would if it were in a thoroughly congenial
environment. It needs to be supported by special exertion and care. Two
things here work against it. First, the great mobility of our
population. A trades-union, to be strong, needs to be composed of men
who have grown up together, who have close personal acquaintance and
mutual confidence, who have been trained to the same code, and who
expect to live on together in the same circumstances and interests. In
this country, where workmen move about frequently and with facility,
the unions suffer in their harmony and stability. It was a significant
fact that the unions declined during the hard times. It was only when
the men were prosperous that they could afford to keep up the unions,
as a kind of social luxury. When the time came to use the union it
ceased to be. Secondly, the American workman really has such personal
independence, and such an independent and strong position in the labor
market, that he does not need the union. He is farther on the road
toward the point where personal liberty supplants the associative
principle than any other workman. Hence the association is likely to be
a clog to him, especially if he is a good laborer, rather than an
assistance. If it were not for the notion brought from England, that
trades-unions are, in some mysterious way, beneficial to the
workmen--which notion has now become an article of faith--it is very
doubtful whether American workmen would find that the unions were of
any use, unless they were converted into organizations for
accomplishing the purposes enumerated in the last paragraph.

The fashion of the time is to run to Government boards, commissions,
and inspectors to set right everything which is wrong. No experience
seems to damp the faith of our public in these instrumentalities. The
English Liberals in the middle of this century seemed to have full
grasp of the principle of liberty, and to be fixed and established in
favor of non-interference. Since they have come to power, however, they
have adopted the old instrumentalities, and have greatly multiplied
them since they have had a great number of reforms to carry out. They
seem to think that interference is good if only they interfere. In this
country the party which is "in" always interferes, and the party which
is "out" favors non-interference. The system of interference is a
complete failure to the ends it aims at, and sooner or later it will
fall of its own expense and