otherwise, not expected of them or included in their duties, and it is such actions as these and such motives that impel them to make such sacrifices and perform such duties not ordinarily expected of them, that has placed our order where it is today.

But returning to the Journal, we find upon looking through our files that our predecessor, Brother F. L. Ronemus, now Past General President, but formerly editor and manager, Grand Secretary and Treasurer, acting Grand Chief Carman and a few other things too numerous to mention at the time to which we refer, in one of his editorials in the issue of the Journal just prior to the eighth bi-ennial convention held at St. Louis, Mo., in September, 1903, recommended when speaking of the Journal and his recommendations to that convention in connection therewith as follows:

"The creation of the office of editor and manager of the Journal is an imperative need. The Journal can by this method be made a more powerful influence than it has ever been before. While the Journal has - received many high compliments under present management, for which the editor is grateful, none like himself realize how much better, stronger and more powerful it could be than in the past if the editor and manager had sufficient time and talent combined to make it what it should be. The Journal should be increased in size, immediately after the convention to at least 80 pages and within another six months by sixteen additional pages."

This is over seven years ago, and nothing in this direction, other than what we have mentioned, has been done. Possibly there has been good and sufficient reasons for not doing so. We feel there have been. But we also feel that if the enlargement referred to in our predecessor's recommendations to the eight bi-enniel convention over seven years ago were considered necessary then, how much more should be necessary now, when we take into consideration the phenomenal growth of our order, not so much numerically, perhaps, but in prestige and influence and in the exalted position it now occupies in the world of labor. We trust this subject will be given due consideration at the proper time and place, and that the enlargement and improvement so essential will be made as soon as our resources will permit.

So much for the Journal. Now a word in regard to the organization in general. The year just passed has indeed been good to us, and we certainly have no complaint to make of the treatment accorded us by father fate, good fortune, good luck, providence or whoever you may care to give the credit to. Personally, however, we believe that the present prosperous and satisfactory conditions prevailing within our organization is largely due to the progressive, sane and judicious management, of affairs by the present administration, and when we say the present administration we do not refer to any particular individual or individuals,

but to the whole force of Grand Lodge officers, deputies and office force who have worked so faithfully, harmoniously and assiduously together as any so-called "ocial family" could possibly do.

As a result of these conditions we have organized 130 new lodges during the last year, or to be more precise, since the Atlanta convention, have made a net gain to our membership during the year of approximately 10,000 new members, have paid approximately $40,000 strike benefits to our members on the Canadian Pacific and Missouri Pacific railways who were involved in the late strikes on these systems and have at this time exactly 500 subordinate lodges in actual good standing. In addition to this we have at least sixty signed agreements with as many railway systems, many of which have been either renewed or secured for the first time during the past year.

The foregoing record should indeed be evidence enough of the fidelity, loyalty, earnestness and aggressiveness of your Grand Lodge officers, a record only made possible by the active, earnest co-operation and assistance rendered by the rank and file of the membership, without which it would be practically impossible to accomplish anything.

Another advanced step taken during the past year, and another advantage secured by this organization was the ultimate securing upon our application made at the Atlanta convention of a charter of affiliation with the American Federation of Labor after every conceivable and honorable effort had been made to effect an amalgamation with the International Association of Car Workers, the details of which have been referred to at length in these columns and in many hundreds of letters written from Grand Lodge headquarters by various Grand Lodge officers. That our efforts in the direction of amalgamation with the I. A. C. W. were unsuccessful, of course, is a matter of regret, but your Grand Lodge officers can conscientiously say that no fault lays at their doors. Naturally, of course, they are anxious for amalgamation, but if the other fellow is satisfied with the present divided condition of organization in the car department, that is his concern and not ours. With our rapidly diminishing strike debt, which has been constantly hurled in our teeth, every imaginable objection to amalgamation will soon be removed, when it will be interesting to note just what other objection may be advanced.

In conclusion, we trust the foregoing brief resume of the Brotherhood's accomplishments during the year just ended will be read and considered carefully by our membership, and while we have much to be proud of and thankful for, we trust that the accomplishments of the past will but spur us on to greater effort during the year before us with its countless opportunities and unknown advantages yet to be secured. Let us not rest on our oars and assume a self

satisfied attitude, but press ever onward and upward, always bearing in mind that "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty," and that when liberty has been secured it requires just as much vigilance to retain it.

Let our motto for the coming year be, 50,000 members or "bust," and if we have a convention in Milwaukee, Wis., next September, let us show to the world just what a live carmen's organization is, and that so far as the year has advanced up to that time, that it has in the strictest sense of the word been indeed " A happy and prosperous New year," not only for us all individually, but for the Brotherhood itself as an organization.

BROTHERHOOD RAILWAY CARMEN VS. BROTHERHOOD OF PAINTERS, DECORATORS AND PAPER HANGERS IN RE JURISDICTION OF

RAILWAY EQUIPMENT

PAINTERS.

During the fourth day's session of the recent annual convention of the A. F. of L. the following resolutions were introduced by the delegates from the Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators and Paper Hangers and referred to the committee on adjustment:

Resolution No. 112.

of Whereas, the American Federation Labor recognizes that the Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators and Paper Hangers of America has jurisdiction over all painters and decorators, including those employed in the painting and decorating of railroad cars, engines and other equipment, and

Whereas, in order to secure proper consideration for the demands of its members employed by railroad companies it is necessary that the Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators and Paper Hangers of America have direct representation upon committees to confer with the railroad officials regarding wages, hours and conditions of labor, and

Whereas, such representation can be properly and effectively secured only through the affiliation of the said brotherhood with the Railway Employes' Department of the American Federation of Labor, and

Whereas, Said brotherhood has made application for admission, accompanied by the initiation fee, and no action has as yet been taken upon its application, therefore be it

Resolved, That the Railway Department of the American Federation of Labor be advised that the Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators and Paper Hangers of America is eligible to admission to membership and requested to seat its delegates at its coming convention. Resolution No. 119.

Whereas, the Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators and Paper Hangers of America has jurisdiction over all men employed in the painting industry, including those engaged in painting, lettering and decorating cars, locomotives and other railroad equipment, stations and other buildings; and

Whereas, the Pittsburg convention of the American Federation of Labor instructed the International Association of Car Workers to cease to admit painters and decorators to membership, and to transfer to the Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators and Paper Hangers, all members of said International Association of Car Workers engaged in any branch of the painting industry; and,

Whereas, a charter has been granted by the American Federation of Labor to the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen, an organization similar in structure, methods and objects to the International Association of Car Workers, both having jurisdiction over men employed in the building, repairing and inspection of railroad cars; therefore be it

Resolved, That this convention hereby instructs the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen to cease admitting to membership men engaged in the different branches of the painting business, and further instructs said organization to transfer within a reasonable time all of its members so engaged to the Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators and Paper Hangers of America, they to be accepted by that organization without being required to pay an initiation fee.

In due time the delegates representing the three organizations mentioned in the foregoing resolutions were requested to appear before the committee on adjustment, and all with the exception of the delegates from the International Association of Car Workers did so, and presented their arguments and claims in connection with the subject in dispute, the delegates from this organization stating in no uncertain manner our position upon the question, insisting most strenuously that if efforts tending towards the disintegration of our organization by other affiliated organizations were countenanced or permitted it would not be long until we would be divided up into many infinitesimal parts and become ineffective and useless as an organization upon which we had spent years of earnest, hard, untiring and unremitting work and concentrated effort and many thousands of dollars in bringing it up to its present numerical strength and effectiveness. Our argument must have had its effect, for the committee on adjustment when reporting on resolution No. 119, the second one quoted above, reported as follows:

"No conference having been held by the representatives of the two organizations named in the resolution, your committee recommends that the president of the American Federation of Labor arrange for such a conference within the next ninety days; that he, or some representative he may ap point, shall preside over the conference, in an effort to bring about a satisfactory adjustment of the claims of the two organizations.

"A motion was made and seconded that the recommendation of the committee be concurred in.

"The question was discussed at some length by Delegate Skemp, secretary-treas

urer of the Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators and Paper Hangers, who offered the following amendment to the report of the committee: That the conference be for the purpose of providing for the future enforcement of the jurisdiction of the Brotherhood of Painters, and to determine the status of painters now members of the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen. (Seconued.)

The question was further discussed by several delegates, the discussion in part being as follows:

Vice-President O'Connell-The committee learned upon this case being heard that there had been no conference between the two organizations, this being very largely true because one of the organizations has but recently become affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. Conferences are held with a view of ascertaining the right of any question that may be submitted to the convention. The amendment offered by the secretary of the painters' organization prejudges and establishes before a conference is held a jurisdiction. The law of the American Federation of Labor requires that before a question of dispute or contention or a jurisdiction claim can be considered by the convention of the A. F. of L. the parties interested must first hold a legitimate conference, not a mere pasing conference between two men. That conference has not been held, and the committee recommends that the law be carried out. If by conference you decide what the borthers desire, well and good, but the case should not be prejudged as the amendment would require.

Delegate Gallagher (J. J.)—I hope the recommendation of the committee will be accepted. We are a new organization here and the ink is hardly dry on our charter when the painters want to come in and kind of put a knife into us. We have been nearly twenty-three years outside of the fold of the American Federation of Labor, and I want to tell you now we haven't come in here to be scalped. You want to wait until our hair grows a little before you put the shears on it. Don't that sound nice-turn all our painters over to the Brotherhood of Painters! If the painters want to organize painters on the railroads, let them go out and do it, we are not stopping them. We confine our organizing strictly to car shops. If they confine their efforts to organizing the house painters they will have plenty to do. The carmen have secured whatever conditions the painters on the railroads have. They will tell you of contracts secured with one or two roads. We have no strings on any painters. If there is a painter in any car shop who wants to join the Brotherhood of Painters we will not stop him; but to ask us to turn our painters over-well, what do you think we are? We are not going to be the blue jay for the cat bird. The cat bird always comes and takes the nest after the blue jay makes it. We are not going to be the jay.

The only possible way to organize the car shop men is this: You have got to organize

the whole of them or you cannot organize any of them. If you are going to split them all up into little quarreling groups we can never do anything. We must all stand united. We have an industrial organization, and you are not going to start in and make fish of one and flesh of another. From my experience, gained in traveling about this country, I am thoroughly satisfied you have got to have industrial unionism in the car shops, just as the textile workers realize they have to have it in the mills, as the shoe workers realize they have to have it in their factories, and as te miners realize they have to have it in the mines.

The time is coming when there will be a federation of all crafts on the railroad. We don't want this splitting up and putting the hatchet into this solid body o. men, and they will not stand for it, you can just make up your mind to that. On the ..ework and New Haven Railroad, where I worked and fought for the men, the painters had an organization long before the car workers had. They were not able to secure recognition until they joined the Railway Carmen. Now you say we must turn those painters over. Well, those painters are going to have something to say in the matter. They realize the absolute necessity of the solidarity of labor in car shops and the federation of all trades in the mechanical department. We can resolve and resolve and pass futile resolutions here, but economic conditions will determine, as they have always done. I believe your Executive Council is composed of level headed men, men of vast experience, and I am sure they will decide properly. We are not afraid to trust them. I do not want to take up your valuable time. I know what it means. I hope the recommendation of the committee will prevail.

The question was also discussed at considerable length by Delegate Vurpia of the Maintenance of Way Employes, he taking exception to that portion of the resolution referring to the Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators and Paper Hangers claiming jurisdiction over men employed in painting stations and other buildings on railroads over which his organization now has jurisdiction and which it proposed to retain.

Delegate Flannery, General President of the Brotherhood of Railroad Freight Handlers, also spoke on the question as follows: Listening to the discussion on this question I feel the time is not opportune to place a barrier in the road of bringing in the railroad organizations under the banner of the American Federation of Labor. The Denver convention instituted a department through which to work out a policy to bring under the banner those great railroad orders that are separated from us. Being part of the special committee that has endeavored, and has been successful, to some extent, in bringing together the car workers and bringing in here one grand or ganization to this convention, I feel now that if we are going to go farther and bring in others we must be compromising in these

matters and not try a policy of extermination. We gave away jurisdiction with a view to being able to bring in the railroad orders.. We gave away the Brotherhood of Railway Clerks. If we will show that through the Railroad Department of the American Federation of Labor we are able to form a department, not only in name, but in reality, and bring in the other orders that are still separated from us, we will bring under the banner of the A. F. of L. an organization second to none in the country. The only men who can bring about conditions and enter into negotiations in the different departments are those who are grounded in the literature of railroad service from practical experience. I feel that the committee acted wisely in committing this matter to the Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor.

Delegate Ryan (M. F.)—This is the first time in the twenty-three years of the existence of the organization of which I am a representative that we have been seated as delegates in a convention of the Amrican Federation of Labor. I want to say to you delegates in behalf of my organization and in behalf of my associate officers that we feel highly honored in having the privilege and pleasure of being part of this great assembly today. We appreciate being witn you. I want to say to you-and I think my statement can be verified by the president of this organization and by the Executive Council-that I have given a great deal of time and all the ability I possess in the effort to bring the Railway Carmen of America under the banner of the American Federation of Labor. A few years ago our organization was opposed to affiliation with this organization, not because they are opposed to any of its principles, but on account of the jurisdiction question. The members of my organization pointed out for years that as soon as we became affiliated with the American Federation of Labor the jurisdiction question would come up and our organization would be destroyed. I talked against that and said I did not believe that would be the case.

Our last convention assembled in Atlanta, Ga., with 500 delegates, coming from every state in the Union and from every province in the Dominion of Canada, and they voted unanimously to affiliate with the American Federation of Labor. And now today we are confronted with what our friends in my organization said would take place-the jurisdiction question. We do not appreciate the hospitality extended to us by the painters in offering to take care of our membership free of charge. The organization they are in now is taking care of them, and will continue to take care of them. We have taken care of them for twenty-three years outside of the American Federation of Labor, and if you want to put us out of this organization, out we will have to go, but the painters, no, never, will be given up by us. They are in there to stay.

I come here representing an organization

of railroad men, men who have devoted their lives to the service of railroad corporations. We know what it is to deal with railroad officials. I come in here representing a constituency of twenty-five thousand just as good and loyal men as there are represented in any order in this convention. We want to stay with you. We did not come in here to make union men of ourselves; we were union men before we came in here, and if you put us out, we will still be union men. We came in to lend whatever prestige and influence we have to the working people of this country. So far as I am concerned, I am willing to leave our case to the president and Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor. I know they will give us justice. I ask my friends in this convention to vote down the amendment submitted by the painters.

Delegate Adames-I desire to raise a point of order on the amendment offered by the painters. If I understand the law quoted by the chairman of the committee, that there is to be a conference before a matter of this kind can regularly come before the convention, I make the point that the amendment is not in order.

President Gompers-The chair would prefer that the convention decide these questions upon the good judgment of the delegates rather than upon a decision of the president.

Delegate Skemp asked for the floor, and stated that he had not spoken on the amendment.

Delegate Skemp hereupon proceeded at great length to discuss his amendment to the motion to concur in the report of the committee, explaining to the convention the similarity of the two organizations, the International Association of Car Workers and the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen, the action of a previous convention of the A. F. of L. in granting jurisdiction over painters, etc., etc., when Delegate Gallagher (J. J.) rose to a point of order and stated his point as follows:

"I rise to a point of order. The question, I understand, is this: Shall the recommendation of the committee be adopted? As I understand the amendment it is like tying a tin can with us inside of the can to the recommendation.

President Gompers-Does the delegate consider that a point of order? Delegate Gallagher-Yes.

The point of order not being sustained, Delegate Skemp continued and finally concluded his remarks upon his amendment which when being put to a vote was lost, the motion to adopt the committee's report being overwhelmingly carried.

Resolution 112, the first quoted in this article, making it obligatory upon the Railroad Department of the A. F. of L. to admit the Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators and Paper Hangers to the department, was with the permission of the painters' delegation referred to the incoming Executive