Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-11-21
NOTES FROM THE FIELD
 OF LABOR

purpose of training colliers in the methods of effective rescue work Tn the event of explosions, pit fires and all other underground accidents.
 The most recent return for the Prussign- -Hesoiar railways shows that in the locomotive service Of 37,156 men, 1907 per cent are on and eight hour schedule, 3l.46 per cent on an eight to ten hour sched- ule, 19.41 per cent on IF to If hours, and AZ per cent on IA to 15 hours.
 The annual conference of the Min CTS Federation of Great Britain re- ported that the number of men em- ployed in the districts represented by the federation was 767,S00, and the number of men in the union 592,444 There was an increase III the number of employed compared with last year of 156,000. A New Jersey grand jury at New ark, N. J., has handed ul a present. ment condemnatory of the system of contract labor in vogue at the Es- sex county penitentiary. The pre-. sentiment urges that convlcts here after be employed only in the man. ufacture of clothing to be used at the various county institutions.
 f The Protestant ministers of Bos< ton, Mass. have determined to im- prove their temporal condition by forming a union. Declaring that | @f |, fy,tc fneC unable to support their families on the small salaries they received, and that several of them are forced to till the toll for living.
 James Tansey, president of the Fall River, Mass, textile council, has mo- tified the union representatives that under the wage agreement between Fthe Manufacturers Association and ! the council there will be further reduction in wages in the cotton mills next month of about per cent. The Fall River mills employ 30 GOO operatives.
 There was last year in India six woolen mills, containing 759 looms and employing 3,400 persons; but as yet the native wooden manufacturers l are small part of the total of h. dias trade in woolens, though the l woolen mills are progressing, and carpets and rugs are also an import ant item of the textile manufacture l of India.
 l Public baths for miners and lock- CTS for their working and street clothes SO that they may cleanse themselves after their days toll in l the grime of the pit, dress up and I return to their homes looking like office employees, if they are so minded l is an ideal to be established at the new works of the Pittsburg-Buffalo l company, at Marianne, near Monon- gahela city, Pa. l A judge in one of the district 1 courts out in Indiana has granted all injunction which prohibitsS the re- .I moyal of the district officers Of the !. United Mine Workers Union by its national officers. The constitution of the mine workers is supposed tc empower the national officers to re- j move subordinates for cause, and that instrument has been endorseed and ratified by the rank and file ol the membership.
 l Whether the movement for an em. l igration department under the con, i trol of the Board of Trade mater. ializes or not, the commonwealth ol Australia will shortly advertise fol Il emigrants in the press of the United l Kingdom. The government will \ establish bureaus, similar to recruit. I ing offices, where every prospective emigrant will undergo an examina' I tion. and where, if he be accepted I passage money and land certificate will be provided him.
 ! The eighth annual report of the ,i German Imperial Statistical Bureau shows that Germany suffered 3,32$
 labor strikes in 1906 affecting 16, \ 246 establishments, in which 6S3 , 539 workers were employed, o
 whom 272,21S were actually strik {. CTS. The report states that onl. SIS of the 3.32S strikes were; sue cessful, and that 1,217 were utter failures. Some sort of compromist
 was arranged in the other l,49s
 cases. Only F per cent Of ih,
 strikes, representing 19.5 of the es
 establishments affected, were engaged in successful strikes.
 The National Civic Federation, i is announced, will hold it's annua meeting in New York city Decembe
 II and 15. At the same time tht women's department of the fedora
 tion will meet. The first day, ac
 cording to the programme will bt
 devoted to discussions of Trad, agreemtns among employer and em
 ployes as Q means of promoting in
 dustrial peace and commercial pros
 perity.' On the second day Indus : trial insurance" Employers liabil ity" and The salary lean evil" vii
 be discussed.
 The following decision has beei handed down by the Michigan Su 'i preme court: tWorkingmen have tn, right to fix price upon their labo and refuse to work unless that pric, is obtained. Singly or in combina tion, they have this right. The.
 may use persuasion to induce men tt
 join their organization or refuse t, work except for an established wage
 They may present their cause to th' public in the newspapers or in circu ,1 lars in peaeeable way, and with nt 'a attempt at coercion. If the effec in such case is ruin to the employ s3 CT, there is no redress, for they havt -honly exercised their legal rights