of materials and value of products which amounted respectively to $15,318,858 and $17,673,125.

In Alberta, the industry of car repairing was also the greatest in respect to the number of employees. There were 22 establishments in this industry having 2,613 employees who received in salaries and wages $3,232,780. In capital invested and value of products the most important industry was that of slaughtering and meat packing. In this industry there were engaged 7 establishments with a capitalization of $17,598,091 with 1,635 employees receiving in salaries and wages $2,147,919. The cost of materials amounted to $17,274,045 and the value of products amounted to $29,157,117. Other important industries were flour and grist mills of which there were 49 with a capitalization of $8,401,666 and 571 employees receiving $723,920 in salaries and wages with the cost of materials amounting to $18,534,986 and a value of products amounting to $21,297,786.

By far the largest industry in British Columbia was that of lumbering. There were 258 establishments dealing in log

products with a total capitalization of $59,341,040. There were 17,462 employees engaged in this industry who received in salaries and wages $20,268,591. The cost of materials used amounted to $20,989,990, and the value of the products to $60,444,053. The next largest industry (except with respect to capital invested) was that of shipbuilding in which there were engaged 14 establishments with a capitalization of $6,541,003 and 8,102 employees receiving in salaries and wages $11,163,190. The cost of materials used amounted to $13,562,426 and the value of the products to $34,477,510. Another large industry was that of fish preserving. There were 104 canneries, with a capitalization of $16,358,305, employing 1,891 persons who drew salaries and wages amounting to $1,818,531. The cost of materials used in these canneries amounted to $10,895,617, and the value of their products was $18,629,627. Three smelters capitalized at $29,120,459 employed 2,224 men who received $3,312,128 in salaries and wages. The value of the products of these smelters amounted to $13,930,515.

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THE HE United States Railroad Labour Board on November 29, 1921, issued order with respect to railway shops covering rules and working conditions not previously dealt with or not fully covered in previous orders. In Decision No. 119, (Dockets 1, 2 and 3) dated April 14, 1921, the Board had set July 1, 1921, for the termination of the rules and working conditions in force since 1918 under agreements between the United States Railroad Administration and various organizations of employees,

and had also directed the railroad operating companies and organizations of employees to negotiate new agreements and bring before the Board those matters upon which they could not agree, as provided under the Transportation Act, the Board undertaking to promulgate rules, etc., as soon after July 1 as possible. This order was accompanied by a statement of principles upon which the agreements should be based (LABOUR GAZETTE, July, 1921, pp. 906-916). On June 1 in Decision No. 147 (Docket

353) the Board authorized decreases in rates of wages ranging between 5 per cent and 18 per cent, estimated to average 12 per cent of the railroad pay rolls, effective from July 1, 1921. On June 27, 1921, the Board issued an order stating that while agreements had been reached upon all points in some cases, none had been reached in a considerable number, and it appeared that the rules. governing payment for overtime were in most cases those upon which agreement had not been effected. Therefore in Addendum No. 2 to Decision No. 119 it was ordered that all overtime should be paid at the pro rata rate except where agreements as to overtime payment had been reached or in cases where rates higher than pro rata had been paid prior to the issue of any general order by the United States Railroad Administration, that is, prior to the McAdoo award. All other rules as to working conditions were to be unchanged, except where new rules had been made by agreement, until such time as rules covering disputed cases should be considered and decided by the Board.

On August 11, 1921, the Board issued Decision No. 222 (Docket 475) promul

gating certain rules to be effective from August 16, 1921, and on October 8 issued Addendum No. 3, thereto promulgating other rules to be effective from October 16, 1921, and on November 29, 1921, issued Addendum No. 6, to Decision 222 covering the remainder of the rules as to working conditions in railroad shops, the complete set of rules under Decision No. 222 and the Addenda thereto being printed in one document for ready reference. These rules therefore are to be in effect where rules as to working conditions have not been agreed upon between the railroad operating companies and the representatives of the employees concerned.

On December 12 in Decision No. 501, effective from December 16, 1921, the Board promulgated rules as to working

conditions for maintenance of way employees among whom were to be included signal men and certain classes of employees formerly included in shop crafts agreements. The principal feature of these rules is that while 8 hours is to continue as a day's work, for overtime work rates of pay higher than pro rata are not to be paid until after 10 hours.

As stated in the LABOUR GAZETTE for November, pp. 1387-9, the principal railroad operating companies of the United States after the decrease of 12 per cent in July had proposed a further decrease in wages of 10 per cent, but after negotiations between the companies and employees and the Railroad Labour Board it was arranged that the proposed further reduction in wages would not be considered for some time, the unions withdrawing a strike order which had been authorized.

It has since been reported that the railroad companies again propose to reduce wages between 10 per cent and 12 per cent and will ask the Railroad Labour Board to approve of such decrease if the employees' representatives do not agree.

As conditions of railway employment in Canada are similar in many respects to those in the United States, the principal railways in Canada negotiated with their employees for a 12 per cent average reduction to take effect from July 16. Several Boards were established under the Industrial Disputes Investigation Act and one Board of Arbitrators was established under the Conciliation and Labour Act, reports of which were given in the LABOUR GAZETTE issues for November and December. As a result reductions of between 10 per cent and 12 per cent were made in rates of wages for most classes. Agreements were made in January providing that the rates so reduced should be permanent, subject to change after thirty days' notice by either party.

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JOINT convention of eight associations devoted to economics, sociology and kindred sciences met at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, on December 27 to 31. The organizations represented were the American Economic Association, the American Political Science Association, the American Sociological Association, the American Statistical Association, the American Association of University Instructors in Accounting, the American Farm Economics Association, the American Association of University Professors and the American Association for Labour Legislation. The Canadian Department of Labour was represented by Mr. Bryce Stewart, Director of Employment Service. A large variety of subjects were discussed, many of them bearing directly on industrial problems of the day.

The subject of unemployment was discussed at a session of the American Association of Labour Legislation. Professor Commons outlined the Huber bill for unemployment insurance and prevention, which is based on the assumption that industry can prevent unemployment to a very great extent, and that it will be induced to do so by the financial burden of unemployment compensation in the same way that accident compensation has resulted in increased industrial safety. The speaker stressed the necessity of employers taking action to safeguard their employees against the unemployment hazard, and pointed out that in general capital had failed to give security to the job as it had given security to investments. Mr. Henry S. Dennison, president of the Dennison Manufacturing Company, Framington, Mass., declared that periment in his plant had led his company to provide a fund which was used to make and store goods when markets were dull. Mr. William J. Mack, Cleveland, impartial chairman of the

Ladies' Garment industry, described the insurance plan in operation in the garment trade in Cleveland, and expressed the opinion that it was the duty of manufacturers to adopt a programme that would fit the needs of their own industry so as to remove the menace of unemployment. Mr. Philip Murray, vice-president of the United Mine Workers of America, said that the coal industry was an example of faulty organization leading to enormous waste in production which was a heavy burden on all users of coal, as well as to chronic and severe unemployment.

At a joint meeting of the Economic Association, the Statistical Association and the Association for Labour Legislation, an address was delivered by Mr. E. H. Downey, Harrisburg, on "The Present Status of Workmen's Compensation in the United States." The speaker expressed the opinion that the scale of compensation was too low, saying "Taken on the whole, workmen's compensation in the United States probably does not exceed one-fourth of the pecuniary cost of the injuries which the liens profess to cover... Something less than full compensation for temporary injuries is justified on social grounds, since malingering would result from an attempt to pay full wages. But there is no economic justification for a maximum rate less than two-thirds of the wage-loss."

Two addresses were given on labour organization by Mr. William Leiserson, chairman of the Board of Arbitration, Men's Clothing Industry, New York, and Professor George E. Barnett, Johns Hopkins University. Mr. Leiserson, speaking on "Constitutional Government in American Industries" held that some form of constitutional government similar to that set up by trade agreements was necessary under any system of industry, for there will always be, if

not wage-earners, at least workers who must obey orders and directors or managers who will have authority to issue orders. These occupations," he continued, "develop different points of view in the people who follow them, and those in the managerial group become psychologically unified into a social class with divergent views from those of the other, who likewise achieve a consciousness of kind. Unless the two classes jointly embody their ideas of the rights and privileges of individuals in the form of constitutions and law, those who have the power to command, whether in a government-owned, a co-operative or a privately owned industry, may act arbitrarily, and this is the absolutism against which workers rebel... As long as the trade union remains an outside body there can be no question that the industry is an imperfect form of organization. But if, as the development of trade agreements and decisions under them seem to indicate, the union and its entire membership become one of the organs of the constitutional government in industry, then have we not here government in industry, then have we not here the promise of a more unified and more perfect form of industrial organization than has hitherto obtained?"

In discussing the present position of American Trade Unionism, Professor Barnett stated that, from figures which

he himself had compiled, trade union membership in the United States had increased from 500,000 to over 2,000,000 between 1897 and 1904; from 1904 to 1910 the membership oscillated around 2,000,000. Beginning in 1910 there was a pronounced upward movement to nearly 2,750,000, falling in 1914 to nearly 2,500,000. In 1915 a great movement began continuing in full force. until 1920, when the number of trade unionists was only slightly short of 5,000,000. On account of the present depression, however, the speaker believed that there would be a fall in the membership of trade unions, with the exception of railway unions, that would far exceed the loss suffered in previous periods. The extent of the loss would depend largely on the tactical skill with which the unions are managed during the period of depression. With regard to railway unions he stated that the effect of continuance of government control was to protect them from the disintegrating influence of a time of depression and to extend certain rules which have been a powerful force in attracting and retaining members.

An interesting diversion took place on December 29 when about seventy members of the American Association of Labour Legislation visited the Carnegie steel plant at Bessemer.

DURING December, the Department of

Labour received for insertion in the LABOUR GAZETTE the following information relative to eight fair wage contracts, all of which were awarded by the Department of Public Works.

A statement was also received as to supplies ordered by the Post Office Department, subject to the regulations for the suppression of the Sweating System, the securing of fair wages, etc.

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS.

Painting of one-half (Canadian side) of steel highway bridge over St. John River, N.B., between St. Leonard's, N.B., and Van Buren, Maine. Name of contractor, E. A. Guimont, Grand Falls, N.B. Date of contract, December 9, 1921. Amount of contract, $990.

Dredging of slips at foot of Queen and Princess streets, Kingston, Ont. Name