, that
woman is not a 'clubbable' animal?

Putting this aside, however, for the moment as a more or less 'academic'
question, it is of interest to note the very considerable development
during the last few years of the principle of association among the
working-men and producers of France, under the influence of the Church
and of Conservative public men like M. Welche, one of the
extra-parliamentary Ministers of the Marshal-Duke of Magenta, who did
good service here at Lille as Prefect of the Department of the Nord, and
who has made the French law of 1881 affecting 'professional
syndicates,' so useful throughout the agricultural world of France.

It is one of the organic statutes of the Society of 'Foreseers of the
Future,' or 'Prevoyants de l'Avenir,' that all political and religious
discussions are forbidden at the meetings of the society.'

This society was established at Paris on December 12, 1880. On February
23, 1881, it was authorised to act as a 'Civil Society,' by the Minister
of the Interior and the Prefect of Police. Its object is to 'ensure to
all its members who shall have co-operated in maintaining it for twenty
years, the first necessaries of life.' I shall not attempt here to go in
detail into the statutes and organisation of the society. Suffice it to
say that the statutes are brief, clear, and sensible, and that the
organisation appears to be eminently practical. The members, to the
number of whom no limit is set, the only indispensable condition being
that they shall be in good health and actively employed in some trade or
calling, pay an entrance fee of two francs, and a monthly due of one
franc. This monthly due must be paid in advance, and a fine of 25
centimes is imposed for every month in arrears. Each member receives a
book containing the statutes, which establishes his title to its
benefits, and for which he pays 50 centimes. Donations may be received,
and under the authority of the officers entertainments may be given, the
profits of which go to the general fund. Any respectable person, no
matter what may be his calling, may become a member, if he has attained
the age of fifteen years, and women are not excluded. 'Having the same
duties,' say the statutes, 'they have the same rights,' but, despite
this, it is provided that women who are members shall not be fined if
they fail to attend the general meeting on the second Sunday in January
in each year, whereas men in the same case shall be mul