RESTRICTION OF VIOLENCE.

"Whereas, the National House of Representatives has recently passed a bill to cripple the courts and rob them of the power to prevent destruction of property and attempts on humani life, and

"Whereas, recent recent confessions of planned and executed violence clearly. show, and pending indictments plainly indicate, the importance of adopting restrictive measures further limiting the possibility for damage by violent men, and

"Whereas, the great body of laboring men is not in sympathy with the policies of some of their so-called leaders, who tolerate force and destruction, and

"Whereas, it is the determined intention of certain social groups to cut down the jurisdiction and cripple the efficiency of the courts of the United States, we believe responsibility for the success of such efforts will rest not less upon those who propose them than upon those who do not resist them.

"Resolved that the time has come for employers to adopt unusual restrictive methods eliminating from their employment men who advocate. or favor violence and who may be temporarily protected by the proposed law, and

"Resolved, that manufacturers should encourage and co-operate with

all measures looking toward the betterment of the conditions and the welfare, content and comfort of their friends and co-workers rather than those avowed in their enmity."

THE JUDICIARY.

"With great apprehension we witness attacks upon our historic and honored institutions. If these attacks prevail, judicial decisions will be subject to review by the hasty judgment of society. The indispensable writ of injunction will be impaired as a protective remedy and the fundamental, personal and property rights of the people made dependent upon the passions of the hour instead of the permanent principles of justice. Contempt of court will be tried by jury, thus destroying the power of the court to vindicate its dignity and authority.

"Therefore resolved that the National Association of Manufacturers, in convention assembled, does hereby embody its earnest protest against the recall of judges, against any attack on the inherent powers of our courts of equity and against substitution of trial by jury in the matter of contempt of court, and we base our belief in ultimate justice upon the complete independence of our judiciary.

"We further urge upon all our people to patriotically support the high spirit of those who regardless of fit

ful prejudices and passions stand before the rights of all classes and conditions of our citizens."

THE OPEN SHOP.

"Whereas, every and all forms of agreement which discriminate against non-union or unorganized wage earners, or in favor of a class at the expense and to the detriment of other good citizens are unlawful, dangerous and obnoxious to good government, and

"Whereas, such agreements result in stagnation of industry and paralysis of social progress; therefore be it

"Resolved, that the National Association of Manufacturers in annual convention assembled does hereby reaffirm its condemnation of and unalterable opposition to the closed shop and of every form of closed shop agreement wherever they exist, and we again pledge the continued adherence of this association to the principles of industrial freedom vouchsafed by the laws of the land, and be it further

"Resolved that we pledge our support to our own members and to all other persons, whether employers or employes, who respect and practice the open shop principle and whose examples give evidence that this privilege must be observed and preserved throughout our industrial intercourse."

CLASS LEGISLATION.

"Whereas certain pending legislation in congress would seek to exempt labor unions from the operation of the Sherman anti-trust act, therefore

"Resolved, that we emphatically denounce such class legislation and call upon every citizen to do everything possible to defeat it, and that this resolution be immediately transmitted to the committees in congress in charge of such legislation."

The other resolutions were in brief as follows:

A reaffirmation of the cardinal principles for legislative activities in the direction of accident prevention and workmen's compensation, including a recommendation that a new committee be appointed to establish close relations with those drafting new em

ployers' liability or workers' compensation laws, co-operate with organizations interested in voluntary or compulsory compensation plans for injured workers, give advice to association members on voluntary relief systems, liability, compensation or accident insurance, accident prevention and legislation on all these subjects, to conduct a general campaign for the furtherance of a sound workmen's compensation system through addresses, illustrated talks, circulars and letters, to conduct a general campaign for prompt adoption of statistical systems on work accidents, to conduct a special campaign among state factory inspectors, to encourage mutual insurance organization and close cooperation with existing insurance concerns, and finally to inaugurate a vigorous campaign for accident prevention by co-operation with the association's members and other organizations, with the aid of illustrations, lantern slides and motion pictures.

Considering that children leave school after completing the sixth grade, that half of them soon forget what they learned, that truancy and absence from school are prevalent, that in many schools and cities educators are finding educational value in extended courses of manual and prevocational training, that many children. thus leaving school are idle half the time from fourteen to sixteen years old, and because the loss of 50 per cent of the children in the middle of the elementary school course is an incalculable waste of the human resources of the nation, the association pledges its support to continuation schools, liberally cultural, but practical. and related to the occupations of the students, for the children who leave school at fourteen, the development of a modern apprenticeship system, the development of secondary continuation. or trade schools, compulsory education until the seventeenth or eighteenth year, the same to be, after the fourteenth year, in the continuation schools for not less than one-half day per week without loss of

wage, strengthening truancy laws, training teachers in industrial practice, including actual shop work experience, the

establishment of independent state and local boards of industrial education, composed one-third each of educators, employers and employes, the development of the vocational and creative desires of hand minded children, and the establishment of departments or centers of vocational guidance. This resolution closes by declaring that thorough-going systems of industrial education are imperatively needed; "that our factories may be more constantly and better employed; that standards of skill and of output may increasingly be improved, and that foreign and domestic markets may be better held and extended.”

A declaration favoring a more equitable rate of postage between first class and second class mail matter.

Congress is urged to defeat the Dillingham bill and similar measures seeking to further restrict immigration and to consider the proposition of a more improved system of the distribution of immigration. The port of the committee on immigration is endorsed.

re

Congress, having left out of its appropriation bills the sums necessary to carry on the departments in the Departments of State and of Commerce and Labor for the advancement of foreign and domestic commerce, is requested to include the same, and officers, directors and members of the association are urged to use their influence with congress to secure the necessary appropriations to carry on the work.

Proper compensation should be paid the country's foreign representatives and steps taken to provide government owned quarters for them in the various countries of the world.

Endorsement of the national bankruptcy law is reaffimed.

The convention expressed its "appreciation and admiration for the dignity, courtesy and fairness, with which our president, John Kirby, Jr., has presided over these deliberations and we again avail ourselves of this opportunity to convey to President Kirby our recognition of his fidelity, zeal and singleness of purpose in behalf

of the true principles of industrial and individual freedom, for which this association so firmly stands."

The Wisconsin industrial commission is thanked for the loan of its accident prevention exhibit.

Greater uniformity in state statutes is declared wise and desirable, and the continuation of the association's committee on uniform state laws is recommended.

Assurances of co-operation and good will are extended to the Chambers of Commerce of the United States of America.

The association reaffirms its advoof a permanent, non-political tariff commission.

Regret at the absence of D. A. Tompkins, Daniel C. Ripley and Charles M. Jarvis by reason of illness was expressed.

Appreciation was expressed of the work of committees and of others.

The report on banking and currency reform, it was resolved, should be referred to the new board of directors.

that

The the

A report by the committee on merchant marine, adopted with the resolutions, says the committee desires to have concentrated power in one national body for the development of the merchant marine and to have the support so strong from the National Association of Manufacturers others will follow the initiative. committee specifically specifically requests financial support of the National Association of Manufacturers and the aid of every one of its members in his own locality in the support of "this great national cause". It is desired to establish an organization in every city and to so arouse public interest that congress will be forced to act at its next session.

Resolutions upon the death of the late Francis H. Stillman were adopted. Mr. Stillman was for nine years treasurer and a director of the association. He died suddenly on Sunday, February 18, 1912.

The belief at Washington is that the employer's liability bill will be held up in committee for some little time. The bill passed the senate on May 6, 1912, and is before the judiciary committee of the House of Representatives for consideration on its merits.

The bill followed the report of the employers' liability and workmen's compensation commission, which was transmitted to congress June 25, 1910, by President Taft. In the accompanying letter, the president said in part :

"I sincerely hope this act will pass. . I deem it one of the great steps of progress toward a satisfactory solution of an important phase of the controversies between employer and employes. One of the great objections to the old common law method of settling questions of this character was the lack of uniformity in the recoveries made by injured employes. Frequently meritorious cases that appealed strongly to every sense of human justice were shut out by rules limiting the liability of the employer. On the other hand, often by perjured

evidence and the undue emotional generosity of the jury, recoveries were given far in excess of the real injury, and sometimes on facts that hardly justified recovery at all. Now, under this system, the tendency will be to create as nearly a uniform system as can be devised; there will be recoveries in every case and they will be limited by the terms of the law so as to be reasonable."

Small attorney's fees, the expeditious handling of cases, the lessening of the work of federal courts and several other arguments were adduced

by the president in support of his advocacy of an employers' liability

law.

Subsequently senate bill 5382 was introduced and considered by the judiciary committee of the senate. The committee on April 3, 1912, reported the bill with certain amendments for passage. Senator Culberson, of the committee, April 12, 1912, submitted a minority report, opposing the passage of the bill. The bill was passed by the senate May 6, 1912.

The act is entitled, "An Act to Provide an Exclusive Remedy and Compensation for Accidental Injuries Resulting in Disability or Death to Employes of Common Carriers by Railroads Engaged in Interstate Foreign Commerce, or in the District of Columbia, or for Other Purposes." It provides that:

"Every common carrier engaged in interstate or foreign commerce by railroad, including commerce between the District of Columbia and a state

shall pay compensation in the amounts hereinafter specified to any employe who, while employed in such commerce by such employer, sustains personal injury by accident arising

out of and in the course of his employment and resulting in his disability, or to the dependents, as hereinafter defined, of such employe in case such injury results in his death."

Some of the principal features of the bill are the following:

For fourteen days after the injury the employer must furnish medical and surgical aid and hospital service. After that period he must furnish such aid. up to two hundred dollars.

If an employe is killed by his own willful intention or is intoxicated, there is no legal liability.

The injured person must notify his employer of his injury within thirty days, or, in case of ignorance or the practice of fraud or deceit or for some other good reason, within ninety days.

Employer and employe may, after the expiration of fourteen days from the date of injury, make a private settlement by agreement according to the terms of the act. A copy of this must be filed with the government adjuster of claims. The employe has a complete standing in court if the employer does not live up to the agree

ment.

Employer and employes may organize a committee or committees to settle disputes and award compensations under the act, fully advising the adjuster of what is going forward.

Employes must submit to medical and surgical examinations in connection with their claims for damages. The employe may have his own physician present.

Agreements for compensation may be modified within two years after the accident upon the ground that the incapacity of the injured employe has ended, increased or diminished.

The employer must file with the adjuster every agreement for compensation or modification thereof to which he is a party.

Within thirty days after the act takes effect, the United States district court in each judicial district shall appoint an adjuster of accident compensation and additional adjusters as in the judgment of the United States attorney general the business justifies such action. The adjusters will receive salaries of from eighteen hundred to three thousand dollars a year. Their appointment is subject to veto by the circuit court of appeals. The adjusters will be appointed for fouryear terms, but will be subject to removal. They will keep records of the cases brought before them and will have power to subpoena witnesses and administer oaths. Anybody impeding the operation of proceedings before the adjusters can be punished for contempt in the district court.

If in case of injury or death an agreement between the employer and

the employe or dependents cannot be reached, either party may within six months institute proceedings before the adjuster in his district. The finding of the adjuster shall be filed with the clerk of the district court. Either party to the transaction can take the case in error to the district court. Trial by jury may be had in the district court if demanded. Appeals and error proceedings may be taken from the district court as high up as to the supreme court of the United States.

Every liability and all payments due under this act shall be exempt from levy or sale for private debt and in case of insolvency every liability for compensation under the act shall constitute a first lien upon the property of the employer except for wages and

taxes.

In figuring compensation the monthly wage of the employer shall be computed as twenty-six times his daily wage and if he is paid by piece work his daily wage shall be arranged by taking all he earned in the preceding month and dividing it by twenty-six, but no employe's wages shall be considered to be more than one hundred and fifty dollars or less than fifty dollars a month.

A schedule, with certain exceptions, for the payment to dependents of amounts in compensation for a period of eight years following death by accident, except that when children are dependents payments shall in any event continue till they are sixteen years old.

To a widow with no dependent children or children under sixteen, 40 per cent of decedent's wages; 50 per cent if there are such children, for the widow and children.

To children, there being no widow, dependent or under sixteen, 25 per cent to the first child, and 10 per cent to every other child up to a total of 50 per cent, share and share alike. If the number of children is reduced below four after an award has been made, the amount of the payments shall be correspondingly diminished.

If a widow remarries, her allowance shall go to the children till the original eight years is up, or longer if the youngest child is not sixteen.