they did. These propositions will give both sides a clear understanding. The company gives assurance that it will not discharge our men for belonging to the union; that in case where any employes are discharged they will give our committees and men a hearing, even agreeing to give them a rehearing after they have been discharged, if any new evidence should be found which would throw light on their cases. These were the essential

points that the men were contending for at this time.

"As to the two men, Lee and Osborne, the committee considered them unworthy to bother with, if they could secure an understanding between themselves and the company upon these vital points, and I think these two foolish men will soon realize the mistake they have made in opposing their fellow-workingmen and wish that they were members of the union.

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That this would not satisfy all, the committee were aware, but they believe it will satisfy the greater majority of the men, and that in time they will all see the wisdom of taking such a

course.

“Our men in Syracuse are new in organization and have much to learn; but I believe this settlement will do much to bring about harmonious relations between the men and the company.

“I have advised our men to do everything they can to advance the interests of the company and to live up to the principles of our organization, which are these:

"Resolved, That we hold it as a sacred principle that trade union men, above all others, should set a good example as good and faithful workmen, performing their duties to their employers with honor to themselves and their organization."

On October 12th the engineers and firemen of the Staten Island Electric Railroad Co. went on strike. The cause of the trouble was as follows: Previous to the advent of hot weather, the engineers and firemen worked 12 hours a day at the rate of $2 per day. During the hot weather the company reduced the hours of labor to 8 per day, allowing the wages to remain the same and in October, when the men were notified that they would be required to work under the 12-hour schedule, they objected unless they received a proportionate increase in wages. The company would not agree to increase the wages and the strike resulted. Other engineers and firemen were engaged to take the places of those who quit work.

TEAMSTERS.

On January 19th the teamsters in the employ of a contractor for a sewer in West Jefferson street, Syracuse, quit work to enforce a demand for union wages-35 cents per hour. The contractor had been paying them at the rate of 25 cents per load for hauling away the dirt excavated from the trenches and they claimed that this rate would not enable them to earn anywhere union wages. The contractor maintained that he could get all the teams he needed at 25 cents per load and he refused to pay more than that. The next day, however, the contract was sublet to a man who agreed to pay the union rate to the teamsters and they returned to work.

USHERS.

On May 16th six ushers employed at an Opera House in Rochester went on strike against a proposed reduction in wages. They

received altogether $12 per week and when the management proposed a reduction of $2 per week on the aggregate salary list, the ushers refused to continue work. Substitutes were procured and the management was in no way inconvenienced by the strike.

VELVET WEAVERS.

On January 26th about 100 velvet weavers went on strike in a factory at Nos. 212 and 214 West Eighty-ninth street, New York city, against a reduction in wages amounting to over 15 per cent. The management claimed that this readjustment was necessary in order that they might compete with other factories. The strike was not successful. A few of the weavers returned to work and within a short time the factory was removed to Connecticut.

WAITERS.

On May 7th sixty union waiters employed at a restaurant at 198 Greenwich street, New York city, went on strike against a reduction in wages from $11 to $9 per week. Nonunion waiters were immediately put to work in the places of the strikers, but within a few weeks these waiters were discharged and girls were employed to do the serving.

On December 19th the waiters employed in the restaurant of a hotel on Madison square, New York city, went on strike to compel the payment of back wages due them. The restaurant privileges had been let by the managers of the hotel to outside parties who had been unable to make it pay, and the hotel managers were obliged to guarantee the payment of the back wages due the

waiters in order to induce them to return to work. The strike lasted but a few minutes.

WAITRESSES.

On March 2d the waitresses employed at the Mills Hotel, 1 Bleecker street, New York, went on strike demanding the discharge of the chef, whom they claimed was too domineering. The manager of the hotel declined to listen to their complaint, discharging them and engaging other waitresses in their places.

WEAVERS.

On March 12th about 100 weavers employed in a silk mill at Summit went on strike because of a reduction of 2 cents per yard for weaving. Their action caused the mill to suspend operations, but only for a short time, as a committee from the strikers arrived at an understanding with their employers which was satisfactory to all concerned and work in the mill was resumed.

WOODBUNDLERS.

On March 17th the employes of a kindling wood company in South Brooklyn went on strike for higher wages, claiming that the price paid them-15 cents per hundred bundles-was less by 3 cents per hundred than was paid in other yards in the vicinity. The strikers appointed a committee to call on the superintendent, but that official declined to remedy their grievance, and advised them to return to work. This, some of the strikers did and the places of those who did not promptly accept the advice were filled.

ARBITRATION LAWS.

State Boards of Mediation and Arbitration were established in New York and Massachusetts in 1886; those States being the first to try official mediation and arbitration as a means of adjusting disputes between employers and employes. Since then similar boards have been established in California, Connecticut, Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, Ohio, Utah, Indiana, Idaho and Wisconsin. An act of the Legislature of the State of Michigan, approved July 3, 1889, authorized the Governor of that State to appoint a State Board of Mediation and Arbitration, but the law is inoperative because the Governor has failed to exercise such authority. The law creating the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the State of Colorado provides that when differences arise between employer and employes, threatening to result or resulting in a strike or lockout, it shall be the duty of the commissioner to mediate between the parties to the controversy, if either party request his intervention. Similar powers are conferred upon the Commissioners of Labor Statistics of the States of Missouri and Nebraska, and they are also authorized, under certain circumstances, to form local boards of arbitration. The laws of Iowa, Kansas, Maryland and Pennsylvania simply authorize the courts to appoint tribunals of voluntary arbitration when the parties to labor disputes petition for or consent to their appointment; the jurisdiction of such tribunals being limited to the county or portion of the State in which the dispute may arise. The parties to such controversies have seldom, if ever, availed 'themselves of the provisions of such laws in States in which there are no regularly constituted boards of arbitration.

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