sufficiency of the steerage, from the comparative tranquillity in the centre of the ship, reserved for those who pay high fares, to the pitching and scending at the bow and stern. At the commencement of our voyage we encountered bad weather. It was touching to see the emigrants lying down on deck in melancholy groups, each sufferer's head pillowed on a shoulder that was dear to it, their mutual love their only consolation. As the weather improved, all recovered their health and spirits. The numerous and motley assemblage included musicians who could draw melody from the rudest instruments, studious readers, some much given to public devotions, and a few who were scoffers at every form of religion. As a body, the emigrants on board the 'Germanic' gave the impression of a vigorous and helpful people, who would face all difficulties with courage, and bring strength to a country where labour was in demand. A farmer in the Far West, if called upon to make a selection on board the Germanic,' would probably prefer the hardy races of Northern Europe to those reared in softer regions. With a few exceptions, the emigrants were going out to join some friend already established, or to supply labour where it was urgently needed in some young settlement in the North-West which was being formed by people of their own race. The emigration of Scandinavians to the North-West has of late been very active. The Germans are rapidly crowding into the middle States.

From a public point of view the occupants of the forecastle afford subjects of thought not less interesting than those suggested by a visit to the steerage. In a full-powered steamer the assistance derived from sails is scarcely appreciable, and the complement of seamen is determined not so much with reference to the spread of canvas as to the extent of deck. Holy-stoning and cleaning brasswork are not attractive duties, and the wages have been brought down, by the natural operation of supply and demand, to a scale which offers no temptation to the flower of our working population. The rate from the port of Liverpool for an A.B. in an Atlantic Liner may be taken at 4l., and the men are paid off on the day after their arrival in port. Looking to the nature of the employment and the rate of wages, it would be unreasonable to expect a high standard of moral or physical qualities, or seamanship, in crews mustered at twenty-four hours' notice for a short transatlantic voyage. It may often be the case that the foreign seaman is a better man than the Englishman, and the explanation is not far to seek. The foreigner was probably born in some mountain farm on a Norwegian fjord. His paternal acres had been brought under cultivation by the strenuous efforts of generations. Precipices of rock hem in the farm on all sides. The acreage can never be extended. The number who can be maintained upon the land is strictly limited. Arrived near man's estate, the son is warned by his father that he must go

forth into the world to seek an independent livelihood. The sea, which washes the adjacent shores, is the only outlet for superfluous labour. The son seeks employment at first in a little coaster, next in a sea-going vessel, and finally finds himself in a British port. From the scanty pay he has been earning it is a great advance to receive the wages offered to seamen in England. He transfers himself accordingly to the British flag. If he is thrifty, he can put aside the greater portion of his earnings, and after a few years' service before the mast he returns to Norway in a position to establish his home in some port on the Scandinavian seaboard. The same reward which to an English seaman of mature years, and who has a family to support, is meagre in the extreme, may be very differently regarded by the Norwegian lad whose career we have described. Such histories recur again and again. It goes without saying that if it is sought to secure the services of Englishmen, wages must be at least as liberal for service at sea as on shore. With the actual scale of wages a seaman who aspires to the wages of a blacksmith or a carpenter must gain the quarter-deck. To do this he has to pass an examination, but the qualifications in navigation demanded by the Board of Trade can easily be acquired by a lad of ordinary education.

It would do much to improve the quality of seamen if more encouragement were held out to men of superior conduct, and who thoroughly understand their business. In the merchant service these inducements are rarely offered. Seamen are usually paid at a uniform rate, irrespective of merit, and the most deserving are paid off on the day after the arrival of the ship with no more consideration than is shown to the least meritorious of the crew.

Let us turn to the engine-room. There is no question here of the presence of the foreigner, or of inefficiency or indifference to duty. The work in an Atlantic Liner is difficult, arduous, and unrelenting. It demands energy, presence of mind, and technical skill of a high order. The bare enumeration of these qualifications is a guarantee that in a British ship no special preference will be given to foreigners. The engineers are mostly Scotch, the stokers Irish. The qualities most required in the stokehole are a dogged resolution to face discomfort, and a sturdy frame. The stoker is begrimed with coal dust. He has to endure an atmosphere which sometimes rises to a temperature of 130°. In this intense heat he has to shovel every day five tons of coal into the furnaces, and to keep the fires clear and bright by constant raking, and by the periodical removal of ashes. Upon none have the burdens of the mechanical development of our age fallen more heavily than upon the men who undertake the duties of firemen in an Atlantic Liner. Who can refuse to follow Mr. Ruskin in his admiration for the life of the sailor, and the beauty of the swelling canvas which it is his business to handle, or withhold his sympathy from those who are engaged in the wretched

labours of the stokehole? It has often been proposed to feed furnaces mechanically. The method would obviate the necessity of employing men in one of the most distressful forms of manual labour.

Our outward voyage was completed on the morning of Sunday, the 12th of September. It was a lovely day. From the entrance of the harbour at Sandy Hook to the wharves at which the steamers lie the distance is some twenty miles. The shores on either hand are studded with pleasant suburbs and the charming residences of merchants. New York stands on a narrow peninsula which divides the Hudson from the East River. The oldest part of the city was built at the extremity of this peninsula. It has rapidly extended inland. The few principal thoroughfares terminate at the Garden Battery, and are carried in almost parallel lines through the whole length of the city. These streets are crossed at right angles by smaller streets, which are generally carried in a straight line from the Hudson to the East River. The streets of New York are numbered and not named. The monotony of a rectangular plan is broken by a few squares and by the central park. New York has nothing which can be compared with the squares and parks of London. In this regard time gives us an advantage. The leading thoroughfares are lined with buildings often of noble proportions.

From an architectural point of view, all the effects are completely destroyed by the telegraph and telephone companies. Huge posts of fir are planted on both sides of the great thoroughfares carrying hundreds of wires, which interlace at every crossing. It is a monstrous abuse to permit these appliances of civilisation to be carried above ground. Subways should be formed for the purpose.

In a city scarcely inferior in population to London, facility of locomotion is of primary importance. In New York it is rendered easy by tramways and railways. The latter are carried overhead. It is a far cheaper plan than the tunnelling adopted for our metropolitan lines, and where the overhead system is confined to streets of ample width and without pretensions to architectural beauty, there are few objections even from the aesthetic standpoint.

In the social condition of New York the various nationalities of its inhabitants are a striking feature. As an illustration I may mention that in the course of a short evening walk round Washington Square I stopped outside the open windows of a house filled with a large assembly engaged in lively discussion. The speeches were being delivered in Italian. In the large assemblage outside the majority were speaking French, and every café in the square and adjacent streets was kept by a German. New York is the third largest German city in the world.

On the day after my arrival a procession of 40,000 persons, organised by the Knights of Labour, defiled before the Brevoort

Hotel, at which I was staying. Each of the associations was headed by a band. There were carriages and mounted men at intervals. The several trades carried their distinctive banners, and many ultrasocialistic devices were displayed; denunciations of capital and exhortations to vote for Henry George as the next Mayor of New York being frequent. In America the relations between labour and capital will call for discretion and self-denial not less than in the countries of the Old World.

During my short stay at New York I went out to spend an afternoon with Mr. John Crosby Brown, at Orange. Crossing by the steam-ferry to Jersey City, a short journey by train brought us to our destination. After a drive for a couple of miles along a flat road we reached the foot of a steep hill. We climbed it on foot, and on reaching the summit found ourselves on the edge of an elevated plateau commanding a glorious view. At our feet was a level plain in which cheerful dwellings and thriving villages, cultivated fields and dense masses of rich green trees, were delightfully intermingled. In the middle distance was the noble stream of the Hudson, and beyond it New York. Who can look down without emotion, from a peaceful and solitary spot, on a vast city? How many a struggling emigrant has trod the streets of New York for the first time, looking out upon the future with fear and trembling! and how many a gallant spirit owes to the cordial welcome which America has given him the means of gaining an honest livelihood, for which he had found no opportunity in the crowded cities of the Old World!

6

The first of the series of international contests between the English cutter Galatea' and the American sloop 'May-flower' took place on the second day after my arrival in New York. I had the pleasure of following the match on board Mr. Morgan's fine steamship, the Corsair.' It was a stirring scene. The weather was lovely-a cloudless sunshine and a pleasant breeze. The waters were crowded with craft of every description, from the huge two-storied side-wheelers thronged with hundreds of sightseers, to the tiny steam launch built by Herreschoff, which darted hither and thither as if by magic, at a speed of twenty knots an hour. The poetry of the past was still represented by many graceful sailing yachts, and more utilitarian interests by the steam liners and the coasting schooners. It seemed scarcely possible that a match could be sailed in such crowded waters, but when at last the signal was given the two champion vessels threaded their way with much less hindrance than might have been expected through the throng of spectators and admirers. I shall not enter upon the details of the match. The American yacht led from the beginning to the close of the race.

On a day of tropical heat, we made our outward journey to Chicago by the Pennsylvania Central. The line is recognised as one of the best managed in America. The cars are admirable, and the

commissariat perfect, but the line is one of the oldest in the country, and was laid out with a view rather to economy of construction than to the rapid travelling on which the public now insists. The scenery through which we passed had a charm which amply compensated for the fatigue of the journey. The State of Pennsylvania is well watered and richly cultivated. The farms have the cheerful indications of abundance. The finest scenery is at the crossing of the Alleghany mountains. The line ascends by a steep incline until it reaches the famous horse-shoe curve. As the train wheeled swiftly round the amphitheatre of hills a scene of surpassing beauty was brought into view. The afternoon sky was aglow with the yellow light of the descending sun. The upper slopes of the hills were richly wooded. Descending to the plains the eye ranged over a vast country with its smiling homesteads and vast tracts of grain ripening to the sickle.

Later in the evening we passed through Pittsburgh, the Wolverhampton of the United States, and not less black and grimy than the iron-manufacturing district in the old country.

We arrived at Chicago at an early hour on the 9th of September. The hotel to which we adjourned is a colossal establishment. The large hall is at all hours densely crowded with men of business and speculation. A telegraph office affords facilities for transmitting orders, and current prices are posted at frequent intervals.

The marvellous growth of Chicago from an Indian village to a city of over half a million of inhabitants is due to its great advantages of position on the shores of Lake Huron, and at the junction of the most important systems of railways going West. By the quick trains the distance of nearly one thousand miles from New York is covered in little more than twenty-four hours, and there are several alternative routes. By the chain of lakes grain, timber, and iron ore from the Far West are brought down to Chicago at prices with which no railways, however cheaply constructed, can compete. By these various means of communication Chicago has been made the seat of a great industry, and the centre of an agricultural district of vast extent. Here are gathered in from distances of hundreds of miles vast supplies of wheat. Hither are sent droves of cattle and pigs innumerable. Chicago transmits the supplies thus collected to millions of consumers in the Eastern States and in Europe; while it furnishes to the farmer in the West, from its enormous warehouses, manufactured goods, home-made and imported. The transaction of affairs on such a scale gives occasion for great banking establishments, and the accumulation of wealth in the city leads to extensive dealings in securities, and attracts in numbers projectors of schemes of every kind.

In its external features Chicago is remarkable for the colossal proportions in which everything is carried out. The shops, the warehouses, the length and the breadth of the streets dwarf by com