The Werners of late seem to be having a streak of hard luck in their attempt to foist their encyclopedias onto the reading public. Some weeks ago a suit was filed in the United States circuit court against this union-hating concern by the Encyclopedia Britannica Company of Chicago, alleging violation of trade mark, and asking a perpetual injunction and damages. The Werner concern is charged with illegally using the names, "Encyclopedia Britannica, Latest Edition," "Encyclopedia Britannica, New Twentieth Century Edition," "Encyclopedia Britannica with Revised American Supplement," and the "New Werner Edition Encyclopedia Britannica." The Chicago company alleges that the Werner company has continued to issue several thousand of the sets of the foregoing volumes in utter defiance of an injunction secured some months ago. Verily, the lot of a "rat" publisher is not an enviable one.

Oppose Convict Printing.

Several bills have been introduced at the present session of the Missouri legislature providing that a state printing plant shall be established in the Jefferson City penitentiary, and that all public printing shall be done by convict labor. Of course, such a move is receiving, and will continue to receive, the disapproval of all members and sympathizers of organized labor. The allied printing trades council of the Missouri capital inaugurated the fight against this proposition, and this body requests all local unions of the state to see to it that the lawmakers oppose all measures tending to bring the workers of the printing industry into competition with convict labor. The press is almost solid in its opposition to the proposed law, the Kansas City Journal declaring that the printers of the state are justified in their opposition to the efforts to bring convicts into competition with them through the establishment of a state printery. Their efforts to defeat such a system deserve to succeed. The state long ago took its place among the progressive and enlightened commonwealths of the union. It can not afford to take any backward steps for the sake of reducing necessary expenses.

Free labor has enough obstacles to surmount without being compelled to compete with convicts kept in an institution which the free workingmen help to sustain with their taxes.

French Printers Strike.

A few weeks ago it was reported that the linotypers in the French capital had gone on strike for an increased wage, and, judging by the absence of any news of a general settlement, it is presumed the struggle is still on. A referendum vote of the operators was taken previous to the strike, 452 members of the Syndical Chamber of Parisian Frinters-the official title of their organization-taking part in the proceedings. The basis of the union's demands was approximately $2.40 per day and $2.70 per night for seven hours' work. Previous to the strike declaration two of the newspapers locked out their men and filled their positions with women. At this juncture the union called the attention of the government factory inspector to the matter, as the action was in violation of the French law relating to the employment of women at night, and the strikebreaking attempt of the publishers was forestalled. It will be noticed that in at least one respect the French trade unionist has the advantage of his American fellow workman.

The Gompers - Mitchell - Morrison Defense Fund.

A circular has been issued by the executive council of the American Federation of Labor, which says, in part:

You know that Samuel Gompers, John Mitchell and Frank Morrison have been declared guilty of violating an injunction issued by the supreme court of the District of Columbia, and that Justice Wright, of that court, has sentenced them to terms of imprisonment of twelve, nine, and six months, respectively. Pending an appeal they are out on bail. The original injunction issued on the application of the Buck's Stove and Range Company has been appealed to the court of appeals of the District of Columbia, and we have authorized our attorneys also to take an appeal against Justice Wright's decision.

There are now two appeals pending. One upon the original injunction and the other from Justice Wright's decision. Should an adverse decision be reached in either, or both appeals, it will be essen

tial to make further appeals to the supreme court of the United States. Surely no member of organized labor or other fair-minded man can rest content unless the principles involved in these cases are determined by the highest tribunal in our land. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. In order to permit of proper defense of liberty and freedom as guaranteed to all citizens, WE APPEAL TO ALL LABOR AND TO ALL FRIENDS, to make financial contributions for legal defense in these cases before the courts. President Gompers and his col leagues are on trial for your rights co-equally with their own, and every liberty-loving citizen in or out of the ranks of labor should consider this situation and appeal as their own personal concern, and response should be made accordingly.

Upon the injunction abuse the Denver convention of the American Federation of Labor declared "That we will exercise all the rights and privileges guaranteed to us by the constitution and laws of our country, and insist that it is our duty to defend ourselves at all hazards." This appeal for funds is issued in accordance with that declaration.

Send all contributions to Frank Morrison, secretary of the American Federation of Labor, 423 G street northwest, Washington, D. C., who will acknowledge and receipt for the same and make due accounting thereof.

This appeal for funds by the federation officials has been endorsed by the executive council of the International Typographical Union, and all subordinate unions were so notified in a circular mailed February 19. Each local is requested to render such assistance to this cause as its financial condition will permit. It is desired that the call for funds be met with a prompt and liberal response.

Respect for the Federation Chief.

Samuel Gompers gained a distinction on his fifty-ninth birthday, January 27, that probably has never before been accorded to one prominent in the organized labor movement. The state senate of North Carolina, as a mark of respect to the federation's chief, adjourned its afternoon session on that day, at the request of the Raleigh trade unions. This action is all the more surprising in view of the fact that it can not be said that that state is "dominated by the labor trust." A press dispatch said at the time that "some of the senators expressed dissatisfaction when they realized what had been done, while others approved the unprecedented action of so honoring a man still living and who is not admired by all in this region." The labor

crushing child labor advocates who operate the cotton mills in that state are among those who do not "admire" the "grand old man of labor."

Boom in Australian Printing.

Despite the pessimistic cry of a disgruntled individual here and there, that "there is no money in printing," says a recent issue of the Australasian Typographical Journal, there are more signs of progress in the printing industry in the Antipodes than in any other industry. It is declared that in all the principal cities of Australia large buildings are being erected for printers and new plants installed. In both Sydney and Melbourne progress made by printing houses during the last several years has been stupendous. In the former city firms that employed but few workmen ten years ago have had to erect gigantic premises, and their employes may now be counted in hundreds, while no less than a dozen new concerns have come into being. The same story can be told of Melbourne. Printers who were working for a wage of two or three pounds a week a decade since now control printeries, luxuriate in motor cars, and do the "grand tour" around the world by way of change. Figures that are official indicate that more capital is invested and more people are employed in printing than in any other manufacturing industry in Australasia. This state of affairs speaks volumes for the intelligence of the commonwealth.

THE JOURNAL is in receipt of an article taken from the Daily Argosy, of Georgetown, British Guiana, descriptive of the impressive dedicatory exercises which took place when the first charter from the International Typographical Union ever implanted in a jurisdiction on the South American continent was received and Typographical Union No. 666 duly instituted. The hall was decorated with flags, and the charter, handsomely framed, was hung over the platform, around it being draped the stars and stripes of the United States, which was borrowed for the occasion from the American consul in Demarara.

The New Orleans Case.

On March 29, 1908, S. T. Stevenson, financial secretary of New Orleans Typographical Union No. 17, disappeared, leaving a shortage in the treasury of that organization which subsequent investigations proved to be approximately $6,200. Stevenson returned to New Orleans in July, surrendered to the authorities, and, after a preliminary hearing, was held under bond of $6,000 on the charge of embezzlement. When Stevenson disappeared expert accountants were engaged to examine the books of No. 17, who reported to President Hudspeth, under date of May 12, 1908, that $2,556.43 was owing to the International Typographical Union on March 1, 1908, and this amount was immediately forwarded to headquar

ters.

Later, at the June meeting of Typographical Union No. 17, a committee composed of John L. Ebaugh (chairman), G. G. Norris and W. F. Scheyd, was appointed to investigate and report on the expenditures of the union during the period between January 3, 1905, and June 13, 1908. This committee reported at the September (1908) meeting of the union, a recapitulation. showing that during the period covered the general expenses were $16,815.70; salary of Hudspeth, $3,660.95; paid into the International treasury, $37,642.97; local relief, $3,308; local petty expense, $4,312.44; local organization work, $2,431; strike benefits, $609.05; local pensions, $462; Hudspeth's campaign committee for conducting affairs during his race for the presidency of the International Typographical Union, $2,186.85. At the June (1908) meeting of No. 17 Hudspeth was suspended from office, and at the September meeting he was expelled from the organization on the charge of malfeasance in office and misappropriating union funds. Stevenson had previously been expelled at the August meeting.

At the urgent request of New Orleans Union for an International representative to go to that city and make a thorough investigation of affairs, the International executive council commissioned Organizer T. C. Parsons to take charge of the work. After laboring diligently at the task for

eight weeks, during which time many members of No. 17 were examined as to any knowledge of the manner in which the affairs of the union had been conducted under the régime of Hudspeth and Stevenson, Mr. Parsons submitted a voluminous report to the executive council under date of December 19, 1908. An extract from this report follows:

It appears from correspondence between the International and local officers that the council demanded the return of $3,125 which a local finance investigating committee, reporting to the union August 5, 1908, claimed "was obtained under false pretenses, through receipted strike requisitions" and falsified special assistance reports, and my presence here is in response to the following resolution, passed by No. 17 at its regular meeting in October:

Resolved, That owing to the depleted condition of our treasury and the chaotic condition prevailing in our ranks, No. 17 feels itself unable to see its way to pay the alleged indebtedness to the International Union and requests the International Typographical Union to send a representative down here to aid us in straightening out our affairs.

Upon arriving here I found the union in a thoroughly demoralized condition, with its former secretary, S. T. Stevenson, in jail awaiting trial on the charge of embezzling $6,207.86, and its former president, H. S. Hudspeth, expelled on charges of malfeasance in office and misappropriating union funds. The feeling among the membership is much more pronounced against Hudspeth than Stevenson, and the president stands instructed, by resolution of the union, to prefer criminal charges against him as soon as sufficient evidence can be secured to insure conviction.

When Stevenson fled the city on March 29, 1908, the union employed a firm of expert accountants to investigate his books. Hudspeth was then president and directed the experts as to the extent of the investigation desired, confining their operations to the collections only, which embraced all the assessments on account of the eight-hour fight, as well as the local dues, and covered the three years during which Stevenson acted as secretary. These experts discovered the shortage above mentioned, of which $2.556.43 was found to be due the International Typographical Union, which was remitted to the International in May of this year.

The experts assured me that they had fully cov ered the defalcations on account of the collections, and I have therefore confined my investigation largely to the expenditures during the period when money was being obtained from the International Typographical Union to conduct the eight-hour fight here-from January 1, 1906, to July 6, 1907. All of the money obtained from the International Typographical Union during that time-$10,220.85-was deposited to the credit of No. 17's general fund and warrants were issued against its expenditure, these warrants being

signed by Hudspeth and Stevenson as president and secretary, respectively, the checks covering same being signed by the treasurer.

It is the custom in this union to carry a separate cash book for petty expenses and to draw one warrant covering all of the petty expenses at the close of the month. These expenses normally range around $20 per month. For the twenty

seven months from January 1, 1906, to March 31, 1908, they averaged $146, being frequently over $200 a month at a time when there was no campaign against the non-union houses and when there was no apparent cause for the expenditure of any sums of a petty nature other than those necessitated in normal times.

It has been very difficult for me to determine what part of the expenditures charged to petty should be borne by the International Typograph ical Union, as the petty cash book was missing when a temporary secretary was appointed five days after Stevenson left the city, and it has never been found. Hudspeth had charge of the office until the appointment of the temporary secretary, and claims the book was missing when he assumed charge. When Stevenson returned to the city in July he expressed surprise to members of No. 17 when informed of the book's disappearance and said that he left all of the books intact.

The revelations in regard to the petty charges called into question the legitimacy of the other expenditures, and it was deemed advisable to hold a public examination of all the present officers of the union, the members of the executive, finance, auditing and label committees during the period covered, together with those who were carried on the strike and special assistance reports sent the International Typographical Union by Hudspeth and Stevenson, and all others who were credited with receiving money for any purpose.

Prior to the public examination I encountered a very stubborn contention on the part of many that Hudspeth acted as the "business agent" of the International Typographical Union in the conduct of the strike here, being designated as such by the president of the International Typographical Union, and that the International was consequently responsible for his acts. In order to clear that matter up, and to get the benefit of whatever other information they possessed, the members of the executive committee were called first. The following resolution, passed by the union at its regular meeting in July, 1905, was read to them and they were asked if they remembered its adop tion:

Resolved, That the executive committee is hereby empowered to take such action as, in its judgment, will tend to unionize non-union offices of this city; that in the accomplishment of this object the executive committee is hereby empowered to pass upon qualifications for membership and to adopt such prudential measures as may, in its judgment, be essential to successfully place in operation in nonunion offices the scale of prices and shorter workday. That the executive committee may, if it considers necessary, delegate to the president of the union authority to suspend, temporarily, the operation of our rules and regulations as affecting non-union offices.

They replied in the affirmative, whereupon the

following resolution, passed by the executive committee in the same month, was read to them:

Whereas, The union did, at its regular monthly meeting, held Sunday, July 2, 1905, confer upon this committee full power to act in all matters relating to the eight-hour workday, allowing this committee the right to delegate all such powers to the president; therefore,

Resolved, That all powers and rights as above conferred are hereby delegated to the president.

They attested the genuineness of that action, after which they also recalled the passage of the following resolution, adopted by the committee November 30, 1905:

That the president cease working at the business and that he be paid the same as if actually working at the trade.

Neither of these resolutions was ever rescinded, and the union's sole responsibility for the conduct of its officers was thereafter acknowledged.

The executive committee, at that time elected by chapels, but since abolished, knew very little of what was going on, according to the testimony, leaving everything to Hudspeth. It was brought out that there was no strike of any consequence here, only two offices-one employing two men and the other six-being involved in January, 1906, though eight men were called out of a nonunion office of long standing September 1, 1906. Nearly all of the men from the three offices secured work within a few weeks, but their names were carried on the strike reports to the International Typographical Union for many months and money secured thereon. It was charged by some of those testifying that there was no occasion for a strike here at all, and that the one office of any consequence involved in January was deliberately drawn into the fight by the officers in order to get money from the International Typographical Union.

Some members of the executive committee stated that in the early part of 1907 there was a disposi tion manifested that Hudspeth should return to work, there being no apparent need for his further remaining on salary in charge of such a small strike, in which no activity was displayed, but when pressed on this point he said it was his desire to return to work and that he had so noti fied President Lynch, and he then read an alleged telegram to the union, purporting to come from President Lynch, which stated in substance, according to the testimony of J. J. Tucker, who was vice-president at the time and is now president: "Stay and do as I tell you or will get somebody else that will." After that time, the members of the committee stated, they thought Hudspeth was acting as the direct representative of the International Typographical Union, and he continued on salary until May 22, 1908. As far as I have been able to ascertain, no such telegram was ever received by Hudspeth, and he denied receiving it in his testimony before me, at which Secretary John N. Breen, of No. 17, was present.

When the men were called who were carried on the strike roll and special assistance reports sent the International Typographical Union by Hud

speth and Stevenson, it was discovered that the reports were absolute fakes. I have prepared a table, which will be designated as Table No. 1, covering the money received from the International Typographical Union, the money paid out according to the local books and the money paid out according to the reports sent the International Typographical Union, and an examination of this table will demonstrate the utter falsity of the reports and show that the fraud commenced with the first week of the strike. [This table covered a period between the week ending January 6, 1906, and the week ending July 6, 1907, known as the "strike period."]

The expenditures during this time, according to the books of Typographical Union No. 17, were as follows:

It will be observed that the International Typographical Union allowed No. 17 $10,220.85 on ac count of the eight-hour fight, and that according to the reports made out by Hudspeth and Stevenson (not taking into consideration the expendi tures other than strike benefits for the first two weeks, reports for which were not obtainable) there was expended $10,496.95-$276.10 more than they received-while the money actually spent, including all the enormous sums charged to petty expense, the greater portion of which was graft, pure and simple, amounts to only $7,683.65$2.537.20 less than they received. When it is remembered that all the money received was deposited in the general fund of the union, and that warrants on the treasurer were absolutely necessary for its withdrawal, it will be readily seen that the amounts which the books show to have been expended, as represented by the warrants, was what was withdrawn, and that, consequently, if all the expenditures were borne by the International Typographical Union, legitimate and illegitimate, there was in the treasury of No. 17 on July 6, 1907, the date when the International Typographical Union ceased sending money to

New Orleans, a surplus of $2,537.20 which belonged to the International absolutely.

Reference to the strike benefit columns will show that $553.05 was actually paid, while the reports show $1,975.50 to have been paid.

There was a label campaign committee of four men employed for six weeks in the early part of 1906, which number was then reduced to two men, who acted in the capacity of boosting the label for about twelve weeks longer, receiving $1,740.60, but no mention is made of them in the International Typographical Union reports, presumably because of fear of disapproval, as it ap pears from the correspondence that such employ. ment was later forbidden, and the council insisted that the person designated in the reports as the "business agent" should do that work. No name appears on the reports to reveal the identity of the "business agent," but it developed that Hudspeth styled himself as such from the time the executive committee put him on salary, though for what reason it is not clear, since it is unusual, if such a thing exists anywhere, for typographical unions to call any of their officials a business agent. The label committee ceased drawing salary in September, 1906, upon it being disapproved of by the council, but it is not of record that the "business agent" took up the work where the label committee left off, as suggested by the council. The $25 amounts in the label committee column were legitimately spent, though not on the label committee itself.

For printing it will be seen that $291.65 was spent according to the books, against reports to the International Typographical Union of $892.65 for printing and postage. No bills whatever for printing were paid from June 2, 1906, to July 6, 1907, but there are only two blanks in the printing column according to the weekly reports sent the International Typographical Union for the same period. Hudspeth and Stevenson made it appear to the council that a tremendous amount of work was being done in the interest of the label, whereas very little was done after the label committee ceased operations in September.

The report then mentions the disappearance of the petty cash book and tells of a strike on September 1, 1906, which "was more or less of a farce and occasioned very little expense, the men who came out getting employment in other offices within a short time, though some of the men were carried on the strike roll and money obtained on their names for ten months, or until the International Union ceased sending money to No. 17. *** There was

no strike committee, unless a few pickets employed for about a month could be called such, and nearly all of the $1,387.30 entered in the strike committee column is pure invention."

A list of members who were carried on