if the reader can forget the pain it causes to many a relative and friend of the dead author, and can keep from mind the uneasy feeling that he is doing something very like listening at a key-hole. The above is the worst that can be said of the book. Most of it is pleasant chat, only making us feel on more friendly terms with the distinguished people of which it treats, and, in general, with the distinguished people that write the various parts of a well-executed volume. -Two small books on Luther come to us as last words of the Luther memorial season: a condensed translation of Julius Koestlin's biography1 of the reformer, and a study of the significance of his work and its bearing on present theology, by Edwin D. Mead. The biography is very much condensed, a mere résumé of the facts known of Luther's life; it presupposes too much knowledge of its subject to make it exactly popular reading, for which it would otherwise be well adapted by its simple and readable outline narrative. It is best suited to correct and arrange the ideas of those who have read a good deal of Luther in an episodic way and with a view chiefly to the picturesque and personal part of the Reform tion; for it is decidedly cold and clear in tone-while not in the least inappreciative-and gives full weight to the surrounding influences, political and the like, that complicated Luther's action. The Study of Ref ormation is, on the other hand, very ardent. The author is warmly Unitarian, and admires Luther as the Protestant churches. The study closes with a contrast of the spirit of Luther and Erasmus, as representatives of the radical and the conservative methods of reform, the author's sympathy being with the radical, as the sincerer and the more democratic. Luther believed in no compromise with what seemed to him false, and in no withholding truth from the unlearned or evil-disposed for fear of doing harm; Erasmus, the contrary. The author compares Luther in this respect to the extreme radicals in our present theology, and Erasmus to the "New Orthodox" party represented by Mr. Munger, and his school of Congregationalists, or the Broad church English par ty, and accuses these schools-courteously but plainly-of evading unequivocal statement of its belief on such points as inspiration, imputed righteousness, miracles, etc., and of aiming at imperceptible sup planting of old doctrine, instead of open breach with accepted creeds-all of which he denounces as contrary to the lessons of Luther's Reformation.A translation of The Loyal Ronins, illustrated by the cuts of a favorite Japanese edition, makes a charming and very interesting addition to our literary possessions. It is hardly fair to ignore in the translator's preface the existence of a previous English version of this Japanese classic, while enumerating those extant in French, German, etc. We believe, however, that this is the first version that can be fairly called a translation, Mr. Mitford's being merely 3 summary of the story in his own words. How lit eral and how full the present translation may be, we do not know; but the name of Shiuchiro Saito as coworker with Mr. Greey makes it probable that we come herein very close to the original. The transators, moreover, have both received marks of high ap proval from the Mikado. The translation was made and first published four years ago, the present book being a second edition. The Japanese storyclassic, though not ancient, dating only to the las: century-is already somewhat known to English readers; its author is Tamenaga Shunsui, one most popular novelists of Japan. His seven stores are said to be very true to the life and customs of the people, especially of the Samurai or knightly class The Loyal Ronins is the first of these seven; it is it main substance historic; how far imaginative in de tail we do not know, but the central incidents of the curious tale of desperate loyalty and heroism seem to be undoubtedly facts. The illustrations preserve a very genuine Japanese look, in spite of having been originally each in two parts, which so destroyed the doctrinal tendencies that have prevailed in most of effect "to a western eye," that they had to be joir að the great embodiment of the spirit of Protestantism, which he finds to-day best represented by Theodore Parker; had Luther lived to-day, he thinks, he would not have been a Lutheran, but a Parker Unitarian. Yet the treatise is not unduly controversial, nor is the study of Luther merely a cover for modern protest; it is a genuine study and a good one-over-saturated with Carlyle and Emerson, even to very distinct imitation in language, but still intelligently and honestly saturated, which is a very different matter from aping one's teachers. Stress is laid upon Luther's flexible views of the Scripture canon and inspiration; upon individualism as the great key-note of the whole movement; upon the intellectual character of the Lutheran Reformation, in which respect it resembled the Unitarian movement, and differed from those of Wiclif and of Wesley and from apostolic Christianity itself—Christianity teaching that "if any man will do God's will, he shall know of the doctrine"; while Luther held that if doctrine were made pure, pure life would follow. To this great esteem for doctrine is attributed much of the over 1 Martin Luther the Reformer. By Julius Koestlin. Translated from the German by Elizabeth Weir. London, Paris, and New York: Cassell & Co. 1883. For sale by A. L. Bancroft & Co. 2 Martin Luther: A Study of Reformation. By Edwin D. Mead. Boston: George H. Ellis. 1884. and retouched over the line of joining. 3 The Loyal Ronins. An historical romance, tran lated from the Japanese of Tamenaga Shunsui Edward Greey and Shiuchiro Saito. Illustrated Kei-Sai Yei-Sen. New York: G. P. Putnam's S225 1884. For sale by Billings, Harbourne & Co. -a the THE OVERLAND MONTHLY. DEVOTED TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNTRY. VOL. III. (SECOND SERIES.)-MAY, 1884.-No. 5. A CONSIDERATION OF THE LABOR PROBLEM. DURING a residence of now more than structed. Rivers have been leveed and hirty-two years in California, I have been n attentive observer of the constantly changng conditions of the state, from a vast exanse of unpeopled country to its present opulous and prosperous condition, and of le causes by which these great changes ave been effected. Thirty odd years ago, : the time of the advent of the Argonauts, er fertile valleys and picturesque hillsides ere roamed over by countless bands of lf-wild cattle and horses, by deer and elk, the stealthy coyote, and by bears and inthers; while here and there throughout T coast valleys were reared the mud adobes the California rancheros, in which they ed in simple, barbarous independence, th here and there an old adobe, red-tiled anish village, peopled in the main by halfilized Indians, and watched over by the dres. San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramenand other populous towns then had no ng. marshes drained. Productive farms, orchards, and vineyards now occupy the place. of the former cattle ranges. Pleasant homes without number, the abodes of wealth and refinement, the church and the school-house, are dotted broadcast all over the land. Now all this mighty and pleasing change has been accomplished by labor, intelligently and judiciously directed by an enlightened and enterprising population to the development of the natural sources of the wealth of the state. But great and marked as the change has been in this direction, compared with what yet remains to be done and may be done we really have only made a beginning. The discovery of gold in California caused an influx of the most heterogeneous and incongruous mass of humanity ever collected within the confines of a single state or territory Americans from every state of the Union, immigrants from Europe, English, Irish, and Scotch, Germans, Swedes, Danes, and Norwegians, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italians, Canadians and Mexicans, Chileans and Peruvians, Kanakas from the Pacific islands, and last, but not least, Chinese from the Flowery Kingdom, all with one object in view the acquirement of wealth by extracting the gold from the mountains and continued operation of this law the last Chigulches of the Sierra Nevadas. But this incongruous population, coming as it did from all quarters of the globe and speaking a variety of languages, had, except the Chinese, many habits and instincts in common. They professed in the main one religion, and had other elements of congeniality which in time would mold them into one homogeneous people. Not so with the Chinese. They seem to be of a separate and distinct primal race of mankind, speaking a language that has nothing in common with any other language spoken in America, wedded to habits, to customs, to social institutions, and to a religion peculiarly their own, so thoroughly ingrafted into their mental organization by a long succession of ages as to have become now a part of their very natures. They do not seek to assimilate with other nationalities, or to adopt habits, manners, or customs foreign to their own. Although coming to California in the pursuit of wealth, they come simply as sojourners for the time being. They expect to return to their native land, or, if dying here, that their bodies will be returned to repose in the land of their birth. To that end, they refrain from purchasing lands or building permanent homes. They do not bring with them fam ilies, but come alone, to remain here a few years as traders or laborers-the great mass of them as laborers-to acquire a little money, and then return home to spend the remainder of their days in their own land and among their own people. In their habits they are economical, industrious, temperate, peaceful, and faithful to their employers. They are not rapid workers, but they are constant and diligent and careful. They are quick to understand what is required of them, and then do it well. By their aid as laborers, the railroads of California have been constructed, her rivers leveed, her irrigating canals dug, her sometimes submerged islands dyked, her orchards and vineyards planted and cared for, her fruits and grains gathered and fitted for market; and though now restricted by law from coming as laborers to the United States, and though by the naman will in time have departed from among us, they will have left with us honorable and lasting monuments of their patient and untiring industry to remind us of what they have accomplished for us. Knowledge is gained by experience, and one of its lessons, too, is bearing in mind past mistakes that we may avoid similar mistakes in the future. Now, history records many instances when the laborers of a country have been expelled to the lasting damage of the state. About three hundred and fifty years since the Flemings immigrated in great numbers into England. Their chief settlements were in London and Bristol, then the princi pal towns of England. After a time it was conceived that by competing with the proud Briton in labor, in the arts and manufactories, they would soon starve him out, and degrade him to the condition of the more economic and more industrious wooden-shoed Fleming. So great became the popular outcry that finally Parliament passed an Act expelling the Flemings from the Kingdom; and they were expelled. But their expulsion did not mend matters: the English weavers and fullers could not make the fine Flemish cloth, and the English potteries could not manufacture the fine Flemish delf, and the English laborer was no more inclined to labor than when the Fleming was in the land, but continued to drink his strong beer, poach, and steal sheep. And matters went on from bad to worse, till Parliament, in sheer desperation, repealed the Expulsion Act, and again invited the Flemings to settle in the country, and passed laws protecting them their industries. Religious bigotry and intol erance expelled the Huguenots from France, and they carried with them a knowledge of the fine arts to every country whither they fled, which previously had been the exclosive property of France. England, Switzerland, and the Netherlands availed them selves of the knowledge thus opportuney thrust upon them, and soon became compet itors in the markets of the world with France for the sale of those commodities of which till then she had had the exclusive monopoj. France has not, to this day, recovered from the effect of the expulsion of the Huguenots. Race prejudice, coupled with religious intolerance, expelled the Moors and the Jews from Spain; and the proud, bigoted, and lazy Spaniard was left to roam at will over the well cultivated fields and fertile valleys of that beautiful land-the land of the vine, the fig, the olive, the pomegranate, the orange and the lemon; the land of silk, fine cutlery, mosaics and arabesques—and although now nearly four hundred years have elapsed since the perpetration of those acts of bigotry and intolerance, the Spanish peninsula has not yet recovered its former condition of wealth and refinement. In all these instances by which the wealth of the state received staggering blows, every principle of sound political economy was violated. And are not these same principles of political economy violated in the enactment and enforcement of the Chinese Restriction Act? True, we are a young nation and rapidly increasing in population, and as such, in time their presence among us will not be needed as laborers; but has that time now arrived, or can we expect its arrival in the near future? If not, then a cardinal principle of political economy has been vioated by the enactment of the Restriction Act. In climate and soil, and for health, happiless, comfort and productiveness, California tands preeminent: so well fitted is the state or stock husbandry and the production of ie cereals that those industries can always e made profitable. In the production of he various fruits and of wine, California has o rival on the continent-if, indeed, she yer can have. In the last quarter of a cenry she has become a great commercial nter. In her cities and towns many manacturing industries are successfully prosuted and much trade is maintained. The uation of California is rather an isolated e. She is far removed from the other and ler commercial centers of the world, and s, till the last decade, was rather promoe than otherwise of her prosperity, deiding, as it did previously to that time, on mining, and other industries appertaining thereto. But in the last decade other industries have sprung up, and have assumed an importance completely overshadowing the mining industry: that is yearly becoming of less and less importance, while her staples of wheat and wool are becoming more and more so; and last, but not least, are her fruit and wine industries. With proper encouragement, it is not hazarding much to predict that in another decade these industries will lead all others in the state. of The isolated position once promotive of our prosperity is now rather to our detriment. California, once an importing state, producing nothing for export except the precious metals, is now an immense exporter of wool, of the cereals, and of fruits and wines. This export trade, by reason of her great distance from other cities, is necessarily attended with heavy expenses in the way freights, insurance, and interest of money invested in such exports. Her wools, her fruits and wines come into competition with those of foreign nations, the production of cheap labor in the markets of the world; and must have the protection of the general government, to enable them to successfully compete with foreign productions of similar commodities, not only in foreign but in our own domestic markets-sustained as such foreign productions are by immense capital. But customs duties alone on foreign commodities entering the United States will not secure to the American producer success. He must have at command a sufficient supply of labor force, at the proper time and place, to prepare and fit the products of his enterprise for market. This is especially true of the orchardist and vineyardist. Otherwise, nothing but failure, disappointment, blighted hopes and ruin await him. This labor must be procurable, too, at such rates of compensation as will leave the employer a reasonable profit on his investment, or he must suspend business. While a very limited amount of labor force is requisite to grow stock, either for the shambles or for the production of wool, or to produce and fit for market the cereals, aided, as such force now is, by machinery, a vast labor force is required to gather and fit for the market the products of our orchards and vineyards. How to obtain this labor force is now a problem of the greatest moment to the employers of labor in California, and one that has now their most serious consideration. This labor force heretofore has been supplied, in the main, by the Chinese in our midst, and this as yet is the main source of supply. But by the operation of the Restriction Act, that source is rapidly drying up. In two or three years inore, if that act continues to be in force, there will be few or no Chinamen in the country. Death, and a steady return to their native land, will have done the work of extermination. Judge Hoffman, in a recent habeas corpus opinion, remarked, "that, from August 4th, 1882, to January 15th, 1884, the excess of departures of Chinese over arrivals at the port of San Francisco was 13,678, a rate of depletion which, if continued, would very soon seriously embarrass established industries," and he might have added, not only embarrass, but cause many of them to suspend. I have a letter before me now from Mr. E. H. Dyer, president of the beet sugar factory at Alvarado, in which he says: "I fear that we shall have to discontinue the beet sugar industry, as the farmers are unable to obtain labor to cultivate beets—even at an advance price of twenty-five per cent. on past years. In Europe, white men, women, and children are employed to do that kind of work. Here, even the Portuguese refuse to weed and thin beets, but all employ Chinamen. But Chinese wages have advanced from eighty cents to one dollar and twenty-five cents per day, and they cannot be had in sufficient numbers at any price." Thus we already see the existence of important industries jeopardized by the operation of the Restriction Act. There are labors incident to important industries in California that white men, even Portuguese, will not do. Mr. Dyer informs me that his Company has invested in this factory two hundred thousand dollars-which, if they are compelled to suspend, will be to all intents lost. That, however, is but a trife, as compared to the immense loss the orchardist and vine-grower and vintner must submit to, if they cannot obtain labor to handle the products of their industries the proper time. The relation which the orchardist and vineyardist of California hold to their or chards and vineyards is very different from that of those classes in Europe, or even in the United States east of the Rockies. In Europe, where the population is from two hundred to three hundred to the square mile, their orchards rarely exceed five or ten acres, and are in the hands of the peasants, who with their families handle their products, and who, if any extra help is needed at gathering time, can obtain all that is required at low wages; and so to a great extent in the Atlantic States, where the population to the square mile is also very dense, and the orchards and vineyards are as a general thing not large, and where the varieties of fruits cultivated, especially for market, are not numerous. In those old, densely popu lated countries, the planting of orchards and vineyards has never been in advance of the resident population, but is the outgrowth of it, and their extent has never equaled the labor force always at command to properly handle their products. Not so in California. Here, the orchards and vineyards are mainly the result of an alien population. By their labor, the orchards and vineyards of California have been planted and cared for, in the main; and in the main by their labor have the products of the same been gath ered and fitted for the market. As compared with those of older and more populous coun tries, the orchards and vineyards of Califor nia are very large; and within the last three years their area has vastly extended, and the work of extension still goes on. But the problem of gathering and marketing the productions of these extensive and extending orchards and vineyards is, as yet, unsolved. Some think that a supply of Chinese that will, together with other labor |