whatever wages were offered him.  What is he now?  A man of business, who negotiates for his skill.  Is not that a revolution?  Formerly he lived where he could.  Look, now, at the efforts made everywhere to house him properly.  For, understand, association on one side, which shows power, commands recognition and respect on the other.  None of these fine things would have been done for the working men had they not shown that they could combine.  Consider, again, the question of education.  Here, indeed, is a mighty revolution going on around us:  the Board Schools teaching things never before presented to the children of the people; technical schools teaching work of all kinds; and—­a most remarkable sign of the times—­thousands upon thousands of working lads, after a hard day’s work, going off to a Polytechnic for a hard evening’s work of another kind.  And of what kind?  It is exactly the same kind as is found in the colleges of the rich.  The same sciences, the same languages, the same arts, the same intellectual culture, are learned by these working lads in their evenings as are learned by their richer brothers in the mornings.  In many cases the teachers are men of the same standing at the University as those who teach at the public schools.  There are, I believe, a hundred thousand of these ambitious boys scattered over London, and the number increases daily.  If this is not revolution, I should like to know what is.  That the working classes should study in the highest schools; that they should enjoy an equal chance with the richest and noblest of acquiring knowledge of the highest kind; that they should be found capable actually of foregoing the pleasures of youth—­the rest, the society, the amusements of the evenings—­in order to acquire knowledge—­what is this if it is not a revolution and an upsetting?  As for what is coming out of all these things, I have formed, for myself, very strong views indeed, and I think that I could, if this were a fitting time, prophesy unto you.  But, for the present, let us be content with simply marking what has been done, and especially with the recognition that everything—­every single thing—­that has been gained has been either achieved by association, or has naturally grown and developed out of association.

Through association the way to the higher education is open to you; through association political power has been acquired for you; through association you have made yourselves free to combine for trade purposes; through association you have made yourselves strong, and even, in the eyes of some, terrible; it remains in these respects only that you should make, as one believes you will make, a fit and proper use of advantages and weapons which have never before been placed in the hands of any nation, not even Germany; certainly not the United States.