edits the _Labour Leader_. This
organization, by far the most important in Great Britain,
takes much less part in international Socialism than the
Social Democratic Federation, with which it has never agreed
very well. …

"The ‘Clarion’ organizations, - which make the fourth of the
more important Socialist organizations, need only a brief
mention here. They are not regular societies, like the others,
but merely propagandist agencies organized by the
_Clarion_ newspaper and manned by Socialists who belong
to other bodies or to none. … The agencies include the
_Clarion_ vans, which travel round the country and
proselytize; the _Clarion_ fellowship societies, which
are social bodies, and the _Clarion_ scouts, who are
young recruits, organized for special purposes."

_From a series of Articles on
"The Socialist Movement in Great Britain,"
in the London Times, January, 1909._

SOCIALISM:
Work of the Anti-Socialist Union.

An Anti-Socialist Union in Great Britain is conducting a
training school for speakers and workers whom the union sends
into the constituencies to controvert the arguments of
Socialist orators. Of the 175 students who entered the
training school soon after the inauguration of the union in
1908 about 50 were reported the next year as qualified to take
an active part in the anti-Socialist campaign. In reply to an
appeal for volunteers, nearly 2,000 applications were received
from men and women who were anxious to enter the training
school.

SOCIALISM: FRANCE:
The Trade Union Version of Socialism.

See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION; FRANCE: A. D. 1884-1909.

SOCIALISM: A. D. 1909.
The Classes to which the Socialist Principle appeals.
Strength of Socialist Political Parties.
Their Leadership.

"The agriculturist loves the land which he usually owns, and
would scout the idea of becoming a farmer under the State,
which would be his position under a Socialistic regime; he is
frugal, hard-working, and thrifty to the point of avarice, but
intolerably narrow, suspicious and bigoted. Among this class
Socialism can hardly make proselytes, nor can it do so to any
great extent among tradesmen and commercial men, who are
either their own masters or who hope to set up for themselves
when they have amassed a small capital. We therefore find
ourselves reduced to two classes, the artisans and the
professions, and it is among these that we must seek the
Socialist voters of France. … In France, thanks to the fact
that members of Parliament are paid, the professional classes
are available for the recruiting of labour leaders; indeed the
younger section is naturally attracted to the Socialist
standard. As regards this particular class, we can find in
Great Britain no parallel. … Young Britons appear to be too
busy with their sports or social pleasures to study political
questions, so that we can hardly compare them with the
continental ‘Intellectuals.’ The ‘Intellectual’ is essentially
a product of modern Europe and is principally to be found in
France, Germany and Russia. He is almost invariably highly
educated, in sympathy with foreign progress, a humanitarian
and imbued with ideas either somewhat or very much ahead of
his time. The French ‘Intellectual’ is at his best in the
twenties; he may then be quixotic, but he generally knows his
subject and is fired with generous enthusiasms. … This curious
factor must never be lost sight of when the Socialist movement
in any European country is examined. In Great Britain members of
the educated classes almost invariably belong to one of the
two great political parties; but in France they are willing to
join hands with the masses, not only as leaders, but with a
view to the true enthronement of the people. It is probably
for this reason that the Socialist party has made so much
headway in France. Such being the soldiers and officers who
march under the Red Flag, it is not surprising that their
political organisation should have grown so powerful. The
Socialist party has hardly suffered from the ups and downs of
political life; every election has sent it back to power with
a greater number of seats to its credit; at the present time
the party has 74 representatives in the Chamber of Deputies,
to whom we must add, in certain cases, 135 Radical Socialists.
… The ‘Unified Socialists’ of the uncompromising type hold 53
seats, and the Independent Socialists 21; if we add these two
figures to the 135 Radical Socialists, we find that they form
a considerable portion of the 591 members. Though they have
not an absolute majority, the weight of these 209 advanced
votes is such as to colour very strongly modern legislation,
and there is no reason to doubt that their progress will
continue up to a certain point."

_W. L. George,
France in the Twentieth Century,
chapter 8 (John Lane Co., New York, 1909)._

SOCIALISM: Germany: A. D. 1902.
The Socialist Congress on Alcoholic Drinks.

See (in this Volume)
ALCOHOL PROBLEM: GERMANY.

SOCIALISM: A. D. 1903.
Gains of the Socialists in Elections to the Reichstag.

See (in this Volume)
GERMANY: A. D. 1903, and 1906-1907.

{620}

SOCIALISM: A. D. 1903.
Opposition among Workmen.

A great Congress of 200 delegates from bodies of German
workingmen opposed to Socialism, said to represent a total of
620,000, was held in October, 1903, at Frankfort-on-the Main.
Its object was to promote effective organization of workmen,
to which end it appealed to "all unorganized German workmen to
join those industrial organizations which do not make enmity
between the classes their principle."

SOCIALISM: A. D. 1908.
Socialists win Seats in the Prussian Diet for the First Time.

See (in this Volume)
PRUSSIA: A. D. 1908.

SOCIALISM: A. D. 1909.
Statistics reported to the Socialist Congress.

The annual report to the Socialist Congress at Leipzig stated
that the German Social Democratic party has a membership of
571,050 men and 62,259 women—total 633,309. The number of men
had increased during the past year by 13,172, and the number
of women by 32,801. There are said to be now only 20 Reichstag
constituencies in which there is no Socialist organization.

See (in this Volume)
GERMANY: A. D. 1909 (OCTOBER-DECEMBER).

SOCIALISM: Italy: A. D. 1904.
Gains in the Election claimed by the Socialists.

See (in this Volume)
ITALY: A. D. 1904 (OCTOBER-DECEMBER).

SOCIALISM: A. D. 1909.
Gains in Italian Elections.

See (in this Volume)
ITALY: A. D. 1909 (MARCH).

SOCIALISM: NEW ZEALAND.
Government Ownership of Land.
Graduated Taxation.
Public Loans to Farmers.

See (in this Volume)
NEW ZEALAND: A. D. 1905.

SOCIALISM: SPAIN: A. D. 1909.
Socialist-Republican Alliance.

See (in this Volume)
SPAIN: A. D. 1907-1909.

SOCIALISM: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1902.
Socialist Platform adopted by the Western Federation
of Miners.

See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION: UNITED STATES: A. D). 1899-1907.

SOCIALISTIC POLITICAL PARTIES.

See (in this Volume)
PARTIES, POLITICAL.

SOKOTO:
British, Capture and Occupation.

See (in this Volume)
AFRICA: A. D. 1903 (NIGERIA).

SOMALILAND.

See (in this Volume)
AFRICA: SOMALILAND.

SONE, Viscount:
Japanese Resident-General in Korea.

See (in this Volume)
KOREA: A. D. 1905-1909.

SONNINO, BARON: PRIME MINISTER OF ITALY.

See (in this Volume)
ITALY: A. D. 1906-1909.

SOUDAN.

See (in this Volume)
SUDAN.

SOUFFRIÈRE, LA: VOLCANIC ERUPTION OF.

See (in this Volume)
VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS: WEST INDIES.

----------SOUTH AFRICA: Start--------

SOUTH AFRICA:
Suitable and Unsuitable Parts of South
Africa for European Settlement.

See (in this Volume)
AFRICA.

SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1901-1902.
The Last Year of the Boer-British War.
The Concentration Camps.
Kitchener’s Block-house System and Protected Areas.
The Opening of Negotiations for Peace.
Text of the Treaty concluded.

When Volume VI. of this work went to press, in April, 1901,
and its record of events was closed, the dreadful Boer-British
War had still a little more than another year to be prolonged
through; but it was to be, as it had been throughout the past
year, a sheerly destructive prosecution of guerrilla warfare
by separate bands of the indomitable Boers. The operations of
such warfare,—its raids, its counter "drives," its little
battles and skirmishes, its captures and recaptures, its
breaking of railway lines, and the like,—cannot be detailed in
a work like this. Nothing of any decisive effect was done at
any time, on either side, to constitute an important event in
the war. There was simply a wearing process in operation which
went on, in an inexorable and horrible slow way, till the
country on which it worked was a desert, and the endurance of
its surviving people was worn out.

In November, 1900, Lord Kitchener had succeeded Lord Roberts
in the British command. He decided to empty the contested
regions of their non-combatant population, by gathering it
into "concentration camps," thus resorting to a measure which
the Spaniards had employed in Cuba, and which the Americans
had copied from them in the Philippines. Accordingly, on the
21st of December, 1900, he had issued to general officers a
"Memorandum" in which he said:

"Lord Kitchener desires that General Officers will, according
to the means at their disposal, follow this system in the
Districts which they occupy or may traverse. The women and
children brought in should be camped near the railway for
supply purposes, and should be divided in two categories,
viz.: 1st. Refugees, and the families of Neutrals,
non-combatants, and surrendered Burghers. 2nd. Those whose
husbands, fathers, and sons are on Commands. The preference in
accommodation, &c., should of course, be given to the first
class. The Ordnance will supply the necessary tents and the
District Commissioner will look after the food on the scale
now in use.

"It should be clearly explained to Burghers in the field,
that, if they voluntarily surrender, they will be allowed to
live with their families in the camps until it is safe for
them to return to their homes."

In "The Times History of the War in South Africa" it is
remarked on this order: "The policy was inspired by two
motives. In the first place, it was supposed that the removal
of the families would induce fighting Boers to surrender, and
would thus shorten the War. In the second place, it was a
measure of humanity towards the unprotected occupants of
lonely farms. The decision was taken somewhat lightly. In its
primary object it failed absolutely. Far from providing an
inducement to surrender, it lifted from the fighting burghers
a load of embarrassment. To the British, military consequences
were disastrous. To the Boers the gain was twofold. On the
shoulders of their enemy lay the heavy tasks of removal and
maintenance, involving enormous expense and a grave hindrance
to military operations, while they themselves, relieved of all
responsibility for their women and children, were free to
devote their energies with a clear conscience to the single
aim of fighting.
{621}
While one of the British aims was signally defeated, the
other, that of humanity, was at first only partially attained.
The scheme for the concentration camps was lacking in
foresight. Adequate provision was not made for the hosts of
refugees requiring shelter. The regular medical and sanitary
staff were already fully occupied with the needs of the army,
and men were lacking for the organisation and supervision of
the camps. Sites chosen on purely military grounds often
proved wholly unsuitable. Too much reliance was placed on the
capacity for self-help to be shown by the Boers themselves,
and the Boers proved to be helpless, utterly averse to
cleanliness and ignorant of the simplest elements of medicine
and sanitation. The result was that for a certain period there
was a very high rate of mortality among these unfortunate
people."

_The Times History of the War in South Africa,
Volume v., chapter 3
(Low, Marston & Co., London)._

With better success Kitchener adopted and steadily perfected a
block-house system, by which lines of barrier were drawn
across the country in different directions, and protected
areas were formed. The system and its working are thus
described in the history quoted above:

"One of the first reforms undertaken by Kitchener when he
assumed command in South Africa was the strengthening of the
railways. At that time the defences of the lines were of the
simplest description, consisting almost wholly of open
trenches at stations, bridges and culverts, while the line
itself was patrolled by small parties of mounted men. In
laying out these trench defences, the principal object kept in
view was to render them inconspicuous and thus immune from
artillery fire. The system required enormous numbers of men
both for patrol work and for manning the long lines of
trenches. … It was clear that some form of permanent or
semi-permanent defence must be adopted, if security was to be
gained and the railway guards reduced. Early in January,
accordingly, the first blockhouses were constructed. …

"Planted at first only at stations, bridges, culverts,
important cuttings and curves—at the points, in fact, which
experience had proved to be most vulnerable—blockhouses came
to be established at regular intervals of about a mile and a
half down the whole extent of a line. This interval was
steadily lessened. Ultimately it became as small as 400 yards
on the Delagoa line and was reduced even to 200 yards on some
portions of the Cape railways. A continuous fencing of barbed
wire ran along the line; elaborate entanglements surrounded
each blockhouse, and the telephone linked up the whole system.
A somewhat later development was a deep trench bordering the
line of barbed wire and running to within 100 yards of each
blockhouse. …

"Until July the system was confined to the railways; but in
July the idea first took definite shape of throwing blockhouse
lines across country, and thus creating fenced areas of
manageable size within which the Boers could be dealt with
piece-meal. It is important to note that these lines almost
invariably followed roads, which thus became to all intents
and purposes as safe as railways. In other words, a great
number of additional lines of communication were opened up and
secured, and the striking power of the army proportionately
increased. …

"While a thousand yards, or thereabouts, was the usual
interval between cross-country blockhouses, the rule was
invariably followed that each must be in sight of its
neighbour on either side. The wire fence spanning this
interval always ran in the form of an obtuse angle, so that
fire could be directed along it from both ends without risk to
either blockhouse. In order to secure accurate fire in the
dark, rests were provided for the correct alignment of rifles.
Ordinary barbed wire was used at first, but the Boers became
such adepts at cutting it that a quarter-inch unannealed steel
wire, specially manufactured in England, had to be
substituted. In Cape Colony, an eight-strand cable,
manufactured in special 'rope walks' established at
Naauwpoort, was largely used. Not to be daunted, the Boers
took to uprooting the stays and levelling the fence bodily.
The stays, accordingly, had to be anchored securely to heavy
rocks sunk deep in the ground. As on the railways, alarms of
all sorts were devised to give the garrisons notice of an
attempt to tamper with the fence. A spring-gun would fire,
dangling biscuit tins would rattle, a weight would drop in the
blockhouse, and on any such signal the garrison would fire
down the line of the fence. But, when all precautions were
taken, it was impossible, on dark nights, to prevent
determined bodies of Boers from passing the barrier. The
passage could be made dangerous and difficult; that was all. …
Exaggerated hopes were built on the efficacy of the lines as
barriers to determined men. … The Boers, for a long time to
come, viewed with disdain the eruption of tiny forts. It was
only by degrees that they awoke to the realization that they
were taken like flies in a spider’s web. … Communication
between commanders became more and more difficult;
concentrations on a large scale impossible.

"The ramifications of the blockhouse system and the slow
formation of protected areas were not the only signs that the
day of conquest was approaching. Within these areas, under the
able and energetic administrations of Lord Milner, who
returned to South Africa in August, and, in the Orange River
Colony, of the Deputy Administrator, Sir H. Goold-Adams,
marked progress was beginning to be made in the establishment
of civil industry and in administrative reconstruction. …

"With regard to the Boer non-combatant population, an
important modification of policy was initiated in December.
Orders were issued to all columns that no more families, save
those in actual danger of starvation and those belonging to a
privileged class, … were to be brought into the concentration
camps. Since most of the accessible farms had already been
emptied, the order applied mainly to the women and children
who had preferred, in defiance of hardship, to accompany the
commandos and who lived in nomadic laagers. The Boers, however
much they had railed in the past against the inhumanity of the
camps, were soon to realise and admit the essential humanity
of the concentration system. The embarrassment and anxiety
caused by the helpless non-combatants in their midst was to
grow day by day.
{622}
Finally, at the Vereeniging Conference, the truth received
frank and undisguised expression. ‘To-day,’ said Botha, ‘we
are only too glad to know that our women and children are
under British protection.’ The wretchedness of those who
remained on the veld became, indeed, a powerful argument for
submission."

_The Times History of the War in South Africa,
chapters 10, 11, 14
(London, Low, Marston & Co.)._

It was not until March, 1902, that the men of authority on
both sides of the war began to give tokens of a mutual
disposition to discuss terms of peace. In the previous
January, the government of the Netherlands had offered to act
as intermediary between Great Britain and the Boers, and the
proffer had been declined, the British government repeating
its determination to accept no foreign intervention. At the
same time it was suggested that, inasmuch as Mr. Steyn and Mr.
Schalk Burger, the chiefs of the Orange Free State and of the
Transvaal burghers, respectively, were understood to be
invested with full powers of government, including the power
of negotiation, those gentlemen could open, if they wished,
direct communication with Lord Kitchener, who had already been
instructed to forward to his government any offers that he
might receive. On the 7th of March this correspondence was
sent by Lord Kitchener, without comment, to the Transvaal
government, then established at Stroomwater. The suggestion in
it was rightly taken as an invitation, and acting President
Schalk Burger at once asked for a safe-conduct for himself and
the other members of his government into the British lines,
with intimations of a wish for opportunity to meet the members
of the Free State government, in order that they might concert
proposals for peace. His wishes were readily complied with. On
the 22d he entered the British lines, and all possible aid was
given him in getting together the men whom he wished to
consult. Some were brought away from active fighting, which
went on without them, no pause on the military side being
permitted for a single day, while the parleying of a month
went on.

The Transvaal and Free State governments met on the 9th of
April, at Klerksdorp, under British safe-conduct, and, after
debate among themselves on that day and the next, sent a
telegram to Lord Kitchener, requesting him to meet them and
receive from them a proposal of peace. He replied promptly,
inviting them to his headquarters at Pretoria, and there they
were received on April 12th. Their proposal was on the basis
of political independence for the two Boer states, under "an
enduring treaty of friendship and peace" with the British
government, as well as a customs, postal and railway union
with the adjoining British colonies, and with concessions of
the franchise to Uitlanders in the Transvaal. Kitchener could
give no consideration to a proposal of this nature; but
consented, after much discussion to cable it to London. At, a
second meeting on the 14th (when Lord Kitchener was joined by
Lord Milner, the British High Commissioner in South Africa) he
had the answer of the British government to produce. It
declared with emphasis that the government could not
"entertain any proposals based on the continued independence
of the former republics, which have been formally annexed to
the British Crown." To this the Boer officials replied that
they had no power to negotiate on any other basis than that of
independence, and they asked for an armistice, to enable them
to consult their people. This was refused, but, after some
parleying, it was arranged that they should have free use of
the railway and telegraph, and that military operations should
be so conducted as to allow opportunities for meetings in all
parts of the country, at which thirty burghers from each re-
public should be elected, with authority to act for the
people. These representatives were to meet on the 15th of May,
at Vereeniging, to determine the answer they would give.
Between the 11th and the 15th of May immunity was promised to
all commandos whose leaders should be chosen as
representatives, and this practically operated as an armistice
during those days.