LABOR BILLS IN CONGRESS.
Immigration and Children's Bureau
Get Consideration.
Bills have been introduced in the
national house of representatives to
regulate the immigration of aliens into
the United States, the one carrying the
Illiteracy test being urged by the
American Federation of Labor.
Another bill provides for the estab
lishment of a children's bureau to be
connected with the department of com
merce and labor. The functions of the
bureau shall "be to investigate and re
port upon all matters pertaining to
the welfare of children and child life,
and it shall especially investigate the
questions of infant mortality, the birth
rate, physical degeneracy, orphanage.
Juvenile courts, desertion, dangerous
occupations, accidents and diseases of
children, employment, legislation af
fecting children in the several states
and territories and such other facts as
have a bearing upon the welfare of
children."
Painters' Wages Advanced.
Seventy-five Cleveland contractors
have signed the new agreement pro
posed by the painters, which provides
for an Increase of 2V6 cents an hour. -
The paperhangers' new piece scale has
also been accepted, as has been the
scale of the Jewish painters; after a
short strike.
I"t",I'"l"I,,I,il",lB,I,,I,'I",Ii,I,l
THE CRY OF TOIL.
We have fed you all for a thousand
years,
And you hail us still unfed.
Though there's never a dollar of all
your wealth
But marks the worker's dead.
We have yielded our best to give
. you rest.
And you lie on a crimson wool, T
For if blood be the price of all your 3.
wealth.
Good God, we ha' paid it in full. T
There's never a mine blown sky- J
ward now
But we're burled alive for you. "
' There's never a wreck drifts shore- T
ward now
But we are its' ghastly crew.
Go reckon our dead "by the forges
red
And the factories where we spin.
If blood be the price of your ac- 3.
cursed wealth.
Good God, we ha paid it in full. 4
We have fed you all for a thousand
years,
For that was our doom, you know,
From the days when you chained
us in your fields
To the strike of a week ago,
You ha' eaten our lives and our
babes and wives,
And we're told it's your legal
share.
' But if blood be the price of your
lawful wealth,
Good God, we ha bought it fair.
Rudyard Kipling.
GOMPERS' JAIL SENTENCE.
Wall Street Anxious Over the Fate of
Labor Leaders.
According to a Wall street authori
ty, there is much concern In the street
as to the final outcome of the Gom
pers, Mitchell and Morrison jail sen
tenet -fnow on the calendar of the
federal supreme court. This authority
says:
"With more men Idle, the financial
community is wondering in what man
ner organized labor will accept a de
cision from the supreme court of the
United States in regard to the sen
tence of Gompers, Mitchell and Mor
rison to imprisonment on the charge
of contempt of court. This case Is
considered by many lawyers as really
more important than that of the
Standard Oil or the American Tobac
co cbmpany7 because fiTstrlkes at the
very foundation of organized labor,
and the decision will set a limit be
yond which labor fights cannot go
with safety in the future.
"If the supreme court should force
Gompers and the others to serve out
their sentences and if organized labor
should decide to treat them as mar
tyrs a very delicate situation would
be created. On the other hand, if the
supreme court should decide that the
sentences were unjustly imposed it
would create a condition equally deli
cate by encouraging organized labor
to disregard lower court decisions ex
cept in a technical sense.
"Either horn of the dilemma is un
fortunate, because there are so many
people idle just now with plenty of
time to get excited over matters that
would pass with comparatively little
notice if prosperity were at full tide."
Brooklyn Eagle.
Warring Electrical Workers.
Probably because of the increase in
the insurgents in the unions all over
the country President Gompers has
notified both factions of the Electrical
Workers' union that the executive
council of the American Federation of
Labor has called a joint convention
of the warring elements, to be held
Sept. 14 at Minneapolis. The council
further orders that the conventions
must each elect a committee of five to
meet jointly with the officers of the
A. P. of L., the metal trades depart
ment and the building trades depart
ment The combined forces are to
work out a plan of amalgamation and
submit it to the conventions for adoption.
American Labor Far Cheaper.
From figures on the world's coal
supply in n recent British publication
the bureau of manufacturers of the
department of commerce and labor has
compiled statistics showing that the
United States, with 090,438 persons
employed In mining coal in 190(5. pro
duced 126,562.000 tons of coal more
than were produced by 966,264 persons
similarly employed in the United
Kingdom. The production of coal in
the United States amounted to 538
tons per person employed as against
271 tons produced per person in the
United Kingdom.
A Prosperous Society.
The Rockwell (la.) Farmers' Co-operative
society Is the oldest of its kind
in the United States. Last year busi
ness amounting to $424,000 was trans
acted at a cost of $500 a share. The
society was organized as a trust bust
er and has grown rich buying grain
on a slight margin and selling coal,
lumber, clothing, shoes, etc.. at a slight
advance over cost. Shares which twen
ty years ago sold for $10 are now worth
$161.15. There are 2,500 shares held
by the 365 members. The society has
about $52,000 assets.
CHILD LABOR EVIL.
Arguments and efforts made
and used by the trade unionists
of the country found expression
in the addresses made recently
before the child welfare con
gress in Washington. The con
sensus of opinion was that the
moral standards of this country
were not as high, as they should
be and that much could be done
to Improve them. These discus
sions rarely fail to bring out
the fact that Industrial condi
tions which compel children to
find employment at an early age
are followed by decreased moral
standards and physical deficiency.
Building For The Future.
It isn't what you make that builds your fortune it's
what you save. And there is a difference between hoarding
and saving. The dollar hidden away is lost to the world's
business. The dollar invested safely is a dollar working for
humanity. The dollar that is working for you now is making
possible your rest in later years. Invest your savings with
us. We Pay Four Per Cent Interest. Save a little every
week or month, and put dollars you have worked so hard for
to working for you a bit. It is the interest-bearing dollars
that build fortunes. Saving is a matter of habit. Cultivate
the habit: We'll show you how.
AMERICAN SAVINGS BANK
132 NORTH 11TH ST.
We will soon be in our handsome new quarters.
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$ HOLDS UP HIS HEAD. ?
The union man carries his
head high because he lias noth
ing to be ashamed of; because
' he represents the highest stand
ard of skill and merit; because
.he is in a position to demand
wages which are adequate to
the actual value he is to his em
ployer; because he is capable of
performing the highest grade of
skilled labor in the most expert
manner; because he has been
wise enough to emulate the ex
ample of his boss in amalgamat
ing with others of his craft, just
as his employer has done with
others of capital, and belongs to
an organization which is both
able and willing to protect him
and which will go to any ex
treme to keep him up to the
level to which he belongs. Why
should he not hold up his head?
Who has a better right?
i"I"I"I"I-l"!"I"I"IIlH,4,Ij"
LABOR WINS VICTORY.
Supreme Court's Decision Frees Gom
pers and Associates.
Organized labor won a great victory
when the United States supreme court
held that three of its most noted lead
ers shall not be required to serve jail
sentences for contempt of court.
Setting aside the sentences of im
prisonment imposed by the supreme
court of the District of Columbia for
alleged disobedience to a boycott in
junction, the supreme court of the
United States held that Samuel Gom
pers, John Mitchell and Frank Morri
son, president, vice president and sec
retary, respectively,- of the American
Federation of Labor, had been errone
ously sentenced to jail on a charge of
contempt of a local court.
The basis of the court's opinion was
that the proceeding against the labor
officers was for civil contempt, which
could be punished only by the imposi
tion of a fine. The sentence of the
lower court to imprisonment was the
penalty for criminal contempt, and
therefore it was not a legal "punishment.
Justice Wright found them guilty
and sentenced Gompers to one year in
jail, Mitchell to nine months and Mor
rison to six months. An appeal was
taken from this sentence first to the
court of appeals, wfifcbTliffirmed it, and
finally to the supreme court of the
United States.
Commenting . on the decision, Mr.
Gompers said: "I think it has been not
only my opinion, but it has been the
consensus of opinion, that the sentences
imposed by Justice Wright of six, nine
and twelve months for Mr. Morrison,
Mr. Mitchell and myself, respectively,
were unjustifiable, unusual and cruel,
particularly in an alleged constructive
contempt; that his language was in
temperate and unjudiclaL"
LYNCH SUES KIRBY.
Head of Typos Charges Libel Against
Manufacturers.
James M. Lynch, president of the
International Typographical union, has
brought suit for $100,000 damages
against John Kirby, Jr., and the di
rectors of the National Association of
Manufacturers, charging libel.
The suit is in behalf of the Typo
graphical union and is based upon a
resolution publicly passed Oct 13, 1910,
at a meeting of the National Associa
tion of Manufacturers. The resolu
tion, according to Attorney Alfred J.
Talley of New York city, who repre
sents Mr. Lynch, reads:
Whereas, The long continued, cowardly
and recklessly illegal determination of the
International Typographical union to de
stroy the business of the Los Angeles
Times and the Influence of Its owner,
General Harrison Gray Otis, In his efforts
in behalf of the principles of Industrial
freedom has terminated in the destruc
tion of the Times plant and building- by
dynamite;
Resolved, That this board recognizes
this act of destruction of life and prop
erty as in line with the criminal policy of
criminal unionism.
Wright After Gompers.
Within twenty-four hours after the
United States supreme court had re
lieved Samuel Gompers, John Mitchell
and Frank Morrison of the Jail sen
tences imposed by Justice Wright of
the supreme court of the District of
Columbia for contempt Justice Wright
initiated steps to punish them. The
justice appointed a board to investi
gate the action of these labor leaders
and ordering it, if it found evidence
of contempt, "to prosecute the charge
of contempt of court to the end that
the custody of the court be established,
vindicated and sustained."
Commenting on the action of the
court, Mr. Gompers said: ."Justice
Wright can go just as far as he likes.
He will find we are not running away
-not even from him."