THE BROTHERS' COLUMN Open to Our Readers for the Marketing of Ideas, Suggestions and Opinions The Painter and In This Column Other Than Guaranteeing the Authority of the Communications. AN EARNEST APPEAL DIRECTED TO ORGANIZED LABOR Local Union Greetings United Garment Workers of America Local 261, Collar Workers Dear Sir and Brothers: In Our production has fallen off to an alarming degree due to the lack of sale for Bell Brand collars bearing the Union label. order for us to continue in the ranks of organized labor it is most essential for us to have the moral support of the individual union man. We, therefore, ask if you will pledge your local to buy Bell Brand collars when in need of collars. We are making a semi-soft collar, grade which can not be equaled for the price of 25c each. These collars should ordinarily sell for 35c each. The wholesale price warrants them to sell for 25c. We feel confident if you will give these collars a trial they will prove their worth and warrant a continuance of your patronage. For the benefit of those desiring laundered collars we wish to state that we make thirty-five styles in this grade, including the very latest, and would be glad to serve you with same. The names of the soft collars in question are Ontario, Oceana, Vermont and Newark. If your dealer will not order them for you, we suggest you write the Union Label Collar Co., 139 Hamilton street, Albany, N. Y. We will be glad to serve you direct. We sincerely hope you will help us because, as we stated before, demand has fallen off to an alarming degree and necessitates immediate action. Thanking you in anticipation of your cooperation in this matter. We remain, PEARL MATSON, Sec., 39 Second Ave., Rensselaer, N. Y. FLORIDA BOYS SIMPLY CAN'T STAND THAT "NON-UNION" RED Editor Painters' Journal: Our boys here in Miami, Fla., are highly trained from an artistic point of view and carry their convictions with them when they go shopping on Saturday night. The A. & P. chain of stores has recently come to this city and had their painting done by one of these blue overall boys with no card. The management says that it regrets the occurrence and that it will not occur again, but the boys of 806 say that that shade of red positively repels them and that they do not see how they can stand going into those stores until they are properly repainted by a union painter. If you have a chance to send down about two hundred good painters to Miami, DON'T DO IT. We have about all the company we need for this winter. ROY E. TRIMMER, Sec., "TIS EASIER The workers are a funny pack, By keeping what they now bestow Each other would they rather fight, Against the galling chains they make And driven though to ruin's brink; As doomed, they hug the ragged edge -JOHN H. MURPHY, The union label is an appeal to principle principle that is above price; the principle that a dollar expended in the maintenance of fair labor is worth more in the end than a dollar saved at the bargain counter. *5*5*5*5858585 EXCELSIOR FRESCO STENCILS for artistic Interior Decoration. My new complete catalogue con- H. ROESSING, 1107 Wolfram St., CHICAGO, ILL. RGUMENTS and Recommendations of the Wisconsin State Conference of Painters, Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators and Paperhangers of America, Madison, Wis., on the Proposed General Orders on Paint Spraying, Drafted by the Advisory Committee, Wisconsin Industrial Commission. Brief Prepared for the Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators and Paper- PAINT SPRAYING ADVISORY COM- COMMISSION OF WISCONSIN The introduction to the orders on spray painting proposed by the Advisory Committee of the Industrial Commission of Wisconsin, unmistakably recognizes: 1. That "painting without proper precautions is hazardous." 2. That paint materials are harmful and therefore considers it 3. "Necessary to have all regulations hereunder embrace spray painting without regard to the nature of the paint used." Room Booth Installations: The proposal of room both installations as a protection in the open spraying of all large objects is in itself not sufficient. Room booths observed in the field survey made by the Advisory Committee were found to be "very inadequate for proper protection of operators and helpers." The proposed plans for improving room booth installations may solve the problem, but they can not be accepted until exhaustive experimentation carried on by impartial sanitary engineers and expert industrial hygienists demonstrates over a reasonable period of time that the proposed plans insure adequate protection against poisonous spray and fumes. Scope and General Requirements Order 2-Application to Existing Booths: Cabinets as well as room booths require the same type of experimentation as outlined above. In reference to existing booths employed in the spraying of small objects we wish to call attention to the loose wording of this clause requiring existing booths to "show reasonably close adherence to the provision of those orders." Instead the orders should require strict compliance. Order 3-Medical Examination of Operators and Helpers: (At start of employment-Three month periods Whenever incapacitated.) Order 4-No Susceptible Operators Allowed: Organized labor fully appreciates the value of periodic medical examinations as a protective measure to check the progress of occupational disease. The painters of New York City have established a very significant precedent in starting their own health department maintained and controlled by the union. However, orders No. 3 and 4 would prevent disease. Under order No. 3 a man would receive a medical examination before being employed as a spray operator. He would then be allowed to work with the spray machine until he is found "susceptible"-that is affected by the poisons. Over 300,000 People Send for It Each Year This book is greatly in demand among architects, contractors, painters, people who are remodeling and building new homes. Your prospects are apt to refer to it. You will naturally want to be familiar with this authoritative manual on wood finishing. Use the coupon above. JAHNCAN'S ARTISTIC WOOD FINISHES JUIIINJVID Johnson's Artistic Interior Finishes have been manufactured right here in Racine, Wisconsin, for the past 30 years. The Johnson Line of Artistic Wood Finishes includes Wood Dye-Perfectone Undercoat and Enamel-Floor and Finishing Varnish-Electric Solvo Varnish Remover-Paste Wood FillerPermacote Wall Finish-etc. The Johnson label on Artistic Interior Finishes is a guarantee of quality. The Johnson Line of Artistic Interior Finishes is a high-class specialty lineeverything necessary for finishing floors, trim and walls. We do not manufacture paint-we concentrate on interior finishes. For this reason we are able to furnish union painters a perfect line. Let us help you solve your interior finishing problems. RACINE, S. C. JOHNSON & SON "The Wood Finishing Authorities" DEPT. O.J. 1: (Canadian Factory-Brantford) WISCONSIN Order No. 4 then provides that "no person may be employed in spray coat operations who is found easily susceptible to, or who is in condition of material affection from the industrial poisons used in such operations." All human beings are affected by exposure to poisonous materials. It is impossible to determine whether a man is "easily susceptible" to poisonous spray until he is first put to work with the spray machine. It is therefore, self-evident that this can not be accepted as a preventive measure. In spite of the medical examination order No. 3 would not prevent a worker from becoming the victim of the spray machine-it would serve only to bar a man from continuing to work with the spray machine-after the damage is done-after health is impaired or destroyed-after he is "incapacitated." Furthermore experience has repeatedly shown that medical examinations made by the employer have been used to disqualify union men for employment, and very often medical records in the hands of employers have been used unfairly against the men's interests in compensation claims. Although certain employers may use medical findings to transfer their men from one section of work to another that is perhaps less dangerous, more frequently, the man is "fired" as soon as illness cuts down his efficiency. The duty of the state is to see that a man is protected "on the job"-so that he is safeguarded against becoming "incapacitated." Report Covering Spray Painting of Build ings, Ships and Structures of Any (c) Exterior Painting-Wind Advantage: For all practical purposes this assures no protection to the operators of the spray machine. When the wind happens to be in the wrong direction the spray is driven directly back into the face of the operator. The folly of relying on weather conditions for health protection was brought out during the hearings in Milwaukee in the experience of one of the manufacturers who had a cabinet fan exhaust attached to the window-when the wind was in the wrong direction the spray was thrown directly back into the operator's face. Outside spraying against unfavorable and quickly changing wind conditions presents an insurmountable problem from the standpoint of health protection. (d) Interior Painting-Natural Ventilation: "Natural ventilation," is wholly insufficient for carrying off poisonous dust or the penetrating fumes of volatile poisons. Regarding the dangers involved in the spraying of buildings, it is particularly significant to note the conditions observed by your committee: "CONDITIONS FOUND PREVAILING IN OPEN SPRAYING OF BUILDINGS AND STRUCTURES (BOTH INSIDE AND OUTSIDE OF SAME) WERE VERY DEPLORABLE." In the St. Paul yards, the committee reports that in spite of the fact that spraying is carried on out of doors, the spray was found hanging in the air in heavy clouds. The men were completely covered with it. In many indoor jobs, painters are required to shut out ventilation, keep windows closed in order to prevent the lapping and streaking of paint. Under such conditions the use of the spray machine increases the risk of poisoning to an alarming extent, as the men are forced to breathe air in which not only lead may be present, but in which there are concentrated the highly volatile poisonous fumes of such materials as turpentine, naptha, wood alcohol, benzine, amylacetate, banana oil and benzol. "VENTILATION AND DIRECTION OF AIR CURRENTS" are insufficient to carry off these powerful, destructive fumes. The attempt to fix the blame of carelessness on the helper in paying no attention to ventilation and direction of air currents, ignores the main points, namely, that natural air currents, outside or inside, can not be relied on to carry spray and fumes away from the operator, especially under pressure. Benzol, particularly requires powerful exhausts to pull out at least part of the fumes. Out of 25 samples of paint materials recently analyzed by the Workers' Health Bureau, eight samples of flat coats and quickdrying paints were found to contain benzol. Benzol is being used not only in paint, but in the varnishes, shellacs and lacquers, which, according to the testimony of the manufacturers at the Milwaukee hearings, are among the materials exclusively used in their processes. Dr. John F. Hogan, director of the Bureau of Communicable Diseases, of Baltimore, writes: "Within the past few months in Baltimore there have been three cases of benzol poisoning, two of which were fatal. All three of these cases were workers who were employed in the same can manufacturing plant. On account of their occurrence within a short space of time of each other, and the high fatality and severity of this type of poisoning, we think it of sufficient importance to report, so that both the attention of public health workers and medical men will be directed to this condition, which is frequently confused with other conditions and overlooked until the grave menace has occurred." Ineffective exhausts were partly responsible for this condition. (e) Order 11-Maximum Allowable Paint Pressure: This would require close inspection to secure compliance with orders. Dr. N. C. Sharpe of the Department of Pharmacology of the University of Toronto, reporting “On an investigation to determine the hazard of the health of operators using the spraying machine for painting: the risk of Lead Poisoning," declares that "where the air pressure of the spray machine was kept to 35 and 55 pounds per square inch, in the spraying of a wall, a mist could easily be seen 10 feet and more to the side of the |