Commercial and industrial enterprises, case of suspension or dismissal where the cities, men, are thriving upon it. investigation showed the discipline had We are living in an age of organized not been fair, and transportation priviinterests. Men get together to discuss leges equal to any craft in the Grand things, to better conditions. They are Trunk service. The members of this doing it in a spirit of progress. union are employed in the railroad's track, bridge and building, water supply, and fuel departments, and signal and interlocking service. Their success in bettering conditions is another illustration of things that can be accomplished through trades unionism. Reciprocity, mutuality, co-operation, are combined in this spirit, and the greatest of these is co-operation. The strength of unity is indisputable. Co-operation is greater than competition and we should constantly bear in mind the great fundamental laws of the universe the laws of interdependence. There is not a thing in the world which is not dependent upon some other favorable thing or condition. We all need each other and therefore should co-operate with each other. He who loses sight of this important law is bound to become worthless timber in the life of the world. -C. R. Trowbridge, in Business Philosopher. Governor Signs Labor Bill.-Governor Glynn, of New York, has signed a bill amending the labor law in relation to hours of labor in mercantile establishments. This bill reduces the number of hours during which children under sixteen years may work from fifty-four to forty-four hours in any one week, and from nine to eight hours in any one day, and prohibits their employment after 6 o'clock in the evening instead of after 7. Guards Workmen's Lives.-Governor The bill further gives to cities of the Fielder, of New Jersey, has signed the second class the same privileges accorded bill regulating the employment of persons to other cities-in fact, it restricts the in compressed air in tunnel building and employment of female employes to fiftysimilar work so common in that section. four hours in any one week and nine The new law provides that every tunnel, hours in any one day in all cities. Not caisson, compartment, or other place only are the hours of labor regulated by where compressed air is used shall be so this amendment, but the time allowed constructed, equipped, and operated as employes for luncheon is extended from to provide proper protection to the per- forty-five to sixty minutes "unless the sons employed. One of the provisions is commissioner of labor shall permit a that no person known to be addicted to shorter time." When any employe is emthe excessive use of intoxicants shall be ployed after 7 o'clock in the evening the permitted to work in compressed air. It bill provides that twenty minutes must is also provided that every employer be given for eating between 5 and 7 carrying on compressed air work shall employ one or more licensed physicians, and if the maximum air pressure exceeds seventeen pounds shall also employ one or more registered nurses to act in case of accident or illness from the compressed air. o'clock. Free Labor Bureaus.-Beginning the first of August, the new New York State Labor Bureau will be in operation, as the result of legislation passed by the last General Assembly. The principal office of the bureau will be in New York Maintenance of Way Brotherhood Se- City, but there will be at least nine imcures Good Agreement.—Officials of the portant branches throughout the state. Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Em- This department will have supervisory ployes announce that conferences with powers over all private employment officials of the Grand Trunk Railway bureaus. The service the State will give from Chicago to Portland has resulted in will be free, and the act provides that the adoption of a wage schedule as per any person connected with the bureau the award of a board of commissioners who takes any fees, directly or indirectly, made last fall. The award made an in- is guilty of a misdemeanor, with an excrease imperative, beginning March 1, of treme penalty of $500 fine and jail for this year, which makes the rates the same six months. as those of the Canadian Pacific, which are the highest in Canada, and possibly higher than any in the United States. These include overtime at the rate of time and one-half to foremen and men; promotion by seniority where a man is qualified; investigation and reinstatement in Makes a Large Award.-For the first time the Ohio State Industrial Commission, in charge of the workmen's compensation fund, has granted a lump sum award in a total disability case. It was in favor of Lee Worman, of East to give their employes some other full day in every seven, for a rest. The penal law of the state prohibits all unnecessary work in trades, manufactures, and Columbus, who lost both hands in an accident at the Ralston Steel Car Company plant. He will receive a lump sum of $3,646.75, in addition to by-weekly payments of $9 per week for the remain- mechanical employments upon the first der of his life. An original award of $12 per week for life was granted the injured man, but he wanted a lump sum to buy a home and start in the chicken business. day of the week. Hence the statute must have been designed to apply only to men employed in enterprises that have a lawful right to carry on their operations on the first day of the week. "I think the law may be sustained as Pullman Company Scored.-The low welfare of the public. a health regulation, and for the general It has always wages paid their employes, who are "com- been held that the State has power to pelled to look to the traveling public for their principal income," was referred to in protect the health and morals of the people, and preserve the repose and a report by the California State Railroad sanctity of the Sabbath day by forbidding Commission, which has been investigating labor and industrial and commercial purthe Pullman company's rules, regulations, suits on that day. I think the State has and practices. It is shown that the the same power to require employers who wages paid to porters is but $27.50 a have the legal right to conduct their month. The company is given thirty days operations the first day of the week to out of every consecutive seven days for provide their employes with another day rest and recreation, and it is not only the health of the individual employes which is thus conserved, but also the welfare of the public with whom they have to deal, or whom they may serve in their present positions." in which to correct certain evils found in their service, and the commission pays its respects to this corporation in the following terms: "If it be found that its rates are generous and that this company is not poor, but merely mean, and that the American public is dealing not only justly but generously with this institution, which in its turn deals unjustly and niggardly with its employes, then the Ameri- Powder Factory. The U. S. Senate has can public certainly would be justified in adopted a committee amendment to the at least dispensing with the generosity naval appropriation bill providing $500,and limiting this company, conducting 000 for extending the government powitself as it is, to the barest amount that der factory at Indian Head, Md. The the cold considerations of justice warrant proposed increase in the capacity of the it in securing. The Pullman company government powder factory would make attempted to make this commission be- it possible to manufacture all smokeless lieve that the wages it pays its employes powder used by the navy in times of are proper and that it did not expect its peace. Senator La Follette read from a employes to secure money from the public. published article which charged that afIt is hard for us to determine which ter a superior powder had been developed should be criticised the more, the attitude through the aid of government officers, of this company in its action in this re- the "trust" then sold it to foreign gard, or its suppositions that it could governments. Senator Reed suggested make this commission believe a thing that "any man who sells powder to a which every one knows is not true." foreign nation with whom we are at war is likely to be executed for treason." Sunday Work is Unlawful.-Justice Tompkins, of the New York State Su- Conductors Win Their Point. Α preme Court, has decided that it is illegal threatened strike of Canadian Northern to make a man work on Sunday. This railway conductors has been averted by law was passed last year and requires the company reinstating six men who employers to give their employes one day of rest in seven. The owner of a large ice house in White Plains, N. Y., had himself arrested to test the constitution ality of this section. had been dismissed for alleged "knocking down" of fares. The Order of Railway Conductors asked the company either to reinstate the conductors dismissed or prosecute them. The latter course was taken by the company, but the accused conductors won out. Justice Tompkins, in his decision, says: "The apparent purpose and effect of this statute is to require employers of Since that time the company refused to labor in factory or mercantile establish- do anything until faced with a serious ments that are in operation on Sunday, strike. Roller Towel Must Go. Miscellany The old-time roller towel so familiar to the boarding house, the hotel and public places generally that innocent-looking carrier of infectious disease is being tabooed by legislative enactment in various states. Laws prohibiting its use have been passed by the states of Arkansas, Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Vermont and Wisconsin since 1911. Common carriers engaged in interstate commerce are prohibited from using the common towel, and a press dispatch dated Washington, May 14th last, says that an executive order, "in the interest of public health," signed by the President, has been issued discontinuing in federal buildings the use of roller towels and other towels intended for use by more than one person. It is to be hoped that the legislatures of every state may become fully alive to the danger ever lurking in the common towel, and that in a very short time it will have passed completely out of use. The Hat-pin Menace. cost of a few cents, and thereby, per- Give Them a Place to Play Plenty of room for dives and dens (glitter and glare of sin), Plenty of room for prison pens (gather the criminals in); Plenty of room for jails and courts (willing enough to pay), But never a place for the lads to race- Plenty of room for shops and stores But never a cent on playgrounds spent— Plenty of room for schools and halls, plenty of room for art; Plenty of room for teas and balls, platform, stage, and mart. Proud is the city-she finds a place for many a fad today; But she's more than blind if she fails to find a place for the boys to play. Give them a chance for innocent sport, A Dennis McCarthy in The Survey., Everyone knows that a hat-pin point protruding several inches beyond the brim of a woman's hat is a source of danger to anyone in close proximity to the wearer of the pin. Probably no one sees the more serious consequences so frequently as the eye specialist. Sometimes the injury consists of a mere scratch, which heals readily and leaves no permanent defect. On the other hand, every now and then the scratch becomes infected and serious impairment of sight, if not actual loss of the eye results. One who has seen these bad results is forever alarmed for himself and others when he sees a protruding hat-pin point in a crowded car or theater lobby or The injurious effect on the eyes of the wherever people are closely crowded to- swiftly moving images of the cinematogether. It ought not to be necessary to graph has been frequently discussed. It pass laws to prevent such accidents, but has been shown that a number of disoras the number of such cases does not ders of the eyes are caused by this form decrease it would seem to be desirable of entertainment. In Massachusetts to make the wearing of shorter hat-pins five-minute intermission is required beobligatory. There are devices on the tween reels so as to lessen the eye-strain. market for covering and protecting the end of a hat-pin which are effective and inexpensive. Any jeweler can shorten a long hat-pin in a few minutes and at a The "Movies" and the Eyes. a One of the factors in cinematograph exhibitions which favors the development of eye-fatigue is poor definition of the original negatives. This is greatly accentu ated when the positives which are used to be one of the most desirable. Fourth, are enormously magnified. The smaller the image in the eye, the longer the impression lasts and the more the eyes are tired, so that seats nearer the screen are less desirable than those more remote. There is less eye fatigue when sitting not closer than forty feet from the screen. to use no reels which have been in use for over a month. Reels of an inferior quality or which have become scratched from much use give poor definition. Fifth, to allow at least three minutes intermission between the reels.-The Journal of the American Medical Association. Book Review. at. The That the "movies" are a prolific source of eye-strain must have been recognized by many oculists, yet, with few exceptions, the attention of the public has not been directed to this important fact, while The Profitable Wage.-This is the the victims themselves seldom suspect title of a book by Ed. E. Sheasgreen, the cause of their trouble, although many Manager of The Standard Cost Finding of them suffer from an increase of symp- Service Co., Chicago, Ill., and a member toms even while witnessing the pictures. of Lodge 82 of our Brotherhood. These symptoms usually consist of head- author presents in this work his views as ache, vertigo, nausea and fatigue of the to how the principles of cost finding as eyes, followed later by vomiting, sleep- used in mercantile and manufacturing lessness and lack of energy. Physicians establishments may be applied to the and public health officials have only re- finding of the cost of producing labor, cently realized the important part the and the "profitable wage" thus arrived picture theaters play in the welfare of the community from a health standpoint. The general purpose of the book is Many theater buildings are remodeled outlined in the following sentences which store-rooms with no facilities for venti- we quote from the Publisher's introduction: lation. The air is breathed over and over and plenty of opportunity is afforded for contact between infected and non-infected, thereby facilitating the distribution of infectious diseases. In the United States there are over twenty-five thousand moving picture theaters at which there is an average attendance of over fifteen million spectators. This variety of eye-fatigue may be largely removed by wearing proper glasses; by patronizing only those places which have good films, proper manipulation and proper intervals of rest between the reels; by sitting at the right distance from the screen (no closer than forty feet) and by not overdoing attendance on these places of amusement. "The whole purpose of this book is to create new activity-a new kind of life, among men and their families-on the wage question. Man "The wage question is one of the world's oldest business problems. knows less about himself, his family and its general condition, his wages and the cost of producing his effort, than he does about anything else. "To get the masses to know more things about their own children and their own families, and to get that knowledge along easy and practical lines, so that the ills of the race may be better located, and then in a practical way remedied, is the whole purpose of The Profitable Wage. "The principles underlying this book are those of the Science of Cost Finding, and are as absolute as the Laws of Mathematics. They are as practicable ducing labor as they are to finding the and applicable to finding the cost of procost of producing the products of labor. "The chapters which make up this book show how to apply these laws to finding the cost of producing labor." It has been suggested that licenses be issued only to those proprietors of moving picture theaters who are willing to abide by the following rules: First, to operate the machine by a motor instead of by hand, to have an adjustable take-up or speed regulator and an automatic fireshutter which renders more accurate the sequence of the individual images; sec- The book evidences much careful ond, to use the arc light with the direct thought and research on the part of the current which is brighter and steadier author. It contains over 150 pages, size than that with the indirect current; third, 6x9 inches, and is printed in clear, readto have a proper screen, free from dis- able type. Price bound in cloth $2.00. agreeable and harmful glare. The so- Published by The Standard Cost Finding called "mirror screen," consisting of a Service Co., 1603 Monadnock Block, mirror glass with a frosted surface, seems Chicago, Ill. Communications intended for publication should reach this office not later than the 10th of the month to insure their appearance in the following issue. Write on one side of the paper only. Sign name and address in all instances, not necessarily for publication, but as evidence of good faith. Correspondents may, if they desire, use a nom de plume, but no attention will be paid to anonymous communications. The Editor and Manager reserves the right to revise or reject any communication if he deems it to the best interests of the Brotherhood to do so. Obituary notices and resolutions and detailed accounts of events of a purely local nature can not be published. Pictures are published only when same are of general interest. All orders for subscriptions should be sent to the Editor and Manager. Members when changing their address should immediately notify the Magazine office. All changes for the Directory should reach this office previous to the 10th day of the second month of the quarter in which it is desired that such changes should take effect. Inquiries for the address of or any information concerning another, should be made through the secretary of the lodge nearest the residence of the person making such inquiry. Ladies' Society. Calgary Canadian Grand Union 14:00 o'clock (2:00 p. m.), secret session Meeting-Program-Hotel Rates, etc.-Calgary and Western Canada. The work of the Arrangements Committee for the Canadian Grand Union Meeting to be held in Calgary, Alta., Canada, August 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th next, is being pushed with a determination to leave nothing undone to make the meeting the largest and most successful of its kind that has yet been held in the history of the Brotherhood. From the day our last matter for the July issue must be in the hands of the printer, viz., June 18th, until the first day of the Union Meeting is slightly over six weeks, hence the program is as yet incomplete, the events thus far arranged being as follows: 20:00 o'clock (8:00 p. m.), public recep tion. |