have surely elevated and broadened the profession. Or, to be more emphatic, you have made it an art. Heretofore it was somewhat a matter of guess work; now it is on a scientific basis, and the workman has a fact for everything he does. Before I took the course I thought I knew something about the business. I found out I did not. But I do now. I know it would be a great benefit to every printer to take the course. It would brighten up those that are a little stale; and even the most expert would learn a great many things to his advantage. Mr. Trezise has certainly revolutionized the profession, and his lieutenants do all in their power to make things plain for the student. I hope you will pardon this lengthy letter, but I am enthusiastic on the subject."

From New Zealand: "As regards the course, I may say that I took it up more out of curiosity than anything else, though of course I hold to the statement that one can always learn (unless bigoted or stupid). My curiosity was tempted by the knowledge that the Inland Printer is always practical, and I knew I was not in danger of losing anything through the transaction. I found the lettering very tedious at first, as lettering and drawing were two subjects entirely new to me, but now I am getting quite interested and think you will admit I have made a little progress. As I never drew a letter before, I was very much at sea, as regards proportion, but now I am itching to lay out jobs in color, but-time enough. I think there is no doubt as to the educative value of the lettering lessons-I have completed three, and often find myself in the course of a day's work taking much more notice of the types I handle than previ ously (examining the series and construction of the letters)."

An apprentice in the Canadian Northwest: "The local union here told me to take the I. T. U. Course."

A student from the same neck o' the woods: "I wish to say, and not simply to be in the swim, that one of my greatest regrets is that I could not have had this course about twelve years ago, when I first started at the business."

A printer who parades the Great White Way: "It is a good investment and I have not begrudged a cent of it."

A Massachusetts printer: "Every day I see the need of the lessons. I think they are necessary to every apprentice or printer who wants to be up-todate and do good work."

UNION HAS BUILDED BETTER THAN IT KNEW,

An elderly member, who is obviously a scholar, gives this interesting sketch of his experience with the course, emphasizing that its methods are the best known to pedagogy:

"When I took up the first lesson of the course it was with great doubt as to my ability to accomplish creditable lettering. But slowly and carefully I did the best I knew how, and was encouraged when with his corrections my instructor commended the effort. Then came the inking, and that was a slow and laborious task, for my pen, new to the work, was difficult of control. But the

inking accomplished, I was so tickled with the result, because I had done so much better than I thought I could that, as you may recall, I gave hilarious expression to my joy. I smile now when I think of my exultation over my first alphabet with all its deformities. But a reminiscent mood is leading me a-wandering. What I started to say is that I felt much honored when in June one of my productions was found worthy of insertion in the Inland Printer; and to appear again in your beautiful booklet is indeed piling honor upon honor. I will not conceal from you that I am much elated.

#

"I am so much interested in the course that I can not forbear some comments. It has been a surprise to me. Had the teaching been presented didactically, by abstruse rules and precepts, I should not have been astonished. But everything is so clear and simple and obvious. The teaching is what may be called inductive. It leads by easy steps from the lower to the higher. It is built on the solid foundation of principles, not mere rules. Years ago I took up the study of botany as a pastime, and the desire to gain a more thorough knowledge of its terminology led to the study of Latin and Greek. I acquired a smattering of Greek and some facility in Latin, but the acquirement was tedious, for I had no instruction other than that obtained unaided through text-books. I found some of my text-books full of errors and had to abandon them for others; and the teachings of some contradicted the teachings of others. What was the use of it all? Perhaps the greatest benefit was the mental discipline afforded, and the capacity to hang on like a bulldog to anything that interests me. At last I chanced on the inductive method for the study of Latin by Harper and Burgess (Harper was the late president of Chicago University), and found what I wanted. Starting with the first sentence of Cæsar, 'Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres,' a literal translation was given, followed by instruction in pronunciation and syllabication and a short vocabulary illustrative of the teachings of the lesson. The next lesson advanced from the first, and so on with the rest. Of course, the first lessons were very easy for me. But the point is, instead of wandering along in a dim light through lingual byways, bestrewn with brambles concealing pitfalls, I had found a guide that led me along a well-ordered and lighted path. So it is with the I. T. U. Correspondence Course. It bears the same relation to the old methods of teaching the typographic art that the admirable inductive method of Harper and Burgess bears to the old method of teaching languages. Of course, using the old method, with the aid of an instructor, I could have made much more progress than was in my power without that aid. But still there would have been the differ

ence in method. Now in this study, supplementing the admirable method devised by Mr. Trezise, one has the supervision of the able corps of instructors engaged in teaching the course. And that means very much. In offering this course to the printers, not only of America but of the world, the International Union has builded better than it knew."

HOME VISIT AN EYE-OPENER.

I want to say a word or two about the Union Printers Home. Within the last year it has been my pleasure on two or more occasions to laud the purposes and intent of this feature of our organization from the public rostrum. At such times I felt myself fairly well informed, in a general way, having previously visited the Home. However, a second visit a stopover en route home from the convention-was an eye-opener.

During this visit I was conducted about the grounds and buildings by our genial superintendent, Mr. Deacon, who, no doubt noting my great interest, took care that I had an opportunity of observing the essential features of the institution.

I

say it was an eye-opener, because the improvements since my visit of two years ago were so marked and numerous that I could hardly believe it possible. But, after all, this evolution may not seem so remarkable when you come to know Superintendent Deacon better. "Charley" is certainly there "with the goods," and is "on the job" all the time. I caught him in the act, and must tell about it. As I neared the gateway I observed many men with teams digging in the earth, and beheld Deacon in shirt sleeves "bossing" the job. I inquired, of course, the cause of all this industry, and was told that, after "prodding and cussing" the street car company for several years, the company had decided to run cars to the gate of the Home, and that Deacon was "out in force" to see that the cars run sufficiently near so that sightseeing "rubbernecks," and others so desiring, could get a good view of the Home. I incidentally ascertained that our friend Deacon had the foreman alter his specifications so that the cars would run within fifty feet of the Home fence, and that the "loop" would be placed just beyond the gate. And as I left I became convinced that the track and loop would be placed as indicated by Mr. Deacon.

During my visit I conducted a "chapel meeting" on the Home grounds, participated in by a dozen or more oldtime friends now resident at the institution. Many of them were men whom I have known for a score of years, and I feel confident they spoke the truth in describing their residence at the Home. They assured me, individually and collectively, that the Home was everything claimed for it, and that Superintendent Deacon was the right man in the right place-impartial, painstak ing and interested in all alike. And Mrs. Deacon, and even the children, were included invariably when the old fellows were discussing many incidents of attention and kind favors received.

But I am digressing from the intent of this letter. During the St. Joseph convention it was ascertained that about $8,000 was needed in order to complete the library addition, and each delegate was requested to call the attention of his local to this fact and endeavor to secure a contribution. A visit to the Home will convince any one of the

necessity of this improvement; also the wise and careful manner in which the addition is being erected. While at present but one story is contemplated, the foundation and superstructure are so arranged that additional stories may be added at minimum cost. For instance, all gas and light fixtures, water and sewer pipes are carried to the top of the present contemplated single story, and great steel girders are placed in position, so that when a second story is added the work may be continued without altering in any manner the present plan and at no considerable outlay. The addition carries with it, besides a suitable library room, a much-needed lavatory, kitchen, cooling and storage rooms, all of which are most conveniently and carefully planned. Its completion means, of course, that added comforts may be provided in the main building and that present crowded conditions may be avoided.

Boost for the fund. You will never regret having done so.

While discussing matters in connection with this magnificent institution, it might be well to add that a piece of legislation was enacted at the convention which was long overdue. I have reference to instructing the Home trustees to see to it that Superintendent Deacon receives a salary commensurate with his vast duties and dignity of the posi tion. H. W. DENNETT.

Salt Lake City, Utah.

GOLD HUNTING IN ALASKA.

If the reader possesses a fairly good map of Alaska it will not be hard for him to find a spot marked "Mount McKinley, 20,300 feet altitude;" but it would be a very good map that would show Nugget Gulch, which is one of several hundred little creeks that take their rise in the perpetual snow and ice on the south side of this grand old mountain. The waters from this territory finds its way to the ocean via Cache Creek, Kahiltna River, Yentna River, Susitna Rixer and Cook's Inlet.

This region is among the newest placer gold mining camps of Alaska, and is known as "Poor Man's Diggings," from the fact that bed rock, which carries the values here, is only from about three to seven feet from the surface, and can be successfully worked with pick and shovel and gold pan, the gold being so coarse that it can be saved without the use of amalgam plates, carpet and other devices.

A geologist will tell you that the country was once a shallow ocean, and at the time of its emergence the retreating waters cut out great canyons. It was at this time that the subsiding waters carried on their great work of concentration, collecting the gold in what are now the cañons and creek beds, where it is now being found.

At some remote time glaciers covered many

square miles of this territory, their outline being plainly marked by a line of boulders, and it is believed that they deposited the gold here, bringing it from some faraway place, because there has never been any pay streak or mother lode found.

So far, I have not met any strolling printers up here, marking it as a somewhat out-of-the-way place. Last February I left the steamer at Seward, purchased a dog team, sled and camp outfit, and "mushed" about 1,200 miles. The trail led over several mountain summits, over glaciers, around snow slides, across many overflowed rivers (the rivers here contain steep rapids where many lives are lost each year), and after being some two months on the trail made a permanent summer camp near the mouth of Nugget Gulch and above timber line. But three camps this year were employing men, the rest being a single prospector or partners. One concern has shipped some three or four hundred tons of machinery to the head of navigation, and which it will bring in over the snow this winter, and will mine on a very large scale next year. This concern, which, I understand, is financed by Seattle (Wash.) people, paid its men this year $100 per month and board. Another firm paid $5 a day and board, and another $6 a day and the miner board himself, and the miner would also have to sled in his firewood a distance of about twenty miles and cross a mountain range and several cañons!

One finds here the oldtime prospector who has stampeded in every country where gold has been found; he is interesting, cheerful, honest, and, above all, one of the most hospitable men on earth. There are many things about him which remind one of the oldtime printer, but, of course, he is not so much in the public eye. I saw one prospector who had only just learned about the Spanish-American war-years after it had commenced and ended. He goes prospecting more often alone than with a partner, sometimes accompanied by a dog; always about his person he carries some quick and active poison, to be taken in case of an accident which would prevent him reaching the camp of another prospector.

I had often wondered what became of strikebreakers, who would disappear after a strike was settled and the strikers were back in their old places; and, to my surprise, I found bunches of them in this out-of-the-way place. They hang around some of the larger camps and settlements, working a little now and then, bumming a livingfor the miner is a most charitable person-and occasionally one is caught robbing a "cache," when the miners will promptly hand him a "blue" ticket and show him which way the water runs. One can hear echoes of every large strike that has occurred in the last dozen years or so by listening to their conversation. A more despicable or cowardly set of beings it is hard to imagine. Some time ago seven of them were coming down the Kahiltna River. An accident threw the party into the water; six of the party reached one bank and one of them the other, where he was left without food to perish, and no effort made then or afterward to rescue him. The river is both narrow and shallow,

LABEL PROPAGANDA NECESSARY.

The union label can be made a powerful factor in ameliorating the condition of labor. It is free from the objectionable features of the sympathetic strike and the boycott. It presents no ground for judicial interference. The most bigoted unionhating, mammon-serving judge could not put forward a pretext upon which to interfere with efforts to extend its use. In fact, the law recognizes property rights in union labels and punishes infringement and unauthorized use of them.

Concerted and vigorous label propaganda will contribute largely toward putting the entire labor movement upon an altruistic plane. Organized labor thereby will be placed in the attitude of aiding its friends instead of fighting its enemies. It will win supporters among present opponents and induce others who are now indifferent to take notice of us. It will enable us to discard the boycott. We will no longer be under the necessity of advertising our foes. By continuously working for our friends, pushing the sale of their products, we will have an automatic boycott against unfair employers. We will do away with the boycott and at the same time make it perpetual, paradoxical though this may seem.

It is not a difficult matter to work up a demand for union-made goods. Hosts of good people will go out of their way to buy them after they learn what the label stands for. We meet patrons of it in most unexpected places. A little over a year ago I was in a little village in north Missouri, five miles from a railroad. It is an old settlement, and had attained its present population more than fifty years ago, when that section was yet a wilder ness-the last place in which one would expect to find advocacy of trade unionism. Wishing to treat the farmer with whom I had ridden, I went into a small notion store and asked the proprietor, an elderly man, if he had any union-label cigars. In reply he stated that, so far as practicable, it was his aim to handle union-made goods only. In the windows of the main store of the village were advertisements of union-made clothing and overalls. A few weeks later I spent some time in the home of a well-to-do Chicago business man. His housekeeper informed me that she was a member of a "consumers' league," to which many of the leading women of the city belonged, one of whose tenets was the giving of preference to union-label goods in procuring supplies.

The farmers are beginning to realize that their interests are identical with those of the working class in general. They perceive that the higher the wages of the artisans and laborers in the cities. the higher will be the standard of living and the greater the demand for agricultural products.

They are endeavoring to expand their home market, and are organizing societies closely akin to trade unions. They are anxious to secure the good will of and affiliate with organized labor. In many instances they have pledged themselves, by resolution, to the recognition of the label. Intelligent work among them is sure to prove fruitful. Now is an opportune time to inaugurate a national label propaganda. Never before has public opinion been so favorable to organized labor. The church has at last become interested. Many of the clergy are studying economic questions for the first time. They are becoming aware that present industrial regulations do not square with the ethics of the Master, and that a little "applied Christianity" in our social relations is imperatively demanded. The decision of Judge Wright has had a wide-reaching effect. It has emphasized the fact that capital and labor are not equal before the law. It is legal for employers to maintain a blacklist; it is illegal for the workers to advise withholding patronage. The sentencing of good citizens to prison simply because they voice the demands of the class which bears the heaviest burdens does not meet with the approval of the great body of citizens. This attempt to abrogate the rights of American citizens and to throttle organizations which aim to better the condition of humanity by peaceable methods, at a time when the most benighted and despotic monarchies of the Old World are being supplanted by constitutional governments, is indeed a striking anomaly.

There are many good people who say they sympathize with labor, but that they do not approve of strikes and industrial strife; that they believe in arbitration, etc. Let us show them how they can make their sympathy effective without it costing them anything-yea, even while benefiting themselves. Let us tell them about union-made goods and what the label denotes. It attests that the manufacturer believes in the "square deal," in the adjustment of differences by collective bargaining, that his interests and those of his workmen are not antagonistic. It is a guaranty as to the quality of the goods, that they are well made, by capable workmen receiving a fair wage, in sanitary workshops; that they are free from the contagion of the sweatshop, and that debasing child labor has had no part in their production.

The

label should be a commendation of equal weight with that conveyed by the government certificate affixed under the pure food and bonded warehouse laws. Purchasing of union-label goods is a method of curbing the encroachments of predatory wealth which ought to become popular.

It is as much the duty of the union man to buy union-made goods as it is his duty to abide by the scale of prices and to pay his dues. Until this is generally felt and acted upon but little progress can be made. How many of us are shamefully negligent in this respect! A campaign of education is the first thing in order. Converts must be made among the rank and file in all unions. At the meeting rooms there should be distributed printed lists of union-label goods showing where they may be procured. Each union ought to have

a label committee; these committees should be affiliated through central bodies and by international organization. A certain percentage of dues ought to be set aside for label propaganda. The labels should be advertised in the Sunday papers occasionally, giving in connection a list of the dealers handling union-made articles. Explanatory matter should also be run as advertisements. Weekly papers and magazines having large circulations could be utilized to good advantage. The adver tisements could be put into unfair publications also, and their readers enlightened, with profit to the cause of unionism. Let the labor press drop the heading, "We Don't Patronize," and substitute the affirmation, "We Patronize," to be followed by the names of the manufacturers who turn out label goods.

In order to make progress, organized labor must have public opinion on its side. The people must be enlightened. They can be reached most effectively through the newspapers. I predict that reformers in all branches of human activity-religious, economic, sociologic and philanthropicwill adopt this method in large measure. The city dailies will be made truly cosmopolitan by means of paid "ads." The value of advertising in the business world-to those who wish to buy or to sell is universally recognized. Its value as a disseminator of principles, as an educator, as an overthrower of wrongs, is being discerned. Publications devoted to special lines reach only those directly interested. They make few converts. They have a limited circulation, and are rarely successful as business ventures.

The label propaganda should be international in scope. The organization for effecting this is already at hand. Let it become an auxiliary of the American Federation of Labor. Send label delegates from the local unions to city and state federations and from them to the national body.

Employers antagonize the union because they think it pays them to do so. Their mistake is shown by the fact that the most prosperous concerns are those conducted under union regulations. By creating a widespread demand for union-made goods we will show them their error in most convincing manner. The establishments which fall in line in order to supply this demand will have no desire to go back to non-union conditions. Their action will be taken solely upon business grounds-because it pays. No coercion will be required.

Some months ago a union label department of the American Federation of Labor was organized, somewhat upon the lines herein suggested. It is now up to the local unions to do their duty in helping to systematize the label propaganda.

An able article recently appeared in THE JOURNAL from the pen of A. J. Portenar, of New York, in which he advocates the formation of a great cooperative mercantile society, modeled after such societies which have proved successful in England, France and Belgium, to be controlled and directed by the international unions, to meet the "rapidly approaching crisis in the history of unionism." as a method "to secure the patronage of

union men and their sympathizers for those who employ union labor, and to divert it from those who are our enemies." After showing that the manner in which boycotts and label exploitations are conducted is wasteful and unscientific because lacking in the element of definiteness, he argues that "it is time to seek a method which can not be condemned by the courts, and which will economically and thoroughly achieve the results sought through the label and the boycott."

By creating a universal demand for union-label goods, all the benefits which he claims for the cooperative society can be secured without the unions going into the mercantile business, which would prove both costly and hazardous. Let me briefly enumerate some of these benefits, nearly in his own words:

Every union man could purchase union goods without the physical weariness and vexation of spirit which now attends a search for such articles.

No court could find an infringement of antitrust laws or an illegal interference with the rights of others in such a propaganda.

There would be no need for the expenditure of vast sums of money to advertise a boycott. The plan would be automatic. While a manufacturer employed union labor he could sell his goods to union labor throughout the country. If he declared an "open" shop, that market would be closed to him immediately and completely.

Many persons to whom we now appeal to look for a label or uphold a boycott as a matter of sympathy in such a case would give us their support without solicitation.

Would not each of the difficulties which he sets out "melt like snow before the summer sun" as the result of well-directed international label agitation? CHARLES H. KOHLMAN.

Chicago, Ill.

NEED FOR A DEFENSE FUND.

A very timely question is propounded by Mr. Richardson, writing from St. Paul, when he asks, "Are we really strong?" From no one better than from a member of No. 30, who has passed through the experiences of that local during the last four years, could the question come. And he is right again when he says, "Let us look out for our fighting strength and power of self-protection against attack, as a trade union, before we engage in the insurance business."

But while the method of making ourselves strong-offensive and defensive-has been discussed, it has always been along the lines of accumulating through assessment a large amount of money as a reserve fund. Now this is a burdensome process, and one to which it is very difficult to obtain the consent of the membership. Be sides, such a fund, in the present state of statutory and court-made law, would be very liable to attack and tieup by legal proceedings at the very moment most needed.

Instead of the accumulation of a large fund in actual cash (or cash equivalent) by assessment, there is a simpler and better way. The Interna

tional Typographical Union has always exercised a large influence in the American Federation of Labor and its councils, as well as at large, upon the action of almost all other trade unions of the country. It should be made the settled policy to exercise its prestige and influence upon the federation and upon all national unions to the end that:

(1) The American Federation of Labor be given the power to levy assessments upon its entire membership in support of any strike (or lockout) of a national character, or one of vital importance to the national union involved.

(2) That it become the settled and well-known policy of the American Federation to use to the limit this power in defense of the membership of its constituent national unions.

The conditions of the exercise of this power, and the methods by which it is to be carried out, could easily be arranged by the consenting bodies.

The typographical union could at this time, with the best of grace, take up the work of urging the adoption of this policy, because it has no immediate prospect of being a direct beneficiary of such system. It has just finished a winning fight in which it has collected and disbursed some four million dollars in the struggle to establish the eight-hour day. But won though the battle has been, the membership bears away many scars to show that it has also suffered; and some strong. holds, even, have been lost for a time.

Had the power to so levy assessments been vested in the American Federation, and had it been known as its determined policy to use that power, at the time when final negotiations were attempted to reach an understanding on the eighthour day in the job and book printing industry, what would have occurred? An assessment of 10 cents per week upon the 2,000,000 or more membership of the federation for five weeks would produce a million dollars. This could be repeated a second, a fourth or a fifth time, if necessaryand with but the entire cost per member of $2 or $2.50. Had it been known that this taxing power existed, and would be exercised-and honored by payment is it thinkable that the United Typothetæ would have thought of fighting for a single minute?

The power and will to raise the one, two or five millions would have settled the question, and instead of the four million dollars we actually spent, a few thousands only would have been needed to round up a few small recalcitrants who would not obey the orders of their own organization to "be good, for you can't be otherwise." The power and will to raise this money would itself prevent the necessity for laying the assessment.

The typographical union should take up this matter and lead in the movement. Through this means we would have a much stronger "binding tie" to keep the membership together than any insurance fund or scheme could possibly give. And what is true of the typographical union would be true of the others. CHARLES J. SCHOTT.

Seattle, Wash.