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Result. All parties acquiesced in the decision for a period nearly twice the length of the term set by law. During the preparation of this report information has been received that a dispute concerning the same matter was mutually adjusted by the parties in interest, as provided in paragraph 11 of the agreement of October 26, 1899, as it appears in our thirteenth report. As now agreed, the price is 9 cents. Paragraph 11 runs as follows:

Eleventh. - Both parties agree to adjust in an honest and equitable manner all grievances of whatever nature and all matters of dispute in reference to wages or any other subject, including the true construction of this agreement, that may arise between them; and in case of failure to mutually adjust any dispute or grievance, the party of the first part and the members of the department or departments where such dispute or grievance shall arise, shall join, in the manner provided by statute, in an application to the Massachusetts State Board of Arbitration for a decision on the matter or matters in dispute, and the decision of said Board shall be binding upon the party of the first part, the party of the second part, the local unions and employees.

MACHINISTS — BROCKTON.

In the middle of January certain machinists employed in Brockton shops addressed a petition to their employers, and received the following reply:

To Our Employees.

BROCKTON, MASS., January 27, 1900.

We, the undersigned employers of machinists, after carefully considering the petition to grant our employees a nine-hour day, with ten hours' pay, beginning the first Monday in February, 1900, have unanimously decided that we cannot grant this request.

The granting of a nine-hour day with ten hours' pay would mean eleven and one-ninth per cent. advance in wages and ten per cent. reduction in the volume of our business, with the same running expenses. With all materials and tools at largely advanced cost, and competition sharp in all lines, our profits do not warrant the entertainment of such a proposition. This would give our outside competitors, who are still working on the ten-hour schedule and are manufacturing the same class of work, a great advantage, and would seriously cripple the machine business in Brockton, which you are well aware is none too extensive. The nine-hour shops in Lynn and Boston do not pay the rate of wages we pay for the same grade of mechanics.

The trades mentioned in your petition, such as carpenters, masons, plasterers, stone layers, brick layers, lathers, painters, etc., who are working eight and nine hours per day without reduction in pay, are not parallel cases, as their work is purely local. These trades, also, have very unsteady employment, as their work depends on the weather and various other conditions, and their yearly earnings average far below those of a machinist. Your wages will compare favorably with those paid in any city in New England, and until legislation shall regulate the hours of labor,

placing each manufacturer on an equal footing, the nine-hour day cannot be granted locally without disaster to your interests as well

as ours.

T. A. NORRIS MACHINE COMPANY.

Wм. A. SWEETSER.

GEO. V. SCOTT.

KIMBALL BROS. & SPRAGUE.

PICKARD BROS.

BROCKTON SUPPLY COMPANY.

GEORGE KNIGHT & Co.

CHAS. P. PERKINS.

E. S. MORTON.

BROCKTON DIE COMPANY.

On February 5, 37 employed by 8 of the above-named struck to enforce the request.

The strikers, who were known as Brockton Lodge, No. 176, of the International Association of Machinists, after being out two weeks, invoked the mediation of this Board, in an application signed by James E. Buchanan, the business agent and organizer for Boston and vicinity. The Board communicated the fact of the application to the employers named therein, and received replies from which the following is selected:

BROCKTON, MASS., February 24, 1900.

To the Honorable State Board of Arbitration and Conciliation, State House, Boston, Mass.

GENTLEMEN : Your favor of the 21st inst. at hand, and in reply are pleased to assure you that we have no occasion to call on your honorable Board to arbitrate in our behalf. We have never had, and are not now having, any difficulties with our employees. We have always given good wages, steady work and prompt payment, and we intend to continue to do so. We will endeavor to briefly state the facts in regard to this so-called "strike."

About January 20 we received a petition addressed to the employers of machinists, requesting that we grant our employees a nine-hour day with ten hours' pay. This petition was signed by ten of our employees and also by a few other employees of different

shops in this city. We carefully considered the matter, and decided that we were paying them all they were worth to us, and declined to grant their request, giving our reasons for so doing.

On January 30 we received an anonymous letter inviting us to a conference, which we did not attend. On February 2 we received a notice from a labor organization, stating that, if we were not willing to grant the petition of our employees, on February 5 they would "quit work until such time as we would be pleased to grant it." We made no reply to this, and the dissatisfied men left our employ. We shall never be "pleased to grant their petition," and they will have to find work elsewhere.

We had never been approached personally by our men in regard to this demand, and have had no discussion with them. They left good jobs of their own free will, and we have made no objection whatever. As we have hired new men who are satisfactory to us, and have now no use for these dissatisfied people, it seems entirely unnecessary for us to call on the State Board of Arbitration, as we have no grievance whatever.

Trusting, gentlemen, that this will explain our side of the situation fully, we remain,

Very truly yours,

T. A. NORRIS MACHINE COMPANY.

When the employers' attitude was made known to the workmen's agent, he expressed satisfaction with the action of the Board, but made no suggestion. The matter then dropped, and has never been brought up again.

STANDISH WORSTED COMPANY-PLYMOUTH.

In the first fortnight of February the weavers of the Standish Worsted Company at Plymouth asked their employer for an adjustment of picks, and, for the reason that many woollen mills at the first of the year had granted a similar increase, demanded a 10 per cent. increase of wages. On the 12th of that month they went out on a strike to enforce their demands. Several conferences were had with a view to an agreement. The employer conceded the demand for an adjustment of picks, but the company could not see its way to granting the increase, for the reason that it had for a long time past been paying higher wages than any of its competitors, and was paying the highest at the time of the strike; that the mills in question were not competitors in work of the same grade, and, moreover, had been paying extremely low wages before January 1. What was regarded as a slight difficulty, at first, began to receive attention, and apprehension was felt as the contest was protracted. On February 19 the Board's services were invoked in a formal application signed by the president of the Standish Worsted Company. As soon as this action was taken, the Board received word that the controversy was settled. At a conference between the strikers' committee and the mill management an agreement was reached whereby the strikers were to receive an increase of 8 per cent., and the strike was declared at an end. By this time some of the