allowed by British architects, even if the builders were willing to adopt it. The writer thinks that too much is spent in management in British industries. In machinery he says that America is in advance of us. That is an old story. The minute division of industry is one of the reasons why the American workpeople produce so quickly. But in some trades at home, notably in the boot and shoe trades, the division is so minute that there are over 100 operations in some factories to produce a pair of boots.

lic mind in this connection are the organizations of labor and the newspaper press," says the Railway World. "The first has natural socialistic tendencies which in a higher development, however, are likely to disappear. The second is, with rare exactions, superficial in its manner of treatment and much more likely to be led by public clamor than to assert its own right of leadership. It would seem as though under these circum

Going to the Bow Wows.-The New York Herald quotes Mr. James J. Hill as say ing: "As labor unions killed industrial England, so they are destined to bring about a grave financial reverse in the United States, and the country is swiftly approaching that crisis. It may come in a year; it may be deferred till the presidential year, but it is bound to come."

Capital to Educate Labor Through the Press. "The two great forces affecting the pub

stances the owners of property and the directors of industry were charged with a very plain duty. They understand the nature and needs of industry because they are a part of it. They can not hold themselves aloof from the popular discussion of industrial problems without denying to the public and themselves the greatest present opportunity for general enlightenment. The situation demands persistent and systematic efforts, and they should be made in disregard of whatever criti

cism might at first be aroused. If an effort to spread genuine knowledge of industrial conditions were made in onetenth of the energy which political committees habitually devote to securing the election of party nominees, the result would very quickly be appreciated. Yet efforts of this sort are practically left to political groups whose leaders are almost invariably opportunists who take those positions which they think most readily can be justified before a more or less prejudiced public and ignore all issues, however pressing, which might temporarily force them into opposition to popular notions."

A Country Without Strikes.-With this title Mr. Henry Demarest Lloyd describes in

dustrial conditions and laws in New Zea land. Paper cover, 180 pages. Published by Doubleday, Paige & Co., New York.

Cause of Flurry in Wall Street.-"The public has had a great deal to contend with in the market for months past," says the Railway World. "As quickly as one un

favorable factor was eliminated from the

situation, another would develop. If it was not tight money, it was trouble over Venezuela, and when that question was removed, something else came to the front to disturb the peace of the street. At present it is the manufacture of new securities by the railroad and industrial companies and the prospects of gold exports."

Labor

The Philanthropy of Corpora

tions.

The papers that lean toward the great corporations have been enjoying spasms of admiration over the bounteous Christmas gifts bestowed on their employes by the Standard Oil and the Steel Trust, which were in the nature of a pension after serving a term with the former and permission to buy stock at about par during good times, and the further permission of company to pay for it on the installment plan, interest to be paid on deferred payments.

The purpose of the pension plan is so apparent that it shines through the thin veil of pretended philanthropy like the sun breaking through the clouds after a summer shower. But it serves to delude those who are not employes of the Standard into the belief that after many years of faithful toil that company will hand over a sufficient amount to permit the retired employe to live in luxury and idleness the remainder of his days.

Corporations are in the business for making money and there isn't one iota of sentiment in their makeup that isn't founded on the fact of what it will return to the corporation in dollars and cents. The hurry and drive of modern industry in this country makes it imperative that the strongest employes, mentally and physically, be secured and these are found in men below a prescribed age, generally below that of thirty-five years.

Press

Men who have reached an age above that prescribed will not be employed as new men and employes who have reached an age where they are referred to by their younger associates as "old" can not compete with their fellows in the drive and are soon given other employment or are discharged because they are physically unfit.

Corporations are not insensible to the power of public opinion and they appre ciate the fact that one of these days there is going to be a reaction in the public mind toward great corporations and their management that may take from them a few of their assumed privileges, which they now enjoy by virtue of the constitutional right of private contract. If they can by any means anticipate this change of sentiment they are going to do it, and apparently have selected the old age pension as one of the best methods to continue their practices and have the public approve them.

The usual statement made concerning the payment of pensions is to this effect: "After a man has been in the service of the company for twenty-five years and has reached the age of sixty-five years he will be retired and pensioned at the rate of one per cent. a month, based on his average earnings for the past ten years."

At present a new employe must be under thirty-five years, for, even where the age is not openly stated, it is understood by those who employ that there is a limit. A new employe starting at the maximum,

thirty-five, must work thirty years before he is retired on his pension. If he breaks down, is discharged, strikes, or becomes incapacitated he loses his "old age for tune."

But if he lives and can hold steam until he is sixty-five years he becomes eligible for the corporation shelf and generally will be physically and mentally ready for it. If his earnings have averaged sixty-five dollars a month for the last ten years of his employment he will then receive his one per cent. a month, or the princely sum of six dollars and a half a month. The Standard Oil does much better than this, for it permits its employes who have been with the company for twenty-five years and who have reached the age of sixty-four, to retire on half-pay for the first year and quarter-pay for the succeeding years. This would mean, on the preceding basis of earning capacity, thirty-two and a half dollars a month for the first year and sixteen dollars and a quarter a month after that. The employe, in this instance, has worked for a corporation that has paid 100 per cent. dividends for a part of the time and 50 per cent. dividends for the rest of the time. Here is a division of earnings that does not commend itself to the average student of economics.

And how many employes will "voluntarily" retire? All of them, for the reason that retirement on the pension plan is like a resignation tendered when it has been demanded.

The number of old men about the great industrial plants is not enough to cause much concern to the companies employing them. They are not there now except in isolated cases and the future will see even fewer of them.

But, the public, when individual cases are not considered, is easily pleased and it will applaud the great heart of the corporation that "takes care of its old employes who have given their lives to the service."

There is but one commendable feature about the whole performance, and it is this: Taking it for granted that an employer can employ whom he will and under what conditions he chooses to prescribe, and taking it for granted that the right of private contract protects him in what he does and that he will "fire" the old men any way, the pension is a good thing. Every other argument of reason and fairness is against it as a philanthropic policy and stamps it as a simple veneer of corporation catering to the sentiment of the people who are not personally interested.

Why do they not say something like this: "An employe who has become physically unfit for the performance of his duties, or who has been with the company for twenty-five years may retire on half pay." This would mean that a man disabled would become pensioned if he had been in the employ of the company only an hour, or it would mean that an employe entering the service at the age of fifteen would have his pension at the age of forty and, according to the judgment of the employer, a man is worked out at that age. When these conditions maintain in the pension system the writer will applaud the corporations for being honest and consistent.

The Steel Trust has done something different. It has offered its employes a chance to buy stock on the installment plan, but it does not call attention to the fact that right now stocks are as high as they ever will be normally, for business was never better. The prudent employe will not forget that Steel stocks have not been tried by a test of hard times and it might be a matter of business judgment not to invest too heavily in stocks that have not been called upon to experience the tests of bad business when dividends on stocks that are admittedly one-third water may not be so heavy as they have been.

Papers like the New York Sun referred to the proposition as a humanitarian exposition of the liberal policy of the Trust. Is it? The employes pay for every dollar's worth of stock they get. They pay interest on deferred payments at 5 per cent., and they have three years in which to pay for their stock. The employeholder of each paid-up share is to receive $5.00 a year per share in addition to the regular dividends. At the end of five years the stock-holding employe will “receive further compensation if the company's earnings justify it."

There is one thing that can be said in favor of this plan. It does not smack of the pretended pensioning of its employes as does the pension plan. It says in effect: "Pay the regular price and this company will give you a bonus if you remain in employment; if you quit it won't. If the company can afford it you will be paid as every other holder of preferred stock will be paid." There isn't anything to it except to offer stock on the installment plan, with interest to pay on the debt until it is paid and the inducement of bonus to the stockholders that might have a tendency to keep employes from striking. Simply a business proposition.

The fact that the Glass Trust is taking

back the stock it offered to its employes under about the same conditions is some evidence that employes as a rule do not care for this character of investment.

All things considered, the Journal only can see in the corporations plans a desire to encourage friendly sentiment toward the great combinations through a pretended interest in the welfare of the employe, which in reality is measured by its earning capacity in freedom from the interference of public demand.-Railroad Trainmen's Journal.

Why Do Not All Laborers Belong

to Labor Unions.

This is a question often askel, not only by those who belong to labor unions, but by those who do not. Perhaps it would be impossible to give any single categorical answer to this question, but possibly a few general reasons will fit most cases. By those who do not belong to labor unions, and who have a contempt for them, the question is asked in a sneering way and deserves no answer, but we are proceeding on the generally accepted, or soon to be accepted idea, that labor unions are here to stay. That is to say, there is no good reason, no logical argument why men who have labor to sell should be barred from combining and selling that labor to the best advantage any more than when two or more men who have capital should be barred from combining their capital in order to use it to a better advantage-this latter being an every day occurrence. Perhaps with equal force and more point it might be asked, why do not all people belong to churches, to political parties, clubs, etc., etc.? In many cases it is simply indifference and in many cases it is with at least a tacit idea or desire of getting the benefit of something for which they have never worked, or paid or sacrificed in any way; so that in a very large sense it is simply a case of one's "reaping where he has not sown"- they are willing and anxious to have the benefits of all the expense, trials, thought and heartaches of those who have given the best years of their lives and the best thought of their brains to bringing the cause of organized labor up to the point of perfection it now holds. Generally speaking, it matters little what reforms are

sought or to be brought about, the vast majority of people are willing to let others do the hard, uphill, and ofttimes discouraging work required. The saviours of mankind are few, but those who would profit by the salvation are multitudinous.

It is altogether probable that if Washington and Lincoln had not put their great and intense personality into the causes, the success of which they saw and felt would bless the world, that other men would have been found to bear the heavy burdens they bore, but it is true, nevertheless, that they did assume the burdens and responsibilities and no doubt need be felt but that the great majority of men were glad the responsibility rested on other shoulders, albeit, in the case of Lincoln perhaps no great man was so severely criticised as he was at first. It is so easy to let someone else do the saving that the multitude usually goes in the direction of least resistance. Of course we are well aware that not to every one is given those qualities of leadership that make for success in certain directions, nor is it given to all to make good followers and the success of any cause depends upon having both qualities.

Neither is it an uncommon trait in men to wait until some reform becomes an assured success before they are converted to its beneficial mission. The iconoclasts also are to be found all along life's pathway, and ofttimes it matters little what merit is inherent in the image they would pull down. This, it will be seen, that the reasons for not joining the unions are numerous and none of them well taken.

Possibly, also, somewhat of fault lies with the unions themselves, because there are unions, and unions, and it should no more be expected that all are equally far advanced, or developed, than to expect all men to be so, for given any particular union, and necessarily its standard of excellence is the collective entity of its membership; or, in other words, logically no union can be as good as its best member nor as bad as its worst member, that is to say, the beneficent individuality of a union is made up of the sum total of its membership, divided by some indeterminate quantity, the resultant quotient of which would represent the fineness of the whole. We are, therefore, constrained to conclude that no large or extensive unfriendly reason exists, why more, or all laborers, do not join the unions.-Railway Conductor.

Southern Cotton Mill Labor.

Mr. August Kohn has been making an exhaustive study of the cotton mill labor question in South Carolina. He is the Charleston News and Courier's staff correspondent, located at Columbia, the State capital. Mr. Kohn went about his work in a manner calculated to bring out all the material facts. He finds that the average cotton mill wage in South Carolina is practically the same in all the standard, established, successful mills of the State. It is 70 cents per day, including men's, women's and children's pay. He classes as "children" all under 16, the rule adopted by the superintendent of the census, for the government of the force that gathered textile statistics, and statistics of other industries in which children were employed.

In a typical mill he found the following employed: Men Women Children

Total...

231

127

86 .444

The average wages paid was 78 5-9 cents a day. The total pay roll of this force for two weeks was $4,248.68, $8,297.36 the pay a month, and $99,568.32 for a year. None of these pay rolls, half month, month or year, included of the salaried officers, which amounted to $6,376.06 for a year, or little more than 6 per cent. of the total paid labor.

Mr. Kohn gives a list of family earnings in different mills, per day. The first family presented consisted of seven persons: Highest wage, the father, employed "outside," in the stock-room, etc., $1 per day; lowest wage, a boy in the spinning room, 40 cents a day. Total daily income of family, $4.77, weekly, $28.66, or, say, $860 a year of 300 working days put in. In another mill a family of six made $6.15 per day, or $36.90 per week. In this case the father, a weaver, earned $1.75 per day, and a girl and boy, weavers, got 75 cents each. Some families of seven made less than $4 a day. The average per family of six is given at about $4.50 a day.

It will be noted that the children employed in the typical mill given by this writer were about 20 per cent., one-fifth, of the whole force. There were no children in the weave room, none in the slasher department, none in the outdoor labor. The spinning room employed forty-six, the spooling room twenty-seven, seventy-three in all, or the whole child force save thirteen.

Children's wages in the mills run from 25 cents a day, $1.15 per week, to 60 cents a day, $3.60 a week.-The Trades

man.

Cause and Effect.

The Indiana supreme court has declared the law ainst "pluck-me" stores to be unconstitu onal, because it invades the rights of the mining companies to do business. A Baltimore court holds that the so-called sweatshop law, to prevent garments being made in dwellings, is uncon stitutional, because it "impairs the right to the free and profitable use of property, whether occupied by the tenant or owner, thereby reducing its value, and interferes with the right to pursue any lawful occupation not injurious to others, in one's own home." Two more laws in favor of labor gone. Is it surprising that labor lacks faith in the fairness of the courts?— Typographical Journal.

The tremendous increase in the Social- . ist vote in the United States from less than 100,000 two years ago to nearly 300,000 has called forth an enormous amount of editorial comment from the

leading newspapers of the country. Particularly is this seen in the Massachusetts papers, where the increase from 11,000 to 34,000 was most striking.-Wilshire's Magazine.

Chinese Immigration.

When our Federal Government first had under consideration the questions which arose resulting from the SpanishAmerican War, we endeavored to impress upon the minds of all that difficulties would arise almost or entirely insurmountable should the policy prevail of the annexation of the Philippines and the sovereignty of the United States proclaimed therein, and this had reference to the problem of Chinese immigration to the Philippines, as well as Hawaii. It is and should be not only our duty to protect the people of the mainland of our own country, but the peoples, too, over whom we have assumed control.

The American authorities in the Philippines have some time ago proclaimed against the immigration of Chinese into the islands, and the law by which Hawaii was annexed contained a similar provision. For some time past the hue and cry has gone up from those who have always been pro-Chinese and antagonistic to labor for the admission of Chinese both to the Philippines and to Hawaii. True,