planning could be done in a more orderly and effective way; the issue of material from the storehouses had been systematized, and in various ways the best interests of the Government had been safeguarded—as would inevitably be the case as the result of a study of those approved methods by experts. The War Secretary closes by suggesting that no one need be alarmed lest the best progress of the work should be disregarded. Meantime, Secretary Meyer has appointed a board of naval officers, headed by Rear Admiral Vreeland, to prepare the necessary instructions for putting "modern management methods" into the navy yards. The board will try to determine how to utilize the personnel of ships in making repairs at yards. It will try to decide to what extent naval officers should be trained in the shops; also what proportion of the two years' cruise of midshipmen should be spent in practical work at navy yards. In short, Mr. Meyer will try to systematize operations of the navy yards in such a way as to bring them more in harmony with the most efficient methods of the highest class civil establishments. BOILERMAKER GETS SENTENCE. The Court of Special Sessions, Brooklyn, reports the New York and New Jersey Branch of the National Metal Trades Association, on September 28th, sentenced James McCarthy, business agent of District Lodge No. 2 of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers and Iron Shipbuilders and a confederate, to serve thirty days in the county jail following their conviction for an assault committed on an employe of John N. Robins Company during the recent strike of the members of the Brotherhood. A WANTON DISPLAY. No Regard For Rights of Public. Theory of Popular Sanction Beginning to Weaken. That the daily press is alive to the lack of justice in the strike so recently promulgated by the machinists and other unions for the recognition by the railroads of the new federation of metal trade crafts, is evidenced strongly by the editorials of the leading journals. The Free Press of Detroit comments: "It is not pleaded that the strikers are destitute. They do not instance oppression on the part of their employers. They profess no dissatisfaction with wages nor with the conditions of their labor. Their casus belli is their desire to have their new federation recognized, and because the railroad managers will not recognize it the country must suffer. "No regard is paid at all to the rights of the public in this strike, and it is difficult to see how the strikers can expect to gain that approval of the public which is commonly said to be the deciding influence in these industrial struggles. This theory about the advantage of popular sanction is beginning to weaken a little, it must be said, and in its place a suspicion is gaining ground that lockouts and strikes, like wars, are ordered when one side or another sees an opportunity for securing an advantage for itself, not when a just cause demands extreme measures. Possibly the pending disturbances will bring some evidence about the efficacy of the public's influence in this way, and if it does the strike is foredoomed to disastrous failure, for the prevalent opinion in reference to it is that it is the most wanton display of force that has been witnessed in this country for many years." PREVENTION OF FOUNDRY ACCIDENTS. Shirts Should be of Wool to Shed Sparks. Trousers Should be Kept in Repair. The wearing of clothing unsuited to the business has caused some very severe burns in foundry work. Light gauze or cotton shirts should never be worn while a person is engaged in carrying or pouring iron. A small spatter of iron may set a shirt afire, and on account of its liability to blaze, a very severe burn may ensue, which would not have occurred had the person been wearing a woolen shirt of any kind. The wool burns very slowly, and never ignites into a flame, and will shed all of the small spatters of iron which are so frequent in pouring off. Still, a great many men in the foundry may be seen wearing light cotton shirts and taking chances of a severe burn, rather than to keep an old woolen shirt and change before the heat commences. Trousers, too, should be either wool or hard jean cloth. and should be kept repaired, so that there will be no slits or gaps where the iron could get through, go down the leg and cause a severe burn to the limb or foot. A great many men have had their caps burned up while wearing them, and have been burned more or less thereby, because they were wearing a very thin cotton cap during the heat, rather than to take the cap off before they commenced handling iron. These caps are in common use in all foundries and are good caps to wear while molding, but are absolutely dangerous when handling iron. |