easily ignited. Tests have shown that hot cinders lodging upon a well-painted shingled roof die out before doing damage, while similarly exposed unpainted ones were set on fire.

In the case of the shingled roof there is a choice of two methods of treatmentstaining or painting. Staining is more adapted to new roofs than to those which have previously been treated or exposed to the weather, although it can be done on old roofs if the shingles are in good condition and are not so dark as to mask the color. On new work it is far better to stain the shingles before they are laid, by dipping them.

Painting is not only adapted to new shingled roofs, but can be used equally well

The use of this word in connection with military affairs has tended to create the impression that it has a hidden military meaning. This is contrary to the facts, as it is simply slang, borrowed from the French stage. Its real meaning is "make up." In its original use it applies where

"Little grains of powder,
Little dabs of paint,
Make a girl of forty

Looks like what she ain't."

The present camouflaging is simply making objects, principally military machines, look like something else a haystack or a bush-in which practice the painters are simply copying from Nature's most effective disguises, through which only the expert can see.

The chameleon is an artful little camouflager, being able to change his color to resemble the object on which he lies. It is an excellent defense for him, as he is too small to fight, and does not care to spend too much time fleeing from his enemies, who desire his body for dinner.

The American bob-white adopts a medley of colors-reddish, black, brown, yellow and white that completely harmonize with the foliage colors during all seasons of the year. He is present in person, but lost to sight.

The parrot fortifies the defense produced by his raucous voice by brilliant colors that blend perfectly with the brilliant foliage of his tropical home.

The reindeer, ptarmigan and practically all timid birds and animals, find their chief defense from their enemies in colors that blend into their surroundings.

Many savage tribes used camouflage to wonderful advantage in warfare. The American Indian often carried the practice to great limits, even selecting the gaudiest of colors in cases where the natural colors of the land were bright.

For many years the question of vanishing colors has been under serious consideration in the modern armies, especially in the matter of uniforms, and to a lesser extent in the colors selected for heavy equipment and wagon trains. The first extensive modern application of the art was made by General Smuts of the British Army in the Boer War, when wagon covers, tents and other objects that would readily attract attention were painted with colors that harmonized well with the surroundings.

Changes in colors have been most apparent in the American Navy, which, before the Spanish American War, was of a showy and easily seen white that revealed its presence until it was lost to sight over the horizon. Later the less easily seen battleship-gray was adopted as the standard color, and today more elaborate color schemes are used to disguise its presence.

The modern army is now using every known device for camouflage. The olive drab or khaki-colored uniform blends into the landscape and is lost to sight much sooner than the more brilliant colors form

erly worn by troops. Flashing breastplates, buttons and polished equipments of all kinds have been absolutely discarded for others that do not shine.

The Alpine troops, fighting above the snow lines, went to great extremes in painting themselves white, so that there was no contrast with snow during the day, and for night duty troops have painted themselves black for easier hiding. During the spring and early summer, green colors are used, and as the season progresses, daubs of yellow, red and golden tints are used to duplicate the color effects of the advancing season.

The effective application of camouflage to color does not lie in adopting any one color, but in smudges of several colors that may appear most apparent at close range, but which gradually lose shape, appearance, size, and even location as distances increase. Some of the useful colors would seem illogical were their usefulness not backed up by practice or substantiated by the study of the colors of birds and animals. Extensive use is made of white, gray, ultramarine, black, yellow and lavender, and of peculiar arrangements of spots, daubs and wavy stripes. Many of the vessels sailing the barred zones give a general impression that might be compared to a futurist's dream depicted by the hands of a novice in painting-one wonders what they actually

are.

For many years paints have been used for most artistic camouflages and deceptions in and about the home and on country estates. Unsightly buildings are partially hid by carefully selected colors and combinations of tints that fade into the background. The red barn would not appear half so large or so unsightly were it given a less contrasting color, and the garage or chicken coop could be so concealed by color that one would experience difficulty in telling exactly where the rose bush stood and the building began. In other cases more attractive objects can be brought out more distinctly by carefully selected colors, thereby masking, by contrast, those less sightly.

Camouflage is a useful art and an interesting study.

LAW POINTERS FOR PAINTERS AND DEALERS.

A typical lawsuit was lately passed upon by the United States District Court for the District of Maine, involving an employer's liability for injury to a worker, due to breaking of scaffold materials. (Vanier VS. Swett, 243 Federal Reporter, 939.)

In this case it was decided that an employer cannot defeat liability for injury to his employe, directly traceable to the use of defective materials in scaffolding, on the ground that the materials were bought from a reputable lumber dealer or manufacturer, where their obvious condition made them unsafe.

The judgment awarded against defendant was apparently strongly influenced by the facts that pieces of lumber used as braces were of short leaf Southern pine and in dozy condition, containing knots; that the foreman was too incompetent to know the danger of using them; and that the exact number of pieces required in the work was all that was sent on the job, thereby preventing the workmen from making any selection for themselves.

In addition to holding that the injured plaintiff was entitled to assume that the materials furnished for the scaffold had been properly inspected and found to be reasonably safe, the court said:

"It is true that, where a structure is erected by workmen from material furnished by the master, such master, having no control of the construction, is not liable for injuries sustained by workmen by reason of defects in the structure, if he has used the care of a reasonably prudent man in the selection of suitable material. There is a class of cases which holds that, when an employer furnishes proper material for a structure such as may be built by unskilled workmen, and the workmen themselves construct it as part of their work they undertake to perform, and in accordance with their own judgment, the employer is not liable for injuries sustained by a workman while subsequently using the structure, and in consequence of negligence in its construction; the reason being that such structures do not require greater knowledge, or the exercise of more skill, than is usually possessed by the ordinary mechanic. *** But, as Mr. Justice Lurton said, in Chambers vs. American Tin Plate Company, 129 Fed., 561, 562 where the subject of the contention was a certain scaffolding: The rule is quite otherwise if the employer himself undertake to furnish such scaffolding for the men who are to work thereon. In such case the duty is one of those positive duties of the master toward the servant, which cannot be discharged by the substitution of a competent agent. The act or service to be done is that of furnishing a reasonably safe place or appliance, and negligence in the doing of such a service is the negligence of the master, without regard to the rank of different employes'."

After friendly conferences between representatives of Local Union 79 and of the employers of Denver, a wage scale of $5.50 has been agreed upon-an advance of 50 cents per day over the previous scale. The rules governing over-time will remain unchanged.

A three step.

The agreement of D. C. 12 and the employing painters of Cincinnati covers the years of 1918, 1919 and 1920. It provides for an increase each year. The scale for 1918 is 60 cents; for 1919, 622 cents; and for 1920, 65 cents.

A fair compromise.

A friendly understanding has been reached between the employing painters of Houston, Texas, and the members of Local Union 130. It provides for a wage scale of 65 cents per hour and compliance with revised and improved working rules.

A

Indiana State Conference established. At a meeting held in Indianapolis, which was attended by delegates from local unions from all parts of the state, it was decided to establish a State Conference. constitution was drafted for submission to the membership of the affiliated locals and temporary officers were elected. Twelve local unions made application for affiliation. The constitution has been adopted and the following officers elected in the referendum: President, David Erbleding, L. U. 47, of Indianapolis; Secretary-Treasurer, F. H. Detrick, L. U. 8, of Gary, Vice-Presidents, Louis J. Hart, L. U. 80, of LaFayette; Paul Pyle, L. U. 460, Hammond, and N. V. Carlson; Trustees, W. F. Jackman, L. U. 912, of Indianapolis; W. C. Ketchum and R. E. Reister; Legislative Committee, F. H. Detrick, L. U. 8, of Gary; T. W. Taylor, L. U. 197, of Terre Haute, and J. A. Howe, L. U. 912, of Indianapolis.

The officers intend to institute a vigorous campaign for the organization of the smaller towns throughout Indiana and urge the locals not yet in affiliation to make application.

HOME OR PENSION.

Decatur members want both. We, the undersigned, as a Committee appointed to take up the proposition of a Home for aged painters, wish to say that Local 288 is very much in favor of same and will aid in any way we can. We offer a few suggestions for raising funds for the starting of a home:

First. By making an assessment of $4.00 per year for five years on each member of the Brotherhood; $1.00 to be paid each quarter, as dues; $3.00 to be applied on Home Fund and $1.00 to be applied to a Pension Fund.

Second. After the five years' assessment, a yearly assessment of $1.00 per member; 75 cents to Home Fund and 25 cents to Pension Fund. In case Pension Fund should need building up, divide the $1.00 equally between Home and Pension Funds.

We also figure that on a membership of 90,000 members, there would be realized each year:

Which in five years would make a total of:
Home Fund.. ..$1,350,000
Pension Fund.. 450,000

After five years the small assessment of $1.00 per member to be used as above for maintaining Home and payment of pension.

We think by starting this movement at once land could be purchased and buildings erected in the first year and the Home would be a sure go from the start as it would increase the membership at least ten per cent after it was under way.

EDW. A. LEVY, Chairman.
J. J. SULLIVAN,

CHAS. RAYBILL,

Committee Local 288, Decatur, Ill. P. S.-The Home to be built on colony plan and open to both aged painters and their wives.

Painters' Home and Pension.

The aged Painters' Home and Pension is beginning to look like a reality, the fol

lowing local unions having endorsed both Home and Pension: 751, 487, 320, 602, 473, 979, 283, 47, 554, 245, 176, 61, 106, 982, 567, 62, 102, 308, 695, 807, 877, 935, 534, 530, 519. The following locals endorsed the Pension only: 333, 194, 447.

The following Locals have appointed committees to work on this subject in conjunction with each other: 245, 530, 877, 308, 106, 176, 47, 982, 751.

Please make note and compare the present number of endorsements to the number of endorsements you will find in the April number of our journal; the aged union painter will soon get what rightly belongs to him-a home and a pension. When we take into consideration that other crafts have home and pension for the aged and disabled members, it would be nonsensical to believe for a moment the painters are so far behind the times that they will not respond to the crying need of some of these aged brothers.

The aged painters' home and pension committee of Local Union No. 935, whose photograph you will see in the present issue of our journal, are in the home and pension proposition to win. At present they are corresponding with Mr. Geo. L. Berry, president of the Printing Pressmen's Home, located in the state of Tennessee. The International Pressmen have a home they are proud of; they own 1,032 acres of land with buildings valued at $970,000; they have their own water power and electricity; they have 500 acres of land under cultivation; they grow enough vegetables, etc., to supply the home in that line; they have their own canning factory; they raise their own hogs-in fact, they have everything that goes to make a home of this kind a complete success. It costs in cash-in round figures-$4.00 per week to keep a member at the home; this includes doctor and hospital, clothing, and in fact everything that makes live worth living for the aged brother pressman. The International Pressmen will pay $5.00 per week pension when the plan goes into effect. The International Pressmen have 32,000 members.

Now, then, the Home and Pension committee, of Local Union No. 935, proposes to awaken our organization to the fact that we need a home for our aged brothers, and go down the line with the slogan "Success." But they must have the rank and file of the organization at their back; what the Home and Pension committee is after at the present time is information, and they expect the brotherhood at large will cheerfully give same. Now, then, the committee would like each and every local union in

our organization to answer the following questions: Question one (1). How many benefiical members have you in your local union, who are 60 years of age or over? Question two (2). What in your opinion would be the best plan or set of plans to raise the money to build and maintain the home and the pension fund? Secretaries when answering this will please make known any plan you may think feasible, to get the required cash. At the present time, the committee has numerous suggestions, but we want more ideas. An organization

of 95,000 members ought not to want for enlightenment on this very important point. You must bear in mind this is the main point bearing on the home and pension proposition; this is the point-that the aged and homeless union painter must depend upon for his very existence for his short period of life amongst us. Don't for a moment doubt, this aged brother of to-day has not done his bit, for our organization. Brothers, you must not throw the aged brother aside as you would some inferior article; the aged union painter who has grown old in the service is entitled to reward.

Let our organization remember well, the aged back-number members have not paddled through life without having more than one path to choose from. When he can show you a good clean union card in his old days, it's easy to know the path he chose to travel. And as a rule the aged brother who can produce a good clean card in his old days has about gone his limit, with the world's goods, his card is his bank account and his all.

Now, then, this is the brother the aged Painters Home and Pension will care for, not from a charitable point of view, but as a reward he has earned by holding his union in preference to all other chances this life affords at times. When he is called to rest, he may feel satisfied with himself and the world he is about to leave, that he has left the old world better than he found it; he will know that he helped build and maintain the grand organization known as the Painters, Decorators and Paperhangers of America. Now then, brothers, you must all try and do likewise, by adding an aged painters' home and a pension, to that grand organization; so when your time may come you may consider you have left the world better than you found it. If you will but remember the obligation that we all have taken-"not to wrong or see a brother wronged when it lays in my power to prevent." Well and good, brothers, it lays in our power to prevent the suffering of our aged brothers by establishing a home and

a pension, that the aged brother may not die by the roadside from actual want.

The home and a pension linked with our organization will make the brotherhood the grand fraternal order that it should be. The Aged Painters' Home and Pension Committee of Local Union No. 935 will leave no stone unturned to make their undertaking a grand success.

JOHN A. HARRISON, Chairman. Headquarters 14-A W. 2nd st, Tulsa, Okla.

MINORITY REPRESENTATION. While attending a meeting of delegates of radical and labor organizations held lately in New York City, I was much surprised not to hear mentioned the subject of just and correct representation in legislatures, which seems to me to be a live issue for such meetings. Not being a delegate I could not speak, but as a member of the Brotherhood will express my views in our journal.

We divide people in voting districts, instead of giving them an opportunity to combine as their common interests demand and their inclinations suggest. Under such a basis of representation every vote would count. Under the existing plan only votes of the majority party bring results-and not infrequently the so-called majority party is a minority of the total electorate. Majorities should rule but they are not the main springs of enlightenment and progress. From minorities come the ideas which spread gradually to the masses. Their knowledge should be represented in legislative chambers and in other public bodies. Majority parties represent the interests of great numbers but they frequently become machine-ruled and commercialized, like other established institutions. The workers must combine their forces as workers to fight privilege and predatory interests which threaten the annihilation of all other interests. Rights and liberties will vanish if we leave them to the tender mercy of the majority parties.

The only way for the workers to get together is through just representation-the representation of minorities and the general adoption of the initiative, the referendum and the recall; this would give us a voice in Government. If these progressive measures are defeated it will tend to increase social unrest, to create disgust with legislative action and increase the trend toward anarchism which is merely a lack of faith in the justice of an existing order and the means provided for its orderly change. These extreme ideas for securing relief

and for advancement toward democracythe rule of the whole people by adequate and fair representation of their diverse interests are a natural reaction from the present unsatisfactory basis of representation. Fair play is the solution of all social problems; therefore to understand these fundamentals and to overcome the opposition to them within our own minds as well as in the collective mind, should be our greatest endeavor.

CHAS. FRESHMAN, L. U. 905.

A CARD OF THANKS.
San Francisco Cal., Feb. 25, 1918.
To the Membership of the Brotherhood,
Greeting:

It is a pleasure to extend to each and every one of you my sincerest thanks for the kind consideration extended towards me through your votes and support in my candidacy for delegate to the conventions of the Building Trades Department of the American Federation of Labor.

While I was not elected you have honored me with the sixth place by a splendid vote which I fully appreciate. It is also a pleasure to me that you have re-elected our present General Officers and have shown that the members of our Brotherhood have confidence in their integrity and approve their energetic efforts during the past to guide the destiny of our splendid organization-the equal of any organization in the American labor movement.

It is also with pleasure that I congratulate my successful opponents, Brothers Miller, Lammert, Barr, Hahn and Kraft, on their re-election as delegates to the Building Trades Department of the American Federation of Labor. Having met defeat myself I feel satisfied that those elected will do their duty to our Brotherhood and the labor movement, for the best interests of our craft and our membership.

Brothers, I again thank my friends throughout the Brotherhood for the nominations, votes and efforts in my behalf. Should I again become a candidate seeking your suffrage I hope to receive the same support and consideration at your hands. assure you in advance that if successful I will do my duty for the best interests of the Brotherhood and the labor movement. I have the honor to remain,

Fraternally yours,

TIMOTHY C. LYNCH,

Vice-President L. U. 19,

I

San Francisco, Cal.