PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11807, 17 December 1912, Page 1

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

[ A CHAMPION ; OF LABOR. . ! "Henry, Demarest/Lloyd, 1847—1903, A- Biography." By Carp LJoyd.' &'.'■ P. -Putnam's Sons, the Knickerbocker Press, New York, and" • London. .'ln two volumes. Pp. 308— " '..390. Prico 21s. ' "Henry Demarest' 'Lloyd -'.was-the" pioneer and leader of the great movement that has disillusioned Americans and'proba'bly has saved them from an abominable industrial despotism." He began at ■ a ..time, when the- deadly'spirit of complacency, and self-satisfaction (which for some reason is. supposed .to bo patriotic) w-as most upon 'us; and after he had lighted up the situation as it really was, his countrymen were never again . able to ignore it. ; .He planted the seed; his fortune,' very unusual in such men, was to see the tilth in ii thousand places.' and in ways of which ho had never dreamed." . .. So writes Mr C. E.' Russell in his introduction " to the" volumes under notice—volumes which .a loving hand has now' placed before, the'public in. memory of one who nobly .fought forv what he held to be right, and left.the. world better than he found it. -

- Unlike many who have championed the cause of Labor. Mr Lloyd, was a man j of independent means, and,: therefore, however one may view his actions," such actions are above the suspicion of mere, mercenary motives. It was in' 1881-: that he fired his first volley, in the shape, of an article in. the Atlantic Monthly, exposing the Standard Oil Company: He. next appeared as the defender of the Chicago. Anarchists, an interesting account of whom is given. Then came the championing of the Spring ' Valley miner's in their iight-c. with thocapitalists; after which Mr Lloyd, through the press and from tho platform, became a recognised leader and authority in all. matters connected with Labor troubles. ■ Early in' 1899 ho came to New Zealand in-order to study the Dominion's Labor laws, and the record of his impressions was sent broadcast .oyer-America; ,-aiid. did not a little to jfa'vqr,a.bly v jn.dv,eS;tis;e"the?J3ritaiji--of ili'c-, r South..'Later on he' took up the cause ' of the American Anthracite coal miners, and died in- hardness,'-in 190&, while engaged in the Cliieago Traction struggle. Mr Henry Demarest Lloyd was no common Labor agitator. 'His means -placed him above sordid motives, andwhat lie did he'did from a sense of duty and. responsibility to those less fortunate than himself.; A fearless writer, he fought the trusts-' whenever opportunity occurred, and he championed the cause of the working man because he realised the grinding oppression to which the worker' was subjected. ' ' ' . i Besides Labor, properly so called, Mr Lloyd was concerned in social reforms generally; and we learn that "his sympathy for the women's side was very marlied and accorded with his reverence- for' them, and with' that loving imagination through which ho coufd perceive the troubles of. a class not his own. Early in life, he said, he had determined that no woman should ever be the worse for his having.lived. "Whenover possible in his writings he exalted woman's position, and' brought to her even higher honor than to man." Of the worker he wrote: "In ..all issues the' principle of :but one side can ; be right. The working man is often' wrong, but his is always tho right side." . To reformers he gave the following advice: "Those students in advance who have investigated" through" the-evils of our present social system, and feel themselves ready to go forward to construct a new-and better .system, must halt till thev have so instructed the multitude that they may have a ;followin" which will make their. forwarH syn-. thesis a- success. They .imist,' in other words, give up the luxury of dreaming for the duty of informing and inspiring the people, through whom alone can the new society be made possible." The "scab" is -denounced'in the following terms: "The strike-breaker or 'scab' is in our dav precisely the-same kind of 'good type of American hero as the New England' loyalist was in his dav. when he did his best to ruin the; struggle of his fellow-colonists for 'independence. . . It:is not tn . (S ",°," - uiiioii man that the union fears, but the 'scab,' the strike-breaker by. traded who lives bv getting odd jobs of industrial assassination at high wages and.loafs between whiles on the .theory that it is better to have -lodfed and, lost than never to haveioafe'd at all.". '_•"■':- .; New Zealand's Jegislar tion is-.thus favorably referred to:' I believe that New Zealand has ;a very important- message for ..the rest otVus. I consider her as having an. especial .right to be considered the political brain of- the modern-world. ' . Pv tregard tlie work done as a far more instructive episode than the French:, llevolutioh. and one which accomplished ,a.great -dear more original, and; yaluiible work; arid, consequently, the oiie winch is more than any other episode worth the studv (>f the' Americaii;-people. New Zealand has ; pointed dut -the ■] way ,-tor peaceful revolution.,if there isiany: such way." '-. .-. ••'•■'• r -.."_;.-''..' : -:,---' • We had marked, other passages* tor quotation, but have already exceeded our accustomed' limits.' j However, we have done enough to awaken interest m a subject which apjieals,very strongly to a large section of /every"; coriiuvunity.; 'and although' •"much 'in the''.'. volumes deals exclusively - with American-coiid ifions, the life-of such' a. inan. as MiHenry Demarest Lloyd i>. worthy of study by all who are convinced that, soeiallv and industrially, we are not as yet living -in the best of all possible worlds.

It remains but to add that t-lic- two volumes are printed in bold, elear type, handsomely bound and illustrated, ami supplied with ;i copious index, in addition to a. "list of the writings of Henry J)emare.sr- Lloyd. : '