In a mob men trample upon each other; in an army they brace each other to the charge of victory.
Trades-unions represent the one effective form of combination won by American labor.

Trades-unions need no timid apologists.

Their vindication is in the historic tale of the successful advances which they have won for workingmen.

Called into being to defend labor against legislation in the interests of capital, in the days when to ask for an advance in wages led to workingmen's being thrown into prison, they have in England led on to the brilliant series of reforms which mark our century, as told so well in the articles by Mr.Howell (_The Nineteenth Century_ for October, 1882) and by Mr.Harrison (_The Contemporary Review_ for October, 1883).

Doubtless they have committed plenty of follies, and are still capable of stupid tyrannies that only succeed in handicapping labor, in alienating capital, and in checking productivity--that is, in lessening the sum total of divisible wealth.