This Committee selected Brookwood, at Katonah, New York, as the place where the week's course should be given. A committee representing the Faculty of Brookwood cooperated with the National League's Labor Institute Committee. Very desirable arrangements were made, and an attractive and helpful course prepared.

The National League prepared two folders announcing the Brookwood Labor Institute-a preliminary and a final program-both of which were widely distributed.

Life and Labor Bulletin

By authorization of the Executive Board at its October, 1923, meeting, beginning with January, 1924, the subscription price for Life and Labor Bulletin was increased from fifty cents to one dollar per year.

Since Miss Henry's leaving, Life and Labor Bulletin has become the responsibility of the Administrative Department.

The Executive Board, at its January, 1923, meeting, discussed how best Life and Labor Bulletin can serve the local Leagues. Your Secretary-Treasurer suggests that the Committee on Officers Reports consider the possibility of mailing the Bulletin to each member of our affiliated Leagues each month, thus bringing to our membership a message from the National League.

Local Leagues

The conditions of our various local Leagues and National Committees will be reflected more fully in the reports of our Field Representative and Finance Secretary, but the action of the Executive Board in three of the instances is recorded here.

With regard to the Boston League, the Executive Board, at its October, 1923, meeting, voted to cancel the Boston indebtedness to the National up to June, 1922, amounting to $1,335.37, and further voted cooperation in raising the Boston League budget after an audit. by a certified accountant had been made. The National President, the Finance Secretary and the Field Representative have each given especial attention to Boston, endeavoring to re-establish the feeling of good will and cooperation that should exist.

Because of difficulties arising in the Philadelphia League, which tended to hinder its work, the Executive Board members have given very careful thought to the matter, and our Field Representative was assigned to three months' work in Philadelphia. In cooperation with the League's officers her time was devoted to actual local organization work in response to calls from the hatters, the cigarmakers, textile workers, and others. She also gave time to meeting with our allied groups interpreting to them the aim of our National, and the responsibilities vested in our local Leagues. In addition to the cooperation given by our field representative, at the direction of the Executive Board, our finance Secretary spent two weeks in Philadelphia in May, 1923, and made three or four shorter visits, consulting with the local officers regarding local finances.

The National President made three trips to Philadelphia in connection with local matters, and the Secretary-Treasurer made one trip.

Early in 1924 the Seattle League presented a request to the Executive Board for the cancellation of its 1922-1923 quota of $100. This request was made because soon after the Seattle League had accepted the quota as set by the 1922 Convention it had lapsed into inactivity, so that when our Field Representative assisted in its reorganization, the question of this unpaid quota was an obstacle. The Executive Board voted to cancel the debt.

Organization

The Committee on Organization in its report to the last Convention, recommended the adoption of the Secretary-Treasurer's proposal to place a National Representative in the field. Immediately following the Convention your National President and Secretary-Treasurer carried out these instructions and secured the services of Miss Matilda Lindsay, then engaged as Miss Smith's assistant in our Washington legislative office.

She began work as National Field Representative in February of 1923, spending the first month at National Headquarters in order to familiarize herself with the National work in its many aspects. During the brief time she has been with us she has visited every local League, going as far as Seattle. She has also investigated the possibilities of organization as they occurred. This has taken her to such widely separated places as Sedalia, Missouri; Butte, Montana, and Cumberland, Maryland. Her western trip was combined with her attendance at the American Federation of Labor Convention in Portland, Oregon, as the League's fraternal delegate.

Miss Lindsay's account of her field work is appended to this report, and her recommendations will be embodied in the Convention report of the National Committee on Local League Cooperation, of which she is chairman.

The National Executive Board, at its October meeting, voted that a second field representative be engaged.

The value and importance of the field work cannot be stressed too much and your Secretary-Treasurer recommends that the Convention Committee on Organization, jointly with the National Committee on the Cooperation of Local Leagues, consider the question of field representatives for our affiliated Leagues. These representatives should possess the qualifications for meeting with the younger girls in our shops and factories, and should be able to interpret to them the ideals and worth of the trade union movement.

Milwaukee

In February of this year we received a request from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to organize a League there. This request had the support of the Wisconsin State Federation and of the Trades and Labor Council of Milwaukee We were fortunate in having the services of Miss Agnes Johnson, who went to Milwaukee for a day and attended the preliminary organization meeting in the evening. On

March 19 your Secretary-Treasurer went to Milwaukee to attend the second meeting called by this group, and found a genuine desire to form a real active League, and not a National Committee, which had been suggested. The State Federation of Labor and the Milwaukee Central Trades and Labor Council are cooperating with us because they believe that a League in Milwaukee will be the means of getting a campaign under way for the organizing of women workers. Other meetings are being planned and in the mean time the trade union organizations in Milwaukee are being made acquainted with the League's work.

Cleveland and Toledo

We have received repeated and urgent requests to assign our Field Representative to Cleveland and Toledo, Ohio, to organize Leagues in each of the cities. We are glad to report that her itinerary includes Cleveland and Toledo for the early part of the coming fiscal year.

Federal Charters

American Federation of Labor

The Waukegan Convention appointed as its fraternal delegate to the American Federation of Labor Convention Mrs. Mary V. Halas, of the Federation of Postoffice Clerks, with instructions to give particular attention to the introduction of a resolution regarding the granting of charters to groups of women in any given occupation if the national or international union of that trade declines to admit them as members. She was the co-signer of the following resolution, known as Resolution No. 112, which embodies the thought expressed by the League Convention, and this was introduced by Delegate Luther C. Stewart, President of the National Federation of Federal Employees:

Whereas, Women are now a permanent factor in industry; and Whereas, As unorganized workers they are a menace to the organized labor movement; and

Whereas, There are still some international unions which refuse to admit women to membership, despite the fact that such action is in direct opposition to the best interests of the whole movement; and

Whereas, While these international unions have the right to determine whom they will accept as members, if they will not take women workers in their trades, some other place must be provided within the labor movement for such women; therefore be it

Resolved, That this Convention authorize and instruct the Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor to issue charters direct to groups of women in any given occupation if the national or international union of that trade declines to admit them to membership.

The opposition to the motion took three forms: 1-That it was an infringement on the autonomy of the national and international unions, the great majority taking this view; 2-That there were certain occupations from which it would be desirable to exclude the

woman worker for her own good; and 3-That the number of women workers barred was so small in comparison with the number still unorganized that the situation did not warrant action which was bound to incur the opposition of those guarding the autonomy of their national and international unions.

The Committee on Laws, to which this resolution had been referred, reported that as the subject had received careful attention by the Denver Convention, they desired to reiterate the declaration then made that the Federation had done everything in its power to organize women, and to obtain for them equal rights, both political and economic; that a large percentage of international unions now admit women workers, although a few have not yet decided to do so, due to the nature of the work; but that considerable progress is being made. The Committee further reported a substitute for the motion: That those international and national organizations that do not admit women workers to membership give early consideration for such admission.

The report as submitted was adopted by unanimous vote.

By accepting this report in good faith we of the National Women's Trade Union League demonstrated our willingness to believe in the fairness of the national and international unions.

The question of Federal Charters came up again at the 1923 Convention of the American Federation of Labor, held in Portland, Oregon, to which we sent as delegate Miss Matilda Lindsay, our Field Representative.

The subject was placed before the assembly by Resolution No. 92, dealing with a specfic instance the lady barbers. This resolution asked that the Convention authorize the Executive Council to use its good offices in an effort to have the lady barbers admitted to membership in the Journeymen Barbers' International Union; or in case of failure in this, to grant Federal Charters to such groups of lady barbers as may make application for same, subject to rules governing such applications and with the understanding that such groups be transferred to the International Union whenever such transfer can be arranged.

The resolution was very thoroughly discussed and the motion for non-concurrence was carried by a large majority.

Conferences Called by the American Federation of Labor

By authority of the Portland, 1923, Convention of the American Federation of Labor, President Gompers has called a number of meetings at which to consider a proposal for definite plans for the organizing of the wage earning women of the country.

We are deeply interested in the proposal of the American Federation of Labor, and because the League's first purpose is the organizing of women into trade unions, this subject will receive the very earnest consideration of the National Executive Board, and will be brought to the special attention of the delegates to the Ninth Biennial Convention.

Trade Union Affiliations

We have devoted some time to obtaining the affiliation to our National League of the National and International Unions. A series. of letters were sent at intervals, and these have met with fairly good response and we have affiliated with us some appreciable number of both National and International Unions and State Federations.

In working for affiliations among the National and International Unions we have not overlooked an important group allied to the trade union movement. I refer to the wives of the trade union men-the women's auxiliaries. Our first task was to communicate with the officers of the National and International Unions to which there are women's auxiliaries. The next step was to write to the national executives of each of these auxiliaries, obtaining from them a list of the local auxiliaries, then circularizing these in turn.

As a result we have compiled as complete a mailing list as is possible to attain of this particular group. This work has been done preparatory to winning for the National League affiliations from these auxiliaries as well as national memberships from the individuals.

Conference-Bakery and Confectionery Workers

The October, 1923, Executive Board meeting instructed Miss Agnes Nestor, President of our Chicago League, and the National Secretary-Treasurer, to arrange a meeting with the officers of the National Bakery and Confectionery Workers Union and to present to them our plan of co-operation, with the suggestion that the organizing of the candy workers be undertaken-simultaneous campaigns to be carried on in each city where we have a local League.

On November 15 your two representatives, together with the National Field Representative, met in conference with the General Acting Secretary of the International Bakery and Confectionery Workers Union, and extended to him our offer of co-operation in the campaign of organizing the girls in the candy industry. Data had been prepared on the candy workers, taken from the statistics sent out by the Women's Bureau after their survey of a number of States. The General Acting Secretary, while deeply concerned about this vast army of unorganized women, stated quite definitely that a campaign could not be undertaken now because the Bakery and Confectionery Workers, at their last convention, had taken action on organizing another division of the baking industry-the cracker workersapproximately two-thirds of whom are women. He assured the League's representatives that he would bring our generous offer to the attention of his International Executive Board at its next meeting.

Up to the present the Bakery and Confectionery Workers have not completed their plans to get the candy workers organizing campaign under way.

Legislative Department

Our legislative work at Washington, together with our publicity news service, has for a number of years been under the able direction of Miss Ethel M. Smith, as Legislative Secretary, at half-time salary,