2. It shall be declared that the basic workday in industry and commerce shall not exceed eight hours.

3. Involuntary servitude shall not exist except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted. 4. Establishment of trial by jury.

The basis of reconstruction should be the trade union movements of the various countries. We recommend that an international labor conference, of representatives of the trade union movements of all countries be held at the same time and place as the World Peace Congress that Labor may be in touch with plans under consideration and may have the benefit of information and counsel of those participating in the Congress.

We maintain that the basic provisions of the peace treaty should be formulated with regard to the rights and welfare of the men, women and children constituting the nations rather than the governments of the nations. The government should be only an instrumentality of the people instead of dominating and actuating their lives.

We hold that secret diplomacy should be replaced by diplomatic representatives responsible to the people of their own people.

Existing international anarchy has invited imperialism on the part of strong governments and has furnished opportunity and occasion for war. Militarism finds its justification in international anarchy and can be abolished only when international relations are organized.

There is no element in all nations more concerned in the achievement of conditions making for permanent peace between nations than the working people, who constitute the majority of every nation. Working people have never been properly represented in diplomatic affairs. The future must be constructed upon broader lines than the past. We insist, therefore, that the government of the United States provide adequate and direct representatives of wage-earners among the plenipotentiaries sent to the Peace Congress, and urge upon the labor movements of other countries to take like action.

Pan-America.

Within the last two years Mexico has organized half a million workers within her trades unions. The new constitution expressly recognizes the right to strike and establishes the eight hour day. The 14,000

Mexican workers employed in the copper, silver and gold mines of Arizona are working in harmony with the organized miners of other nationalities. The importance of this awakening of the Mexican workers will be realized when we remember that there are between one and two million Mexican workers in the United States.

Labor and the war.

Included in the Council's report is the address made by President Wilson to Congress when war was declared, in which he said that the financial cost of the war should be met from taxation and that any bonds issued should be redeemed by the present generation. The report also embodied the declaration adopted by the representatives of the International unions at Washington prior to the commencement of the war. The various agreements entered into with the different departments of the Government to govern wages, hours and working conditions upon work done directly for the Government or for private firms having Government contracts, and providing for the creation of commissions and boards to adjust disputes that may arise, were quoted. These agreements have been printed in our official journal. Constant efforts had been made to secure the representation of labor on the defense boards, committees and agencies established to assist in the prosecution of the war.

Soldiers and sailors compensation.

To labor is due the credit for this radical departure from established legislative usage. The pension system has not merely been a failure but has become a by-word and a reproach. President Gompers had suggested to the Council of National Defense that the Committee on Labor be authorized to take up the matter of providing for soldiers and sailors crippled in service and for the dependents of those killed. The suggestion was approved and Judge Julian W. Mack was appointed as chairman of a committee to draft a bill, the most comprehensive legislation of this character ever enacted. The law provides for the wives, children or other dependents of enlisted men during the war (the husband or son contributing from his pay) for the disabled man and for the families of men killed. The compensation is in the same amount for the private and for the highest officer. The bill also provides insurance at actual cost; a recognition of the principle that the nation should bear the war risk. Thus the nation takes the first step towards the nationalization of all insurance.

Distribution of labor.

Much thought has been given to the matter of the distribution of labor to the end that the war industries may be supplied with man power without unnecessary disturbance of other industries. In connection with this subject, safeguards have been thrown around the employment of

women.

Freedom of speech and press.

The Executive Council opposed the passage of the Espionage Act, restricting the rights of free speech and free press. It protested vigorously against the exclusion from the mails of publications falling under the displeasure of the Postoffice Department. The report says:

safe

"The only environment in which free institutions can be maintained is generated through freedom of expression and press. Untrammeled discussion is the only preliminary to determination of policy. All aspects and relations of the proposition should be considered. In national issues every group and every citizen has the right to express his views and information by exercising his constitutional right to freedom of expression. If he can not convince his fellows, at least his personality and his mentality are not repressed though he must yield to the expressed will of the majority.

"A minority group suffering from injustice can more readily secure redress when freedom of speech exists. The minority cause of today becomes the accepted method of tomorrow.

"Repression never removed any injustice or corrected an evil. Restricted expression results in constricted mental development and vision.

"The public press is the public forum. It creates and directs public opinion. Publicity calculated to mislead can be counteracted by increased publicity for truth. Not restricted discussion, but more complete and enlightened discussion.

"If any one abuses the opportunities of freedom, there are established agencies for protecting free institutions. Let those who speak or write treasonable thoughts be tried by the courts.

"We are entering upon an era that will test our constructive imagination and untrammeled thought to the uttermost, if we take advantage of the opportunities that will be presented. Timid expression and restricted discussion would be a sorry preparation for the new age we are entering.

"Those who are in hearts and minds democrats are apprehensive when we see democracy about to make mistakes deplored in autocracy. While we recognize the exigencies of war conditions, yet we hold that democracy must be more intelligent in

meeting those needs than autocracy has been."

The convention entered vigorous protest against the arbitrary ruling of the Postmaster General and instructed the President of the Federation and the Executive Council to call upon the President of the United States and upon the Postmaster General and to protest in the name of the American Federation of Labor against the violation of the constitution by the said Postmaster General and to demand from him and from the President of the United States that the right to a free press be in no wise abridged or interfered with. (To be continued.)

THE TIME TO ACT IS HERE.

In a scathing indictment of the steel trust's activities in Minnesota, the St. Paul Pioneer Press, reviewing a report of the state labor commissioner on the working conditions in the mines of the Oliver company, recites what has been found to be true in Michigan and Colorado and West Virginia and Pennsylvania and Illinois and in other states where the steel trust or the copper trust or the coal trust has forced its employes into revolt.

The Pioneer Press, which for some unexplained reason, has permitted an editorial writer to voice his indignation against the crimes and usurpations of banded capital, protests that "the Oliver Steel company, in exploiting the mines of northern Minnesota has torn to shreds the principle of the constitution, has outraged the freedom of contract, has maintained a system of virtual slavery of white men in our state and has appropriated to itself the powers of government and the dispensation of public justice."

In other and plainer words, the steel trust, in northern Minnesota, is the state. It is the legislature. It is the governor. It is the sheriff. It is the judge and the jury and the executioner. It is morality. It is faith. It is hope and, not least of all, it is charity.

What the steel trust is in Minnesota, capitalism is in the United States. The only force that is challenging its power and its authority is organized labor, in the shop, the mill and mine and factory, and the Socialist party on the field of political

action.

There is only one place for men who would be free.-Milwaukee Leader.

The Painter and Decorator

Devoted to the interests of

House, Sign, Pictorial, Coach, Car, Carriage, Machinery, Ship and Railroad Equipment Painters, Decorators, Paperhangers, Varnishers, Enamelers, Gilders, Glaziers, Art Glass Workers, Bevelers, Cutters and other workers in glass used for architectural and decorative purposes and the Trades Union Movement in General.

Statement of Ownership and Management

(Required by the Act of August 24, 1912.) The Painter and Decorator is published monthly at LaFayette, Ind., by the Brotherhood of PaintIts ers, Decorators and Paperhangers of America. editor, managing editor and business manager is J. C. Skemp. Its owners are the members of the Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators and Paperhangers of America, and no individual, firm or corporation owns 1 per cent. or more of its stock; neither has it any bonded or other indebtedness. J. C. SKEMP, G. S.-T. Sworn to and subscribed before me, this 5th day of October, 1917. (Seal)

Sam S. Savage, Notary Public. (My commission expires January 9, 1918.)

ADVERTISING

Correspondence relating to advertising should be addressed to A. S. Murphy, Advertising Solicitor, Colonial Trust Building, Philadelphia, Pa.

The publisher reserves the right to reject or cancel advertising contracts at any time.

The Painter and Decorator, published at LaFayette, Ind., is the official journal of the Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators and Paperhangers of America and the only publication issued under the auspices of that organization.

Mr. A. S. Murphy is the only person authorized to solicit advertising for the official journal of the Brotherhood. Local Unions and District Councils publishing programs, semi-annuals, annuals or souvenir publications of any description should refrain from designating them as "Official Journal of the Brotherhood," either upon the publication itself or on their advertising contract forms or stationery.

Matter for publication in The Painter and Decorator must be in this office by the 24th of the month previous to the month of issue.

Correspondents will please write on one side of the paper only. We are not responsible for views Address expressed by correspondents. all mail matter to J. C. Skemp, Editor, Drawer 99, LaFayette, Ind.

Entered es second-class matter July 14th, 1905, at the postoffice at LaFayette, Ind., under the act of Congress of March 3, 1879.

Labor and reform papers are respectfully requested to exchange with The Painter and Decorator.

Drawer 99, LaFayette, Ind. J. C. SKEMP, General Secretary-Treasurer, Drawer 99, LaFayette, Ind. JOHN M. FINAN, 1st Gen. Vice-President, 612 Garfield Ave., Chicago, Ill. JOSEPH KELLEY, 2nd Gen. Vice-President, 437 South 55th St., Philadelphia, Pa. CHAS. A. CULLEN, 3rd Gen. Vice-President,

1 Fairmont Ave., Worcester, Mass. JOS. F. CLARKE, 4th Gen. Vice-President, 1804 S. 11th St., Tacoma, Wash. CLARENCE E. SWICK, 5th Gen. Vice-President, P. O. Box 304, Memphis, Tenn. A. E. SCOTT, 6th Gen. Vice-President, Box 2012, Winnipeg, Man., Can.

"For we must never forget when we speak of democracy that it is not an accomplishment, it is not a thing that has been done, but it is a progress; it is a system of growth, and though today we might achieve what our limited vision proclaims to us as the democratic ideal, its quality is such that when we stand on what now seems to us the highest peak of that range, there will be greater heights to tempt and inspire us."-Newton D. Baker.

Let us put on our thinking caps and give a little attention to family affairs. The proposed amendments to the constitution,

Live questions

now before the membership, deserve careful consideration. A few hours of the long winter evenings given over to their discussion will be time well spent.

The first proposition speaks for itself. Nine years have passed since our General Vice-Presidents and our General Organizers were granted an increase in pay; the General President and the General Secretary-Treasurer are working for the same wage they received fourteen years ago. In the meantime the cost of living has doubled. Time and again advances have been secured by nearly every local in the Brotherhood so that members working at the trade in the larger cities-and in many of the smaller towns-are better paid than are the General Officers and Organizers. The time has come and the opportunity is now afforded to correct these inconsistensies. The facts tell the story, it is unnecessary to enlarge upon them.

The second proposition-making further provision for the Death and Disability Fund-should be adopted. We are working on too close a margin. Some months the income of the Fund exceeds the expenditures; in other months more is paid out in benefits than is received in per capita tax. Taking the year through the surplus in the Fund is steadily decreasing. Should the war continue and a large force be sent abroad we must expect a higher death rate and a greater drain upon our resources. Cause for anxiety as to the adequacy and the stability of the Fund, as to the security of our system of benefits, should be removed. The proposed increase is modest and is necessary.

The third proposition is in the nature of first aid. To transfer to the Death and Disability Fund the surplus now in the General Fund would afford temporary relief and would be a practical way to tide over an emergency. The amount that it

is proposed to transfer would build up the Fund so that it would be adequate for some time to come. But the method is not desirable as a permanent plan. The only satisfactory way in which to finance our benefit system is by a permanent increase of the income of the Death and Disability Fund.

Peace is in sight. The end may be delar for some time yet but the forces that are working toward it are in the as

A Happy New Year

of President Wilson to Congress, setting forth in concrete form the terms upon which the United States will make peace, is a statesmanlike and humane document, the most satisfying and encouraging official declaration made by any Government since the war began. It is in accord with the speech of Premier Lloyd George before the committee of the British Labor Party but is far more satisfactory in that it is clearer, more comprehensive and includes a sincere and eloquent expression of our sympathy for the Russian people, an earnest assurance that we share their ideals, admire their courageous and consistent efforts to live up to their faith in democracy and that we are with them in their determination that all peoples, great or small, shall be free. Incidentally the message is a severe and merited rebuke to our stupid, boorish and reactionary metropolitan and provincial dailies that have heaped ridicule, abuse and calumny upon the provisional government of Russia and spared no effort to defeat its efforts to bring about a general and democratic peace.

The official pronouncement of Premier Lloyd George and the declaration of President Wilson have been followed by a message from the British Labor Party to the workers of Russia.

Speaking for four million trade unionists, the four million members of the cooperative societies, the British Socialist party, the Independent Labor Party and a number of other affiliated organizations, the workers of Great Britain unreservedly endorse the Bolsheviki program of peace without annexations or indemnities.

In this greeting-and speaking for the people of Great Britain-the Labor Party renounces all desire to retain conquered territory and asserts, without reservation, the right of all peoples to determine their political destiny-this to apply to India and other parts of the British Empire equally

with Poland, Alsace-Lorraine, Belgium, Serbia and the Balkan states. The British workers pledge their government to a policy as broad and as enlightened as that of Russia toward Poland, Finland, Lithuania and the Ukraine.

These terms will be rejected by Kaiser Wilhelm, the Junker landowners, the industrial magnates and the military ring that have dictated the war policy of the Central Empires, but they will appeal to the war-weary peoples of Germany and Austria-Hungary. They may not be entirely acceptable in their present form but they will be satisfactory as a basis upon which to enter into negotiations.

Second in interest and importance only to President Wilson's message is the declaration of Secretary of War Baker against universal compulsory military service as a permanent policy for the United States. Conscription was accepted for the war. When the war ends the need for conscription will cease. The essential feature of the peace terms of the United States is that peace shall be permanent, that there shall be gradual disarmament and that militarism shall be abolished. The peace we fight for is to be for all time. Compulsory military service after the war would be a confession of insincerity and failure.

Secretary Baker has earned our respect by stating, while the war spirit is still high, where he stands on this supremely important question. His speech will have a wholesome effect upon those who are attempting to commit American democracy to the most typical and dangerous policy of autocratic governments.

A drag on progress

To attempt to amend the Clayton act so as to establish, once and for all time, the right of trade unions to organize non-union men, to conduct strikes, to picket and to peacefully persuade, would be a waste of time and labor. The poverty of the argument and the flimsiness of the pretexts advanced by the majority of the members of the Supreme Court to excuse their decision on the appeal of the Hitchman Coal Company demonstrates the futility of trying to phrase the law so that it would be respected and sustained by such a court. No matter how clear and emphatic the provisions were made they would be misinterpreted and disregarded.

The majority of the members of the Court are opposed to organized labor and -believing themselves to be above the law and the law-making bodies-formulate and "hand down" decisions based upon prejudice. The way to cure this evil is to go to the root of it; deprive the Court of its assumed power to pass upon the constitutional validity of laws enacted by Congress.

Now that the nation is in a death struggle to establish world democracy is a good time to democratize our courts, to strip them of their usurped authority to override the will of the people as expressed by their representatives. To permit the majority of an irresponsible body of nine men, appointed for life, to invalidate laws enacted by representatives of the people-or by the people themselves-is a denial of democracy, and is out of keeping with the times.

To abolish the veto power of the courts would be no rash experiment. No British court can undo or ignore an act of Parliament. Once enacted a law remains upon the statute books until repealed or amended. Sometimes Congress enacts unwise legislation-so does the British Parliament. All that is necessary to correct that evil is to enforce the law. The people would speedily insist upon its repeal. Those who must obey the law are the proper judges as to what the law shall be. To delegate that power to any group of men is to confess that we have no faith in our ability to govern ourselves.

Congress should take this matter in hand before the situation becomes serious. The change of a single vote-the court stood five to four-would have invalidated the Workmen's Compensation laws of the States of New York, Ohio, Washington and Iowa, and thereby deprived thousands

The pernicious efforts of Postmaster Burleson and those members of Congress that smart under the lash of fair criticism, to sectionalize the country, to hinder the people from getting together and acting together for the common good by placing impediments in the way of their communicating with each other through periodicals and magazines of nation-wide circulation, must be frustrated. Congress must repeal the vicious zone system as applied to the mailing of the popular weekly and monthly magazines. The post office should be operated for service, not for profit.

Willing tools

You can't teach an old dog new tricksparticularly when a juicy bone rewards repetition of the old ones. Senator Gallinger of New Hampshire-relic of Civil War times and classic example of the reactionary in politics-and Jim Watson, of Indiana, -machine-made politician and professional lobbyist-reacting normally, have introduced bills providing that the railroads shall automatically revert to private ownership at the close of the war. Jim's solicitude for the restoration of the fat jobs for presidents and directors and for other chances for the big stockholders on the inside to cut melons and rig the market is not surprising. Jim knows who put him where he is and does his level best to deliver the goods to those who made him what he is. After his defeat in the election for Governor of Indiana he served, under a liberal salary, as lobbyist at Washington for the National Manufacturers' Association. If he is not now on the pay roll of the association he hopes to be when the people of Indiana clean house at the end of his term; meantime he serves his past and prospective employers-and to Hades with the people he is supposed to represent. The railroad ring will pay well to regain control of