We have received a new edition of The History of
Trade- Unionism, by Sidney and Beatrice Webb, to which the authors have prefixed an interesting preface, bearing date December, 1901. (We expected to see something re the laying of bricks.) They make brief references to the events of the last few years (1892-1900). The membership has increased from 1,502,358 to 1,905,116, the head of " Clothing" being the only one that shows a falling off (83,229 to 67,424). In the record of strikes the highest aggregate, measured by the number of work- ing.days lost, varied from 31,205,062 in 1893 (the year of the great coal strike) to 2,516,416 in 1899. The average of the nine years is not eleven million days. This looks a huge figure, but when we remember that there are about nine million workers, we see that it means little more than a day for each. More working time is lost, if we are to call it lost, by keeping Good Friday and Christmas Day as holidays. (In rural districts Good Friday is a half working day.)
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