by employers of labor and by the employed.

The most important evidence is that furnished by the late M. Godin. M. Godin, who died recently, was something more than a great employer of labor. He had been a Deputy, and gave his whole life to the study of social questions. His latest work, which has appeared since his death, La République du Travail, is very remarkable. He has left other memorials, too, besides his books. Le Familistère de Guise, which attracted the attention of economists and statesmen, is also his work. His evidence before the Commission was, therefore, that of a man of weight, and I may be allowed to give some extracts here.

He says: "I do not claim to have worked any miracles at Guise, but I wish that you could compare the population of the Familistère with any other similar population. Its general conduct is excellent. No child of six years old is unable to read; no child of fourteen is without the elements of a good education. At first, this community had but very little education; it has changed greatly in the last twenty years, and in ten years more its general intellectual and moral level will be extremely satisfactory. These benefits are directly due to the association.

"From an industrial point of view, facts are more convincing than the warmest praise. Since the association was formed the workmen have been directly interested in the improvement of production; they are keen to point out sources of loss, or causes of bad work; nay, more, they are always on the look-out for possible improvements, and we are constantly taking out patents for new inventions.

"At the present day 900 people have a share in the profits, and are all share holders, some possessing stock to the value of 500 fr., others of 1,000 fr., 2,000 fr., and 10,000 fr. respectively. So that the Familistère possesses, in the hands of 900 shareholders, a capital of about 1,200,000 fr. The association possesses, moreover, a reserve of 460,000 fr. and a sum of 670,000 fr., which forms a fund for pensions and insurance.

"This fund is sufficiently large to allow the invalided workmen to live on quietly as members of the society. If you could visit the Familistère, you would see the

old pensioners enjoying their perfect security, insured against poverty till their death."

If the system of allowing a share in the profits has not produced an equally brill iant result everywhere, all the witnesses examined on this head are unanimous in their satisfaction at having adopted it, beginning with M. Leclaire, whose difference of opinion with the authorities we have recorded above. The joint capital of the insurance society in the Leclaire firm now reaches a total of 1,700,000 fr.

A share in the profits is not only allowed in such trades as that of Leclaire and Co., who are house decorators, which require but little plant; the system is adopted by nearly fifty great firms, of which some require a large and expensive plant. We may mention the Orleans Railway Company, the printing houses of Chaix and Dupont, the paper factory of Laroche Joubert, the Bon Marché, etc.

We pass now to the co-operative societies for the production of manufactured goods. These number nearly eighty in France at the present day. Some have been established for a considerable time, and have already executed work of considerable value. A table drawn up in 1888 shows that the Tailors' Association, founded in 1863, has done work to the value of 5,000,000 fr. The Union of Coach Builders, since 1873, 3,000,000 fr. The Society of Opticians, which dates from the Second Empire, has in less than forty years produced goods to the value of 30,000,000 fr. It is to be regretted that this society, like too many other cooperative societies, does not allow a share in the profits to the assistants it employs.

The

As might have been foreseen, the societies for the production of manufactured goods offered the strongest opposition to the law of 1867. Those which could take contracts for public works complained bitterly of the obligation imposed on them of paying down a certain sum in advance. This sum is often required six months before the beginning of the work. State pays the contractors only 3 per cent. interest, while they have to pay nearly double on the money advanced them, so that the grievance was a real one. societies also had a good right to complain of the difficulty encountered in obtaining payment from the Administration of the sums due to them, or an advance upon the

The

work already executed. The manager of the society is required to produce legal documents, which must be renewed every time there is a change of agent or manager. These formalities are not required of co-operative societies alone, but are a result of that irritating system of red tape against which so many and such useless protests are raised. A curious example of this system may be mentioned. The Administration of the City of Paris had subscribed to the Revue des Deux Mondes. When the proprietors wished to be paid the sum of 50 fr., the Administration required the production of legal documents, which cost 80 fr. to draw up. The proprietors of the Revue, it is said, considered that the honor of counting the City of Paris among their subscribers was not worth 30 fr., and struck it out of their list. This abuse of formalities occurs in another matter. Nearly all co-operative societies are obliged, before beginning work, to apply to a banker, who exacts as a guarantee a bond which allows him to receive directly in the creditor's place the sums due for the work executed. This document is stamped at the exorbitant rate of 1 fr. 25c. per cent., even if the debt is contracted for no more than a month.

These are some of the hindrances which obstruct the path of co-operative societies when they would undertake the execution of public works. But all working men's societies, whatever the nature of their employment, encounter vexatious formalities and expenses, which hamper them in their very formation. No doubt a working men's association can, under the law of 1867, be founded by seven members, each of whom pays 5 fr. The smallest share allowed by law is 50 fr., but the immediate payment of a tenth allows the society to begin working. But if the associated capital required in the origin is of the smallest, the necessary expenses swell the sum considerably. The presence of a solicitor is required by law, if not to draw up the regulations of the society, which can be done by private signature, at least to certify the subscriptions and the payments of the members.

Besides this necessity for a lawyer, which is a costly matter, there are the heavy expenses of legal publications, so that the cost of establishing a society the capital of which may be 35 fr. must rise

to 500 fr. at least. This is a startling discrepancy. The framers of the Decree of

1888 and of the Bill of 1889 have endeavored to remove such abuses, and give satisfaction to those who have suffered under these grievances.

The Decree deals with the share taken by co-operative societies in the execution of public works. The first article cuts at the root of a difficulty pointed out by all the societies. They complained that too often the works were adjudged, as a whole, to one contractor, who sub-let them afterward to special contractors, a system which led to speculation. For the future, contracts are to be divided, as far as possible, into lots, according to the importance of the work, or of the material required, or according to the nature of the industries interested.

Formerly, companies which applied for a contract were required to produce a paper certifying that they had previously in a satisfactory manner, executed similar works. This singular requirement, carried out to the letter, must have always prevented them from making a beginning. Henceforward, says the third article of the Decree, a certificate of capacity, delivered to the agent, clerk of the works, foreman, or other member of the association specially delegated to direct the execution of the work, will be sufficient.

We have already mentioned the complaints of those interested against the exaction of a deposit of money. Workmen's societies will be henceforward dispensed from making such a deposit when the cost of the work undertaken is calculated to be under 50,000 fr. The Decree has adopted M. Floquet's regulations, who, as Prefect of the Seine, had substituted in the contracts for the public works of the city, and of the Department, the deduction of a portion of the wages as a security, instead of the payment of a deposit.

Finally, the last and not the least interesting clause declares that in the case of equal tenders for contracts having been made by private firms and by co-operative societies, the preference should be given to the latter.

It will be observed that these are important innovations, to which is due the fact that several co-operative societies have been able to take part in the works for the Exhibition of this year. The Decree has already borne fruit.

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The societies for the sale of articles of food and clothing have had no grievances to be redressed. As was said at the beginning of this article, the great majority of them are doing a good trade. We may mention, as an example, the " Fédération, a society which is established at Vienne, in the South of France. It has existed only twelve years, and yet a few weeks ago the society had a banquet to celebrate the acquisition, at the price of 100,000 fr., of the houses where the business is carried on. The society has turned over 4,500,000 fr. in twelve years, and realized a total profit of 261,000 fr. Out of this bonus the members have created a pension fund, which serves for ninety-two annual pensions of 150 fr. to 160 fr. a year.

One division of the Bill is, however, devoted to this class of co-operative so cieties. It allows them to have, in addition to the members who take part in the management of the business, others who pay for the right of admission but take no part in the deliberations of the general meetings. It imposes on them the obligation of deducting at least a tenth of the annual dividend to form an insurance fund. It decides, lastly, a much discussed question by declaring that such a society can be validly represented in the Law Courts by its administrators.

But the new law will apply especially to the co-operative manufacturing societies. It has removed most of the grievances caused by the troublesome formalities of the law of 1867. The intervention of a lawyer is no longer required. For the legal constitution of the society it is now only necessary to deposit at the office of the Tribunal of Commerce, or at that of a justice of the peace, a copy of the deed of membership of the society. It will be no longer necessary that deeds which constitute or dissolve the society should be drawn up on stamped paper, or be registered. These new regulations will remove the weight of those expenses which crushed young societies. Moreover, new facilities are granted to associations which require credit. The banker who advances the

necessary funds can become the assignee of the money owing to the society by the State, or by the town by which it is employed, on the receipt of a registered letter. The registration duties, which weighed so heavily on acts of transfer, are diminished; the income-tax will not apply to these societies as long as their nominal capital is under 2,000 fr.

Other clauses are not less important. No increase of capital can be made until at least half the amount of the original shares has been paid up. At least a twentieth of the profits must be annually devoted to the formation of an insurance fund.

The responsibility of associates toward the general public is limited to the amount of their shares or promised capital, an indispensable clause in these societies, composed of working men, whose gains are small, and who would otherwise be deterred from such associations by the fear of incurring unknown and heavy liabilities. Finally, co-operative manufacturing societies may adopt the form either of societies with fixed, or of societies with variable capital. In the latter case the diminution of capital which may occur on the retirement, exclusion, or death of one or more associates must not exceed ninetenths of the original joint capital.

Such are the essential points of the Bill as voted by the Chamber. It constitutes a real advance on the law of 1867. Framed especially in the interests of co-operative societies, it facilitates their creation by removing most of the obstacles raised by the law it replaces At the same time that the Decree of June 6th, 1888, allows cooperative societies to accept contracts for the great public works, and thus offers them an additional reason for existing, the new law renders their constitution simpler.

The Republican Government has thus acquired a new title to the confidence of the working classes, and to the gratitude of all those who regard the development of the spirit of association as one of the elements in the solution of the social questions of our day.-New Review.

THE sad event which has so lately brought the Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria to an untimely grave has attracted universal attention to the inner life of the court of Vienna. Those who care to work back from the present to the past will find an enormous mass of varied and interesting detail on the subject. In the last century especially that Augustan age of memoir writers-the court of Vienna, though far less brilliant than that of Versailles, was a rich source of anecdote and scandal. Charles VI., the well-known Hapsburg claimant to the throne of Spain, succeeded to the government of the vast Austrian dominions in 1711. He was the last male scion of the old line of Hapsburg, and with him the antiquated Spanish ceremonial of the court of Vienna was retained in its most rigid form. The imperial household at this time comprised no less than two thousand officials on active service. These were divided into six great classes, according as they came under the lord steward, the lord treasurer, the lord chamberlain, the master of the horse, the lord high ranger, and the lord high falconer. The regulations as to court etiquette were very strict. To every member of the imperial family was due the oldfashioned Spanish reverence, a bow performed while dropping on one knee; to all other persons, the ordinary French reverence, a slight inclination of the body. The

court dress for men was unaltered since the time of Charles V. It consisted of the Spanish costume of the sixteenth century, viz., a black doublet and breeches with large rosettes at the knees, and a short black cloak; a large hat turned up on one side and surmounted by a red or black plume, red stockings and red shoes. No one ever ventured to appear at court in a more modern dress. Charles VI. adhered to it rigidly, and, if he ever saw a person arrayed otherwise, always exclaimed, "There is one of those cursed Frenchmen. He also maintained the obsolete custom of keeping a jester with cap and bells. The latter, who was known as "Little Hans," was a well-known character at court. He was a dwarf, " ugly as a devil," says Lady Mary Wortley Mon

tagu, and always accompanied the emperor on state occasions.

To Charles VI. etiquette was as the breath of life. As early as 1706, when Philip of Anjou, his rival for the crown of Spain, had left Madrid, Charles, to the rage of his English allies, refused to enter the city because he had as yet no state carriage, and it would be contrary to all etiquette to do so without. In 1732 he had engaged to hold an important political conference with Frederick William, King of Prussia. Yet the chief subject of debate at the Austrian state council held before the interview was on the question, whether his imperial majesty should shake hands with the Prussian monarch or not. After long deliberation they came to the conclusion that he ought not to do so, as such a proceeding would inflict a lasting wound on the imperial dignity. Another instance of the stress laid on etiquette is still more amusing. The ceremonial of the court hunting parties forbade any one to touch the imperial quarry save the emperor himself. On one occasion a wild boar, slightly wounded by the emperor's gun, rushed straight at his Majesty, who at the moment happened to be unarmed. One of the court pages, at great personal risk, rushed forward and shot the boar dead. Yet the only reward his gallantry received was a severe reprimand and a fortnight's imprisonment, for having committed so serious a breach of the hunt etiquette.

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The emperor's day was carefully portioned out. He rose early, heard mass, and held conferences with his ministers till dinner, which was served at one. This meal was a very solemn affair. It took place in the emperor's private apartments, on the emperor's side," as the official language called it. The emperor and empress always sat down to it alone. one, not even an electoral prince of the German Empire, was considered great enough to dine" on the emperor's side." The latter was attended by halberdiers and archers in sixteenth century costume. There were numerous regulations about serving the table, and a dish in its progress from the kitchen to the imperial plate had to pass through the hands of twenty-four

officials. The emperor always wore his hat during the meal, except when grace was being said. In the afternoon their majesties took a solemn drive in the Prater. On their return, audiences were given to those persons who had applied through the lord chamberlain. His Majesty never hurried, so that petitioners had to wait at least a month before their turn came. This did not apply to the nobility, who were admitted en masse to kiss hands on royal birthdays or "gala days." The empress in the meantime had retired to her private apartments, where she played cards with

her ladies till about six. At this hour the emperor entered, attended by the lord chamberlain, and supper was served. This meal was held on the empress's side," i.e. in the empress's private apartments. It was a much less awful ceremony than dinner. Any important visitors present in Vienna could be invited as guests, and the little archdukes and archduchesses were frequently present. Music, of which Charles was extremely fond, was played during the meal, and lively conversation prevailed. The table was entirely served and all the dishes set out by the empress's twelve maids of honor. Soon after supper was concluded the court retired.

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It must not be supposed that this dull routine prevailed throughout the year. Life at the country palaces of Schönbrunn and Laxenburg was much less strict than at Vienna, where the emperor only resided from October to April. The court routine was, moreover, incessantly varied by festivals and amusements. Great court balls and ridottos were frequently given, when dancing continued till daybreak. very popular entertainment at court was "The Tavern." For this, one of the palace saloons was arranged to resemble the parlor of an inn. The imperial couple acted as host and hostess, and presided at the buffet. The guests were all masked and in fancy dress, and, as the emperor and empress were supposed to be incognito, the restraints imposed by the court etiquette were at an end and much fun ensued. A very popular amusement was the sledge racing, which took place at Vienna during the winter. The sledges were gilt and carved with great taste to represent the figures of dragons, serpents, peacocks, or monsters. Each sledge was driven by a member of the nobility accompanied by a lady, both being magnificently attired.

The emperor and empress watched the sledges from a balcony. In the country, great court assemblies were held on the occasion of ladies' shooting matches, which were very popular. The young archduchesses were excellent shots, and frequently obtained the prize.

Charles VI., like all the Austrian sovereigns, was, as we have said, passionately fond of music. The choir of the imperial chapel cost 200,000 florins a year. Splendid operas were frequently given at the expense of the court. One of these, witnessed by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, "The Enchantments of Alcina," cost no less than 300,000 florins to put on the stage. It took place al fresco in the gardens of the palace. Unfortunately in the middle of it a storm of rain came on. There was a canopy over the imperial family, but all the other visitors were drenched to the skin.

Besides these various distractions great stress was laid on the religious festivals. Charles, like all the Hapsburgs, was an intense devotee. Lent was a terrible season of sackcloth and ashes, and foreign ambassadors groaned over the countless services they had to attend.

Charles VI., the centre of this curious world of ceremonial and splendor, was of middle stature and slight frame. He had large brown eyes, a long, straight nose, flabby cheeks, and a hanging underlip. The expression of his features was stern and melancholy. This latter characteristic deepened with advancing years, and to the day of his death Charles religiously observed the tradition that an Austrian emperor never laughs.* His wife was the beautiful Elizabeth of Brunswick. Charles was strongly attached to his white Lizzy, as he used to call her, owing to the wonderful purity of her complexion. In imitation, however, of Louis XIV., he held that no king was complete without a mistress. The lady he fixed on for this honor was a beautiful Italian, Marianna, the wife of his Master of the Horse, Count Althann. She was one of the most fascinat ing women of her time and was as talented