are the fathers and mothers of the nation tomorrow. If they are not safeguarded those who come after us will be inferior and will not be able to carry the burdens we are attempting to assume today. Many attempts have been made in this state and in other states to evade labor laws, but through the efforts of the American Federation of Labor and the organized workers. sufficient pressure has been brought to bear upon the public and upon those in power to prevent it. They fully understand that these laws are necessary for the welfare of the community as a whole. In this state we have insisted that every conscription board, local, state or district, must have on it a representative of organized labor, and I am pleased to say that in this state at the present time practically every conscription board has a member of organized labor on it. These are only a few of the things we as workers are interested in. You men will have many weighty problems to consider. Your chairman said the slogan of this convention is brevity and speed. I heard my friend Lawton say something sometime ago that fits this occasion. "I like to talk," and it is probably due to the fact, as Lawton explained, "that my father was an Irishman and my mother was a woman. I may want to talk at length because of these two important facts, but I will try to be brief.

"

The chief of police has extended the keys of the city jail and the director of law has extended the keys of the city. A couple of years ago I swiped a key of my own from the chief and he has never insisted upon its return, so if you cannot find the chief in your travels around the city and want to get some place, or want to get out of some place, I will be glad to use this key, as I understand they have not changed the locks. Now about the relief station, the coast guard station, and so on. have a police force here we consider equal to any police force in the United States. A large majority of them carry union cards in their pockets, and wherever you find a man who has a card in his pocket you invariably find a pretty good fellow.

We

In behalf of the local labor movement we extend to you a hearty and cordial welcome to Toledo. We hope you will have a splendid convention. You will be well entertained. Toledo is noted for its entertainment. If you need any assistance at any time, call upon us and we will be glad to respond.

Chairman Wellman: We have with us this morning the officer of an international union with headquarters in this city, Brother William Clark, president of the American Flint Glass Workers' Association, who will address you.

Address of President Clark.

Mr. Chairman, Delegates, Officers and Ladies attending the Convention of the United Association of Journevmen Plumbers, Gas and Steam Fitters: You have been welcomed by our city solicitor, by the chief of police, by your local representative, and by a representative of the central labor body. It happens that the organization of which I am president is the only national organization that has seen fit to select Toledo as its home and its headquarters, so it seems altogether fitting that you should have a few words of welcome from the international trade union movement, if I may be privileged to speak for it. In doing so I do not want you to think for a moment that I possess the ability of Mr. Lawton. When he concluded his remarks the question I propounded to him was. "What brand of fertilizer do you use?"-thinking I might secure some for myself.

We are happy to have you with us. From the experience I have had I know practically what will take place within the four walls of this building while you are in session. Having held every international office within the gift of the membership of the American Flint Glass Workers' Union, with the exception of vice-president, and having been in office for fifteen consecutive years, I think I am warranted in saying that I can forecast what will be said and done in your convention. Many of you delegates are here for the first time. Many times before going to a convention I have formed opinions about matters that were to come up

The

that I felt ought to be corrected, but after 1 had experience in the convention I felt it necessary to change my opinions. I have seen during all these years both local and national officials and organizers prejudged and misjudged. convention, whether annual or biennial, is the clearing house for all these matters in connection with your organization. I look upon this convention, therefore, as a clearing house for the United Association.

If there is one thing more than another I would emphasize it is the wisdom of remembering that there are two sides to every question, and in all your deliberations with each other and in your deliberations with the employers as well you must bear in mind that there is no question, no matter how small or how great, but has two sides to it, and the largest man in the trade union movement is the one who recognizes that as a fundamental principle upon which to build for those we have the honor to represent.

While I have lived in Toledo for fourteen years and while our office has been here during that time, I have never made the acquaintance of the chief of police and the other gentlemen who spoke to you this morning, for my duties take me away from the city a great deal; but I know the people of Toledo, and I know they welcome educational bodies, and they desire to treat the men and women who visit the city in such a way that nothing but good can be said of Toledo. We have had many conventions and many gatherings of various kinds in our city, but I look upon none of them as I look upon the conventions of the trade union movement. Last January special train after special train visited this city from all parts of the United States and Canada, bringing here the representatives of one of our largest industries, the Overland automobile works. Sometimes as high as twenty special trains a day brought the people here to deliberate. Deliberate for what? To see what they could do to advance the products of the Overland Automobile Company.

You meet here today under different circumstances. You have a different commodity to dispose of. You have the present, the future of the men who have reposed confidence in you in sending you here. You are to formulate plans, you are to guide their destiny, as it were, until your successors shall meet either to reverse those plans or enact new ones. You have in your hands the betterment of your members, you have in your hands the drafting of rules and regulations, mapping out the future of the plumbers and steam fitters of America, and I charge you now that this is a solemn duty, because you are not dealing with a commodity such as the others have dealt with-you are dealing with their life's blood, you are dealing with the happiness and the welfare of the men who have honored you, and I believe I can say. after looking into your faces, that you will carry out the work entrusted to you with intelligence and fidelity.

I am not a stranger to the representative men of your organization. I have known them for a number of years, and I know nothing that is not to their credit. At one time I was called upon to sit in judgment where your interests were affected. Before I did that others had sat in judgment on my case. At the time I have in mind the future of the American Flint Glass Workers' Union had already been placed in jeopardy. I refer now to jurisdictional disputes we had in the past. At the Rochester convention of the American Federation of Labor, five years ago, as an applicant for a seat in that convention, I was required to stand in waiting until the men chosen by the trade union movement of North America would decide whether the delegates of the American Flint Glass Workers' Union were eligible to a seat in that convention. I am pleased to say they decided in our favor, and immediately after that decision was rendered I sat as a juror in the case of the Plumbers and Steam Fitters before that body.

Having had years of experience in jurisdiction controversies, our organization having been held apart from the parent organization for nearly ten years. I watched with the greatest interest the debate that was carried on in the case in which I was called to sit as a juror. I remember well the speeches that were delivered

upon that occasion. I will not enumerate the names of all the men who took part in the discussion, but among them were Mangan, Kinsella, Gompers, Duncan, Leonard. These and numerous others debated the subject, but the able address and presentation of the subject from the plumbers' point of view by your chief executive upon that occasion was a masterpiece such as I have never heard in a convention of the American Federation of Labor. It resulted in that body deciding by about 5 to ì in favor of unity. As I glanced over the proceedings of the last convention of the American Federation of Labor as I came from my home this morning and compared the standing of your organization now with its standing five years ago, I decided that since unity has prevailed your voting membership in the trade union movement of North America has increased the very nice sum of 31 per cent, which speaks very highly of your accomplishment in that brief period of time.

I will not take up more of your time except to say that in the fourteen years I have been in Toledo this is the first time I have addressed a public meeting. When I received the invitation of your committee I was sick and confined to my bed in Atlantic City, where our wage conference was in session, but I resolved if it were at all possible I would attend this convention. I am glad that I have been able to attend and to say that not only are you welcomed by the officials of Toledo, by the trade union movement, but you are thrice welcomed by the international trade union movement. The organization I have the privilege to represent has its offices on the seventh floor of the Ohio building, just across the street from the headquarters, and if there is anything that is not furnished to you by the other representatives who have addressed you, come to the headquarters of the American Flint Glass Workers' Union and we will try to give it to you.

I trust your deliberations will be such that when you leave this hall unity will be the watchword; that when you leave you will continue in the service of the trade union movement of this country men who have reached such a high position as has been reached by your president. I hope that for years to come the trade union movement will be able to point with pride to such intellectual giants as John R. Alpine as a leader in the movement.

Chairman Wellman: We were to have had our beloved Governor Cox speak to us this morning, but at the last moment he begged to be relieved of that responsibility. Owing to the great stress of the times his attention has been completely monopolized and he has been compelled to cancel all his speaking engagements. The Ladies' Auxiliary of Local 50 wishes me to announce that they will hold a reception, or a get-together meeting, at 1:30 this afternoon at the Boody House. They will then inform the visitors of the other entertainments they have arranged. In behalf of Local No. 50 I desire to say that we had in mind the great conflict now going on and felt it would be sacrilegious to indulge in any kind of revelry, but we have arranged for something we think will please you. On Tuesday evening we will have a theater party and on Wednesday we will have a boat ride out into the lake. The steamer Greyhound has been chartered for that purpose. We felt that those of you who are from inland cities would enjoy this entertainment. On Thursday night there will be a smoker for the men at Moose Hall. It will be a very informal affair and no one will be called upon to make a speech.

I will now present your chief executive, John R. Alpine, and turn you over to his tender mercies.

Address of President Alpine.

of the international trade union movement, to the representative of the central labor body of Toledo, and to the Auxiliary and the members of Local No. 50, in behalf of the United Association, its delegates and visitors, I offer sincere thanks for the kindly references made

to us.

I have been quoted as saying that the slogan of this convention was to be brevity and speed, and there may arise a feeling that this convention will pay more attention to brevity and 'speed than may be consistent with a proper regard for the affairs of our organization. I am sure those delegates who have been present upon similar occasions will agree-and I hope those who have never been at our conventions before will be convinced-that, after all, while brevity and speed are essential, they are not sufficiently essential to warrant the disregarding of anything that may come before you as a deliberative body. The convention will be guided, in so far as the light is shown us, by the laws and the rulings of those great authorities Cushing and Roberts; but, may I say, that if I am reliably advised both of these gentlemen have long since passed into the great beyond and this convention, if I may use the vernacular, is composed of live ones who know better than Cushing or Roberts ever could know what they need. As a consequence, when those written laws set forth for the guidance of legislative bodies, speaking generally, fail to meet the occasion there need be no doubt but that this delegation will arise to the emergency, and while brevity will prevail it will not interfere with the proper legislation any more than it has in any other convention, for every delegate will have a right to say what is in his mind on every question.

I was very deeply impressed by the words of all the speakers, and I want to say to the worthy chief of police that had I had the opportunity I might have whispered a word of caution into his ear and into the ear of the city solicitor, too, before they invited men to call them on the telephone at any hour of the day or night, because I have been doing some little suffering in that regard. I want to warn you that you are in the presence of a delegation of men many of whom may not have any respect for your feelings and they may call you to the detriment of your peace of mind and that of your family-they are liable to accept your invitation. They are no respecters of persons, I can assure you of that.

But, speaking in a serious vein: I want to say to the gentlemen present that as representative men of labor we are gathered here to legislate for the welfare, not alone of our international union, but to contribute our mite in behalf of the organized labor movement generally, to the end that we may do our share in the creation of a better world, a better present-day life and a better life to follow. We are law-makers, not law-breakers, but should it so happen that because of the warmth of the reception given to us here we might, perchance, depart from that path we walk so unfalteringly all the other days of the year, and should we falter at some of these way-stations that have been alluded to, be not surprised, Mr. City Solicitor and Mr. Chief of Police, if we accept your invitation and ring your telephones.

This is the greatest convention of plumbers and steam fitters that the world has ever known. Rather a startling declaration, but true, nevertheless. It is the largest convention the United Association has ever held, and I repeat, the largest convention of men of the pipe fitting fraternity that the world has ever

seen.

May I intrude upon your patience long enough to tell you a little story, calculated to be humorous, and at the same time carrying with it a moral. I have a number, quite a large number, of failings, and one of them is that I am not particularly successful in telling a humorous story. When I undertake to be humorous people think I am serious and if I undertake to be serious they think I am joking. I am going to try to tell this so you will not misunderstand it.

Down in Mississippi an old southern darky was driving a pair of mules. His objective

point was the main turnpike, or highway. When he thought he was near the turnpike he met a native of the country, who was standing beside the road, and asked: "Can yo' all tell me how far it is to the Vicksburg turnpike?" The man said, "Keep right on going; it is just twelve miles from here." The darky drove on for about two hours, when he met another native and said, "Boss, I'm sho' 'nuf sorry to bother you, but could yo' all tell me how far it is to the Vicksburg turnpike?" This man said, "You are on the right track; it is just twelve miles from where you are." He drove for about two hours more, when he met another resident of the community and asked him the same question. This man said, "Keep right on going, nigger; it is just twelve miles from where you are standing." Three times he had been told that in the course of six hours. He looked dejected, but whipped up the mules and said, "Go 'long, Nancy; near as I can make out, we's just 'bout holdin' our own."

The point I want to make is that the United Association has been more than holding its own; it has been traveling onward and onward until the turnpike, the highway of success, is now within our reach because of organization. We have not been standing still.

While during the course of this convention there will be many debates of a warm and interesting character, when everything is said and done each man will, like the good fellow he is, acknowledge that that which was done was calculated for the best good of the organization of which he is a member. It is a convention, then, of good fellows, of good citizens, of good unionists, and of good men. These men will behave themselves at this convention. Many of the delegates have their wives with them, and to those wives I want to say that when they were at home their husbands were model delegates, they never called anybody, the chief of police, the city solicitor or your president, on the telephone at an ungodly hour, and I am sure while you are with them their conduct will be good. As to the rest of the delegates, I am sure nobody could ever point a finger at anything they have done that is not to their credit.

I want to assure you that the wives and children of the men of labor are doing their full share in producing the results that have been gained. The men of labor each day of the week, each week of the year, year in and year out, are making sacrifices in behalf of the cause they love and revere, and the women bear their share of the responsibilities and the burdens. Some unkind person has said once, or twice, that as refers to the women we could not get along with them and we could not get along without them. The latter part of that declaration I believe to be true-we cannot get along without them-and the labor movement needs their assistance and is receiving it in this field as in all other fields of human endeavor.

We have no apologies to make, no excuses to offer, we are doing our work in the economic field as well as assuming our share of the responsibilities on the field of battle, as has been so fittingly said by the representative of the Central Labor Union. I have frequently felt that this convention was, after all, not a convention of the United Association entirely, but a convention of a reunited association, carrying with it as it does many men who for so many years differed with us in opinion here now rubbing shoulders, bearing their share of the responsibilities, and with one objective point in view, that highway of success that can be gained only by the co-operation we are experiencing.

I am not going to take up a great deal more of your time. I want to interpret the feelings of the delegates to the gentlemen who have so kindly honored us with their presence here this morning. We thank them sincerely. We feel this will be the most important convention in our history and it will go down in our annals as the most important general meeting of our movement.

It may be interesting to know that the State of Ohio is the home of a brother who was one of the early pioneers advocating a half holiday on Saturday. He is with me today. It was a resolution introduced by Brother Wellman at

the Cleveland convention of the United Association in 1898 that inaugurated that movement.

I want to thank you all again, and I want to thank the delegates for their kindness to the visitors and to myself. I want to assure the city solicitor and the chief of police that we will be just as considerate of them as possible, but if the occasion requires leave the knocker on your front door in case the telephone might be disconnected.

I now declare this nineteenth convention of the United Association duly and properly open for business.

Mr. Wellman: Before the convention is officially open, Local 50 desires me to present to President Alpine this gavel, with their compliments and the hope that he will use it with his usual fairness, tempered with kindness, during the convention.

President Alpine: I accept it with thanks and assure you I will endeavor to wield it during the convention in a way that will cause no complaint.

Appointment of Committees.

President Alpine announced the appointment of the following committees:

Committee on Credentials-William Gunther, L. U. 250; James McKee, L. U. 27; J. J. Wiertz, L. U. 118.

Committee on Rules and Order-M. F. Garrett, L. U. 408; James Hatton, L. U. 55; Fred M. Quinlan, L. U. 19; Ed. O'Connor, L. U. 59; J. F. Erickson, L. U. 473; Axel Peterson, L. U. 34; Charles Gaffney, L. U. 349; Richard Walsh, L. U. 638; Carl A. Jansen, L. U. 3; D. J. Prendergast, L. U. 400.

Committee on Laws-John Coefield, California State Association; Thomas S. Kearney, L. U. 130; William J. Spencer, Potomac States Association; Joseph Glavin, L. U. 537; Robert Brown, L. U. 395.

Committee on State of Association-George H. Hillyard, L. U. 13; Bruce V. Rice, L. U. 78; A. B. Carver, L. U. 36; Thomas L. Cook, L. U. 597; E. J. Meehan, L. U. 669; Wm. F. Kilmartin, L. U. 86; John E. Mullane, L. U. 32; Michael Kelly, L. U. 61; H. P. Davis, L. U. 91.

Committee on Appeals and Grievances-John W. Bruce, L. U. 46; Fred Deignan, L. U. 463; Wm. L. Steele, L. U. 173; Norman C. Hill, L. U. 302; C. L. Egan, L. U. 539; Fred Holtje, L. U. 84; Wm. J. Bonner, L. U. 638; Phil. Fisher, L. U. 392; Walter Miner, L. U. 281; J. H. Roberts, L. U. 479.

Committee on Resolutions-Ed. W. Leonard, New York State Association; William Long, L. U. 15; Philip R. Pollock, L. U. 51; James Logan, L. U. 175; James Nugent, L. U. 639; Thomas Gannon, L. U. 24; Fred Scholl, L. U. 475; J. F. Silva, L. U. 343; William Groeniger, Ohio State Association; John Boland, L. U. 417.

Committee on Jurisdiction-Wm. R. MacMillan, L. U. 442; Ben Garland, L. U. 250; John A. Powers, L. U. 12; Joseph Ackerman, L. U. 49; John J. Monaghan, L. U. 35; Chet Common, L. U. 208; C. M. Hogan, L. U. 597; Palmer Johnston, L. U. 562; E. A. Maginn, L. U. 449; C. F. Harlane, L. U. 268.

Committee on Officers' Reports-T. A. Reardon, L. U. 590; Ben C. Reed, L. U. 94; Patrick Holland, L. U. 274; George Maguire, L. U. 463; Fred Baker, Illinois State Association.

Committee on Convention City-James T. Henehan, L. U. 8; John A. McDonald, L. U. 5; Elroy Beans, L. U. 50; H. W. Bobertz, L. U. 245; Wm. H. Fallon, L. U. 14; J. C. Vance, L. U. 487; Roderick McGarry, New England State Association; Joseph Buggy, L. U. 16; Jos. Carty, L. U. 636.

Committee on Convention Expense-Charles J. Grace, L. U. 7; John Kelly, L. U. 235; W. W. Petrie, L. U. 130; James Rea, Indiana State Association; Thos. P. O'Rourke, L. U. 438.

Committee on Press-A. D. Chandler, L. U. 146; P. W. Flanagan, L. U. 612; A. J. Shuford, L. U. 72; F. W. Welsh, L. U. 170; Robert Fox, L. U. 73.

President Alpine advised the committees that much depended upon the expedition with which they carried on their work, and urged them to organize at once and take up the resolutions assigned to them.

The following telegrams were read by the secretary:

"Arlington, Mass., August 12, 1917. "John R. Alpine, President United Association Plumbers and Steam Fitters. "Operative Plasterers' and Cement Finishers' International Association extends fraternal greetings and best wishes for a successful convention.

"ED. J. McGIVERN, President." "Providence, R. I., August 11, 1917. "Thomas E. Burke, Secretary-Treasurer, United Association Convention, Toledo, Ohio. "Send your next convention to Providence, the coolest and most attractive city in America, with Newport and Narragansett Pier as our neighbor cities, the home of the luscious clam. "THE OUTLET CO." Delegate Gunther, chairman of the Committee on Credentials, read a partial list of the names of delegates whose seating they recommended. He reported that a complete list would be presented later.

A motion was made and unanimously carried that the report be received and the delegates whose names were read be seated.

Chairman Gunther of the committee recommended that the time for receiving credentials expire at 5 o'clock Tuesday evening.

A motion was made and seconded to concur in the recommendation. Carried.

W. F. Smith, Local No. 50, was appointed by President Alpine to act as sergeant-at-arms.

Upon motion of Delegate Peterson, St. Paul, the convention was adjourned at 11:50, to reconvene at 2 o'clock p. m. of the same day.

MONDAY AFTERNOON SESSION. The convention was called to order at 2 o'clock p. m., Monday, August 13th, President Alpine presiding.

Absentees: Delegates Grimes (5), Grace (7), Henehan, Murphy (8), Hicks (10), Maher (57), Kennedy (137), O'Donnell (168), Prendergast (210), Herndon (218), Kelly (235), Prendergast (400), McDonald (393).

Sev

The roll was called by Delegate McKee. eral delegates suggested that a card system be adopted in order to save the time and expense of calling the roll. The chairman announced that the Committee on Rules and Order would make a recommendation in regard to the roll call.

Secretary Burke read the following telegrams: "Indianapolis, Ind., August 13, 1917. "John R. Alpine, Boody Hotel, Toledo, Ohio. "The officers and members of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America extend to the officers, delegates and friends attending your convention our fraternal greetings and express the hope your deliberations will redound to the benefit of the labor movement in general and your organization in particular.

"WM. L. HUTCHESON, President." "Providence, R. I., Aug. 13, 1917. "Thos. E. Burke, General Secretary United Association Plumbers and Steamfitters, Memorial Hall, Toledo, Ohio.

"Kindly convey the congratulations of the State of Rhode Island and also my own personal good wishes to the convention of the United Association of Plumbers and Steamfitters of the United States and Canada, now assembled in convention at Toledo, and say that we in Rhode Island hope that they will look with favor upon the holding of their next convention in the city of Providence. Providence has many attractions, good hotels, and is admirably adapted as a meeting place for a convention of this kind.

"R. LIVINGSTON BEECKMAN,
"Governor."

The telegrams were accepted and made part of the minutes of the convention. Report of General Executive Board and Officers. Vice-president Coefield presided during the reading of the report by President Alpine.

The report was referred to the Committee on Officers' Reports.

Printed copies containing the complete report were distributed to the delegates.

Delegate Ginley: Is it constitutional to have a roll call?

President Alpine: It has always been done. Delegate Ginley: It seems to me it would save money to have cards printed and not have a roll call. It is costing about $500 to call the

roll.

Delegate Block, Local 75: We have the roll call in our local meetings and it works very well. President Alpine: I have no doubt the Committee on Rules will recommend something of that kind.

Delegate Bushnell: We will save about $850 a day if we eliminate the roll call. I suggest that the secretary be instructed to provide attendance cards for the delegates to sign when they come in the hall. I would like to make that as a motion, if I am in order.

Delegate Peterson, Local 34: We have under advisement a proposition similar to the one suggested by Delegate Bushnell. The Committee on Rules will report this afternoon or tomorrow morning.

Delegate Bushnell: In that case, I will withdraw my motion.

Delegate Luca, Local 73: There is one thing I believe was omitted from the reports of the officers. Wages have increased to a certain extent I believe about 10 per cent in the last year, but the increase in the cost of living has gone up about 168 per cent. What have the officials of our organization and the officials of the American Federation of Labor done in regard to raising wages to take care of the increase in the cost of living? Nothing has been said about the profiteers who are dealing in foodstuffs.

President Alpine: Your officials, in common with the officials of the American Federation of Labor, have been actively engaged in an effort to bring about legislation that will offset the increased cost of living. I think every one will subscribe to the declaration that the cost of living has materially increased. The American Federation of Labor has been actively engaged in that work, as the records of the conventions of that body will show.

Secretary Burke: A resolution has been submitted by one of the delegates, I believe from Lancaster, Pa. Is there objection to its introduction? No objection being offered, the following resolution was read and referred to the Committee on Resolutions:

Resolution No. 110,

Whereas, The Central Labor Union of Lancaster, Pa., has taken up the fight of the Cigarmakers against the firm of Otto Eisenlohr & Bros., Inc., who locked their employes out without a moment's consideration, and,

Whereas, This is the biggest fight of the organized and unorganized cigarmakers in years, and against the most unscrupulous firm of labor skinners in the cigar business, and further Otto Eisenlohr & Bros., Inc., have nineteen factories in nineteen different towns in the State of Pennsylvania, and employ five thousand cigarmakers, and,

Whereas, This is a corporation capitalized at nine millions of dollars; therefore be it

Resolved, That we, the United Association of Plumbers and Steam Fitters of the United States and Canada in convention assembled, in accordance with the foregone resolution, hereby pledge our moral support to the Central Labor Union of Lancaster, Pa., to bring this firm to terms with their employes, and be it further

Resolved, That we recommend to all our affiliated unions the appointing of committee to visit the retailers in their respective localities to induce them to discontinue handling or selling the product of this firm, brand name "Cinco Cigar."

Vice-president Coefield, chairman of the Committee on Law, reported that a partial report of that committee was ready to submit to the convention.

Delegate Parr: Will the committee make its recommendations at this time?

Vice-president Coefield: Yes, that is what the committee was appointed for, to make recommendation of the proposed amendment to our laws.