making such a request; other than to be reimbursed for the approved used in, or of the products of, the industries expenditure actually incurred in connection with the work of the Council. In addition to the above-mentioned general powers the Council is charged under the Act with the following specific duties: To undertake researches, the object of which is to improve conditions in agriculture. It is the purpose of the National Research Council in establishing a system of scholar To promote the utilization of the natural ships to develop, in Canada, a corps of highresources of Canada; To undertake researches with the object of improving the technical processes and methods used in the industries of Canada, and of discovering processes and methods which may promote the expansion of existing or the development of new industries; To undertake researches with the view of utilizing the waste products of said industries; The investigation and determination of standards and methods of measurements, including length, volume, weight, mass capacity, time, heat, light, electricity, magnetism and other forms of energy; and the determination of physical constants and the fundamental properties of matter; The standardization and certification of the scientific and technical apparatus and instruments for the Government service and for use in the industries of Canada; and the determination of the standards of quality of the materials used in the construction of public works and of the supplies used in the various branches of the Government service; The investigation and standardization, at the request of any of the industries of Canada, of the materials which are or may be ly trained research men for service not only in Canadian universities and technical schools, but also in the industries, in the technical service of the Federal and Provincial Governments and in agriculture. Three classes of scholarships are awarded by the Council, namely, bursaries, studentships and fellowships, having an annual value of $750, $1,000 and $1,200, respectively. At the end of 1925, 131 persons had completed their training in science under these awards. Of these, fifteen persons are continuing their post-graduate studies, some under scholarships from other sources and some having gone to foreign universities for special instruction or in order to continue their training in some particular branch of science; thirty-four persons are engaged in the teaching profession, thirty of these having received appointments to the staffs of Canadian universities, where the great majority of them will have an opportunity of continuing their scientific training and of engaging in research work. Twenty-four persons are employed in the industries and twenty-two have accepted positions in the technical branches of the Federal and Provincial Governments. One grantee has died and the balance have failed to furnish the Council with information regarding their present occupation. of Agriculture give united expression to their various views and demands on national questions. "The necessity for a national farmers' organization. such as the Canadian Council of Agriculture, is constantly being demonstrated. Most of the larger problems which confront the agricultural industry, and whose solution is necessary to agricultural prosperity, are of a national, or at least an interprovincial character. Transportation questions, including freight, express, lake and ocean rates, the customs tariff and other forms of federal taxation, the banking, currency and financial systems of the country, the regulation of the grain trade, of the live stock industry and of other branches of agriculture, the commercial relations of Canada with other countries involving markets for agricultural produce, federal legislation, government ad ministration generally, are of equal importance to farmers throughout the country. In all these things the interests of the farmers in every province of Canada are usually found to be identical." The president stated that the Council of Agriculture has never received one cent of financial assistance from any government or from any other source other than the farmers' organizations which compose its membership. It is therefore a purely farmers' organization and is entirely free from any connection with any government, either provincial or federal, or with any political party. It holds itself free at any time to criticize any government that may be in power and to endeavour to persuade it to enact the legislation which the organized farmers through their provincial organization may deem desirable. The membership at the present time consists of the United Farmers of Quebec, the United Farmers of Ontario, the United Farmers of Manitoba, the Saskatchewan Grain Growers' Association, the United Farmers of Alberta, the Grain Growers' Guide, Saskatchewan Co-operative Elevator Company Limited, the United Grain Growers Limited, and the United Farmers of Ontario Co-operative Company. At meetings of the Council each of the companies is entitled to four representatives, consisting of its executives or their appointees. In addition, the provincial associations are each entitled to five representatives, one at least of whom must be a woman. The constitution also provides that the women representatives in attendance at any meetings of the Council may meet separately to discuss matters in which women are particularly interested, and that when so meeting shall form the Women's Section of the Council. Among the resolutions adopted during 1925 were the following: Asking for the amendment of the naturalization act so as to permit married women to take out personal naturalization papers and to permit a woman who is a British subject but who marries a person of foreign citizenship to retain her British nationality unless she choose to do otherwise. Recommending the using of the national credit to provide the agricultural industry with intermediate and long-term credit. Asking that cadet training in the schools be discontinued and replaced by physical education of all boys and girls fit to receive same. Asking that all immigrants be examined by mental experts at the point of embarkation instead of the point of landing. Calling attention to the fact that substitutes were being sold as pure cream in certain eastern cities. Urging the revaluation of soldier settlers' holdings. A special committee on co-operative marketing was established to consider ways and means of fixing Dominion-wide uniform standards of farm produce and to develop Dominion-wide co-operative marketing facilities for the products of Canadian agriculture. Report of Governor's Advisory Commission for the Needle Trades in New York About two years ago Governor Al. Smith of the State of New York appointed the "Governor's Advisory Commission" to report on conditions existing in the cloak, suit and skirt industry, the members being Messrs. George Gordon Battle, Herbert H. Lehman, Bernard L. Shientag, Arthur D. Wolf and Professor Lindsay Rogers of Columbia University. The commissioners in their report published during May find that the difficulties in this industry arise from seasonal employment and wastes in the system of contract letting by jobbers. They recommend increases in wages all through the industry ranging from $2.50 to $6 a week in order to compensate for the seasonal nature of employment. Workers in the larger shops it is found are employed 37.4 weeks in the year, while those in smaller shops work about 26.8 weeks. The report severely criticizes the growth of the jobbing system in this industry. The jobber is declared to be actually an indirect manufacturer who lets contracts to sub-manufacturing firms and allows them to shoulder the overhead expenditures. The jobbers consider themselves free from labour standards and have no incentive for lengthening the season of employment. The commission recommends limitation of the number of the sub-manufacturers and equal distribution of work. Improvement of the system of unemployment insurance, creation of a central employment bureau and continuation of the Bureau of Research were other recommendations. The unemployment insurance fund established for garment workers in New York in 1924 was described in the LABOUR GAZETTE for September, 1924, and April, 1925. TRADE UNION MEMBERSHIP IN CANADA IN 1925 Synopsis of the Contents of the Annual Departmental Report on Labour Organization THE HE fifteenth Annual Report on Labour Organization in Canada, covering the calendar year 1925, has just been issued by the Department of Labour. The volume, which consists of 272 pages, besides showing the numerical strength of the organized workers in the Dominion, discusses the various organizations with which they are either directly or indirectly affiliated. Included also in the report are references to some of the more important incidents of labour bodies both at home and abroad. The report states that the trade unions operating in Canada consist of the following groups:― (1) Local branches of international craft organizations having headquarters in the United States; (2) Local branches of the Industrial Workers of the World, with headquarters in Chi cago; (3) One Big Union, an international industrial body with headquarters in Winnipeg; (4) Non-international craft organizations with headquarters in Canada; (5) Independent trade union units; and (6) National and Catholic unions. The 87 international craft unions operating in Canada have between them 1,985 Canadian branches, with a combined membership of 172,573, a loss of 43 branches and a decrease of 17,908 members; the Industrial Workers of the World maintained its six Canadian branches with a reported membership of 10,000, a loss of 1,500; the report from the One Big Union, the first received direct from the head office since 1919, shows 53 local units in the Dominion, with a combined membership of 17,256; the non-international organizations have 311 local branches with a combined membership of 34,070, increases of 43 in branches and 12,309 in members; the independent units number 40, a gain of seven, the reported membership of which is 12,264, an increase of 264; the National and Catholic unions increased by five, now being 99, the membership of which was stated to be 25,000, the same as in 1924. These figures indicate that while the international craft unions had decreases of 43 branches and 17,908 members, and the Industrial Workers of the World lost 1,500 members, the gains of the four other groups amounted to 108 branches and 29,829 members, net increases for the year of 65 branches and 10,421 members, the total number of branch unions of all classes in Canada at the close of 1925 being 2,494, with a combined and estimated membership of 271,064. This cut was used in the publication entitled "Labour Organization in Canada." Mine Workers Leave United Mine Workers. Because the coal operators in Alberta and South-eastern British Columbia claimed they could not meet the prices of their competitors under the scale of wages negotiated with the United Mine Workers after a strike which continued for more than six months, and closed their mines in consequence, the coal miners, members of the United Mine Workers, deserted the organization and formed independent unions for the purpose of permitting them to make separate agreements with the operators in the district, with a view to having work resumed. The secession from the U.M.W., which had its inception late in 1924 continued during the first part of 1925, the organization at the close of the year only having six branches and 1,500 members as compared with 34 branches and 8,500 members in 1924. Many of the independent unions of coal miners were later merged into a body known as the Mine Workers' Union of Canada, with which it is understood the bulk of the coal miners are now identified. To meet the demands of the operators, some of the local branches of the U.M.W. whose members had remained faithful to the organizations made a new wage contract with the operators in the Red Deer Valley. The secessionists thereupon picketed the mines and endeavoured to prevent members of the U.M.W. from working. These actions led to many disturbances, about 75 persons being indicted on charges arising out of the picketing, of whom a number were convicted. Officers of the U.M.W. alleged that the secession movement was engineered by the communists, who having failed to gain control of the union sought to disrupt the organization. The U.M.W. officers of the district union, following the withdrawal of so many members from the organization, resigned their positions, the affairs of the district being placed in the hands of provisional officers by the international president. Labour in Politics.--The report outlines the establishment of labour political parties in Canada and refers to some of the decisions the British Commonwealth Labour Conference held in London, England, in July, 1925, at which four Canadian representatives were present, as well as to the defeat of the Labour Party in the Australian elections. Property of Central Labour Unions.-The report gives particulars of the headquarters buildings owned by central labour organizations, included in which is the property of the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada, which is valued at $36,000. The office buildings of 28 unions which reported their property holdings amounts to $9,721,317.65. Trade Union Benefits.-The report points out that the beneficiary feature of trade unions is yearly expanding, especially as regards international unions. Only four of the Canadian organizations reported payments for benefits during 1925, the total expenditure being $23,184, a decrease of $9,843 as compared with the previous year. Of the 89 international organizations having branches in Canada 65 had expenditures for one or more benefits, payments on account of death benefits being made by 56, unemployed and travelling by 8, strike by 33, sick and accident by 22, and old age pensions by 5. The total expenditure in Canada and the United States for benefits of central organizations was $17,397,271, a decrease of $2,903,093 as compared with the disbursements of 60 organizations in 1924. The expenditure for the various benefits were as follows: ion, the membership of which comprise school teachers, government employees, municipal employees, commercial travellers, etc. The organizations included in this group number 73, a gain of seven, the aggregate membership of which is 90,488, an increase of 4,155. The fifteenth Annual Report on Labour Organization in Canada, like previous issues, forms a complete labour directory, containing not only the names and addresses of the chief officers of local branch unions in the Dominion, but also those of the central organizations with which the Canadian organized workers are connected, and of the various delegate bodies. The chart on page 562, which is taken from the report, will indicate at a glance the fluctuations in Canadian trade union membership from 1911 to 1925, the period covered by the departmental Annual Report on Labour Organization. Another chart appearing in the report shows that the 271,064 trade union members in the Dominion are divided by trade groups as follows: Railroad employees, 79,009. Mining and quarrying, 26,386; Public employees, personal service and amusement trades, 26,001; Building trades, 23,243; Other transportation and navigation trades, 19,630; Metal trades, 15,121; Printing and paper making trades, 13,005; By provinces the 2,494 local branch unions are divided as follows: Ontario, 1,009; Quebec, 444; British Columbia, 246; Alberta, 225; Saskatchewan, 172; Manitoba, 151; Nova Scotia, 131; New Brunswick, 135; and Prince Edward Island, 11. There are 30 cities in the Dominion in which not less than 20 local branch unions of all classes are operating, and between them they represent nearly 50 per cent of the entire trade union membership of 271,064 in Canada. The cities of Montreal and Quebec, in addition to the international and non-international branch unions and independent units, have respectively 25 and 24 national and Catholic unions. Of the 1,866 branch unions which reported their membership, 22 have 1,000 or more members, the largest membership reported being 2,600. Space is given in the report to various classes of delegate bodies which have been established as a part of the plan of labour organization in North America, and which are |