BY A. J. TAYLOR, F.L.S., F.R.G.S. 41 



I turn now to the second portion of my paper in whicli I 

 wish to deal briefly with the tendency of Trade CTnions. 



When it is remembered that " associative effort " — taking 

 shape in Trade Unionism — has been the " natural evolution of 

 generations of increasmg political freedom," and that each 

 form of industrial association is that most suitable to the 

 conditions under which it originates and lives, I think it 

 will also be admitted that the present potentialities of 

 Unionism need give us no alarm for the future. 



I hold with Mr. William Clark— one of the contributors 

 to the interesting "Fabian Essays," (p. 62), " that there has 

 been, and is proceeding, an Economic Evolution, practically 

 independent of our individual desires or prejudices;" and 

 holding this as an article of my political faith, I do not 

 contemplate the future of Unionism with fear or misgiving. 



Unionism, like the individual, has to spell out its way in 

 syllables of painful experience, but the fact that it has 

 sometimes seemed to blunder and fail has no more been an 

 indication of weakness or want of vital strength than is the 

 falling back of a ripple on the sandy shores an indication 

 that the waters are receding from their work of drawing down 

 the " dust of Continents to be." 



" No doubt vast eddies in the flood, 

 Of onward time shall yet be made," 

 but are the eddies any indication that the waters are not 

 passing onward ? Nay ! do not the eddies create the very 

 force necessary to carry them forward ? 



Let us not, then, judge Unionism by the apparent mistakes 

 that have been made, but rather by the sun-lit milestones 

 that have marked its progress. 



On pages 427^9 of his history, Howell gives a list of nearly 

 60 important Acts which were more or less the outcome of 

 the combined action of the Trade Unions during the years 

 1869 to 1889 ; and even this list, it is admitted, gives but a 

 bare record of the direct results of the action of the Unions 

 and Congresses, and, more recently, of labour representa- 

 tion in the National Parliament, where the voice of Unionism 

 is now listened to with respect, and its influence made mani- 

 fest. As Howell has pointed out, however, " it is not so 

 much in specific performances that the record of Trade 

 Unions is seen to greatest advantage. It is rather," he says, 

 ** in those unrecorded fields of labour which constitute the 

 everyday life-work of the Unions that they display their 

 power, wield their influence, and achieve their more per- 

 manent successes. The improved condition of the working 

 classes to day is largely due to their efforts. The improve- 

 ment has been slow — terribly slow ; and it is not so apparent 

 to the younger generation as to those whose age and 

 experience takes them back to the "forties" and " fifties " 



