weavers had left town in search of other jobs, but as many as had remained returned to their former posts on February 20, followed by others on their receipt of the news, and in a short while the mill was running in all departments the same as before.

BRIDGE AND STRUCTURAL IRON WORKERS —
BOSTON.

On March 1 about 60 iron workers employed by bridge constructors in Boston, chiefly those engaged in the erection of the Boston Elevated Railway, went on strike in consequence of a refusal to pay them 33 1-3 cents an hour for nine hours daily, and twice that rate for all time in excess. The men claimed that they had always acted in concert with another branch of the iron industry, as members of the same union. Only those trained to work in iron in strained attitudes high in air could appreciate the skill required to overcome the difficulty. In settlements effected by the union to which they had belonged, the bridge builders had never secured the consideration they felt they were entitled to, and for this reason they separated from the older organization and organized a union of their own branch. This gave the appearance of rivalry, which they did not feel and sought to discourage, but which had confused the counsels of their recent employers, who were at first loth to treat with more than one organization of workmen. The strikers said they would accept the mediation of the Board if pending negotiations should fail, but the prospects were favorable to a prompt settlement. The Board gave such advice as was calculated to encourage the pursuit of pacific methods. As a result, settlements soon followed, and all hands returned to work.

HATCH & GRINNELL-EASTON.

7

A demand for higher prices for lasting a higher grade of goods requiring greater labor having been refused, the employees of the lasting department of Hatch & Grinnell, shoe manufacturers at North Easton, went out on a strike on March 10. They were about 25 in number.

The mediation of the Board was offered to both parties on the 14th, and on the 16th the recent employees made formal application, praying the Board to "endeavor by mediation to effect an amicable settlement." Interviews were had with both parties. The firm was not willing to confer with the men on the subject of increased prices, or to re-employ more than five or six of them, if any, and expressed confidence in its ability to secure all the workmen that the factory needed at the prices then in vogue.

Day by day new hands were hired; but some of them, on finding a strike in progress, and pickets posted to notify strangers of the fact, quit work.

The firm thereupon sought and obtained a temporary injunction restraining the men from certain acts. Pickets were immediately withdrawn. A sufficient number of workmen was secured, and the difficulty passed out of notice.

GRANITE CUTTERS-QUINCY.

It was announced by the granite cutters in 1897 that they intended to demand in 1900 a shorter work day and higher rates of wages, and a formal demand was made by their national union in 1898. After about a year the employers' association made a reply which was not satisfactory to the workmen; and the American Federation of Labor, of which the Granite Cutters' National Union is a member, voted to support the workmen in case of strike. Labor men expressed the opinion that under the rules of the Federation the employers must either acquiesce in the demand, or suffer a strike; for there could be no arbitration in the circumstances, since the result of such proceedings could only be conjectured. Such opinion, however, did not exclude the services of a mediator. Long before the appointed day, the growing apprehension of a long strike gave rise to much discussion. It was contended by the manufacturers that the eight-hour day at $3 would curtail output, increase cost and lessen demand, especially in quarters where building is undertaken as a matter of investment. It was pre

dicted that fewer buildings would be erected and other material preferred to granite, and that piece prices would give way to pay by the day, with no employment for the slow workman, however skilful.

The decision of this Board, May 7, 1887, in the matter of the joint application of the Hallowell Granite Company

and its employees, had been adopted in many places outside of this state, pretty generally throughout the east and in several otherq uarters, though variously modified, to conform with local conditions. In the course of time the growing inequality of wage schedules and of working time came to be considered a grievance by the cutters; and the object of the movement of 1900 was to remove the inequality.

On October 25, 1899, the secretary of the Granite Cutters' National Union renewed the demand in a circular addressed to the manufacturers. The workmen sought to establish the price of an hour's work at 37 1-2 cents, that the work day should consist of eight hours, that a day's pay should be $3, and that piece work should be performed under a uniform scale of prices, at which the earnings in eight hours should amount to at least $3. This became in the spring of 1900 the subject of a controversy in the granite industry of New England and six other states.

In some parts of New England the relations of the manufacturers and their granite cutters were regulated by agreements running to the first day of May. In a few granite yards in or near Boston such agreements were to run to April 1; but in a majority of instances in all quarters the term would expire on March 1. Accordingly, March 1, 1900, was the day appointed for the strike in case the demand was rejected. Under the clause requiring three months' notice, the Quincy branch of the Granite Cutters' National Union notified the manufacturers of that city in November, 1899, of the change desired. On February 16, the State Board offered its services as mediator to the parties to the Quincy controversy. The workmen expressed their readiness to meet the manufacturers in any conference