The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE. Published every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Morning. Saturday, June 7, 1890. THE GREAT LABOR MOVEMENT.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume III, Issue 464, 7 June 1890, Page 2

The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE. Published every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Morning.

Saturday, June 7, 1890. THE GREAT LABOR MOVEMENT.

Be just and fear not; Let all the ends thou aim’st at be thy country’s, Thy God’s, and truth’s.

As yet nothing definite has been heard concerning the great social reform initiated by the far-seeing Emperor of Germany, but papers by the last mail contain some interesting information regarding the progress made. When the word progress is used it can hardly be understood as referring to tangible results, for in reality there have been none. But there has been one great gain, that of educating the people of foreign countries to the new order of things. Indeed nothing more has been proposed in the field of humanitarian legislation than Was accomplished over thirty years ago by England, Jiut every new point gained is in favor of our own country, which has long had to contend with the cheap labor on the Continent. It ought to be to Britishers a matter of great satisfaction, mingled with much just pride, that the example of Great Britain should stand out in such a fair way of being followed, and the outcome of the Conference will be anticipated with a large amount of interest. The fashion has been to term the new Emperor of Germany a headstrong youth, and many who ought to have been better informed had come to regard him with a feeling of concern, that so great a power had been placed in the hands of such a man But the Emperor has proved worthy of bis exalted position, and has demonstrated to the world that autocracy may be a real power for good, and not as history has so often recorded, a mere means of exercising tyranny. The London Times, in an article on the subject, echoes sentiments which no writer could improve upon, and the remarks we are about

to quote really contain a concise history of how far the great movement has progressed up to the present. The Times says ;—“ The general adoption of the principles laid down by the Conference will be an act of justice to our own laborers, who will no longer have to struggle against the cheap labor of immature children, or the seven-day week of the Continental workman .The Emperor is certainly to be congratulated upon the work he set in motion. It is likely enough that Germany, and, indeed, the greater part of Europe, would have had to wait long enough for better days if this young autocrat had not become penetrated with the ambition to give autocracy a high ideal. His impetuosity — for nothing is more remarkable about this Conference than the despatch with which it has been planned, summoned, and dismissed—has been crowned with a considerable measure of success. It is impossible to say whether the next stage will be equally successful—whether the countries interested will give effect to these recommendations without whittling them down so as to be comparatively For ourselves, we do not anticipate .such a discreditable ending. It is certain that Germany herself will lose no time; the Emperor will see to that. In other countries, too, where the Government rests in any degree ..upon popular representation, it will be impossible to resist the demand for legislation in accordance with the conclusions of the Conference. The German Emperor, therefore, may pride himself upon having in a couple of months advanced the cause of humanitarian reform more than it has advanced in most countries during fifty years. Perhaps for ages his action may be cited as the classic illustration ot the intimate, abiding alliance between military autocracy and Socialism, a more striking illustration even than that which Des Idees Napoleoniennes afforded. At any rate, it seems likely to be long memorable as marking the point at which the paths of the young Emperor and his venerable counsellor diverged.”