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s i s S I v4 ,n ~J* ill 7 V k $ i^y s .* z$'"£r'~ rfiv' ,r^„ -,'^^ I #••«*%»rr:« ^T K««r ^v.#. msL ^.*, •\v .f v'^- .:, *A*£/" f^,' J^V' fc ii,kt VOL. XIII. NO. 36 WORK OF LAUNDRY GIRLS. Investigation at Milwaukee Disclosed the Fact That Treadles of Ironing Machines Require 'an Enormous Ex penditure of Power. JOSEPHINE GCLDMARK in Survey. Innate in the most of us is the dls like of waste. It offends us. Throw ing foo] away, for instance, is obnox ious to m«»st persons normally inclin ed. Worse than waste of matter is "waste of energy, waste of human ef fort. It does more than offend it out rages. The girls who operate laundry ma chinery. bearing down with all their •weight upon the foot treadles of the "body ironers" and "presses." work hard—how hard a tested scale show-, ed In the latest government investiga tion of women's work. For ten hours a day the.v expended about 100,000 pounds foot pressure per hour. This is not guesswork it is arithmetic The scale showed at certain machines 100 pounds pressure at each tread of the girl operators. They made sixteen treads per minute. The test was tried in Milwaukee, where Miss Obeuauer of the federal bareau of labor statistics investigat ed thirty-one power laundries In co operation with the state industrial commission of Wisconsin. Nor is this an extreme statement. Conditions de scribed in Milwaukee can be found in most towns and cities throughout the country. Eight physiciaus to whom the rec ords of the cuff presses and body iron ers were submitted were unanimous in thinking the work detrimental to health. A tendency to create pelvic disorders or spinal curvature was the danger emphasized. Now. if the Milwaukee investigation had done no more than record these pressures accurately a service would have been rendered, but it did more. Far more significant, far more arrest ing, was the discovery that much of this effort was unnecessary. This, too, was simply proved. The investigators forced down the treadles of certain machines until the garment in process of being ironed received the "finish or gloss necessary to pass muster. The scale attached to the treadle showed that uuknowu to the workers, un known to the employers themselves, a needless exertion of from twenty-flve to thirty pounds was put forth at each tread, "amountims." says the report, "to a wasted exertion of *270.000 to 238.000 pounds in a ten hour day Here we have an index in 'okI figures of the wasted muscular effort of one girl during one day. About a quarter' of tin* fi.M women individually interviewed in the Mil waukee laundries were employed at the foot treadle machines. Among the 80.000 women laundry workers enu merated in the census, thousands are similarly employed throughout the country. For years, since the first hot cylinder presses and ironers replaced the familiar flatiron, these thousands of girls and women have thus day bj day been wasting their most precious Industrial asset, tiieir working capaci ties. In a sport or match we deplore the spectacle of the player who wastes his strength in ignorance. We applaud the player whose strength is focused whose every stroke tells. Batting av erages are familiarly discussed in deci mals. But these girls were not play ing a game. They were earning an average of $5.4~ per week at the cuff yoke and neckband presses and an average of S».04 per week at the body and sleeve ironers, all "foot treadle machines." says the report, "shown by the records to make excessive occupa tional demands." "When the individual is endeavoring to labor in an atmosphere at a high temperature and a high humidity, said Trofessor F. S. Lee recently in a memorable address, "he has to contend not only with his normal fatigue sub stances, but with the pathological sub stances that result from the peculiar conditions of his labor. Nor mal and pathological fatigue sub stauces are here present in solution in an overheated body. If they are toxic at normal degrees of temperature their toxicity is more pronounced at higher degrees, and In proportion as mechan leal work Is performed and internal temperature rises the more is working power lessened." 1 emphasize the writer's last words for the realization that these things lessen working power- the heat and humidity, the excess pressure, the high treadles—Is a step toward their sup pression. But the essential thing Is that a new scrutiny of waste has been made—and •With the simplest appliances of scier.ce scale, foot rule and thermometer. Oth er valuable suggestions are brought up in the report, such as the possibility pf alternating or interchanging occu jpatlons. The hardest work In the Mil waukee laundries was found to be in no way differentiated from the easiest Tn bringing out these Hionately the facts dlspn Milwaukee report is of more than local or passing account SH'' 1 i 9 *V vi^sr. v*. r,^f^x~"^^/t'* v- s WASTE Ol= E.NE.KGY w I, HOW WUCtt MUSCLE POWKR DOHS INDUSTRY SQUANDER? 4 It strikes a deeper ehovd. for wnr|{ that Is unnecessary cm k ih it is wholly undirected, work that exhausts. Is waste, from which the m'nd in stinctively reenlN and for which it dt ma rids a r«Mrted.v. FEDERATION OFFICERS. Two Changes Made In Personnel of the Executive Council. The thirtieth annual convention of the American Federation of Labor held at Seattle. Wash., elected the fol lowing officers: Samuel (iompers. presi dent first vice president, .lames Dun can second vice president. .lames O'Conneil third vice president. Dennis A. Hayes fourth vice president. Jo seph LI. Valentine: fifth vice president, lohn K. Alpine sixth vice president. lit. B. Perham seventh vice president. John P. White eighth vice president. Frank Duffy treasurer. John B. Len non secretary. Frank Morrison. John Mitchell and William D. Hu ber voluntarily retired as members of the council. John P. White, president of the United Mine Workers, was elected to succeed John Mitchell, and Frank Duffy, secretary of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, was elect ed to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of William D. Iluber. A test of strength between the trade unionists and the Socialists came in the election of one of the fraternal delegates to the British trade union •ongress. William D. Mahon. presi dent of the Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Em ployees. was elected over Frederick L. Wheeler, a Socialist and member of the Brotherhood of Carpenters' dele gation. by a vote of 14.(503 to 3,834. The second delegate to the British trade union congress, Matthew Woll, of the Photo-engravers' union, was elected without opposition. Mortimer Douoghue. president of the Montana State Federation of La bor, was elected fraternal delegate to the Canadian trades and labor con gress. The 1'J14 convention will be held iu Philadelphia, that city winning against Fort Worth by a vote of 10, 634 to 8.43U. CONTINUE ASSESSMENT. Miners Vote to Contribute to the Sup port of Strikers. The United Mine Workers have de cided by a vote of 120.4S1) for and 17, 21i against that the assessment of 50 cents a member each month shall be continued until the strikes in Colorado Vancouver island. West Virginia and elsewhere of the miners are brought to a successful termination. Assurance is given in an official notice in a recent issue of the United Mine Workers' Journal that the assessments will be discontinued as soon as the strikes mentioned are settled. The notice further states: "The ac tion of the membership of our great organization in voting to continue this assessment will have a splendid moral effect and will bring good cheer to the homes and hearts of the men. women and children engaged in this great in dustrial struggle in Colorado and else where. Your action is a splendid ex hibition of the loyalty which you owe to each other and will no doubt go a long way iu bringing about a speedy settlement." The assessment of 50 cents has been n effect about three months. e e ORGANIZED LABOR. As I look back over my forty years of experience as a trade unionist 1 can see many men that never acquired prominence in the trade union movement, men that might have swayed the rod of empire, who were crush ed by the wayside by the power of organized capital because they dared to protest against un just and unfair conditions. I can see that crushing process going on here and there in our country today, and if the depart ment of labor can do anything to wipe out that crushing process, that process of crushing the toil ers because tliey dare to protest, the department of labor will uti lize everything in its power to prevent it—Secretary of Labor W. B. Wilson. Bricklayers Establish Pension. An old age pension V w s a v w and disability fund will be inaugurated by the Brick layers. Masons and Plasterers' Inter national Union of America in 1014. The fund 'will be maintained by a weekly assessment of 2"» cents on each member. Each person entitled to draw upon the fund will receive $6 week, the payments to be made monthly. Pensions will be allowed any mem ber who has reached the age of sixty years and has been in good standing In the union for twenty years if he is unable to obtain sustaining employ ment and to any member who has been in good standing for ten years and has become Incapacitated by aed dent or IU bealtb. a FOUNDED ON FREEDOM. The trade union movement of America is founded upon funda mental principles of human free dom and liberty. Whatever new problems have arisen, whatever complications of old problems or of new and old problems, they have always been solved by some method that harmonized with the purposes of the move ment—the effort to insure to each individual the right to self development, independence and freedom. Like some master piece of music is this movement of the toilers, though there are difference and variety, though there are changing mood and feeling to interpret the develop ing theme, yet through it all per vading is an exquisite tone of harmony that gives the sense of unity and purposefulness. Though the movement may be slow with clear ringing over tones. now rapid with crashing chords, now throbbing with the sob of the in'nor. yet it ever re turns to the common chord, "the major of this life,"—A. F. of L. Report. A QUESTION OF WAGES. Unskilled Toiler Not Paid Enough to Support a Family. Not very much evidence is required to show that tlie portion of the un skilled worker is not enviable. In dealing with the question of wages the report on the survey of Newburgh, N. Y.. made by the Sage foundation, is to the effect that wages in the skilled trades are generally good. One is not surprised to learn, however, that "the situation with regard to the unskilled workers naturally Is much less favor able." From a detailed classification, in fact, it was found that of 227 adult workers, mostly unskilled. 50 per cent received less than $10 a week and 75 per cent less than $12. Considering "only the unskilled, it was shown that 07 per cent were paid less than $10 a week. The report continues: "Studies of family budgets in Buffa lo and New York city in recent years have revealed the fact that it takes from $7"0 to $Sr0 a year to supply an Average family of five with the bare necessities of decent living. Even as burning that the cost of living in New burgh is one eighth less—an allowance that seems ample—it is still clear that many workers and most unskilled la borers. as is the case elsewhere, get less than enough to support an aver age sized family in decency. Such a condition leads to at least one of three results. Either the family is not sup plied with the necessities of life and its members become moral or physical wrecks, sooner or later dependent on the public for support or the mother goes to work, thus breaking up the unity of home life, aud the children as soon as possible follow suit, crip pling their opportunities or else the family, in every emergency, falls back on charity for relief, and the public is called upon to make up the discrep ancy between living and less than liv ing wages." MINE WORKERS INDICTED. National Officers Charged With Viola tion of Sherman Law. The federal grand jury which has been investigating the southern Colo rado coal strike at Pueblo. Colo., re turned twenty-five indictments against the national officers of the United Mine Workers of America and others charging attempts to obtain a monop oly of labor. Those against whom this particular charge Is lodged are: J. P. White, president of the United Mine .Workers of America Frank Hayes, vice president, and William Green, secretary-treasurer. Conspiracy in restraint of interstate commerce in violation of the federal anti-trust law is charged In indict ments against these officials of the la bor organization: Frank J. Hayes, vice president John Lawson of the executive board Adolph Germer. organizer Robert Uhlrich president of the Trinidad local A. McGary. organizer: James Morgan Charles Battley and Edward Wallace editor of a labor paper at Trinidad. Five other indictments charge va rious cilners with having committed depredations against property where coal for interstate shipment was stored. Laboratory For Study of Labor. Under the auspices of the Kaiser Wilhelm society a laboratory for the study of the physiology and psychol ogy of labor will be founded. It is to be known as "Kaiser Wilhelm Insti tute For Physiology of Labor" and will receive an annual subsidy of $5, 000 from the society. Out of Prussian state funds $3,500 more will be added These small means will, of course, re strict the work of the uew institute at least in the beginning. The pro gram to be followed has been prepared by the director. Professor Rubner. It is intended to investigate and deter mine scientifically what influence exerted upon laborer and labor by such factors as quantity and quality of food, various special diets, meal hours, amount of work, fatigue, famil iarity with the work at hand, etc. Union Men Win Victory. The Union Labor party won a big victory in San Francisco's municipal election. Five of its eight candidates for supervisor, also its candidates for police Judge and tax collector, were swept into office by decisive majori ties. S 5 5 K V *f HITLER l'OUNT\ €W fifteen HAMILTON, OHIO, FRIDAY. DECEMBER 12, 1913. LABI LAWS Big Grist of Protective Measures Passed In 1913. LONG STEP FORWARD. Minimum Wage and Workmen's Com pensation Legislation Enacted In Several States—One Day of Rest In Seven Movement Makes Advance. All of the labor laws passed by con gress and by state legislatures during 1913 are described in a comprehensive and timely bulletin just Issued from its New York headquarters by the American Association For Labor Leg islation. "Of special significance in the labor legislation of this year," says the secretary. Dr. John B. Andrews, are laws in five states—California. Massachusetts, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania—extending the commis sion form of factory law administra tion as adopted in Wisconsin two years ago Eight states—California. Colo rado, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon, Washington. Wisconsin and Utah have this year followed the example of Massachusetts in passing minimum wage laws. More stringent laws re quiring the notification of industrial accidents and diseases and the enact ment of workmen's compensation measures by seven additional states Connecticut, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebras ka, Oregon, Texas and West Virginia are also of first importance. Of more than ordinary significance, too. in state legislation are laws providing for one day of rest in seven and laws for the prevention of lead poisoning and oth er occupational diseases. Federal la bor legislation is uoticeably increas ing In volume, and congress this year remodeled the law for conciliation in railway disputes and also created the department of labor." Several hun dred labor bills were introduced this year in congress alone, while the state legislatures ground out their full share of the annual grist. During the year twelve states pass ed new or strengthened old laws re quiring the reporting of accidents on railways and in mines and factories. Four new states required physicians to report the most common occupa tional diseases, and New York and Connecticut extended their laws to in clude brass and wood alcohol poison ing. Laws requiring sanitation, dust and fume removal-and wtrstring ftrrltl-' ties in factories were widely adopted and three great lead using states Missouri. Ohio and Pennsylvania—en acted scientific provisions for prote tion against trade diseases, particu larly lend poisoning. Safety require ments for mint were made more stringent in -fates, while twen ty-8ix states demanded greater safety for railroad employees. Impressed by the successful opera tion of the Wisconsin Industrial com mission established in 1011. Ohio Massachusetts. California. New York and Pennsylvania this year reorganiz ed their labor departments more 01 less upon i! plan, the central idea of which is 11 the legislature broadly lavs down the standards and the com mission supplies the details through administrative orders Legislation directly affecting child labor was enacted in thirty-one states Shorter hours, a higher minimum age and prohibition of night work are the main tendencies. Five states re quired the compulsory attendance at continuation schools of all minors em ployed by virtue or employment cer tificates. Connecticut, Iowa, Minnesota, Ne braska, Oregon, Texas and West Vir ginia joined the fifteen states which previously provided compensation for injured workmen, making twenty-two suites, or nearly half of those in the Union, which have adopted this type of legislation within three years. By a liberal Interpretation of their com pensation laws .Massachusetts and Michigan are at present paying limit ed benefits to the victims of industrial diseases also. A bill to supersede the present inadequate compensation law for federal employees disabled by ac cident or disease was introduced in congress by Senator Kern, but has not yet been acted on. Ohio and Texas are this year added to the twenty-four states and the fed eral government, which have limited hours on public work to eight a day Declaring that longer work tends to prevent the worker from acquiring the intelligence necessary to make him a useful citizen. Oregon limited factory hours to ten a day. and several other states restricted hours In peculiarly hazardous callings. Laws demanding one day's rest tn seven for industrial workers were adopted In Massachu setts and New York. Three states provided for free em ployment offices, while five states took action toward remedying the abuses frequently connected with private em ployment agencies. Illinois appoint ed a commission to study the subject. The experimental Massachusetts minimum wage law of 1012. applying to women and children, was followed this year by similar action in eight more states In Colorado, Minnesota Nebraska and Washington the mini mum wage commissions may fix also standards of working conditions, while in California, Oregon and Wisconsin they have additional authority over hours. Utah established minimum wage rates in the law Itself. Arizona and Colorado established an eight hour day for women. Montana and Idaho a nine hour day and Delaware and Texas a ten hour day, while night work was prohibited or limited in sev eral states, including New York, Ne braska and Pennsylvania. eMHMnN*i«!!»im• rf. .:v. ^nr-W^r-*'. rv*: ../ e^ THE HUMAN FACTOR. Organized labor believes that true scientific management is that which reduces the cost of production by eliminating use less labor, which improves the facilities for doing work by sur rounding the workmen with good light, pure air. sanitary conditions and safeguarding ma chinery. It is a system of man agement under which care will be taken to prevent workmen from overstrain as well as to provide that their output shall reach an adequate standard and which will afford ample oppor tunity for the fullest develop ment of mechanical and manual skill on the part of all work men. It is a system under which terms and conditions of employment will be governed by agreements entered into by employers and their workmen as a collective body. And, final ly, it is a form of management which will never allow quality to be sacrificed for quantity nor meu. women and children to be classified with machines. The equity right of human flesh and blood must be recognized by any system that would endure. -J. P. Frey. COMPENSATION PUZZLES. Difficulties That the Massachusetts! Board Is Trying to Solve. Because workmen's compensation laws are new in this country it is not surprising that some defects have been found in them. Illinois fouud it ad visable to amend the law this suite I somewhat at the last session of the I legislature in order to make the act more workable. So it is not surprisim that a tangle has been encountered in the administration of the Massachu setts compensation act. This is dis cussed by a writer in the Dodge Idea: "The industrial accident board of Massachusetts, which has iu charge I the matter of payments under the workmen's compensation act, is at tempting to adjust difficulties which have arisen In the operatiou of the law as to the remuneration of doctors and surgeons for services rendered in connection with industrial accidents The question is considered one of much Importance to owuers. Under the act they must pay surgeons' aud hospital for the fourteeu days following an accident. After that pe riod they begin to pay compensation based upon the previous earnings of the injured person, but cease to pay for care. In something over S3 per cent of the accidents the workman was incapacitated for less than the four teen days. In fact, the average cost to the employer is and probably will be less for actual compensation than for the surgical and hospital treat ment. "Physicians and hospitals are nat urally quite unwilling to consider this class of patients as eligible to the charity list. The insurance companies agree that the stfind wholly a inst one. "The industrial accident hoard cently Invited a number of represeuta tlve physicians to meet with the mem-| bers in conference. The result was a frank discussion of these conditions and the appointment of a strong com mittee of physicians, headed by Dr. Frederick Cotton, a prominent Bos ton practitioner, which proposes to in vestigate the whole subject "The Massachusetts law Mobilized Woman's Labor. Warning sent out by the YoungI Women's Christian association of San Francisco that the number of youngl women flocking to that city in expec-| tation of employment through or the Panama exposition has become| alarmingly In excess of the demand interesting mainly as an evidence o: the newly developed mobility of worn an's labor. It Is. however, a novelty to find women setting forth from hom to journey thousands of miles acros the continent on a bare hope of get ting employment at better wages tha. at home. Whatever good or evil there may hi in this acquired ease of mobilization among women workers is a necessary accompaniment of the economic emai clpation of women which is so distil) guisliing a feature of recent industry life. The young girl of today does nc stay at home and wait for a man make a home and send for her.—New York World. Miners For Shorter Day. Resolutions were passed at the inter national miners' congress in favor of a maximum working day of eight hours for all miners, of an obligatory rest of sixteen hours between shifts and of a maximum day of six hours for those who work in hot or wet places. v i Wealth of Detail. Former Covornor Proctor Knott of Kentucky used to tell a story of a na tive who appeared as a witness in*a mountain murder trial where Knott was an attorney. The mountaineer took the stand, chewing tobacco, and gave his name, his age and his place of residence. Then one of the lawyers asked him to describe his first meeting with a certain person who figured in the case. "Well." drawled the native, "he rid through our place a-straddle of a dun colored critter a-blowin' of a fox hunt in' horn and a-wearin' of a bearskin overcoat, and hit was hot weather. I axed him if the critter he were a-ridin' were a geldin' or a 'riginal. which he 'lowed it were and driv on."—Saturday Evening Post. Musical .Tones In Architecture. It has long been believed that each of the mammoth buildings of the world will vibrate in response to some special musical tone. Architects be lieve they have found the tones for such i liio i.. -iurc^ ].• cathe dral at "i»: s -. Noire Inline iu Par if and St. Pant's tn London. Certainly it is true that each of these buildings re turns to the ear of the listener that one tone mn ii-ified »h- i i i i 4 provi. that during the first two weeks alter an injury the liability insurance com pany—either the one established by the state or one of the private compa nies—has the right to elect by what doctor and at what hospital the pa tient shall be treated. The industrial accident board has let down the bars. In co-operation with the private com panies and against their better judg ment, apparently, the injured man is now permitted to select his own phy sician. The result in mauy cases has been such as to demand action. Where the insurance people protest against bills they consider exorbitant the in dustrial accident board passes judg ment. Fees are limited to $5 a visit. The aim has been to have Injured men and women seek their family physi cians, who would charge the same fee as if the cases were wholly In private practice." 330 East 5th St. ^w^yr^ y^TT 1 The hted to a surpri^iuj extent n rollary statement that this keynote, it sound ed long enough and with sufficient force, would bring disaster has never been proved.—Christian Ilerald. Meet him at ifjolzheiws j. 2: less 4. 1# Cor. Front and Merchants' Dinner A. A A. JL. -A- A. A A A -A- A Hiffh Served every Dav i Lunch Counter Connected p^y-^^r '^1 1 »*, *. C* tK **i *, [1 «£t TRADE UNION BRIEFS. Textile workers of Fall River are igitatlng for an Increase of wages. The work of organizing the 45.000 Jewelry workers in the United States will be pushed this winter. The Labor temple In New York city has established an employment league to provide jobs for the jobless. Several Philadelphia employers of labor ii.iv. i..-en convicted of employ ing s 1 under sixteen years of age. Efforts k re being made by the Cen tral Labor union at Akron. O., to se cure sufficient funds for the erection of a labor temple. In the Marshes. "What makes you stand on one foot and move your shoulders in that way?" asked the snipe. n-v'.ied the crane, "there's no i• ii i u i* •, learning to sing, so I'm piwti'-ii-.• t., -.p if a classic s: i tiiuDi£ Utdlers in Dry Goods, Carpets, Cloaks, €tueenswar« Millinery. House Furnishings tToss-Holbrock Stamps with all Onsh Pr?rehn?er:. Sts TRY The H.H.Jones Service Disinfactors Used by all the leading Cafes and Business Houses in the city No Bad Odors and Perfect San itation at All Times I I I I Just Bear In Mind The Ohio Union Bottled Beer When you want a good Beer, all who have drank it are delighted. Nothing but Hops and Malt of Quality are used in making our Zunt=Heit, Special Brew and Tannhauser *5old by all Leading Cafes in Hamilton Ohio Union Brewing Co. Cincinnati, Ohio READ THE PRESS K-l As*- ,1 $1.00 PEE YEAB Matrimony! :iian vli.i-.- vitv makes often to limit burglars !i" is going to let her get a arrv a night watchman. i him get 4hat he divorce a: 'V'ashin. res rm Co. Lunch A CINCINNATI, OHIO li 1