STEK-O SPON.TEM is now called STEK-O Powder Paste is building permanent trades for many a Jobber and Dealer, because -it is the most universally used both in this country and abroad -it always gives satisfaction-bringing repeat orders -it has stood the test of years IF YOU ARE NOT now using STEK-O (Spon-Tem) it will pay you well to get a trial lot from your Dealer or from us, for there is POSITIVELY no other paste just like it and we guarantee that you will be pleased as many others are. You will also like CLARKSIZE POWDER which is now especially appreciated on account of high glue SEND US YOUR NAME and we will tell you just what we will do "SPON-TEM gives satisfaction on oatmeal as well as on other paper." J. G. Grave, Quincy, Ill. "Judging from the experience of twenty years actual use of pastes in different forms, I think I can unqualifiedly state that I find SPON-TEM the ideal paste for all uses. I have had occasion, within the past week, to try out a number of the different prepared pastes and can most emphatically state that from a standpoint of efficiency, economy and easy working properties, SPON-TEM is way ahead of any other I have used." M. L. Gasner, 314 East Avenue, West Cedar Rapids, Iowa. "SPON-TEM is just what it is guaranteed to be. We have been constant users of SPON-TEM for the past two years and have not had one bit of trouble-it is the best, cheapest and strongest paste on the market." D. Meckley Sons, D. G. Meckley, Manager, York, Pa. " HIS WE WANT TO KNOW session of Congress opened in a country calling for information The as the thirsty call for water. Adamson Eight-Hour Law opens the way to a thorough knowledge of railroad facts. No problem is more vital to this country than the problem of transportation. It is upon that vital problem that we demand light. We want to know, Mr. Congressman. There are a hundred million of us, all from Missouri, looking for information on this railroad question. We want to know how much of the 20 billions of railroad stocks and bonds represents real values, and how much represents rain-water; how much was invested in the properties by bona fide investors and how much of the present value is reinvested profits. We want to know how much of the real present value-twenty billions, more or less -was really invested, dollar for dollar, once upon a time, and how much is represented by the increase in the value of the millions of acres of timber and mineral land, given free to the railroad; of terminal sites in cities, and of franchise values and rights of way. We want to know how much it costs to carry freight and passengers from one part of the country to another. We want to know whether Louis D. Brandeis was right when he charged that hundreds of millions could be saved every year out of the cost of operating railroads if they were handled with ordinary intelligence and on a basis of reasonable efficiency. We want to know who controls the railroads of the United States. That does not mean the number of stock and bond holders -there are several hundred thousand of them-it does mean the handful of men who can gather about a table and decide the railroad policy for the entire country. Who are these men? How much power do they really hold? When do they exercise it, and how? We want to know how much the big fellows are getting out of the railroads. We learned about the New Haven AFTER THE DELUGE. We have seen the results of similar highway robbery on other railroad systems since. Is that kind of thing going on all over the country? Do the great banking houses milk the railroads for their own profit and then send the bill to the public, in the form of increased freight rates on flour and shoes? We want to know what part of the railroad earnings goes to those who own the railroads and what part goes to those who work on the railroads. This has become an important question for us. There are owners and workers in every American industry. The railroad industry-the largest single American business outside of agriculturegives a first rate idea of the situation that is developing in our industrial life. We want to know how much the owners of American railroads are getting in interest, dividends and increased property values. THEY OWN FOR A LIVING. What does their ownership net them? Is it true that many of the railroads in addition to paying interest and dividends are turning profits back into capital and laying away fat surpluses? We want to know how much those who work on the American railroads are getting in wages and salaries. THEY WORK FOR A LIVING. What does their work net them? Do the wages of railroad workers compensate for the extra hazards involved in the industry? Is it true that some of the men in the construction camps and the maintenance-of-way crews; in the shops; and among the trackmen receive a wage so low that it forces them and their families into poverty? We want to know about railroad unions. Is it true that the unorganized railroad workers who do not belong to the Brotherhoods are denied the right to organize? That under the cloak furnished by the Brotherhoods, the railroads have carried on a consistent policy of ruthless destruction of unionism? We want to know these things about the greatest single business in the country -a business with twenty billions of capital and one and three-quarter millions of workers. Our representatives in Washington are the only people in the United States who can give us a satisfactory answer. -SCOTT NEARING. Can I imagine a system of society filled by intelligent people? May I hope, at least, for a society where every man will get what he earns, no less, and, just as important, no more? That the heart-destroying, soulshriveling idea of production solely for dividends and profits may give way to production for the good of all mankind? -FRANK P. WALSH. Use our FREE Thousands of Painters are daily using our free Decorative service. It is open to you. Tell our Decorative Department about some job you are about ready to start or are figuring on, and they will prepare special color sketches, wall elevations, etc., to meet your requirements. Mr. Painter and Decorator The painting of inside walls can be made to pay good dividends at this time of the year. When you use SHERWIN-WILLIAMS Flat-Tone it will pay double dividends, by giving you delighted customers and boosters. The use of S-W Flat-Tone insures good results and pleasing effects. FlatTone produces a soft, velvety, rich effect, restful to the eyes, and affording a splendid back-ground for the furnishings of a room. Made in twenty-six attractive shades from which you can make an appropriate selection for any type of room, in public building or private house. Aside from its decorative qualities, the increasing demand for sanitary surroundings has made the painted wall almost a necessity-but be sure to use a finish such as Flat-Tone, which is actually washable. Put up in quart, half gallon and gallon cans. THE SHERWIN-WILLIAMS CO. PAINT AND VARNISH MAKERS CONVENTION OF THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR Report of the Delegates of the Brotherhood ITUATED near the imaginary dividing line, Baltimore belongs to neither north nor south but blends the things characteristic of each section in a way that makes it distinct from either and gives it an attractiveness all its own. The effect is heightened by the mingling of the old and the new. Within a few blocks of streets and squares lined with stately homes of "the days before the war" and dignified by monuments to national and local celebrities and in memory of historic events, are towering sky-scrapers in which everything is up to the minute, although even in the busiest section of the city, sandwiched between office and store buildings in the most unexpected places, are churches a century old. The good people of the heart of Maryland are equally proud of the past and the present of their city; of its eventful history, its achievements, its recent progress and its present greatness. The city was founded in early colonial days by Lord Baltimore and his associates, who sought a land in which they could enjoy religious liberty, but the visitor who imagines that its people live in the memories of departed days and are back numbers is reminded that the first American railroad (the Baltimore and Ohio) was planned and constructed by Baltimore capital and had its terminus in that city, that the first telegraph message was dispatched from Baltimore and that the first steamship that crossed the Atlantic sailed from its harbor. The linotype was first used in Baltimore and many other things that have revolutionized our industrial and commercial life had their beginning in the city by Chesapeake Bay. The residence districts of the city are reminiscent of Europe-block after block of brick houses built solid and right up to the sidewalk, neatly painted and lined and having marble doorsteps, scrubbed every morning and immaculately clean. The streets, usually asphalt, are almost as spick and span the doorsteps. Even the busy water front, where most of the streets are narrow as and the buildings old, is unusually neat. The peculiar odor, inseparable from docks and shipping the world over, is there but not the unsightly heaps of refuse that litter the streets and the water fronts in the shipping sections of most seaport cities. The breezes from Chesapeake Bay in November are rather searching at times but taken altogether, the weather was pleasant if bracing. The local reception committee, of which ex-President Jas. H. Sullivan was an executive member, was untiring in its efforts for the comfort and entertainment of the delegates. Our own Local Unions saw to it that the delegates of the Brotherhood and the members of the Brotherhood serving as delegates from State and Central Bodies were given an exemplification of southern hospitality that will linger in their memories. A Sunday trip to the famous log cabin on the shores of Chesapeake Bay and to Annapolis, the state capital and the seat of the United States Naval Academy, was a delightful experience. The beautiful church of the academy, in the crypt of which is the mausoleum containing the remains of John Paul Jones, brought home from France a century after his death, was especially interesting. To the members of the Brotherhood Baltimore has a particular and exceptional interest. In a few brief weeks thirty years will have passed since, on March 15, 1917, on the invitation of John T. Elliott, then secretary of the Baltimore painters' union, a handful of men representing thirteen independent unions of painters and paperhangers, scattered from the Atlantic Coast to the Mississippi and from the Canadian shores of the Great Lakes to Mason and Dixon's line, met in conference in Baltimore and organized the Brotherhood. In company with Brother J. H. Sullivan, who as onetime president of the Baltimore Brotherhood was closely associated with John T. Elliott, we visited the final resting place of the remains of our first General SecretaryTreasurer. A massive block of Maryland granite, chaste and dignified in design, erected by the members of the brotherhood by voluntary subscription, marks the spot. It is an appropriate tribute to the work and the memory of a man of remarkable ability and exceptional force of character, a born leader among men. The Convention. The 36th Annual Convention of the American Federation of Labor, one of the most interesting and important in its history, was called to order in the Garden Theatre Roof Garden Monday, November 13th, and remained in session until the eve ning of Saturday, November 25th. Mr. Robert E. Lee, the secretary of the Mayor of Baltimore, and a member of Local Union 295 (paperhangers) of the Brotherhood, and its delegate to the Memphis General Assembly, acted as temporary chairman of the Convention and acquitted himself most creditably. The most eminent and best loved dignitary of the Roman Catholic Church in America, Cardinal James Gibbons, pronounced the invocation and Bishop John Gardener Murray of the Protestant Episcopal Church offered prayer. Honorable Emerson C. Harrington, Governor of Maryland, extended to the offi cers, delegates and visitors of the Convention a cordial greeting and a hearty wel come to the State. He reviewed the history of the commonwealth and called particular attention to the fact that it was the first state in the world to recognize full civil and religious liberty. The Honorable William B. ("Billy") Wilson, Secretary of the Department of Labor, then addressed the Convention. He declared at the outset that he had not come to make a speech but "for the purpose of showing which side I am on." Referring to the progressive legislation enacted by the legislature of Maryland to which Governor Harrington had called attention, Secretary Wilson stated that legislators are not prone to act on humanitarian legislation or legislation for the promotion of the welfare of the great mass unless there is some pressure at home to cause them to act. Said he: "It has been only by virtue of the association of the workers in organization and the concentrated pressure that organization has enabled them to exercise that remedial legislation has been secured in the state of Maryland, in other states and from our Federal Congress." He reviewed the half-century of agitation that finally resulted in the creation of a Department of Labor and for the first time gave a representative of the workers of our country a seat in the councils of the President of the United States. In assuming the Chair and responding to the addresses of welcome, President Gompers touched briefly upon the momentous events of the past year and expressed the grave doubts and misgivings that have troubled the minds of thoughtful men. Said he: "When we pause for a moment to cast our vision across the Atlantic and see the awful, the titantic struggle, waged now for more than two years, it is enough to cause us to pause and ask ourselves whether, after all, we are so sure of our civilization. "Who among all of us here believed three years ago that in the year 1914 a war would be inaugurated of such gigantic proportions, or that it could continue for more than two years? Yet it has come. IT T will help you make a profit on every job. By Every detail needed to estimate on painting and decorating is given in simple language. The reading of plans and blue prints is covered. The chapter on Overhead Costs will give you the answer to the question: "Where have my Profits Gone?" There is a chapter on Paint Shop Management with a plan for a modern, time-saving, material-saving, tool-saving paint shop. Other information given: Covering capacity per gallon of paint, varnish, enamel, shellac, size, filler, calcimine, etc., on various surfaces. Amount of such material a man can spread per hour and per day on different surfaces. Correct way to figure price per square or square foot for painting. Prices other contractors charge for various kinds of painting and decorating. Altogether there are one hundred and twentyseven pages of good practical stuff that will be helpful to any painter who feels that his business methods are not as up-to-date as his craftsmanship. This book is attractively and serviceably bound in cloth, heavy covers. Worth many times its cost. Money back if you return the book in five days saying it isn't worth a dollar to you. The Text Book Co. Men of all nations fathoming the secrets of nature in order to alleviate the slightest pain or pang of a single individual, the men of labor swearing allegiance and pledging their faith to each other that never again would they hold their hands out with clenched fists but to grasp the hands of their fellows of all nations with hearty fraternal greetingsand at the sound of a voice transformed from the highest concept of humanity, prompted by highest ideals, into ghoulish beasts flying and dragging at each other's hearts and throats. "It is enough to make us pause and ask ourselves if, after all, we are so sure of our civilization? Where is the hope of the world for humanity? Where is it lodged? I have no dispute with the gentlemen of the cloth, whose profession I so profoundly respect. The life of the hereafter is a promise to man, but it is the hope and the struggle of the much-absued labor movement to maintain the civilization of the world, if it is to be maintained. The hope of the world is the manhood of the world, the womanhood of the world." When, discussing the International relations of the United States he rejoiced that organized labor had exercised a steadying force for peace and in no small measure contributed to the influences that defeated the efforts of "the exploiters of Wall Street, the profit mongers who sought to arouse our passion and anger and compel a conflict with our much weaker sister republic of Mexico," he struck a responsive chord. The Convention vigorously expressed its approval of the sentiment and its satisfaction that peace had been maintained. Referring to the many struggles that had occurred during the year and the constant strife and stress in which the labor movement is involved, he emphasized the fact that this is the inevitable line along which progress is made and that we should meet the issues with courage and hope and find our satisfaction in having fought the fight. He summed up the matter as follows: "Fighting the fight is the great inspiring course, not the winning. The winning of the fight is incidental but to fight and fight for the right, that is the thing." Other Speeches. There was a marked improvement in the handling of the business of the Convention as compared with other years-at San Francisco little business was transacted until the second week. While waiting for the reports of the committees, the Baltimore Convention listened to speeches of fraternal delegates and visitors and to the reports of its delegates to the British Trade Union Congress and the Trades and Labor Congress of Canada. The delegates from the British Trade Union Congress were Mr. H. Gosling, its president and president of the Transport Workers' Federation of Great Britain, and Mr. W. Whitefield, a prominent official of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain. Mr. |