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By Richard P. Appleton These letters state that the secre tary wishes to gain a fairly accurate estimate of the situation and the pos sibilities of aid by each city before making official recommendations. He expressly stated that he does not ad vocate the initiation of measures simply to afford work for the unem ployed but he does advise that all de layed public work, and work that can just as well be begun now as later should be put under way. He antici pates serious unemployment in the near future. The letter is not in any sense con fidential, but is simply to allow Secretary Wilson the benefit of the combined attitudes of the mayors of Action By Mayors To Relieve Surplus Urged retary Wilson. Government Official Suggests Ifhat Public Works Be Un dertaken In View of Soldiers' Return. v Detroit, Mich.,—How seriously the present situation is viewed by the United States Department of Labor may be gathered from the fact that Secretary William B. Wilson has sent to the executives of all the larger cities of the country a personal letter asking their advice and information as to what public works can be imme diately begun to aid in taking up the surplus of labor. O U About Liberty Bonds. you find thai you can't old them, bring them here— e'll give you full face \aliie for them, in trade. A Special Lot of $25 $15 (JK You'll be surprised how much your money will \uy now—in fact, you'd hardly believe it, until you ome here to shop. The best of it is that every man's Suit or Overcoat, every Boys' or Child's Suit Overcoat, every shirt, hat, every piece of under wear in the house reduced. This and dozens of •ther items—in fact, just a few things like collars jewelry, etc., not reduced. 25 Coats Going at qj & 'A V LooK fop Real Winter During February Any Ladies' Winter Coat in Our House AT A REDUCTION OF conomy i\ By Sec the larger cities and to enable him to make his proposals with more or less exact knowledge of the possi bilities of each When Mr. Wilson does speak publicly on the situation, he should speak with authority. Detroit is facing the most serious economic crisis of its entire history. The authority for this statement is Chester M. Culver, general manager of the employers' association of Detroit. Mr. Culver declares that there were in the first week of the new year from 25,000 to 80,000 men out of employ ment and added that men are being laid off at the rate of at least 2,000 daily. "Unless the government gets down to business right away, and takes de finite and immediate action to settle the problems of American industries satisfactorily," says Mr. Culver, "this country faces one of the greatest crises in its history. "Detroit manufacturers are trying their best to keep employed every man for whom they can possibly find work, but there are thousands, prob ably 25,000 laid off now, and out of /vnn Our Regular Low Prices You know our prices are always cheaper and now with this big discount we don't see how you can afford to buy Winter Coats outside this store ii. jA 2.26 HIGH SI the 70,000 men who left Detroit for war service, probably 60,000 are still to come home. 'What will be done, then, unless the government wakes up to the crisis, is hard to imagine." "What to do about it" is the ques tion that at last is beginning to dis turb the sleep of the employers. But they don't know. They do not seem to have the slightest trace of a help ful idea. What shall we do with an army of 100,000 or possibly 200,000 unemployed? The best they can sug gest is that the government pay the full amount of all unfilled war con tracts, leaving to future determination the approval of them, the validity of some and the amount of just compen sation in cases where they are can celled or held to be invalid. Perhaps one of the really ominous things about the situation is the weakness of organized labor in Detroit The labor unions have by no means the strength they should have in the fourth city of the United States. The employers have successfully fought unionism in days past. One wonders whether soon they Will not regret their success. With a vast army of unemployed, the major portion of them unorganized thousands upon thousands of them of foreign birth and habits, will they be as easy to treat with as strongly or ganized and self-respecting union ranks? That question, too, is beginn ing to be asked. Fear of Bolshevism is coming to be the real anxiety by day and a nightmare in the dark hours. n I* P» Will h. Lebo Is President of The Musi Union. cians Installation of Officers And Fine Banquet Enjoyed By Members. At the meeting of the Musicians' Local Union No. 31, the officers for the year were installed. Those in stalled were: President, Prof. Will H. Lebo vice president, Frank Sulli van recording secretary, J. Edward Lehmkuhl financial secretary-treas urer, Edward Stephan sergeant at arms, Joseph Mick. The regular rou tine business was transacted, after which the members adjourned to the banquet room, where a feast, fit for the Gods, was found waiting. The spread had been prepared by that noted chef, Will Elzer. The menu was headed with baked ham, a la Elzer and everything that goes with such dish was there. To say that those present did justice to the feast is putting it mildly. Elzer was voted the best chef ever. There was much music and singing by the tooters and a general good time enjoyed by all The meeting was held in the musi cians' new headquarters at High street and Monument avenue. *5 I* Brewery Workers Walking The Streets. On last Saturday the Cincinnati Brewing Company, at one time one of the most prosperous industries in this city, notified all their employes that their services were no longer needed. This is the first blow to the city of Hamilton caused by the prohibition movement. Monday morn ing the employes of the brewery wandered through the streets look ing for a job. We hope that the lead ers of the prohibition movement will keep their promise and secure the men a job that will pay them as much as the jobs they were forced to leave In the near future more men will be idle because of the same movement that put these men out of employ ment. What will the drys do for these men? Old H. C? of L. Forced Women Into Factories Long Before We Entered War Washington,—The increased cost of living sent most Ohio women into the factories long before America entered the war, reports Miss Rachel Gallagher, of the United States em ployment service for Ohio. "Curiously enough," she says, "the item of shoe cost was the first thing that most of the women with whom I talked mentioned. They pointed out that the shoe bills of a family placed too much of a strain on their hus bands' income, so they went to work Miss Gallagher says that relatively few Ohio women took the place of men in industry during the war be cause the government's plan of sub stituting women was halted by the the ending of hostilities. "Daytonfurnished the only instance where any number of women not pre viously employed went to work. The amount and diversity of war work there created tremendous labor de mands. With the letting down of war work these women for the most part are ready to go back to thir homes." ore Y# M. C. Made luaCIQ Issues Statement In Answer To Charges Made Against It. Claim That Institution Made Money From Canteens And Gave No Free Supplies Re futed. Free distribution of canteen sup plies to American soldiers by the Y. M. C. A. to a value of $1,400,000, and loss on operation of post exchange overseas exclusive of the soldiers" stores in Great Britain amounting to $332,181, were announced yesterday by William Sloane, chairman of the National War Work Council of the Y. M. C. A., in a statement based on a cable message from E. C. Carter, chief "Y" secretary in Paris. This total of nearly $1,750,000," said Mr. Sloane, "which does not in clude the post exchange deficit for November and December, is the most emphatic answer that the Y. M. C. A. can make to the charges of pro fiting which have been made by the soldiers. In neither of the items which make up the total, however, does the magnitude of the "Y" free service appear. For instance, there is no mention of the free use of ath letic supplies, valued at $829,499.44, no mention of the entertainments provided or of the stationery on which millions of letters are written home. Some time ago the War Wdrk Council appropriated $600,000 for this item of stationery, estimating that the supply would last six months. The soldiers in the home camps wrote 14^089,305 letters on Red Triangle stationery in November alone. "The loss of $332,181 on canteen service up to October 31, 1918, does not take into account the vast cost of operating post exchanges. Elvery business man knows how his expenses are increased by the items of rental and clerk hire. These items have been contributed by the 'Y' to the operation of 1,500 post ex changes as a part of its programme of war service. In other words, en tirely aside from the cost of opera tion, the Y. C. A. conducted its canteen service at 4an actual loss in spite of the fact that our arrange ment with the army provided that this service should be conducted on a cost basis. The army has always made it plain to us that it preferred to have canteen service run on a cost basis, as it did not wish to have the soldier feel that he was being pauperized. "Referring again to the free dis tribution of canteen supplies by the 'Y,' Mr. Carter states that his fig ures are 'undoubtedly substantially below actual distribution. His totals include only the giving away of sweets and smokes and. hot drinks to men in the trenches, to prisoners of war returning from Germany and to soldiers who had not been paid for some time and were without money. "By actual figures he shows that the total value of supplies distrib uted free up to October 31 by the 'Y' was $532,110. I lis November es timate is $183,480. To this combined total will be added the very large ex pense entailed by the elaborate Y. C. A. Christmas programme. The War Work Council authorized the distribution to every fighting man overseas a gift that included two packages of cigarettes, a can of to bacco, a package of gum, five Christ mas cards and a bag of candy. Con sultation of our latest price list from overseas shows that these gifts could not have been assembled at a cost less than thirty cents a man, or $600,000. Transportation difficulties in spots delayed but did not prevent we believe, the achievement of this programme. The grand total is ob tained by estimating the Deeeber free distribution at $100,000, exclu sive of the cost of Christmas gifts. K Ki fe Use Detectives To Smash Unions, Says Washington,—In a speech in this city Joint Chairman Manly of the national war labor board said "there are little groups of irresponsible anarchistic employers all over the country" who are refusing to arbi trate labor disputes and who, in many instances, use detectives "to provoke violence by the use of dynamite and all sorts of other unfair methods." The speaker declared that the em ployment of these detectives is wide spread, and cited this instance of how these employers operate: "A little group of mill workers brought their complaints before the national war labor board, The em ployer's reply in that case was that they were a lot of I'. W. W.'s, anar chists, bolshevists, etc. We thought we would look into the matter, so we got access to the records of the department of justice and we found that "he leader of the so-called I. W W.'s, the bolshevists and anarchists was a detective in the pay of this very employer who made the charge against him." 4 DAD'S DELIGHT- 75.000 Men. To Secure Jobs If Plan of Labor Carries. Compulsory Universal Eight Hour Day Proposed. Weekly Pay Day Also To Be Demanded. Columbus, Ohio,—Passage of an eight-hour law to apply to all indus tries in Ohio by the Legislature will be urged by the State Federation of Labor, T. J. Donnelly, secretary an nounced Tuesday. Its enforcement, he said, would solve the problem of unemployment. A bill will be introduced in the Legislature in a few days. According to the figures of the United States Employment Service 70,000 men are out 'of work in seven cities of Ohio. By the operation of the eight-hour law employment can be given to at least 75,000 more men, Donnelly said. Work in Three Shifts. In some of the big steel mills and rubber plants, paper mills and other industries working 24 hours a day, workers are employed in two shifts of 12 hours each. By dividing the 24 hours into three shifts three men could be employed where two men now are used. Labor expects a big fight on this bill by the Manufacturers Associa tion. Backed by Government. The proposition of the eight-hour day as a nonemployment relief meas ure has the backing of the federal government and the American Fedei ation of Labor. It is contended production will be greatly increased by the shorter work day. Labor already has declared its in tention of fighting for more money for the schools of Ohio. Weekly pay days will be demand ed by labor in a bill to be introduced. Increase in Compensation An increase in the workmen's max imum compensation to $1G will be demanded. The high (cost suffrage, public works to prev. unemployment. The preamble de clares for th£ formation of American labor party. EH l^i DEMAND AN INCREASE. Pottsville. Pa.,—The United Brew ery workers are demanding an MAKE PATER YOUR BUY WORD Just Li 235 Court St. Bell 48 vW0RKERS of living has made the present $12 maximum far too low in the opinion of the labor men. The Legislature also will be asked to increase the scope of the com pensation law so as to include all employers. Vft *8 P6 New Labor Party Formed By Workers In New York City. New York,—A labor party was formed in this city at a conference attended by several hundred organ ized workers, representing approx imately 150 trade unions. The plai form includes President Wilson peace program as contained iti 14 points. Other declarations art-. The immediate restoration of fi speech, free press and free assent lage, the right to organize, a wc social insurance, democratic It's a proud moment for the boy when he gets his first pair $f Shoes built over the Army last—he appreciates them ail the more* because they are the same shape as Dad's. We have shoes to please the Little Chap—made stout and strong. Makes no difference how you brought the boy up, he's a boy, and full of ginger—he's going to romp and you might as well get him GOOD SHOES—it will be cheaper in the end. BOYS SHOES AT—$2.50, $2.75, $8.00, $3.50, $3.98 Gun Metal, Satin Calf, Naptfta Elk, Velour Calf. All sizes, and each shoe we sell is the best to be had for the money. E A E 421 S. SECOMD STREET. -A pair of these water ti^ht Shoes, only .$5.98 FOR YOUR NEXT SUIT SEE THE Up-fo-dafe Tailors $18.00 and u ALL GARMENTS UNION MADE David Webb FUNERAL DIRECTOR We carry a full line of Western Casket Co.'s Caskets Suits and Dresses. UNION. UNIOf^STAMP Factory V cont day of not more than eight hou: of education, encouragement of riculture, democratic control of 'in dustry and commerce, public owner ship of public utilities, "women in crease of $1 a day. The request :,'r the increase is the result of the bre .v ery companies advancing the price -f beer a barrel. An offer of $2 week was rejected by the workers. ply line air, so same will drain. 1 St E. M. SCHWARTZ, Mgr. THESE ARE UNION MADE GOODS iUQEfiil PLUMBING CO. 139 MARKET STREET Plumbing, Steam, Hot Water, Gas Fitting PROMPT SERVICE. GIVE US A TRIAL JOHN P. HENN-—Props.—JOHN A. HOLZBERGER Bell 428-1,—PHONES—Home 751-M Hora,i21 Named shoes are frequently made in Non-Union factories. Do NOT BUY ANfSHOE No matter what its name, unless it bean plain and readable impression of This UNION STAMP All shoes without the UNION STAMP are always Non-Union Do not accept any excuse for Absence of the UNION STAMP Boot and Shoe Workers' Union 2:46 Summer Street, Boston, Mass. John F. Tobin, Pres. Charles L. Baine, Sec.-Tress Spare is the name. Square is our aim All Suits and Pants made to your indiy^i$a,l order in a Union 100 HIGH STREET NOTICE TO Protect your water meters to prevent freezing. The stop an waste cock is located next to the meter, at which point the water can be shut off. After this is done, open faucet at sink to give your sup All repairs to frozen water meters, owned or rented, will be charged to consummers at cost. AVOID—WASTE, INCONVENIENCE, EXPENSE. Water Works Department A wU U.1 wi.« ton s Fruit Store II. J. THOMPSON, Supf Next door to Ather-