300 RURAL RECONSTRUCTION 



public minded, philanthropic persons, prompted by an altruistic 

 sentiment. And unquestionably those establishments do much 

 good, disseminating much useful instruction ; and one would rather 

 see this particular branch of craft teaching placed in the hands of 

 such private persons than committed to public authorities, which 

 do not appear specially adapted to such service. The care devoted 

 to such instruction in Russia, as compared with what is done in 

 Austria and Hungary, is distinctly striking. The protection afforded 

 to these industries by foreign Governments — among which the 

 Japanese deserve to be mentioned as one of the most active and 

 also one of the most successful — has been very much made of among 

 ourselves, as if it deserved to be set up as a model for imitation. 

 Government action in the matter has indeed been loudly pleaded for 

 among ourselves. However, there are two points which want to be 

 borne in mind. In the first place, it was not purely paternal solici- 

 tude for the welfare of the governed which prompted the protective 

 action taken, at any rate by European Governments. Unquestion- 

 ably many of their officers employed in this work have been through- 

 out animated by the purest and most benevolent desires, thinking 

 singlemindedly of the welfare of their proteges and of advancing the 

 industry. I know of more than one such. The economic reclama- 

 tion of the desert Eifel, and the nourishing state of some of these 

 industries in Baden — such as clockmaking and brush making — are 

 cases in point. However, for the Governments favouring the 

 development of these industries there was also at the same time a 

 distinctly political gain to be hoped for, for their own profit — the 

 profit of the Crown. The thorn permanently in the side of such 

 Governments was the steady uprising of the working classes claiming 

 for themselves the full and more than full rights of citizens, in fact 

 plebian class rights, becoming more trade unionist and more 

 socialist from day to day. They were the " subversive " (Umsturz) 

 classes, of whom the Emperor William was fond of speaking, with 

 evident dread and an equally evident desire to keep them under. 

 And other monarchs, not quite so much given to public lucubration, 

 fully shared this sentiment, though they did not give as emphatic 

 utterance to it. Time was — not so very long ago — when cottage 

 workers were the most oppressed and " sweated " class of toilers in 

 the world. They were held in ignominious bondage by their em- 

 ployers, or else by their dealers, who were only slave drivers in 

 another form, buying their goods for sale. And in their rural 

 isolation they were helpless. Such merciless " sweating " is one 

 cause why trade unions set their face so determinedly against all 



