WHAVUNCWR IS W ■ DOING 1 ;; FOR MDOR •' "\XE line of accomplish rnent in which the Unit jfc \fi| ®d States government p.ffi ■JB ,UIS gone ahead mightily iMjßfopdwj in recent years is in the Pffcfc— v help that has been ren dered to the cause of la nil ' ,or - Moreover the aid that has been given to the working classes of the coun try has not by any means been confined to those conspicuous services with which the public is familiar, such •as the settlement of the anthracite corl strike, the enforcement of the eight-hour day on government work and the establishment of labor's own branch of public service—the depart ment of commerce and labor. I'ncle Sam stands ready, of course, to step into the breach wherever oc casion demands in an effort to secure a "square deal" and living wages for the toiling masses but even when there are no clouds on the horizon of the relations between capital and labor this paternal government is busily en gaged with the problem of promoting "the welfare of those who labor with Stands or brain. A number of differ ent branches of the government are contributing to this policy but in the main the work devolves upon the bu reau of labor at Washington, which is, in effect, the labor division of the de partment of commerce and labor. Newspaper readers hear of the bu reau of labor when its head, the com missioner of labor, steps in and at tempts (o arbitrate some strike or threatened strike, as for instance the recent difficulties of the telegraphers •of the country, but there is not one citizen in a thousand who lias any idea of the scope of the everyday work •of the bureau in acquiring and diffus ing useful information on subjects con nected with labor in the most general and most comprehensive sense of that word. Is Doing Good Work. By means of an energetic "field force" and a capable corps of experts in the home office at Washington this "branch of the government is continu ally investigating in all parts of the -country such subjects as the relations of capital and labor, the hours of la bor, the earnings of laboring men and women, and other similarly fruitful topics. What is more, this public in stitution is continually striving to pro mote the material, social, intellectual and moral prosperity of the workers. Of course these government scouts in the labor field cannot work in a rut. Indeed the force is so mobile and the individual workers so versatile that ■when a serious dispute arises between •employers and employes or there is a ■controversy such as that some time ago regarding conditions in the meat packing industry all other work at the bureau can be dropped and all hands concentrate their attention upon the ■causes and facts of the crisis of the moment. The late Senator Hoar of Massachu setts is perhaps entitled to be con sidered the father of the movement to have Uncle Sam systematically aid the cause of labor. It was in 1871 that Mr. Hoar, then a member of the Unit ed States house of representatives, in troduced a bill providing for the ap pointment of a commission to study the subject of wages and hours of labor and the division of profits be tween labor and capital in the United States. The bill did not pass but the ball had been started rolling and final ly after much agitation congress in ISSI made provision for a bureau of labor as a part of the interior depart ment. When the department of com merce and labor was organized in 1903 .the bureau of labor was taken under its wing as one of its principal -branches. Powers of Commissioner. Congress has conferred pretty broad powers upon the commissioner of la bor. He can undertake at his discre tion any investigation which in his judgment relates to the welfare of the working people of the country and he can employ in this quest for informa tion all the means at his disposal and the corps of statistical experts, special agents, clerks, etc., carried on the pay roll of the bureau of labor. Uncle Sam's labor commissioner may, if lie choose, simply make a report to con gress onec a year on his investigations but of late years special reports have been issued monthly or even oftener, and on a number of occasions the president has called upon the commis sioner of labor to make special inquiry in some field and communicate his findings as quickly as possible. The bureau of labor is in reality a great "intelligence office" that pevirs out information through four different channels. The first of these is nude uf of the results of original investiga tions conducted by the bureau or U s agents and experts. Secondly the la ji.-os the a digest of state labor reports, thus bringing to the attention of the gen eral public many matters relating to conditions in the different states of the union that might not otherwise become matters of common knowledge. Has Wide Scope. Thirdly, this bureau of labor infor mation reviews exhaustively for the benefit of its millions of American cli ents the labor and statistical docu ments of all foreign countries and when anything is discovered that has a bearing on labor interests in Yan keedom it is promptly brought to the attention of the people concerned. Fourthly, the bureau fulfills its func tion as public servitor by publishing and sending broadcast all new laws that are passed affecting the interests of the working people. No matter whether a law be passed by the nation al congress or by the legislature in some one of our two score states it is no sooner on the statute books than the labor bureau sends the tidings to the toilers who will be affected. Final ly there is a similar system for the distribution of news relative to court decisions interpreting labor laws or other happenings affecting the rela tions of employer and employe. Most interesting and most important of the undertakings of the bureau of labor are the special investigations conducted by its own experts. These nave covered a very wide range of subjects, it is, of course, impossible to enumerate them at length but just to convey an idea of the fields that have been explored there may be cit ed such subjects as industrial commu nities at home and abroad; co-opera tive distribution; railway relief de partments; the padrone system; con ditions of negro workers; building and loan associations; the inspection of factories and workshops; the trade union label; protection of workingmen in their employment; child labor in the United States; wages and cost of liv ing, etc. Deals Only in Facts. In the earlier years of the work peo ple did not, in many instances, take kindly to the idea of having their pri vate affairs probed for the benefit of the public, but latterly this spirit has largely disappeared. Nowadays if the special agents of the bureau of labor are refused information by one manu facturer they usually have no difficulty in discovering some other establish ment where the needed data may be obtained. The government labor ex perts have won confidence by never allowing the names of parties furnish ing facts to be given in its reports, al though, to be sure, they take every possible means to verify all the infor mation gathered. The bureau will have nothing to do with estimates or hearsay statements about labor con ditions. It never makes any state ments unless it has positive facts to back them up. At the outset the government labor experts thought that they could carry on their investigations largely by mail, but it was soon found that few people would respond satisfactorily to queries thus transmitted and so the bureau of labor had to organize a corps of spe cial agents who are continually "on the wing" securing information at first hand and recording it on carefully pre pared schedules. The policy of the bureau of labor in looking into labor conditions and the problems of life affecting the working people is seldom if ever to argue a point. It simply secures all the facts in the case and then lets the intelligent labor man de cide what is best for him from the in formation set out for his benefit. The bureau of labor is particularly fortu nate in its directing heads. The com missioner of labor, Dr. Charles P. Neili, formerly one of the faculty of the Catholic university at Washington, is a man who has a wonderful faculty for clear-sighted investigation and the chief clerk of the bureau, Mr. G. W. W. Hanger, has been fitted by long experi ence for work in behalf of the cause of labor. Employment Bureau. Uncle Sam has also inaugurated an other aid to labor in the form of the largest employment bureau in the world. This is an adjunct of the bu reau of immigration, and is in charge of Terence V. Powderly, at one time a recognized leader of. union labor throughout the country. It is the func tion of this new bureau to inquire as to the facts about the reported demand for labor in all parts of the country. Mr. Powderly lias opened correspond ence with responsible officers in every state in the union concerning the need for labor and the opportunities for em ployment in each state and when any workingman desires to make a change of local ion all he has to do is to in quire of Uncle Sam as to the prospects in any section in which he would like li* V if _ . CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 3, 1908 I V ■ ■ —— A dream Is on the people, A light, not flame light, falls Upon great broken faces, These ruined human walls, Anil at the master moment Beyond, the soul breaks sod, And angels In the heart's core Sing gloriously of God. ♦♦♦♦ Jn deeds that make men brothers, In aets that give us soul. Those destinies ara hidden That sweep us to the goal. But we, as gods, are dreamers, And we, as angels, dream, We little apes with visions That are not what we seem I ♦♦♦♦ O heart of Man, what glories Have never coine to pass. The dream that never wakened. The love that never was— The good, the great, the labor— O save the ways half-trod Our lives flow on corrupted Into the life o>f God. If, gazing on dead faces, Our grief is too, too wild. If hearts of tender mothers Are broken on a child, O what might be that anguish In God, who sees unfurled Man's evils, for His creature Is child of all the world! O draggled souls, O demons, O human sharks and snakes. Free tight of savage devils, O beast that in us wakes, We. drunk with teeming power. Have shaken the firm earth Until her heart is rotten And lost to love and mirth. But One has seen our wildness And over us is shed Dreams, that lead forth our labor CJhosts, that divulge our dead, A pity, that Is saving, Tiie tears that make us pure. And love, that In great hours To God shall make us sure. ♦♦♦♦ Yea, what shall bring the morning Of dreams that rush in deed, The Workshop thronged with Workms* Handling the living need? O sweat of brow scarce-purposed In a never dreamed of quest! O hearts that never tire! O hands that never rest! Trade Agreement THE greatest thing accomplished by trade and labor unions since the first Labor day, in my opinion, is the settled conviction that the toilers of our country can best conserve their in dustrial interests by the application of well regulated trade unionism. The great trade associations of our country have been to the commerce of North America, through the applica tion of the trade agreement with its pacific purposes, what the Declaration of Independence was to the body poli tic In these United States. It also pro vides for the logical settlement by conference or arbitration of disputes which heretofore were only settled by the cold-blooded logic of force. The discipline and effectiveness of trade unionism, and, as a result, the opera tion of the collective bargain or trade agreement, is the greatest thing ac complished by trade associations since the first Labor day. What is the next step for the unions? The next step for those who have not already taken it is to make thorough preparation and arrangement for the full introduction of the eight-hour work-day in all industrial and agricul tural pursuits. Given more leisure from the drudgery of toil, the working man or woman will seek and secure opportunity for the mental betterment which will make them happier men and women, better citizens, more clever, prompt and alert producers; it will cause them to look for better con ditions of life "'1 of which are enno bling and wi' .end to the supremacy of the nation /liich gives the best op portunities along this line. —James Duncan, Secretary-Treasurer of the Granite Cutters' International Associa tion of America. Greater Equity THE eight-hour day is the greatest achievement of unionism, but the original intention was not that men should make over-time, but that more men should be employed. In the making of contracts for con struction work on buildings, etc., em ployers figuring on tho cost of labor usually consider the wage question as the most important. The strong unions numerically generally succeed in ob taining about as high wages as they demand. This does not leave a large amount of money to be distributed in wages by the sub-contractors on the job, who have to figure pretty closely in order to come out ahead financially. The result is that the smaller and weaker unions cannot obtain as high wages as their fellow-workers in the larger uuions, who were provided for first. In my opinion, one of the most im portant thiugs to be accomplished by the labor unions is to establish a more equitable distribution of wages to all workmen employed on contract work, with due consideration to the contrac tor. —Jeremiah J. Donovan, President Boston Building Trades Council. Work of Education WE know that the greater produc tiveness of American labor ia largely duo to its superior education. When that labor is still farther ad vanced by the higher education of its best type wo may see young men pre I ferring the good wage and good oppor j tunity of a useful industrial employ j ment to the shabby gentility of a | briefless lawyer, a doctor without a I case, or a clergyman without a call.— £xcbftss». THIRTY MINERS SUFFOCATED DISASTER IN A COAL MINE NEAR HAILEYVILLE, OKLA. A Barrel of Oil Ignited and Flames Spread to the Air Shaft and Hoisting Apparatus. McAlester, Okla. More than 30 miners were suffocated Wednes day in Hailey-Ola coal mine No. 1, near Haileyville, 14 miles east of McAlester, when fire destroyed the hoisting shaft and shut off air from the men below. Twenty-five dead bodies were re moved from the mine last night, fol lowing a three hours' battle with the flames. It is believed that six or eight more will be brought out. Twen tf-five mules were suffocated and some of their bodies were burned. After tho miners had gone down in the cage a fire broke out, occasioned by the ignition of a barrel of oil which a miner was trying to divide. The flames spread to the hoisting shaft, and all communication with the top was cut off. The first indication the people at the surface had of the trouble was the flames and smoke coming out of the top of the shaft. Hundreds of miners rushed to the scene and tried to get into the air shaft, but this was impossible for several hours, as flames and smoke were coming up that way with such force as to drive them back. The mine is owned by Dr. D. M. Hailey, James Elliott and a number of Chicago and St. Louis capitalists, among whom are several directors of the Rock Island-Frisco road. The property loss may reach $50,000. The mine is one of the most valuable in the southwest." TO SWING VOTES TO BRYAN. Labor Federation's Officers and Chair man Mack Lay Plans. Washington, D. C. Union la bor's equation in the Democratic na tional campaign and the plans that have been formulated by officers of the American Federation of Labor to swing the labor vote to William J. Bryan were subject matters of a series of conferences Wednesday night between National Chairman Norman E. Mack and Samuel Gom pers, president of the American Fed eration of Labor, Secretary Morrison of the federation, and President Mc- Connell of the Machinists' union. Chairman Mack announced before his departure for New York at mid night that he had approved the plans devised by Mr. Gompers and his as sociates to aid in Mr. Bryan's elec tion and that within a few days he would announce the chairmen of the various labor bureaus which will be established in several of the larger cities and conducted under the gen era! direction of the national commit tee and the American Federation of Labor. "The Democratic national commit tee will receive the co-operation of the American Federation of in every way," said Mr. Mack, "and -Mr. Gompers submitted to me the plans which have been formulated to effect an active campaign in the labor world In the interest of Democracy. These plans I regard as highly satisfactory and they will be adopted. The plans provide for the establishment of labor bureaus in several labor centers, with a central labor bureau In Chicago at the Democratic headquarters. The national committee will appoint only members of the American Federation of Labor as heads of these bureaus and Mr. Gompers has given me a list of names of those who would be re garded as acceptable to the federa tion." INFANTRY WINS THE TROPHY. First Honors in National Rifle Team Match Goto Men of the Army. Camp Perry, O. The national rifle team match for the nation al trophy authorized by congress and S3OO was won Wednesday by the United States infantry team, which scored 3,224. The navy, which made a strong fight on the 1,000-yard tar gets, was second with 3,210, and gets the Hilton trophy and S2OO. The cav alry, which scored 3,180, takes the bronze Soldier of Marathon and $l5O. The marine corps with 3,117 took fourth rank and gets SIOO. The rifle men from Wisconsin beat all the na tional guard teams with 3,070 and get $75. Massachusetts came in sixth with 3,05(1 and takes SSO. The naval acad emy was seventh at 3,055, Pennsyl vania eighth at 3,038, the District of Columbia ninth at 3,025, and Wash ington took tenth place with an even 3,000, Illinois' 2,098 won her eleventh place and lowa's 2,994 twelfth. With the national team match ended, the riflemen were allowed only a brief rest and were then rushed to the skirmish field for the first stage of the national individual match. In this contest C>t>B were started, a rec ord breaking field. Cigarettes are Put Under a Ban. Little Rock, Ark. F. 11. Eas ley, the superintendent of the Arkan sas division of tho Rock Island rail road, has issued a bulletin notifying all employes that cigarette smoking will not be permitted and that the violators will be discharged. Ellis Accepts Offer of New Job. Washington, I). —Wade 11. El lis, now attorney general of Ohio, has been tendered by the president and has accepted the position of assistant to Attorney General Bonaparte. S The Place to Bay Cheap j ) J. F. PARSONS' ? cliftTs RHEUMATISM LUMBAQO, SCIATICA NEURALGIA and KIDNEY TROUBLE "l-DROPS" taken internally, rids the blood of the poisonous matter and aeids which are the direst causes ot these diseases. Applied externally it affords almost in stant relief from pain, while a permanent cure la being effected by purifying the blood, dissolving the poisonous sub ■tance and removing it from the system. DR. 9. D. BLAND Of Brewton, Gs., writes: "1 had been a sufferer for a number of years with Lumbago end Rheumatism In my arms and less, and tried all the remedies that! could gather from mealral works, and also consulted with a number of the beet physicians. but found nothing that gave the relief obtained from "•-DROPS." I shall prescribe it in my practice for rheumatism and Kindred diseases." FREE It you are suffering with Rheumatism, Neuralgia, Kidney Trouble or any kin dred disease, write to us for a trial bottle of "t-DROPS." and test it yourself. "■-DROPS" ean be used any length of time without acquiring a "drug habit," as It is entirely free of opium, cocaine, alcohol, laudanum, and other similar Ingredients. UiftilM Battle, "l-DISPI" («00 DMM) fi.ee. fwi*i«kri>r«niiu. gWAItOI IHIHRATIO HUE BONPAIV, Oe»». ISO L*k« ItiHt, A' TMm*% ff II ... I. Gives you the reading matter ia t MjC ** Otlie which you have the greatest in ■ t —the home news. Its every issue will prove a welcome visitor to every member of the family- 1* sheuld head your list of newspaper and periodical subscriptions. G.SCHMIDT'S, 1 — HEADQUARTERS POR FRESH BREAD, | popular "'»» *1 » CONFECTIONERY Daily Dolivcry. Allordersgivenpromptand skillful attention. Enlarging Your Business If you are in annually, and then carefully business and you note the effect it has in in- Jlpte fS|k want to make creasing your volume of busi- WeSm nK more money you ness; whether a io, 20 cr 30 ft read every per cent increase. If you word we have to watch this gain from year to pSlaSa say. Are you y° u will become intensely in ■V mj spending your terested in your advertising, stf |h money for ad- and how you can make it en fly l|| vertising in hap- large your business. Us <n hazard fashion If you try this method we mr as if intended believe you will not want to for charity, or do you adver- let a single issue of this paper I tise for direct results? goto press without something Did j'ou ever stop to think from your store, how your advertising can be We will be pleased to have made a source of profit to 7 ou ca 'l on us i anf l we will you, and how its value can b e take pi t asure in explaining measured in dollars and our annual von tract for so cents. If you have not, you many inches, and how it can be are throwing money away. US(>(l in whatever amount that Advertising is a modern teems necessary to you. [ business necessity, but must If you can sell goods over be conducted on business the counter we can also show principles. If you are not you why this paper will best satisfied with your advertising serve your interests when you you should set aside a certain want to reach the people of amount of money to be spent this community. JOB PRINTING .... . . , can do that class just a little cheaper than the other fellow. Wedding invitations, letter heads, biil heads, sale bills, statements, dodgers, cards, etc., all receive the same careful treatment just a little better than seems necessary. Prompt delivery always. If you are a business man, did you ever think of the field of opportunity that advertis ing opens to you? There is almost no limit to the possi bilities of your business if you study liow to turn trade into your store. If you are not get ting your share of the business of your community there's a reason. People go where they are attracted where they know what they can get and how much it is sold for. If you make direct statements in your advertising see to it that you are able to fulfill every promise you make. You will add to your business reputa tion atid hold your customers. It will not cost as mv.ch to run your ad in this paper as you think. It is the persistent ad vertiser who gets there. Have something in the paper every issue, no matter how small. We will be pleased to quote you our advertising rates, par- i ticularly on the year's busi- I ness. j .. i MAKE YOUR APPEAL Jk to the public through the QjL columns of this paper. With every issue it carries Wm * its message into the homes E and lives of the people. Your competitor has his store news in this issue. Why don't you have yours? Don't blame the people for flocking to his store. They know what he has. 3
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers