Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 9.djvu/893

 NOTES AND ABSTRACTS 859

The president, M. Cheysson, stated at the opening session the two parts into which the work of the congress would be divided: (i) an inventory of efforts put forth up to the present, in order to determine the precise state of the question ; (2) the plan of campaign to be followed in remedying the evil. Among the agencies already at work, the following may be mentioned : the National League Against Alcoholism, the French Anti Alcoholic Union, the Blue Cross, the Asso- ciation of Temperance Youth, the League of Railway Employees, the League of Avranches, the White Cross, and the White Cross of Picardy the last two Catholic societies which already have committees in forty-one departments. M. Casimir-Perier, the honorary president of the congress, then delivered an address, in which, among other things, he said : " We consider alcohol as a very precious agent of force and of light. But we demand that it be placed in lamps and motors, and not in stomachs."

The remaining sessions were devoted largely to discussions of practical methods of work. Much was made of the educative value of placards displayed in public places containing aphorisms such as : " Yes, alcohol is a food, a food of the first rank. Is is not the food which feeds the hospitals, the insane asylums, the prisons, etc. ? " Many commendable experiments in the establishment of temperance restaurants and cafes have been made, not only by temperance socie- ties, but in some cases by the managers of large industrial plants in connection with their works. Government, it was felt, could do much by a careful limitation of the number of licenses issued, and by a strict divorcing of liquor-selling from every other branch of retail business ; by financial aid given to temperance societies, and by the preservation of the " neutral zone " around public institu- tions. Captain Periahd spoke of his attempts at antialcoholic education in the Ninetieth regiment of infantry. Local option also received the approval of the congress. M. Eugene Rostand, of the Institute, took as his subject " The Defense of Popular Savings against its Worst Enemy Alcoholism." The large possi- bilities of effective work by those who direct commerce and industry were emphasized, and the advantages of a change in the present system of paying all the employees of a factory on Saturday night were pointed out. Much drunken- ness and much want on the part of families could be prevented by paying the men in squads at different times during the week.

One of the last addresses of the congress was an eloquent appeal by Mgr. Latty, bishop of Chalons. He dispelled all doubt as to the meaning of the term " abstinence," defining it as the total suppression of all consumption of alcohol, under whatsoever form it presented itself, with an exception, of course, in cases of sickness and medical prescription. This definition received the approval and sanction of the congress.

After unanimously voting the establishment of a national federation, in which all the different societies should have a proportional representation, and the appointment of a permanent bureau, the congress adjourned. MARIE DUCLOS, "Le premier congres national antialcoolique," in La re forme sociale, January, 1904.

E. B. W.

Trade Agreements. Trade agreements are based on the principle of "col- lective bargaining," which is a comparatively new name for an old and familiar practice. As long as business corporations have existed and stockholders have delegated powers to boards of directors, who in turn have selected business managers, so long the principle has been in operation on the part of employers. Yet even today, when trade agreements are becoming so common, here and there some business manager, oppointed to do the collective bargaining of a corporation, will refuse to recognize the similarly appointed representative bargainers of the employees, and will insist that he cannot deal with a committee, but must deal with the individual members of the body of employees. The absurdity is evident when conditions are reversed and a committee of employees is imagined which, having gained some advantage, refuses to adjust conditions of work with any but the individual stockholders.

In the formation of agreements or contracts between associations of employers