The situation reminds me of a moving picture film I heard of as appearing in Ohio. It was entitled "An Act of God," and immediately underneath the title was the legend "Approved by the State Board of Censors."

I have also noted the Board's ruling that the condition of an employe with respect to his health cannot be taken into account in considering accident compensation. It would be interesting to know if this applied to an individual who was found to have venereal disease (classed as immorality) to such an extent as to be totally disabled by an accident which under ordinary circumstances would cause but a few days disability, and it would also be of interest to know the Department's attitude with respect to an applicant for employment being refused employment on the ground that he used liquor.

It is items such as these I have mentioned, intoxication, pre-existing disease, also hernia, which, since the Compensation Law went into effect, apparently seldom if ever occur off an employer's premises and lumbago formerly called rheumatism but now known as sprain-it is such items as these which are hastening the day of physical examination.

The reasons already given for the physical examination of applicants for employment had to do with the applicant alone, but there are also the far more important reasons for physical examination, namely the necessity of safeguarding workers already employed, from liability to accident or sickness due to improperly qualified new comers being placed among them, as well as to the necessity of protecting the workers from themselves.

But physical examination will prove no "cure-all"; moreover, though it may be applied to the applicant for employment, it can hardly be applied regularly to all employes, especially in a large works, desirable as it might appear to do so, and it would in many cases be like locking the stable door after the horse was stolen. The workers themselves have got to be impressed more than they are at the present time with the fact that safety both with respect to health and accident, is not a one-sided affair-for the employer only-but is rather one which will require the best efforts of employer and employe if headway is to be made.

Seventy-five per cent. of the accidents in our own works occur to employes who have been less than one year in our service. If this is typical, and I believe it is, what does it mean? It means that the greatest safety device in this country is small labor turnover, a reduction in which will automatically reduce accidents almost in proportion. Does the average worker, however, give this item of labor turnover a thought as applying to him; if he does, he is apparently still willing to take a chance and look for another job. Fifteen per cent. of our accidents are due to flying objects, many of which could

be prevented by the wearing of glasses. Does the average worker ever give this a thought as applying to him? I am inclined to doubt it. Twenty-two per cent. of our accidents are due to carelessness, the result of 22 men out of 100 being continually willing to take chances. Dr. Patterson, of the Department of Labor and Industry, has said that 10 men out of every 100 have a tendency to hernia which will probably become acute by the time they reach the age of 45. How many men ever give such a matter a thought? And lest any employer of labor here becomes unduly worried over Dr. Patterson's figures, I may state there is no cause for alarm on your part, as aside from those cases which have already come before the referees and the Compensation Board, we have apparently located the entire 10 per cent. in our own works. My observation of the compensation law and the interpretation thereof, further leads me to believe that notwithstanding what physicians and surgeons have told us about hernia being a congenital defect, it is in reality an occupational accident of a highly contagious nature and largely confined to the electrical industry; and finally, there is no likelihood of a positive preventive being found for it, and even a partial preventive will hardly be discovered until a health insurance law is forthcoming.

Setting levity aside, let me quote from a decision of Commissioner Leech: "It has been the universal experience of Compensation Boards that hernia presents a fertile field for the unscrupulous and that great care must be exercised in dealing with cases of this character. An English writer on this subject has said 'There is probably more fraud connected with claims for rupture produced by an accident, than can be found in all other cases of fraud for the rest of the body. Of the cases that claim compensation for damages for hernia as being caused by a sudden strain, probably not one in ten is genuine.'

This will, I believe tend to bear me out in the statement I am going to make, namely, That there are more accidents reported to the State than really happen. This is particularly true in connection with hernia, rheumatism, and eye trouble, especially as coming from the larger concerns who are equipped with ample hospital facilities and who treat practically all cases as accidents when brought to their attention by employes either honestly intentioned or otherwise, the main point being that the employe is in trouble and needs help. If there is any shadow of doubt as to the cause, it is given to the employe and an accident report turned in.

Ill health is undoubtedly the cause of many accidents, though hard to prove it so, yet how many workers appreciate the fact that every one of them is for about two-thirds of every working day his own boss, during which period he can by improper care, unfit himself for the day's work?

Perhaps it is a little outside the province of the Department's activities, but they have done so much good and in so many ways, both directly and indirectly, that in closing I would like nevertheless to ask one more thing of them and that is their utmost assistance in endeavoring to increase the facilities of the State's sanitariums for the treatment of tuberculosis. Our investigations discover quite a percentage of such cases and I am sure the same situation holds in other concerns, and frequently a considerable period of time must elapse after application for admission to a sanitarium is made, before a patient can be entered. As the disease has usually made some progress before the works' physicians take hold, further delay may mean the difference between a fatal and a non-fatal termination.

CHAIRMAN YOUNG:

Dr. Peter Roberts, of the Industrial Department, International Committee of Young Men's Christian Association, New York City, has selected as his subject, "The Teaching of English and the Making of Americans." Dr. Roberts will demonstrate his methods with a class of foreigners, who do not speak nor understand English, furnished through the courtesy of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company.

Therefore it affords me much pleasure to present to you Dr. Roberts.

THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH AND THE MAKING OF AMERICANS

By PETER ROBERTS, Ph. D., Industrial Department International Committee of Young Men's Christian Association, New York City.

This is a free show. This is a demonstration of the way we teach English to the foreign speaking men who come to the United States. I have no time to give you any statistics upon the matter. All of you who are closely connected with the industries of Pennsylvania know exactly the problem that employers of the State have because men do not understand English; and especially has this a direct bearing upon the question before the house this morning-safety. Hundreds of accidents that I have known of have occurred because this man, who is a foreign born gentleman coming over the seas to find labor in the industries of the United States, does not understand simple orders. Now, our business is to teach him English, to have a common medium of communication between the forces in industry and I don't think that ought to be too much to ask of the men who are coming here and especially of the employers who are employing them,

8

We have a regular course; a preparatory course, an intermediate course, and an advanced course. I am giving this morning the first lesson in the preparatory course in English. The first ten lessons are on domestic life, the simplest life that a man has. That is the place we all begin, in domestic life. After the first ten lessons we take up industrial life; we have lessons on railroad work, the iron and steel work, the copper work, anything that the man is employed in. The last ten lessons are joining him with the world outside, commercial life, buying a suit of clothes, going on a railroad, etc. These are the thirty lessons we have in the preparatory course. Then we take him up into the intermediate course.

In this preparatory course we do not give anything to the man in the form of a book, using only leaflets, because one fundamental principle is that if the man wants to learn a language for practical purposes he must use the ear. That is the medium of language. The eye is a help and so is the hand, but they should only aid the teaching given through the ear. Our method appeals to the ear. You cannot get a foreigner who has been here in the United States a month who does not know some words of English. These men know some words but to join those words into sentences is the difficulty of the foreigner.

(Dr. Roberts then demonstrated before the conference his method of teaching English, as follows, to a class of thirty foreigners said to speak twelve different languages.)

Now I want you to talk after me. Now: "Awake, open, look, find, see; awake, open, look, find, see." Now, altogether, "Awake, open, look, find, see." Once more: "Awake, open, look, find, see.” Now, all together. Don't be afraid. It is not an easy thing to learn a language when you have an audience of this kind. When you get them in a class it is altogether different. Once more: "Awake, open, look, find, see." Good; once more: "Awake, open, look, find, see." That is right. Now, "Awake; I awake from sleep; I awake from sleep; I awake from sleep; I awake from sleep." All together: "I awake from sleep; I awake from sleep." That is right; "I open my eyes; I open my eyes; I open my eyes; I open my eyes; I awake from sleep; I open my eyes." "I look for my watch; I look for my watch; I look for my watch." "I find my watch; I find my watch; I find my watch." "I see what time it is; I see what time it is; I see what time it is; I see what time it is." That is right. Now, all together again: “I awake from sleep; I awake from sleep; I open my eyes; I look for my watch; I find my watch." "I see what time it is; I see what time it is; I see what time it is." Now, "I see what time it is." Good. Now, once more, all together; don't be afraid of these fellows around you;

they don't know it; we know it. Now, "I awake from sleep; I open my eyes; I look for my watch; I find my watch; I see what time it is." Good; that is right; that is the way to talk. Just give them a chance and they will do it. (Applause.)

(Dr. Roberts indicated by gestures and by pointing to articles what he was talking about.)

"Must get up; must get up; throw back; throw back; get out; get out; put on; put on; must get up; must get up; throw back; throw back; get out; get out; put on; put on; must get up; must get up; throw back; throw back; get out; get out; put on; put on." Very good. "It is six o'clock; it is six o'clock; it is six o'clock." "I must get up; I must get up; I must get up." All together now: "I must get up; I must get up." "I throw back the bed clothes; I throw back the bed clothes; I throw back the bed clothes; I throw back the bed clothes." "I get out of bed; I get out of bed; I get out of bed; I get out of bed." All together now: "I get out of bed; I get out of bed." "I put on my pants." We use the classical term in that. "I put on my pants." All together now: "I put on my pants; I put on my pants." "I put on my stockings and shoes; I put on my stockings and shoes; I put on my stockings and shoes." That is right; now, "It is six o'clock; it is six o'clock; it is six o'clock." "I must get up; I must get up." "I throw back the bed clothes." All together, "I throw back the bed clothes." Once more: "I throw back the bed clothes." "I get out of bed; I get out of bed." Now, "I get out of bed; I put on my pants; I put on my stockings and shoes; I put on my stockings and shoes; I put on my pants; I put on my stockings and shoes." That is good; good. Once more, "It is six o'clock; it is six o'clock." All together now, "It is six o'clock; I must get up." All together now, "I must get up; I throw back the bed clothes; I throw back the bed clothes." "I get out of bed." That is right. I get out of bed; I get out of bed; I get out of bed." "I put on my pants; I put on my stockings and shoes." You see there is fun in it. Why, my friends tell me it is better than the vaudeville show and we do not charge anything for it.

Now, all together; once more; now beginning, all together: "I awake from sleep; I awake from sleep." "I open my eyes; I look for my watch; I find my watch; I see what time it is; it is six o'clock; I must get up; I throw back the bed clothes; I get out of bed." All together, "I get out of bed; I put on my pants; I put on my stockings and shoes." Now, all together; don't be afraid; now, "I awake from sleep." All together now, "I awake from sleep; I look for my watch; I find my watch; I see what time it is; it is six o'clock; I