The great Labour Demonstration in favour of the Eight. HLtr
Day came off on Sunday in Hyde Park, and was unexpectedly large. There was a rivalry between the Legalists, who wish the eight-hour day to be fixed by law, and the Trade-Unionists, who think the workmen could win shorter hours for themselves. The result was a grand turn-out of workmen, such as would have frightened a Continental Government into hysterics. The reporters, with unusual modesty, refrain from calculating the numbers, but the pro- cessions included 120,000 men, and two experienced observers, accustomed to watch great crowds, assure us that at one moment there must have been 400,000 men in the park. If we reduce that estimate to 250,000, and multiply as usual by five, we have a fourth of the population of London " demon- strating " in favour of shorter hours. Mr. J. Burns, who spoke for the Legalists, pressed for the eight-hour law not only because it would give leisure, but because it would furnish work for the unemployed ; and this was repeated also by Mr. T. Sntherst, President of the Tram and Omnibus men's League. They did not explain, however, whether the em- ployers or the men were to pay the extra wages required for extra hands. Mr. T. Mann, who represented the Trade- Unionists—that is, it is believed, the larger number on the ground—made a remarkable speech, utterly repudiating physical force, in which he said he had formerly confided. The order maintained during the processions and on the ground was admirable, and the only accidents were a few cases of fainting from the pressure of the crowd. The police only interfered to facilitate the proceedings, which, so far as temper went, were most creditable to the London workmen, whose leaders, indeed, could "give points" to many officers in handling masses of men in motion.
