J. B. RENTON HEEL COMPANY - LYNN.

On June 12 a strike occurred in the factory of the J. B. Renton Heel Company of Lynn, occasioned by the hiring in of new hands to take the place of three boys or young men who had left work because of the refusal of their demand for a slight increase of wages. Some of the workmen very soon returned and new men were hired to fill some of the vacant places, but the Board was informed on the 13th that the employer was not anxious about filling all the places at once, in the expectation that other of the old employees would return. On or about the 27th it was learned that the vacant places had been filled by women, and then the pickets disappeared and to all appearance the strike was at an end.

BOSTON BREWERIES - BOSTON.

In the latter part of June, at the suggestion of the secretary of the Boston Brewers' Board of Trade, an interview was had with him and the president of that body, from which it appeared that the employers apprehended that a strike might occur at any moment by and in behalf of the engineers employed in the several breweries. The demands of the employees appear to have been for a less number of hours' work, and for other changes of which the Board has not been informed. Employers and workmen had met repeatedly, but with no satisfactory results as to agreement, and the employers, saying that they were determined not to yield any further, desired information as to the best way of invoking the services of the State Board. Notice had been received by them that a strike would occur on July 1, and prompt action was deemed necessary. The desired information as to method of procedure was given, and the officers of the

Board of Trade expressed their intention of filing an application as soon as they could confer with their associates of that Board. On the following day the secretary of the Board of Trade notified this Board that a settlement of the difficulties had been effected.

BAUSH & HARRIS MACHINE TOOL COMPANY – SPRINGFIELD.

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In July the managers of the Baush & Harris Machine Tool Company were informed by the agent of the union of which their moulders were members that certain patterns which had been sent from Providence were obnoxious to them because of a controversy between the Providence firm and the moulders' union. response to the complaint of the employees the Baush & Harris Machine Tool Company decided to stop their works in all departments. Accordingly the workmen were paid off on July 10, and were told that work would be suspended for an indefinite period.

On the following day agents of the union had an interview with the managers of the company, which it was agreed should be continued on the next day following. At this time the company expressed their readiness to meet the wishes of the workmen by excluding the objectionable work, but were surprised that

the union presented as an additional demand that the works should be run on the union plan, meaning that no man should be employed unless he could show a union card as evidence of good union standing. This was a new question, which the company would not then consider, and negotiations came to an end. The works were reopened, some of the moulders returned to work, but most of them found work elsewhere. The ban of the union was placed upon the establishment, accompanied by all the annoyance of a strike, although the beginning of hostilities was a lockout.

On July 18 the Board of its own motion went to Springfield and visited first the moulders' headquarters, with a view to arranging for a conference between the parties. It was learned there that the strikers were scattered in various directions, and that the conduct of the controversy, so far as the workmen were concerned, had been transferred from the local organization to the national executive board of the union. Apparently this shifting of responsibility simply increased the difficulty of doing anything to bring the parties together, because there was no member of the national executive board in Springfield, and no one who could be found