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States? No; the printers either do not speak the English language, are incompetent as judged by American standards, or both, and, in addition, most of them are off color to such an extent that any union formed would be dominated by the colored element.

Are English or American printing interests increasing rapidly enough to warrant the establishment of locals under the jurisdiction of the International Typographical Union? Quite the contrary, so far as Havana is concerned, for there are but four white men left there, where formerly there were double that number.

Are we endeavoring to protect ourselves for the future by gaining a foothold now? If so, then search out the minimum of seven white printers in any city in the West Indies and organize them into a union. There are but five in Cuba and the Isle of Pines combined!

Is this movement intended as charity to the native printers of these islands? Then let it be done as such; let negro unions be openly organized as negro unions, and Spanish unions as Spanish unions, with provisions whereby the interests of white members of the International Typographical Union will be safeguarded.

It is the opinion of your correspondent, as well as the unanimous opinion of all those who were in Havana when the movement was begun, that the organization of locals in the West Indies is, until there are at least seven white men in one community, a useless, senseless extravagance, answering no good purpose, and tending to weaken, rather than to strengthen, the International Typographical Union. GILBERT I. BRAYTON.

Atlanta, Ga.

TUBERCULOSIS EXHIBIT AT PASSAIC. The tuberculosis exposition which has been showing in New Jersey for the past three months was housed in the Memorial Library at Passaic for two weeks, closing on May 19, which was known as labor night. An instructive program was ar ranged by Passaic Typographical Union No. 178 and other labor organizations of the city, dealing with the economic aspects of the white plague, F. W. Gott, president of No. 178, acting as chairman. The model of the Union Printers Home tent occupied a conspicuous position and attracted favorable attention from the large and interested audience. The speakers were Congressman Hughes, Mayor Low, Assemblyman Blauvelt, Health Officer Korshet and John L. Cahill, chairman of the committee on health and sanitation of Typographical Union No. 6. Mr. Cahill's speech was evidently the most interesting of the evening to those present, as he treated the subject from a side that receives all too little consideration at such expositions. He showed the intimate interest of the trade unionist in checking the disease, and proved that American labor organizations appreciated this fact. Organized labor, and particularly the International Typographical Union, he claimed, were invaluable aids to medical science in combating tu berculosis in modern methods of prevention and cure. The successful efforts of Big Six's health

committee were described at length, with instances of the improvement that had been brought about in composing room conditions.

ers,

Mr. Cahill spoke of tuberculosis as a social disease, propagated by long hours, small pay and unhygienic housing and working conditions. The effective remedy he asserted to be in thoughtful, progressive labor unions, which, by advancing the standards of living and education, protected the community. Many occupations are peculiarly susceptible to pulmonary diseases, chief among which are those of granite workers, cigarmakers and printdue almost entirely to lack of proper safeguards that should in common humanity be installed by every employer. In New York city factories, up to a few years ago, many life-saving appliances that were provided for under the state labor law were omitted on the score of a trifling expense. Apartment houses were put up without regard to ventilation, light or sanitation. Through the agitation of the labor unionists of the city, a tenement house law regulating the construction of all multiple dwellings was passed and a labor department created, the latter to enforce child labor statutes and maintain workshops in safety and cleanliness. No. 6 had succeeded in having sections of the labor law construed and amplified so as to apply especially to the harmful accompaniments of the printer's trade, with gratifying results. Brooklyn, N. Y. ROBERT B. TOBIN.

HIGH MINDS AND GREAT PRINCIPLES. Just in order to attract the attention of printerdom to the general trend of high minds, or those supposed to be elevated, toward the great principles governing the country and the ideas of union labor, the writer makes the following quotations:

In the June Cosmopolitan, and contained in an article, "Polyglots in Temples of Babel," Professor Sumner, of Yale, says: "The doctrine that all men are equal is being gradually dropped from its inherent absurdity, and at any time we may also drop the jingle about a government of the people, for the people, and by the people." "The amount of coal is being exhausted, and it is not improbable that slavery will be reintroduced when the coal measures are exhausted."

Woodrow Wilson, president of Princeton College: "The minds that prepared the way for the American public were dominated by Rousseau, 'the apostle of all that is fanciful, unreal and misleading in politics."" He further stated that Americans have not enough of leadership, and quotes from an English historian, "Americans are a nation because they once obeyed a king."

In his baccalaureate address before the graduating class at Princeton University, in June, Presi dent Wilson, among other things, said:

You know what the usual standard of the employe is in our day. It is to give as little as he may for his wages.

Labor is standardized by the trade unions, and this is the standard to which it is made to conform. No one is suffered to do more than the average workman can do. In some trades and handicrafts no one is suffered to do more than the least skilful of his fellows can do within the

hours allotted to a day's labor, and no one may work out of hours at all or volunteer anything beyond the minimum.

I need not point out how economically disas trous such a regulation of labor is. It is so unprofitable to the employer that in some trades it will presently not be worth his while to attempt anything at all. He had better stop altogether than operate at an inevitable loss.

The labor of America is rapidly becoming unprofitable under its present regulation by those who have determined to reduce it to a minimum. Our economic supremacy may be lost because the country grows more and more full of unprofitable

servants.

Now compare the above with the way he lets down the millionaire:

What has not been sufficiently noticed and emphasized is that most of these colossal processes of wealth which have now fallen under our condemnation were conducted by honest men who were keeping within the bounds of the law.

Comment concerning the purpose of such utterances as the above would be entirely superfluous. Columbus, Ohio. HOWE WOODRUFF.

ATLANTA AS A CONVENTION CITY. Atlanta, 1910, and why not?

It is fitting for the International Typographical Union to help celebrate Atlanta's anniversary.

Atlanta is an interesting, hospitable, hustling, wide-awake city. The Atlanta spirit will do any visitor good to get acquainted with.

The trip to Atlanta is beautiful and interesting, come from what direction you may. The city it self has many interesting and peculiar features, and in modern buildings will surprise many who come from larger cities.

What the delegate may see en route: Starting from Cincinnati at 8:30 A. M. via the Queen and Crescent railroad, the scenery can not be surpassed in this country. True, there are higher mountatins, but the hills of Kentucky and Tennessee have a charm and grandeur all their own.

After crossing the Ohio the traveler rushes along and is soon at Lexington, with Clay's burial place in sight. After this comes the climb into the mountains. The tobacco fields are left behind, and from the car window can be seen in all directions the separate peaks (knobs in the vernacular of the region) which have given to this region the name of the Alps of America. Back in these hills live the mountaineers, so much written of in the press dispatches. One of the most beautiful scenes along any railroad is seen at High Bridge, over the Kentucky river. The train here runs slowly, and travelers are given an opportunity to admire the beauty and grandeur of the scene. The scenery is so changing that interest does not lag.

As the shades of evening gather Chattanooga is reached for supper. Of course, all delegates will spend at least a day here. Lookout mountain and Chickamauga park will not be passed up by any delegate, and the boys in Chattanooga will be on hand to show the way.

Lookout has an incline to take one up, or the road is well made and easy of ascent. From the top of the mount a magnificent view is presented. Here can be seen one of the peculiar battlegrounds

of the world. Here southern chivalry and northern valor met in bloody array.

As the tourist travels over Chickamauga he rea lizes that 100,000 men fought here for three days for what each thought was right. You see where Longstreet's corps (probably the greatest fighting body of men in either the union or confederate armies) crushed the union forces, and almost made a complete rout, only General Thomas holding firm, and the spot where he gained his name as the Rock of Chickamauga is pointed out. But the sad feature of the trip will be the plot marked the "Unknown Dead," 12,000 of them.

It is hard to conceive, in traveling through this region, that our fathers campaigned through these hills to the number of 300,000 or more, and that we, their sons, now meet under the starry flag of a united country. Don't forget to see the old engine, "The General," in the Union depot at Chattanooga. This was the engine used in the famous raid.

Taking the Atlantic and Western from Chattanooga to Atlanta, the traveler goes over the route of Sherman's Atlanta campaign.

The points of interest are many, among which are Tunnel hill, Big Shanty, Resaca, Kenesaw mountain and Marietta-a continuous firing line of 147 miles.

Then Atlanta. And when the travel-worn delegate meets Jerome Jones, Wade Harding, Ed Sutton, Dan Green, Frank Carter, Billy Wardlaw, Joe Hobby, and, in fact, the whole membership of No. 48, not excepting the woman's auxiliary, he will understand what true-hearted, whole-hearted southern hospitality is.

Atlanta sights-Grant park, cyclorama of the battle of Atlanta, Fort McPherson, federal penitentiary, National Cemetery at Marietta, the Falls of Tullula and Stony mountain are some of the points of interest.

As to the weather, the heat in Atlanta during August is not as enervating or dangerous as in the average northern or western city. No doubt it will be hot, but the bugbear of hot weather, General Humidity, is conspicuous by his absence. Highland Park, Mich. ELMER B. McGaw.

INSURANCE PROPOSITIONS.

There are generally about 200 to 250 propositions, resolutions, etc., submitted to the annual conventions of the International Typographical Union every year. Many of them are already cov ered by existing laws, many are unnecessary, some are trivial in character and scope, and many have only a local or personal application. All must be approved, amended, or disapproved by the laws committee, voted on by the delegates assembled in convention, and some of them finally submitted to subordinate unions for ratification. These committees on laws are always made up of men of sound judgment and a thorough knowl edge of the effect a proposition or resolution will have on the organization as a body. Its members spend a great deal of time in investigating, analyz ing and discussing everything that comes before

them during the sessions of a convention. And no one has ever intimated that in their deliberations they have ever been influenced by personal or local "pull" in putting the seal of their approval on the laws they recommend. Very few favors are shown, and no graft measure ever got support enough from a committee on laws to see the vote of a convention taken on it.

So it is not surprising that less than one in twenty of these propositions ever reach the referendum end of its journey through the legislative course of a convention. If all the proposed changes in our laws were made that were sug. gested by delegates and members, we should have an organization that would be the sensation of modern times. If each member and delegate could

benefit to the members of the organization it rep

resents.

First-It is a foregone conclusion that a plan of life insurance will be the theme of wide discussion in the convention. The subordinate unions are expecting and waiting for a chance to vote on a proposition of some kind along this line. It is going to be a hard problem to outline a plan which will meet the requirements and needs of the hour, and, at the same time, be acceptable to the half hundred or so delegates who will have contending ideas as to the scope of the proposed law, the methods of its administration, the amounts of money involved and the class of beneficiaries under its provision. That a life insurance law is desired by a large majority of our members can

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have his way about what should be enacted as law, we would have more law than the ancient Medes and Persians, and the typothetæ would surely welcome the day such a condition came about. But, thanks be to the everlasting vigilance of the laws committee, the caution and hard sense of the executive council, backed by the scrutiny of referendum vote, a few good propositions are proposed and adopted each year. A careful inspection of our constitution and by-laws will convince any one that very few bad laws are there.

But now, admitting the competency of the legis lative supervisors, and giving due credit to their efforts to perfect the governing rules of so large an institution as the International Typographical Union, it may not seem presumptuous to suggest an amendment or two that the St. Joseph convention could adopt with credit to itself and lasting

not be disputed. That a practical and feasible law can be framed is also a certainty. It should, however, be simple, plain and direct, with no frills or "dingbats" strung along in its course of operation; it also should be a law free from all red tape foolishness and expensive methods of administrations.

The principal thing about this insurance legisla tion is to come to some agreement about how much money can be devoted to paying death claims, and the next thing is to determine where the money is to come from and how we are to get it. This alone is sufficient to insure a lively debate, as scarcely any two delegates would have the same opinions regarding the matter. Why not simply amend section 14, article v, by-laws, which provides a burial fund of $75, by striking out the "$75" and inserting an amount deemed justifiable

by the funds at our disposal. This would settle the matter speedily and easily without the appointment or election of any "life insurance commission," "agent," "supervisor," or the establishment of any lengthy code of rules governing the disbursement of death benefits. But some skeptic, cynic, critic or blusterer may ask how are we to determine what amount would be deemed justifiable?

At the Hot Springs convention one enthusiastic life insurance delegate introduced a proposition to increase the burial benefit from $70 to $500. This proposition went down to defeat as being too pessimistic for even a Standard Oil treasury to stand for, without a solitary word being spoken in its favor. Another proposition of $250 also was defeated. The only argument made in both cases was that either of them would bankrupt the treasury.

And, in the face of this argument, we have gone on ever since the Hot Springs convention putting money into the treasury we did not use, until on April 20, 1909, we had $279,803.38. Of this amount $101,843.53 is in the regular fund, $147,443.16 in the old age pension fund and $30,516.89 in the Home fund. This money, with the exception of $5,000 loaned the hatters' union, is distributed among seven or eight banks.

The Printers Home fund of $30,516.89 should be kept inviolate for any purpose than the Home. It is needed there, and all will agree that it is none too large. This would leave a fund of approximately $250,000 with which the builders of a life insurance plan could begin work. Some solvent insurance companies do business on less capital than this.

It is up to the St. Joe convention to do some thing with this money. SANFORD B. MILLS. Ottawa, Kan.

TO AVOID TUBERCULAR INFECTION. Much attention has been given the ex post facto aspect of tubercular infection, and the unfortunate who finds himself in the grip of the measly microbe is told a number of things to do in the general process of ridding himself of his undesirable companion-or, perhaps the better word would be, tenant. I would like to offer a few suggestions as to how the infection may be avoided, believing that in this matter, as in most affairs of life, it is "better to be safe than sorry."

When the servant of Naaman returned from his visit to Elisha, and brought word that the Hebrew prophet had advised that the Syrian general dip himself seven times in the River Jordan, much indignation was expressed by the notable warrior. If he had been required to perform some difficult stunt, or subject himself to an elaborate course of regimen he would gladly have undertaken the treatment prescribed to rid himself of his leprosy. But, just because the treatment was simple and easily applied, he began to kick, and demanded to know why, when the rivers Abana and Parphar of Damascus were such nice, clean streams, he should be required to go and submerge himself in the miserably muddy trickle of the Jordan. Naaman

was like a good many others; in fact, human nature hasn't changed a great deal since that time, but he was sick, and so sick that he would take a gambler's chance, and he did as the prophet bade, and was healed. Now, "the moral of this here obserwation," as Captain Cuttle would say, "lies in the application on it."

When you are convinced that you have been infected by the tubercle bacillus, and its inroads are working dire results to your physique, you will gladly follow the advice of the physician, and do any stunt he proposes to cure yourself. Take time by the forelock, and try to live so that you will not be afflicted by the disease. In order to know how this may be done, it is necessary to consider the disease and its manifestations briefly. The tubercle bacillus is a vegetable organism, and enters the body either through being inhaled or through being introduced in food. Properly cooked food can never be the means of conveying this or any other disease germ, for the degree of heat needed to cook food is sufficient to destroy all germ life. Therefore, if the germ enters the body through food, it must be food that is raw or nearly raw. Once the germ is in the body, it enters into the circulation, and seeks for a weak spot, where it may attach itself and breed. This spot may be one place, it may be another, and as the germ colony locates, so the disease takes on a local name, and becomes tuberculosis of one part or organ of the body or another.

To avoid infection, then, it is first necessary to breathe air as pure as possible, and to eat food that is properly prepared. If milk is used as a beverage, it should be pasteurized. Milk is probably the greatest known disseminator of the disease, for although Prof. Koch says the bovine tubercle bacillus will not attack the human being, he is alone in this conclusion, other investigators holding the contrary view, and the great mass of doctors agreeing that no matter which is right, it is foolish to take unnecessary chances. Therefore, unless you are very certain that your milk has been supplied from a tested and known healthy cow, or has been sterilized by pasteurization or other approved process, do not drink it. You need not fear beef from tubercular cattle, for if the meat be cooked, the disease germ is destroyed. I would not suggest that you knowingly eat of diseased meat, simply because it has been well cooked, but not all of us have the opportunity for inspecting the meats with which we are served prior to their coming to the table. But, don't worry about the meat, yet look upon the milk with suspicion unless you know its antecedents.

Tuberculosis is not transmitted from parent to offspring. The children of tubercular parents are born absolutely free from the disease, and may be reared in absolute safety, if proper care is exercised by the parents. Nor is the tubercular pa tient who is careful any more of a menace than is his healthy brother. It is the careless consumptive who spreads the disease, and against whom action should be taken. If one of your fellow workmen is afflicted, do not let false sympathy for him permit him to become a menace to others. It

is no hardship on him to insist that he use a private drinking cup, that he expectorate in a receptacle that can be either boiled or burned, and that he take reasonable care to avoid, as far as possible, spreading the disease from which he suffers. No man, in his right mind, will object to exercising this prudence in his personal conduct, and the man who does object to so doing should be compelled to.

No specific for the cure of tuberculosis in any of its forms has yet been discovered. The most successful medicine so far used is mercury in some form, but even its results have not been such as to convince the doctors that it will positively cure consumption. But a cure is known, and it is within the reach of all. Sunlight, fresh air, rest and good food will cure tuberculosis. It has been cured thus-hundreds of cases have recovered under the treatment, and hundreds more will recover. It is not necessary to go farther than your front door to secure this treatment, or its main factors. For sunlight is the great germ destroyer, and fresh air is the great enemy of disease. The rest and the good food are needed to enable nature to build up the tissue that has been destroyed by the disease.

And what will cure the disease will also prevent it. Insist on having your workrooms well lighted and well ventilated. Do not sleep in rooms that are not reached by daylight and sunshine and fresh air. Before you hang your clothing in a dark closet, expose it to the daylight for a few hours; hanging over the back of a chair in your bedroom will be enough. The tubercle bacillus breeds and thrives in the dark, and dies in the light. Take a little exercise in the open air every day; you needn't go in for athletics to do this; just take a walk of a few blocks, and breathe deeply as you walk. Hold your head erect, your shoulders back, close your mouth and inhale until your lungs are fully expanded, count five and then exhale slowly until the lungs are entirely exhausted. Repeat this ten or a dozen times, till you have expelled every particle of the stale air that has filled the outer recesses of the lungs during the day when full, deep breathing was not practised, and you will feel the benefit of the stimulating effect of the oxygen at once. Sleep in a room that is plentifully supplied with fresh air continually. If you can, sleep with a window open always. Do not be afraid of "the night air." If any difference exists, the night air is to be preferred to "day air," for it is purer and cleaner. The dust stirred up by traffic of the day is settled from the night air, or the heavier particles are, and the lungs are not required to strain the oxygen from the dessicated filth that is so great a part of the lower stratum of the atmosphere in the downtown districts of the modern city. Dress comfortably at all times, and in the winter dress warmly. Do not expose yourself, just because you are strong. The tubercle bacillus laughs at the big, strong man just as it does at the weak and puny. Some startling, and, in some ways, extravagant, statements are being published as to the increase in tuberculosis among humanity. This is due to

the popular misunderstanding of conditions, or to ignorance. If tests show that a large number of cattle, or of people, have the infection, it is not startling to the men of science. They have known for a long time that only a very few persons escape the infection. Post mortem examinations conducted in the hospitals warrant the conclusion that 95 per cent of all the people who live are afflicted by tuberculosis at some time during life. In the vast majority of cases the disease exists and is automatically cured, and the victim never knows it. This has been proven by the discovery again and again in the lungs of a corpse that had been supposedly free from the disease of the cicatrix that established the existence once of the tubercular lesion. This fact takes away the scare from the assertions that tuberculosis is increasing among the human race.

But the disease is preventable, and it is not at all to the credit of the human race that in the United States alone more than 150,000 deaths are annually due to this cause alone. Of these 120,000, or 80 per cent of the total, occur among the working classes. The enormous economic loss due to this one disease is too obvious to call for comment here. The disease can be eradicated, but each individual must assist. He can do this by being careful. Eat proper food, properly cooked; have work rooms and sleeping rooms well lighted and well ventilated; wear proper clothing; avoid excesses; take a little exercise each day in the open, and, finally, be careful where you spit. If you have a low fever that persists, with a cough or irritable condition of the lungs or bronchial tubes, with a depressed feeling, consult a competent physician. If he says you are infected do not despair, but get busy on the open air cure. Do not wait, but start at once. Sunlight, fresh air, rest and good food will cure consumption, and this is the only known prescription that will. By being careful you will never have it. Omaha, Neb.

T. W. MCCULLOUGH.

AGAIN THE OVERTIME LAW.

In his article in last month's JOURNAL Mr. McCandless makes the statement that any regular compelled to go off when he has accumulated five and one-half hours' overtime is working for less than the scale. This statement does not seem to be borne out by the facts in the case. When a man has accumulated five and one-half hours' overtime he draws $5.33, which, to begin with, is 16 cents more than a day's pay, and, furthermore, he has put in but five and one-half hours' time, which, when deducted from the eight hours' leisure which he so unwillingly takes, will leave him two and one-half hours' time which he has forgotten to reckon as overtime pay. The fact that the pay envelope does not contain a minimum of $31 each and every week does not substantiate the claim that the regular is being done an injustice by being compelled to work overtime for less than the scale. That the present system has failed in its object is true only so far as the office has shifted the burden of retaining extra men from its shoulders to those of the regular.

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