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that limits its activity to supplying food, or clothing, or heat to the poor, and extending sympathy and words of encouragement, is not enough. Let the devotee go further; let him ask why there is allowed to exist within the city such a habitation where the sun never enters and light scarce permeates; where ventilation is unprovided, and the air is vitiated by overcrowding; where there is no sewer connection, and where the surface drainage round about runs to the cellar or first floor, adding dampness to other bad conditions. Let him ask, "Is there no city ordinance that forbids such conditions?'' If there is, why is it not enforced?" Let him say, "I will inquire and if the purse or other influence of some crafty owner is the cause of this evasion of the law I will call attention to it and also to the official who is neglecting his duty." Or, if there is no violation of the law, with my friends I will form a coalition, and have elected to the city council some one who will introduce a proper ordinance, and I will help arouse a public sentiment that will force it through."

Put your pity, your sympathy, your indignation, your enthusiasm, your charity, into laws or ordinances. Enthusiasm is ephemeral; determination is weakened by time and events. But if all these are translated into written statutes they are preserved and are continuously operative.

The Earl of Stamford, in a presidential address before a sanitary Congress at Bradford, England, in 1903, made the following

statement:

More and more is it becoming clear that indiscriminate public and private charities can never, for all their abundance, mitigate a tithe of the evil, misery, and pauperism-incidents of the accumulation of the very wealth out of which those charities are supported. In spite of all our efforts at charitable relief-nay, rather because of themthe evil increases, and individual attempts to arrest the rising tide become futile. Before our eyes spreads the depopulated countrysides, and into our cities in increasing crowds pour the men and women who were once and ever should be the backbone and glory of the nation but who now go to swell the ranks of the unemployed and to be

The social economic, and union-labeled product exhibit of the American Federation of Labor is now open to visitors in the Social Economic Building, at the Jamestown Exposition. Members of organized labor, its friends, and students who visit the Jamestow position, are urged to visit

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How wide, then, is the field of thought and action of the sanitarian! He delves into the material problems connected with the daily life of the poorest of the community, and his mind is occupied with constructive efforts on the part of his state, his country, and of all nations. He must have his eye upon a standard set upon the highest pinnacle, but must beware of utopian measures. He should remember that a law or measure which seems entirely impracticable today may appear perfectly practicable tomorrow. And he should have the sound judgment which will make him withhold placing any stone in the sanitary structure till the stone below has been firmly fixed. His mission is alike to keep out disease and to eliminate its causes; as an ally or agent of law and government to spread a net and hold it firm to catch and throw back the vicious and diseased in the great wave of immigration as it breaks upon our shores; to lay the hand of healthful restraint upon commerce for its own and the public good; to check the merchant or manufacturer when his absorbing greed for gain makes him ready to risk the lives of hundreds; to oppose the lawyer when by a legal twist in behalf of the individual he seeks to force a way around the sanitary barrier erected for the common safety; to force the slow comprehension of legislators; to prick the tardy conscience of the doctor with the needle of the law; to sweep from the path the sentimental obstruction of philanthropic visionaries; and to spread the knowledge among the people so necessary for their own welfare.

In his mission he must bear in mind the old Latin aphorism: "Palma non sine pulvere." But he will find compensation in that other aphorism, "Labor ipse voluptas," in the consciousness of the nobility of his efforts his labor will itself prove a pleasure."

and examine the American Federation of Labor exhibit. A well-informed, courteous trade unionist in the person of Mr. C. P. Connolly, of St. Louis, is in attendance and will be glad to give full information and receive suggestions from visitors.

INDUSTRIAL PEace.

By JOHN B. POWELL.

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VERY business, profession or trade that is honest is honorable, and if industriously and intelligently followed ought surely to make the follower at least a comfortable living. In the sense of amassing wealth, the accumulation of money comes with more certainty to those who derive it from inheritance or profit-producing factors. From the enhancement of values of stocks, bonds, real and commercial securities and transactions, margins, dividends, and premiums are derived. These are the foundation stocks which labor does not possess.

Advantages and opportunities which play so great a part with capital are not happenings of the hour or the day with Labor; hence it can not be said that capital and labor ride equally upon the surge and swell of money's mighty current. Nor is it possible for labor to obtain the same real, substantial benefit which capital thus secures.

The laborer, skilled or common, is not a capitalist. He works for what he earns— money. He has few real estate holdings, for the most part is a renter, and however moderate his living expenses, finds his earnings barely sufficient to meet them and not enough to serve as a foundation for a fortune of any considerable value, in fact the margins of his earnings are so narrow that he really can not invest in any profitmaking enterprise.

An extraordinary individual would be the satisfied person. Were we all rich, in Were we all rich, in the sense of having unlimited wealth, we would still be contending for the acme of possession. The effort to ascend in the financial scale, generally falls heaviest on the man who earns his prosperity "by the sweat of his brow," and in most such cases it is the man of labor, trade and mechanics whose physical forces are strained to the utmost. If he asserts his skill and industry are of such value as to give him a right to demand a remuneration that will be sufficient to provide him an income beyond his

living requirements, he is where the more potent power-the capitalist-gives him at scornful look and declares he is without merit.

Indeed, says that power, when you place your skill and endurance before me for remuneration, you must realize that I am its judge as I am the proper one to estimate the supply and demand and to fix the profit I should have.

This is the condition which the labor world encounters. Much of capital is represented in its employers' associations.

When it is considered that there are today over three millions of men supporting a varied number of trade unions, it can not be consistently denied they have in their unity, inalienable rights which they should assert and protect.

Organized labor seeks to inculcate the principle that a just service is entitled to a just compensation; a rational endurance to a rational rest; and in the moral domain it aims to free men from the rapacity and slavery of money's power, to spread calm, clear, liberal thought, speech, and action along the lines of right, reason, and justice, and to make life peaceful, worth the living, uncontrolled and uncontrollable by the elements of hate, avarice, and contention.

However, it may be asked whether labor has a dispute with capital or capital with labor, which is so pregnant with contention and of such importance in an international scope, that it is really a subject fitly to be considered and passed upon by a congress appointed to review and decide questions purely affecting affairs pertaining to political and international government and conditions. We are interested, but not concerned, in what is occurring or has occurred in Germany, France, Australia, and elsewhere, but there is no industrial disquiet interrupting the amity of nations in an international scope. True, a strike originating among the shipping in a seaport of one country might to some extent involve navigation to a foreign port, and thus become an international menace, but it is

hardly probable that a conflict between capital and labor in any of our inland cities would be other than local in effect.

Organized labor claims that its cause is that of equity, right, reason, and justice, the primum mobile of humanity's prosperity, shirking no responsibility, but prepared to face public opinion the world over as a sincere advocate of industrial peace and earnest in any effort that will secure impartial judgment upon all questions involving the rights of wage-earners and employers to the end that harmony and peace may generally prevail.

Very naturally it is pertinent to inquire whether there is a hope for any such happy probability.

Past observation is not encouraging, if we look to the domains of capital as represented in the manufacturers' association. Former President D. M. Parry said at one time:

The only true solution of the labor question must lie in an appeal to the intelligence of the people.

Arbitration, he elsewhere said, is an interference with free competitive conditions, and its effect can not, therefore, fail to be detrimental and, if

generally adopted, its tendency will be to hamper industry, bring about a waste of effort and an increase of the cost of production and a decrease in the margin of profit.

The recent determination of this same association to raise $1,500,000 to fight labor unions, seems to show that the spirit of peace is not theirs.

The declaration of the American Federation of Labor presents an advanced position in American citizenship as shown in its resolution that "Labor should make an organized effort to aid the movement for arbitration of international disputes."

There is manifest a spirit on the part of organized labor, in the resolution quoted, to uphold the highest possible tribunal, wherever it may sit in judgment to pass upon its views on arbitration and its claims to equity and justice. Will not the public note the defiance of the capitalists as represented by the manufacturers' association and the reasonableness of labor as manifested by the action of the American Federation of Labor.

Accepting Mr. Parry as a capitalist, or rather as a man with capital in the field of manufacture, we may look upon his expressions as voicing the sentiments of the

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avowed opponents of organized labor; hence it is interesting to compare his utterances with those of President Gompers, of the American Federation of Labor, a body that is virtually the representative congress of American organized labor.

Labor welcomes, says Mr. Gompers, without being carpingly critical, any effort that may be made which will bring peace to the peoples of the world. Labor sincerely declares that the time must come, and come soon, when the world will recognize that peace is essential to the full development of industrial, commercial, and civilized life as air is to human life.

Mr. Parry says, Any crusade having for its object the grinding down of labor, should meet the determined opposition of practically the entire membership of American manufacturers.

Mr. Gompers remarks, that the hopes and aspirations and the determined efforts of America's toilers are to join in the higher, nobler, and more humane endeavors for peace and harmony.

Which, if you please, speaks honestly, truly, and sincerely for his cause and the cause of humanity? One represents millions of money, the other millions of minds, while both attract the attention of the thinking world, and what they say, or have said, will be weighed in the scales of careful thought by the weighmaster of us all-the public.

cause.

There are people who delight to applaud an unrighteous victory over a righteous The real heroes are sometimes the defeated, and they may well stand before the world claiming its admiration, being conscious of the glory that their field is the field of honor; their ensign, that of justice; their appeal, reason's appeal, and their defense that of the right.

Stand such heroes before my eyes to admire; let my ears hear their appeal, and my voice proclaim that their defeat is noble in its pathos and sublime in its grandeur, for their cause is the cause of humanity, weakened only for a day in its suffering, for it knows no final surrender on the field where it has fought, is fighting, and will, continue to fight, not for its existence as an organized body, but for the breath and body of its families, its friends, its members the solid ranks of the great army of toilers whose mind and muscle have developed the might and main of the land and made possible its material and commercial facilities, productiveness, and prosperity, and certainly its cause is, in a constituent sense, the cause of humanity.

S

LABOR DISPUTES IN GERMANY.

By HANS FEhlinger.

MUNICH, GERMANY,

June 8, 1907. O LONG as the industrial machine is so unevenly balanced as at present, no amount of care, and no precaution, however wisely directed, can avert strikes and lockouts. They are necessary evils and will continue to play a part in our industrial life as long as small groups of individuals are allowed to place the maintenance of a certain rate of interest before the industrial content and economic security of the wealth producers.

Trade unions regard strikes always as a reserve power, only to be used when all other means to improve the working conditions of their members have failed. But there are still many employers in this country who are not willing to settle questions as to hours and wages in joint conference with the representatives of organized labor, employers who can not reconcile themselves with the thought that wage-earners have equal rights as citizens, and that they must have the right, also, of collectively selling their labor power.

To strike may be considered a crude way to settle a dispute, but what other method have the men upon which to rely, if the employer refuses to meet the officials of the trade union and to discuss grievances?

The following summary of strikes and lockouts in the years 1900 to 1905 is based on the statistics of the General Commission of German Trade Unions. The figures show The figures show that industrial struggles are very numerous in Germany, and that they tend to increase in recent years:

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during the last five years from 60.4 per cent of the total number of disputes in 1901 to 63.1 per cent in 1902, 68.4 per cent in 1903, 75.8 per cent in 1904, and 77.1 per cent in 1905. Up to 1904 the General Commission of German Trade Unions published statistics of strikes and lockouts only, but not of those movements for improving the conditions of labor which did not lead to a cessation of work. In order to show this side of trade union activity it was decided to compile statistics of all movements for increasing wages and shortening the hours of work, so that the achievements of organized labor might be fully appreciated.

In 1905 wage movements, strikes, and lockouts occurred in 44,040 establishments and involved 893.337 employes. In consequence of these movements 186,363 persons obtained a reduction of their working time amounting to 696,259 hours per week, and 427,187 persons had an increase of wages amounting to 885,311 marks per week. Furthermore, 107,478 persons obtained increased wages for overtime, 71,632 persons obtained higher pay for night and Sunday work, 18,340 persons had piece-work abolished, 8,123 persons obtained improved working rules, 125,135 persons obtained other advantages. In 1,507 cases collective. trade agreements were arrived at for 257,791 wage-earners. The sum of 11,000,000 marks was spent for all disputes. In 1905, the largest number of workmen (216,923) involved in strikes and lockouts was in the mining industry. Next to the miners came the metal trades with 86,046, the building trades with 79,075, and the clothing and textile trades with 63,892 persons taking part in labor disputes. The greatest success in shortening the working time and increasing wages was achieved in the building trades; in this group of trades 50,900 persons obtained shorter hours of labor amounting to 212,616 hours per week, and 203,822 persons had increases of wages amounting to 418,221 marks per week.

One of the most important causes of many strikes in recent years was the increase of the prices of nearly all commodities in consequence of the new tariff and

commercial treaties.

WAR FUND
TO CRUSH
LABOR.

EDITORIAL.

By SAMUEL GOMPERS.

CAPITALISTS' Parry has been out-Parried. The National Association of Manufacturers which recently held its convention in New York City revealed a degree of bourbonism, stupidity, malignity, and impudence that astonished even the corporation organs. The comments of the press throughout the country on the proceedings of that gathering have been almost uniformly unfavorable, and this is a good sign—a sign of progress. But how is one to account for the violence and folly of the moving spirits of the convention? Is it possible that the manufacturers of the country, many of whom have just and rational ideas, maintain friendly relations with union labor, have trade agreements with labor, conduct union shops; will allow an association, controlled by reactionaries and ranters to misrepresent them and create strife, ill will, and bitterness?

The president of the association, Mr. Van Cleave, of St. Louis, is evidently jealous of Parry and determined to better that gentleman's instructions. One of his recommendations in the annual address was contained in the following passage:

We want to federate the manufacturers of this country to effectively fight industrial oppression. The president ought to have fully $500,000 a year for the next three years. We should certainly provide ways and means to properly finance the association, to federate the employers of the country, and to educate our manufacturers to a proper sense of their own duty, patriotism, and self-interests.

The convention agreed with Mr. Van Cleave and appointed a committee of 35 to raise the amount specified.

What does the association propose to do with such a fund? Hire spies, establish agencies of strike-breakers, corrupt and bribe law-makers or others, maintain lobbies? "Not at all," say the officers. The fund is to be devoted to educational purposes. The public is to be informed as to the awful aims and demands and methods of organized labor, and manufacturers who are not sufficiently alarmed and excited are to be worked up to the proper pitch.

Mr. Van Cleave indicated in his address what it was he wanted to combat in the union movement. He was modest and generous. He did not propose to destroy unions root and branch. He had no objection to benevolent associations of workingmen. He was opposed, and would fight, if you please, the "abuses" and "evils' of unionism. And what are they from the Van Cleave point of view?

The closed shop, the boycott, limitation of apprentices, limitation of output, dictation by the unions or the officers, and the attempt to control legislation. New issues, the convention was told, had been raised by the apparent resolve of labor to "terrorize the President, Congress, judges, and juries." This danger had to be fought at all points and at any cost.

Now, union labor will not give up the right of contract upon which the "closed," or more properly speaking, the union shop, is based; nor

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