investigations shall include studies in administrative organization, school architecture, school curricula, physical education, recreation, methods and technique of instruction, and such other subjects as in the opinion of the Commissioner of Education may be of interest and value to the United States." Appointments would be made by the Secretary of the Interior on recommendation of the Commissioner of Education, from a list of civil service eligibles, and the attaches would be accredited through the Department of State. The appropriation authorized by the bill is $40,000 for the year, to cover salaries and expenses for twelve attaches. The bill embodies recommendations of the World Educational Alliance, and is widely approved both for its educational importance and the influence it would have in the direction of international peace, since it would make nations known to each other through channels other than military and commercial. I recommend that the National Women's Trade Union League endorse this proposal of the American Federation of Teachers. Immigration Bills Numbers of bills to modify the existing Immigration Act have been introduced in the last Congress, and hearings have been held before the committees of both houses. Only one bill passed-namely, a bill permitting the return to the United States outside the quota limits, of aliens who served in the American Expeditionary Forces abroad during the World War. Wives and minor children of such aliens are also included in this bill. The Wadsworth-Perlman bill, amending this Immigration Act, would permit the admission outside the quota, of the wives and minor children of men who have filed their papers declaring their intention of becoming citizens. This bill has a considerable support from organizations interested in social welfare problems, because of the hardship involved for families left in other countries by immigrant men who had arrived in America before the passage of the quota law. The separation enforced by that law amounts to years in the case of nationals whose quotas are crowded. The bill is opposed by strict exclusionists, and has not made much headway in Congress. The situation it is designed to relieve is, however, so important that I recommend to the convention that the National Executive Board be directed to examine it with a view to possible action not in conflict with the immigration policy of organized labor. Cable Act Amendment The Cable Act, providing independent citizenship for married women, was passed at the instance of women's organizations in 1921. It was imperfect in some particulars, however, notably that American women married to aliens prior to this enactment are still unable to regain their American citizenship. Pending amendments to the law, for this purpose, failed to receive the approval of the Immigration Committee of House and Senate. I recommend that the convention advocate amendment of the law to make citizenship rights of women equal to those of men. Respectfully submitted, The report of the National Legislative Secretary was referred to the Convention Legislative Committee. Resolutions Nos. 1 to 9 inclusive were introduced and referred to the Resolutions Committee. ETHEL M. SMITH, Legislative Secretary. No further business coming before the convention, an adjournment was taken at 4 o'clock p. m. to the usual hour for convening, 10 o'clock, a. m., Tuesday. SECOND DAY-TUESDAY MORNING SESSION The Tuesday morning, June 29, session was called to order at 10 a. m. by Mrs. Swartz. After a supplementary report from the Committee on Credentials, and the reading of telegrams of greetings, Miss Schneiderman took the chair and opened the One Day Institute on Trade Union Organization, for which this day had been set aside as the special convention feature. By way of preface, Miss Schneiderman told of the plans for the Institute that had been under way since the January meeting of the National Exexutive Board, mentioning how eagerly interested everyone had been in this particular session. "We are going to conduct this simply as a discussion," she stated. "We have a discussion leader who will keep you hopping, I think, and we are going to allow five minutes to each delegate unless you think that is not enough. We want to give every delegate a chance to stand up and say what she thinks on the various questions that will be raised. After all the delegates have had a turn, we can give a delegate who has already spoken another chance. I now have the pleasure of introducing to you your discussion leader-a famous Illinois citizen, Miss Lillian Herstein, a member of the Federation of High School Teachers, who associates very closely with the Chicago Women's Trade Union League and with the Chicago Federation of Labor in their educational work." Miss Herstein: "Madame Chairman, I think that we should redefine for ourselves the meaning of the word 'technique.' This is to be a discussion on the technique of the technique of methods of organization. What I have to say about the technique in writing literature, I think applies to the technique of every human endeavor. There is a feeling broadcast that most great pieces of literature are written by unconscious literary artists-that the artist sits down, sees Mother clear the table, puts his hand over his forehead and then writes. In the time of Chaucer and Shakespeare there were a great many men writing, but Shakespeare and Chaucer were the cream of their periods in writing. Even in the writings of such imaginative poets as Keats and Shelley we find the scratching out of one line and the inserting of another "I think we should all write down our experiences, and perhaps this Institute is to gather from this group your experiences. I feel today like a digger digging in a gold mine, the gold mine of your experience, and my success today depends upon how much I make you talk." Miss Herstein then read the outline of the day's program, the delegates following the copies in their possession. This outline had been prepared by the National Committee for the Institute on Trade Union Organization, appointed immediately following the January Board meeting, which had been at work for months in collecting and organizing material. The "Foreword" to the outline detailed the way it had been done; "To begin to formulate a new approach and a new technique for the task of organizing women in trade unions is the purpose of the Institute on Methods of Organization, called in connection with the Tenth Biennial Convention of the National Women's Trade Union League in Kansas City, Missouri, in June, 1926. In preparation for the Institute a committee was appointed to collect material and out line the main questions for discussion. The members were Maud Swartz, chairman, ex officio; Mabel Leslie, Sadie Reisch, Rose Schneiderman, and Mary Van Kleeck from New York; and from Chicago, Mary Haney, Agnes Nestor, and Elisabeth Christman, ex officio. Because of the distance between the two cities, the committee met in two groups and worked independently. In New York Miss Marie Keller assisted the committee by taking notes of discussions and preparing them for the report. "The Institute itself and the discussion for which it will give an opportunity will be only a beginning. Out of it should grow a definite program of suggestions for study and experiment in the next two years with a central committee and a series of local committees to carry on the work. These groups should be centers of new enthusiasm and increased effectiveness in the organization of women in unions. The report, therefore, is designed as an outline of work to be done rather than a finished statement to guide action. "The procedure of the committee was to outline the questions which seemed important and then to invite experts to give their views on them. In this way we conferred with trade union organizers, with psychologists, economists, and experts in publicity, including Mary_Goff, Matilda Lindsay, Anna Wolf, Robert Bruere, A. J. Muste, David Saposs, E. C. Lindeman, Ordway Tead, and Evart G. Routzahn." As to the problem to be solved the committee made this statement: "In the forty years which may be said to be the life of the present labor movement in the United States, the unions have been too absorbed in the work of organizing to have time or detachment for a study of methods. This is the history of many other movements. Their pioneers win successes and make mistakes without any record of how they did it, or any conclusion as to how others ought or ought not to do it. But when a movement grows beyond the pioneer period of personal leadership, it must become self-conscious if it is to succeed. The trial and error method must give place to an objective analysis of procedure. The conditions which have made for success in the past must be set down in writing as a means of planning for like success, or greater effectiveness, under similar conditions in the present. "The labor movement today has an added reason for a new formulation of technique. Industrial conditions and public opinion have undergone change. New dangers weaken the trade unions. New problems are presented to it. Only objective study can enable leaders and members to meet new conditions wisely. women. "Added to these reasons for a new approach is a very special reason for interest in this subject on the part of the National Women's Trade Union League. The League is concerned with the organization of Women's economic status is changing, and with it is changing the whole psychology of women and girls. Is trade unionism adapted to their needs? How can it be made to appeal to them? How can they be trained for effective participation in it? "The results of discussion which has extended over several weeks are presented here in the form of questions. Under each question, answers or additional questions are listed. Sometimes the answers contradict each other. Often other ideas should be added. The Institute will offer opportunty to discuss the contradictions, and to add new thoughts." With this introduction to the whole subject, the discussion leader then presented the three main questions: "How to Stimulate and Retain the Interest of Members; "The Conditions Faced by the Unions; Their, Aims, Purposes and Form of Administration; "How to Arouse Public Interest and Win Public Confidence." For the use of the leader, the Committee had prepared these same questions in greater detail, and throughout the day, with these searching questions before them, the delegates first analyzed the problem of organizing women, and then brought forward their suggestions for discussion. Most of the delegates, even those working at their trades in factory or workship, were experienced organizers, so the session was like a seminar for the trained staff of some technical institution. The substance of the day's proceedings was submitted to the Convention Organization Committee for consideration and to be presented to the convention later with recommendations. A hearty and unanimous vote of thanks was given Miss Herstein, and it was voted also to send a telegraph word of appreciation to Miss Mary Van Kleeck, Director of Industrial Studies of the Russell Sage Founda The convention was called to order at 2 o'clock, p.m., June 30, by Mrs. Swartz, President. After the opening music, she introduced Rabbi H. H. Mayer, who spoke on "Women in Industry.' After paying tribute to the accomplishments of certain workers in the Women's Trade Union League, he mentioned the changes going on in the churches, not so much in their principles as in their methods. He expressed the opinion that more sympathy is being shown by all of them toward the workers. Rabbi Mayer discussed also the status of woman today as contrasted with that of other days, when it was thought chivalrous for man to keep her out of industry, although she did the work of the family in the home. "I am in sympathy," he said, "with women in industry. I believe they ought to be in industry, and that the conditions in industry ought to be made as perfect as they can be made for them, and it will be a happy day for our country and a safeguard for civilization when that is the case. And if it does not become the case, we will be on the down grade to ruin and our modern civilization will end in a catastrophe sooner or later, as have the preceding civilizations." The chairman and secretary of the Constitution Committee (Miss Lindsay and Miss Marsh), completed their par tial report on proposed amendments to the constitution, the delegates discussing and voting upon each clause. Certain proposed amendments were referred back to the Constitution Committee by the convention with recommendations for revision. The Committee on Resolutions (Miss Ethel M. Smith, chairman) reported on Resolutions Nos. 4, 5, 6, 11 and 12. Resolution No. 6, "Unemployment," and Resolution No. 12, on "Union Label," were discussed from the floor. (See page 83, for convention action on each.) CATHERINE WHITEHEAD At the request of Mrs. Swartz, Miss Dreier read that section of the report of the Committee on Officers' Reports that pertained to the Catherine Whitehead Miller Trust Fund. For the benefit of those who were not old members and therefore familiar with the purpose of the Fund, she explained how one of the most promising of the early students in the National League's training school had died, leaving a little daughter, and how the League had, in a way, taken the responsibility of establishing a trust fund, by means of a ten year endowment policy, to guarantee the child's education. She reported on a plan for raising the annual premium, and asked the co-opera tion of the Local Leagues. Mrs. Swartz urged each Local League to appoint a member to confer with Miss Dreier sometime during the convention as to how best this plan could be carried out. The Secretary read a communication from Miss Agatha Harrison, of the World Young Women's Christian Association, which was referred to the Committee on Oriental Relations. At 4:30 o'clock the convention adjourned, to reconvene at 10 a.m. Thursday. FOURTH DAY-THURSDAY MORNING SESSION At 10 o'clock a.m. on Thursday, July 1, the convention was called to order by Mrs. Swartz, the president. The Credentials Committee made a supplementary report and after a musical number, the president called for reports from the various Local Leagues. This was the morning set aside for Local League reports, and these were made by delegates from the Philadelphia, Chicago, New York, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Worcester, Washington, D. C., Boston, and the Illinois State Leagues and from the La Crosse National Committee. The Leagues in Chicago, New York, Kansas City, Worcester and Washington supplied the delegates with printed or mimeographed copies, the delegates giving supplementary details. These reports covered the local organization, legislative and educational activities of the various local branches. The Secretary-Treasurer's report (see page 34) summarizes all the trades contacted by the League's organizers, and those branches that submitted printed reports will furnish copies on request, or they can be obtained from National Headquarters. (See second inside cover page for directory.) At 12 o'clock noon the convention adjourned to reconvene at 1:30 p. m. FOURTH DAY-THURSDAY AFTERNOON SESSION The convention was called to order at 1:30 o'clock p. m. on Thursday, July 1, by the president, Mrs. Swartz. The Secretary, Miss Christman, read a telegram of greeting, and after completing one remaining item of the Local Leagues' report, the delegates listened to Father J. N. V. McKay, Director St. Vincent de Paul Society. In opening his address, he went back into history and spoke of the great part woman had always taken in the affairs of the world. "As we review history," he said, "we find that women, as a rule, have enhanced the great crises of history in which it was their privilege to participate, and very often we find in the great debacles of the world, in crisis moments, when men found themselves absolutely unable, inadequate to meet the stringency of circumstances, God has raised up some woman to solve the difficulties of the moment. "The coming of women into the great union movement ought to be a leaven that will leaven the entire movement. The trade union movement is not a selfish movement; it wants to solve economic problems, and economic problems reflect on all classes of society, on social conditions, on religious conditions, on all types of conditions. The trade union 1 movement tries to give its quota of solution to these problems. "Why should not women exert a most beneficent, a most intelligent and a most uplifting influence upon the labor move ment? If trade unionism is not bettered for women having entered it, I shall be very much surprised, and the world will be very much disappointed." NOMINATION OF OFFICERS The next order of business was the nomination of officers. Mrs. Swartz stated that while it was generally known that she was not standing for renomination as president, she wished now to make that announcement officially. Miss Rose Schneiderman, president of the New York League, was nominated for the presidency of the National Women's Trade Union League by Miss Nestor, Chicago. The name of Miss Agnes Nestor, president of the Chicago League, was placed in nomination for the vice-presidency by Miss Dreier, New York. Mrs. Swartz asked Miss Schneiderman to take the chair. Miss Elisabeth Christman, Chicago League, was nominated for the office of Secretary-Treasurer by Mrs. Swartz, the National President. |