quired; operators fail to copy orders correctly, or do not deliver orders that should be delivered; conductors and enginemen misread, misinterpret, overlook or forget orders.

The Block System.

This weakness of the train order system of operating trains, as disclosed by the Commission's accident bulletins, gave impetus to agitation for the compulsory use of the block system. In its annual report for the year 1903 the Commission recommended such legislation and submitted a draft of a tentative bill requiring the use of the block system on all interstate lines within a certain period. A bill following the suggestions of the Commission was introduced in Congress in the winter of 1905, and has been reintroduced at every subsequent session, but has not yet been enacted into law. In the meantime, the block system has been considerably extended, the block signal mileage reported for the year 1911 being 76,409.7 miles as against 48,743.2 miles in 1906.

However, notwithstanding the theoretical merits of the block system as a means of safety, it by no means insures immunity from collisions. Some of the worst collisions noted in the accident bulletins have occurred on block signaled roads.. Obviously, the block system can only afford protection when its danger warnings are observed and obeyed. The intensity of attention and quickness of perception required of enginemen on our modern, high-speed trains leads to the result that they sometimes fail to observe or obey signal indications, and when this happens, disastrous consequences are almost sure to follow. In the operation of the manual block system also, block operators sometimes make mistakes which lead to fatal results.

Automatic Train Control.

Noting these disasters due to human error, under the most highly approved system of train operation, the question naturally suggested itself: "Is it not possible to employ mechanical means that will automatically assume control of a train and bring it to a stop whenever a danger signal is for any reason disregarded?" Automatic stops had been in successful operation for several years on underground and elevated lines, but their general use on roads in the open country was not considered practicable. To de

termine the general practicability of such devices, therefore, Congress, in 1906, directed the Commission to conduct an investigation, accompanied by experimental tests, of appliances for the automatic control of trains. To comply with the direction of Congress, the Commission appointed a board of experts, which conducted an investigation extending over a period of nearly five years. Plans and specifications of numerous automatic train control devices were examined and reported upon, and tests of several such devices under actual operating conditions were made. Reports stating the results of the board's investigations were issued annually. The last of these reports, issued December 26, 1911, states that "the information obtained from tests, together with knowledge of the general state of development of the art of automatic train control, leads the board to conclude that there are several types of apparatus and methods of application, which, if put into use by railroads, would quickly develop to a degree of efficiency adequate to meet all reasonable demands. Such devices properly installed and maintained would add materially to safety in the operation of trains. In many situations, under conditions existing in this country, the board is convinced that the use of automatic train stops is necessary to the safety of trains." (To be continued.)

Industrial Items of Interest.*

British Workmen's Insurance Act.-The Land

for the People.—The labor group in the British House of Parliament, in co-operation with David Lloyd George, Chancellor of the Exchequer, are quite elated at the prospects of the good effects anticipated from the working out of the Insurance Act, which went into effect July 15, and is another step in the great forward movement which began with the Compensation Act and the Old Age Pension measure. Mr. George says:

"The Insurance Act will help the mother at childbirth and will inaugurate a great national campaign against consumption. Instead of devoting our strength to fight our neighbors abroad, we are now going to organize to fight social evils at home. I am convinced that it will be hailed throughout the whole country as one of the most beneficent measures ever enacted by the people, and now that it will soon be in full opera*From A. F. of L. News Letter.

tion we intend to press forward and put all hands to the great work of freeing the land which was meant for the use of the many, but which has drifted into the hands of the few. We must free it for the people and for their children for

ever.

The Insurance Act insures against sickness and invalidity.

In seven selected industries it insures against unemployment.

It applies to the whole of the industrial population, including the army, navy and mercantile marine.

Insurance is compulsory for all employed persons in receipt of wages or salaries.

Its administrative machinery is largely in the hands of the people insured-in the main, trade unions and fraternal organizations.

The rates of contribution and benefits are the same for all employed persons, regardless of age, provided they come into the scheme before July, 1913.

The cost is divided among employers, employes and the Government.

The act does not interfere with the existing "Compensation for Injuries" act, or the "Employers' Liability" law.

It is preliminary to the Old Age Pension Act, persons reaching the age of 70 coming under the provisions of the Old Age Pension Law.

It makes special provision for women at the time of childbirth.

the annual allowance for upkeep and maintenance will be $5,000,000.

Employers Can Not Coerce Workmen in Kansas. --The Supreme Court of Kansas has handed down a decision on the constitutionality of the law known as the "Coercion Act of Kansas," which was enacted in 1909. The act prohibits any employer, agent, etc., from demanding or influencing "any person or persons to enter into any agreement either written or verbal, not to join or become or remain a member of any labor organization or association as a condition of securing employment or continuing in the employment of such employer, etc. Any violation of this act shall be a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof (the employer or agent) shall be fined in the sum of not less than $50 or imprisoned in the county jail not less than 30 days." The United Brotherhood of Leather Workers tested this law when several of their members were discharged by the Ackenhausen Saddlery Co. because of their union membership. The District Court held the act unconstitutional. The case was then appealed to the State Supreme Court. That court reversed the District Court and remanded the case for a new trial.

A second case under the same statute was before the court, brought by the Kansas State Federation of Labor

It provides for the preservation and will stimulate the growth of existing organizations like trade unions and fraternal organizations promoted to advance thrift and co-operative self help.

Its compulsory features will be particularly helpful to those who heretofore have been short sighted and thriftless. It will also prevent wholesale imposition formerly practiced upon people by private insurance companies.

It will open the door to a broad international scheme of compulsory insurance for all workers in all countries by admitting transfers to and from foreign countries with which special arrangements may be made.

The selected industries in which men are insured against unemployment are those in the building and engineering trades, designedly chosen for the experiment because of their especial irregularity of operation. The initial cost of government sanitoria will be $7,500,000, and

Railway Company for discharging three members of the Switchmen's Union because they refused to sign the following agreement: "Mr. T. P. Coppage, Supt., Frisco Railroad Line, Fort Scott, Kans. We, the undersigned, have agreed to abide by your request, that is, to withdraw from the Switchmen's Union while in the service of the Frisco Company." The superintendent was fined $500. The company appealed to the Supreme Court. The two cases were disposed of by the court at the same time. This decision has been handed down at a very opportune time. It is expected it will put a stop to a vicious practice that has been growing up in Kansas for some years. The court said: "An individual employe cannot coerce his employer from remaining a member of his association, but the individual employer may so coerce his employes unless restrained by law. The individual employe is in such a case pitted not only against his employer in contracting the conditions of employment but

also against the aggregation of associated employers. Such a condition tends to reduce employes to mere serfdom.

Our statute denounces as crime the requiring or coercing of an employe to make a written or verbal contract as a condition of employment, that he will not join a labor organization. The employer has no right to interfere with the liberty of the employe.. . . Labor unions are lawful and not inimical to the rights of employers. Liberty of lawful action being an inviolable right, the Legislature was within the exercise of its proper power in denouncing, as criminal, any attempt to coerce an employe under the resistless pressure of necessity to bargain away his liberty.

An employer has no constitutional or inherent right to coerce or compel his employe to make any contract or agreement, written or verbal, which he does not wish to make, whatever may be the condition or purpose." The United Brotherhood of Leather Workers and the Kansas State Federation of Labor have rendered the people of Kansas a great service in securing the enactment of this law and testing its provisions in the Supreme Court.

Cost and Profit of Anthracite Coal.-At the instance of Congressman Difenderfer a resolution passed the House of Representatives July 29, directing the United States Bureau of Labor to obtain full information concerning the different elements of cost and profit included in the present high price of anthracite coal, specifying in detail how much the coal miners were benefited by the recent strike agreement, and how much and for what reasons and by what means the cost of coal to the general public was at the same time in creased out of proportion to the raise of wages granted the miners. It is estimated that the miners by their new agreement will receive in the aggregate $5,000,000 more wages per year, and that the anthracite coal trust by raising the price to the consumers will obtain an aggregate of $15,000,000 annually.

Cotton Industry in Japan.—The cotton spinning and weaving industry in Japan is expanding by leaps and bounds. During the last fiscal year eight new corporations were formed with a capital of $6,280,000, and operating 133,000 new spindles. Many of the old companies have increased their capital and have

added new machinery to their plants. The Japan Cotton Spinners' Association report for March, 1912, that they had 32 mills operating 1,867,026 spindles, running 26 days a month, working 23 hours a day, producing a daily average of 13 ounces for ring spindles and 8 ounces for mule spindles. They consumed during the month 48,828,283 pounds of cotton, employ 17,967 males and 79,124 females, paying the males an average of 23 cents per day and the females 15 cents a day. This is equivalent to an increase of almost 5 per cent. over the wages paid during the year 1911. If this industry continues to expand in Japan and China with the same relative proportion, the prospects for the export trade to those countries in the cotton industry of the United States and Great' Britain will be very materially restricted.

Oppose Compulsory Arbitration.-During the recent session of the British Trade Union Congress in Newport, England, compulsory arbitration of trade disputes was strongly opposed by British trade unionists, and the delegates cast an overwhelming vote against the adoption of the principle. Nearly 2,000,000 members of the trade unions were represented by 500 delegates.

Russian Prison Tactics.-Declaring the house of correction to be a penal institution exclusively, and not a corrective one, as is generally supposed, the board of city police magistrates of the city of Baltimore, Md., has voiced a scathing criticism of the institution in the report it has made to the Governor of the State. The board declares that it has had its eyes opened, and while it believed that the men sent to the house of correction were put to work on the farm, or on outside labor, it has found that the men are cooped up in contractors' shops and never allowed outside, and if they do not perform their allotted task, which is found in any instances to be rather severe, they are lashed as punishment. The board states that it appears that one of the chief ends of the institution was to make a favorable showing in financial matters, and that the interest of the contractors who conduct the shirt and mat factories in the institution, and of the State, came before the interests of the prisoners. This fact was made clear by the superintendent, who complained that the magistrates were sending men tɔ

the institution for too short periods for them to be of any use to the contractors, or to the State, stating that the magistrates should not send men for thirty or sixty days, because unless they came for at least three months they would be of no use to the contractors. The magistrates further state that the institution is in a generally unsanitary condition. As stated, prisoners are punished for slow work, the magistrates claiming this system has possibilities of great injustice. The Governor of the State is much exercised over this report, and measures are to be taken to inaugurate a thorough investigation.

Parcels Post News.-The Postoffice De

the business, the trust has an enormous advantage in its dealings with combined labor. In 1899 during the smelters' strike in Colorado, the American Smelting and Refining Company closed the mills in which the strikers had been employed and transferred the work to its other mills; the effect was immediately to break the strike. The United States Steel Corporation had similar success in 1901 with the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers. In the renewed labor contracts, between the association and the union mills of the American Sheet Steel Company, the association demanded that the scale be extended to all the mills of the company. This was

to statements which have been made to the effect that the new parcels post system which becomes effective the first of next year will increase the general postoffice deficit, and that the burden of taxation now borne by the American people would be increased. It has been stated by these officials that this phase of the question has been thoroughly considered by the department, and that it was found, even by carrying parcels at a rate

much lower than the express companies, the system can be made self-supporting. A further statement is made by the officials that receipts from the parcels post will be sufficient to aid in decreasing the annual postal deficit. Arrangements have already been made whereby parcels post packages may now be exchanged without limit of value of the contents of the parcels with Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain and Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway and Hongkong. Packages from these countries valued at more than $100 must conform to consular certification or bond. Notification to this effect has been sent by Acting Secretary of the Treasury Curtis to all customs officers.

work in the mills of the sheet steel, steel hoop, and tinplate companies. Had the association been dealing with competing employers, each eager to keep his mills running and to get the orders which his demands would soon have been granted. recalcitrant rivals could not accept, its During that same year, the members of the International Association of Machinists had played upon the mutual distrust of their employers and had obtained the nine-hour day. The United States Steel

Corporation, however, with its solid resistance and its immense defense fund, filled its orders from other mills, and before fall completely broke the strike. When workmen are not entirely organized throughout an industry, the advantage of combination over smaller enterprise is of first importance.

Im

Hatters' Union Loses.-A verdict awarding D. E. Loewe & Co., hat manufacturers of Connecticut, $80,000 damages against the Hatters' Union, was returned recently by the jury sitting in that case. mediately after the verdict Judge James L. Martin, in compliance with the Sherman Anti-trust law, trebled the amount of the award to $240,000, which, with costs, makes the largest amount ever granted by a jury in this State. The judge gave the attorneys for the defense until January 2, 1913, in which to file their appeal to the United States Supreme Court. The award grants the full sum asked by the Loewe Company. This suit has been in the courts for ten years, and of the original 240 defendants, about fifty are dead. The homes and bank accounts of the remainder are under attachment. Preparations for an appeal are

Bars Conciliators.-In a letter addressed to Judge Martin A. Knapp, of the United States Commerce Court, and Charles P. Neill, United States Commissioner of Labor, recently made public, General Manager S. C. Long of the Pennsylvania Railroad placed the company on record as against treating with a committee from the Order of Railroad Telegraphers in the matter of wage adjustments. The letter denied the existence of any situation which would justify the acceptance of the offices of the federal officials named as mediators, as requested by the Order of Railroad Telegraphers seeking arbitration under the Erdman Act. The company states it is already treating with one organization of telegraphers. The Pennsylvania Railroad is the sponsor for an alleged organization of telegraphers which belongs to the company in fee simple. This organization was founded, of course, in order to fight the legitimate organization of the Order of Railroad Telegraphers, the company organization being nothing more or less than a paper organization. Therefore, the railroad company takes the position "that in view of the fact that the company is on the point of giving satisfactory reply to a committee representing the employes of the telegraph department, the company declines to treat with two committees representing the same class of employes." The Order of Railroad Telegraphers have not as yet taken any definite action in the matter.

A Strict Interpretation.—The heads of executive departments of the Government are of the opinion that no employe can be discharged or dismissed by them until the person or persons whose services are to be dispensed with are furnished with a copy of duly drawn charges and given opportunity to reply to them. This interpretation is made in view of the provisions of Rule 12 of the Civil Service rules. It is further stated that the drivers of carriages for the President, cooks and mechanics cannot be discharged from the service without being given the full measure of protection under the rule. Several department solicitors and other local officers of the Government have been directed to find out how far Section 6 of the Postoffice Appropriation Bill will change the Civil Service rules. Heretofore Rule 12 applied only to positions of the competitive service. Section 6 of the Appropriation Bill says: "All persons of

the classified civil service of the United States," without any equivocation whatever. This includes all persons in excepted positions, all private secretaries and confidential clerks, all persons appointed by the President without confirmation by the Senate, attorneys, assistant attorneys, and special assistant attorneys, Chinese and Japanese interpreters, any person employed in a foreign country under the State Department, any position of quasi-military or naval character, mechanics and skilled tradesmen or laborers and many others specified in the various departments.

Probing Living Cost.-A board of naval officers has been appointed by the commandant of the Washington Navy Yard and is at work to determine the real facts regarding the employes' petition to Congress for an increase in pay on the grounds of the high cost of living. The wage scale of the navy yard employes is based, to a large extent, upon the prevailing scale in the immediate industrial territory in which the yard is located. The industrial section, as applied to Washington, includes Baltimore, Philadelphia, and other cities. The board is making inquries into the cost of living in these cities and will compare them with the cost of living in the navy yard district of Washington. Upon the completion of the board's investigation it is expected that a raise will be granted.

Injunction Refused.-Since the passage by the House of the injunction limitation bill, it has been noticeable that judges, and especially federal judges, are not so anxious to grant restraining orders and injunctions in labor disputes. The efforts of the American Federation of Labor are beginning to show tangible results against what was an abuse in which the courts freely indulged. Recently the United States Court at Trenton, N. J., refused to grant an injunction restraining the officers of a local union of machinists from picketing the works of the Fuchs & Lang Manufacturing Company, at Rutherford, N. J., manufacturers of printing presses and printing inks, against which concern there has been a strike since the early part of last June. It was brought out that some one of the complainant affidavits were made by professional strike breakers, who were to receive a bonus from the company in case the strikers were defeated.