LABOUCHÈRE                                       IOl6                                           LABRADOR

votes were polled, and the party ceased to exist. In later years labor interests have occupied themselves more particularly with interior organization in the way of compact and efficient unions that exist without regard to the politics of their members. These trade-unions are, as to their origin, very old. In the United States they belong to the 19th century. The principle on which these trade-unions are formed is that men who think alike and whose general interests are the same should act together. A union is an organization that takes an active interest in the welfare of its own members and a secondary interest in the welfare of all similar unions. These unions affiliate and become powerful and influential organizations. An instance of this is the Knights of Labor and (of more recent date) the American Federation of Labor. Other bodies embracing a membership composed of men following special lines of occupation include the American Railway Union. The independent Order of Knights of Labor is a still later organiza-. tion of national scope. Very many orders, societies and associations of laboring men exist, not necessarily connected with any large or amalgamated associations. Labor organization is now almost universal, and is generally regarded as indispensable to the welfare of the laboring classes.

The American Federation of Labor comprises 119 international and national unions, representing approximately 27,000 local unions, 37 state branches, 538 city central unions and 854 local unions. The total membership is about 2,000,000. The official organ is the American Federationist; besides this representative journal, the affiliated unions issue about 250 weekly or monthly papers devoted to the cause of labor.

In England labor parties and their organizations constitute a new power in politics, 30 members representing labor in Parliament in addition to those known as Liberal andi labor members. In 1907 the trade-union congress represented 1,693,000 trade unionists, a considerable number of whom are socialists. The labor party in the House of Commons, it is estimated, represents nearly 1,000,000 workers, of whom 975,182 are trade unionists and 2,271 are co-operators. International trade unionism has of recent years grown apace. In 1906 it was estimated that there were 4,962,314 (including 81,784 women) workers organized in trade-unions in the chief countries of Europe. The numbers are as follows: Great Britain 1,889,590; Germany 1,466,625; France 715,-576; Italy 260,102; Austria 205,651; Sweden 104,999; Spain 56,900; Denmark 89,788; Hungary 53,169; Switzerland 41,862; Netherlands 37,221; Norway 16,227; Servia 2,932 ; and Bulgaria 1,672. The demands of trade unionism in this country embrace (1) more efficient enforcement of the eight-hour principle ; (2) further restriction of immigra-

tion; (3) no relaxation of the Chinese exclusion laws ; (4) elaboration of the shipping laws and protection for seamen; (5) no antipilot-age laws; (6) reorganization of the Congressional committees on labor ; (7) safeguarding against the competition of convict labor; and (8) a more radical antiinj unction bill.

Labouchère ( là'boo'shâr' ), Henry, an English journalist and parliamentarian, was born at London in 1831. Educated at Eton, he afterwards entered the diplomatic service and served as an attaché at a number of the most important embassies. He was elected to the English parliament in 1865, but was unseated in the following year. He was elected again in 1867, and went abroad in 1868. As correspondent for the London Daily News, he sent news-matter from Paris during the siege by means of carrier pigeons. Returning to England, he was in 1880 again elected to parliament for Northampton, and represented it until 1906. He edits and publishes a journal called Truth, in which he frequently gives vent to his radical ideas by assailing royalty and the aristocracy. In 1900 he was denounced in the Commons for holding correspondence with the official burghers of the South African Republic before the Boer War, but did not lose his seat. It is understood he spends much time at present in Italy.

Laboulaye (là'boo'lâ'), Edouard René de, a French jurist, was born at Paris, Jan. 18, 1811. He adopted the profession of an advocate or lawyer, and in 1849 was appointed professor of comparative jurisprudence in the College of France. Although he attained distinction as an essayist and story-writer, his most important works have been on French law. His Histoire Politique des Etats-Unis is well known in the United States. Laboulaye was elected to the national assembly in 1871, and was made a life-senator in 1876. He died at Paris, May

25, 1883.

Labrador ( läb-ra-dôr' ), the eastern peninsula of Canada that extends northwestward from Belle Isle Strait (which separates it from Newfoundland) to Hudson Strait, and on its northeastern front facing the Greenland Sea. The region is bleak and rugged and the climate severe. On the coast are a few Moravian missionary settlements, consisting partly of Eskimos, who are engaged in the seal, cod and herring fisheries and in the fur-trade. A large portion of Labrador, especially on the seafront, is under the government of Newfoundland ; the interior forms part of Quebec and the Canadian territory of Ungava. Area 120,000 square miles; population under 4,000. There is hardly any vegetation on the Atlantic coast, and the inner parts of Labrador have been but little explored. There are fine forests of firs and birches; while large rivers and lakes afford continuous waterways in summer for great distances. The inhabitants are Crée