in 1897). An attempt to make it a federation of federations and not of every trade union, large and small, was overwhelmingly defeated and the scheme was practically adopted entire.

The title is to be the General Federation of Trade Unions of Great Britain and Ireland, and the objects are as follows: To uphold the rights of combination; to improve in every direction the position of the workers; the consolidation of labor as a whole; to secure unity of action; to promote industrial peace by all amicable means; and to establish a fund for mutual assistance and for carrying out these objects. Federation contributions are to be either twenty-five or fifty cents per year per member of the federating unions (ninety per cent. of the ascertained membership in each case to be paid upon) with benefits proportionately. The Parliamentary Committee appointed at Bristol is to act as provisional council of management, and is to circularize all unions with invitations to join the General Federation. A general council meeting of the federated societies is to be called before July, which general council will, I understand, appoint a regular and permanent governing executive. And thus our leviathan of labor is at last assured of a successful flotation. May the Fates guard it, for it has a long voyage and a splendid port to make.

The Transport Workers' conference which was also held this month promises well. It is hoped that the railway servants will join with the dockers and other port workers and craft handlers in building up a powerful federation of the workers in all the allied carrying trades. Control the means of transit and transport and you control the nation.

The most threatening labor dispute existing here, at the time of writing, is that of the Plasterers. This section of building trades workers have been exceptionally fortunate. They are getting wages of twenty-four cents per hour and are solidly organized. The employers of course eye this with considerable disfavor and are trying to precipitate a lock-out over a trivial question of the foremen being compelled to have union tickets.

Employers combinations are coming thick and fast. The latest trust is that of calico printers with a massed capital of over forty million dollars. THOMAS REECE.

Organizer Salisbury, of Wheeling, West Virginia, reports the organization of two Street Car Employes' Unions of that city, and that a Brickmakers' Union and Bartenders' Union are expected to be formed in the near future.

Quartermaster Patten, of the United States Army, after investigation into the sweat shop system, in a recent letter said: "If the department could insist upon bidders submitting with their proposals a certificate from the factory inspector of the State, certifying to the standing of the bidders in so far as relates to the facilities of the firm to manufacture the garments in compliance with the State regulations, the matter would certainly be very much simplified."

Important Injunction Decision.

The opinion rendered by Judge Swartz in the injunction proceedings at Columbus, Ohio, is of farreaching consequence and of special interest to labor, particularly in this era of so many injunc tions being issued adverse to organized labor. It will be remembered that the charge was made against the Carpenters' Union of Columbus, Ohio, that it was a trust and acted in violation of the anti-trust law. The opinion rendered by Judge Swartz is as follows:

OPINION OF JUDGE SWARTZ.

The affidavit in this case charges the defendant with having violated what is known as the antitrust statute of this State. The statute in question undertakes to define certain combinations and associations known as trusts, and which it makes unlawful. It defines five different ways in which combinations may be organized and conducted so as to be within the limits of such prohibited trusts. The pleader in the case at bar alleges that the defendant is a member of such a trust and sets out its organization and purposes as violating the statute in four of the ways forbidden thereby. Two of these prohibited purposes are alleged against the defendant's organization twice in slightly different phraseology. All four of these alleged illegal purposes are set out in the single count of this affidavit. I am of the opinion that the affidavit is bad for duplicity and sustain the motion filed thereto.

As counsel have prepared a demurrer to follow the motion, and the State has requested that no errors of form shall be permitted to avoid a decision on the question of law which would be thus raised after a reformation of the affidavit, in which request defendant has joined, and as it was the demurrer that was argued by counsel on both sides with a view to such a decision, I feel that such a decision should be rendered at this time and the matter be disposed of, at least so far as concerns its present form.

The State relies upon the word "skill," "acts," "commodities," and "trade," to bring the organization of which it is alleged the defendant is a member within the definition of a trust under this statute, and some emphasis was given to the contention between the parties as to whether a man's labor is a "commodity," and as to whether the term "trade" in the statute referred to a division or branch of labor or to a descriptive term often applied to commerce. The Supreme Court of Vermont in the case of the State v. Stewart, 59 Vt. 273, has said, "The labor and skill of the workman, the plant of the manufacturer, and the equipment of the farmer are, in an equal sense, property." In legal effect they probably are. But this case, which seems to be a leading one in most of the reported litigation in which labor combinations have been the subject, and is the severest I have found in its interpretation of the law against labor organizations, in some respects, still follows and approves what seems to be the established doctrine in both this country and England that "It is not unlawful for workmen to form themselves into a society and agree not to work for any person who shall employ any journeyman or other person not a member of such society after notice given to him to discharge such workman." 4 Metc. 111.; 2 Daly, 1; 50 Ill. 355; 4 Denio, 349; 11 Cox Cr. Cas. 325; 5 Cox Cr. Cas. 404. To me it seems that this doctrine is important in determining the intent of the legislature in framing the statute under consideration. Counsel for the State contend that the words I have

heretofore quoted bring labor organizations within the prohibited list of combinations designated as trusts in the statute, and says that the intent to do so was artfully veiled in more or less obscurity to secure its enactment into law. The reasoning of counsel is ingenious and entertaining, but, unfortunately for his contention, courts do not seek veiled or hidden meanings in construing statutes. Words and sentences are to be given their plain and ordinary meaning, and in cases of obscurity the legislative mind is to be sought not only from the law itself but from the established doctrine of the law. So here, these definitions of trusts in the statute must themselves be interpreted in the light of that well established doctrine as shown by other legislative acts and decisions of the courts. As I have already stated, many courts of last resort in this country and in England have established the legality of these organizations by an unbroken line of decisions. This must have been known to the legislature when the statute under consideration was enacted. A legislative enactment was already on our statute books protecting workmen in their membership in such organizations. That could not have been lost sight of or forgotten. For years the courts and legislative bodies of this country have been waging a warfare against a certain other class of combinations that tend to create monopolies within the control of the combination, crush out competition, corner the market and subvert to their own ends all the conditions of the market or trade in which they operate. This, too, must have been well known to the legislature that enacted this statute. If then, it had contemplated the reversal of a long line of judicial decisions and a thoroughly known provision of the criminal law of the State by one bold stroke of legislative authority, it certainly would have indicated that purpose in the statute itself, in such a way as to clearly convey that intention.

It is significant, too, that practically all of the decisions involving questions of the legal status of labor organizations under the criminal laws, have arisen under prosecutions for criminal conspiracy. That seems to me the proper and only available manner of reaching any misconduct that might really exist. I am certain that the legislature did not intend to include them in the anti-trust statute. They neither tend to monopoly, to corner the market or subvert the ordinary healthful conditions of competition. They are open to all within the class in which they are organized, on terms and conditions common to all in that class or division of labor.

There is nothing in the affidavit tending to charge criminal conspiracy. In my opinion there is nothing in the statute bringing labor organizations within the list of combinations prohibited as organized in restraint of trade. The demurrer, therefore, may be marked filed and sustained.

Organization Means Success.

A letter recently written by Charles Beadle, of Buffalo, is so full of good, sound advice that we gladly give it space in the AMERICAN FEDERATIONIST. It is as follows: "Much has been written and many articles published relating to hard times and the remedy for the same. In my opinion none of the writers have given the correct remedy or laid out a course for the workingman or laboring class to follow in order that they may assert their rights and resist oppression and injustice. Some say abolish the trusts; others say resort to the ballot box. But I say and contend that the proper way

for the laboring class to do is not to waste their years in fighting the trusts or placing their confidence in political thieves. But organize! organize! Let every trade and calling institute and organize unions and protective associations; let each trade have a certain scale of wages, and no member be allowed to work for less. Shorten the hours of labor, and thus give more men employment. Let every man and woman who is obliged to work for a living become members of a consolidated body and there is no question but that they can control the situation, assert their rights, resist oppression and injustice and proclaim their rights. Whose fault is it if a new slavery is enthralling the working class? Why is it that a stalwart workman, in the full vigor of splendid manhood, the protector of a fair wife and the father of happy children, hugs to his breast the delusion of liberty. and yet tamely submits to the lash? Fellow-workingmen, arise! Get out of the rut! Organize, consolidate, combine, be ever jealous of your rights; watch with vigilance any encroachment upon your liberties. Be ready at all times to take up arms in defense of your home, your country and your rights! Be independent, fearless, and you will then be a free-born American citizen and not a slave.

Miners' Eight-Hour Day.

An echo of the great victory of the miners in their strike of 1897, comes to us just now. It will be remembered that as a result of that memorable contest the miners secured, apart from an increase of 33 per cent. in wages, the establishment of the eight-hour day in the competitive field to be inaugurated April 1, 1898. After working under the eight-hour system for nearly a year the officers of the United Mine Workers through President Mitchell and Secretary Pearce have just issued the following call upon the miners of the country:

Inasmuch as Saturday, April 1, 1899, marks the first anniversary of the inauguration of the eighthour work day in the central competitive coal mining States, we desire that it be fittingly observed by members of our craft.

In commemorating this event, we not only can demonstrate our appreciation of the shorter workday, but also the re-establishment of joint movement methods of adjusting wage differences. When the Chicago agreement was entered into one year ago, which provided for the establishment of an eight-hour day in the States of Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, grave fears were entertained as to the probable outcome. That the influences it would exert over the trade of the States in question would be detrimental was freely argued by many, but we find, at this the close of the first year, that its adoption has not only proven a priceless boon to our craft, but also is looked upon with favor by many of our employers. The reaffirmation of the Chicago agreement by the Pittsburg convention means a continuation of these conditions and is a fitting endorsement of the policy. We therefore desire that Saturday, April 1, be set apart as a holiday to comemorate this important event and that local unions arrange suitable meetings, where appropriate exercises can be held. We further request our membership in States where the agreement is not operative at this time to likewise observe this day and thereby register your approval of this method and encourage its universal adoption.

The White Man's Burden.
Take up the White Man's burden-
Send forth the best ye breed-
Go, bind your sons to exile

To serve your captives' need;

To wait, in heavy harness,

On fluttered folk and wildYour new-caught sullen peoples, Half devil and half child.

Take up the White Man's burdenIn patience to abide,

To veil the threat of terror

And check the show of pride. By open speech and simple,

An hundred times made plain,

To seek another's profit

And work another's gain.

Take up the White Man's burden-
The savage wars of peace-
Fill full the mouth of Famine,
And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest
(The end for others sought)
Watch sloth and heathen folly
Bring all your hope to nought.

Take up the White Man's burden-
No iron rule of kings,

But toil of serf and sweeper-
The tale of common things.
The ports ye shall not enter,
The roads ye shall not tread,
Go, make them with your living
And mark them with your dead.

Take up the White Man's burden,
And reap his old reward-
The blame of those ye better

The hate of those ye guard

The cry of hosts ye humor

(Ah, slowly!) toward the light :"Why brought ye us from bondage, Our loved Egyptian night?"

Take up the White Man's burdenYe dare not stoop to less

Nor call too loud on Freedom

To cloke your weariness.

By all ye will or whisper,

By all ye leave or do,

The silent sullen peoples

Shall weigh your God and you.

Take up the White Man's burden!

Have done with childish days

The lightly proffered laurel,

The easy ungrudged praise:

Comes now to search your manhood
Through all the thankless years,
Cold, edged with dear-bought wisdom,
The judgment of your peers.
RUDYARD KIPLING.

Organizer Tousley, of Rockford, Ill., reports the organization of the plumbers into a union, and that he expects very shortly to form a local of the Agents' Association. The prospects are good also for a union of bartenders.

Organizer Askew, of Ishpeming, Mich., writes very encouragingly, stating that a Trades Assembly has been recently formed at Ishpemish with five unions represented, and that several other unions will soon fall into line.

The Poor Man's Burden.

(After Kipling.)

Pile on the Poor Man's Burden-
Drive out the beastly breed;
Go bind his sons in exile

To serve your pride and greed;

To wait, in heavy harness,
Upon your rich and grand;
The common working peoples,
The serfs of every land.

Pile on the Poor Man's Burden-
His patience will abide;
He'll veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride.
By pious cant and humbug
You'll show his pathway plain,
To work for another's profit
And suffer on in pain.

Pile on the Poor Man's Burden-
Your savage wars increase.
Give him his full of Famine,
Nor bid his sickness cease.
And when your goal is nearest
Your glory's dearly bought,
For the Poor Man in his fury,

May bring your pride to naught.

Pile on the Poor Man's Burden-
Your monopolistic rings
Shall crush the serf and sweeper
Like iron rule of kings.
Your joys he shall not enter,

Nor pleasant roads shall tread; He'll make them with his living, And mar them with his dead.

Pile on the Poor Man's Burden-
The day of reckoning's near-
He will call aloud on Freedom,
And Freedom's God shall hear.
He will try you in the balance;
He will deal out justice true:
For the Poor Man with his burden
Weighs more with God than you.

Lift off the Poor Man's Burden-
My Country, grand and great-
The Orient has no treasures
To buy a Christian state,

Our souls brook not oppression;
Our needs-if read aright-
Call not for wide possession,
But Freedom's sacred light.

GEO. E. MCNEILL.

Organizer Crowl, of Altoona, Pa., has organized Federal Labor Union No. 7206 with fifty members, and says that they expect to make it a banner union by reaching three hundred members by the first of April.

Organizer Salisbury reports that the legislature of West Virginia has passed a bill making "Labor Day" a legal holiday. Efforts are being made to have a bill passed restricting the hours of labor to eight per day for the State, and also another bill regulating child labor.

Information given by Comrade O. P. Smith, of Logansport, Ind., is to the effect that the bookbinders of that city have formed a union; the barbers are making a similar effort with good prospects for success; and a Federal Labor Union with 22 members has been organized.

With this issue of the AMERICAN FEDERATIONIST it enters upon its sixth year of active useful work in the interest of the working masses of our country. During the past five years of active service to defend, protect and advance the noble cause for which our great organization, the American Federation of Labor, stands, we look over the columns of the AMERICAN FEDERATIONIST in vain to find a line or a word calculated to do aught but to put the best foot forward in the interest of the toiling millions.

Editing a publication such as the AMERICAN FEDERATIONIST is by no means an easy task, more particularly when the fact is borne in mind that the manifold duties of the presidency of the American Federation of Labor, apart from editorial writing and management, require constant and often immediate attention.

We are gratified, however, at the assur

ance of friends and critics that the AMERICAN FEDERATIONIST has given entire satisfaction, and has uniformly said "the right thing at the right time" in every case in which the cause of labor was threatened or could be promoted. Of one fact we are perhaps more proud than of any other. Neither friend nor foe will dispute the assertion that the AMERICAN FEDER ATIONIST has never lowered the banner of trade unionism or permitted the good name and interest of the organization to be trailed in the dust.

With the dawn of a new year the AMERICAN FEDERATIONIST feels the buoyancy and vigor of youth, harnessed to the experience of time, and, utilizing the best in both, proposes to do battle royal in the struggle of the workers for justice and the right. It will preach the gospel of the laborer's rights to the fruits of his toil, the organization of labor in trade unions, and a closer federation of all as an essential means to that end.

We confidently rely upon the growing intelligence of our fellow-workers every where to give their earnest co-operation and support to our great cause, our organization, the American Federation of Labor, and its official magazine, the AMERICAN FEDERATIONIST.

TURN THE REVIVAL TO LABOR'S ACCOUNT.

No matter what causes have contributed toward it, no one will dispute the fact that there are more workers employed today than at any time within the past few years. It is a fact, too, that with a revival in industry is coming a better spirit among the workers to obtain a better return for their labor, more consideration for their rights, than has been shown them in some time past.

The officers of our affiliated unions, and our organizers, all testify to the growth in the number of unions formed, an increased membership in existing unions, and a keener interest manifested by all in the work of organized labor.

We are beyond doubt entering upon the incoming tide of an industrial revival, during which period there will be more general employment; but that this simply means better conditions for the toilers, is not always certain. In fact, there are countries and industries in our own, where there is seldom any lack of employment, but which does not carry with it improved conditions for the workers. In truth, in our own country we have seen instances where industrial prosperity has been accom panied by reduction in wages. Here and there, there may be an employer who of his own volition will concede an increase in wages; but the situation when such an increase or restoration of wages is made, is in anticipation of

and to offset a still greater increase which the workers would undoubtedly demand.

During the industrial stagnation of the past few years, great strides were made in "labor saving machinery." These are now being applied to industry and commerce; and, unless the workers of our country arouse to the situation, we may find a most wonderful increase in the production of wealth without a corresponding increased employment in the number of the workers, and without any improvement in their material and social condition.

If the working men of our country desire to prolong this period of revived industry, two things are necessary and essential. The first is organization, and the second to move along the line to reduce the hours of labor of those who are employed.

Wages should increase; periods and seasons of employment lengthened; the number of unemployed must be reduced; the consuming power of the laborer increased; the leisure resulting from lesser hours of manual labor will open up a vista of opportunities which will make the laborer not only a worker, but more of a man, with all that that ennobling term implies.

Unless this course is pursued and taken advantage of and enforced, an industrial crisis will surely and prematurely overtake us with increased and intensified severity. There is but one way in which the workers can secure some of the advantages resultant from the industrial revival, and retain the improved industrial conditions for the longest possible period of time, and that is to organize-organize in their unions and strengthen them at once; and, by organized effort and common concert of action, reduce the hours of labor of all, thus bringing sunshine and blessings into the homes of the toilers of America from which, if we are but true to ourselves and to each other, they will never more be driven.

THE CONGRESS AND LABOR. The 55th Congress has adjourned. During its life it made history. Whether that history will redound to the advantage of our people only the future can tell with certainty. We have, when questions affecting the war and the foreign policy in which it resulted, discussed the various subjects at the time. When occasion requires and seems most appropriate or most telling for the interests of labor, we shall again revert to them. At this time, however, we content ourselves with the subjects affecting the wage earners directly; that is, labor legislation relating to them.

Among the laws enacted affecting the interests of labor may be enumerated the bill for the improvement in the condition of the sea

men, and the exercise of their right to quit work in any American port, or in any nearby foreign country, and the restriction of the allotment of their wages by which the "crimps" prospered so largely. There can be no doubt but that this seamen's bill was the most important measure passed by Congress in the interests of labor, and that its influence will make for the seamen's good.

The railroad arbitration bill was enacted; but whether the same will prove advantageous or detrimental, the future alone can tell.

The bill creating the Industrial Commission to investigate the conditions of labor, etc., and to report remedial legislation to Congress became a law. Its utility is problematical. The make up of the commission renders it extremely doubtful that tangible results will follow. The action of its chairman, Senator Kyle, as chairman of the Senate Committee on Education and Labor, who introduced the Eight-hour Bill, had it referred to the committee of which he was chairman, dragging the bill along in committee until the time when it would scarcely be considered by the Senate, and finally his submitting a minority report against his own bill, makes his position as chairman of the Industrial Commission a question as to whether he is in favor of the commission's recommending legislation to which, in the way already indicated, he has declared himself opposed.

The bill to protect the Plate Printers from having their trade ruthlessly destroyed by a dishonorable official, was prevented and greater protection accorded them by law.

A law to increase, or rather to restore, the wages of the employes of the Government Printing Office from $3.20 to $4.00 per day was enacted.

The anti convict labor bill, the injunction bill, and the Eight-hour Bill failed to pass. In regard to the latter measure we should say that it was a genuine Eight-hour Bill, one of far-reaching consequences, and which would have required contractors and sub-contractors doing government work or furnishing material, not bought in the open market, to enforce the eight-hour workday.

We can not hide our disappointment that Congress should have failed to pass this bill. It had passed the House of Representatives unanimously; and, if there had been but one Senator intensely interested in its passage, there can be no doubt but that it would now be upon the statute books of our country.

Looking back over the entire session while this bill was before Congress, there is nothing. honorable that we can recall that organized labor ought to have done which was left undone. It is true that we are disappointed at the failure of this bill to become a law, but we are none the less sure that the advance