become that the government faced the dire contingency of having all carpenter work suspended on thirty army cantonments, two port terminals, aviation camps and the New York navy yard. The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, threatened to call out its entire membership of 400,000 to enforce its demands. There was no alternative-the union was to be satisfied, and satisfied forthwith.

"What was the demand of the union carpenters? Upon what plea of urgent necessity did these men threaten to halt the progress of the war plans of the United States? For what grievance, real or imaginary, did the Brotherhood of Carpenters threaten to assist the enemies of the nation? Was it because of

an insufficient wage, adverse working conditions or insufferable hours? No, it was none of these.

"It was a demand on the part of organized labor for the closed shop on the Pelham Bay Park job!

American Citizens Barred

"The carpenters affiliated with the American Federation demanded that no man should be permitted to work on that government job, no matter if he was a citizen of the United States he was not to be permitted to work there, even though he might already be drafted for service in the army of the United States he was not to be permitted to earn a livelihood in the work of constructing a government cantonment even though he might be the most loyal and patriotic subject in the nation— he was not to be permitted to work there under any or all of these circumstances unless he was a member of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America.

"And unless such loyal, free born, patriotic American citizens were barred from the work on this government cantonment, the Brotherhood threatened to bring disaster upon the nation.

"The Brotherhood treasonably demanded that unless these citizen workers were thus treasonably ejected from the work, it would aid Germany in its war on the United States.

"And the government of the United States immediately

arrayed itself on the side of those who would betray it, and witnessed the agreement between the Brotherhood and the general contractors, whereby on Saturday, Aug. 11, 1917, every American citizen who did not pay dues to the union was discharged. It witnessed the agreement whereby--

"All carpenters and dock, pier and wharf carpenters to be employed on the Pelham Bay Park job will be hired through Mr. Charles Judge, president of the District Council of Carpenters of New York city, and that Mr. Judge or his duly accredited representative shall be allowed to visit the work for the purpose of seeing that this agreement is carried out, Mr. Steers (the general contractor) to pass upon the efficiency of those engaged.

"What of the government's responsibility in this abject surrender to Germany's potential aids? "The agreement has not been participated in by the government directly,' is the subterfuge of Rear-Admiral Harris. But let us see; who is this Rear-Admiral Harris and in what capacity did he participate in the surrender? Rear-Admiral Harris is chief of the bureau of yards and docks of the United States Navy and he was directed by Secretary of the Navy Daniels to use his good offices to settle the controversy. He was assisted by John A. Moffitt, of the United States department of labor, charged by Secretary of Labor Wilson to do everything in his power to bring the opposing forces together. So what of the attempt at evasion of governmental responsibility?

"The nation has come to have a fairly accurate estimate of the Industrial Workers of the World. This is because the I. W. W. has not endeavored to conceal its anarchistic and revolutionary motives and purposes. It is avowedly organized to 'take possession of the earth and the machinery of production, and abolish the wage system.' But recent events illustrate that the nation at large has little or no patience with this breed and will not tolerate its interference with the progress of the war or its violation of the ordinary tenets of law and order.

"How much more dangerous, however, how far more. treacherous is the element or the organization that conceals its viciousness under the cloak of 'securing to the workers an equitable share of the fruits of their labors'! Fine phraseology

is not even a cloak of respectability when the methods pursued spell anarchy and treason.

Methods Are the Same

"In what respect are the methods of the I. W. W. in the enforcement of its demands, different from those employed by the American Federation of Labor's affiliated bodies? In precisely the same manner the men of the organization are called off the work. In like manner are the arbitrary demands made upon the employer. According to exactly the same formula are the independent, free born American citizen workers slugged and killed. In equal measure is the employer's property destroyed and with equivalent directness of thought and purpose is the welfare of the United States in its war with Germany treated by both organizations.

"And all this because, though the purpose of the two organizations, as set forth in their constitutions and by-laws, are proclaimed in different accents and tones, they are essentially alike in their objective. The closed shop with its ultimate and inevitable conclusion, socialism, seeks the destruction of private capital just as surely and as certainly as the I. W. W. seeks it but by a more direct route.

"Were it otherwise, organized labor would not now be hampering the United States in its prosecution of the war; nor would it be taking advantage of the nation's crisis to extend the scope and effect of the closed shop. Were it otherwise, organized labor might have heeded the admonition of the supreme court of the United States when it said, in the Adamson case:

"Whatever would be the right of an employe engaged in a private business to demand such wages as he desires, and to leave the employment if he does not get them, and by concerted action with others to leave upon the same conditions, such rights are necessarily subject to limitation when employed in business charged with a public interest.

."That right is necessarily surrendered when the men are engaged in public service. They are comparable to soldiers in the ranks, who, in the presence of the enemies of their country, may not desert.

H

"When the railroad brotherhoods threatened the nation with starvation, ruin and disaster, they did so in spite of the government and of the people.

"When organized labor places itself on the side of the kaiser in the cantonments and in the mines, it does so in spite of the government and of the people.

"Moreover, it will continue to wage its war for the closed shop and the destruction of private property, in spite of the government and the plan adopted by the council of national defense.

"Each surrender on the part of the federal government only serves to bring nearer the day when the demand will be made upon it to surrender again."

CONVENTIONS FOR FOUNDRYMEN

The concurrent meetings of the American Foundrymen's Association and the American Institute of Metals will be held at Boston the week of September 24. Aside from the joint opening meeting in Paul Revere hall on Monday afternoon, only morning sessions will be held, leaving the afternoons free for the inspection of the exhibits, entertainment and sight-seeing. The technical sessions of the American Foundrymen's Association, of which there will be eight, will be held in Paul Revere hall and in an adjoining room in Mechanics' building, while the American Institute of Metals will meet at Hotel Somerset, where its headquarters will be established. The headquarters of the American Foundrymen's Association will be at the CopleyPlaza hotel. The exhibition of foundry supplies and equipment, machine tools and accessories, in Mechanics' building, will be formally opened Monday at 1 P. M.

BE FAIR TO BUSINESS

Evident that proposed excess profits tax cannot be realized if industries are throttled.

"Our industries should be kept at the highest point of productivity," said Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, in a recent address before the U. S. Senate.

"If nobody is making any money, you will not have any excess profits. If nobody is making any money, your income tax will dwindle away, and those are the two great sources of taxation. They will supply at least two-thirds of what we raise. But in order to get the excess profits the profits must be made; in order to get the incomes the incomes must be earned or received, and out of the surplus on incomes and out of that on excess profits you have not only to pay the taxes, but you have to fill your loans. There is where you must get your money. If you paralyze business, if you frighten it, if you repress the productive energies of the country you are drying up the sources of taxation absolutely.

Wealth No Slacker

"I see no evidence on the part of wealth or business to resist in any way full payment and doing the utmost to supply the money the government needs. But they can not supply it unless they have it. Confiscating all great estates in the country would not last a year. You must have business going on; you must have it producing from year to year; you must have it make the profits. Take what you want of the profits, take what you want of the incomes, leave enough to supply the loans, leave enough to carry on the business and extend it, but do not kill them at their sources. Do not create a condition

in which business will not go on.

"It seems to me that the section relating to licenses confers great power upon the president-and when we say the president we mean the agents whom he appoints to carry out the law, for he can not carry it out. He has more things to do than any human being can do now. He can not possibly do all these things himself. He has to have agents. We are conferring on these