court of appeals of the United States, or before a member of the Board of Mediation and Conciliation, the members of which are hereby authorized to take such acknowledgments; and when so acknowledged shall be delivered to a member of said board of transmitted to said board to be filed in its office.

When such agreement of arbitration has been filed with the said board, or one of its members, and when the said board, or a member thereof, has been furnished the names of the arbitrators chosen by the respective parties to the controversy, the board, or a member thereof, shall cause a notice in writing to be served upon the said arbitrators, notifying them of their appointment, requesting them to meet promptly to name the remaining arbitrator or arbitrators necessary to complete the Loard, and advising them of the period within which, as provided in the agreement of arbitration, they are empowered to name such arbitrator or arbitrators.

When the arbitrators selected by the respective parties have agreed upon the remaining arbitrator or arbitrators, they shall notify the Board of Mediation and Conciliation; and in the event of their failure to agree upon any or upon all of the necessary arbitrators within the period fixed by this Act they shall, at the expiration of such period, notify the Board of Mediation and Conciliation of the arbitrators selected, if any, or of their failure to make or to complete such selection. If the parties to an arbitration desire the reconvening of a board to pass upon any controversy arising over the meaning or application of an award, they shall jointly so notify the Board of Mediation and Concilation, and shall state in such written notice the question or questions to be submitted to such reconvened board. The Board of Mediation and Conciliation shall thereupon promptly communicate with the members of the board of arbitration or a subcommittee of such board appointed for such purpose pursuant to the provisions of the agreement of arbitration, and arrange for the reconvening of said board or subcommittee, and shall notify the respective parties to the controversy of the time and place at which the board will meet for hearings upon the matters in controversy to be submitted to it.

It

SEC. 7. That the board of arbitration shall organize and select its own chairman and make all necessary rules for conducting its hearings; but in its award or awards the said board shall confine itself to findings or recommendations as to the questions specifically submitted to it or matters directly bearing thereon. All testimony before said board shall be given under oath or affirmation, and any member of the board of arbitration shall have the power to administer oaths or affirmations. may employ such assistants as may be necessary in carrying on its work. It shall, whenever practicable, be supplied with suitable quarters in any Federal building located at its place of meeting or at any place where the board may adjourn for its deliberations. The board of arbitration shall furnish a certified copy of its awards to the respective parties to the controversy, and shall transmit the original, together with the papers and proceedings and a transcript of the testimony taken at the hearings, certified under the hands of the arbitrators, to the clerk of the district court of the United States for the district wherein the controversy arose or the arbitration is entered into, to be filed in said clerk's office as provided in paragraph eleven of section four of this Act. And said board shall also furnish a certified copy of its award, and the papers and proceedings, including the testimony relating thereto, to the Board of Mediation and Conciliation, to be filed in its office.

The United States Commerce Court, the Interstate Commerce Commission, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics are hereby authorized to turn over to the Board of Mediation and Conciliation upon its request any papers and documents heretofore filed with them and bearing upon mediation or arbitration proceedings held under the provisions of the Act approved June first, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, providing for mediation and arbitration.

SEC. 8. That the award, being filed in the clerk's office of a district court of the United States as hereinbefore provided, shall go into practical operation, and judgment shall be entered thereon accordingly at the expiration of ten days from such filing, unless within such ten days either party shall file exceptions thereto for matter of law apparent upon the record, in which case said award shall go into practical operation, and judgment be entered accordingly, when such exceptions shall have been finally disposed of either by said district court or on appeal therefrom.

At the expiration of ten days from the decision of the district court upon exceptions taken to said award as aforesaid judgment shall be entered in accordance with said decision, unless during said ten days either party shall appeal therefrom to the circuit court of appeals. In such case only such portion of the record shall be transmitted to the appellate court as is necessary to the proper understanding and consideration of the questions of law presented by said exceptions and to be decided. The determination of said circuit court of appeals upon said questions shall be final, and, being certified by the clerk thereof to said district court, judgment pursuant thereto shall thereupon be entered by said district court.

If exceptions to an award are finally sustained, judgment shall be entered setting aside the award in whole or in part; but in such case the parties may agree upon a judgment to be entered disposing of the subject matter of the controversy, which

judgment when entered shall have the same force and effect as judgment entered upon an award.

Nothing in this Act contained shall be construed to require an employe to render personal service without his consent, and no injunction or other legal process shall be issued which shall compel the performance by any employe against his will of a contract for personal labor or service.

SEC. 9. That whenever receivers appointed by a Federal court are in the possession and control of the business of employers covered by this Act the employes of such employers shall have the right to be heard through their representatives in such court upon all questions affecting the terms and conditions of their employment; and no reduction of wages shall be made by such receivers without the authority of the court therefor, after notice to such employes, said notice to be given not less than twenty days before the hearing upon the receivers' petition or application, and to be posted upon all customary bulletin boards along or upon the railway or in the customary places on the premises of other employers covered by this Act.

SEC. 10. That each member of the board of arbitration created under the provi sions of this Act shall receive such compensation as may be fixed by the Board of Mediation and Conciliation, together with his traveling and other necessary expenses. The sum of $25,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated, to be immediately available and to continue available until the close of the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and fourteen, for the necessary and proper expenses incurred in connection with any arbitration or with the carrying on of the work of mediation and conciliation, including per diem, traveling, and other necessary expenses of members or employes of boards of arbitration and rent in the District of Columbia, furniture, office fixtures and supplies, books, salaries, traveling expenses, and other necessary expenses of members or employes of the Board of Mediation and Conciliation, to be approved by the chairman of said board and audited by the proper accounting officers of the Treasury.

SEC. 11. There shall be a Commissioner of Mediation and Conciliation, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and whose salary shall be $7,500 per annum, who shall hold his office for a term of seven years and until a successor qualifies, and who shall be removable by the President only for misconduct in office. The President shall also designate not more than two other officials of the Government who have been appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and the officials thus designated, together with the Commissioner of Mediation and Conciliation, shall constitute a board to be known as the United States Board of Mediation and Conciliation.

There shall also be an Assistant Commissioner of Mediation and Conciliation, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and whose salary shall be $5,000 per annum. In the absence of the Commissioner of Mediation and Conciliation, or when that office shall become vacant, the assistant commissioner shall exercise the functions and perform the duties of that office. Under the direction of the Commissioner of Mediation and Conciliation, the assistant commissioner shall assist in the work of mediation and conciliation and when acting alone in any case he shall have the right to take acknowledgments, receive agreements of arbitration, and cause the notices in writing to be served upon the arbitrators chosen by the respective parties to the controversy, as provided for in section five of this Act.

The Act of June first, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, relating to the mediation and arbitration of controversies between railway companies and certain classes of their employes is hereby repealed: Provided, That any agreement of arbitration which, at the time of the passage of this Act, shall have been executed in accordance with the provisions of said Act of June first, eighteen hundred and ninety: eight, shall be governed by the provisions of said Act of June first, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and the proceedings thereunder shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions of said Act.

Approved, July 15, 1913.

SAFETY FIRST-EMPLOYERS URGED TO ADOPT SAFETY PRECAUTIONS

President of a Manufacturing Company Talks Plainly to
Safety Congress.

In an address, October 15th, before the "To attach to this movement means National Congress for Industrial Safety, that each of you must pledge your supin session in Chicago, Melville W. Mix, port, not in an impassioned or highly president of the Dodge Manufacturing patriotic way-not by a rising vote or a Company, and head of the Manufactur- rousing rally to the colors,-but by a ers' Bureau of Indiana, urged the neces- firm decision way down inside your sity for employers taking a proper inter- heart-that you will join, support, assist est in the safety of their employes and and promote the cause of Safety-first adopting the necessary precautions and wherever and whenever you shall find it. providing the needed safeguards to pro- I do not mean that you shall sally forth tect them against accident. Mr. Mix was into fields foreign to your endeavor. Let selected to represent the manufacturers your own establishment be your first before the congress. He said, in part: field of operation and victory is just "Safety first, like any other general as sweet, just as decisive, behind doors business movement, gathers to its ranks of your own establishment as it is in the certain individuals who are invariably workshop of your neighbor. attracted to any forward movement having humanity or progressiveness as its battle cry.

"Safety first is the cause of human life; the conservation of the human elements of production far more important to the progress of mankind than the mobilization of armies, and far more productive than the extension of boundary lines. It is safe to say that in the fiftyyear period following the civil war, almost as many men have lost their lives in the pursuit of their trade vocations as fell under that four years' hail of lead.

"But," you say, "why should I enthuse over a movement in which I have so little part?" And I answer, "Should you or would you enthuse over an added sum on the profit side of the ledger?" That's what it means exactly. Safety-first is an investment that you can and will eventually consider in terms of money.

"And right here is where many employers have missed the point. Safetyfirst is not a philanthropic movement on the part of employer to employe. Safetyfirst is a hard practicality of business extension. It is a matter of dollars and cents; and whether you know it or not, you are prompted to its support from a very selfish standpoint.

"We see wealthy magnates lay fabulous sums at the disposal of a worldpeace tribunal; and we see in what short space of time the martial strength "That seems a hard statement, but it of a continent may apparently forget is not without its qualifications. There the life-conserving principles to which is a blood-and-soul side of every phase they have subscribed. Do we see any such enthusiasm in the cause of commercial or industrial safety? Is the blood spilled at the lathe, the forge, the throttle, or the grade crossing less red, less valuable than that shed on fields of

battle?

Apprenticeship Cost.

"It has been figured that the average cost of apprenticeship, including the cost of bringing a man to the working efficiency necessary to profit, is somewhere around $1,000. If this man is disabled from any cause, the employer must immediately recognize a charge for the cost of training another workman in addition to whatever damage he may be called upon to pay.

of business life, and I for one do not care to associate myself or my efforts with any organization or movement that does not take into consideration, the

rights, the benefits, the happiness and welfare of the workers.

"The conservation of the lives of our employes is one of deliberation and debate; with such action as we may deem best carried out in a quiet, forceful line of daily endeavor in our individual vocations. The assets of a business seldom receive recognition on any other basis than that of money, hence it is rather difficult to surround this topic with an attractive setting without using the dollar sign.

"England has found it a good invest

ment to abolish all railroad grade cross- the cost of installing approved fire proings, and inclose all rights-of-way, and tection is almost, if not entirely, absorbed it is quite evident that many of our in the reduction in premiums within from American railroads would find, upon in- one to three years' time. Such investvestigating their respective claim de- ments are popular, and no wise, judipartments, that the sums expended for cious manufacturer questions the prudamages, maintenance of crossing dence of so proving himself against exguards, etc., at grade crossings and upon traordinary loss. rights-of-way, would pay a handsome "Equipment companies and associareturn upon the investment necessary tions of fire insurance companies are for grade separation and other forms of quite common, who, as a business, install protection along their various proper- such equipment in manufacturing and ties. mercantile plants and take for their pay the saving in premiums for certain periods of time.

Protection Good Investment.

"By the same token, a private or cor- "Why shall we not approach the time porate employer may be equally con- when similar conditions will apply in vinced of the investment value of ade- the matter of physical protection to the quate protection if he could have placed workers? The humane viewpoint may before him the tremendous cost of the not always control the decision of certain waste due to the hazards of his particu- types of employers, but from a financial lar establishment or of those of his in- or investment standpoint, a ready ear dustrial group. The condition, whether is nearly always found. physical or mental, which eliminates "It may require the experience of sethis economical waste and physical im- vere losses to awaken many to the pracpairment and suffering, is the invest- tical side of the question, but as sure as ment that we must consider. It cannot the passage of nation-wide compensation always appear in the inventory; it may acts, or through other forms of legislanot be accounted for in the financial tive enactments, places a definite and instatement; it may not be a known basis creasing charge against disability, just of credit, yet in its very earning power it becomes one of the most productive elements of a business.

so sure will those interested provide ways and means to meet the increased cost of providing against personal injury risks. "With the industrial growth of this "Many guards or rearrangements of country there is rapidly developing the production machinery will earn their consideration of other forms of assets cost every year, while others may be less than brick and mortar, machinery or favorable; on a basis of averages, such merchandise and these have their value costs are better producers of returns than from other than the credit point of many which are more readily made beview; the personal comfort and satis- cause of more familiarity with the tangifaction of leaving nothing undone to ble results. provide against known hazards of the "A few practical illustrations may sufbusiness is of material value to an in- fice:

dustrial organization, fully as much "A pair of goggles may cost from $1 from the humane as the financial stand- to $2; they may save an eye or two eyes point.

that cannot be valued in money, but which may cost in indemnity from $500 to $5,000, or even more.

"A guard at a given point may seem like a useless, idle investment, at a cost, say of $100, or an annual interest and "A press guard may cost $10, and depreciation charge of, say $15 a year. save somebody $10,000 in a single posA very small capitalization indeed, if sible accident. that unguarded position carries with it the potential hazard of a workman's life or sight.

Liability Insurance.

"On the basis of protecting the hazard and submitting to a fixed charge per annum for our insurance premiums, we meet a parallel to the principle of fire insurance.

"A friction cluth may cost $50 and save from one hundred to two hundred times its cost in facilitating quick stoppage of machinery at a critical moment.

"In the line of employers' liability insurance, as in many other lines, there.is a certain basic charge against the industry, and to meet such conditions it behooves those engaged in that industry to 'get together,' to eliminate or reduce "We do not hesitate to install the au- those things which have created this tomatic sprinkler systems to reduce the base, and thus place themselves, as a cost of carrying our fire insurance haz- class, upon a more favorable basic conard. We see every day cases of where dition. None are so capable of really

improving conditions so much as those rying equal interest to the minds of all who are in daily contest with the work associated persons.

of their particular class, and they must "As an investment, occupational goodbe convinced through their pocketbooks, will should bear a parallel position with if in no other way, of the absolute call the trade-mark or the trade-name in the upon them to standardize equipment and consideration of the standing of any conpractice in their various industries and in cern in the community. mercantile conditions, and to view the results on the investment basis.

"In industries where the shop unit is small, the need for co-operation is all the more important, as they are individually less able to meet the losses due to disability and less organized to effect improvements.

Situation Must be Met.

"Money is being annually spent by the hundred thousands for occupational and public protection and the work is only begun, yet at this time in money value, the savings due to eliminating expense, damage, physical impairment, may by all reasonable actuarial figures be shown to pay immense returns thereon. Remember, that wherever there is an employment danger, there is a capitalizable possibility for safety's sake.

"We must not deceive ourselves with

the thought that these losses are all in industrial employment. To be fair, we must take into account the losses due to

"We must meet the practical situation in this department of our employment risks with the same receptive frame of mind that we now do, through long years of favorable experience, in the matter of protection from fire, and in so doing, we agricultural and domestic employment, meet the same conditions in returns on investment through physical losses, occu

pational losses and business impairment

through extraordinary misfortune.

and to the public mishaps that occur daily in our streets and away from the

organized forms of supervision and protection enjoyed by the average factory worker of today.

"Large damages are daily assessed against cities, the cost of which must be paid by taxation.

we

"We will never be able to prevent all accidents. No matter how much money is spent or how much study and education may be concentrated upon the subject, a certain percentage of the "Topsy' type of 'just happened' accidents will be for- "These losses will pay interest and deever with us, and in these possibilities we preciation upon large sums expended for may only hope to reduce their frequency the safety of the public, and thus and severity to a minimum through edu- meet the investment value of safety in a cation and development of the cardinal wider field, and, withal, one much less principle of 'thinking first.' We do know susceptible of regulation until the public this, however, that in institutions where pulse will feel the effect of the factory the employers and their representatives in charge of the work, are in close and campaign upon the workers, and thence frequent co-operation with the workers, upon the rising generation; the youngwhere each interest sees and knows that sters who are thus being educated during there does exist a sincere desire to pro- the most impressionable period of their tect and to alleviate, the influence thus lives by the earnest work that is now created becomes a co-operative asset-a going forward for and by their parents spirit of comradeship-compared with and associates, will carry the slogan of which the dollars in the financial state- 'thinking first' far in advance of our ment are most insignificant. present motto of 'Safety-first.'

"We seldom hear of occupational goodwill, yet in my judgment its presence and possession forms one of the most valuable assets that may be enjoyed by any business.

"The minimization of accidents produces a better feeling in the employments and leads to preferences being expressed for the employers whose workshops bear the best reputation for safety; thus the "Until there can be a broad common safe, well-groomed shop may have the ground of contact between employer and call on workers, even though other things the employe, until each may fully under- may be somewhat less attractive, and stand the other's problems and view- thus is possessed an asset of material points, we may seek in vain for indus- value to those concerned. trial peace and co-operation except as a "The value and safety of maintaining forced issue. Solving the common prob- good tools, and of selecting good matelem of safety is but one of these points rials, is all helpful in eliminating waste of contact, but it has the highly credit- and promoting economy in their use and able and attractive qualifications of car- preservation, having for their effect the