LINES ABOUT LABOR.

Evening Star, Issue 14003, 9 March 1909, Page 7

LINES ABOUT LABOR.

[Secretaries of unions and others are in- | vited to forward notes oii matters of general interest for this column. Correspondence, •tc., addressed up to Saturday, at noon, to "Worker," care of 'Star' Office, will be received and given every consideration.] THE-BATURDAY HALF-HOLIDAY. The committee of shop assistants who have in hand the requisition dealing with this question have neatly completed their eiforts, so far as obtaining signatures ura concerned. It is now ecTtain that a poll will bo tittm to decide which day bIwII bo set apart 101 Hie half-holiday. The action of the Victorian Government in passing a compulsory Satin day Half-holiday 15ial is especially' intervs'in'g at this >tagc. Tho measure' provide for a halt-holiday on Saturdays in shops hi the metropolitan district. Special exemption has been made in Toward to chemists,' restaurants flower : shops, iiaiidrtc\sers. butchers, bakeis. pawnbrokers, ar.d bicycle fhojis. Howi ever, it is provided that th«;e shops shall be closed it the majority so desire. On a petition from ishopkeepcrs representing a majority of titty, more than one-half of those interested, the provisions of the Act may be .suspended .'.*• regards Saturday closing for a peiicd of not lees than r.is months, and not exceeding two years. The Act will probabiv come into ioice on May ■l. It must be noted that th.e rhopkeepers ; themselves have been instrumental in &e- ---, curing tho nassacrc of the Hill. The wiinc remark applies to Sydney, where a great number of shopkeepei.s are in favor of the Ti'iovement. and desire eomi'iiUory closing. The Shopkeepers' Association have a membeiship of over 2.000 strongly in favor ot Saturday, and tlu« if quite ap;ut from the shop assistants. The argument against early on .Saturday on the ground •ot probable redaction in the volume of Imsinesfi has been well considered by the shopkeepers in Sydney, .Melbourne, and Dri&bano. and apparently those most interested from a financial view are becoming convinced of the practicability of this great movement. It has been advanced .frequently that it is a matter affecting the convenience of tho public, and that on Muse grounds Saturday trading is of" vital import. This idea ie rather far-fetched, and the convenience of the public might be further 6tudied by keeping shops open on Sundays. It would be for the eonve.nien.co of tho public to have trams and trains Tunning tUI day on Sunday ; and, further, a very large number of the public would much prefer to have tho hotels and refreshment rooms open on that day. It will therefore be seen that the convenience of the public is a email matter compared with the well-being and health of its individual members. The requisition circulated locally now contains over 25,000 signatures. and will be handed to the Trad«v> and J.abor Council for presentation to the City Council.

CURRESTT TOPICS. In Germany tho question of unemployment has been well considered and much minimised. This result has been brought about by ths co-ordination and systematic management of public labor exchanges. Unemployment is also regulated by the German municipalities, who have a free hand in providing work for three in idleness. Employers and workers have every facility for ascertaining the condition of the labor market. ******* Tho community has the right to say that industrial work shall not be carried on day and night in a room which forms the living room and tho sleeping room of a whole family.—' Spectator.' ***** * * In Great Britain it is estimated that thero aro nearly 2,CC0,000 trade unionists, and the income totals £3,000,000. To give some idea of the financial transactions of trade organisations tho expenditure of the eight largest unions are appended : Amalgamated iSociety of Engineers, £313,084; United Society of Boilei-makeTs. £222.426: Amalgamated Carpenters and Joiners, £213,071; Dnrham Miners' Association, £94.437: Yorkshiro Miners' Association, £89,136; Friendly Society of Ironfounders, £66.818: Operative Bricklayers, £58,708; Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, £50,813; total, £1,108.493. ******* There ran be no peaco between the man who 16 down and the man who builds on his back. There can be no reconciliation between classes; there can only be an end to classes. It is idle to talk of good-will until there is first justice, and idle to talk of justice until the man who makes the world possesses the work of his own hands. The cry of tho world's workers can be answered with nothing save the whole produce of their work.—George D. Heron, in 'From Revolution to Revolution.' ******* The Wellington Butter, Creamery, and Cheese Factories Union were organised in July, 1907, and have been in negotiation with their employers in regard to wages and hours of work. No favorable result has been attained, and it is expected that a reference will be filed for hearing by the Arbitration Court about the middle of next month. ******* The onions in Great Britain have under consideration a manifesto issued by the Management Committee of the General Federation of Trade Unions dealing with the unemployment question. Therein tho Federation strongly urge all unionists to decline to work overtime, and thus increase the opportunities of those out of ;work. ******* A most important judgment has been delivered by Judge Shand at Liverpool in a compensation case in which an injured man refused to undergo a medical operation. Daniel Falloon, a marine fireman lately employed on the White Star steamer Celtic, as the result of injuries suffered from Tupture. It was urged that by submitting to a simple and not danRorous operation the man would be completely cured in about two months' time, but ho said he "got frightened," and refused to undergo an operation. .Tud«c Shand said personally he thought him exceedingly foolish. The medical evidence was conclusive that the operation would have been simple, and with anesthetics attended with little or no pain, and would have enabled Falloon to resume his employment. His continued incapacity was thereforo the result of his own fault, and the payment agreed upon at 16s 8d a week during incapacity would be terminated as from that date. *******

The report of the Truck Committee .London, states that it has not been proved to their satisfaction that the evils alleged to exist are so widespread or so serious as represented. They think much of the cvidence relates to the past rather than to ithe present, Tn addition thev have to Idifcern between West End establishments and those of the East of London. The Committee doubt whether assistants would get the same quality of food and accommodation ,f they were in lodging, and in regard to moral influence the Committee aye satisfied that for youths and youn* ?nrb. at any rate especially for those com" ™? "P fTora country, with few if any Jfneacta ot relatives near, there is considerable value m the restrictions which the Iving.m system imposes. The Assistants' Union, which had headed tho agitation, represented the Committee, are actually only a small minority of the whole bodv but firms should prohibit exclusion of the porkers who return after the hours of locking up, and the law should provide for tho luspeution of the living-in arrangements. The report can hardly be satisfactory to those who are endeavoring to abolish this iniquitous system. y 0 doubt .reforms in the system are a palliative, but hve catraot ignore, the fact that the svstem pa a bad one and is not essential to the a c£' T , he . Xation;ll Amalgamated Union of Shop Assistants have been workin" for years to obtain the abolishment of thtTsystem, and it must be admitted that under such conditions as we know exist -wages are lowered, independence is suppressed, ami had food and insanitary conditions rum the health of tho oppressed shop assistant. Many painful experiences have haye - had. to- en-.

dure the soul-destroying system, and there ' are assistants in this Dominion who are thankful to have broken with such associations. »*♦»**» A London educationist has declared that the average German boy was not naturally more capable than the English boy, but in Germany the highlytrained young man may be counted in thousands, while in England they are possibly counted in scoies. During a recent visit to Germany it was found that in a number of the great industrial concerns as many as 25 per cent, of the workers were men who had taken the university degrej courses! * * * * * * * The London 'Spectator' supplies the following remarkable example of thrift in a working man. The man is now thirty-tivo years of ago. He has never earned more than 25s or 26s a week, but has accumulated savings to the amount of £260, and this though he has had no property of any kind left him or given him, and though, through a piece of pure misfortune and not by his own fault, he early in life lost over £SO. The man in question is no miser, and, though careful, has always allowed himself such reasonable recreation as a bicycle., and, still more, has managed t) buy for himself a small library of books. What makes the case more remarkable is the fact that he is a widower with young children to provide for. CHILD LABOR. In New York children almost too young to enter tho primary school—five* six, seven, and eight years "old—arc working in cellars and garrets, sewing on buttons, making artificial flowers, and doing other real work, instead of being at school and at play. According to the last census 580.000 children between the age of ten and fourteen who can neither read nor write are native-born Americans. Two millions of children under the age of sixteen are earning their own living. Poor little children that work all dayFar from the meadows, far from the birds, Far from the beautiful silent words The hills know how to say! Laughter is gone from your old-young eyes—■ Gone from the lips with the dimples sweet, Gono with the song of the little feet— As light in winter die:-.' Kvenin.tr—with only the years at ten— Where was the morning, where" was the noon ? Did the day turn back to the night so soon. Part of the monger things that turn? Less than a lever, less than a wheel! Pity you wore not. wrought of steel, To jtfive the pence you ca.tn! •Add the, column, aye, foot the gain, Ve that barter in children's lives. How trill the reckoning end, that strives To balance gold with pain?

—Rujjy Archer (Xew ' York Socialist'),