Before the era of great cities the township in the West used to exorcise some of the functions at present discharged in India by the system of caste.  But the township in the old sense of the word, with its settled population and the common eye upon all its members, has to a large extent disappeared.  The influence of the family is at the same time being constantly weakened by the migratory habits modern industrialism entails on the population; in a word, the old constraining force, which used to hold society together, are almost gone, and nothing effective has sprung up to replace them.

In these circumstances what is to be done?  It is useless attempting to restore the past.  That never has been accomplished successfully; all attempts in that direction look as if they were opposed to the nature of things.  It is among the living and vigorous forces of the present that we must look for help.  I shall content myself by mentioning one of these forces, namely Trade Societies.  It seems a pity that these societies should confine their operations merely to the limited object of forcing up wages.  That object is, of course, a perfectly laudable and legitimate one, but it is surely not the supreme and only end for which a Trade Society should exist.  A Trade Society would do well to teach its members how to spend as well as how to earn.  What, indeed, is the use of higher wages to a certain section of the members of Trades-Unions?  The increased pay, instead of being a blessing, becomes a curse; it leads to drunkenness, to wife-beating, to disorder in the public streets, to assaults on the police, to crimes of violence and blood.  It is a melancholy fact that the moment wages begin to rise, the statistics of crime almost immediately follow suit, and at no period are there more offences of all kinds against the person than when material prosperity is at its height.

It lies well within the functions of such Trades-Unions as possess an enlightened regard for the welfare of their members, to introduce a code of regulations which would tend to minimise some of the evils which have just been mentioned.  It would immeasurably raise the status of the Union, if certain disciplinary measures could be adopted against members convicted of offences against the law.  In the professions of law and medicine it is the custom at the present time to expel members who are proved guilty of serious offences of this description, and unquestionably the dread of expulsion exercises a most salutary influence on the conduct of all persons belonging to these professions.  It would be possible for Trade organisations to accomplish much without resorting to this rigorous treatment; and the real object for which such societies exist—­the well-being of the members—­would be attained much more effectively than is the case at present.  Wages are but the means to an end; the end is individual, domestic and social welfare, and it is only a half measure to supply the means unless something is also done to secure the end.