Pursuant to action of the Denver convention of the American Federation of Labor, the union label trades department of that body was organized at a meeting held in Washington, D. C., last winter, and the organization began operations on April 1. The second convention met at Toronto, Canada, November 5 and 6, just prior to the annual session of the federation of labor. President Lynch, Second VicePresident Miller, Secretary-Treasurer Hays and Hugh Stevenson, of Toronto Union No. 91, attended as representatives of the International Typographical Union.

At the opening session, with President John B. Lennon in the chair, the committee on credentials reported that sixty-eight delegates were entitled to take part in the deliberations. In the appointment of committees, President Lynch was placed at the head of the committee on secretary's report, VicePresident Miller was assigned to the committee on president's report, and Secretary-Treasurer Hays to the committee on label propaganda. Later, at the annual election of officers, Mr. Hays was elected second vice-president, which carries with it membership on the executive board of the department.

The report of Thomas F. Tracy, secretary of the union label trades department, shows that so far thirty-seven national and international unions, with an approximate membership of 365,000, are now affiliated with the new organization. Those labor bodies having labels, store cards or buttons, denoting that the articles being labeled have been made by union men or women, are entitled to affiliation with the department. There are some seventy of such organizations affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, and many have under consideration the matter of joining the new department, and the secretary asserts that, from the present outlook, there will shortly be at least 450,000 members of organized labor under its jurisdiction.

In concluding his report, Secretary Tracy expresses the opinion "that this department will fill a long-needed want in helping to strengthen and build up our affiliated organizations. To do this, however, requires renewed vigor and energy on the part of all our members and friends. The organized labor movement of our country has never been so fiercely attacked as it has been in the past few years, and is being attacked at the present time, with injunctions, court decisions, hostile attitude of the National Manufacturers' Association, their shafts of bitterness and enmity pointed at us from all sides, and the movement now being inaugurated by the Posts, Van Cleaves and Kirbys against the union label should be of sufficient reason for our members and friends to wake up to the necessity of furthering their own interests. First, by organization, and then by a steadfast insistence for unionmade products, sold and delivered by union men and women."

At the afternoon session of the first day the report of the executive board was received, and also

resolutions from the Piano and Organ Workers' International Union, the Tobacco Workers' International Union and the International Jewelry Workers' Union. We quote from the report of the executive board:

That there is a greater interest being taken in the purchasing of union made products is evident to most every one who is observing the interest taken in most localities. Men and women who never knew much about union made goods are beginning to take interest, and particularly is this true among the farming communities. This, to our minds, is a good omen for the future, and this department, as well as the affiliated organizations, should bend every energy in the direction of culti vating the friendly feelings of the farmers' organizations.

We should also give every assistance to the organizing of women's label leagues and local auxil iaries, for the immense amount of benefits that can be obtained in this direction is manifest to all.

We feel confident, if the proper interest is taken in this department, and it is given the support that it should be given, that splendid results are bound to follow our efforts in the very near future. We do not pretend to say that this department can, or will, solve all the questions that confront the labor movement of our time, but we do insist that it will go a great way in eliminating some of the evils that we are confronted with, such as the product of the unclean and unhealthy sweatshops that exist in many of our large cities, the product of child labor, and also the product of prison labor, that are a standing menace to us.

To accomplish these, and other beneficial results, depends largely on our own efforts, by the pursu ing of an energetic system of agitation and educa tion among our members and our friends, and by harmonious and united action we are bound to make progress, despite the obstacles that may be thrown in our way by those who are unfriendly to us, either through their ignorance on the one hand, or their avarice on the other. By pursuing an intelligent course, educating the consuming masses as to the absolute worthiness of our cause and the labor movement, we are bound to, and will, make many friends that will bring beneficial results to our organizations and our members individually.

SECOND DAY.

The convention was called to order at 10 A. M. by President Lennon.

Resolutions were received from the Stove Mounters and Steel Range Workers, United Cloth Hat and Cap Makers and the cigar makers' delegation and referred to the proper committees. The committees on rules and order of business, president's report and secretary-treasurer's report were received. We quote from the latter:

The organization of local label departments is a most important and progressive step, and should be urged by this department through its secretary whenever opportunity offers. Where central labor unions prefer to maintain label committees, it should be urged that these committees be active agents, and that they perform the duties usually devolving on a label department. It might be well for the secretary to secure a list of chairmen and secretaries of label committees of central labor unions, so that he may be in direct touch, not only with label departments, but with all local label movements. This list, combined with a similar list of officers of local label departments, could be put in pamphlet form, and would then be of great

value to our affiliated national and international unions in their 'abel advertising campaigns. If, in addition, it is possible to compile a list of local merchants who can supply label goods, a list that could be published semi-annually and gradu ally perfected, it would be of great value to the organized wage earners and the sympathetic buyer. This list to include only those merchants who make an effort to supply label goods throughout their entire line, and not to include merchants who carry a single labeled article, for convenience only, and who usually push articles of non-union origin under the plea that they cost less and are much better than the goods produced under fair conditions and carrying the union label. Where local label departments are organized it is recommended that they be urged to affiliate with this label department, and that the only cost attached to such affiliation shall be the regular price charged for the certificate of affiliation.

Your committee realizes that not much progress has been made thus far with the label department in the way of the actual advertising and promotion of our labels, and the sale of label goods. But we have the machinery in operation, and during the coming year the opportunity to give warrant for the existence of the department will be at hand. With the making effective of the openings that will present themselves from time to time during the year; with the placing before the label organizations the best information obtainable as to label advertising, with the active affiliation of unions not now giving us all the support that is possible, and with many other features of label work that will from time to time suggest themselves, we believe that the department during the coming year will fully justify its existence, and fulfill its mission, and will receive the commendation and financial support of all the unions with labels.

The recommendations of the committee on secretary-treasurer's report were adopted.

The afternoon session was devoted to consideration of the reports of the committee on label propaganda and committee on laws, at the conclusion of which the election of officers occurred, which resulted as follows:

President John B. Lennon (tailors).

First Vice-President-John F. Tobin (boot and shoe workers).

Second Vice-President-J. W. Hays (printers). Third Vice-President-Owen Miller (musicians). Fourth Vice-President-Jacob Fischer (barbers). Fifth Vice-President-John J. Manning (shirtwaist and laundry workers).

Secretary-Treasurer-Thomas F. Tracy (cigar

makers).

After adopting resolutions on the death of Max Morris, a vice-president of the American Federation of Labor and third vice-president of the union label trades department, the convention adjourned to meet the week preceding the next annual convention of the American Federation of Labor at St. Louis, Mo.

HOME CORPORATION MEETING. COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO., November 6, 1909. The regular annual meeting of the Union Printers Home Corporation convened in the city of Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Saturday, the sixth day of November, A. D. 1909, at 7:30 p. m., in accordance with the provisions of article II of its by-laws, due notice of said meeting having been given all the members. The following members of the corporation were present either in person or by proxy: James M. Lynch (by proxy), J. W. Hays (by proxy), L. C. Shepard (by proxy). W. J. White

(by proxy,) Thomas F. Crowley (by proxy), T. D. Fennessy (by proxy) and Thomas McCaffery.

The minutes of the last annual meeting, held November 7, 1908, and of the special meetings held March 3, 1909, were read and approved.

The annual report of the board of trustees, which included reports from the various standing committees, Secretary-Treasurer Hays and Superintendent Deacon, was submitted, read and approved.

The terms of membership of L. C. Shepard and W. J. White having expired, their resignations were presented, as required by article i of the bylaws, and duly accepted.

The following communications from SecretaryTreasurer Hays, certifying the International Typographical Union's endorsement of L. C. Shepard and Anna C. Wilson for membership in the Union Printers Home Corporation, were received and ordered placed on file:

INDIANAPOLIS, IND., October 13, 1909.

To the Corporation of the Union Printers Home: GENTLEMEN This is to certify that L. C. Shep ard received the endorsement of the International Typographical Union at the referendum election held May 20, 1908, and is hereby declared the nomince of the International Typographical Union for membership in the corporation known as The Union Printers Home for the term beginning November, 1909, and ending November, 1912. J. W. HAYS, Secretary-Treasurer International Typographical Union.

INDIANAPOLIS, IND., October 13, 1909. To the Corporation of the Union Printers Home: GENTLEMEN-This is to certify that Anna C. Wilson received the endorsement of the International Typographical Union at the referendum election held May 20, 1908, and is hereby declared the nominee of the International Typographical Union for membership in the corporation known as The Union Printers Home for the term beginning November, 1909, and ending November, 1912. J. W. HAYS, Secretary-Treasurer International Typographical Union.

In compliance with the instructions of the International Typographical Union, as certified by its secretary-treasurer, L. C. Shepard and Anna C. Wilson were unanimously elected to membership in the Union Printers Home corporation for the term beginning November, 1909, and ending November, 1912.

The obligations of L. C. Shepard and Anna C. Wilson, properly signed and attested, as required by law, were presented, read and accepted, and ordered placed on file.

Officers for the ensuing year were then elected, as follows: President, James M. Lynch; vice-president, Thomas McCaffery; secretary-treasurer, J. W. Hays.

The following persons were then declared to be the duly elected and qualified members of the board of trustees of the Union Printers Home: James M. Lynch, J. W. Hays, L. C. Shepard, Thomas F. Crowley, T. D. Fennessy, Anna C. Wilson and Thomas McCaffery.

No further business appearing, the annual meeting of the corporation was declared adjourned. THOMAS MCCAFFERY, Vice-President.

AN INCREASED BURIAL BENEFIT NEEDED.

Some 47,000 or more members of the International Typographical Union will have the opportunity, next February, of answering the question whether they want a larger burial benefit, or whether they are satisfied with what they already have in that line. That answer will, in the main, be made from personal considerations, affecting the individual member and his then present circumstances relative thereto. That there is a broader policy of "welfare of the organization" at stake will not appeal to so many, but it will be there just the same, and will remain should ninetynine out of every one hundred vote against the proposed increase.

Looking at it in that light, I shall vote for the increase: First, because I feel that $400 is little enough for one of our members to have back of him when the final call comes, that must come to all, to pay the last rites decently and well; second, because I know that we have many hundreds, if not thousands, of members, even in this age of universal insurance, that are without any other protection than that which is afforded by our or ganization; third, because I believe it will ultimately prove of no small value in strengthening the cohesiveness of our organization; and fourth, because it will be well worth what it will cost me, personally, or to my estate, when I am gone.

Probably I may be as near the line having already all the insurance that I can carry as any of those who have announced that as the reason why they will vote against the proposed increase, and to that extent I am not particularly anxious, as a mere scheme for my own personal advantage, to vote for any more.

In one

This protection that our union gives us I do not look upon in the same light as I do insurance in the general acceptance of the term. way it is the same, of course, but in another sense it isn't. Strictly speaking, regular insurance, that particular kind of insurance upon which we go our limit as an investment in one form or another, is a purely commercial affair. We contract for it and pay for it on strictly business principles, and expect to get what we pay for, and if we don't pay for it we don't get it.

With the protection so far given by our union, and so far proposed to be given by it, those conditions are changed somewhat. In the union we determine that all shall fare alike, whatever their circumstances or their means of meeting financial obligations may be. Those who are able to pay, pay for it, and those who are not able to pay, do not have to pay for it. There you have the difference, and the great difference, between protection, or insurance you may call it, in the union and that furnished by any other system. Even the fraternal insurance associations do not go to that limit except in a restricted degree.

But, you say, what about the burden your vote

will impose if the proposition is carried? Well, as long as every cent that we are called upon to pay for this protection will mean that we have earned $2 to pay it with, I can not discover any great burden in the proposition, and the larger the number of cents that I am called upon to pay, the better pleased I will be, probably, for that will mean a larger number of two-dollar bills that I will be earning. On the other hand, I shall know that if misfortune of any sort deprives me of work, or the ability to work, and earn those dollars, my protection in the union will be just as secure as ever. How many other forms of insurance that you now carry will assure you of as much?

Occasionally we hear a member say "that nearly every member is carrying all the life insurance that he can afford, and that if this proposition car. ries, he must either drop some of his insurance or give up his union." Now, let me make a predic tion (and I lay no claim to being a prophet, either): If this proposed increased benefit is carried, as I hope it will be, few, if any, of these members will do either of the two things mentioned. They are merely things of straw put up to be knocked down, and, if the truth was known, doubtless their sponsors themselves do not believe in them for one moment. Any member earning the average wage of the union printer will not have to pay for this proposed increased protection more than 10 cents per week-the price of a good cigar or a couple of beers, if you will, or of any thing else of the same value and equally as nonessential, perhaps, to the member, to whom such earning power makes him feel that he can afford. That is your burden, then, and if it is, how easy it will be to lighten it, should it really be necessary, and still retain all of your protection. On such a basis would you for a moment think of cutting off some of your insurance, or of leaving the union?

But, again, hard lines do finally cross your path. You get out of a job, perhaps; have weeks and even months of enforced idleness; an accident, possibly, has temporarily or permanently disabled you so that you can no longer work and earn your usual wages. Then the insurance that you are carrying will prove a burden, very likely, but it will not be caused by that which you now imagine. You have said that you already carry all the insurance that you can afford, without adding any more from a union standpoint. But the majority forced the union protection upon you, and you have paid your part with the rest as your earning capacity entitled you to, but now you are down and out, so to speak, with all your insurance still to provide for. What will you do? You have possibly felt, prior to this, that the union protection was an imposition; that it was forcing you to pay for something that you did not want; but how about that now? What class of protection will cost you the least, now that your earning capacity has been taken from you? If your circumstances