creation that hiss, the snake from its venom, and the goose from its simplicity.

There is also the "backslider" to deal with. He feels that he has spent enough money. He is too selfish to stop and think how gallantly and with what self-abnegation men have worked to put this cause where it is today. The man who constantly says he is going to quit paying dues as it is time for someone else to do something, should be treated as a non also.

There is this "next pay day" man, too. He treats this phrase so sacredly that he uses it weekly. His attitude can best be expressed in the words of Congreve, "Defer not tomorrow to be wise, tomorrow's sun to thee may never rise."

While we should make due allowance for the frailties of mankind, we should treat it reasonably. If society disregarded the offenders who breach its laws we would soon be back to a state of barbarism and savagery. We can have due regard for our non co-workers as men, but we should not give them the same merit that we do those who will help to fight a loyal cause.

We are today what we are because of the correctness of our principles, and never what the opinions of those opposed to the labor movement would make us out to be. We must keep up the fight even though some of us have to rest once in awhile. Sacrifices have been made in the past; no righteous cause was ever accomplished without them. Let not the obstacles confronting us discourage us one iota. George Washington at Valley Forge stood with a few hundred half-starved ragged soldiers facing an enemy many thousands strong, and yet he won one of the most glorious fights for social and humane progress. Are we, brother unionists of today, to show a spirit inferior to that of Washington? We think not!

Brothers: Stand firm, be steadfast one to the other, be friendly in your relations with the members of the great body of railroad workers and this great cause of justice and humanity will triumph. For while we are many in number, we are one-one in object and one in brotherhood.

BUILD FOR THE FUTURE.

From many sections of the country comes the cry of "Hard Times." Hundreds of thousands of workers in all lines of indus

ness men are unusually cautious about investing their money and as usual the entire burden falls upon those least able to bear it-the workingmen.

These trying times test the stability and permanency of unionism. They are an unfailing barometer by which may be judged with accuracy the strength or the weakness of the entire movement.

Some organizations have lost a large percentage of their membership and the progress of practically all have been halted.

Judged by this standard, the Brotherhood of Railway Clerks finds itself in a comparative enviable position in the labor world. Not only has it lost but few members, but the losses sustained have been more than made up through the increases shown by the local lodges, and the added membership of new lodges organized.

This depression in business, like all others, will prove only temporary. Already there are signs in the business and industrial world of returning prosperity and it is for the railway clerks themselves to decide whether or not they will share in it. If they desire to do so, they must attach due importance to the fact that the building up of an effective organization is the first essentiality-then only in this manner can they be in a position to take advantage of the great business revival which is on the way-to place themselves in a position whereby they may be protected from excessive long hours, and demand their share of the returning prosperity in increased salaries and better conditions of employment.

It is a well known fact that employers of labor only increase the number of their employees when conditions actually demand it, and with the curtailment in the number of clerks now in the employ of the different railroads, when business resumes its normal condition the forces employed will only be increased after the hours of those now in their employ have been increased to the limit of human endurance.

Let all members of the Brotherhood make every effort to force the necessity for organization on the non-member and especially impress him with the fact that unless he speedily protects himself through organiza

JUN - 1916

tion, he will be required to donate many hours of hard toil to the company which he serves, for which he will not be paid.

SYSTEMATIC EDUCATION.

A most interesting experiment is being carried on in New York this year by the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, the third largest organization in the ranks of American organized labor.

The convention held at Cleveland last June took up the question of education of union members. It was universally recognized that this union, like many others, suffers from the fact that very few of its members have any thorough understanding of the labor movement and its problems, so that all the burden of responsibility in the international and the various locals falls on a comparatively small number of persons, who seldom receive hearty and efficient support from the rank and file. These so-called leaders get all the blame for whatever may go wrong, while they receive only too little credit for what they achieve under such difficult conditions. The delegates at Cleveland agreed that the most necessary step to strengthen the organization for the great work it has before it was to start a work of systematic education of the rank and file. After general discussion the matter was referred to the general executive board and a special committee on education working hand in hand with it, and they have since worked out an elaborate plan.

The international union has entered into an agreement with the Rand School of Social Science, a workingmen's college located at 140 East Nineteenth street, New York City, and having branches in various parts of the country, which has been doing a valuable work for education for more than eight years. Under the joint direction of the union and the school, a regular course of instruction is now being given to a class of more than one hundred members of the organization.

ods of union activity, both in time of strike and in time of peace. These subjects are being treated partly through carefully arranged lectures given by such men as Morris Hillquit and Jacob Panken, lawyers, well known for their services to the garment workers' unions; Meyer London, another labor lawyer who was elected to Congress last November in the Twelfth New York District; I. M. Rubinow, the foremost American authority on the subject of insurance against accident, sickness, old age and unemployment; Algernon Lee, educational director of the Rand School, and others. Besides the lectures, there are class sessions in which the students, meeting in small groups, review the topics dealt with in the lecture and receive instruction in elementary civics, methods of union work, and to some extent in grammar and composition.

Great interest is being shown, and at the last moment the number of union members applying for admission to the class was more than could be accommodated. It is expected that the course will be repeated on a larger scale next season, and it will probably be extended to other cities where the I. L. G. W. U. is largely represented.

ARBITRATION ON WESTERN ROADS. Firemen on switch, suburban and transfer engines will take the witness stand next Monday when the Western railway wage arbitration hearing is resumed in the federal building, Chicago. The members of the arbitration board, six in number, are expected back in Chicago either Saturday or Sunday after nearly two weeks' vacation. William S. Carter, president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen, will examine these witnesses and draw out from them the stories of their long hours, small pay and unsatisfactory labor conditions.

The firemen in their requests to the Western railroads ask that firemen engaged in transfer and unclassified service be paid the through freight rate, according to the class of engine. For firemen in ordinary switching service the brotherhood asks that the compensation be from $3.10 to $4.00 a day, according to the type of engine used, the Mallet type carrying the highest rate. Firemen who are to begin service other than between the hours of 6 a. m. and 8 a. m. shall be paid 2 cents an hour in addition to the foregoing rate. Ten hours or less.

will constitute a day's work in switching service. Time over ten hours is to be computed and paid for at the rate of time and a half. Thirty minutes undisturbed for meals are also asked for switch engine firemen. For enginemen in passenger suburban service the same treatment is asked as is given regular passenger enginemen.

President Carter probably will put on the stand at least half a dozen firemen who will very likely come from different roads in various parts of the country. They will go into details of their work, which the brotherhood hopes will impress the arbitrators to the end that higher compensation and better treatment may be secured from the companies. Although the firemen will probably occupy most of the time for the first few days of the week, the same requests for engineers in these classes of service are made and various engineer witnesses already have testified regarding their hardships.

Following the firemen, it is expected that President Carter will call to the stand several experts who will testify concerning the hazard of a fireman's occupation. A. H. Hawley, grand secretary and treasurer of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen, will offer an exhibit illustrating the proportion of deaths and disabilities of members of the brotherhood caused by railroad accidents. These mortality statistics are expected to show that nearly 50 per cent of the active firemen who pass away die with their boots on.

Dr. W. B. Cory, general medical examiner of the firemen's brotherhood, who has made a careful study of the mortality and disability experiences of firemen and enginemen, probably will offer two exhibits directly concerning and emphasizing the hazard of the vocation. It is also possible that Dr. Henry J. Harris, Ph.D., formerly statistical expert of the Department of Commerce and Labor, will be a witness and will supplement Dr. Cory's testimony with other matter along the same line. If Dr. Harris goes on the stand he will be examined by W. S. Stone, grand chief of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers.

Another witness who may be heard within the next ten days is D. B. Robertson, vicepresident of the firemen's brotherhood, who may offer an exhibit proving that many technical experts and commissioners have

already formed the opinion, publicly announced, that wage and labor conditions incident of the engineers' and firemen's occupations are not quite what they should be. In this connection it is said that Mr. Robertson may quote various railroad authorities who have gone on record to this effect.

If these witnesses do not occupy the entire week, W. J. Lauck, statistical expert and economist retained by both brotherhoods, will be placed on the stand and examined by Grand Chief Stone. Mr. Lauck is understood to have prepared a large number of exhibits dealing with all phases of the wage and labor questions. Just how far Mr. Lauck has probed is not being divulged by the brotherhoods, but it is rumored that some of the matter he has prepared has a spicy news flavor.

The present wage arbitration hearing opened in Chicago November 30th and sessions were continuous daily until December 22d, when adjournment was taken until January 4th. The engineers' and firemen's brotherhoods have been at the bat ever since the opening of the hearing and will continue in this position possibly for a fortnight or longer. It is understood that the railroad companies will then offer evidence to disprove the contentions of the brotherhoods and this will consume at least several weeks. The brotherhoods finally will bring in rebuttal testimony and then there will be the submission of briefs and the closing arguments.

The hearing is expected to close on or about March 1st, but many people think it will go beyond that date. The fact that the railroad companies, as already announced, are to offer what they term "typical man" evidence will mean a possible prolongation of the inquiry. Grand Chief Stone of the engineers' brotherhood will insist that whenever the so-called "typical man," his wages, hours of work and other conditions are pictured for the benefit of the six arbitrators, the companies shall produce the complete payroll upon which this alleged "typical man's" name appears.

The brotherhoods claim that it would be unjust to permit the companies to lay before the board evidence of a nebulous character and permit the arbitrators to receive impressions which possibly might not be well founded. Mr. Stone has said that if the company's payroll is produced coinci

dent with the story of the "typical man," the board and the public will not then be misinformed as to general conditions existing on that railroad.

DO YOU WISH TO OWN A HOME?

One of the most important bills in the interest of the ambitious wage earner perhaps ever introduced in Congress has been introduced by the Hon. Wesley Johnson, of Washington. Its object is to enable the small property owner, or prospective property owners, to borrow money from the goyernment at a reasonable rate of interest.

In years gone by, the government has repeatedly aided the great banking institutions of the country, and now it is proposed that it cease its discrimination in favor of those less in need of such aid, than are those whom this bill intends to assist.

The following is a copy of the measure as introduced:

Be it enacted, etc., That the Federal Reserve Board provided for in the act entitled "An act to provide for the establishment of Federal reserve banks, to furnish an elastic currency, to afford means of rediscounting commercial paper, to establish a more effective supervision of banking in the United States, and for other purposes," be, and it is hereby authorized and directed in connection with the banking system provided for in said act, to organize and put in operation a loaning system under and through which loans of not exceeding $5,000 may be made to any one person at not to exceed 4 per cent interest per annum and for a period of time not to exceed 20 years. Such loans shall be made only for the purpose of acquiring farm lands or city property and improving the same for residence purposes or for improving residence property and shall be made to such honest, industrious, temperate, economical persons as in the judgment of said board, with the property so purchased or improved as security, will reasonably insure the repayment of such loan with interest within the time fixed. The terms of payment shall be arranged as the board may deem wise and be such as will repay the loan with interest by the time set for the maturity of the same.

Sec. 2. That the said Federal Reserve Board is hereby authorized to make all rules and regulations, impose all conditions, appoint all agents, and do all things necessary to carry out the foregoing provisions and not inconsistent therewith.

Sec. 3. That for the purpose of instituting and carrying on operations under the system herein provided for the sum of $20,000,000 is hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to continue available until used, and said board shall submit annual reports to Congress of its operations hereunder and an

estimate of the amount reasonably necessary for the ensuing year.

It is a well known fact that banking interests look with disfavor upon anything which will stand in their way of charging a standard rate of interest upon gilt edge security, and they may be expected to fight this measure. It therefore follows that the influence of those whom the measure is intended to benefit will be necessary to secure its passage. All workingmen who have an ambition to some day live in a home, or upon a farm of their own, should write their United States Senators, care Senate Building, Washington, urging the support of this bill.

MEDIATION STOPS STRIKES. Washington. In the first annual report of the United States board of mediation and conciliation it is shown that there have been twenty-eight cases of differences between railroad employers and their employees, involving 125,503 of the latter.

Some of these cases were submitted by one side, some by the other, and some jointly, and in all except two strike votes had actually been taken before the services of the board were requested. There have been, however, but two instances where this vote became effective, and this for a short time only. In other words, no railroad strike of any serious consequence has occurred in the country during the first year of the operation of the board.

In one of the cases where the strike vote did become effective the request for mediation services was not received until late in the evening and the strike was set for 6 o'clock next morning. It lasted, however, but twelve hours. In the other case the application for mediation was received from one of the parties, but it was declined by the other. An amicable adjustment was reached, nevertheless, with no destruction to property and with but slight detriment to public interest. Of the twenty-eight cases, twenty-one were adjusted wholly through mediation and two by arbitration and mediation combined. In but five cases was it necessary to submit all matters in controversy to boards of arbitration.

A DEFINITION OF LIBERTY. What you call liberty I call liberties; and what I call the struggle for liberty is nothing but the constant living assimilation of the idea of freedom. He who possesses

liberty otherwise than as a thing to be striven for, possesses it dead and soulless; for the idea of liberty has undoubtedly this characteristic, that it develops steadily during its assimiliation. So that a man who stops in the midst of the struggle and says, "now I have it!" thereby shows that he has lost it.-Henrik Ibsen.

MORE TRUTH THAN POETRY.

A prominent member of the Brotherhood closes a letter to the General Offices in this quaint, but truthful manner:

"I wish the brothers all over the country a happy and prosperous New Year, although I don't see how in the blazes they are going to have it, with living prices going up and wages going down."

Copy of a letter to a non-member closes with this: "I wish you a happy and prosperous New Year, something, though, that is not very likely to happen to a clerk working on an unorganized road."

SOME HINTS FOR 1915.

Keep your dues paid up.

Attend lodge meetings regularly. Remember the magazine is for news and views, and needs your assistance.

Practice "No card, no favors."

Find the nons and keep after 'em till you win.

Don't talk lodge room secrets out of it. Help the editor by writing an article, once in awhile at least.

Express your views and impressions in the lodge room. Don't be a sphynx.

The magazine is the mouthpiece of every member of the B. of R. C. Talk through it. Visit the brother who is sick and you will win a warm personal friend, and a stauncher member. A cheery handclasp is always appreciated.

Don't forget meeting nights and go to see your best girl. The lodge room needs your presence and advice.

If something occurs there you don't approve of, don't be a fool and quit attending. You weaken your own position and theirs also.

Everyone makes mistakes. If the lodge makes one show your mettle and help right it, not condemn.

If you have a plan to assist us tell it in the lodge room and write the editor also. Suggestions help.

Every new member lessens our opposition a little. That is what gets contracts. Remember the Union Label and have courage to demand it. You weaken a friend that much when you fail to buy labeled goods.

An ounce of dynamite is worth more than a ton of rock. Which are you?

A union card stands for a principle. If you are living up to it you are advancing the cause. If not destroy it, you are living a lie.

Do and try are different words. Which do you apply to your organization?

THOSE FOR WHOM WE MOURN. Brother Frank Stewart, holding card No. 88 in Bridgeport Lodge No. 81, passed away suddenly on December 23d.

Brother Stewart was one of the truest and best members of Bridgeport Lodge and his untimely death has removed one of the most ardent and willing workers of the Brotherhood.

The Railway Clerk extends its sincere sympathy to all his relatives and friends.

CARD OF THANKS.

The editor desires to thank each of the contributors for their contributions to this issue of The Clerk, and trust that there may be a continuous improvement in the volume of correspondence received, to the end that we may make our journal more interesting to the members and a more potent force in calling the attention of the non-member clerks to the magnitude of the Brotherhood.

ILLINOIS CENTRAL.

The strike of the clerks on the Illinois Central is still on and any clerk accepting employment with that company will, by so doing, be placed in exactly the same position today as he would by accepting employment with them the day after the strike became effective.

Mr. Railway Clerk: Do you not know that your constitutional rights are being taken from you when you are informed by other railroad employes-who occupy official, or semi-official positions-that you shall not become or remain a member of any lawful organization, of your choice? You are restrained of your liberty as though you had committed a crime, and was being pun. ished by the laws of the land. Be men, and