From charges repeatedly made, one might think that it was trying to destroy the city.

Labor is not trying to destroy anything. Its nature is not destructive, but constructive. All it asks for is a fair chance. Hitherto it has been at the mercy of capital, and capital has shown little mercy.

It should be borne in mind that labor

TO LABOR.

Shall you complain who feed the world?
Who clothe the world?
Who house the world?

Shall you complain who are the world,
Of what the world may do?

As from this hour

You use your power,
The world must follow you.

The world's life hangs on your right hand,

Your strong right hand,

Your skilled right hand;

You hold the whole thing in your hand,

See to it what you do!

Or dark or light,

Or wrong or right,

The world is made by you!

Then rise as you ne'er rose before,

Nor hoped before,

Nor dared before,

And show as ne'er was shown before, The power that lies in you!

Stand all as one

Till right is done!

Believe and dare and do!

-Charlotte Perkins Stetson.

WHAT LABOR IS TRYING TO DO.

[By Charles D. Shields in the Los An

geles Citizen.]

In Los Angeles there is a misunderstanding in regard to what labor is try

a mere commodity. It is human power. It expends itself for the purpose of maintaining not only its own life, but the lives of those dependent upon it. And those dependent upon labor include the whole world. In the past they gave labor as little as possible. Consequently labor was abused and degraded and weakened. Out of the labor market, like a great pen of slavery, came millions to be sacrificed, consisting not only of men, but of women and children. For generations labor has been struggling to make this sacrifice impossible and to place itself on the basis where it belongs, where it can secure from the whole world the recognition of its service. It knows, and it is striving to make the world know, that, without it, human life cannot continue. As soon as a full understanding is reached it believes that its claims will be appreciated at their true worth and properly rewarded.

Labor asks, as its right, for a share in its results that shall enable the laborers to develop themselves as women and men, as mothers and fathers, as sisters and brothers. It asks as its right a voice in the shaping of the conditions that affect its own welfare, relating to health and to hours, and to regulations of service. Instead of doing harm to the world by its demands, it confidently asserts that it does good, through cooperating with the law that makes injury to the great mass of human beings harmful to all society, destructive to the generations of today, menacing to the generations to come.

From the charges made against workingmen it might reasonably be inferred that, some way, in being allowed to work they were granted a privilege. The absurdity of this attitude is plainly seen when one asks what Los Angeles would be without them. As a matter of fact, there would be no Los Angeles. Like every other city in the world, this great and beautiful city is a monument to the power of labor.

But does not capital count for anything? Surely it does. There would be no Los Angeles without the co-operation of capital. But what is capital? As all economists now agree, it is stored-up labor. It is the surplus that has gone to those who have made a profit from labor, the vast surplus that stands both for the teeming prosperity of the world and for the appalling economic inequality.

The labor movement in Los Angeles, like labor movements everywhere, is essentially humanitarian. It is a struggle against waste, against waste of human life, of human abilities and capacities, of responsibilities in the way of intellectual and moral and social development. It sees great rewards going to the few, and a bare living, or no living at all, going to the multitude. Moreover, it sees the few weakened and degraded by surfeit, even while the multitude suffers. Its ideal is the betterment of the whole race. It looks forward to the time when labor, instead of being despised as it is now, shall be honored, when the worth of a man shall be estimated, not in the money that comes from the toil of others, but in the service he is able to render society. It sees in the near future a general realization on the part of society that the gambling in labor, which is gambling in human life, must cease, and that a new ideal must be maintained, placing the welfare of mankind above the present concern of property. With confidence it looks to the enactment of laws safeguarding to every one that comes into the world a reasonable opportunity to make a living.

Labor is aware that already laws have been passed greatly ameliorating the conditions of the labor market, restricting the hours in certain departments, and protecting the women and children. But

these laws do not reach the heart of the matter. They operate like parental kindness, like favors. They are only steps toward the establishing of conditions where all human beings brought into the world shall be trained to develop the best in their nature and to give their most efficient service.

The treatment of labor in the past is the tragedy of history. It has been blasphemously accepted and encouraged as the will of God. Now it is recognized as a result of the thoughtlessness, the selfishness and the shortsightedness of man. The hope of the future lies in the correction of this deep-seated blunder, which has weakened the foundations of human life throughout the world. In the recreating of society, with the rights of labor safeguarded, labor looks forward to a new era, far more wonderful than any yet known, rich with the promise of achievement and with the prospect of intellectual and moral advancement, giving the whole race a more certain hold on the principles of wise living that alone can lead to happiness.

THE SHARE OF LABOR.

Wage Will Be Great Or Small According To Effort Made By Workers.

The history of wars seems to be that they are followed by periods of extraordinary business activity. War stricken countries usually set out after the war is over to recreate the wealth that has been destroyed. This means large opportunities for employment to the available labor that is left when the cannon have got through. It means that labor is in demand; that those who do the work must be supplied with all the necessities of life in return for their wages and that there is opportunity for wage earners to earn a living.

The burden of recreating the wealth and of supplying all the necessities of life is upon the wage earners. What they shall get in return for their efforts depends very largely upon themselves.

War does not relieve the wage earners from the duty of maintaining his trade union organization. On the contrary, it intensifies that duty. We are not dis

cussing ideals or chasing rainbows. To say that war is wrong or that the present system of industry is wrong or that labor is entitled to all it produces or to make other expressions of similar character are mere platitudes. The trade union movement exists for practical purposes in the practical present and the practical future. In spite of the fact that war is wrong, there is war, and after the war will come peace, not because peace is right, but because peace is inevitable, and with peace will come a quickening of industry and opportunity for the employment of labor all over the world.

And when that opportunity comes the share that labor will get will not be all it produces, because that is right in accordance with any theory, Utopian or otherwise, but the share that labor can secure through its own efforts. And if labor does not make any efforts its share will be less, and if labor unites and acts in concert its share will be greater, and this is true all the time, in war or in peace.

NOT A DEBATABLE QUESTION.

The eight-hour workday is no longer a debatable question or, as the railroad men have expressed it, the demand for eight hours is not a matter for arbitration. In the various articles that are published in the American Federationist, the demand for the shorter workday is the paramount economic demand. The short workday is a condition that must precede every other kind of bettermentphysical, economic or social. The shorthour worker has sufficient physical and mental strength after the day's work is done to have ambition and energy to be something more than part of the machinery of production. Decreasing the hours of work increases the proportion of time that can be given to recuperation and self-development and all of the other activities of a normal human being. As a result, the short-hour workmen become more competent and productive workmen and their wages and standards are higher. Higher wages gives them the economic means for taking advantage of the increased opportunities possible through greater leisure.

The standards of living of those who work short hours are raised; their social intercourse takes on a different character; their tastes, desires, aspirations and needs become greater. The short-hour worker becomes a better citizen, a better man or woman, more capable of higher and better living. On the industrial side, from the employer's viewpoint, it has been proved over and over again that the shorter workday is a decided advantage. The short-hour workers become better and more efficient workers; their output is increased in quantity as well as quality. Employers who have given the eighthour day more than a mere passing experiment aver they would not return to the regime of a longer workday.

Additional verification of this fact now comes from the Ford Motor Company. The Ford plant was originally run on the ten-hour basis. The long workday was attended by many industrial disadvantages, among which was the annoyance caused by the constant changes of workers. The "turnover," as the firm classed it, was both enormous and costly. The number of workers who left the employment of the company during each year was about equal to the number of new workers who were annually employed.

The hours of work were first reduced from ten to nine and wages were increased 15 per cent. A marked improvement in shop conditions and output reIsulted from this reduction. It was decided to go still further and the hours of work were reduced from nine to eight and pay was also increased. As a result of the establishment of the eight-hour workday there was a marked improvement in efficiency and output. The Ford Company is authority for the following

statement:

"A certain group of men working nine hours under the old system assembled 750 radiators. The same group working eight hours under the new plan assembled 1,300 radiators. A group of men working nine hours under the old plan turned out 38 fenders. Under the new plan, working eight hours, the same men turned out 50 fenders. A group of 65 men working nine hours under the old system turned out 800 gas tanks. Under the new, working eight hours, the 65 men

turned out 1,200. Hours were reduced, wages increased and cost went down."

The extraordinary achievements during the last year in establishing the eighthour workday or the shorter workday for a greater number of wage earners in all industries will have a far-reaching effect in our industrial progress and in national development. Regardless of any problems that may arise through necessity for readjustments, the workers of this country will not permit hours of work to be increased or present standards lowered.

Workers, organize, unite and federate; press home upon all the imperative demand for the eight-hour day!—American Federationist.

ARBITRATION IS SACRED-WHEN?

Presidential Candidate Hughes has seen fit during the last few days to express himself as strongly in favor of arbitration in industrial disputes. It is worthy of note that he did not say anything on the subject until negotiations between the railroad presidents and the brotherhoods had broken off and all opportunities for arbitration had gone by. As the champion of the railroad president's side of the controversy it is reasonable to presume that Mr. Hughes is in favor of the same sort of arbitration that these railroad officials and a great many other employers are. They are in favor of arbitrating conditions which the workers have already won. They are always in favor of playing the game when the cards are stacked so that they cannot lose. When the cards are not so stacked they are as the Chamber of Commerce of San Francisco-"There is nothing to arbitrate."

When these representatives of big business are up against it so that they cannot secure delay in any other way they are willing to secure delay by a farcical arbitration. They are never willing to grant the conditions and then to arbitrate the question as to whether or not the conditions shall continue or whether the old conditions shall be re-established.

Arbitration becomes a sacred thing in the minds of some employers only when

it is the one possible' means left whereby to delay the just demands of employes.Witten W. Harris.

FAKE "EFFICIENCY" LAID OUT.

The American Federation of Labor has achieved a tremendous victory of far-reaching consequence in protecting workers in certain trades against a pernicious system that threatened the manhood, the independence and the initiative of the workers of those trades. Particularly the workers in the metal trades have felt the impending danger of efforts to fasten upon them systems of so-called "scientific management." These systems are endeavoring to establish a new standard for paying wages, a standard that would inevitably undermine the health and mentality of workers, for it is a standard that aims directly to speed up the workers to the exhaust point and to instill mechanical habits of work.

In ordrer to protect the lives and health of workers, Congress incorporated into the sundry civil bill and fortifications bill the following proviso:

"Provided, That no part of the appropriations made in this act shall be available for the salary or pay of any officer, manager, superintendent, foreman, or other person having charge of the work of any employe of the United States while making or causing to be made with a stop-watch, or other time-measuring device, a time study of any job of any such employe between the starting and completion thereof, or of the movements of any such employe while engaged upon such works; nor shall any part of the appropriations made in this act be available to pay any premium or bonus or cash reward to any employe in addition to his regular wages, except for suggestions resulting in improvements or economy in the operation of any government plant."

These bills were approved by both houses of Congress and have been signed by the President. The same proviso is included in the naval and army bills. Thus the workers have secured congressional approval for their opposition to systems that have sought to give to a

new exploiting scheme the sanction of science and of efficient production.

Workers have proven by their actual experiences that stop-watch time-measuring systems are neither scientific nor are they in furtherance of most effective production. The workers are not opposed to methods or devices that facilitate production, but they are opposed to methods that dehumanize the workers.

The so-called scientific efficiency systems that have been thus far proposed are neither scientific nor efficient. The workers are in favor of methods that will enable them to become more effective, intelligent, resourceful participators in production. Such methods must necessarily be educational in nature.

The labor movement declares that effort to promote production in quality as well as quantity must have as their primary consideration the development of the creative power of the human agents. The principle that is contained in th eprovisos to these four legislative measures must later be enacted into specific provisions of enacted law.American Federationist.

be nursed and warmed by thought into life and full fruition.

Clear thinking is a rare and priceless jewel. Nothing can withstand it. Adamant and armorplate, concrete and steelcrystalized, tempered thought cuts, pulverizes and smashes them all.

If the toilers could only learn to think, they would talk less and live more.

When great numbers think in unison the same thoughts, the result is unity and united mass action.

Labors' hope seeks and sighs for freedom. Yet labor cannot hope to gain much greater independence and freedom until labor severs the shackles which bind the mind. Crystalized and unified thought alone can accomplish this revolution of minds and achieve the solidarity and unity required in the uplift of mother earth's toiling and struggling millions.

Think with your brothers and sisters -think of the bread-winners and burden-bearers of the world-the earth's heavily laden.

Giant of labor, think why were you given power to think.-From Organized Labor, San Francisco.

Ideas and notions which flit across the mind are not thoughts. They come and go in a second without leaving the slightest impression and in most instances never to return.

These elusive messengers, like an electric flash, flirt with the heart and play hide and seek between dormant brain cells.

When one of these ideas comes shooting like a sunbeam through the dark and dreary caves underneath your skullgrab it. Tie it to the soul with chains of thought.

Revolve it around for a few seconds over that mysterious territory of hills and dales called the cerebrum, until it finds a place to ladge and rest and recuperate. Ideas are nearly all good, but they must

HIS CONUNDRUMS.

"Pop, tell me some conundrums." "Conundrums? Why I don't know any conundrums, my son!"

"Oh, yes you do! I heard mother tell Aunt Mary the other day that you keep her guessing most of the time."-Ex.

MADE BOTH ENDS MEET.

Flatbush-Times are not what they used to be.

Bensonhurst-Why not?

"Because when I was a kid I used to put my toe in my mouth, but, believe me, I can't make both ends meet now."Yonkers Statesman.

The destiny of labor depends upon labor itself. Your power lies in your own brains and bodies. You must work out your own salvation.-Frank P. Walsh.