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THE Carnegie Club House at Braddock, Pa., and Hollywood Inn at Yonkers, N. Y., are two notable philanthropic institutions in our country which are maintained for the benefit of the working classes; but in interest and enthusiasm, as well as in membership, they are surpassed by the Steel Works Club of Joliet.

This altruistic movement was started more than a dozen years ago by the Illinois Steel Company, in an endeavor to solve some of the perplexing social problems which arise in connection with a large body of workingmen.

In many respects, the Steel Works Club is unlike any other institution of its kind. It is conceded that this club has achieved greater success than any previous attempt on the part of corporations to care for their men in a social and educational way, probably owing to the fact that it was made theoretically independent of the corporation. Paternalism. has been avoided. The aim of the company in organizing the club was to make it practically free to every employee; but it was soon realized that the American workingman resents getting something for nothing when it looks like charity;

and the dues are now $2 a year, which entitles each member and his family to all the privileges of the club. All employees of the mills are eligible to membership. The present enrollment is over 1,500, not incuding the women and chil

MISS MAUD PARSONS, Librarian

dren, who, according to the rules, are entitled to share in the benefits.

The headquarters of the club are in a fine four-story stone structure, built specially for the purpose at a cost of over $60,000.00. It is owned by the steel company, and is leased to the club for the nominal rental of $1.00 a year.

building is equipped with a gymnasium, baths, billiard rooms, bowling alleys, library, reading rooms, and lecture and entertainment halls.

While all fixed expenses are paid by the company, it is required that the educational and entertainment features which are provided shall be paid out of the revenues of the club. Popular lecture courses are arranged at moderate cost, and various social functions are enjoyed during the year.

Occupying a position which gives it peculiar advantages in a moral and educational way, the club ranks with the churches and schools as a factor for public good. Its popularity and helpfulness are demonstrated in many ways. The little child of the mill employee is taught in the free kindergarten; educational classes are provided on a most generous scale for the boys and girls, the young men and young women. No opportunity to stimulate ambition is lost. There is a thriving Technical Club, composed of

students of the American School of Correspondence-ambitious young men, who, by home study, are earnestly striving to fit themselves for higher positions in life.

From the kindergarten to the smokers' conferences, where business men meet with the employees of the mills and discuss questions of the day, the club represents the good, useful, and aggressive elements of the best citizenship. The institution has been at all times what its founders intended it should be "a place for the promotion of healthy recreation, for social intercourse among members, and to afford opportunity for physical, intellectual, scientific, and moral development."

Henry George asserted that employers look after the welfare of their employees for the same reason that the stockman cares for his cattle-from a

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Consisting of members of the Steel Works Club who are students of the American School of Correspondence at Armour Institute of Technology.

some good for the company by saving the men from the demoralizing effects of drunkenness. However, it is in the education of the boys and young men, who in time will take their places in the mills, that the company will best be repaid. Already young men who received their first encouragement at the club have taken responsible positions in the mills. Even when advantages of this sort are not so apparent, the healthful, broadening influences which the club has exerted upon its members, while they cannot be estimated in dollars and cents, are very real.

In competition with the mills and factories of Europe, the most pronounced advantages which American manufacturers have are found in the higher intelli

tence now represents on the books of the steel company.

The present superintendent of the club. is Frank M. Savage, a man of marked ability and well fitted for the responsible position which he holds. He has a kindly, sympathetic nature, is democratic in his manner, and thoroughly appreciates the needs of the mill men and their families. Every detail of the club's work is within his grasp, and he is constantly working along advanced lines. In these endeavors he has enlisted in the club's behalf the Joliet newspapers, members of the ministry, the business men, the woman's clubs, and various societies. Mr. Savage has great faith in the work of Miss Jane Addams and her Hull House

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WANTED-TRAINED MEN!

A HINT AS TO THE OPPORTUNITIES OF ADVANCEMENT ENJOYED BY AMERICAN WORKMEN

HE other day the head of a large manufacturing firm stated to the editor of THE TECHNICAL WORLD that they could not find men to fill the vacant positions in their drafting room; that the firm had been in communication with a number of technical schools, but still several positions remained unfilled.

Should this meet the eye of any young mechanic who is grumbling at his present work and the small chance it offers of rising to a position of influence, let him ask himself the question, "Who is to blame?" The wonderful developments in recent years in all branches of engi

tunities to our generation; but these opportunities cannot be grasped by every person. They are for the men of trained ability; if it were otherwise, such opportunities would be of small value. These opportunities are for none but the men who, if need be by sacrifice, educate themselves to master the problems which such opportunities contain. Young man, are you striving to do this? Are you spending your spare time in gaining a scientific knowledge of the principles of your trade? If you are, your future promotion is assured; but if you are neglecting to acquire an education, then blame yourself if you remain in a humble

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CHALK TALKS

I. SPEED OF GEARS

EFORE installing shafting, calculations must be made to determine what gears should be used to obtain a certain speed. Also, to determine at what speed machinery will run if certain gears are used. Fortunately these calculations are very simple if the fundamental rule is kept in mind. For a pair of gears which mesh with each other this rule is as follows:

The number of revolutions of the driver multiplied by the number of teeth on the driver is equal to the number of revolutions of the follower multiplied by the number of teeth on the follower. In order to save the time and trouble to write the rule and terms every time, we express it in letters. Thus R Tr t.

In this, R means the number of revolutions of the driver.

T means the number of teeth on the driver.

r means the number of revolutions of the follower.

t means the number of teeth on the follower.

Many engineers throw formulas of this kind away with the remark that they do not understand algebra. But this is not algebra; it is simply the using of the abbreviation R instead of "revolutions" and T instead of the word "teeth." For instance, the whole of the foregoing rule may be expressed in four letters R T =rt (or, RXT=rXt).

By transposing the terms we have. four formulas which enable us to find directly the desired condition.

For instance: The number of revolutions of the driver equals the number of revolutions of the follower multiplied by the number of teeth on the follower and divided by the number of teeth on the driver; or

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Let us take an example (see plate).

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