limitation in 1825, the platform had already been actually untrammeled for four years. Since then this tremendous engine of popular power has been subject only to the limited restrictions imposed by the ordinary law.

Very quickly after acquiring its freedom the platform gained two of the most amazing victories in the entire history of popular government, Catholic Emancipation in 1829 and Parliamentary Reform in 1832. Hitherto the platform had lacked that compact organization which is necessary to carry any great measure. This was taught to the people of Ireland by O'Connel and Sheil in the years from 1823 to 1829; the English reformers learned the lesson from across St. George's Channel. These two achievements of the platform demonstrated how public opinion. through the use of this organ could wring by sheer force from a hostile government laws of the first importance. "The first great result of the agitation for the Reform Act was to instal the platform formally among the great political institutions of the country to raise it at once into one of the governing authorities of the kingdom.' " 37 What could not be repressed must be utilized, and for the first time we begin to see cabinet ministers making frequent use of the platform. Men who had hitherto disdained to resort to public speaking now began to take every occasion to put their views before the people. The didactic function of the platform developed by leaps and bounds.

The history of the platform during the second third of the century is connected with the Chartist movement in which it performed a pre-eminently instructive service, the repeal of the Corn Laws, and the second parliamentary reform. During the last generation it has been employed without cessation upon every political question of any importance whatever and has come to be continually used by statesmen of the first rank. It is the increasing number of speeches by the prime minister and the inner circle of the cabinet which, in this connection, distinguishes the last decade. Co-operating with the press, the platform has at length secured for public opinion the ultimate control of governmental action in England.

37

Jephson, op. cit., Vol. II, p. 128.

1

We have traced the development of the platform in England because in no other way could we probably give so adequate an idea of the real character of this wonderfully potent organ. It was first used in the United States at the same time as it came into existence in England-during that fecund period between the two wars (1763-1775); but here the questions were the grievances against the mother-country which finally led to the Revolution. The adoption of the Constitution afforded opportunity for the employment of the platform on both sides, Federalist and Anti-federalist. Otherwise it received little development until after the democratic overturn of 1800.

One very frequently encounters the statement that the press is the organ of public opinion. So Tarde, in his work, L'Opinion et la Foule, totally disregards the platform as an organ of public opinion, as does Godkin also, who says, "There are only two ways in which public opinion upon political questions finds expression or is thought to find it. One is the vote at elections, the other is journalism." 38 To anyone at all familiar with the history of the platform such a view seems extremely shortsighted. We have already quoted Mr. Stead's opinion of the power of the editor; yet in the same article he says, "Public meetings, it will be said, are superior even to newspapers as exponents of public feeling. It is true, because a public meeting is the direct utterance of the voice of demos without any intermediary. There is nothing in England so powerful as a series of public meetings." 39 The platform is more tangible than the press and possesses the greater authority, which the personal presence of numbers gives to expressed opinion. It is, however, dependent for its greatest influence upon its rival. Were not the speeches of ministers and other public men printed in all the newspapers, they would influence only the few hundreds who had assembled to hear them. But when published they have a weight greater than leading articles. Through the assistance of the press the platform has multiplied its influence many fold.

These are the most important organs of public opinion.

38 Unforseen Tendencies of Democracy, p. 187.

Contemporary Review, Vol. XLIX, p. 658.

There are some others, however. The most interesting one which has recently come to light is the general strike as it has been organized in Russia. This cannot be assimilated to the platform; it has a completely different character and operates through different means. It is so new a development and its permanency is so much a matter of doubt that the merest mention of it must here suffice.

Acting through these primary organs upon the secondary or governmental organs, public opinion is coming to wield the dominant power in the state. Keen political observers declare that no tendency is so universal or significant in all countries today as that which marks the decline of legislative bodies. These have proved unamenable to public opinion and other more serviceable organs are being created-especially the popular initiative and referendum. In England the House of Commons is losing its ancient position of prestige, the ministry supporting itself more and more directly upon the people whose commands are communicated at first hand through the press and platform instead of through the representative body. It has come to be an accepted principle of the constitution that a ministry defeated at the polls must resign without waiting for a vote of censure in Parliament; and the resignation of the last government carried the principle one step farther, since the mandate of the people through press and platform was accepted without even an appeal to a general election, while the ministerial majority in the House of Commons was still secure. Political prophecy is hazardous, but if the trend of governmental evolution which the last decade has disclosed in both the Anglo-Saxon countries continues, may we not confidently expect the actual realization of government by public opinion without the interposition of representative bodies other than very extended electorates?

WITH OREGON HOP PICKERS

ANNIE MARION MACLEAN

Adelphi College, Brooklyn, N. Y.

While conducting an investigation into conditions of industry among young women for the National Board of the Young Women's Christian Associations I went out to the Pacific Coast to direct personally the work in that section. It had seemed well to us in making arrangements for the investigation to include hop picking in Oregon, as it furnishes a considerable field of employment to women during the month of September. Moreover, it was an hitherto unstudied industry, and yet of sufficient importance to warrant the most careful study.

Of the hop-raising states Oregon is the most important, producing in 1907 about 25,000,000 pounds as against 18,000,000 for California, 10,000,000 for New York and 8,000,000 for Washington. Before 1850 most of the hops in the country were raised in New England. During the next forty years New York produced more than all the other states combined. Now the palm goes to the Pacific Coast country, which has today 40,000 acres under hops. A generation ago it had less than 2,000. Scarsity of labor, prohibitionist agitation and worn-out soil have combined to render hop growing in New York unprofitable. The unfertilized soil of Oregon will yield twice as many pounds to the acre as the New York earth can produce aided by much fertilization.

I found that very little could be learned on the outside concerning the conditions of the work, so I decided to hire out as a picker and go with the crowd to learn something of the life at first hand. I arrived in Portland a few days before the opening of the season, which is about the first of September, and commenced to look around for work. I eagerly scanned the advertising columns of the daily papers to see if more pickers were need

1 The summer of 1907.

ed. My quest was soon rewarded, for I found numerous advertisements calling for help in the fields, as, for example,

WANTED.—1,000 hop pickers to pick 624 acres of hops; big crop; largest and best-equipped hop yard in Oregon; all on trellis wire; perfect accomodations; grocery store, bakery, butcher shop, barber shop, dancing pavilion 50x150 feet, telephone, physician, beautiful camping ground; 3-acre bathing pool, restaurant, provisions sold at Portland prices. We pay $1.10 per 100 pounds; reduced excursion rates on our special train. For particulars apply

HOP PICKERS WANTED. We pay 50 cents per box, camp shacks free; will be at the ...... Hotel August 25, till September 3, to sell round trip tickets to ......, Ore. ....... grower.

WANTED.-Hop pickers for my yard at ......, Ore.; pay 50 cents per box; will be at ...... Hotel August 25 till September 1.

HOP PICKERS.-Good camp ground, store, plenty wood, pay 50 cents per box; 55 acres. Inquire

A rather unusual kind was the following which appeared in several country newspapers:

WANTED.-1,000 pickers for . . . . Hop Field. . . . . We pay $1.10 per 100 pounds. . . Perfect accommodations, good food at city prices, free whiskey, dance five nights in the week, evangelists on Sunday and a hell of a time.

This proved most alluring and showed the cosmopolitanism of the yard. All tastes were considered. This, of course, captured me, as it did many another! I presented myself at the Portland office of what is claimed to be the largest hop field in the world and asked for employment. I was engaged on the spot and agreed to start the next morning at eight on a special train known as the "Hop Special." With a parting warning to be on time, the man in charge handed me my round trip ticket, for which I paid $2.60, which was a little more than one fare. I was on hand at the Union Station the following morning by half-past seven and found a motley assortment of peoplemy companions to be-all waiting for the "Special." There were men and women and children, scores and scores of them belonging in family groups, and, in addition, several hundred young men and women off for a lark with a chance to make