equity in the distribution of its results. Then the excesses of poverty and wealth will disappear, and peace and plenty do their perfect work.

"There shall come a time when each shall to another Be as Christ would have him, brother unto brother."

Purely Political.

By A. S. LEITCH.

J. J. Ingalls is responsible for having launched upon the troubled sea of thought that popular

cion; it was (for the employers said so themselves), a plain statement of facts.

Election day, one precinct I wot of, presented the spectacle of a deluded workman with a handful of labor tickets, plus a black eye, minus a collar, and a general threshing-mill-exit appearance, driven off and hooted at by a number of fellow-workmen.

That's Labor in politics.

If heart-whole and fancy free one can have more fun in labor politics than with a basket of monkeys in fly-time.

In the far South the birth of a labor party called forth a combination of lily-whites and the purlieus of the black-belt. In the face of an industrial crisis democrats and republicans, lyncher and lynchee, clasped hands in a perfect love feast.

The result was the "agitators," black-listed, derided as anarchists, socialists, outlaws, etc., managed to get out of town without a coat of tar and feathers from appreciative fellow-workers, a covering not conducive to good health in that climate. Labor politics, like virtue, hath its own reward. But a man who hits the ties with steady, rhymthic motion is not solaced by that thought.

Another experience, in the West, came very near capturing a city. When success seemed almost assured 300 police marched into the con

JAMES DUNCAN.

GENERAL SECRETARY GRANITE CUTTERS NATIONAL UNION.
SECOND VICE-PRESIDENT A. F. OF L.

phrase, "The purification of politics is an irridescent dream." Yet there are fools in Labordom (including myself), who hit the pipe regularly, have their little phantasmagoria-and painful is the awakening therefrom.

The shores of time are strewn with the wrecks of labor parties, ever since the fishmongers' union ran Phidion for "aldermanic" honors in Pompeii. The dust that old mother Vesuvius then threw into the fishmongers' eyes has had its counterpart in that which professional politicians have thrown into the laborers' eyes for a thousand generations.

Every fakir with a bee in his bonnet immediately conceives the idea, as the first stepping-stone to his ambitious scheme, that the only salvation for working people lies through the ballot box.

On this subject I may, in some respects, speak ex cathedra, having had several experiences.

Among the first, years ago, a hip-hurrah game in which we were "bound to win." Ninety per cent. of those employed with me were enthusiastic for the labor ticket-until our employers showed us very conclusively that the success of a certain other ticket meant better pay and increased force, and its defeat an enforced vacation for many. Then there was one labor vote. It was not coer

JAMES O'CONNELL,

GENERAL PRESIDENT INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS.
THIRD VICE-PRESIDENT A. F. OF L.

vention hall, arrested the leaders, dispersed the delegates. An appeal to the courts was met with ridicule. The story of that "political movement" is replete with personalities and may be good read

ing at an early date, when I hope to put it into print.

I will state, as the result of my study and experience, that the success of a political movement by working people, on whatever lines taken, is almost an impossibility. For the first reason, there does not exist on God's green earth, a republican form of government. The United States, France et al., are merely elective oligarchies. Amusement is afforded 99 per cent. of franchise holders by putting in a slip of paper representing, not their own views, not even, in many cases, the views of the men whose names are on that paper, but merely indicating that they legally, for a certain defined period, are willing to be governed by certain other men, to which the minorities must submit nolens volens. Here their right of self-government, if it ever existed, ceases, and falls into the hands of a select few.

Of what

ever party that few may be makes little difference -democrat, republican, socialist, or trade union. The best would do the best they could-and be universally damned accordingly.

Free silver, free trade, imperialism, anti-trust are but pyrotechnic display of political schemers. Agitation, education, and organization must precede any honest political effort-and a wonderful amount of education. There must be a complete revolution of thought before the worker can ex

MAX MORRIS,

GENERAL SECRETARY RETAIL CLERKS' INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION.
FIFTH VICE-PRESIDENT AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR.

his craft is a poor shoat to depend upon to vote with his fellow-workmen, or to appreciate the blessings of municipal ownership or a co-operative commonwealth. He is the "bosses' man" and there are countless thousands of him.

Yet, for one, I am not hidebound in opposition to a political movement. All agitation leads to good results. Vote, and I always vote with you; feeling assured, however, that the politicians, law courts, "captains of industry"-all the powers that be-would never consent to the success of a bona fide political labor movement. Should, indeed, the occasion arise when there was any actual danger of success in that direction-well, I would like to be the man behind the gatling gun.

The Union Label.

The trade union label is the epitome of trade union philosophy. To understand the role it plays we must look to the meaning of the whole labor movement. Laborers have organized for protection and education. They consider the interests of the laboring class as identical, as opposed to those of the employing class; they believe that amelioration can come only by organization and action. This faith is intense and constant. Naturally, then, they antagonize unorganized labor and those employers who are unfriendly. They appeal to the public for sympathy and assistance. As a means to strengthen them in this threefold attitude the union label was invented.-FATHER KERBY.

British Labor Notes.

By THOMAS REECE.

LONDON, August 11, 1899.

At the first meeting of the General Federation of Trade Unions, which was held on July 19, there were 46 delegates present, representing 44 unions,

THOMAS I. KIDD,

GENERAL SECRETARY AMALGAMATED WOOD WORKERS UNION.
SIXTH VICE-PRESIDENT A. F. OF L

with a membership of 310,437. Pete Curran was chosen First Chairman and A. Gee, of the Yorkshire weavers, was appointed Vice-Chairman. Isaac Mitchell, of the Amalgamated Engineers, was appointed Secretary; J. Maddison, of the Friendly Ironfounders, Treasurer; and trustees were found in the persons of Alexander Wilkie, of the Associated Shipwrights, J. Holmes, of the Leicester Hosiery Federation, and Ben Tillett, of the Dockers' Union. A management committee of eight was also elected. These appointments are for a year. London was chosen as the headquarters of the Federation and offices are being taken here.

On the whole, the Federation has been favorably received by the bulk of the organized workers, although many reasons are operating to prevent more than the above comparatively small number from affiliating just yet. Many unions have postponed their decision till the middle of autumn, for example, the musicians, cigarmakers and others.

Talking of the Amalgamated Musicians' Union, it is pleasing to note the remarkable success that has attended its establishment. In 1893 Joseph Williams and the other instrumentalists employed in the orchestra of a Manchester theater struck against a proposed cut in wages, and from their protest arose the union. By the end of 1893 it had 1,394 members; at the end of 1894, 2,421; at the end of 1895, 3,087; end of 1896, 3,232; end of 1897, 3,528; and now it has close upon 4,000 members.

It fights the competion of military, naval and

police bands. It has practically abolished the old and injurious practice of farming out orchestras. It has established the right of sending "deputies," and, above all, it has forced up the minimum of wages. The frequent $4.50 and $5 of pre-union days is now raised to at least $6.25, with considerably higher minimum in northern towns where the unionization is more complete. For instance, the South Shield minimum is $7.50 per week, and payment for extra rehearsals. These are the prices for regular orchestral engagements. For dances, bazars, expositions, operas, oratorios, concerts, and temporary or special engagements prices are higher.

The A. M. U. also has its own permanent orches tras and provides most of the bands now used at labor demonstrations. It issues a monthly magazine, beside a huge amount of other propagandist literary matter, including a reprint of an article by Owen Miller, the President of the American Federation of Musicians.

There has been a strike of bill posters here which affects about a hundred men. They ask for an advance from $7.50 to $8.25 per week, with a reduction of hours to fifty-three. Billposters are an important class of men in these days of wide spread advertisements upon hoardings, and they are now organized. The Amalgamated Billposters' Union was founded in 1890 but was extremely small until

Compensation Act closed at the end of June last, and a summary of the accidents reported under the act shows that a total of 89,823 were non-fatal

together, being 28 cents per week. Another summary, dealing with disputes for the same period, shows that 390 strikes or lockouts occurred in that time, affecting 80,141 persons. The total lost time this way amounts to 1,360,000 working days. Most of these disputes were on questions of wages.

This total of wage advances would not include increases in such non-unionist occupations as farm labor; yet in that section of industry wages have been gradually moving up in a way never before dreamed of. Returns are to hand from 149 rural centers where there are nearly a quarter of a million of all varieties of agricultural workers. Comparing their wages this summer with the summer last year, one finds that 62,064 are getting 25 cents per week more; 10,559 36 cents more, and about 3,000 50 cents more. The corn-growing counties showed the largest area of alteration.

The National Flint Glass Makers' Society has just celebrated its jubilee. It has not had a strike for forty years. It has 2,300 members and funds in hand to the amount of nearly $68,000.

The union with which the late William Inskip was so intimately associated has now 30,589 members. While, however, the membership of the

JOHN W. BRAMWOOD,

SECRETARY-TREASURER INTERNATIONAL TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION.

and 2,461 were fatal. This is a very heavy increase upon the numbers recorded in the years preceding the inauguration of the new legislation. The previous twelve months to the above showed only 63,742 non-fatal and 2,119 fatal.

On Sunday the Dockers' Union will celebrate its tenth birthday by means of a great demonstration at Plaistow. Tom McCarthy, Harry Arbell, Ben Tillett, and other men whose names are household words along the docks, will be the speakers; and after the demonstration there will be a dinner of the officials and headquarters' staff at Tom Mann's saloon in Long Acre, at which Tom Mann is to receive a testimonial in acknowledgment of his past services to the union.

There is no important labor difficulty on just now. The threatened trouble in Lancashire amongst the 7,000 engineering workers there has been settled in a way advantageous to the men. They get an increase of 25 cents per week for three months with the probability that it will be carried on perpetually. An umpire has been chosen to examine the state of trade in Lancashire and to decide whether the employers are able to pay the increase right on.

I have before me a summary of the total number of working men and women who have received increases of wages during the half year ending June, and it totals up to the heavy number of 896,700; the average increase in wages, taking all