(There is a strong probability of a general strike taking place in both London and Manchester in the On June 8, the six months' notice building trades. given by the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters to the Master Builders' Association will expire. The notice demands an advance of 11⁄2d per hour upon the present rate of 101⁄2d, as well as a reduction in the working hours. Meanwhile 17 of the building trades' unions are endeavoring to form a close alliance in order that decisive action may be taken should the occasion require. The situation at this timt is tense and unless relief is afforded in the way of increased wages, strikes are bound to occur.)

RAFALGAR SQUARE is the industrial weather glass, not only of London but of England.

If I were a great capitalist I should keep an eye on it, and when processions were small and banners few I should dexterously do a little wage skimming. At other times I wouldn't. I wouldn't, for instance, just now.

Recently the Square has been full of banners, and the "capitalist class" has got beans. It was getting them very hot on Sunday last when I joined the thousands with whom the demonstration of the Building Trades Federation had packed the Square.

The builders, like the rest of us, are just now looking for a little more, and I think they will get it. If they do not, there will be trouble.

The war note was struck on Sunday by a score of voices. "Fight" said Harry Quelch at the end of one of his inimitable popularisations of industrial economics, larded plentifully with gibes and flouts. And "Fight" was the burden of the song of a score of lesser orators-Gosling, McEntee, Stranks, Stennet, and the rest.

We resolved that we would, and it is clearly time. In the building trades the laborers, with whom I chiefly fraternised at the meeting, are getting only £1 1s ($5) a week. This guinea has been received for fifteen years, but in the interval values have changed.

A speaker depicted with much success the wry face the "ole woman" now makes when she gets her share of it, for now she only procures for £1 what she used to procure for 17/-, and the appetite of her man "has not shrunk accordin'." The speaker was sure everyone of us would like to say, "Well, ole gal, grub's up, and you're worryin' about the kids. Don't worry, ole gal, here's an extra 'arf crown."

Wouldn't we like to say that? We said we would. Why didn't we? Because, of course, we hadn't any half-crown to give her. Whose fault was that? On this we were divided, some blaming the gaffers and others ourselves. The speaker gave a casting vote for the latter opinion. If we would only wake up, the Union would deal with the gaffers.

Wandering from platform to platform, I got a deep impression of the villainy of the gaffer. "Why have prices gone up?" said one speaker. Few of us knew. We thought they had done it out of cussedness, and to spite the workers, but one old codger who understood these things was sure "gaffers" were again at the bottom of it. "Cornering," he said laconically, taking his pipe momentarily out of his jaw.

He was quite right. "Cornering it is," said the speaker decisively. Then raising his voice: "What I have got to ask you chaps is why don't you do some 'cornering'? Why don't you 'corner' your labor?"

We had never thought of this, but clearly it was a good idea. The impediment to "cornering" was the blackleg-the scab. On him orators poured out their scorn; one, quoting from Webster, dubbing him "a mean and shabby fellow," and another with even more effect citing Shakespeare, who, in "Twelfth Night," had said, "Out, scab." The speaker urged us to take the advice of the National Bard and "put the scabs out," and with a new appreciation of the Swan of Avon we promised delightedly to do so.

It was all like that, though of course the carpenters and joiners and the other better paid people didn't talk of a guinea a week. What their wages were did not transpire. The point to note was that whatever they were they were in future to be more.

Everyone was to have more. The swells and gaffers had squeezed the marrow out of the bones of the workers, scrapping them as soon as possible thereafter. Now the new epoch was beginning, and shoulder to shoulder and hand in hand we were to realize not only the extra 11⁄2d an hour, which roughly is what the building workers are seeking, but the kicking out of all swells and gaffers whatsoever and the manipulation of "the whole money-box" for the workers. Hear, hear.

Numberless orators repeated this, padling it with talk of Tolstoy and human brotherhood on one platform, and on another "putting it straight at you." The organizer of the enginemen was one of those who put it straight at us. He said the employers had spies in the crowd, and he had to be careful, and then went on to tell us "confidentially," in tones you could have beard on the Embankment, that if a strike came the bosses would find it easier to get blacklegs than bricks-(good old transport workers) and that a few barges laden with building material might unfortunately find their way to the bottom of the Thames good old lightermen).

This speaker was straight also on another point. Existing agreements between master builders and the men provided for six months' notice of intention to demand more money. There is not to be any notice in future, and the men can fight whenever they have a mind.

So the afternoon wore on, and finally the resolution put from three platforms was carried with a mighty shout.

Everybody was pleased save one, who argued stubbornly for a tax on "the Scotch Suffer." The Scotch luffer, or, more properly, the Scotchman, is, we were told, a great derrick whose introduction has thrown many men out of employment. "Oughter be taxed," said the dissentient firmly. We reasoned with him. We said the Scotchman ought not to be taxed, it ought to be owned by the people. But that our obtuse brother did not understand. "The bleeding Liberal Government taxed a lot of other things," he said, "why didn't they tax the luffer? Easy enough, wasn't it?" We left it at that.

No one present at this meeting could doubt the phenomenal growth among workng men of the new impulse to pool their claims and, for better or worse, to fight for them together. "All workers," was the reiterated note, and it was cheered more warmly each time it was struck. Syndicalism, or something akin to it, is coming. To those who are nervous about it I urge the injunction of Browning to greet the unseen with a cheer. If Syndicalism comes to purge our Trade Unionism of its narrowness, self-sufficiency, self-conceit, all hail to it. If it comes to widen our horizons, revise our strategy, heighten the spirit and quality of industrial leadership, make it most welcome of guests. Trade Unionism has fallen into slippers and wisdom, and talks overmuch of what it did in its youth. It must renew its youth, and Syndicalism,

THE MAN WITH THE PAINT BRUSH
AND PAIL.

Much is said of the men who climb up high,
On the spider-web structures of steel;
Of the heroic nerve of the men who cry
Sail, ho! from the topmast, at reel;
But, nothing is said of the overall clad,

Who, hanging by thread like rope;
While plying their brushes, are recklessly glad,
As the job, to them, spells hope.
The man with the brush is so often met,

That he's hardly considered at all,
Until past is the season of ice, cold and wet,
Then urgent and sharp comes the call:
"Swing high! Swing low! Come, get busy, man!
This job must be rushed, like the mail."
Then show me a nervier man, if you can,
Than the one with the paint brush and pail.
L. U. 517.
A. D. WINGATE.

W

AGES and hours of labor in the iron and steel industry form the main subject of Bulletin No. 97, Bureau of Labor, Department of Commerce and Labor. The facts presented are the result of the investigation which the Commissioner of Labor made in compliance with a Senate resolution. This investigation covered nearly all the iron and steel plants in the United States-338 blast furnaces, steel works and rolling mills being included-and wages and hours of labor being reported for 172,706 employes, who represent over 80 per cent. of all employes in the branches of the industry investigated.

During May, 1910, the period covered by this investigation, 50,000, or 29 per cent. of the 173,000 employes of blast furnaces and steel works and rolling mills covered by this report, customarily worked seven days per week, and 20 per cent. of them eighty-four hours or more per week; in effect a twelve-hour working day every day in the week including Sunday. The evil of seven-day work was particularly accentuated by the fact developed in the investigation that the seven-day working week was not confined to the blast furnace department where there is a metallurgical necessity for continuous operation, and in which department 88 per cent. of the employes worked seven days a week; but it was also found that, to a considerable extent, in other departments where no such metallurgical necessity can be claimed, productive work was carried on on Sunday just as on other days of the week. For example, in some establishments Bessemer converters, the open-hearth furnaces, and blooming, rail and structural mills were found operating seven days a week for commercial reasons only.

the

The hardship of a twelve-hour day and a seven-day week is still further increased by the fact that every week or two weeks, as the case may be, when the employes on the day shift are transferred to the night shift, and vice versa, they must remain on duty without relief either eighteen or twenty-four consecutive hours, according to the practice adopted for the change of shift. The most common plan

to effect this change is to work one shif of employes on the day of change throug the entire twenty-four hours, the succeed ing shift working the regular twelve hours In some instances the change is effected by having one shift remain on duty eigh teen hours and the succeeding shift eigh teen. During the time that one shift is on duty, of course, the employes on the other shift have the same number of hours of relief from duty.

That much of the Sunday labor which has been prevalent in the steel industry is no more necessary than in other in dustries is shown conclusively by the fac that at the time of the investigation made in 1910 by the Bureau of Labor into the conditions of labor in the Bethlehem Stee Works the president of the Steel Corpora tion directed the rigid enforcement of a resolution, adopted three years previous cutting out a large part of Sunday work except in the blast-furnace department Even in the blast-furnace department where there is a metallurgical necessity for continuous operation day and night throughout seven days of the week, there is practically nothing except the desire to economize in the expense of production that prevents the introduction of a system that would give each employe one day of rest out of the seven.

Since the beginning of the present in vestigation, however, this matter of abol ishing seven day work for the individual employes in the blast furnaces, as well as in other departments of the industry, has received the attention of the American Iron and Steel Institute, and through a committee of that organization a plan has been proposed which gives each employe one day of rest each week, and which does away with the twenty-four, or the eighteen, hours of consecutive work required when changing from the day to the night shift. A number of plants throughout the country have, at the instance of the institute, adopted this plan or some modification of it, and have successfully operated it for several months.

Somewhat more in detail the tables of this report show that of the 172,706 employes covered therein working hours

were reported for 172,671. Of this number 73,529 (42.58 per cent.) had a working Teek of seventy-two hours or over, which , in effect, at least a twelve hour day for six days a week. Over one-fourth of all the employes (26.63 per cent.) had a regular working week of more than seventy-two hours, which means some work

Sunday. Over 35,000 (20.59 per cent. all) had a working week of eighty-four r more hours, which is at least twelve Cours every day of the week, including Sunday. Nearly two-thirds of all the em ployes had a working week of over sixty Cours; 22.63 per cent. of all the employes had a working week of just sixty hours, hile only 14.39 per cent. had a working week of less than sixty hours.

in

During the investigation those charge of plants have in their discussions with representatives of the Labor Bureau frequently emphasized the fact that the Den working these very long hours are tot busy all the time. To some extent this is perfectly true; but the employes in question are on duty and subject to orders during the entire period, and they are not, except in rare instances, allowed to leave the plant. It is not simply the character or the continuity of the work, but the fact that in the case of the twelve-hour-a-day man something over one-half of each twenty-four hours-more than three-fourths of his waking hours is spent on duty in the mills, which is of significance to the worker and his family. Nothing has been done by the manufacturers, nor have any proposals been made to lessen the proportion of men working seventy-two hours or more per week, or at least twelve hours a day for six days a week. The proportion as shown in this investigation (43 per cent.) remains unchanged, being unaffected by the plan to give the men who were working eighty-four hours per week one day of rest in seven.

An added significance attaches to the conditions of labor here described as characteristic of the iron and steel industry when we consider that the general tendency in other industries for years past has been toward a shorter working day. Years ago the ten-hour day became almost a standard. Since that time further reductions have brought the working day to nine, and, in many cases, to eight hours, and this reduction has been accompanied by a part holiday on Saturday. It is therefore in striking contrast to this general tendency in other industries to find in a great basic industry, such as that part of

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the iron and steel industry covered in this report, that approximately only 14 per cent. of the 173,000 employes worked less than 60 hours per week and almost 43 per cent. worked 72 hours or over.

Another striking characteristic of the labor conditions in the iron and steel industry is the large proportion of unskilled workmen in the labor force. These unskilled workmen are very largely recruited from the ranks of recent immigrants. For the industry as a whole not far from onehalf of the 91,463 employes in the productive iron and steel occupations included within this investigation were of the class of unskilled workmen. In the blast furnace department, the largest single department in the industry, more than twothirds of the 24,722 employes in productive occupations were unskilled laborers, a large proportion of whom do not yet speak or understand English; and even in the South the number of immigrants employed in the industry is rapidly increasing.

Taking the employes in all occupations in the industry, nearly 60 per cent. are foreign born, and nearly two-thirds of the foreign born are of the Slavic races. Large as is the proportion that unskilled labor

forms of the total force in the iron and steel industry, steel experts have noted the fact that the tendency of recent years has been steadily toward the reduction of the number of highly skilled men employed and the establishment of the general wage on the basis of common or unskilled labor. Nor is this tendency likely to diminish, since each year sees a wider use of mechanical appliances which unskilled labor can easily be trained to handle.

Of the total of 172,706 employes, 13,868, or 8.03 per cent., earned less than 14 cents per hour; 20,527, or 11.89 per cent., earned 14 and under 16 cents; and 51,417, or 29.77 per cent., earned 16 and under 18 cents. Thus 85,812, or 49.69 per cent. of all the employes, received less than 18 cents per hour. Those earning 18 and under 25 cents per hour numbered 46,132, or 26.71 per cent., while 40,762, or 23.61 per cent., earned 25 cents and over. A few very highly skilled employes received $1.25 per hour; and those receiving 50 cents and

over per hour numbered 4,403, or 2.55 pe cent. of all employes.

In general it may be said that earn ings of less than 18 cents per hour repre sent unskilled labor. The group earning 18 and under 25 cents per hour represent: semi-skilled workmen, while those earning 25 cents and over per hour are skilled em ployes. The most common rate per hour for unskilled labor in the New England district was 15 cents; in the Eastern dis trict 13 and 14 cents; in the Pittsburghdistrict 16 and 17 cents; in the Great Lakes and Middle West district 15, 16 and 17 cents, and in the Southern district 10 122, 13 and 131⁄2 cents.

It must not be assumed, of course, that employes working at these rates and for the hours here shown can work throughout the year, for employment in the iron and steel industry is very irregular, and most irregular among the workmen of the least skill and working at the lowest wage.

&

HE courts of the United States have endeavored to apply the early English conception of "individual liberty" through the medium of Our Federal Constitution and therefore have declared as unconstitutional attempts at legislative enactments that have, according to the interpretation of our courts, encroached upon this principle.

important

Other and more vital and principles, which may be termed "social principles," have evolved; the twentieth century requiring a broader conception and interpretation in accord with modern economic development.

A demand has been made by the wageearners for progressive legislation affecting their interests and in consequence, the legislatures of most of our States have passed laws with this end in view, realizing that this class of persons, comprising the majority of the people, are entitled to a more equitable share and participation in those products resulting from their labor and activity necessary to a proper enjoyment of life.

To establish a proper relationship between the State and its citizens and the citizens themselves, it is the duty of govern

ment in the exercise of its functions to equalize conditions and to eliminate that privilege and oppression inevitably resulting from unrestrained individual activity.

an

A careful analysis of judicial law founded upon judicial opinions and precedents concerning "individual liberty," demonstrates that our courts have decided this question from extreme individualistic standpoint, but, of late, the attitude of our courts is apparently undergoing a change, the tendency being toward a recognition of those factors responsible for our present social, economic and industrial conditions peculiar to the advent of an advanced multiplex system of production and distribution.

Our courts, judging by their decisions upon constitutional questions affecting "individual liberty" and "private property" have formed themselves into protective associations against the will of the majority, their rulings being in direct conflict with law in its technical sense, defined as "a rule of civil conduct, prescribed by competent political authority, commanding certain things as necessary to, and forbidding other certain things as inconsistent with, the peace and order of society," and in fact, opposed to the preamble of the Constitution which pro