AMERICAN FEDERATIONIST. The representatives of the American Federation of Labor have been making a notable fight for a free and untrammeled press. In line with this policy our official magazine is maintained as a free forum for the presentment of Labor's aims, policies and achievements. Since it is recognized as the official mouthpiece of organized labor of America, its utterances are copied far and wide by the press of many lands. The discussion of current industrial problems, official publications, accounts of activities and policies, makes the American Federationist a means of educating thoughtful readers and a source of invaluable historical data for students and public leaders. During the past years the American Federationist has dealt with various current subjects related to Labor's organization, with economic, social, and political matters affecting the welfare of the workers. In all matters the aim has been to maintain an attitude of entire fairness toward critics and opponents, and to be ever ready to defend Labor's rights from injustice and invasion. The various numbers have dealt with important crises and significant tendencies in the labor world so that students, public officials, and interested persons as well as trade unionists have eagerly sought the current issues. As the magazine deals with the whole labor field, and advises labor men of the progress made and the tendencies of the age, there is every reason to desire for it a greater number of readers for the disseminating of information and the strengthening of fraternal ties. As befitting this year's needs, the political and legislative situation has been dealt with very fully. From time to time, reports from the Legislative Committee of the American Federation of Labor have been published which were of vital importance to every working man that he might keep in touch with his representatives in Congress and know how they were dealing with his interests. Legislative achievements have been duly chronicled. All of this information had a direct bearing upon the recent election, and served an educational purpose well adapted to make the trade unionist an intelligent enlightened participant in governmental affairs. The political facts were honestly and impartially laid before the reader; he was left to draw his own conclusions. Through the American Federationist the feeling of identity of interest and fraternity is promoted not only in this country, but on the whole continent of America, and in many foreign countries. The files of the American Federationist are recognized as an important part of the historical records of organized labor. They not only officially chronicle policies and decisions, but reflect the ideals and sentiments of the organization and of the age. Labor has played no unimportant part in the affairs of this country, and that part should be appropriately recorded that future generations may interpret our history aright. CONCLUSION. The past year has been one of tremendous stress, responsibility and activityproblems, duties, difficulties, opposition have presented themselves in rapid succession. Yet, with an honest and justifiable feeling of gratification, organized labor can review the progress made, for despite all hindrance and obstacles, we have made steady progress. The struggle has been hard, the strain intense, the forces arrayed against us more relentless than at any time before-and yet organized labor is stronger than ever. We have fought a good fight, and are cheered and heartened by our progress and victories. Organize! Organize! Organize! has been our slogan, and will be our inspiration for the work of the new year and the years to come. By the magic token of that one word, "organization," the wrongs of Labor will vanish; the rights, hopes, and aspiration of the toilers will be realized. The hearty and sincere spirit of co-operation that has existed between my colleagues of the Executive Council and myself, has facilitated the determination of policies and the execution of our work and duty. We have been unanimous as to policies and methods for furthering the cause of organized labor on the American continent. The support and good will of the men of labor-the rank and file--so generally and so generously given me in my efforts to be helpful to them and to all our people, are appreciated far beyond my power of verbal expression. My only hope and aim is to serve our cause to the fullest limit of whatever strength and ability I may possess and thereby, in a measure, justify the respect, confidence, and co-operation of my fellowworkers. This report is necessarily incomplete, and leaves much to be desired, but the field of organized labor is too broad to be covered by any one single account. Our field is as broad as life; our problems are the difficulties, the injustice, the sorrow, the ideals, of the toilers of our broad land. Our movement is a part of life, with all of its imperfections, aspirations, and strivings for the things we would achieve. It is only possible to deal most briefly, even with matters that have required especial attention during the year. There are many others, some just as important, that have not been brought into prominence because of new problems or changing conditions-these, though just as essential to the movement, can not be here considered. But I trust that this report will convey some adequate conception of the work I have tried to direct and accomplish, and something of my desires and yearnings for the cause to which I have been giving all of my energy, thought, and zeal. But I count it well spent if the results bring freer, better, happier life to all the people. There was never a cause or a work more worth while than this. It is an honor to have even the smallest part in our struggle for human welfare. Entrusted to the keeping of organized labor, are power and opportunity to fight for the right, to strike down the wrong, to secure for all the right to a free life and to work which will best express the real and better self. For the achievement of those ennobling aspirations it is an honor to enlist, not for a battle or a campaign, but for all time, so long as life lasts. Again let me say, organize, that shoulder to shoulder we may press onward and upward. Fraternally submitted. Samellompers. President, American Federation of Labor. It is true that single trade unions have been often beaten in pitched battles against superior forces of united capital, but such defeats are by no means disastrous. On the contrary, they are useful in calling the attention of the workers to the necessity of thorough organization, of the inevitable obligation of bringing the yet unorganized workers into the union, of uniting the hitherto disconnected local unions into national unions, and of effecting a yet higher unity by the affiliation of all national and international unions in one grand federation, in which each and all trade organizations would be as distinct as the billows, yet one as the sea. In the work of the organization of labor, the most energetic, wisest, and devoted of us, when working individually, can not hope to be successful, but by combining our efforts ALL may. And the combined action of all the unions when exerted in favor of any one union will certainly be more efficacious than the action of any one union, no matter how powerful it may be, if exerted in favor of an unorganized or a partially organized mass. The great aim and object of the Federation is to strengthen fraternity, and its method is, by organization, education and inculcation, to place the labor movement upon a higher and more effective plane. The strength of a chain is in its weakest link, and the Federation, therefore, endeavors to organize all labor, recognizing that while many non-unionists may be sympathetic with unionism, yet that the unorganized are far more exposed to the pressure of unjust conditions than are the organized, and being thus necessarily weaker in maintaining wages, keeping down hours, and resisting other encroachments, are the source of constant danger to the organized as well as to themselves. And there is this that the American Federation of Labor has already done: It has largely swept away the old and foolish jealousy that existed between the skilled and unskilled workmen; it has taught the great lesson that a man is a man, no matter whether he sets type or scales the ladder, whether he sews the garment together or sells it behind the counter, whether he makes the machine that spins the cotton or gathers the cotton in the field. Whatever a man may be, so long as he works honestly and seeks to wrong no other man, or to advantage himself at the cost of another, he is a man. The Federation maintains this and seeks to swing all into line regardless of how they may happen to be employed. Improvements of Labor Conditions in Germany. L BY HANS FEHLINGER. MUNICH. ABOR'S open enemies always loudly call for the assistance of the governmental forces to "protect" them against the "aggressions" of trade unions. They try to make the public believe that every strike endangers the security of the State, and that it would be to the country's best interests to imprison every striker and every person "interfering with the liberty of work." However, the times are past when the general public opinion could be converted to such views. There exists another sort of enemies of organized labor who are more dangerous. I mean those who, although pretending to be friends, can not talk enough about the "inefficiency" of the trade union movement, thus preventing many wageearning men and women from joining the trade unions. Statistics prove that all the talk about inefficiency of trade unions is entirely unfounded; they prove that the dues paid into the union treasury are a profitable investment. During the year 1911 the unions affiliated to the German Federation of Labor conducted trade movements in 9,483 cities and villages in all parts of the Empire. The number of wage-earners participating in these movements was 1,011,600, and 879,900 of them were benefited in some way, while 40,000 persons took part in movements the results of which were still unknown when the report was closed. In consequence of successful trade movements there were secured: Reductions of the hours of work for 293,316 persons, increases in wages for 592,066 persons, other improvements of the working conditions for 393,618 persons. Besides, there were prevented: Increases of the hours of work of 4,350 persons, reductions of the wages of 15,648 persons, victimization of 5,525 persons, etc. A considerable number of persons were benefited in various ways. In 3,499 cases, involving 304,481 persons, the movements resulted in collective working agreements being entered into between the unions and the employers. Although the year 1911 was a comparatively quiet one, 25 per cent of the trade union members obtained increases in their wages. The extent to which each of the main groups of trades was affected by these increases is shown in the table following: As in previous years, increases in wages were secured in the majority of cases without resorting to stoppages of work; only 123,057 persons had their wages increased in direct consequence of strikes. The total cost of the trade movements in 1911, including the cost of strikes and lockouts, amounted to $3,870,000; but the yearly amount gained by way of increases of wages was $13,420,000. It must be kept in mind that other improvements were secured also, the most important of which was the reduction of the normal working hours. The next table shows the extent of the reductions of working hours obtained in 1911 by principal groups of trades: The nine-hour day is now pretty general, and in the better organized trades progress towards still shorter hours is slowly made The question of Saturday half-holiday has not yet attracted general attention. The number of wage-earners affected by reductions of working hours varied considerably in the different years for which statistics are available; it was highest in 1910 (344,570) and lowest in 1908 (59,324), when the industrial situation was unfavorable to securing improvements. While we have made progress by way of advances in wages, conditions of labor and reduction of hours of labor, there is yet much room for improvement, and particularly so in regard to the reduction in hours of labor. Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, eight hours for what we will, is one of the principal demands of organized labor in Germany as well as in America. The unions seek to enlist public sympathy where they can, and to educate their own members in favor of the eight-hour day. At present the eight-hour day is the normal working day in a few small branches of trade only. It could not yet be introduced in any one of the important trades employing large numbers of wageearners. But the general eight-hour day will be secured as soon as the requirements of industry, the necessities of the community, and other factors permit. ST Trade Unionism in England. [Exclusive correspondence of AMERICAN FEDERATIONIST.] we LONDON, October 29, 1912. IGNS of general widespread industrial unrest still prevail in the United Kingdom and it is clear that the stirring times of the last two years have by no means exhausted the vitality of our labor organizations. On the one hand have had, during October, the meeting in enthusiastic annual convention of such important unions as those connected with mining and railway work. Then we have made distinctly further progress in that important feature of modern British trade unionism, the amalgamation of overlapping unions. Furthermore, demands for increased wages and shorter hours are being put forward in half a dozen important industrial divisions at the same time. Altogether the labor movement is vigorous and it is clear that the year 1912 is not going to close without having been signalized by another tremendous step forward on the part of our organized workers. The Swansea convention of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain was representative of the greatest single labor unit in the country. Mr. Robert Smillie* was elected president of the federation, which was a fitting tribute to the man who has given the best years of his life to building up the great coal miners' organization, of which he now becomes the official head. It also marks some change in the policy and ideals of the federation. While the new president is no reckless iconoclast, he believes that the men he leads are justly entitled to a far greater improvement in their working conditions than anything yet widely mentioned. Smillie is an Ulster Scot born at Belfast, fifty-four years ago. At the age of 10 he was working as a half-timer in the mills of Belfast, and four years later he removed to Glasgow, where he found work in the shipyards. When he took to the collier's calling at the age of 16, wages averaged about $2.50 a day for the best type of men, but in a few years' time they were down to 60 cents a day-a figure from which they were only raised by long years of agitation, in which Mr. Smillie played a prominent part. After the Scottish coal strike of 1894, which, owing to lack of organization, ended badly for the men, it was decided to re-organize the miners of Scotland, and Mr. Smillie was given his chance in connection with the Lamarkshire County Miners' Union of which he became organizer, and he was instrumental in enrolling some 30,000 men in the union. For about sixteen years Mr. Smillie worked as a miner, and on four separate occasions he had narrow escapes from death in the mine. This experience of the dangers that attend the calling of the collier was of great value to Mr. Smillie when he was appointed a member of the Royal Commission on Mines, and when it became necessary to prepare the case for the miners while the Coal Mines Regulation bill was passing through Parliament. The discussions at the Swansea convention were very largely connected with the difficulties of the new Minimum Wage act which has been explained before in these columns. Amendment of the old Workmens' Compensation act was also demanded. The Scottish miners and those of Durham asked for the adoption of a working week of five days, and the members of the federation will ballot upon this. Finally the miners have drafted a bill asking for the nationalization of our coal mines. The coal mines are to be bought from their present owners by compulsory purchases at arranged prices. This will, of course, be a matter for legislation and it can not by any means be regarded as within the purview of immediate politics. The annual convention of the powerful Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants was held at Dublin, Ireland. The membership of this union now stands at 120,000, an increase of over 40,000 in twelve months as a result of the unrest of that period. The unions' expenditure in connection with the national railway strike, the Irish railway strike, the transport workers' strike and the national coal strike, all of which have happened in the last eighteen months, has exceeded $650,000. Here again the delegates asked for substantial amendment of the Workmen's Compensation act, and a resolution in favor of nationalization of railways was also carried. It was determined to start an agitation for an eight-hour day for railway men. A protest was made against the way the National Health Insurance act is being used by the capitalist insurance companies to the detriment of trade unionism. Finally an important resolution was passed in favor of the immediate amalgamation of the Amalgamated Society with the Railway Workers' Union and the Pointsmen and Signalmen's Society. This is a very important amalgamation scheme, but perhaps the most important of such proposals is that in connection with the building trades. There are twenty unions in the building trades here of which ten have voted in favor of amalgamation. It appears that although this approval has been obtained the proportion of members voting is very small. For example, the great Carpenters and Joiners' Union with a membership of 77,000 records that only 29,000 voted on the amalgamation question. Out of 24,000 organized bricklayers only a few more than 5,000 voted. A strike of over 4,000 men employed in the locomotive fitting shops of Lancashire is threatened. The men demand an advance of fifty cents per week and 5 per cent on piece-work rates. The employers offer half this demand on condition that the men sign an agreement for three years. The men's ballot has gone against this, the three years' agreement being specially disliked. The woolcombers, dyers, and textile workers of Yorkshire show signs of engaging in a general campaign for better working conditions. The dyers' application for an increase of wages to 14 cents an hour was endorsed on October 19th by a *Mr. Smillie's photograph was printed in the last issue of the American FederATIONIST. conference and at the same time it was intimated that the General Union of Textile Workers was considering the advisability of joining the movement. Next came the information that the woolcombers were formulating demands. From the - report of a meeting of the Bradford district of the Textile Workers' Union there is a pretty general feeling that the same time is opportune for pressing a demand for more wages. The proposal before this union is that the employers be asked for an advance of 15 per cent for weavers, burlers, minders, spinners, drawers, twisters, and winders. The wages of textile workers are very low. The weekly average per unit for the men, women, boys, and girls employed in the industry in the various towns is fixed as follows: Huddersfield, $4.25; Dewsbury, $3.75; Leeds, $3.42; Keighley, $3.36; Halifax, $3.25; Bradford, $3.14; the rest of Yorkshire, $3.22. The paper mill workers propose to take action on the question of enforcing the demand for the "week-end stop" or a cessation of all work in British paper mills from Saturday noon until 6 a. m. on Monday. The Railway Clerks' Association which now has over 2,000 members is a striking example of successful trade unionism amongst that class of office workers who have been very difficult to organize. It is claimed that an average weekly salary of less than $9.75 per week will not support the average railway clerk and his family. As the usual earnings are well below this, a movement for increased pay is to be inaugurated. Bakers, both in London and the country, have been perfecting their organization for some time past, and a national movement is to be set on foot. The program for London will include a fifty-fourhour week, $7.50 a minimum week's wages in shops, and an $8 minimum in factories. B Direct Legislation. By W. D. MAHON. Y DIRECT legislation, we mean that the people shall have the right to legislate for themselves instead of having all legislation and laws made, as they are at present, by representatives chosen by the people. As "direct legislationists," we ask that the people be given the right to inaugurate and pass upon the laws which are to guide and govern them. In order to successfully accomplish this object, we adopt what we call the Initiative and Referendum. The Initiative is the right of the people to propose and enact laws themselves, which would be done as follows: If 5 per cent of the people should desire a certain law to be inaugurated, they would formulate their law, and secure to the petition 5 per cent of the voters of the municipality, State, or nation, as the case might be. Then they would present this petition and copy of the proposed law to the Legislature and ask it to submit the measure directly to the people. The majority of the votes of the people would either accept or reject the law. This is the initiative form, giving the people the right to inaugurate and adopt their own laws. The Referendum is the right to refer all laws that have been passed by the Legislature or council or Congress, as the case may be, to the people. ́As "direct legislationists," we ask that all laws which have been passed by the Legislature shall remain in abeyance, say for a period of ninety days, before they would go into effect. During that time the laws should be published so that all could read and become familiar with their purport. Then, if there was any law, or a number of them, to which a percentage of the people, say 5 per cent, should not agree, they would petition the Legislature and demand that such laws be submitted to a vote of the people. It would then be the duty of the Legislature to refer the law by Referendum to a direct vote of the people. Then the majority vote of the people would determine, and would either reject or accept the laws. Should the people then endorse them, they would become laws. Should the people veto them, then they could not become laws. This is the proposition that gives the people the right to vote upon all laws that are passed for their government. In the opinion of the "direct legislationists," we have reached the period in the advancement of civilization where a change should be made in the power of law-making, as outlined above. The human family in its onward progress has gone from age to age advancing, and with these advancements, we have changed our industrial and various other conditions of life, with the exception of that of government. It is unnecessary for me to call attention to the fact that the various changes have finally brought us to what is known as the organized commercial age of the world; an age in which, under our present form of legislation, a few men are enabled to dominate the political and industrial conditions of the day. The truth is that we are still attempting to carry on our Government and inaugurate our laws through an ancient and crude system which came down to us from the Middle Ages. The representative form of government was the first step from monarchy. It was a wise one in its day, and met the conditions of the hour for which it was inaugurated, but the changed conditions in all other walks of life have gone on advancing, while in legislative matters we have stood still and have not kept pace with the education and spirit of the time. The representative form of government is not bringing to the great mass of the people the conditions they should enjoy. I know that when we come to discuss this question our opponents will point out the fact that in order to adopt direct legislation we would have to change our Constitution. Now, I would remind the opponents that the principle upon which this republic was formed was |