NATIONALISM.

TRYING TO MATERIALISE "LOOKING BACKWARD." (Toronto Globe.)
One cannot follow the press of the United States or converse with visitors from that country without feeling that there is profound and widespread discontent with existing social conditions there. From the Anarchists of Chicago, who advocate the repeal of all law, to the Reform Club of New York, whose members are leading in the agitation against the "robber tariff" and in favour of free trade, from the New England factory operative to the California fruit grower, the cry goes up for the amelioration of the condition of the people. The result is the outcropping of countless forms of agitation which leave the righteousness of no law, institution, or custom unquestioned, and which bring forward every conceivable proposal as the great reform whose consummation will make the lives of the lasses more tolerable. The United States has been, as it were, building a tower to reach to the economic heavens, and at the very time when it looked as if they were sure of perfect success, the confusion of tongues has come upon them, so that now when one man demands changes in the banking system his neighbour replies with a scheme for eight hours' labour; when one wants to restrict the power of monopolies another offers him prohibition of the liquor traffic. There is at present visiting in the city a lady who has taken great interest in some of the more advanced movements of the time, and who is especially interested in one which is the most striking in its character and most romantic—if such a word may be used in this connection—in its history. The lady referred to is Dr. Hannah A. Kimball, a Canadian by birth, but for some years a resident of the United States, and now having her home in Chicago, and the movement is that known as Nationalism, of which an explanation is given in Dr. Kimball's own words, as she kindly allowed the reporter to use remarks she made in conversation.
 Dr. Kimball explained that she had always taken great interest in economic reforms. When Henry George published "Progress and Poverty" about ten years ago she accepted as sound the arguments he advanced in favour of the right of the community to the "unearned increment" in land, and of taking that value for public purposes through the machinery of taxation. But what she claims to be a fuller development of the same idea came with the publication about two years ago of Edward Bellamy's remarkable economic treatise in the form of a romance, "Looking Backward."  No literary work for many years has had such a wide popular circulation as this. It numbers its readers in the United States by millions, and in Canada by tens of thousands. There is a great demand for it in England, and it has been translated into many foreign languages. The work of printing and distributing copies of "Looking Backward" has become almost an "industry" in itself. For the benefit of those who may not have read the work, it may be stated generally that it pictures a time, which, in the opinion of the author, will soon come, when the nation will be organised for industry on much the same basis as an army is now organised for purposes of destruction, every member of the army being looked to to contribute his best effort, the rewards of all workers being equal. "The desire to bring about the reforms which Mr Bellamy sets forth," explained Dr. Kimball, "has brought about a great movement known as the Nationalist movement. Clubs have been organised all over the United States, devoted to the work of propagating the ideas which Mr. Bellamy has set forth by every fair means of popular agitation. Those clubs have not yet been formed into one general organisation, but the central club in Boston forms a centre of communication in the meantime. Nationalist Club No. 1, of Chicago, has as its president Mr Jesse Cox, a well-known lawyer. The club which I was instrumental in forming is known as Nationalist Club No. 2. Its president is Mrs Corinne S. Brown, who has been a close student of economic questions, and who for years has been in touch with the socialistic movement in Chicago, which had reached great proportions before Nationalism came into the arena. The essential difference between the two, as I understand it, is that Socialism, while taking industries into the charge of the nation proposes to reward each worker according to what he produces, which would still leave competition between the workers;   while we hold that that would not be either just or advisable. One workman should in justice put forth as much effort as another, and of course the results of great talent will be greater than the results of less talent. Men's wants are not regulated by the talent they have, and for one man to get more than another whose power is less, but whose wants are equal is not just. Our motto is, ' From each according to his means, to each according to his needs. When I left Chicago a short time ago Club No. 1 had a membership of upwards of one hundred, and our club had over fifty. This is the result of one year's work." Dr. Kimball showed the statement of principles of Club No. 2 with the explanation, " You see we embodied a woman's suffrage plank." This is the statement of principles :—
1. Justice demands that economic independence be secured to every man, woman, and child on the sole ground that they are human beings.
2. To secure this economic independence national co-operation. must supersede individual competition.
3. The natural limits of production are the wants of the people, therefore use, not profit, should be the basis of industry.
4. As the natural demand women have to shelter, clothing and education equals the natural demand of men for the same, their political, industrial, and social equality must be recognised.
5. The nations must assume all industries when they develop into trusts or monopolies which limit production by restricting service.
 The reading of this brought out the fact that Mr Bellamy had written a letter to Dr. Kimball at the time it was proposed to form Club No 2. In this letter he deprecates the incorporation of the woman's suffrage clause, or anything of that kind, as tending to keep out of the Club some who favour Nationalism, but who would differ as to those other points. He mentions Frances E. Willard and Mary A. Livermore as women who would not be suspected of disloyalty to prohibition and Woman's Suffrage, yet who had given their names as members of Nationalist organisation while reserving their right to hold their own opinions upon these other great questions. He goes on to say that "as practical politicians" Nationalists should "simplify the issue as much as possible." He speaks with enthusiasm of the progress of the cause of the prospects of rapid advance.
 Being asked if the Nationalists had yet made themselves felt in politics Dr. Kimball replied that no organised effort had yet been made. "But," she said, "the tendency of the times is to prepare questions for action in the direction we propose. Every monopoly brings out clearly how easily and cheaply work is carried on where the organisation is large and the capital simple, leaving it plainly to be seen that the profits of monopoly are inordinately great, and Mr Cox, presided of club No. 1, has calculated for instance that 5dol a piece would pay the fare of passengers from Chicago to San Francisco, giving good living wages to all workers. The enormous charge on our railways go to pay dividends on watered stock. The argument is that the Government being corrupt would rob the people through the railways if it had control, but it would not rob them to such an extent as monopoly does. The tendency of the times is to bring about a social cataclysm, but I believe that nationalism has come in time to avert it. Unless some thing were done the immense number of the unemployed, the enforced ignorance and low grade of living, of vast colonies of foreigners collected in the great cities and other causes would bring about an upheaval as did similar causes in the case of the French revolution. In Chicago where the greatest danger would arise on the close of the World's Fair, the people at large are better educated on economic questions than in any other place I know of. Nationalism means justice to all, and only through justice can the country disentangle itself from present and coming difficulties.

 Launceston Examiner 27 September 1890,