"The American Seamen's Act is benefiting seamen all the world over," continued Mr. Scharrenberg. “As it applies to the sailors and ships of all nations that touch American ports, its result is to make all ship owners of all nations pay the same good wages and maintain the same good conditions for health and safety on the vessels. This equalization relieves the American ship owners of competition of foreign low wages and of 'fugitive slave laws' for seamen and of unsafe vessels."

Condensing the benefits of the law, Secretary Hanson's report asserted:

"The change has been not alone in improved safety, in the working conditions and to some extent in the wages of the men, but the whole life on ship board has been improved, and instead of the old spirit of bitterness and hatred, inevitable under the slave laws that held the men, there is an air of freedom and a growing recognition of rights and responsibilities on the part of everybody connected with the ship. It is certain that after the Seamen's Act has been in operation another year or two, that not even the ship owners will want to repeal it. Instead, we will find that all other maritime nations will follow the lead set by the United States."

The internationalism of the convention was strongly emphasized by the presence and active participation in it of delegates from Great Britain and from Japan. Delegates B. Suzuki, of the latter country, and J. Henson, of Great Britain and Ireland, as well as Richard McGhee, Member of Parliament, and Harry Gosling, who had been delegates from Great Britain to the convention of the American Federation of Labor, told of the efforts not only of their respective countries but of all the foreign countries to have similar seamen's laws enacted there. A special bulletin and an attempt to value the message of these foreign delegates to the seamen and to the trade-union movement in general will be issued soon by the Committee on Industrial Relations.

As showing what the merchant sailors of Europe thought of the American seamen's Act, the visiting delegates told of the appropriation by the union of Great

Britain of more than $400 to help the American International to resist efforts to repeal the law. They told also of that union's purpose to contribute constantly if need be for the upholding of real manhood liberty on the sea.

Now to have the Seamen's Act so administered, through the Department of Commerce, that its full spirit and letter shall be put into effect is the great aim of the International as it was of the convention. The worst offense against the law and against the seamen is the slack and truly unlawful way in which the Department of Commerce, under its present direction, "softens" the language tests for the crews and thus still in many cases permits vessels to be manned by coolies and by ignorant, incompetent persons who do not understand the uninterpreted, emergency orders of their officers. Delegates to the convention condemned Eugene T. Chamberlain, Commissioner of Navigation, and George C. Uhler, Chief of the Steamboat Inspection Bureau, in the Commerce Department, as being responsible directly, and blamed Secretary. Redfield as being responsible at least indirectly, for this violation and partial negation of the beneficent law.

The fast growing strength of the fast growing International Seamen's Union of America was pledged for the fight against these administrative non-enforcements of the law.

our line of work, they said it mattered not whether on municipal or private, it was the trade-union movement that improved conditions. Some of the municipally-owned lines were worse than the others. I found that on the State-owned roads of Germany the men were absolutely unorganized except in certain cases. In the armies of Germany are whole divisions and companies of men, engineers and others, who would take control in time of trouble.

"In France I expected something different, because France is a republic. In Paris I found the only change in conditions came from organizations of the unions, and that continued efforts of the trade unions of Paris made better conditions.

"In Switzerland, one of the oldest republics on earth, I expected that through political influence it would bring about changes. In Bazel a splendid meeting was held and the president of the organization for the country was there. In Bazel is a municipally-owned road. They work twelve hours by the laws of the canton, but through their union they made it ten hours.

"In Germany, in France, in Great Britain, in America, the workers have first established the hours and then made the laws accordingly. The trade unions have blazed the way. To the trade unions we owe more than to anything else."-Ex.

HOW DECEMBER 25 WAS CHOSEN.

How many people know why Christmas came to fall on December 25th?

Everybody knows that it is the day celebrated alike by Catholic, Protestant and Greek churches as the nativity of Christ, yet nobody knows if it is the `actual date.

The uncertainty is due to the prejudice of early Christians against the celebration of birthdays. They regarded such a custom as heathenism, and made no exception, even to their Savior's birthday.

It was not until Christianity had triumphed, three centuries later, that the prejudice against the observance of birthdays died out, and an investigation as to the date of Christ's birthday was begun.

Julius, Pope or Bishop of Rome, asked Saint Cyril in 386 to ascertain the real anniversary of the nativity. Saint Cyril reported the rate to be December 25th, to the best of his knowledge, after extensive research, and the date was accepted by Julius and promulgated as the anniversary of Christ's birth. Before the end of the fifth century the date was accepted by all Christendom.

January 6th, April 20th, March 20th and March 29th are some of the dates that were serious contenders for the distinction before December 25th received the seal of Julius' approval.

Even after the date was generally accepted by all Christian nations the holiday had its struggles. The English

Roundhead Parliament of 1643 abolished Christmas, and for twelve years it was not observed in England. Royalty gained the ascendency, however, and Christmas was re-established as a national holiday.

Governor Bradford, of Plymouth, in 1621, history says, had occasion to rebuke some young men, who had come over in the ship Fortune, following in the trail of the Mayflower, because their consciences would not allow them to work on Christmas, with their sterner Puritan brothers.

In 1659 the General Court of Massachusetts passed a law fixing a fine of five shillings against any one who should, by abstinence from labor, feasting or any other method, observe Christmas.-Pittsburgh Iron Trade Review.

EPIGRAMS.

In the field of endeavor people are divided into two classes: those who imitate or take orders, and those who blaze the trail and do things. One is the plodder and the other the originator of new ideas and ways of doing things.

It is well to be obedient where obedience is desirable; but it is better to be resourceful.

When Alexander could not untie the Gordian knot he cut it with his sword.

A resoruceful man is one who, when he can not do a thing one way, does it another.

He keeps trying.

When it is time to quit he begins. When he is licked he begins fighting again.

Success in life is not like shooting at a mark with a rifle; it is like trying to hit a mark with a stream of water from a hose; you just keep on till finally you hit it.

It is well to know how; it is better to try, for by trying you learn how.

Success is like picking a lock, not like working an example in long division. It is like solving a rebus more than it is like demonstrating a theorem in geometry.

It is like starting a fire with a damp wood more than it is like getting a chemical reaction in a laboratory.

It is like fitting together pieces of a torn letter more than it is like building a wall of bricks.

All the big things are accomplished by trying, trying, trying. Only the little. things can be done by rule and a mediocre mind to do them.

To paint a great picture means infinite approximations. None is painted bý rule.

The man who fails is not the man who has no gifts. no chance, no pull, no encouragement, no training; it is the man who quits. Genius is the inexhaustible capacity for going on.

Training, education and the like before you go to work is valuable; but it is the training and education you get by and while you work that counts most.

There are three rules that govern us through life in our effort to grow, expand and bring something worth while to pass. The first is: Go on. The second is: Go on. And the third is: Go on.

Life is endless experiment; wisdom is the precipitate of experiment; belief is the spirit of experiment; character is the subjective result of experiment, and success the objective result.-United Mine Workers' Journal.

LOOKING BACKWARD.

The workingman who doesn't believe in trade unions ought to read a little and then think a little. Prior to 1820 the work day was 11 to 12 hours or from sun to sun. In that year the agitation for a ten-hour day became quite common

and resulted in quite a number of strikes. The merchants, manufacturers and employers generally pledged themselves -not to employ laborers unless they agreed to work 12 hours for $1 a day.

From 1830 to 1865 the ten-hour contests resulted in a number of strikes and lockouts. The conspiracy laws sent hundreds of our wage worker fathers and grandfathers to jail, the military was called out on the slightest pretext, and the ten-hour agitators were openly denounced.-Ex.

OPPOSE CAN'T-STRIKE" LAW.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 9.-President Wilson's recommendation to Congress that a "can't-strike" law be passed will be opposed by the American Federation of Labor and the railroad brotherhoods.

At the last convention of the A. F. of L., held in Baltimore, the report of the Executive Council on this question was unanimously adopted.

"Involuntary and compulsory labor once enforced," it was stated, "even for a single hour, will not halt at its temporary enforcement, but will go on and become permanent.

"The human labor power which this law compels wage earners to give to their employers against their will is inseparable from the body and the personality of the men and women themselves. They cannot be forced to work for an employer against their wills without reducing them to the legal condition of slaves and transforming their minds and spirits into those of slaves. No more dangerous proposition has ever been proposed than this compulsory investigation measure.

"Compulsory institutions to prevent strikes are not new. They have been found in other countries and found wanting."

MAYOR ROLPH BARS GUNMEN.

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 9.-Mayor Rolph has blocked the chamber of commerce in its attempt to surround a non-union job with armed gunmen.

"There will be no gunmen picketing city property," he declared. "The cham

ber of commerce succeeded in having an anti-picketing ordinance alopted at the last election and I intend to see that no armed pickets are used in labor difficulties."

A strike was called by structural iron workers, employed by Dyer Brothers, who have the contract for erecting an addition to a hospital. The contractors refused to obey the State law and place planking between the floors of the structure, thereby protecting the lives of work

ers.

When the union workers struck because of this violation of law the chamber of commerce furnished four armed gunmen to protect the strikebreakers. The business men are silent on the question of organized workers striking to protect their lives, and to enforce the State law.

DEATHS IN INDUSTRY APPALL.

In calling attention to the fourth annual industrial, welfare and efficiency conference, held in Harrisburg, Pa., last week Commissioner Jackson of the State Department of Labor and Industry says:

"The industrial accident list this year in Pennsylvania has already passed the 200,000 mark, with over 2,000 deaths, and will, I believe, approach 300,000 by the end of the year with the corresponding number of deaths. It will take earnest and sustained action on the part of all to stop this enormous economic loss.

"In this country, as in most other countries, but little distinct attention has been given to the problem of employment by the community as a whole. The financial waste to the State, the employer and the employe, by reason of the haphazard method of dealing with this most important problem, is worthy of very immediate and energetic attention."

WHO COMES HERE?

I am more powerful than the combined armies of the world.

I have destroyed more men than all the wars of the world.

I am more deadly than bullets and I have wrecked more homes than the mightiest siege guns.

I steal, in the United States alone, over $300,000,000 each year.

I spare none and I find my victims among the riclf and poor alike, the young and old, the strong and weak. Widows and orphans know me.

I loom up in such proportions that I cast my shadow over every field of labor from the turning of the grindstone to the moving of every railroad train.

I massacre thousands upon thousands of wage-earners in a year.

I lurk in unseen places and do most of my work silently. You are warned against me, but you heed not.

I am relentless. I am everywhere; in the home, on the streets, in the factory, at railroad crossings and on the sea.

I bring sickness, degradation and death, and yet few seek to avoid me. I destroy, crush, maim, take all and give nothing.

I am your worst enemy.
I.AM CARELESS!-Ex.

OVERWORK ENDANGERS.

American people are overworked and are approaching a breakdown, declares Miss Josephine Goldmark, of the National Consumers' League, who repeats the insistent claim of organized labor that shorter working days are necessary to preserve health and ideals.

"Overwork is the greatest single menace to public health in America," she said. "People are dying. younger in America than ever before. Workers are wearing out more quickly. The diseases which are carrying them off are plainly the diseases of overwork. The death rate from apoplexy and nervous diseases has increased 19 per cent. in ten years, according to the census records of five million working people; from heart disease the increase has been 29 per cent.; from diseases of the kidneys and urinary system, 43 per cent., and from diseases of the liver and digestive organs, 34 per cent. It does not take a physician to know that these diseases are typically the diseases of fatigue. Fatigue is poison. It is the poisoning of the system by worn-out cells which would normally be carried out of it. If activity is not balanced by rest, life itself is threatened."

INTERNATIONAL EXECUTIVE BOARD. ANTHONY MCANDREW ..President 50-51-52-53 Iroquois Life Bldg., Louisville, Ky. W. R. WALDEN..... .....First Vice-President 2020 E. Franklin St., Richmond, Va. JOHN RUCKERT . Second Vice-President 739 Aline St., New Orleans, La. CHARLES P. ALDER..... .......Third Vice-President 156 Heidelberg St., Detroit, Mich. ...Fourth Vice-President 1486 Pitkin St., Brooklyn, N. Y. A. J. TURNER Fifth Vice-President 130 Forest Ave., Hamilton, Ont. .Sixth Vice-President 1015 N. Fifth St., Richmond, Va. E. LEWIS EVANS .. Secretary-Treasurer 50-51-52-53 Iroquois Life Bldg., Louisville, Ky.

A. SHEINES

ROBT. FOX

............

but we venture to say that the right to organize will be sustained when the time comes that the United States Supreme Court, or any other, denies labor the right to organize. Either the courts or the labor unions will have outlawed themselves, and their usefulness as protective features and parts of our American life will have ended. We hope to see neither.

Local No. 137, of Brooklyn, N. Y., one of the recently organized local unions, gave a dance on Friday, December 1st. which was a social and financial success. It was one of the nicest entertainments we have had the pleasure of attending for many a long day.

The officers and many of the members, with their ladies, were in attendance in evening dress, and an excellent dance program was given to each one in attendance. The tripping of the light fantastic was enjoyed until the wee sma' hours in the morning. At midnight the grand march took place. The Floor Committee, in the second evolution, presented the ladies with a large bouquet of flowers.

President McAndrew and Secretary Evans were extended invitations, and being in New York at the time, spent a most enjoyable evening.

The railroad situation in this country and the controversy between the railroad managements and the organized men has made a number of normally very level heads turn their minds to forced settlement of disputes between the managements and their employes. Most of those who have given the subject any depth of thought, and run the thing to its logical conclusion, have come to the stone wall upon which is painted the words "involuntary servitude" (slavery). Again there are a number who have not plowed deeply in the field, and have stopped short of a logical end, and have arrived at the conclusion that strikes or suspensions of work, especially in public utility employment, must stop and employes must be made, by force, to continue work; to continue to labor under the conditions they are protesting against. Force is a necessary element for certain protections